Rockies Retreat: Destination: Desire, Book 5 by Crystal Jordan Page A

blow-by-blow movie version. This would work. If it fleshed out the way he envisioned it now, he might even be happy with it. But it would be several months before he knew if that vision came to fruition.
    “Hey.” Laurel’s toes slid down his bare calf.
    Even that slight touch was enough to send a tremor through him, and goose bumps broke over his skin. A lightning flash of instantaneous need arced through him. He sucked in a breath, his gaze snapping up to meet hers. Desire roughened his voice. “What?”
    Her eyebrows arched, but instead of responding to his tone, she cocked her wrist and tapped her watch. “If you want to meet Violet for lunch, we need to start walking to the lodge.”
    “It’s almost noon?” He scrubbed a hand down his face, still feeling as if he were resurfacing from a deep sleep. It wasn’t an unusual state after diving headfirst into the creative process, but this time it was more like he was waking from a wet dream.
    She nudged him with her foot again. “Time flies when you’re in the zone, right?”
    “Definitely.” He dropped his notepad onto the grass, pushed to his feet, and slowly stretched out all the kinks. He shook out his hands, flexing his fingers.
    After flipping her sketchbook closed, she set it aside and moved to grab the edge of the blanket. He slipped on his flip-flops, and then bent to help her. They worked together to fold up the cover, and he tucked it under one arm. Then he reached over to pick up his tablet of paper.
    “Are you happy with what you got done?” She slipped on a strappy pair of leather sandals—dyed an electric shade of pink, of course.
    “I am.” He let a satisfied smile spread across his face. “Are you?”
    “Very.” She scooped up her sketchbook. “Shall we?”
    “Oh, yeah.” Because he couldn’t help himself, he dropped a light, lingering kiss on her lush mouth, just letting himself savor the sweet flavor of her. She looked delightfully befuddled when he pulled back, and he enjoyed that far too much.
    “Mmm.” She sucked her lower lip into her mouth, as if to catch a last taste of him. Dark desire wrenched through him at the sight, and he had to force himself to step back.
    “After you, sweetheart.”
    They dropped everything off at their respective cabins, then walked side by side toward the lodge. Her arm brushed his occasionally, and it sent pinpricks of heat over his flesh. She gave him a glance beneath her eyelashes, a hint of wicked invitation in her gaze. He doubted he could resist the temptation much longer. He’d been struggling against the craving for her since the moment he met her, but he was losing that fight. Maybe there’d never been a real fight in the first place. Instead of wishing the need away, he was starting to savor the burn of anticipation.
    An affair with her began to feel like a when instead of an if . There was something about her that drew him like a moth to flame. The attraction was inevitable, but if he let himself get too distracted from his work, he was going to get burned. Another thing to juggle, but one the most pleasurable of his competing priorities. Because he had no doubt that they’d be good together.
    Their hands bumped for maybe the fifteenth time and he caught her fingers, linking them with his. She squeezed his hand, but made no comment. It was surprisingly nice to have her slim palm nestled against his—when was the last time he’d held a woman’s hand? Maybe one or two actresses he’d escorted to some movie premiere or other, but that had been so she could show off for the cameras and make reporters speculate if she was dating him, not because they had any real intimacy to their relationship.
    “So,” she said, interrupting his thoughts.
    “So?”
    She swiped her thumb along his palm, making him shudder. “How long to do think it’ll be before we—”
    Breaking off, she let his hand go. Then she waved toward the large log building before them. “There’s Vi and Ruth. Right on