More Than Rum (The Maple Leaf Series Book 3) (18 page)

Adam was amazed at his ability
to get any work done in his shop while Hope was upstairs in his apartment. A
mere flight of stairs away. Two seconds and he could be in her presence. She
had Jake’s website to work on, she’d said. She needed a few hours, she’d said.
She’d be thinking of him the whole time, she’d said.

She’s really here with me.

The circumstances sucked, but
he wasn’t going to lie. He was thrilled to have her in his home. He realized
he’d
told
her to move in and outside forces pushed her to comply. After
they’d figured out what to do about Daniel, maybe… just maybe, she’d want to
stay.

God, he felt so alive after
playing the part of a breathing corpse for so long. He had Hope to thank for
reviving him.

Something wet oozing over his
fingers brought his attention back to the chair on the workbench in front of
him. Glue dribbled over his hand and down his wrist in thick, yellowy streams.

“Shit.” He grabbed a rag and
wiped the excess off himself and the chair leg, which he had been trying to
affix to the seat. Sticky paths remained on his arm and the wood, so he went to
the shop sink and moistened the rag. Taking care of the chair leg first, he
removed all the extra glue and set it down on the bench. Stain wouldn’t adhere
to the wood if glue was on it and he didn’t want his work to look like that of
a novice.

He cleaned his arm with soap
and water, hating that he’d wasted so much glue. The shop was no place to
daydream. Overrun with glue was one thing. Cutting limbs with power tools was
quite another.

With new focus, he put thoughts
of Hope out of his mind—well, mostly—and concentrated on assembling the chair.
When he was done, it looked exactly like the model he’d taken from Black Wolf
and the others he’d already completed. It had a lot less scratches and dings in
it than the model, but the overall design matched quite nicely.

“Great job, Mr. Construction.”

He looked up to see Hope
standing at the top of the stairs, surveying his work.

“Yeah, when I’m not getting
glue all over the place, I’m actually quite productive.”

She came down the stairs on
silent, sock-covered feet and stood beside him. Immediately the air smelled
like cinnamon. Quitting time had come.

“Tell me you’re done working,”
he said.

“I’ve punched out,” she said.
“And you?”

“Hell, yeah.”

 He grabbed the almost finished
chair off the workbench and set it aside. Turning to Hope, he hooked his hands
under her arms and hoisted her to the bench where she sat most obediently.

“Going to do some work on me
now?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Hard to improve upon a
masterpiece, sweetheart.”

He crushed his lips to hers and
lost all sense of intellect when her legs wrapped around his waist and
tightened. Her fingertips scratched over his buzz cut as she thrust her tongue
deep into his mouth and ground her hips against him.

Holy fuck, his workshop had
never seen such action.

He kissed her with equal
fervor, his tongue dancing with hers as his hands undid the buttons on her pink
and purple flannel shirt. With his lips still on her, he peeled the shirt off
her shoulders, and she took her hands off his head long enough to free her arms
of the garment.

Now in a white, lace-trimmed
tank top and jeans, Hope put those magnificent hands back on him, hooking them
at the back of his neck so he couldn’t step away.

Not that he would even try. He
was exactly where he wanted to be and in the most perfect company.

Hope pushed on his shoulders
slightly so she had enough space to unzip his thermal-lined hoodie and pull it
off. Beneath that he had on a flannel shirt, a thermal shirt, and a T-shirt.

“Too many layers, pal,” Hope
said with a groan.

“It’s freezing in the shop,” he
said. “Although I’m not freezing now.”

“I make an excellent heater.”
She arrowed her thumbs at herself. “You should have let me stay in here with
you all day.”

At that, he put his hands on
the bench on either side of her. Hard to form words when his hands were on her.
He leveled his gaze with hers. “Umm, excuse me, but I wasn’t the one who
insisted I had a website to build, was I?”

She bit her bottom lip, trying
to contain a smile, and Adam wanted to bite into all her available parts. “No.
I guess that was me. But think of the anticipation being apart, yet so close
all day, has created.”

