Page 54 of A Little Too Late
I’ve missedher.
Our gazes lock, and Ava makes a soft sound as I break our kiss and position myself against her body. Staring into her eyes, I push forward into her tight heat. And I feel like I’m going over a waterfall in a kayak—thrilled and a little out of control. She gasps as we come together. But I can’t slow down. All my senses are dialed up to eleven as I begin to move.
Ava arches against me, and together we tumble back down onto the mattress, our limbs entwined, our bodies reaching for a rhythm we know too well to forget. Tangled tongues and the slide of heated skin.
My mind is static, but my body remembers the dance. I stoke the flames, her hands gripping me, her lips chanting against my own.Yes. Please. More. Until neither of us can hold out any longer.
The moment she calls out my name, I’m done for. I surge forward, pleasure swamping me. I roll us to our sides, finishing with a slow pump of my hips. And then another, for luck. I’m unwilling to let go of the moment.
Ava tucks her face against my shoulder and lets out a satisfied breath. Her hand finds the back of my neck and strokes my skin.
I close my eyes and try to memorize this perfect feeling. “It’s always been you,” I whisper.
“Shh,” is her reply.
CHAPTER 21
TOO MUCH OF AN INTOXICATING MAN
AVA
When my alarm goes off at eight, I’m naked and pancaked against Reed’s muscular back.
My eyes fly open. I roll over at top speed and shut off the phone’s angry squall. Then I slide out of the bed and look down at my ex, who’s still sleeping.
Jesus lord. I had an all-nighter with Reed Madigan just like the old days.
Except it’s not the old days anymore. I have a resort to run, and the Sharpes are still here. There’s snow in the forecast, and it’s opening weekend.
I slip out of the room to shower. I catch a look at myself in the bathroom mirror and see a rat’s nest for hair and circles under my eyes.
Good grief. What was I thinking?
“Are you okay, Ava?” Callie asks as I unpack the first box of LED candles an hour later. We’ve gathered in her living room to assemble the lanterns we need for opening night. “You look hungover,” she presses.
“I’m just tired,” I mutter.
My friends exchange glances.
“Drink this,” Raven says, pouring me a cup of coffee from Callie’s carafe. “And have a muffin. Then we’re going to talk.”
Oh boy. I’ve only been here for five minutes, and my friends are already sniffing for a story. They want to know what happened last night after they left Reed and me alone.
A disaster, that’s what. I’ve made a horrible mistake.
“I thought you’d be in meetings all day,” Raven says as she deposits a bakery bag from our favorite shop in town—Black Diamond Coffee—onto Callie’s coffee table. “Aren’t your business guys still here?”
“They are,” I admit. “And while I need the face time with them, today is legal review day. They’re going to spend hours talking about transferring the ninety-nine-year lease for the skiable terrain. I’m not a lawyer, so it would be hard to sit there all day and pretend to be relevant.”
“You are relevant,” Callie insists, setting a stack of plates and a pile of napkins down beside the bakery bag. “You run this place.”
“In a hands-on way, yes, but I don’t write the leasehold contracts. Thank God. Now, speaking of hands-on, after we stuff muffins in our faces, we have forty torches to assemble. I brought the paper, the punches, and the scissors. Be careful not to cut yourself, Callie.”
“That wasonetime. And you’re changing the subject.” Callie takes a bite of her muffin and watches me intently. “Did Reed go to the meetings?”
It’s such a clumsy attempt to bring up Reed that I practically roll my eyes. “I think so.” I retrieve a muffin from the bag and take a big bite.
Reed did, in fact, go to the legal review meeting, after a goodbye kiss that ranked a seven on the Richter scale. I’m doing my best to act like my normal self right now, but it’s a struggle. My head isn’t in the game this morning. It’s back in bed with Reed.
