His Little Lanie

by Keri Ford

  The look of it all left the countertops wholly out of place. A strip of wood that was lacquered to a shine like the side of a new car. Or was that… copper? He rubbed over the top, catching the smooth and cool surface. Dang if it wasn’t metal. It looked like a butcher’s block. Let Hank get a look at these, and he’d redo his whole kitchen. Eriksen glanced at Lanie and found her already studying him.

  She smiled. “We tend to try out things on the cabin. If it doesn’t work, nobody really cares. We just call it character until I rip it back out. There may be a few things hodgepodged together throughout.”

  “This looks good though.” He tapped the top.

  “Thanks.” The pride shown with a sparkle that lit her eyes. “Copper countertops.”

  “I thought it was wood at first.”

  “Violet saw something online. I found us a sheet and cleaned it up and put it down. Cindy textured and sealed it.”

  He knew the basics of how their business worked, but so far he hadn’t seen it up close, and this was so far beyond knickknacks and trinkets like in their store. “I thought you just did souvenirs.”

  She chuckled. “We do whatever Violet dreams up. Tea?”

  He’d take anything she offered, so he nodded. Then she poured something steaming into a coffee cup that smelled like flowers. “What is this?”

  “Hibiscus tea.”

  So flowers then. That he was supposed to drink.

  She poked him in the arm and chuckled. “It’s not poison.”

  If it got her to touch him more, so be it, and he tipped it to his lips. The scalding tart drink burned a path down his throat. But the pleasure of seeing her satisfied by his agreement to try it was worth it.

  She gestured him to follow.

  So follow he did, around another corner that emptied into the living room. A wide set of wrought iron doors with glass inlaid stood as the opening to the backyard.

  He touched the twirling bits of iron that looked fragile and effortless to have been constructed together, but he knew it was anything but easy. Knowing Lanie and the talent he’d seen so far, it may not even be wrought iron but piping she heated and bent. “This is unreal.”

  “We intended to put them at the store as the doorway to the back. We wanted to showcase them as part of things we could do.”

  “Why didn’t you? This is amazing.”

  Red filled her cheeks. “Glass doors and a messy storage room don’t really mix. We’re looking at making small displays of household features to stage together, but we’re not there yet. For now we’ve taken pictures, and we’re framing as we go to hang. These are things we’d do on custom work only, so it’s not like I need extras sitting around the store taking up that much space. Violet wants to make a themed collection. Every time she gets about done, she tweaks them or starts over or gets an idea to add to it.”

  “If Hank saw this, he would have you ladies making over his whole house.”

  “It’s difficult, time-consuming work.”

  “I can tell.”

  “And Hank likes things immediately, and we have shelves to keep full. That’s another reason we haven’t showcased them yet.” She shook her head. “Not because of Hank, but if someone wants this kind of thing, you’re looking at months of work. Our shelves would be stripped while we focused on that. We really need to build up our stock first so that I can make a time investment into something like this. We don’t want tourists to walk in and see a half-empty store.”

  She pushed the curved door handle down. The click of it unlocking was the only sound the heavy doors made as they smoothly swung open and he walked out to the backyard. The deck was small, but the lake was right there. The deck could easily be extended over the water and be like at Hank’s place. The back was even closer to the water than he suspected from his kayak. She headed farther out on the deck.

  “Are we going for a swim?”

  She flicked hair off her shoulders as she glanced back. “Did you bring your suit?”

  “I have the one I was born in.”

  Specks of color landed on her cheeks. “We have an hour or so of time to kill before dark. When do your parents go to bed?”

  “A little late, but they loudly watch TV every evening. I think once seven o’clock prime time gets here, we could throw a party in the backyard and they’d never know.”

  She found a seat on the small deck, and he sat next to her, allowing the option of skinny-dipping to be forgotten. Well, the conversation about it was left behind. The mental picture was alive and well in his head.

  There was no denying the physical reaction happening with that thought, so he cleared his throat and did his best to think of anything else. “Do you do this a lot? Come out here and drink tea?”

  “Sometimes.”

  He was seeing more appeal in the water when he sat on a deck facing the sunset. After he nearly died, the thought of Maiden Lake could break him out in a cold sweat. Time and the potential of seeing Lanie had gotten him over that. Gosh, he even got on the water, and now here he sat facing it, totally at ease. As much as at ease as he could be with thoughts of them swimming naked in that body of water. Again, that was a subject best forgotten.

  Hank’s deck was larger, nicer, and offered a better view of the sky. The railing wrapped around it so it was impossible to accidently fall in. Lanie’s deck was simply that. A slab of wooden slats over the ground that seemed uncompleted. Even still, it was more relaxing here than anywhere else. The woman at his left, despite the sexual knot she kept him in, had a lot to do with that.

  He couldn’t place it. That same wonder that had him curious about his past with her raised its head again. He was so tempted to ask, to finally discover what it was about her that appealed and called to him so much. A siren’s call, he always heard the saying. Would finally opening that box satisfy his curiosity? Did he want that?