“I’ve been thinking about you
all day. No more thinking. Time for action.”

He swept her off the bench, and
she let out a squeal of laughter as he threw her over his shoulder.

“How very Neanderthal,” she
managed between chuckles.

“Hey, those cavemen knew what
they were doing. No quicker way to get a woman where you want her than to carry
her like a sack of—”

A punch to his back cut him
off. “If you say a sack of potatoes, you will completely ruin the mood.”

“Okay.” He crossed the
threshold between his shop and his apartment, kicking the door shut with his
foot. “I was going to say sack of bowling balls anyway.”

“You jerk.” She wiggled a
little, and he felt a slap on his ass.

“That supposed to be a
punishment? Because you should know it made me even hotter for you. You can get
a little violent with me. I can take it.”

Still holding her over his
shoulder, he yanked his feet out of his boots, gave Olive a little wave, and
marched right down to his bedroom. He tossed Hope onto the bed where she
bounced a little, but got to her elbows almost immediately. In her tank top, jeans,
and socks, she looked downright delectable.

He made quick work of
unbuttoning his flannel shirt and throwing it to the ground. In one motion, he
removed his thermal shirt and T-shirt. The way Hope’s dark eyes doubled in size
did wonders to boost his ego.

“God, you’re beautiful, Adam.”
She held out her arms, beckoning him to join her on the bed. Ever the agreeable
host, he obliged by draping himself over her, and she leaned back, taking him
along for the ride.

“You’re not so bad yourself.”

He slid his hands under her
tank top. Her stomach was so flat and toned. Her entire body was perfect. He’d
never been a religious man—in fact, fighting in Afghanistan made him pretty
certain God did not exist—but something divine had to have made Hope Stannard.
She was at least the work of angels.

Adam slid down and pressed his
lips to her stomach, tracing light circles around her belly button with his
tongue. As he traveled upward, he rolled her tank top with him until he eased
it over her head and pushed it off the bed. He took a moment to admire today’s
bra. A chaste white one that for some reason sent him over the edge quicker
than the sexier ones he’d already seen.

She shrugged one shoulder.
“Every girl has her sensible white underwear too.”

“I love it,” he said. “I love
you.”

The words were out there in his
bedroom, in the air between them, before he’d realized he’d actually said them.
The shocked look on Hope’s face told him she’d definitely heard his profession.
That should have scared the living shit out of him, but it felt right to say
those words. It was what he felt. Truly. Deeply. He wanted to say them again.

“I love you, Hope Stannard. I
think I have for a while now. I just needed to get this,” he tapped his head,
“screwed back on right first. You helped me do that. Thank you.”

“I love you too, Adam. I want
to show you how much I love you.” She hooked her fingers in the straps of the
bra and took it off.

When her breasts bounced free,
Adam nearly cheered. He cupped them both, his work-worn hands looking so rough
compared to her creamy, flawless skin. When she arched into his calloused hands
and moaned, he took that as a green light.

Jeans and underwear for both of
them hit the floor and skin pressed against skin. Adam could barely stop long
enough to roll on a condom, his desire for her almost too much to handle. He’d
never wanted anyone as much as he wanted Hope.

And it was more than her body
he wanted. He could picture the whole deal with her. The exchange of “I do,”
the house, a few blond-haired little ones running about, a dog. Hope already
had the dog part covered. It wouldn’t be that hard to accomplish the rest.

Slow down, partner.

No need to rush. They had
plenty of time to get to happily ever after. Right now was about enjoying each
other. Expressing in no uncertain terms just how much he loved her.

Her breath came in more ragged
spurts as he took one of her breasts into his mouth and suckled gently at first
then with more intensity.

“Adam,” she rasped. “Now.
Please.”

“With pleasure, sweetheart.”

He nuzzled her neck, buried his
fingers in all that gorgeous blonde hair splayed out on the comforter, and sank
himself into her. She was wet and warm and wonderful. The way she surrounded
him, accepted him, pulled him as close as she could get him. It made him feel
like the luckiest man on the planet.

No, scratch that. Luckiest man
in the entire galaxy.

