Healed with a Kiss

He draped his arm loosely around her shoulders after Alexis gave the woman her phone, and responded to the photographer’s cheery command to “say cheese” with a silent smile. Photo taken, Alexis returned the favor and used the woman’s phone to take a picture of the couple posed with the valley spreading behind them.

“You don’t want to stand out on the edge of the point for a photo?” she teased when she returned the phone.

The woman rolled her eyes. “No, thank you! Those kids were scaring me half to death,” she added, nodding toward the path down which the college boys had just disappeared.

A few minutes later, the other couple moved on, and Alexis was alone with Logan, though she doubted their solitude would last long. Relishing the soothing sounds of rustling breeze and calling birds, she drew a deep breath of the clean, fresh air as she watched a hawk circle lazily in the distance. “Beautiful,” she murmured.

He reached out to tuck back a strand of hair that had escaped her ponytail, his fingertips lingering against her cheek. “Agreed.”

Her pulse jumped, but she thought she managed to keep her expression serene as she said, “I needed this.” She slipped her phone into her pocket. “A day out in nature, away from appointments and paperwork and unrealistic brides.”

Logan shook his head. “How could they have this for inspiration—” he waved a hand toward the horizon “―and still decide to turn our grounds into faux Japan or Jamaica or Italy?”

She laughed softly and shook her head. “Maybe the ones who’ve grown up with this view tend to take it for granted. Though I grew up in Roanoke, I moved away straight out of high school for college in Maryland and then to New York City. I’ve only been back in the state for a year and a half, so it’s all still fresh for me again. I’d almost forgotten how beautiful Virginia is.”

She’d mentioned to him before that she’d lived in Maryland and New York, though they hadn’t talked much about the years before they’d met.

“I grew up in the hills of Tennessee,” he reminded her. “Beautiful countryside. Still, I don’t take scenery like this for granted, no matter how often I see it.”

No, she thought, he wouldn’t. Logan was the type to appreciate what he had, without wasting time wishing it were something else. Wasn’t that pretty much the way he seemed to feel about their no-strings affair?

He drew out his water bottle again and took a drink, then opened a zippered storage bag of trail mix and tossed a handful into his mouth. She shook her head with a smile when he offered the bag to her, but she pulled out her water bottle and sipped, taking advantage of the respite before the four-mile trek back down to the car.

She couldn’t resist sitting on a ledge and dangling her feet over, though she chose a spot that looked a bit sturdier than the most outwardly jutting point. Logan sat cross-legged beside her, keeping his feet beneath him as he ate some more trail mix. “Sure you don’t want some of this? I didn’t take time for much breakfast this morning.”

She smiled and held out her hand in surrender to temptation. He tipped a small pile of nuts and seeds into her palm and she munched as she swung her feet lazily below her. “That’s a good mix. Do I taste a little cayenne pepper?”

He nodded. “Bonnie makes it for me. She knows I like things spicy.”

He winked at her and a little laugh escaped her. Good grief, had Logan’s sexy wink brought out her inner giggly schoolgirl?

“How hard are you going to have to work this afternoon to make up for taking the morning off?” she asked him after finishing her snack.

He chuckled. “I’ll catch up. I left a list for Curtis to handle this morning. His retired brother-in-law is helping us out until Zach’s cleared for work again after his appendectomy. How about you? Will you pay for taking a break?”

“I have a few calls to make this afternoon, and a six-o’clock meeting with clients, but other than that, it was a rare slow day for me. My calendar is packed full for the rest of the week, though.”

“Big event this weekend?”

“Small shindig Saturday evening. Before that, on Friday evening, I have to drive to Roanoke to endure another dinner party with my mother, my stepfather and her latest marriage prospect for me. I’m never sure whether he’ll be a doctor, lawyer or candlestick maker, but I would place money on someone being there these days.”

Logan frowned, slowly lowering his water bottle. “Marriage prospect?”

She reached up to straighten her ponytail, which had been loosened by exertion and the breeze. “My mother has been trying to marry me off for the past year, using every excuse from my advancing age to the fact that it isn’t good for business for a wedding planner to be single. Let’s just say, she’s a rather...challenging woman,” she added, choosing the word carefully.

