Chaska had kissed her, really truly kissed her, and it had been …perfect.
Naomi had been kissed plenty of times, but never like that. Her heart beat faster just thinking about it. The shock of his lips against hers. The hard crush of his body. The pleasure-pain of his teeth against her throat.
Don’t think I’ve gotten enough of you, because I haven’t.
Heat rushed into her face, her heart skipping a beat.
She’d never met a man like Chaska. He wasn’t just incredibly handsome and ripped. He was also smart and compassionate. He cared about his sister. He cared about the strangers whose lives he saved.
What does he see in a woman as ordinary as you?
Naomi had no idea.
She sat at the table, took the leaves from Winona, and forced her mind off Chaska and back on what she was doing. “Now I’ll make a hole for the jump rings.”
She took a pin vise out of her toolbox and made a little hole at the base of each of the three leaves—two for earrings and a spare in case one of the others broke—explaining what she was doing as she went along.
“They’re so thin. I’m amazed they don’t break.”
“Once they’ve been fired, they’re pretty tough.” She took a small needle file and smoothed the edges of each little hole. “Now for the fun part. Can I have a little bowl of sudsy water?”
Winona got the water for her and set it on the table. “Now you wash it off?”
“More or less.” Naomi reached for her brass brush and scrubbed away the remains of the clay, using the water to make sure she didn’t release dust for them to inhale.
Beneath the wire bristles, silver appeared.
A bright smile spread across Winona’s face. “It’s so pretty. It has all the little details of the aspen leaf.”
Naomi finished the first leaf and handed it to Winona, then scrubbed the other two. When that was done, she reached for a curved burnisher and rubbed it over the surface of each leaf. “This is called burnishing. See how it brings out the details?”
“Chaska, you should see this!” Winona shouted over her shoulder.
At the sound of his name, Naomi’s pulse took off again.
Chaska didn’t answer. After Winona had caught them kissing, he had locked himself inside his office, saying he had a lot of work to get done before Monday.
Naomi tried not to feel disappointed. The man was a rocket scientist, after all. He had more important things to do than watching her play with PMC paste.
When the three leaves were burnished, she took two jump rings out of a little plastic box, reached for her needle nose pliers, and attached the jump rings through the holes she’d made in the bases of the leaves. “I could add stones now or create some kind of ornamentation. I could add multiple leaves to a single earring or stick them together before I fire them to make something long and elegant.”
She attached wires to the jump rings, then on impulse held out the earrings for Winona. “They’re not fancy, but they’re yours.”
Winona stared at her wide-eyed. “Really?”
Naomi nodded. “You and your brother have done so much for me, and I know things haven’t always been easy for you. Chaska told me what happened to you and Lexi and Bear a few years ago.”
The flicker of surprise on Winona’s face made Naomi regret bringing it up like that, but in the next moment, Winona smiled again. “Pilamayaye. Thank you.”
She took the earrings and put them on, silver gleaming against her dark hair. “How do they look?”
Naomi tried to turn off the inner critic that told her she ought to have added turquoise stones or peridot beads. Besides, the earrings really did look good on Winona. “Beautiful.”
A door opened down the hallway, and Chaska appeared, long hair hanging down his back, lips that had kissed her silly curving in a grin. “What’s the noise about?”
Winona stood and brushed her hair to the side. “Naomi made these for me.”
Chaska leaned in, dark brows drawing together in apparent confusion. “She made them for you? You mean just now?”