He pictured himself hurtling
through space, locked with Hope, stars streaming by and supernova explosions
fireworking around them. For some reason Morgan Freeman narrated the event,
which was a little intrusive yet interesting.

Love knows no limits. It is
infinite, always searching for the edges, but never finding them. Two bodies
become one in interstellar space, the depth of their joining incomprehensible
to most save a treasured few.

Yeah, you got that right,
Morgan.

Adam tightened his hold on Hope
as she shifted, taking him in deeper and causing galactic sparks to flash
inside his brain. He had a moment where he thought he might not survive, that
he might die of pleasure. The scary part was that he wasn’t worried about that.
He was ready to sacrifice himself if it meant he got to stay inside Hope
longer, if he got to hear her sounds of bliss, if he got to feel her muscles
working him until his body was rendered useless.

Then she let out the sexiest
roar, and he was immediately right there with her, soaring off the moon, and
floating… floating… floating.

He couldn’t move. He didn’t
want to. He’d be content to rest on the launch pad for eternity.

As long as Hope was there with
him too.

                                                                          ****

“So you had a good time then?”
Adam rolled to Hope’s side and tucked her in close.

“Nope.” She laughed when he
frowned. “I had a
great
time. No, better than great.
Super-fantastic-spectacular, in fact.”

“Are you sure? Because I could
try again. And again. And again.”

“Easy there, big fella. Don’t
use it all up in one day.”

“There’s plenty to go around.”
He pressed a kiss to the side of her neck, setting her body humming again. 

“No shortage of confidence.” She
cupped his face and caught his wonderful lips in a kiss that could very well
have sent them into another round.

Except there was her stomach.
Which let out a T-Rex-sized roar.

Followed by his stomach. Which
let out a noise only Tolkien could describe.

“We need sustenance,” Adam said.
“Especially if we’re going to do more of this.” He straddled her and kissed her
like perhaps
she
was his sustenance.

“We should definitely refuel.”
She rubbed her hands over his buzz cut, thrilled to be where she was at that
very moment.

Adam opened his mouth to say
something, but his cell phone rang from the bedside table. He grabbed it while
Hope admired the view of his abs bunching as he looked at the screen.

“It’s Wendie.” He swiped the
screen. “Tell me you have lasagna.” His eyes bugged. “You really do? Awesome. We’re
coming now.” He tossed his phone on the bed.

“She actually has lasagna?”
Hope sat up and ran her fingers through her hair, which had to be a total mess.

He tapped her on the nose and
kissed her once more on the lips. “She does. It’s one of the best things about
my dear sister.” He pulled Hope out of bed and let out a low groan. “Too bad
it’s too cold to walk around naked, because, baby, you were made to walk around
naked.” His gaze combed over her and she felt utterly exposed. Funny thing was,
she wanted him to see all of her, inside her heart most of all.

“Summer should be a good time
for us.”

He offered her a smile that
promised they’d still be together come warmer weather.

Yippee!

Adam stopped at her suitcase.
“Got anything in there that will be easy to take off later?”

She joined him and unzipped the
suitcase. After rummaging around for a moment, she pulled out a light green,
long-sleeved T-shirt that had the Stannard Mountain Pure Vermont Maple Syrup
logo Sage had designed for Rick’s business on the back and the words “Got Sap?”
small on the front right corner. She added a pair of black yoga pants and held
them up for inspection.

“Not at all sexy, but
convenient and comfortable,” she said.

He tugged her naked body up
against his naked body and they were deliciously naked together. “Once you put
them on, they’ll be sexy.”

“Man, you are getting smoother
and smoother as time rolls on,” she said. “You’re good, Adam. Very good.”

“You make me good. I wasn’t
good before.”

“Oh, I’m sure—”

“No.” He hooked a hand at the
back of her neck and waited for her to look at him directly. “I wasn’t good
before. I was… I don’t know. Broken. Shut off. Dead.” He put his free hand on
his chest. “You brought me back, Hope. I feel like I’m finally breathing right
again.”

Tears instantly dribbled down
her cheeks.