Flying in Shadows (The Black Creek Series, Book 2) (12 page)

"PDA." Rose trembled. "Parking lot PDA."

"PD what?" He touched his lips to just under her ear.

He felt her arms slide along his sides to his back.

"Parking lot public display of affection," she answered and quivered against him.

Reluctantly, he glanced around and noticed a family of four walking out the zoo's
exit doors. "Mmm. True. Carried away."

* * *

Charcoal sat, looking broken hearted as Rose went through her list of things to bring
in her head. "How do you know?" she asked him. She could tell that
he
could tell she was getting ready to leave. "All right. One more time through. Then,
I have to go."

She wanted to get to the terminal early. Actually, she arrived everywhere early but
this was different. After the short, barely twenty-four-hour fling with her lifelong
best friend, they had spent the week with few and far between phone calls while Andy
studied for and took his finals. Now it was time to see, in person, if they would
pick up where they left off or if the week had cleared the air and they would go back
to where they had been since they were kids.

Charcoal ran in happy circles when he saw her put a few small treats in her pocket.
He looked as if he had two different bodies. The front of him was painfully still,
and he tried desperately to focus. The back was like a caffeinated belly dancer. He
heeled, almost, on their way to the front. She remembered to use gentle reminders
followed by an occasional treat for an extra reward.

Rolling him on his back, she praised the pup when he lay still. She lifted his eyelids
and pulled at his lips as they learned to do in puppy kindergarten so that he would
be comfortable when handled at the vet's. As he gobbled his treats, Rose sat in the
grass. She remembered to place her hands close to his mouth so he wouldn't feel threatened
with people near his food.

Next, sitting practice. She lifted her fingers above his head and pulled back on his
collar while adding an oral command. After verbal praise, she gave Charcoal a hand
signal combined with the word "stay." She kept him on his leash. He was nowhere near
ready to go without. After just over a month, they could make it about ten feet from
each other with success. It was slow, but he was getting better all the time.

"You are the best dog, aren't you?" she told him when he came at her command.

Scratching his ears and rubbing cheeks with him, she finished a solid fifteen minutes
of training before giving the command to get in his crate. "Don't look at me like
that. I can't take you with me." She gave him a chew toy to help him pass the time.

Chapter 10

Flying over the Midwest, Andy reviewed the changes he'd made in the plans for his
summer. Much like his computer aided drafting design class, he backed up, made some
alterations and created an even better design. He used caution and planned to check
the design frequently. Rose may be smart and sexy but she was also young and naïve.

They'd had the comfortable parts of a relationship for years. That foundation so many
couples lacked. The trust. Falling into that dance of give and take and working it
unconsciously. Now, they had fire. Dancing with the flames was easier when you knew
you had steel underneath to hold you up.

He spotted her in the terminal almost instantly, biting her nails with wide eyes.
She wore jeans, pleasantly on the tight side, light blue Chucks and a matching blue
blouse. Very Rose. With one exception. She wore her hair in silky, loose waves that
framed her face and hung over her shoulders. He suspected she did that to get to him.
Smart girl. He was speechless, which rarely happened to Andrew Reed. It was easy to
tell when she found him; her eyes softened and she sealed her lips together like she
always did. Amazing. He winked as he inched along in the middle of the line exiting
the boarding ramp.

When he cleared the line of passengers, she ran toward him much like she did when
he'd visited her at the construction site in early spring. Only this time, she threw
her arms around him and showered his face with kisses.

He grabbed her hands as he found her lips, kissing her hard before bothering with
words. As he pulled away, he moved his face to her hair and inhaled.

"Are you smelling my hair?"

"Shh."

She sighed and he could feel her cheeks on his as they expanded into a smile.

He pulled her face away and looked in one eye, then the other and back again.

"Better?" she asked.

"Mmm. Hello." He kissed her again.

Rose tried to take one of his carry-ons, but he laughed.

"How are your biceps?"

She scrunched her brows. "Fine, I guess."

"That's good because I have a lot more downstairs."

It wasn't an exaggeration. Expertly, he piled smaller luggage on top of the bigger
pieces, then draped the rest on both of their shoulders.

"You all right under there?"

"Yep. Black belt."

* * *

Pulling off the Three-Ninety South at a small town for breakfast, they found a cozy,
hole-in-the-wall diner and sat on opposite sides of a cracked Formica table framed
in metal. The place boasted seating for a total of about fifteen on worn chairs with
lined vinyl and had the best French toast they'd ever tasted.

Rose speared a small square of the amazing toast and dunked it in syrup as Andy leaned
back in his seat.

Cautiously, he turned his head and looked at her through the corners of his eyes.
"I found a job in town for the summer."

She stopped the forkful of dripping French toast at her lips for a staggering minute.

"I'll be working for a general contractor. I start Monday morning, no break there,
but—"

"Are you crazy?" Her fork dropped to her plate. "Are you stupid? What the hell are
you thinking?"

"Okay." He set his fork down carefully. "Not the reaction I expected."

