They made their way through the house that slowly seemed to be coming together. In another few weeks, the Stormhaven renovation would be done and Andrew would no longer have her occasional drop-in visits to anticipate. It was a bittersweet prospect. He wanted the house to be done but he didn’t want to lose this connection to her.
When they reached her pickup truck, he opened the door for her.
“I’m sorry for what you’re going through, Rosie,” he said before she climbed inside. “Don’t beat yourself up about something you can’t change.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that. I’m sorry again that I interrupted your work.”
“Don’t be. I’ve been waiting all day for you to come by. I told myself it was mainly because I wanted to know how you were doing after last night, but the truth is, I mostly wanted to see you.”
Andrew watched as Rosie’s eyes widened, her lips parting slightly in surprise. She seemed to struggle for words, clearly caught off guard by his candid admission. Her cheeks flushed, and he could see the uncertainty in her gaze, as if she couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing.
This wasn’t the time to kiss her, he reminded himself. She was struggling with this personal crisis and didn’t need more complications. But he seemed powerless to resist. Before he could second-guess himself, Andrew leaned in, gently cupping her face with one hand.
Their lips met, and suddenly the world around them and all his rationalizations faded away. The kiss was tender at first, almost hesitant, but it quickly deepened as all of his pent-up attraction and longing poured out.
Andrew felt a surge of emotions he hadn’t experienced in what felt like forever. The softness of Rosie’s lips, the warmth of her body as she pressed closer, it all ignited a fire within him that he thought had long since burned out. He wanted more—so much more. He longed to pull her even closer, to explore every inch of her, to show her how much she meant to him.
As the kiss intensified, Andrew’s mind raced with possibilities.
Sometimes his overactive imagination offered both perks and drawbacks.
He could too easily imagine lazy Sunday mornings spent tangled in sheets, stolen afternoons when she distracted him from his work or he visited her on jobsites, building a rich, beautiful, rewarding life here in Wood Briar together.
For now, he wanted to lose himself in the softness of her mouth and the intoxicating heat they seemed to generate together without even trying.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Rosie
Rosie’s head was spinning. One moment she had been caught off guard by Andrew’s confession, and the next, she found herself lost in the most passionate kiss she’d experienced in years. His strong arms encircled her, making her feel safe and desired all at once.
She hadn’t realized how much she had been craving this connection until now. The tenderness in Andrew’s touch, mixed with the obvious desire she could feel radiating from him, was intoxicating. All her worries about Pam, about Gary’s betrayal, about the company melted away, leaving only the sensation of Andrew’s lips on hers and the promise of something new and exciting on the horizon.
Rosie lost herself in the kiss, the strength of his muscles against her, his hands pressing her toward him.
What was it about this man that seemed to work its way through all her defenses? For ten years, she had used her grief as armor, telling herself she would never find anyone else like Gary.
She had compared every guy she went out with to her husband, and they’d all come up short.
Now, as she lost herself in Andrew’s kiss, some part of her wondered if she had been wrong this entire time. Maybe finding out Gary hadn’t been the perfect husband would finally give her freedom from those unrealistic expectations and allow her to find room for someone else in her life.
They might have continued that way, wrapped in eachother’s arms and lost to anything else but she heard the door to the house open.
She jerked away from him, her heart racing and her body on fire, praying whatever worker was coming out of the house hadn’t noticed them.
She wanted Andrew more than she wanted anyone or anything in years. She managed to catch her breath, though she was quite sure her features were still flushed when she saw one of the painters trotting down the porch steps.
“Oh good. You’re still here. I wanted to check to make sure we’re on the same page, that all the door and window trim will be the same color, no matter what color we’re painting the bedroom.”
She could hardly make any part of her brain work. How was she supposed to advise the painters on anything right now, except her own frenzied heartbeat?
“If that’s what the designer specified, then yes. But I’ll come take a look before I leave.”
He nodded and headed back inside, leaving her with Andrew.
What was she going to do about this attraction for him? She could tell herself this was foolishness, but she still wanted to step right back into his arms.
“I hope you don’t think I kissed you out of pity,” he said. “I’ve been wanting to do that again ever since the first time.”
