Page 66 of Unpacking Secrets
“Yes. Where exactly are we going?” I asked as he looped the backpack over his shoulder and took my hand.
“Patience, Red. It’s a surprise. Believe me, you’re going to love it.”
He kissed me quickly and led me out the back door instead of the front. My brows shot up in surprise. The fact that he paused to lock the door behind us managed to tarnish the haze of contentment around me, but only a little. Together, we cut across the yard, heading into the woods along a tiny trail close to the lake.
“You didn’t bring your fanny pack,” I teased. “What if I need first aid again?”
Henry snorted. “I’m hoping my presence is enough to keep you from falling down any hills today. If you stumble, though, feel free to grab onto me.”
“My hero,” I replied, leaning my head against his shoulder.
The trickle of sunlight through the branches overhead gave the world a glorious glow of green and gold, reminding me of his eyes. The trail here was easy to navigate and, fortunately for me, mostly flat.
After several quiet minutes, the path narrowed a bit as the forest grew more dense around us. Henry took advantage of the opportunity to tug me closer against his side, but he didn’t speak. He’d watched me sketch enough times that he knew when my mind was tangled up in art. I was busy studying each color and texture as we picked our way between the trees.
The only sign that we were almost to our destination was his careful attention on my face when the path opened to a clearing. I gasped aloud as the utter enchantment of the place washed over me.
“Oh,” I breathed, moving to the center of the clearing and turning in a slow circle. My tone was hushed, my body alight with wonder. “What is this?”
“This was Nan’s special hideaway. Toward the end, she couldn't make it out here herself and asked me to take care of it for her.”
He lifted a finger to twirl one of the dozens of windchimes hung from the branches above us. Suncatchers danced and glittered on the breeze, sending rainbow streaks of color across the ground. At the far edge of the clearing, the trees parted just enough to give a glimpse of the lake beyond.
“Oh, Henry,” I said, my chest tight with emotion. “Thank you for bringing me here. This is perfect. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
With a patient smile, he slipped the backpack from his shoulders and handed it to me, then sat on the ground with his back against a tall oak tree. There was a curved wrought-iron bench wrapped around a tree across the clearing, but I'd already zeroed in on it. I figured the ground was probably more comfortable anyway once I moved closer to inspect the bench.
“Take your time, Red, just let me know if you need me to move out of your shot.”
I barely even heard the words, though I nodded absently. This was even better than the day he brought me to the lake. I couldn’t stop smiling as I took it all in, as I basked in the beauty of this magical setting. Surrounded by nature, with the play of color from the suncatchers dancing over my skin, I felt like a wood nymph or a sprite of some kind.
I lost track of time as I tried to capture every nuance of the clearing, both in my mind and on camera. Henry had closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the tree, so I snapped a few covert photos of him as well. He looked scruffy and a little dangerous in his black tee and jeans, a fascinating contrast to the rainbows and windchimes dancing above him.
When I had at last absorbed my fill and gotten photos and sketches from every angle imaginable, I said as casually as possible, “You mentioned you’d pose nude for me, so I’m thinking that bench would be a good spot. Why don’t you get undressed?”
As expected, Henry’s eyes flew open in mock horror.
“You little imp,” he growled as I laughed and danced out of reach. Instead of rising to his feet to chase after me, he held out a hand from where he sat. “Come here. I dare you.”
Cocking a brow, I tucked the camera back into my bag and warily approached him. I took his outstretched hand and he tugged until I tumbled onto his lap, laughing breathlessly. When his arms locked around me and his lips feathered across my ear, my laughter faded into a whispered sigh. There was no mistaking the shiver that went through me.
“Someday, I’ll bring you back here and make love to you right over there,” he whispered, his voice husky with promise. “With all those rainbows dancing over your body and the chimes echoing every cry of pleasure.”
Distracted as I was by both his words and his lips against my skin, I almost asked why not today—then I remembered my promise not to go out hiking alone, the events that led to that particular promise, and my mother’s warning.
A matter of life and death.
No matter how calm he’d tried to sound the day before, Henry thought someone had been outside the cottage, watching. Waiting. He’d trusted my certainty that I heard a gunshot at Cooper’s Point, and I trusted his belief there might be some danger out there. My head fell back against his shoulder.
“Someday better be soon,” I grumbled.
He laughed softly and dropped his lips to the pulse below my jaw, which jumped beneath the caress. His teeth grazed my shoulder and I sighed, blinking up at him.
“It will be soon, if I have anything to say about it,” he promised, “but in the meantime, what do you say we head back to my house? We can while away the afternoon, order some dinner, maybe track down some . . . dessert?”
“I’d say that sounds like heaven,” I murmured.
I kissed him swiftly before I rose to my feet and offered him my hand. A slow, incandescent smile lit his face as he clasped it.
