From Scratch by C.E. Hilbert

Author:C.E. Hilbert
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: christian Fiction
Publisher: Pelican Book Group
Published: 2016-06-28T16:00:00+00:00

13

Sean arrived at her apartment the next morning with a picnic lunch and a pair of hiking boots in her size.

“How did you know my size?” she asked, suspicious, as visions of Mitchell’s acute attention danced in her head.

“I asked Jane and Millie to take a guess. Millie was right.” He grinned.

They spent the day rambling through the six-mile loop connecting Old Man’s Cave and Cedar Falls in Hocking Hills. Stopping midway near the falls, they enjoyed a lunch of peanut butter sandwiches and apples.

The mist dampened her hair and clothes, sending chills through her body. She couldn’t suppress the shudders that rolled through her or the whine that slipped through her lips.

Sean pulled a small burner and a tiny pot from the backpack and filled the pot with water. He set the liquid to boil and began rummaging through the bag. In two quick moves, he shoved her massive, curly mess of hair under a toboggan, and dropped tea bags into two pop-up mugs that had also been stashed in the bag. Her champion.

Maggie nibbled on her bottom lip, trying to ignore the flutter of her heart as he poured the steaming water into the two cups and handed her a mug with a wink. The cadre of butterflies stationed in her stomach stretched their wings.

She sipped, ignoring the scalding burn as the tea chased a path to her stomach. She could barely feel the cold chilling her toes, the rain on her face, the hard rock under her bottom, or the scorching heat of the metal cup in her hands. Her mind raced as she tried to form protective walls against the full-court press of woo he was giving her. If she wasn’t careful, her heart would soon be a puddle for him to splash through and she would be forced to run again.

He blew across the top of his mug, his face mostly hidden by his tattered baseball cap. “How’s your tea? Too hot?”

She took another tentative sip. “It’s perfect.”

“Naw, but I think that you just might be.”

The butterflies zoomed to a swirling twister in her tummy. Looking at the water surrounding them, she ignored the pull of his gaze on her and sipped her tea, the sound of the rushing waterfall pounding out the silent lull in their conversation. Her giant mound of ever growing hair popped the toboggan to the top of her scalp. Sighing, she set her cup on the rock beside her and tried to readjust her cap. “So much for perfect,” she muttered.

Sean chuckled. He leaned forward and yanked the cap over her ears and just above her eyes. With his forefinger, he raised her face to meet his gaze. “Maggie,” his voice was low and barely audible over the crashing falls. “I am all in. Crazy, beautiful hair included. I know it’s a lot to take in. And it must feel as if I flipped some switch, but sweetheart, this thing between us, it’s been burning a slow, steady flame since the moment I laid eyes on you.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.