Forbidden Falls (Virgin River #9)(60)

“I haven’t kissed a woman like that in quite a while,” he said. “That was nice. Are you angry?” he asked.

“Did I taste angry?”

He just smiled. “You tasted wonderful. You’re right—it’s not such a good idea. Well, I mean, it is a good idea. But I see the potential for disaster.”

She pulled away and put a hand against her wild curls as if to smooth her hair into place. The hand trembled a bit; he’d never seen her rattled before. “You’re just going to get yourself in trouble with the Big Guy, and there’s no point in making your life tougher.”

“Nah, God’s not opposed to kissing. I think employers taking advantage of employees, however, could put a big black mark on the minus side of my chart. But you liked it,” he said. “You did. And I liked it. It felt pretty consensual to me.”

“I’m not the kind of woman a man like you gets interested in, and we both know that. Eventually that could hurt me. And if you really are a nice guy, hurting me will hurt you.”

“Because of that dancing thing?” he asked.

“That dancing thing, and I’m poor, undereducated, strapped with kids and very, very temporary.”

“Wait now,” he said. “I’m not trying to make an argument for interest, because you might be right—it might be a mistake that could get out of control. But you’re smart, no matter how much or little formal education you have. And I don’t believe you see your kids as a liability, and you know I don’t—I like them. And you won’t always be poor, not with your ambition and positive attitude.” He smiled gently. “The dancing doesn’t matter a damn. I understand about that.”

“I don’t want to be your bad girl. The one you take chances with for a little walk on the wild side. To break a few rules, have a little sinful fun.”

“Ellie, there’s not a bad bone in your body. And we both know it.”

“That isn’t really the point, Your Holiness…”

“Okay, let’s be rational. I apologize, I won’t do it again, but really—it was just a kiss.”

“Not the way you do it,” she said.

Ten

Ellie was wrong about one thing; for the first time in years Noah wasn’t lonely. He now had Ellie.

He hadn’t thought he was going to kiss her. He hadn’t even seen it coming. It wasn’t something he’d been aching to do but, in retrospect, it made sense. They had grown closer, sharing personal things about their lives, and despite Ellie’s wisecracking, they had fun together. They depended on each other. He liked her better and trusted her more by the day. She might look and talk like a diamond in the rough, but she had a simple wisdom about her that was addictive. Her honesty alone was alluring. She had a sharp, teasing tongue, but she was kind and genuine. She listened with compassion, with sympathy and not pity, as he ranted about his father. She didn’t suffer fools gladly. Anyone who doesn’t go to his daughter-in-law’s funeral would be a bastard in my book.

And there was that other thing that was overdue—strong feelings for a woman, feelings of desire. He was a thirty-five-year-old man with a perfectly healthy libido and throughout his adult life had enjoyed normal feelings of arousal. The past few years had been a bit lightweight in that department. He’d been out with women, even been in some very interesting clinches, but hadn’t met anyone that made him crazy with longing. He missed that and needed that in his life.

Noah wasn’t a complicated man. He had to admire more than one thing about a woman to desire her. He had to like her, to start with. He had to feel comfortable with her—all that teasing and arguing with Ellie, that was like friendship foreplay to him. Something that had been painfully absent from his life for the past several years—playfulness. He’d let his life get a little too serious. Ellie brought the laughter back to him.

The first time he laid eyes on her, her blatant sexuality had shocked him. She didn’t shock him anymore. Either she was playing it down a bit or he was getting used to her. True, she wasn’t wearing as much makeup, but why would she for cleaning and painting? But things that normally put him off, he’d begun to find amusing. Kind of cute. So completely Ellie. Like the long fingernails, painted a different shade almost every day, decorated with sparkles. In his opinion she’d gone from a spectacle of womanhood to pop art.

He hadn’t felt this alive or happy in years. She not only made him feel again, but made him feel fun again.

But, after he walked her home, he went back to the church, stood in front of the now-dark stained-glass window, looked up and said to himself, I promise I won’t let her down. I’ll find a way to be there for her while she recovers the life she has every right to. Amen.

“George?” Noah said into the phone.

He was answered with a grunt. And then, “God, man! It’s midnight!”

“I kissed her. Not a little affectionate peck on the cheek. I tickled her tonsils with my tongue.”

“Well now,” George said. He sat up in bed and felt around for his glasses. “I can’t tell if you’re bragging or apologizing.”

“This has disaster written all over it.”

“Ah. Bragging. No one loves a good disaster like Noah.” Then he chuckled. “And now?”

“Now I can’t wait to do it again.”