Chapter Eight

“S teinbeck. Hillerman. Robb. Childs.” Susan’s eyes slid along each spine of the neatly arranged books she had just now had the chance to scan. “García-Márquez. Clancy.”

Heavy hardbacks about everything from the American West to espionage to Latin American classics sat upright in two of the four built-in sections.

But the other sections of floor-to-ceiling shelves including well-worn paperbacks from authors like Austen, Roberts, Devereaux, Gabaldon, Jackson, Jenkins, McNaught, and Quinn caught her attention more.

The corner of Susan’s mouth curled up as she ran her fingers along the spines’ creases. “I’ve read almost all of these. Many more than once.”

“You mean all of these?” Reynolds tilted his chin to the paperbacks.

“No.” Susan motioned to the entire unit.

“You do love books.” With a bit of bedhead, Reynolds handed her an oversized mug and smiled like she hung the moon. “Your mocha, madam.”

“You spoil me… husband.”

“You should be spoiled… wife.”

“Careful, Reynolds. You keep treating me like this, I’ll never leave,” she laughed.

“And that’s a bad thing?”

A mischievous twinkle in his eye sent her brain into Dirtyworld. “I guess not.”

“Please.” He motioned toward the oversized chair and took a seat on the couch. His attempts to appear alert were undermined by the wrinkles in his rich blue button-down.

A button-down she could easily rip open and get her hands on that chiseled body of his. The body she dirty-dreamed about last night. Again.

While he slept across the hall.

Alone.

And probably naked.

Good grief, go sit in a snowbank, Susan.

“The paperbacks were my grandmother’s. She loved reading.” For a moment, a sad smile sat on his lips.

He misses her. That tugged on her heartstrings. “Looks like both of your grandparents did. The spines are creased in different places.” She inhaled the sweet aroma from her mug and went cross-eyed. “Perfect.”

“ Mormor read everything on that shelf at least half a dozen times. Kept reading long after she got sick.” He placed his cup on the coffee table between them, the pain of her death cutting far deeper than Susan guessed he planned to reveal today.

Before she knew it, Susan sat next to him on the couch and sandwiched his hand between hers. A calm comfort settled between them. “She sounds amazing.”

“When Farmor , Nate, or I took her to her chemo treatments in Bozeman, we’d stop at the bookstore before returning. Tell her to pick whatever she wanted. She’d get a stack of books.”

“What a lovely gesture.” His commitment to family lessened her angst at this whole absurd situation. A situation Lucy, Peter, and Edmund texted gentle concerns last night after Reynolds went to sleep.

“Books helped her escape.”

“Books are amazing inventions. I’ve spent many weekends sitting outside reading. Learning… things.”

“What kind of things?” He rested his forearms on his thick thighs. He probably meant it as an innocent question, but Susan swore it held a hint of seductive inquiry.

“All sorts of things.” Naughty things.

He swallowed hard. “I bet.”

Not even a good night’s sleep quelled her lust for him. If anything, her desire gained momentum, especially when he looked at her with sultry promises and wicked thoughts.

Or it’s all wishful, complicated, non-platonic thinking on my part. “Thank you for the drink. It’s perfect.”

“You’re welcome.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a smaller bookshelf, tucked in the corner as though it were too special to donate. “May I?”

Reynolds thinned his lips. “Sure.”

Middle-grade and young adult classics filled the upper two shelves. The bottom three were packed with books about dinosaurs. Susan tapped several spines. She smiled at the thick layer of dinosaur decals, specifically, Dino from the Flintstones cartoon that decorated the outside of the shelf along with multiple stickers with the name A UDREY .

“That’s… was my sister’s,” he answered before she asked.

Heartbreaking. Considering the highest reading level books were for middle grade, she wondered how old his sister was when she passed.

“You read all those, too?” Although he smiled, it didn’t erase the sadness in his eyes.

“Not all, but most. Some of these I haven’t seen before.” A bit of sorrow tucked under her breastbone. As close as they’d come to losing Lucy after the accident, Susan couldn’t imagine his grief. “Audrey sure liked dinosaurs.”

“And the Flintstones.”

“Well, who doesn’t love the caveman version of I Love Lucy ?” If someone told Susan a year ago she’d now be married to a handsome calendar model who appreciated classic animation and pop culture references, she never would have believed it.

“The Ricardos had no pets. The Flintstones have Dino.” With a single-shoulder shrug, he gave her a wink.

“It would be difficult to fit a snorkasaurus in a New York City walk-up.”

“Remind me never to challenge you to a TV trivia game.” The pulse point on his neck increased as he outstretched his hand, palm up. “Can I show you something?”

“Of course.” It didn’t go unnoticed that his fingers trembled, making her wonder what she said to illicit his reaction.

“Since you’re eyeing my bookshelves.”

That’s not all I’m eyeing. The moment his hand touched hers, all of Susan’s thoughts turned unapologetically carnal.

This kind of unrelenting passion never once consumed her so completely, but every time she stood near him, all her thoughts went straight south of her belly button.

We need to get some addendums on that plan. Or not.

He led her to a small phone cubby under the stairs. “Very few people know about this.”

“Then I’m humbled.”

A mischievous smile crossed his handsome, unshaved face as he pulled on a well-hidden handle.

When the cubby wall swung out, Susan placed her coffee mug on the side table before it slipped from her fingers. “A hidden door? What’s in there?”

“Take a look.”

She paused. “You’re not going to lock me in some weird basement situation, are you?”

“Only if you want me to.” He playfully shrugged.

Annnnnnd my panties instantly disappeared. “Platonically speaking, of course.”