  Right now he was far from wanting to be done with Lanie Lange, and he didn’t think getting the answers to his question would sooth his interest.

  The real danger lay in knowing when he asked last time she had walked carefully and quickly away. Or had he small-talked her enough she would open up? The wind lightly toyed with the small hairs around her face as she sipped her tea. He wasn’t ready to risk her running yet just to get some information. He’d be a fool to put this easy, comfortable companionship on the line for something like a few answers. He’d gone months without knowing, a few more weeks wasn’t going to kill him. Not when he could do something like put a hand over hers. Or an arm around her shoulders and tip her in to lean against him.

  He never felt more like an awkward, unsure kid than in that moment as the sun took a run at the horizon. They had walked into some sort of hands-off, friend-zone situation.

  God, was this… was this dating? Hooking up with Tish as teenagers, then marrying young, he’d never really dated like a normal person. There was so much uncertainty. No wonder people hated this. Crossing the line and making a move seemed unwise. Staying this way seemed worse. If she would just give him a sign of what she wanted, but she sat next to him, simply drinking her tea, and she looked happy.

  A crushing thought hit him. Maybe this was all she wanted. Her friendly smiles and the way she kept a distance. It rammed him all over again, and he practically sunk in his chair. He’d been so focused on what he’d like to do to her he really hadn’t considered how she wouldn’t like those things done to her.

  Impossible. Their chemistry was strong. He hadn’t seen the signs because most of the time when he saw her it was at night. It was hard to see a blush by moonlight when they were on the water, but there was no denying what he felt. He was going to find out how she felt too. He placed his tea aside. Time to push that boundary. The water sat out before them and waited with opportunity. His chest pounded, but he wasn’t sure if was the idea of getting in the lake or the woman who looked at him strangely because he’d just bolted out of his chair like he’d been launched into orbit. He threw caution to the wind and pull
ed his shirt off. Best to find out her interest now rather than days or weeks away.

  “What.” She cleared her throat. The deck light shining down highlighted her widening eyes. “What are you doing?”

  “I thought we were swimming.”

  “But you said…” If her eyes managed to get any wider, they may fall right out of her head.

  He unzipped his pants. Her lips parted, and he didn’t think she was breathing. Was she afraid, shocked, turned on? If she followed him to the water, he’d know. He dropped his jeans and underwear at the same time. Her cheeks flamed redder than anything he’d seen before and she shifted her gaze.

  It took all he had not to tease her, but he wasn’t up for antagonizing her when he wasn’t entirely sure what she wanted. Was that simple blushing, or was she appalled at his behavior? “Don’t forget you said you’d save me if I started drowning.”

  She squeaked. “I did say that.”

  He’d never looked more forward to getting in the lake than in that very moment as he walked to the water’s edge. He got as far as sticking his toe in when the cold shocked up his spine and he realized his huge mistake. “Holy crap, you get in this?”

  Her laughter caught up to him at the bank. “You just have to go for it. You get used to it.”

  That, he was fairly certain, was a boldfaced lie. “Well, are you coming?”

  The bank wasn’t very far from where she sat. Her tongue tapped her upper lip. “Let me change.”

  “No skinny-dipping for you?”

  She giggled in the most adorable way he’d ever heard and shook her head. “And we need towels. If you think it’s cold now, wait until you get back out.”

  “That’s not encouraging.”

  She disappeared inside without an answer. The sky darkened and gave over to the stars. He waded as far as his ankles. Instead of getting used to it, it just seemed to get colder. Like ice crisscrossed up his legs and his balls were already hiding.

  She came back out and tossed two towels to the side. A blue bikini gripped her in all the best places, and those caveman tendencies went all over him again. Mine. Not sharing. He wanted to get her in the water right then and there, if anything, to shield her from someone driving by on a boat.

  She inhaled a deep breath, and as she released it, she walked in. Steady, one foot confidently after another. He was trapped in a trance of watching the water lick up her calves, over her thighs. She turned with the water just right there. “If you plan to wait until it gets warmer, you’ll be waiting for another month.”

  She dropped all at once, her hair nothing but a flick over the top until it was gone. She burst back through with a gasp, and she shook. “You just have to do it.”

  He was pretty sure he’d rather cut off his leg, but she was in and he couldn’t call uncle. So he just ran. The water splashed. It was a cold sonofabitch, his balls firmly disappeared in his body now, but her ringing laughter warmed him. He ran as far as he could and sank. Cold surrounded him, shocking and numbing, and he stood, wiping water from his face. “This was a horrible idea.”

  She flicked water at him. “This was your idea.”

  “Don’t remind me.” He brushed a hand over his hair, sending water droplets out. On the other hand, she followed him, so that had to mean good things. If she didn’t want this progressing, she would have stayed in her chair, right? He sank lower in the water and treaded with his arms to try to get warm. He wasn’t sure he was getting used to it, but more likely all the nerves in his skin had frozen and fallen off on that first dip.

  She laughed. “You’re as pathetic as my brothers when it comes to cold water.”

  “Don’t make me catch you and turn you over my knee.” That filled his head with a pretty picture, and he was getting warmer by the second.

