Time of Day
Page 22
Kinsley looked at Riley, who had a very happy expression on her face. It made Kinsley not care about anything other than getting on that boat with her. She could deal with a dirty kitchen.
“Go for it,” she said to Morgan. “You ready?” she asked Riley.
“Let’s go.”
Riley and Kinsley headed down the dock that also had two canoes tied to the other side for Morgan’s family store. They climbed into their boat. Kinsley passed Riley the keys. Riley lifted both eyebrows and gave her a smile. She sat in the chair and started the engine. When it roared to life, there was a soft round of applause that came from the shore.
“Oh, shit!” Kellan yelled over the sound. “You forgot the champagne.”
She picked up the bottle off the pebbled beach and jogged toward the boat. Kinsley and Riley climbed back out. Kellan handed Kinsley the bottle and moved back down the dock.
“Do you–”
“We can do it together,” Riley suggested.
Riley and Kinsley both gripped the neck of the bottle with Riley’s hand over Kinsley’s. They smiled at one another before they crashed the bottle over the side of the boat, spraying it with champagne and broken dark green glass. Everyone applauded again. Riley’s arm went to the small of Kinsley’s back.
“We’ll clean up,” Kellan said of the glass and mess.
“Thanks,” Kinsley replied. “Now, we go?”
“I still can’t believe what you named this thing,” Morgan said.
“It worked for us,” Kinsley replied, turning her head back to Morgan. “Get your own boat and name it whatever you want.”
“Looking for love?” Remy teased Morgan.
“No way,” Morgan replied with a chuckle. “Come on. I’ll help you guys get the lunch together.”
Riley and Kinsley climbed back into their boat. Riley moved behind the wheel, and Kinsley sat next to her. She pulled them not so expertly away from the dock and then onto the lake in no particular direction. They watched their friends get smaller and smaller as they made their way into the massive, clear lake. Several minutes later, Kinsley was standing behind her, with her arms wrapped around Riley’s neck. They were enjoying both the ambiance and the reward for their hard work, putting the boat back together.
“Here?” Kinsley asked.
“Here’s good,” Riley replied.
Riley slowed and then stopped the engine altogether. They were still in open water, but near enough to the shore to not get in the way of any other boats. They’d drift for a while before returning home. Riley stood. They moved to the back of the boat. They still called it the back and the front, along with right and left, instead of using boat terminology. They probably always would. That was fine with Riley. She and her amazing girlfriend had a boat together.
“So, I know you wanted to talk before everyone else got their chance on this thing. What’s going on?” Kinsley asked, taking Riley’s hand in her own after they sat.
“I’m ready for our next project,” Riley said. “Now that the boat’s finished.”
“Oh,” Kinsley said, seemingly a little disappointed. “I don’t have anything planned.”
“I know. I was thinking we could plan something together,” Riley suggested.
“Like what?”
“Like redoing my apartment,” Riley answered.
“What’s wrong with your apartment?”
“Nothing’s wrong with it. It’s just an apartment, and I think it’s going to take a lot of work to turn it into offices,” she explained.
“What are you talking about?” Kinsley asked. “What offices? Where would you–” Kinsley stopped as it dawned on her. “You’d live with me, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes,” Riley said.
“And the offices would be…”
“For us,” Riley answered. “It’s a two-bedroom apartment. Kellan’s agreed to let us build a separate entrance and remodel the whole upstairs into a law office and a real estate office. We’d use the living room as the reception for both, or the living room for you and the dining room for me; either way is fine. We could even separate the whole space with a wall. I’m completely open to ideas.”
“You want to share an office space with me?” Kinsley asked.
“Well, I think the moving in together thing is the more important piece of this conversation. Is that okay?”
“Of course, it’s okay,” Kinsley said loudly, causing Riley to laugh lightly. “I’d love for you to move in. This is your house already; you know that. And your office?”
“If you’re interested,” Riley began. “I want to do more, Kinsley. For my clients, I want to do more. I want to get more involved in the programs that benefit these women and children. I was thinking you and I could even partner on some things.”
“Like what?”
Riley dropped her hand from Kinsley’s cheek and placed it on Kinsley’s thigh instead.
“You know about foreclosures before anyone. These women often need places to live that aren’t expensive. They need places where they could start over. I thought we could let them know about the places you find. We could also buy another place of our own with my savings and trust. We could flip it and sell it.”
“After your apartment, that could be our next project,” Kinsley suggested.
“I do love supervising you when you do manual labor,” Riley replied with a lifted eyebrow.
“And I love you,” Kinsley said.
“I love you, too.” Riley climbed into her girlfriend’s lap, straddling her thighs. “I love our home, and I love our new boat. I love our life together, Kinsley. I want everything with you,” she said.
“And to think I used to wonder if you even knew who I was,” Kinsley reminded.
“Because I never gave you the time of day, right?” Riley laughed as she leaned down to kiss her.
“We cannot have sex on this thing before our–”
“Oh, we’re definitely having sex on this thing. How else did you think we were going to christen it?”
They touched one another hurriedly and without losing all their clothing, for obvious reasons. When they finished by whispering their feelings to one another, Kinsley took the wheel and drove them back to the dock so that they could join their friends. They tied up their new boat and took a moment to look at it from the beach while listening to their friends, up at the house, laughing about something funny. Riley kissed her on the cheek. Kinsley took her hand, and they walked away from their finished project that they’d named “Time of Day.”
COMING NEXT
The Perfect View
(Tahoe Series Book #3)
Adler Williams had been surprised with a trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, by her boyfriend; but not in a good way. That was the last place Adler ever wanted to be. She was not a woman who enjoyed camping or the outdoors in any way. While trying to return the camping supplies she wouldn’t be needing for this surprise trip, she meets a woman who loves the outdoors so much, she runs an outfitter’s shop in South Lake Tahoe.
Morgan Burns had watched her ex-girlfriend fall for and get engaged to her new girlfriend. Then, she’d watched her best friend get the girl of her dreams. When she visits Jackson Hole to plan a new store to her ever-growing chain, she meets a woman who is clearly not a fan of many of the activities Morgan holds dear.
The two women begin a long-distance friendship while they both attempt to navigate the newest hurdles in their lives: Adler’s relationship with her boyfriend and Morgan’s drive to expand her store empire. As Adler spends more and more time with Morgan, she begins to realize there’s more to her life than just work; or at least there can be, as long as she’s willing to risk her heart.
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NOVELS BY THE AUTHOR
Stand-alone Books:
All the Love Songs
The Fire
The Moments
The Disappeared
Chicago Series:
Introduction – Fresh Start
Book #1 – The Best Lines
Book #2 – Just Tell Her
Book #3 – Love Walked into The Lantern
Series Finale – What Happened After
San Francisco Series:
Book #1 – Checking the Right Box
Book #2 – Macon’s Heart
(recommended to read after Keep Tahoe Blue )
Book #3 – This Above All
Series Finale – What Happened After
Tahoe Series:
Book #1 – Keep Tahoe Blue
Book #2 – Time of Day
Coming Soon:
Tahoe Series Book #3 – The Perfect View
(Available for pre-order)