Page 46 of The Promise in Poppies
Could she feel the heat radiating from his body? He contemplated plunging into the water to cool off but focused on mimicking her movements instead. “Like this?” Rocks rattled and scraped against the metal bottom as he jerked the pan back and forth.
“Not quite,” she said with a playful smirk. “You’re trying to remove the rocks, not polish them. Although…” She peered over his shoulder, and he caught a whiff of her sweetly scented shampoo. “Look what you uncovered.” She plucked a chunk of rose quartz from the murky sludge and held it up to the light, admiring the pink sheen. “It’s beautiful. My dad used to joke that I cared more about finding quartz than gold. Rose was always my favorite. According to lore, it represents unconditional love.”
Was the sunlight playing tricks on him, or did her cheeks suddenly look flushed as she handed him the stone?
“Keep it.” He passed it back, holding her gaze a second longer than necessary.
Kiss her, an inner voice whispered, growing more insistent the longer he waited.
“Thank you.” She looked away and set the stone behind her on a smooth patch of sand on the embankment for safe keeping.
Rhett groaned internally. What was wrong with him? He wouldn’t get a better chance than the one he’d just wasted.
“Let’s try again,” she said, refocusing on their task. “Only this time, I’ll help you.” Kneeling beside him, she placed her hands over his around the rim of the pan.
His pulse slowed to a standstill, and his lungs depleted his entire air supply as she leaned into him, moving the pan back and forth in a smooth rhythm.
“Now you’re getting the hang of it.” She offered an encouraging smile. “Shake, shake, shake, wash, wash, wash.” With each repetition, the amount of debris diminished, as did his ability to concentrate.
This was it. He needed to take his shot before the opportunity slipped away again.
A bright glimmer in the bottom of the pan caught his eye, but he didn’t care, too intent on a treasure of much greater importance. “Donna,” he murmured, his throat thick and raspy.
She turned her head to face him, and the instant their eyes locked, heat shot through him like a flame. The hunger in her eyes matched his own. Only a breath away, he lowered his lips to hers, his heart bursting at the overwhelming intensity of finally tasting her.
The pan tumbled from his grasp, meeting the water with a splash. As it sank to the bottom, gold nugget and all, he didn’t have a single regret.
Here, in this moment, he had everything he wanted.
CHAPTER28
DONNA
Soft morning sunlight dappled the footpath as Donna made her way back to the secluded cove. Laughter and merriment carried above the rustling of the trees, reverberating from the town square where the second day of the festival was already in full swing.
Today, they’d find out if the silent auction and raffle tickets raised enough money to save the library. A few weeks ago, she cared about the outcome merely for her daughter’s sake. But now? Now, she had a more personal investment.
Somehow, this town had wrapped itself around her heart, weaving an inexplicable tether that transcended the pain from her past. Her whole life, she’d stacked the blocks of her resentment, building an impenetrable wall. But through kindness and patient, unconditional love, the people of Poppy Creek had removed them one by one.
Unconditional love…A pleasant warmth crept up her neck, sweeping across her cheeks. Instinctively, she pressed her fingertips to her lips, smiling at the memory of Rhett’s kiss. Both tender and passionate, the spine-tingling zing had traversed every inch of her body. She could still feel the aftershock.
They’d been so consumed in each other, by the time they realized they were late to the town-wide baked potato pit—where they baked tin foil–wrapped potatoes in the coals of a firepit before adding all the fixings like bacon, scallions, and hand-churned butter, which was made during yesterday’s reenactment—she’d accidentally left the quartz behind.
She wasn’t normally sentimental, and apart from the sparrow pendant she’d given Cassie, she didn’t keep mementos. But something about the quartz compelled her to go back for it. And the reason may or may not be related to a certain man and his toe-curling kisses.
Blissfully lost in her thoughts, Donna rounded a large redwood then stopped cold, her gut wrenching as a familiar voice slithered through the crisp air.
“Tarence, trust me. I’m a man of my word. The library is yours. We can finalize the deal today.”
The ground swayed beneath her feet, and she slammed her palm against the rough bark of the redwood for balance, barely registering the sharp pang of a splinter piercing her skin. She needed to leave, to scramble up the pathway without looking back. She needed to be anywhere but standing here, overhearing Bryce’s phone call. And yet, she couldn’t move.
“Oh, you heard about that?” A twinge of irritation marred his typically cool, measured tone, but he quickly recalibrated. “I assure you, Tarence. You have nothing to worry about. It doesn’t matter how much money they raised. I know what’s best for this town. We need developers like you to bring us into the twenty-first century. They may not agree at first. But in time, they’ll see I’m right.”
An icy dread gripped her chest, squeezing the air from her lungs like a clenched fist. He never intended to honor his agreement with Cassie. Her daughter had been working tirelessly on a fundraiser that never stood a chance. Heartache, outrage, and helplessness flooded her all at once, leaving her light-headed and sick to her stomach.
“That’s the beauty of being the mayor,” Bryce said with a callous laugh. “They’ll believe whatever I tell them. I’ll give some spiel about code violations and mandatory renovations and how I can’t handle the undertaking. Plus, I’ll assure them you plan to preserve the historical heritage of the building.” He laughed again, and the eerie, unctuous sound crawled up her spine like a spider. “Of course, mistakes and miscommunications happen in construction all the time. So, we can hardly be to blame if the preservation goes awry, can we? Now, do we have a deal?” He nodded, keeping his back to her. “Excellent. I’m working with a lawyer out of San Francisco. I’ll have him get in touch this afternoon.”
As Bryce wrapped up his phone call with more high-handed pleasantries, Donna begged her feet to work. This was her last chance to extricate herself before he saw her. Why couldn’t she move?
