“Look!” Naomi pointed.
Chaska grinned, whether because of the doe and her fawn or because he thought she was being silly, Naomi couldn’t say.
A blue flash of lightning. The roar of thunder. The fresh scent of ozone.
She laughed, feeling more alive than she could remember, the thunder seeming to crash right over their heads. “That was close!”
“Too close.” Chaska moved much faster than Naomi had been able to, and soon the parking lot came into view. He set her down near his truck, unlocked the door, and put her camera bag on the seat. “Get in!”
He helped her up, stuck her crutches behind the seat, then jogged around to the driver’s side and climbed in. They looked at each other and laughed, both breathing hard, spattered with mud, and soaked to the skin, strands of wet hair clinging to their cheeks.
And then he was kissing her.
This was nothing like the kiss they’d shared on the front porch. That had been gentle and sweet. This was rough, wild, fierce, his mouth ravishing hers, his fingers digging into her wet hair, one strong arm dragging her closer.
No man had ever kissed her like this, and, oh, it was perfect. The storm raged around them, but Naomi was barely aware of it, the thrum of rain on his truck not enough to drown out the pounding of her pulse. He smelled of pine and tasted of rain, the feel of him hard beneath her splayed palms.
Desire licked through her, made her bolder. She kissed him back with everything she had, biting down on his lower lip, teasing its fullness with her tongue, drawing his tongue into her mouth. He moaned, held her tighter, wresting control of the kiss from her, doing to her what she’d just done to him—and more.
She couldn’t get enough of him. She tugged on his T-shirt, slid a hand up the wet skin of his belly, the hard feel of his abs sending shivers of excitement through her. She shifted her position, trying—
She cried out.
Pain.
“Your leg?”
She nodded, answering through gritted teeth. “I hit it against something.”
“Shit. Sorry. I think you hit it against the brake pedal.”
Concern on his face, he helped her get settled back in her seat, her leg in front of her, then leaned over and kissed her cheek. “This wasn’t the right place for this. Next time I kiss you, we’re going to be alone so that no one can interrupt us, and we’re going to have lots of room.”
Her heart gave a little knock at those words, the pain in her ankle subsiding.
Then she said to him what he’d said to her on the porch. “Don’t think I’ve gotten enough of you, because I haven’t.”
His lips curved in a slow, sexy smile. “Good.”
When the storm cleared, Chaska drove Naomi along the Peak-to-Peak Highway, pulling off the road at the best overlooks so that she could take photos. They stopped in Estes Park for hot dogs, ice cream cones—and, of course, saltwater taffy.
“Win would kill me if she knew I’d been in Estes and hadn’t brought her taffy.”
Something had shifted between them since this morning. Naomi seemed more at ease than she had since he’d known her, and there was an intimacy that hadn’t been there before, her small hand reaching for his more than once.
Well, he didn’t mind that, not one bit.
Estes was teeming with tourists, so they stopped in only one shop—a jewelry boutique.
“They carry my stuff.” She made her way to the display case. “One day, I’d like to have a shop like this. I’d sell a mix of my stuff and work by other artisans.”
“You should sell your sketches, too, and your photographs.”
She laughed as if this were an absurd idea. “I don’t know about that.”
“I do.”
Her gaze moved over the earrings, bracelets, and belt buckles in the glass display case. She showed him the work of silversmiths she knew, then pointed. “That’s mine.”