“A very long while.”
She had to smile. “What, you think you’ve forgotten how?”
“It’s possible. But I’m a quick learner.” He kissed her then and things got going in a promising way until Charlie, who’d followed them upstairs, wedged his nose between them.
“Come on, you.” Glenn took the dog by the collar and walked him out the door. Charlie sighed hugely, then heaved himself to the ground. “I usually let him sleep in here,” Glenn said apologetically. “But under the circumstances…”
“Under the circumstances…” she agreed and hooked a finger through his belt loop. He had a very sexy flat belly.
He wavered. “Maybe I should shower.”
“No, you shouldn’t. If we stop, we’ll never get going again.”
They ran into a bit of awkwardness removing clothes. He stumbled out of his jeans, then the zipper on her jacket got stuck. They were both laughing at this point, him standing there in his boxers trying to free her zipper. “I need my reading glasses,” he said.
“Never mind your reading glasses.” She yanked the jacket over her head. In a minute she would lose her nerve. She was almost fifty years old, about to climb into bed with a younger man who happened to be very fit. Yes, she was in decent shape, but things weren’t as firm as they used to be. And she was wearing dull underwear. She certainly hadn’t expected the evening to end up like this.
But Glenn didn’t seem to care about all that. Once they made it into bed the awkwardness disappeared, and she felt likeshe was in exactly the right place. As though all the upset and craziness of the last month and a half had somehow led her here. To a man who was solid and caring and would turn himself inside out for the people and things that mattered to him. And whose lips were moving down her belly in a way that banished all thought from her head.
Afterward, she snuggled into his shoulder, contentment seeping into every corner of her being. For the first time in a long while she felt a sense of possibility, like there might be more to life than trudging from one crisis to the next.
“Do you think things are meant to happen, or is it all random?” she said.
He drew her closer. “You mean like tonight?”
“I was just thinking that if I’d called another beekeeper or you’d been too busy to come that day, we never would have met.”
She felt the rumble of his laughter. “You might be in bed with the old guy who runs bees up in Weston.”
She elbowed him in the side. “Oh stop. You know what I mean.”
He was quiet for a moment. “I’ve never been a big believer in God or fate or that kind of thing. I think life happens and sometimes you get lucky.”
She smiled. “Is that what we’ve been doing tonight? Getting lucky?” She kissed his neck lightly. “By the way, in case you’re wondering, you haven’t forgotten how.”
He looked pleased. “You think so?”
She traced a finger along his shoulder. A very nice muscular shoulder. “Are you fishing for compliments?”
He grinned. “Of course.”
“Well I’m not giving you anymore because you’ll be impossible.”
His smile broadened. “I’m already impossible. You told me that earlier.”
“I didn’t say impossible, I said very frustrating.”
He rolled over to face her, his beard tickling a little. “Am I still very frustrating?”
“Don’t push it,” she said, laughing.
He trailed a hand along her hip. “Because I wouldn’t want you to be frustrated.”
They might have started up all over again like a couple of kids, but she glanced at the clock on the nightstand and bolted up.
“Oh my God, it’s midnight. How did that happen?”
He kissed the small of her back. “Why don’t you stay? Lilah won’t be home tomorrow until ten at the earliest. I’ll make us pancakes.”
