Love by Design (Crystal Falls Book 1)

by Lee, Lynette

“Lily,” he whispered, his voice husky.

  “Noah, up for the final walk-through?” She tried to sound professional but her voice wavered and they both heard it.

  “Yep. I’m so ready to be done with this project. I’m sure you are too.”

  She blew out a breath and a chuckle. “Oh yeah.”

  As Isaac and Mike came in, Lily introduced them to Noah. He admired the white and rose slab of marble they carried and went into the bedroom with them in case they needed any help mounting it to the wall.

  Lily took the opportunity to try to collect herself. Noah knocked her way off and she had a hard time remembering what else it was she needed to do. She walked to the window and looked out at the snow that fell in earnest now. But she didn’t think about heading back down the mountain. She thought instead of Noah’s big beautiful body wrapped around her own, how he’d carried her like she didn’t weigh an ounce in the pool that night, how good it felt waking up beside him. Her thoughts were interrupted by Isaac.

  “We’ve got the headboard up if you want to take a look, make sure it’s the way you want it.”

  She turned and gave him a smile, heading down the hall behind him. The last piece - her heart fluttered with excitement to see all her hard work come together.

  And it really had. Taking up a major portion of wall behind the king bed, the headboard made the room truly special, at once cozy and off-the-charts unique. Together with the rugs, tiles, bedding and other furniture Lily had carefully chosen, the room was fit for a magazine shoot. She could only hope the client would think so as well. Her job was finally done. She glanced at Noah and he gave her a big smile. She couldn’t help but let a small sigh escape as she smiled back at him.

  “It’s amazing Isaac, really gorgeous. And thanks again for working so fast to get it done. I know it wasn’t ideal,” she said, ushering him and Mike back down the hall. They all looked out the floor-to-ceiling windows at the falling snow as they entered the living room.

  “Wow, we better get a move on. Wouldn’t want to get trapped up here.” Isaac stuck out his hand, giving Lily and then Noah a warm handshake and a smile. “It’s been a pleasure Lily. I hope we get the chance to work together again sometime.”

  “Same here,” she said, seeing them to the door. She looked out at her car and saw the snow piling up on the driveway. She should get a move on too. But first she needed to talk to Noah.

  She turned and caught her breath when she realized how close Noah was. Sparks flew between them and although it took every effort for her to stay where she was, what she really wanted to do was lean in and feel him touching her.

  “We need to talk,” she almost whispered.

  “I think so,” he replied, coming just a tiny bit closer to her. She felt her body respond to his and cursed it again. If she could just get through what she wanted to say without attacking him she could be happy.

  “I wanted to apologize for not believing you about Upton. And also about the lake. You’ve treated me better than I deserve and I shouldn’t have doubted you. You were right the other day. You deserve my respect and trust. If you’ll have me still, I want to give it to you.”

  He leaned in, brushed a strand of her hair back from her cheek, tucking it behind her ear. A quick intake of breath had her feeling dizzy.

  “I love you, Noah. I couldn’t imagine my life without you-”

  He pulled her to him and pressed his lips to hers, cutting off the rest of her speech. His lips were moist and pliant and he devoured her as if they’d been apart for decades. She was helpless in his embrace. All she could do was put her hands on his chest and let him take her mouth, suddenly knowing that she would never need anything else again.

  Noah tried to keep his heart in check but it beat wildly out of control. All the way up the mountain he’d hoped Lily would be at the cabin. It terrified him to think that the job would be done and they’d have no reason to see each other again, and still not have come to any resolution about their relationship.

  She clung to his neck and pulled him in deeper for a kiss. He didn’t care what happened now - he knew he would never let her go again.

  “Lily, you are the love of my life. Of course I’ll have you still. It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

  He cupped her face and dropped kisses on her forehead, her nose, her chin, until she laughed, his whiskers tickling her delicate skin.

  He was hard already, but as she ran her fingernails over his chest and reached for his belt buckle, pulling his hips in to meet her, he thought he might explode with desire. He brushed her ribcage with the back of his hand, then deftly did the same to each of her breasts, making the nipples stand hard against her sweater.

  They kissed and it was all he could do not to push her onto the floor and take her right there.

  Finally they pulled away from one another. Noah saw the love in her eyes and it made his heart want to burst. She was everything he’d ever hoped for.

  “You did an amazing job on the cabin,” he told her, trailing kisses along her neck.

  “You did a pretty good job yourself. Like you said, we make a good team.” She nuzzled into his neck.

  Looking up from her he had a chance to look outside. The sky all around them was white with huge snowflakes. It was so dense he couldn’t see the trees a dozen feet from the house.

  “I think we might have a problem,” he whispered. She turned quickly around but he grabbed her hand and pulled her with him to look out at the driveway. Not only were their cars covered in snow, the road leading out was completely white as well. They’d waited too long to leave.

  Lily frowned as she gazed out the window. “I thought it wasn’t supposed to snow until tomorrow.”

  Noah shrugged. “Nobody told the clouds.”

  “You think it’s too late? You think the road’s closed?”

  “I think the main road might still be open. But from the look of things, we’re going to have a hell of a time even getting to the main road.”

  “Don’t you have snow tires?”

  He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I have chains, but they aren’t with me.”

  “Why not? Don’t you keep them in your truck?”

  “I took ‘em out this summer. They were taking up too much space. I haven’t put them back yet.”

  Lily sighed, looked quickly around the room. “So we’re stuck here then.”

  “Seems that way. At least the place is finished. Can you imagine this happening with the wall still knocked out?” He chuckled.

