Page 34 of Rocky Mountain Desire

“Hey. I’m sorry for… Well, I’m not sorry for kissing you.”

Her light chuckle reassured him more than a rapid absolution would have. “I seem to remember I kissed you, Matt Coleman.”

“How about we say we kissed each other and make it square?”

She laughed louder. “Is this another built-in guy thing? Like the remote-control gene?”

“What you talking about?”

“Needing to receive credit for initiating the attack.”

Maybe. “Yeah, well, I’ll give you total credit for kicking my butt in your own unique way.” He paused. “You’re right. Youwereright—I would have left your apartment and spent the night moping and getting smashed.”

“You sound sober. My therapy worked?”

Holy shit, yeah.“Worked a little too well, I think.”

There was a creaking sound in the background, then the music kicked up—this time delicate flutes tickling his ear. “How can me kissing you work too well?” she asked.

“I want to do it again.”

Dead silence.

“Hope?”

She sighed. “Honest? I want to do it again as well. But that’s probably not the best idea.”

“Because I went out with Helen?” He hadn’t expected her to have the same concerns he did. Matt turned onto the secondary road that led toward his trailer.

“Went out? Matt, you asked her to marry you. Yeah. Sticking with being friends would be much easier.”

“But friends don’t kiss.”

She huffed into the receiver. “Nope.”

“And I want to kiss you, Hope. I want to touch you, this time without fighting to keep my hands off private places. I want to taste your soft skin and feel—”

“Jesus, Matt, you trying to drive me crazy?”

He was making himself crazy, his body reacting to the thought of what he was describing. “But I also want to help you finish that quilt, and maybe make a few more things for your shop.”

The line went silent for the longest time. Matt worried she might have hung up on him. When she did speak, it was quiet. Even. “I don’t know what to say.”

“I guess, in a way I don’t know either. I’m going out of town for a week, but when I get back, is it okay…I mean, would you mind if I gave you a call?”

“Wait…”

Matt clung to the wheel with two hands, wondering what was up. Praying he wasn’t going to get ditched before he made a real move. Shit, thirty years old and still fumbling with the girls. He needed lessons from his younger brothers or something.

“You have to wait until I open my present before I’ll answer you.” Paper crinkled in the background.

It took a moment before he remembered placing the gift against the wall when he arrived unannounced that afternoon. “You didn’t open it yet?”

“I was waiting, because… Well, when I give a gift I like to be there while the person opens it. But I don’t think you should come back tonight, so I’m breaking my rule this once. Hang on. What the heck did you use to seal this thing?”

“There was no invisible tape left at my place, so I used packing tape.”

She laughed, the sound light and happy like a million sparkling stars. “Duct tape forever.”