Page 40 of Let It Breathe
She wasn’t sure if he turned, or if some instinct drew her a few inches to the right. Her lips found his and she kissed him, part of her expecting him to draw away.
Instead, he put his hands on her waist and pulled her closer. His lips moved against hers as she swayed and felt her shoulder bump the wall beside the restroom—surely the least romantic venue for a first kiss.
It’s not your first kiss with Clay, Reese’s subconscious whispered as her libido screamed something else entirely. Not by a long shot.
She deepened the kiss, desperate to block out the voices in her head and just feel him against her. Clay responded, kissing her back as his heart pounded against his chest. Reese could feel it through her shirt, her bare breasts pressing against the thin fabric as Clay’s hands slid up her back and made her shiver with desire.
“Oh, pardon me!”
Reese jumped back and turned to see a startled-looking woman at the edge of the hallway.
“Whoopsie,” the woman said with a giggle. “I can come back?—”
“No, it’s okay,” Clay said, taking a step away from Reese. “We were just?—”
“Fixing my bra,” Reese supplied.
“Right,” Clay agreed.
The woman nodded, then gave them a knowing smile as she edged around them and pushed through the restroom door. “That’s how I’d do it.”
Chapter 6
Reese kept an eye out for Clay the next day, telling herself she just needed to return his jacket and thank him for rescuing her.
She wasn’t going to address the kiss. Maybe if he brought it up first, but it was probably easiest to forget the whole thing. Neither of them needed this sort of complication right now. It was best to pretend it hadn’t happened at all.
Wasn’t it?
But she only spotted Clay from a distance a few times, out there in his hardhat and work boots and a snug black T-shirt as he directed a backhoe and gave orders to well-muscled men with shovels. They’d been able to start some of the preliminary excavation, even with the rest of the project still in limbo. Reese and her mother had crunched numbers all morning, trying to find a way to make things work.
“Your father and I will stop by the bank on our way to ballroom dancing class tonight,” June had said as they’d closed the ledgers. “The loan officer wasn’t in earlier, but we’ll make an appointment for you and me to meet with her next week. Is your schedule open?”
“Pretty much,” Reese said. “What about that venture capitalist you and Dad met on the cruise?”
“I’ve got a call in to him.” She patted Reese’s hand. “Try not to worry, baby. We’ll figure something out.”
Reese gave a weak smile. “Okay. Have a good time at dance class.”
Feeling distracted, she trudged up the hill toward the deserted pole barn around four p.m. with Leon on her heels. She had some old wine barrels stored there and was pretty sure they could be cleaned up and used as rustic cocktail tables for the upcoming event.
She yanked open the door and was greeted by a gust of fragrant blue smoke.
Reese coughed and covered her face with her hand. The barn was not on fire—that much she knew.
“Dammit, Grandpa!”
“Don’t Grandpa me, young lady!” came a voice from somewhere in the haze.
Reese waved her hand in front of her face to clear the air. She spotted her grandfather sitting on a wine barrel about ten feet away.
“Dammit, Axl,” she said, coughing. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like I’m doing?”
Reese squinted through the smoke and funny blue light. “It looks like you’re making a bong out of a Coke can while a bunch of delinquents plant marijuana in the goddamn barn.”
Axl looked at the four tattooed men stringing grow lights over rows of tiny green plants. He shrugged. “Can’t fault your observation skills.”