  “You can’t catch me.”

  “I’ll see about that.” Now he warmed even more by the potential of getting his hands around her. He jumped off the bottom, going for her but only catching waves rolling over him. To be so tiny, she was fast. He stood, looking for bubbles, and spotted them damn near twenty feet away already, and she surfaced there.

  Her eyes danced with amusement. “Told you.”

  “Lucky break.”

  “You don’t swim enough. You’re like my brothers. Big, clumsy, and trying to use brute force to get somewhere in the water.”

  “So I’m a big stumbling fool.”

  “In the water, you certainly are.” She kicked, took long strokes, and disappeared under the surface. She reappeared two feet in front of him. Not out of breath, no splashing appearance, but rather like she just grew out of the water. “You waste so much energy flinging your arms about and trying to kick as hard as you can that you cause more friction against the water and end up fighting it instead of using it.” She flattened her palm and sliced it through the water. “That was me.” She made a fist and turned the broadside of her arm forward, then repeated the movement. Water sputtered over in a small wave. “That’s you. You’re taller, longer legs, longer arms. If you practiced, it wouldn’t take long before you could catch me.”

  He wanted to close that bit of distance between them, but he wanted her to make that final move. If she would just come to him, he would take it from there. But he needed her to come to him first. “Ah, but according to you, I can just sink and bring you right to me.”

  She tilted her small pale face to his. “And I would drag you to shore.”

  “So you say.”

  “I’m stronger than I look.” Her brows slashed with her irritation. “And I’m telling you, I know how to rescue people.”

  “You know, I’ve been rescued from the water before. I know a little something about it.”

  “I’ve been the rescuer before. I know something about it too.”

  “Prove it.” He was baiting her for the simple fact he wanted her hands on him. That was it. No other motive, banter, playing to get her to open up and be more at ease. Nothing. He wanted her to cross that final two feet separating them and put her hands on him.

  A single brow of hers arched, and something about the way she looked at him, gosh, it was like she looked right into him and could see something he didn’t. Like they shared an intimate secret. He’d seen Violet look at Jacob that way, but there was nothing with him and Lanie, was there? She swam over and was on him in a matter of seconds.

  He was trapped. Her arm snaked under his. Fist crossed his chest. She tipped him back. He wasn’t sure if he was thrown off because his back was pressed to every last inch of her or because she had crossed the distance and he collapsed in her arms. Both options were shocking, exactly what he wanted, and he didn’t really care, so he went with it. His feet were off the lake floor, and the current of her swift kicks sent little waves over his calves. He tipped his head back, and it was all too easy to recline against the padding of her chest.

  “Well?” She prompted as she tugged.

  Not to shore, he realized, but through the water, parallel with the bank. He started to open his big dumb mouth about how she’d proved him right, but he caught himself. If she wanted to stay wrapped up around him and pull him longer to really drive home her point, he wasn’t about to fuck that up. “Not too bad.”

  “Of course not.” She continued to kick but used her other hand now to bracket his head and hold him to her chest. His cheek was against the pillow softness of her breasts. It was so familiar he could almost think he’d been here before. Just in his dreams. The night wasn’t likely to progress in the same way his dreams did, but maybe in some ways it could. There was such an innocence that rolled off her, he managed to resist turning over in the water and taking her like he had imagined. He didn’t know what her experience was, but he figured limited. He couldn’t say there were too many crazy idiots out there willing to go up against the wrath of her family.

  Knowing that and the damn cold water, he still responded thickly and hardened, making him the craziest idiot of them all. Maybe a quick roll together on the bank
wasn’t a realistic option, but he wasn’t against carrying her inside to a hot shower and starting there and ending somewhere around five in the morning. He swallowed, trying to get himself under control and thought of every awful thing he could.

  Like his ex-wife. Was this how Tish had pulled him from the water? She never gave many details. There wasn’t much he remembered. His memory of that night was more about feelings and low on the facts. There was softness, comfort. Kind of like now, wrapped in Lanie’s arms.

  That road would take him back where he was mentally trying to run from, and he shut it down, letting his feet sink. He stood but held her arm across his chest so she came with him and hugged to his back.

  “You okay?” Her words were nearly whispered, but it was so much more.

  A deep concern that oddly echoed in his mind and pulled at something else. It was something important and right there, but the feel of her wrapped around him just muddled his thoughts. He held tight to her wrist and turned in the water, spinning until he caught her against the front of him.

  Her eyes were widened again, and she gasped, but she also wrapped her legs around his waist like she was fine to be there too. With the buoyancy of the water and her short stature, the curve of her bottom sat just above his hard cock. Did she know her effect on him? Her gaze lowered. An overwhelming desire to kiss her rushed over him. He leaned in to discover her, and she stilled.

  Her chin dropped, presenting him with a view of the top of her head. “It was me.”

  He blinked. “What?”

  “It was me.” She let off him and twisted to be around behind him again. “It was a pretty night. Clear as a bell and cool that evening, but not cold. Not warm like this year either. I snuck aboard Hank’s boat.”