Needing Happily Ever After - Elena Aitken Page 0,32

and with the wedding in only a few…”

“Right.” Right. The wedding. He nodded, although his body definitely didn’t agree with what his mouth was saying. “Let’s slow down a little. That makes sense.”

It didn’t. Nothing made sense. But he nodded anyway. “We should just focus on that.”

Damon turned and walked to the other side of the kitchen, needing a moment to himself. He took a breath before he turned around to face her again. “You’re exactly right. But we also need to focus on the fact that you just finished your exam. And that is absolutely incredible. Oh, and I almost forgot. I planned a little surprise for you.”

Katie’s face lit up. “You did?”

“I did.” Damon grabbed his own glass of wine and tipped it back, drinking deeply. “I spoke with Faith a few hours ago, and we’ve arranged some mountain biking tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? Really?”

He laughed at her surprise and poured himself some more. “I did. She called to go over a few expenses on her way home from the city and she said you seemed a little tense. I thought it would be nice to go do something fun. So…mountain biking it is.”

She shook her head, but there was no mistaking the smile on her pretty face. “Was it Faith’s idea?”

“Busted.” He laughed. “She said something about you and her discussing it the other day. And she thought it might be—”

“So fun!” She cut him off. “It’s perfect. Thank you, Damon. I can’t think of a better way to unwind and have a little fun.”

He could think of a few other ways he’d like to unwind and have a little fun. But having sex with Katie would probably be a bad idea. Well…it would be a very good idea, but…he’d just have to settle for platonic fun with her…for now.

Chapter Eight

The next morning, after yet another night of barely getting any sleep, Katie poured herself another cup of coffee and stared out the glass window. She had no idea how she was going to get through the…however many more days it would be…running on next to no sleep. But the one thing she did know was that she could not sleep when Damon was lying next to her. There was no way.

Her body was way too aware of his proximity. Especially after that kiss.

Or…all the kisses. Each one got a little more intense than the last. And even though her brain knew it was Damon kissing her, her body certainly did not. She needed to find something to distract her if she ever planned to get some sleep again.

Either that, or she would need more coffee.

Katie raised her mug to her lips and took another long drink as her cell phone rang.

Welcoming the distraction, she pressed the button to answer Faith’s call. “Good morning. Please don’t tell me you’re cancelling mountain biking,” she said as way of a greeting. “I really need the distraction.”

“Good morning to you too. And no, I’m not,” Faith answered. “Why do you need a distraction? Wedding stresses?”

Katie nodded even though she hadn’t even thought of the actual wedding that morning. “Yup. Wedding stress,” she lied. “But going for a ride will help. You ready?”

“Very ready,” Faith said. “And that’s why I’m calling. How many bikes do you have?”

Katie did a quick mental count of the old bikes they had in her barn. “A few for sure. Why?”

“Well, I mentioned it to Sarah. Do you remember Sarah?”

“Sarah Lewis. Of course. Don’t forget, I never left this town.”

“Right,” Faith said. “Well, we’ve been hanging out a bit more lately and it turns out that there’s something going on with her and Brody.”

“Brody Morris? Everyone knows that.” Katie laughed. Brody and Sarah were almost always together. And no matter what Sarah said about being just friends, it didn’t take a genius to see that both of them wanted it to be more, if it wasn’t already.

“Well, I didn’t know.” Faith sounded a little affronted, but then she laughed. “But I guess it makes sense.”

“Exactly.” Katie took another big gulp of coffee. “Hopefully they sort themselves out soon because I think it’s a great thing.” It was better than a great thing. Sarah had a run of terrible luck when her husband died tragically in a drowning accident. They’d been childhood sweethearts, and it had been incredibly hard on her. She’d spent the next few years completely dedicating herself to her daughter. She was a great mom with a heart of gold and she deserved so much out of