“Of course.” A hint of pink colored his cheeks. “ Mormor ’s chemo made it difficult for her to concentrate, even sleep, so we built her a quiet hideaway. Sometimes Audrey used it.”

He flipped on the light. “Even after my grandma added Audible and e-books, we hit the bookstore in Bozeman for her to browse.”

For a minute, Susan thought she imagined the room. Floor-to-ceiling shelves covered the tallest wall and went farther back than she thought possible. “So many books.”

“You like it?”

“My first bookgasm.”

Reynolds’s lusty laugh filled the space. “Bookgasm. I’ve never heard that before, but… um… glad to be your first.”

Without thinking, she leaned in to smother him with appreciative kisses, but stopped short and gave him a simple peck on the cheek. “May I look?”

He grandly stepped out of her way. “Be my guest.”

“ Merci , Lumiere.” To her right, a built-in desk with a sewing machine on top. Under it, a plastic bin filled with brightly colored material and a pattern for a dinosaur plush.

Above the machine’s small workspace were several black-and-white photos of people she faintly recognized. Something about their smiles tugged on her heart.

An oversized futon chair and two multi-head standing floor lights sat on each side. A small side table with a charging station and speaker added to a perfect hideaway reading place.

She turned her attention back to the shelves filled with the literary bounty as twinkling fairy lights covered the ceiling. “A secret library.”

A hardy laugh escaped him. “Okay, Belle.”

“I’ve always wanted a little room like this.” Susan knelt, then crawled as she scanned the titles, her excitement escalating with each spine.

Again, alphabetically and genre-arranged, it held more books than she could possibly read in a year. “A secret library under the stairs. Be still my heart.” Under the far wall, a light. “Is that a door?”

“Yes.” He leaned against the doorframe.

“Where does it go?”

“Go find out.” Amusement danced in his eyes, cranking his sexy factor up to dangerous levels.

Breathe, Susan. Standing, she pushed the door and peeked around it. “The kitchen? This goes all the way through?”

“It does.”

The scent of oranges and spices signaled his approach. She greedily inhaled, allowing the flavors to feed her secret thoughts. Crossing her arms, she subdued the overwhelming urge to pin him against the wall and perform salacious things on him with her tongue. Things she dreamed about doing last night.

The mountain air must have pheromones in it. “What a huge project.”

“It was. Took several months. We reinforced the beams and stairs since we raised the ceiling. Ran new lighting.” When he guided her back through the passageway, his hand rested on the small of her back.

His touch sent her thoughts carnal. How she wished he’d ravish her on that oversized chair. Or against the door. Or pretty much anywhere in general.

Focus, Susan. “A cupboard under the stairs and secret passageway. It’s like Harry Potter and Narnia had a baby.”

“You like it, then?”

“It’s amazing. Your grandpa was quite the handyman.”

“He taught me, Nate, and Audrey everything about house repairs.” The hidden latch clicked and locked in place.

“If this doctor thing doesn’t work out for you, you’ve got a backup plan.” A vivid image of Reynolds wearing nothing more than a tool belt ticker-taped through her brain.

“After difficult shifts, it’s tempting to start my own side business. I like working with my hands.”

I bet you do. “Medicine would be lesser if you left it.”

A healthy flush of color stained his cheeks as he handed back her coffee and motioned to the kitchen. “Shall we?”

They walked in tandem to the kitchen table and turned their chairs to face each other.

To keep from staring at his beautiful features, Susan scanned the kitchen, taking in the custom details. The thick butcher block table sat in the middle surrounded by a dozen Windsor back chairs in different colors.

Across the room, a double oven and five-burner gas stovetop with a pot-filler faucet. The blue-tiled heart design on the backsplash tugged the corners of her mouth up. “Did you help with that?”

His eyes lit up. “Took us all afternoon and a lot of cussing, but Nate, Farmor , and I built the backsplash to include the heart. A perfect touch to my grandmother’s dream kitchen.”

“And I bet she loved every inch of it.” A few handmade items indicated Reynolds, Nate, and Audrey spent a lot of time here and their grandparents cared for them dearly.

The amount of work put into this place pulled on her heartstrings as much as it antagonized her worries about messing this up for him. For them. “Your grandparents’ home, your home, is lovely.”

“Thank you, but it’s our home now.”

For whatever reason, that froze her perfectly prepared breakfast in her stomach. “Our. Home?”

His forehead furrowed. “Yes. We’re both here so—”

“Right. Of course. Yes. Ours. But it was your grandparents’.”

“Yes. They were good people. Made me and Nate who we are today.” His index finger tapped on his mug.

“Then I’m sorry I won’t get to meet them. To thank them for who you are.” Despite her nerves twisting her gut to the point of nausea, Susan gently tapped her mug against his. “To your grandparents. And Audrey.”

He smiled at her so brightly, her ovaries quivered. “Yes. And to our new adventure.”

“To new adventures.” She hoped her voice didn’t sound as stressed as she felt. Susan took two large gulps, hoping the whipped cream, sugar, and caffeine would calm her.

“Um… you’ve got—” He hesitated before he pointed.

“What?” She set her mug down.

“Your mouth.” His body leaned forward but he immediately pulled back, touching his face. “You’ve got whipped cream.”

Without thinking, she scooted to the edge of her chair, turning her cheek toward him. “Where?”

With trembling fingers, he slid his thumb along her top lip to the corner of her mouth. “There. All better.”

The gentleness of his touch set her body on fire and short-circuited her brain.

“So much better.” Again, her eyes zeroed in on his lips, and before she knew it, the space between them disappeared.