  “This isn’t funny. Who knows how long we’ll be trapped here. I hate this cabin!” She stomped her foot and he laughed, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her to him.

  “Oh, it isn’t that bad is it? We’ve got a brand new cabin, lots of heat, snow falling outside. And one another. I can think of all kinds of ways to entertain ourselves, can’t you?”

  She narrowed his eyes at him. “What about food? Drink? What if we’re trapped up here for days?”

  He leaned back against the counter and blew out a breath. “I’ll hunt us up something, sugar, don’t you worry.”

  “This isn’t a game, Noah.”

  He turned and saw the basket she’d put together. “Look! We’ve got sustenance right here! Wine even.”

  “That’s for Mrs. Upton, a welcome home present.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “I think under the circumstances, we can help ourselves. Lord knows that woman owes us a little something.”

  Lily turned to look out the window again, finally giving him a small shrug of defeat.

  Noah gave her a grin, hunted around in the basket until he found a bottle opener, the one Lily had had custom printed with the Daly Designs logo. “Nice,” he told her as he used it to open the bottle of wine.

  She smiled. ‘Thanks.” As he poured them each a glass of wine she ran her hand over his arm. “Kind of funny, huh?” she said.

  “What?”

  “That we’re here like this. Considering the way we started
the project. I wanted to kill you when I saw you here that first day.”

  He handed her a glass of the dark red wine and took a sip. “I wasn’t thrilled to see you again either. You sure were feisty.”

  He turned away from her to look back out the window at the falling snow collecting on the windowsills. She moved to the big windows to look out over the white ridge and he felt his heart constrict. Trapped with the woman I love. He could think of a lot worse fates. He came up behind her and wrapped his strong arms around her waist, nuzzling her neck with his chin. She leaned back against him.

  “You know, you never answered my question.”

  “Which one?”

  “The one where I asked you to be my wife.”

  She turned in his arms, her eyes dancing with laughter. “Oh, that one.”

  “So are you going to answer? Or are you just going to keep torturing me for all eternity?”

  She stood on her tiptoes and sucked his bottom lip into her mouth. “I don’t know, torturing you has its appeal.”

  “Lily! I can’t take it much longer.” He started to pull away but she wrapped a hand around his back and planted her lips on his.

  “I will,” she whispered between kisses. He pulled back and looked into her eyes. “What did you say?”

  “I said I will. I will marry you.” She laughed as he pulled her off her feet, nearly splashing the wine in her hand and kissed her again.

  “You’ve just made me the happiest man alive.”

  “I don’t know about that,” she said as she slid back down his body.

  “I do.” He brushed his fingertips over her cheek and felt a bolt of electricity pass between them.

  “Now, then. About all that entertaining ourselves business…” she said, turning a corner of her mouth up in a sly smile. She set her wine glass down and began working on the buttons of his shirt. He reached down and pulled her mouth to his again. They fell in a heap on the rug.

  “See, being snowed in with me isn’t so bad, now is it?” he whispered, slowly easing his hands up her sweater, pulling it gently off her head.

  “I guess not,” she replied, laughing and pulling him closer.

  The next morning, a knock on the door pulled Lily out of her deep sleep. She rolled over, meeting Noah’s deep green eyes that danced with a smile.

  “Good morning, love.” He kissed her nose and then her lips briefly, giving her a tender hug before pulling himself up off the bearskin rug they’d slept on and pulling his pants on.

  She watched him go to the door, his chest bare, his walk relaxed. A tiny prickle of fear ran through her as she imagined Christina behind the door. She lay back and smiled when she heard the rough voice of the patrolman instead.

  “Good morning, sir. Just wanted to check on you all. Have any trouble with the storm last night?”

  Noah looked quickly back at Lily on the floor, her naked body barely covered underneath the sheet, her brown hair spread out all around her. His heart beat in his chest. Once again he was blown away at the sight of her.

  “No, no trouble at all.”

  “Glad to hear it. We managed to plow this far up so the road down the mountain should be clear enough now. But make sure to take those turns nice and easy if you do go down. Still pretty icy out there.”

  “No problem, officer. Thanks for letting us know.”

  He grinned at her as he closed the door. “Seems we aren’t snowed in any longer.”

  She pulled back the sheet, revealing her gloriously naked body. “What a shame. I was just going to invite you back into bed.”

  “Just because we can get off the mountain, doesn’t mean we should,” he replied as he slid in beside her. “Although we might want to move it on home. Who knows how long before the owner shows up?” He nipped her shoulder with his teeth and gave her a sweet smile. “Ready to go home, Mrs. Caldwell?”

  “Jumping the gun a little, aren’t we?”

  He growled and nuzzled her. “Hopefully not much. Making you my bride is the first thing I want to do - after we get back to town. For now, let’s go home, shall we?”

  Lily grinned and clung to him. “Yes, lets.”

  About Lynette Lee

  I began writing almost as soon as I could hold a pen. My grandmother was a writer and between her encouragement and my obsession with reading I was destined from start to be

  a writer.

  After reading my first romance (Outlander - what a book to start with, right?) I was hooked and I’ve been scribbling away at love scenes and creating my own HEAs ever since. I’m also an avid cook, gardener and traveler and try to work these loves into my books as well.

  I currently live in Texas with my husband, a son on the way, and my two crazy border collies.

  If you’d like to get in touch with me, you can always reach me through the social media links below. You can also email me at authorlynettelee@gmail.com Thanks so much for reading about me, and I wish you love, adventure, and many years of good reading!

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