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***
It was dusk by the time Tess and the men finished moving equipment and setting up for cutting
pole timber. When she dismissed the crew, she felt relieved. After seeing Zak, it had been difficult
concentrating on the job. She had so many questions, the main one being why he'd left seven years ago
without a word. But unless he volunteered the information, she wouldn't ask. Pride wouldn't allow her
to do so.
She also wondered how long he'd been staying at the cabin, and why he was there. It had always
been understood that he'd eventually live with his family and work at the winery, which was almost
sixty miles away. She also felt uncomfortable knowing he was so close, and she couldn't shake the
feeling that going to his cabin was a serious mistake. If she was ever to rebuild her relationship with
her father, Zak could not be a part of her life. Yet the subject of the property line had to be addressed.
Weary and emotionally drained from a long trying day, she closed camp for the weekend and
returned to her cabin. But instead of a bath intended to strip off dust, grime and forest debris, she
immersed herself in a tub of warm water, leaned against the sloped porcelain back of the footed tub,
and inhaled the fragrance of jasmine. She'd never used colognes or bath salts when she was seventeen
because Zak didn't want her to wear scents of any kind, claiming he liked the smell of warm fresh
woman, and he'd prove it to her by nuzzling her all over. Adam checking out Eve was the way he
explained it. And she'd stretch out on a bed of moss at the grotto, or in the bed in his cabin, and let
him do his exploration until neither of them could stand it any longer, at which time they'd settle into
serious lovemaking. But Zak wasn't a consideration now, and she liked the hint of flowers on her skin.
It also gave her a feeling of empowerment, going against what she knew Zak would expect of the Tess
O'Reilly he'd left behind.
After her bath she sorted through her clothes, debating what to wear. Seven years ago she would
have worn tight jeans and a snug fitting shirt that emphasized her figure, because Zak liked her
dressed that way, calling her his little logger lady. But he also liked it when they wore nothing but
maple vines, or fern fronds when dressed like Adam and Eve. Her face flushed hot when she
remembered one particular time at the grotto, when he was naked and aroused, and she'd draped a
garland of columbine around his hips and teased him with the flower petals until he pulled her down
on the mossy floor of the forest and finished the job she'd started...
Shoving that image back into the recesses of her mind, she held up a black jersey with long
sleeves and smoothed it against her chest as she peered into the mirror. Although Zak liked her
dressed as his logger lady, David encouraged her to emphasize her femininity, claiming he liked her
in black because, with her dark hair, it made her look mysterious.
Without further deliberation, she tugged the jersey over her head, put on a pair of black slacks,
and slipped her bare feet into some fake alligator flip flops. After dragging a brush through her hair,
leaving it loose around her shoulders, she grabbed a flashlight and left.
At Zak's cabin, she stepped onto the porch and knocked lightly.
When Zak opened the door, he said nothing as his gaze moved slowly down the length of her,
causing her breath to quicken and her cheeks to burn. Uncertain what to make of his silent perusal, she
said in a clipped dry tone, "You suggested I come, so am I supposed to come in or not?"
"Sorry," Zak replied. "I didn't mean to stare. It just seems strange seeing you dressed like that."
He moved aside, and as she passed him, Tess caught the drift of men's aftershave, which
surprised her. Zak never wore aftershave before. But maybe that was because she'd told him she
wanted her Adam to smell like ferns and moss and whatever clung to him on the forest floor, and he'd
laughed and promised to remain her nature boy. So, it seemed, turnabout was fair play. He was going
against what she liked, just as she was doing with him.
Once inside, she wondered what to say next. It had been so easy for them to talk before, but now,
what was there to say to a man who promised her the world then walked out of her life, shattering her
dreams without so much as an explanation?
Zak broke the awkwardness by lifting a bottle of wine from a wooden rack, and saying, "You're
over twenty-one now. Do you want a glass of wine? It's from my father's private stock."
Tess eyed the bottle in Zak 's hand. It would seem strange drinking wine with Zak. Although
they'd made love too many times to count, that same summer Zak never offered her wine because she
was only seventeen. She never questioned why giving her alcohol was an issue with him, while
having sex with an underage girl wasn't, because she didn't want him to have a reason to stop. The
fact was, she'd been hoping to get pregnant that summer so she could tie Zak to her forever. But when
he gave her the ring, and talked about them marrying as soon as she turned eighteen, she didn't worry
anymore because she knew his love was forever...
"Well?" Zak asked.
"I suppose," Tess replied, but her gaze wasn't focused on the bottle Zak held up for her to see, but
instead on his broad chest in the snug, long-sleeved white jersey. Not the kind of shirt she expected.
Years before it would have been a worn denim work shirt, unless he was working in the afternoon
when the sun was hot, and he'd be bare-chested. He'd been slimmer then, and she could see from the
muscular contours beneath his shirt that his chest was thicker and his biceps more developed, as if
he'd been working out. The patterns on his shirt were also different from what she might have
expected, random designs in dark grays, like a giant tattoo. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]