“Your advancing age? Seriously? You’re...what? Thirty?”

“Excuse me. I’m twenty-nine.”

He nodded gravely. “Even younger, then.”

“Mom was married—the first time—when she was twenty-two. Married my dad, her second husband, when she was twenty-five. She was forty-six when she married Duncan Healey, my stepdad, ten years ago.”

“And your brother is twice divorced at twenty-seven,” he grumbled, proving he’d retained what little she’d told him about her complicated family. “This is the path she thinks you should follow?”

She shrugged. “I guess she figures since I’m not going to be the musical theater star I grew up thinking I would be—and which she very much wanted me to be—I might as well provide her with a rich and successful son-in-law to brag about.”

He raised an eyebrow. “The fact that you operate your own successful business isn’t brag-worthy enough?” he asked, without mentioning her reference to theater.

“My mom has owned and operated a successful floral shop in Roanoke for twenty-five years,” she replied drily. “To her, being a business owner is no big deal. But she seems to be pleased that I’ve done so well with it so far. She takes credit for teaching me all I know about the business. And I suppose that’s fair, though it wasn’t what she’d always planned for me.”

“I disagree. You’ve done an excellent job with your business, and I’m impressed with how much you’ve grown it since you bought it from Lula Coopersmith.”

No compliment he could have given her would have pleased her more. She beamed at him. “Thank you, Logan.”

Still frowning a bit, he nodded. “Just stating facts.”

And then, as if concerned that they were straying a bit too closely to sentimental territory, he added brusquely, “As long as you’re not trying to turn the inn into the Taj Mahal or Buckingham Palace, of course.”

“You’re starting on that again?” Trying not to grin, she shook her head. “Don’t make me complain to Kinley that you’re not fully cooperating with a client.”

With one of his rare laughs, Logan stood and offered her a hand. “You’re threatening to get me into trouble with my sister?”

Now she was the one to laugh as she allowed him to boost her to her feet, then slipped her arms around his waist. “I have much more effective weapons in my persuasion arsenal than threats,” she said in her sultriest voice, pressing her body against his and looking up at him through her lashes.

She was rewarded with another flash of molten gold from his narrowed eyes just before his mouth covered hers.

She loved kissing him here in the sunshine with the wind whipping their hair, birds singing around them, the beautiful panorama spread below them. Loved having him all to herself, not worrying about who might see them together, feeling no need to keep her attraction to him under wraps. No pressure, no expectations, no questions or judgments, just two healthy single adults who enjoyed each other’s company and shared an explosive chemistry.

Voices drifted up to them from the path, and they broke apart reluctantly. With a sigh of resignation, Alexis donned her day-pack just as a group of chattering middle-aged women came into view, some of them puffing a little from the climb. She and Logan exchanged cordial nods with them, then headed back down the path to retrace their steps to their vehicles.

The keys to his pickup truck in his hand, Logan stood close by until Alexis had unlocked and opened the driver’s-side door of her car. “I’ll give you a call later this week,” he said.

She nodded. “It’s going to be a crazy week from here out. I have no appointments at the inn this week, though I’ll be there next week for final preparations for the Kempshall wedding next weekend. I’ll be home around ten most evenings, if you want to call then.”

“Yeah, I’ll do that one night. So, I had a good time this morning.”

She smiled up at him. “So did I.”

“Have a great week. And, uh, good luck at your mom’s matchup party?”

His dry, questioning tone made her smile wryly. “Good luck would be if I’m wrong about that. Maybe it’ll just be family there this time.”

She knew her expression wasn’t overly optimistic. There’d been something in her mom’s tone that had warned her to expect another maternal ambush. She would much rather spend that time relaxing with Logan, who expected nothing more from her than a good time. What more could she desire? she asked herself again as she made the solitary drive back to her rented house.

Chapter Three

“Maybe we could make it just a little bigger at this end?” Bonnie asked, critically studying her newly laid-out herb garden Friday evening. “Just to give me a little extra room for the rosemary plants.”