Chapter Thirteen
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It was late that night when Kai finally got to be alone with Addison, and by then he was tight with anticipation and worry. He believed Addison when she said she wanted to stay, but the last twenty-four hours had shaken him more than he cared to admit. He needed to feel her in his arms, to make love to her to prove to himself she was still here.
They’d climbed into his tent together, and he’d freed her from her gown and corset, but instead of stripping off her shift and getting into their sleeping bags, Kai told her there was something he wanted to show her.
They waited, talking quietly, until the camera crews had gone and the camp had settled in for the night before Kai wrapped Addison’s warm winter coat around her, lent her some socks, slung the sleeping bags over his shoulder and led her back out into the night.
Their breath puffed white plumes of steam into the cold air, and they hurried toward Pittance Creek, quickly shedding their boots and climbing into the joined sleeping bags when they reached its banks. Kai had positioned them so that they could see an expanse of sky between the trees—an expanse that included a clear sight of a nearly full moon.
Like before, he pulled out two pairs of binoculars and handed one to Addison, then helped her with the settings.
“Take a look.”
Addison gasped in surprise when she did. “I can see the mountains and craters on it!”
“Isn’t that cool?”
“I never knew you could do this—I thought you needed a telescope.”
“A telescope is even better,” he admitted.
“But this is great, too.” She gazed at it for a long time before turning to him. “Thank you. I could have lived a lifetime in the city and never thought to do this.”
“You’re welcome.” He took her hand and they went back to viewing the moon, until by some unspoken agreement they decided it was time to put the binoculars aside. When Addison turned to snuggle against him, Kai’s heart settled into a slow beat. Addison had stayed with him. She’d had the opportunity to live in a penthouse in New York City, and instead, she’d stayed.
“I’m glad you’re here,” he told her.
“I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be,” she admitted. “Kai, you realize you’re my dream man, don’t you? You’re the one who was supposed to be unattainable.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Well, if this dream of mine can come true, what else might happen?”
“You tell me. What else are you dreaming about?”
She was quiet for a while. “Throwing parties. Lots and lots and lots of parties. Weddings, anniversaries, baby showers, corporate events…”
“I have a feeling that might come true.”
“And babies. Someday I want babies.”
Kai’s arms tightened around her. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
“Were you?”
He nodded and found the hem of her shift then tugged it up and over her head. “I think we need to practice.”
“That sounds smart.” He heard the smile in her voice. “We wouldn’t want to mess it up.”
“No, we wouldn’t.” He lifted one of her perfect breasts and bent down to trail a kiss over its softness. Addison sighed and arched closer to him. “Addison,” he breathed against her skin. She angled her head to meet his kiss, and they spoke no more for a long time.
Addison welcomed Kai’s touch like the desert welcomed rain, opening up to his explorations without any hesitation. The way he worshipped her body told her everything she needed to know about their life together. Kai didn’t take things for granted, and he cherished the good in the moment. His awareness of the natural world only added to her instinct that he would remain present and thoughtful in their life to come.
Every time they were together, she felt alive, bathed in a sensuous flow of emotions. Kai teased her, awakened her libido and satisfied her in a masterful way. He made her want to stay here with him in these sleeping bags forever, the moon shining down on them, the soft sounds of the forest around them.
But he was quickly coaxing her body to the brink, and Addison dug her fingers into the fabric of the sleeping bags, trying to hold on a little longer, enjoying the sensations he was awakening within her too much to want to let go.
When he pushed inside of her, he completed her universe. He was everything she needed, and every touch of him within her sparked a thousand points of ecstasy. Her need was building with his every thrust, a sensual onslaught of sublime feeling intensifying until she couldn’t hold back.
When a final thrust pushed her right over the edge, and she cried out with a sound as wild as any a creature of the woods might make, Kai followed her, bucking into an orgasm that rocked both of them until they finally fell back, spent.
A few minutes later, Kai pulled out, slid to the side and gathered her against him, whispering her name against her hair.
“Can we stay here forever?” she asked him.
His answering chuckle rocked her. “Probably not, but it’s tempting.”
“I love the moon.”
He nodded. “We’ll slip out here whenever we can.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
She snuggled against him and pulled him close again.
“Hi, I’m Kai Green,” Kai said into the camera Byron was holding. “Welcome to A SEAL’s Meals! Today I’m going to show you how to feed a whole horde of hungry Navy SEALs, among other people, with food you can grow yourself or source locally. Let’s get started.”
Kai couldn’t believe how freeing it was to know he had control over every aspect of his cooking show. He’d picked the recipes, the ingredients, the length of the show, its title—and if he felt like pontificating over the incredible taste of a homegrown heirloom tomato, he could do just that. He would upload it to an online video site. Maybe not the same as being on national television, but like Avery had said, it was only the start.
It had been more satisfying than he could describe to turn down Linkley’s offer. He’d expected Renata to be pissed. Instead, she’d agreed to lend him Byron, the cameraman who was always trailing around after Avery.
