Chapter Seventeen
“That was the best meal I’ve had in a long time. Thank you.” Christian smiled, sitting back in his chair as he lifted his water glass in a toast to her skills before taking a drink.
The praise felt good. Especially coming from him. This male, this bear… Lily frowned, suddenly realizing that she had never asked him what he did for a living. That seemed like something she should have known already. After all, how many months had he been living here? Granted, she had been actively avoiding him for most of that time, but still. “What is it you do for a living? Or did? I mean…” stumbling to a halt before she made even more of a mess of things, she grimaced.
Christian chuckled, “I’m an architect.”
“Really?” Lily leaned forward genuinely curious, elbows on the table and leaned her chin into her hands. “What’s that like? I mean, you design houses right? Or businesses?”
“I’ve done both, mostly businesses though. Sometimes it’s a new construction, sometimes it’s repurposing an existing building.”
“No wonder you were able to jump right in and rebuild your brother’s old shack.”
Christian nodded. “I’ve had my hands in every aspect of construction from the bottom up at least one time or another. There’s a lot more to it than what most people think.”
“That makes sense. I mean, you have to know what goes into building something before you can properly design something.” Her look turned thoughtful. “Of those other aspects, which was your favorite, I mean, if you had to choose?”
Christian’s grin turned positively wicked. “Blowing shit up.”
A loud laugh burst out of Lily’s mouth. “I would have thought an architect would be in love with creation rather than destruction.”
Christian’s eyes sparkled as he leaned forward in excitement. “Sometimes an old building has to come down before we can start construction and the charges have to be placed just right. It’s an art.”
Lily’s eyes went wide. “And you do this?”
Shaking his head, Christian sat back. “They don’t usually let me play with the dangerous toys,” he let out a little sigh of wonder, “but watching those buildings come down, so perfectly controlled, it’s amazing.”
His smile fell and he shook his head with a self-deprecating laugh. “I haven’t taken on a new project in so long.” Lifting his eyes, he pinned her with a look. “Alcohol on a construction site isn’t exactly a good idea.”
“You’ve been sober now for quite some time, right? I mean, I heard you had a little slip, but that’s to be expected I would think. As long as you don’t let the alcohol take control…”
Christian grimaced and shifted in his seat. “My little slip nearly got me killed and would have probably killed others if I had been on a busier stretch of road.”
Lily mentally castigated herself for letting the conversation take such a dark turn when they had been having so much fun. Now she had absolutely no idea what to say and any attempt to change the subject would probably come out awkward, not to mention obvious.
Luckily, Christian saved her the trouble. “But I do intend to get back to work. I’m just not sure where yet.”
“Oh?”
He shrugged. “I mean, I’ve put all of the work into the cabin, and I have to say, I’ve grown rather attached to the place.”
Lily’s heart leapt at the idea of Christian staying in Malsum Pass – and how odd was that? Not too long ago, she’d been hoping the bear’s visit would be brief, now she was excited at the prospect of him staying on permanently.
In a moment of daring she wouldn’t have expected from herself, she cocked her head to the side and murmured, “Is the cabin the only reason you want to stay?”
Christian’s eyes immediately filled with heat, apparent even in the dim candlelight, and his voice grew husky. “Oh, there may be one or two other reasons.”
Emboldened by the look in his eyes, Lily stood and slowly took a step toward Christian’s chair, her fingertips gliding over the tabletop. “And what would those one or two things be?”
A low rumbling growl reverberated through the kitchen and Christian’s hand snaked out to snag Lily around the waist and pull her into his lap. “I’m so much better at show than tell.” He said huskily, before his lips found hers in a kiss so hot, Lily’s toes curled.
Her hands came up, one gripping at his shoulder, the other finding purchase in the hair at the back of his head. Christian’s hands were busy as well, sliding over her back, and her hip, making her purr.
Christian broke the kiss with a gasp, his voice harsh as he said, “Damn, that’s hot” before returning his mouth to hers, his tongue licking at her lips, seeking entrance that she willingly gave him.
Lily felt like her entire body must be engulfed in flames. Every nerve ending was alive and zinging with so much heat, so much need. She wanted to press more fully against him, wanted to rub her body all over him and feel his hands on naked skin. Clothes were an annoyance, and without much thought, her fingers went to the buttons of his shirt.
Gasping for breath, she had to pull away, but Christian kept kissing her, lips, tongue, and teeth skimming her jaw, and down her neck as she tried to make her suddenly clumsy fingers push the buttons through the holes.
