Page 28 of Anchored

Maple waves her fork in the air. “No, it’s fine. I just don’t eat a lot of animal meat.”

“Oh, shit. I’m so sorry.” I stand up and grab her plate, taking the chicken out of her face. She laughs it off, being kind when I’ve been offensive.

“Seriously, it’s fine. I do eat some, just not much. I mean, I even splurged and ate a hot dog the other day! I appreciate you making me dinner.” She stands and takes both her plate and mine, heading for the kitchen. “I’ve got dish duty!”

I hang my head. “Fuck.” It didn’t even occur to me to ask, but it makes sense. She’s into yoga and a lot of yoga types are vegetarian or vegan. And here I’ve been trying to impress her by making dinner most nights, and I’ve been serving her nothing but meat!

While she’s inside and I’m outside mentally lashing myself for being an idiot, I put some logs in the fire pit and get the fire started. Making myself useful, I get the marshmallows ready to go. Maple’s probably starving after pushing the chicken around her plate instead of eating it. She comes back out with our wineglasses topped off and a smile on her face.

“Seriously. Stop. I can see the guilt on your face. I really appreciate you making me dinner. I should have told you that first night but I didn’t want to appear rude when you were letting me stay here.”

I take the wineglass she offers and hand her a long stick with a marshmallow on the end. “Maple. You’re not rude for letting your needs be known.”

Her head bows, and for a second, I think I’ve offended her again. When her head lifts, her eyes are suspiciously glassy. “Thanks, Holt. I guess I’m just not used to people wanting to know my needs.”

I shake my head slowly, wondering who the hell she’s been hanging out with. “This ex-fiancé is more of an asshat every second.”

Her smile is sad and it makes my chest ache. “It’s not just him.”

I plop my wineglass down on the flat stone ring around the fire pit. Then I take hers out of her hand and place it next to mine. The marshmallow stick is resting on the edge, far enough away from the fire to still roast, but not burn. Maple’s looking at me curiously. My palms slide to both sides of her cheeks, and I tilt her head back to look me directly in the eyes.

“When you’re here in Anchor Lake, in this cabin, withme…you express your needs. I want to hear every single one of them. You understand me, Maple?”

Her throat bobs as she swallows hard. “Are you sure?”

Every muscle in my body simultaneously melts toward her while also lighting into a flaming inferno of want. “Yes, Maple.” My voice is barely above a whisper. Just a scrape of sound between us. “Tell me what you want right now, my little moonbeam.”

Her hands land on my chest, light as a feather. She could push me away and I’d let her go in an instant. But I hope she doesn’t. I hope she clutches my shirt in her fists and yanks me to her. I’m tired of dancing around the sexual tension between us. Tired of pretending she doesn’t occupy every single thought in my head while I should be focused on patients.

“I want a redo,” she whispers, eyes hooded and unfocused.

For a second, I think she means dinner. But when her eyes lift again, I know she feels everything I’m feeling right now. There’s desperation in her blue irises that has to be mirrored in mine.

“Our first kiss,” she clarifies.

She barely gets the words out and my mouth is on hers, my tongue putting pressure on her lips to part for me. She does, granting me entrance while my head goes utterly, completely silent. It’s just her warm breasts pressed to my chest, her lips seeking more, her tongue dueling with mine. A little whimper escapes her mouth and I swallow it down, wanting to consume this woman in every way. I want to own every moan and groan she can make. I want to obliterate every kiss in her memory except for mine. I want to kiss her until neither one of us can breathe.

My hands leave her face and slide down her body, gripping her hips and then sliding around to the curvy ass that taunted me in her tight yoga leggings from the mat next to me. She grinds her hips against the erection that’s back with a vengeance and now I’m the one groaning. Her hands slide into my hair and she pulls. Every strand lights up with pain and pleasure.

The heat between us flares out of control. I’m lost in the kiss until Mookie lets out a sharp bark. I grouse at her in my head, but keep kissing Maple. When Mookie lets out a series of barks, I have to pull away enough to yell at her to be quiet. It’s enough of a break for me to realize the stick with Maple’s marshmallow is on fire and in danger of tipping out of the fire pit.

The stick starts to tilt. I swoop Maple behind me and whip off my shirt. It’s like I’m watching it happen in slow motion. Sparks fly off the stick. The marshmallow is a flaming torch arcing through the air. I’ll never forgive myself if Maple gets burned. I pounce, managing to bat down the stick and smother the fire with my shirt. Mookie is barking her head off, even after I put out the flames and stand back upright, now shirtless.

Maple’s eyes are wide, her lips swollen and red. Despite the circumstances, my face breaks into a proud smile, knowing I made her lips look like that. Maple bursts into giggles and Mookie dances around our feet, barking like a loon. It’s absolute chaos, and not the way I intended our do-over kiss to end, but that seems to be par for the course with us.

“You were just looking for a reason to lose your shirt again,” Maple says between gasps and giggles.

I give her a deadpan look. “I thought that was one hell of a hot kiss, but I guess the flames might have had something to do with it.”

Maple comes over to my side, her hands sliding up my chest and back into my hair. I shiver from feeling her touching me.

“Guess we’ll have to have a redo of the redo.”

We’re both grinning as my head lowers to hers.

ChapterEleven

Maple

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