“Linkley’s an ass” was all she said in explanation, but her private smile made him wonder if she bore the man an old grudge she didn’t mind seeing answered.
As he mixed, stirred, chopped and cooked, Kai found it wasn’t hard at all to keep the patter going. He was talking about all the things he loved to talk about most. And having a ball while he was doing it.
“Let’s see what the test group thinks of this freshly grown cauliflower,” he said, and the camera pulled back to show the members of Base Camp perched around the room. They quickly passed a plate of cauliflower florets around and everyone took one. “We had a minor disaster here at Base Camp, and lost most of our vegetable stores. Lucky for us, hardy vegetables like cauliflower can be harvested well into fall, if given a little protection from the elements.
“It’s really good, even plain like this,” Riley said.
“Way better than store bought,” Clay put in.
“Definitely. I’d know; I grew them myself,” Samantha said.
“It’s great to know where your food comes from,” Kai said to the camera. “If you’re not a gardener—or a full-on farmer—make friends with someone who is. Purchase a CSA subscription or frequent a farmer’s market. There are lots of options these days. And if you can, learn how to grow a variety of foods yourself, so when trouble comes, you’ve got a backup plan. We had a bumper crop of cabbages, cauliflower and other hardy vegetables, which is going to help us get through what could have been a lean winter. We’re also growing more greens and other vegetables in our greenhouses, but we’ll talk about that next time.”
When the show was done and his friends had clapped and cheered, Avery said, “We’ll work on the post-production and get something to you to look at as soon as possible.”
“Thank you. I don’t know what I would have done without you two.” He included the cameraman in his praise.
“You would have filmed it on your phone and it would have sucked,” Avery said with a smile. “Or you would have said yes to Linkley.”
“Ugh,” Addison put in.
“I like this a lot better. Can’t wait to see the final result.”
Kai waited for Avery and Byron to hurry off and turned to Addison. “What did you think?”
“I think you’re going to be a star.”
“Will you still love me when I am?”
“Hell, yeah!”
“Addison,” Nora called out later when Addison was crossing to her tent to grab her warm jacket. It had grown cold as the afternoon waned. “Can you come up to the manor for a minute? We’re having a meeting. Just us women.”
“Okay.” Addison knew she had nothing to fear, but somehow the request sounded ominous, and as she followed Nora up the path to the large house on top of the hill, she wondered if the rest of the women had something to say about the circumstances under which she’d come here.
Or maybe they wanted to talk about the awkward happenings at the Halloween ball. She’d been happy to hear from Evan that he and her sister had reached Rome safely and were beginning to talk about what had happened that night.
“You’ll hear from Felicity soon, I think,” Evan had emailed her. “She’s very embarrassed, and I’ve come to understand that leaving New York was a bigger deal than either of us made it out to be. We’ve held on to the penthouse for now, and we’ll take our decisions a bit slower from now on. Your mom’s been calling every day, so we’ve had to set some ground rules. Felicity’s going to be the one to call her—once a week at a prearranged time. We’ve filled in your dad on what’s going on, and he’s going to try to help persuade your mom that something has to change.”
When they reached the manor, Nora went in the back door, which led straight into the kitchen. Addison followed apprehensively and came to an abrupt halt when she saw that someone had laid the table with a linen cloth and the fancy tea service that had come with the place.
“Sit down.” Avery gestured to a vacant seat at the end of the table.
“What’s all this about?” Addison asked. She looked along the table at the faces smiling back at her.
“Well, aside from the little disturbance your sister caused, the Halloween ball was really lovely,” Savannah began.
“And we’ve had so much extra time these last few weeks to work on our personal projects,” Avery continued.
“This last batch of guests was the happiest group we’ve had,” Nora put in.
“You obviously run rings around us as far as organizing and getting things done,” Riley said.
“So, this is our way of asking you if you’d like to step into that role for good,” Samantha said.
“To become our B and B’s director,” Avery explained. “We’d pay you a salary to run things, and of course we’d still be involved.”
“But we’d give you creative control to come up with special events, develop our wedding business and grow the B and B,” Nora said.
“What do you think?” Riley asked.
Addison blinked back tears. “It’s more than I could ever have hoped for,” she said truthfully. “I’ve always dreamed of running an event-planning business. I had no idea that when I came here I’d… get an opportunity like this. I love it here,” she said. “Just love it here. I don’t know what I’d do if I had to leave.”
The women pushed back their chairs and came to surround her, each of them offering assurances she’d never have to.
“We love having you here, too,” Savannah said.
“We didn’t know what we were missing until you arrived,” Samantha said, “and I’m not just saying that because you do all my chores at the manor.”
With a laugh, Addison allowed them to help her into her seat, pour her some tea and pass her the plate of cookies Avery had baked.
“Yum, these are good,” she said.
“Not as good as my films. Just wait until you see the final version of the first episode of A SEAL’s Meals.”
“It’s turning out well?” Addison asked.
“It’s going to be a hit.”