Lila Mae whiskedthe country gravy on her stovetop vigorously. “It’s almost ready.”
“All right,” Trap drawled from where he sat on her couch. He tucked his phone away and got to his feet. “What can I do to help?”
“We’re taking everything on the end of the counter there out to the back deck.” She nodded to the picnic basket where she’d put cups, silverware, plates, the imitation crab salad she’d bought yesterday, a bag of fresh sourdough rolls, and the butter.
“You can take that right now,” she said. “And set it all out.” She exhaled and wiped her hair out of her face. “Then we just have to take out the chicken fried steak, eggs, and gravy.”
He grinned at the spread on her small countertops. “You really can whip up a feast in this place.”
She smiled at him and leaned one hand against his chest. “Only because I had the best master carpenter in the state of Texas design and build the house.”
He grinned at her with the wattage of the sun. “I’ll be right back.” Trap picked up the picnic basket and left through the only entrance and exit of the house—the front door. He had built a complete wraparound deck with room to sit out front, and a big outdoor living area that doubled Lila Mae’s living space around the back.
She had outdoor patio furniture for a living room on one side and a dining nook on the other. Trap had put extendable awnings over all of it, and included insect screens she could pull down to make an entirely screened porch, should she want to.
He’d installed a powerful fan that blew both heated and cooled air, and Lila Mae wanted a peaceful, easy afternoon with the sounds and sights of nature to help Trap achieve his day of rest.
She finished up the gravy and poured it into a plastic container. She balanced that on top of the chicken fried steaks she’d just finished, and stepped to the second and final burner to collect the eggs.
“These might be a little bit past over-easy,” she muttered to herself, but she picked up the pan, intending to take the whole thing outside with her.
Trap re-entered the house, and Lila Mae met his eyes. Something electric swam in his dark depths, and she tilted her head to try to figure out what it was. “Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked.
“I think I may have seen the surprise.” A smile graced his handsome face, and Lila Mae could get used to the sight of this in her tiny house.
“Oh yeah?” she asked. “Were you snooping around?”
He chuckled and shook his head. He moved over to her and took the frying pan from her in one hand and slid the other along her waist. “Lila Mae, you have a hammock hanging from the trees back there.” His eyes searched hers. “It’s not exactly hard to see.”
“Hmm.” She pressed into him and tilted her head back, hoping that would be invitation enough for him to kiss her.
“We’re eating first,” she said. “And lounging second.”
“A lazy afternoon in a hammock is my dream rest day,” he said.
“I know,” Lila Mae said simply.
A puzzled look crossed over his face, drawing his eyebrows down. “How do you know? I never told you that.”
“When we were building the house,” she said. “You told me this would be a great spot, because I could extend my living from indoors to outdoors if we built close to this part of the forest. You said you’d put hammocks back there and maybe an outdoor shed, as everything would be shaded, and it’s only twenty paces from the deck.”
He blinked at her, surprise continuing to tumble through those gorgeous eyes. Lila Mae wasn’t sure why, but her heartbeat accelerated, and she jumped a little as Trap set the frying pan back on the burner with a metal-on-metalclack!
“You remembered something I said from months ago?” he asked. “When I was designing your house, and we’d never even met in person?”
Lila Mae pressed her lips together, her pulse thundering through her body now. “It’s a special skill of mine,” she said, hoping to make light of the moment. “Momma taught us all to remember little details about people, because when we could recall them, it made them feel special.”
A puff of air left Trap’s mouth, almost in a scoff, but not quite. Then he moved his hand up the side of her face and down into her hair at the base of her neck. He leaned closer, oh-so-slowly, and Lila Mae let her eyelids flutter closed and all of her senses come to a heightened awareness.
It seemed to take an eon, but finally his lips touched hers, and fireworks blazed through her bloodstream, all sparking and exploding to the big booming beat of her drumming heart.
She’d kissed Trap before, of course, but when he did it with this level of care, tenderness, and urgency, it became a whole new ball game—one that Lila Mae wanted to play in for a very, very long time.
24
“All right.” Trap faced the hammock Lila Mae had hung one row of trees back from the edge of the stand of woods that bordered the northern part of her property. He had chosen the build site for her tiny house here because of its proximity to these trees. It was also an extremely level part of the ranch, and he didn’t have to deal with the hills and slopes that existed elsewhere on her property.
“The best way to get into a hammock is just to commit yourself to it.” He turned and looked at her. “Do you want to get in first?”