Heat started at the base of her neck and quickly ran over her cheeks. "You've been
pining for a summer with your uncle, Chase, since you were eleven. This is your dream.
Call him back!" She practically bounced out of her chair.

Andy grabbed her arm. "Calm the hell down. I know what I'm doing. This is good. Listen
for minute. If you don't stop waving your arm, they're gonna kick us out of here."

She sighed, pulled her hand from him and crossed her arms.

"Greenberg Contractors. Chase knows the owner. He builds houses, buildings, subdivisions.
I'll be the miscellaneous man. I should be able to get experience with all the different
stages of building, and why am I explaining myself to you? I thought you'd be happy."

Her breathing slowed and she closed her eyes. "Okay. I think. I'm sorry. I think.
It just sounded like you were ready to throw away your future... I'm sorry," she repeated.
She looked up at his face. "You're not leaving."

She realized she said it like she'd just had an epiphany. Her eyes burned and she
dropped her face in her hands. She felt one rough finger under her chin. Lifting her
head to look at him, she refused to let the tears spill over. He ran his thumb along
her cheek and she looked deep into the caramel of his eyes. They sat at the small,
square table in the little town restaurant and had a complete conversation without
speaking a word.

It felt like a noose had been released from around her throat. Her heart. Her mind
went into overdrive at the possibilities as her breathing returned to accelerated.
Didn't her mother say it was the
boys
that didn't want to just kiss?

"You're blushing." He craned his head forward. "I'm not sure I've ever seen you flushed."

She felt her cheeks burn even hotter and turned her eyes to her food.

* * *

Andy spent the last days of May in the sun, working with his hands on everything from
grading yards to helping pour foundations, framing houses and fixing leaky exterior
doors and windows. Each aspect was fascinating, like solving a complex puzzle in orderly
stages. Whenever Greenberg became backed up or someone called in sick, Andy stepped
in.

He was low man on the totem pole everywhere he went, but he was building connections
while making sure to leave an impression with builders and subcontractors all over
central upstate New York. Life made so much more sense when he worked with his hands.
And this time, it made more sense to him than he could ever remember... putting in
a hard day's work and spending evenings with his best friend.

They made sure to try and spend at least some time together each night, although it
didn't always work that way. Both their plates were full, as they generally were.
It was just more irritating than it used to be. He quizzed her on her finals or worked
with the pup if she had a job for his mom or volunteered at the zoo. If nothing else,
they would catch a few minutes by the lake after nightfall.

Normally, they brought Charcoal with them and even let him off his leash if he allowed
Goldie and Macey to saunter along. Tonight they lay, just the two of them, looking
at the millions of stars freely illuminated without the lights of bigger cities. Rose
was on her back using his arm as a pillow. The night was warm and dry and smelled
of grass and fresh, drizzling water. They talked while he lay on his side, his hand
resting on her stomach.

Interrupting, he poked at her belly and looked down. "You have washboard abs."

She laughed and looked up to him. "Isn't that something a girl says to a guy?"

"Probably."

She lifted her shirt and raised her shoulders up enough to flex her six-pack. She
mentioned something about the contrast in color between their skin, but he left coherent
thought behind the minute she'd pulled up her shirt.

Quickly, he pulled it back down and reluctantly willed himself to casually change
the subject. "Graduation this weekend?" She shifted up on her elbow and eyed him suspiciously.
"Subject change. Don't argue." Tricky, since he had, exactly, considered arguing.
"Regardless, it's this weekend, and you have a speech to write."

"Written. So much for subject change. You don't want to touch me."

He gestured his free hand between the two of them, illustrating that they were touching.
Practically from head to toe.

She fell back and sighed. "You've touched girls before. I suspect several girls and
plenty of times."

"You don't understand—"

She pushed from the blanket to her knees and faced him, sitting back on her feet.
"Don't tell me what I understand, Andrew Reed, and don't even start with what I want."
She stuck a fingernail between her teeth, pulled it out, looked at it, then stuffed
her hands deep in the pockets of her faded jeans. "I may have had my first kiss just
a few weeks ago, as you feel you need to keep reminding me, but I'm not a little girl
anymore and—"

"Okay," he interrupted and sat up fully, facing her, and rested his forearms on his
propped knees. "Then, I'll tell you what I know and what I want. I know that I'm in
love with you. I've been in love with you longer than I realized. And what I want
is to do this—" He gestured his hands between the two of them again "—right."

Rose sat there on her heels with her hands limp in her front pockets. Shoulders forward,
she remained motionless for the longest damned time. Opened her mouth once, then closed
it again. "Oh." She lay back on the blanket and pulled him down with her, rolling
to rest her head on his chest. "I guess you're forgiven then."

"So, I'm forgiven. I can be forgiven all the way to another cold shower tonight,"
he murmured.

He could feel her round cheeks on his chest as they curled into a smile.

"It's a big decision." He clasped his hands and used them for a pillow. "I won't make
it for you."

"Do I have to throw myself at you?" she said with both sarcasm and sincerity in her
voice.

"That's my point. You don't
have
to do anything. That's not why I'm here." He reached over and kissed her forehead.
"Last final tomorrow."

* * *