Her Perfect Proposal Read online

  Too bad they were once again in the middle of the sidewalk with Saturday-morning tourists and residents zipping by all around them. Too bad he had to go get ready for work, because he had it in his mind to sweep Lilly up and carry her into the elevator and right up to her room so she could show him exactly how much she appreciated his helping her find her dream cottage. Not that that had been the reason he’d done it.

  But she broke up the kiss in the middle of his fantasy, looking as ruffled up and titillated as he felt. Good to know they were on the same page in that department. “I’ll see you tomorrow at ten, then, okay?”

  He needed a second to get his thoughts together before he could respond. “Sure.”

  She popped another quick kiss on his overstimulated lips. “Thank you with all of my heart.”

  The sincerity oozing from her eyes cut through his chest forming a warm pool beneath his breastbone. “You’re welcome, Lilly,” he said, really meaning it.

  It seemed as if she wanted to say a lot more, but now wasn’t the time or place, and when she finally did get around to telling him exactly how she felt, he wanted to be alone with her, and in a place where she could take all the time she needed.

  “Now I’ve got shopping to do!”

  “See you tomorrow,” he said, smiling, and with his feet seeming incredibly light, he walked back to his car.

  Careful, Norling. Don’t be such a pushover with this lady who might just throw you under the bus for a good news story.

  Chapter Eight

  Lilly waited eagerly for Gunnar to show up Sunday morning. She’d spent the rest of yesterday afternoon shopping for items she’d need in her new place. Sheets. Towels. Bathroom rugs. A set of ceramic dishes and flatware, service for four. Because her bank account was already feeling the strain, and there was no way she’d ask her parents for a loan, she’d bought the bare minimum of pots and pans. After she moved in she’d hit the grocery store and stock up on food.

  At five minutes before ten there was a knock at her door. She’d already discovered that Gunnar was a stickler about being on time, and her type A personality liked that about him. But that wasn’t all she liked about him—he was proving to be an all-around great guy. Her hunch that he put a lot of effort into making up for his dad’s wrong deeds had panned out. She’d hit a raw and exposed nerve when she’d written about it in the news article. To offset the imbalance, she’d exposed to Gunnar more about her own insecurities and the messed-up relationship she’d had with her father over dinner than she’d shared with most of her good friends the entire time growing up. Understanding his sense of dishonor made her less ashamed about her own situation. In her opinion, they were good for each other.

  “Coming!” She swung the door wide and allowed a moment or two to take him all in. He’d come ready for work in old jeans and a nearly threadbare T-shirt that hugged his torso and put all kinds of ideas into her head. If she got lucky, maybe he’d offer himself as a housewarming present.

  She’d gotten used to his always-serious eyes, looking as if they drilled right through her, but it knocked her a bit sideways when he came bearing a smile, like this morning—his idea of a smile, anyway. His version was kind of like a grammar-school class picture, a bit forced yet still genuine.

  “Do I need to feed you before we get down to business?” he asked, always on task, wanting to do the right thing.

  “Nope. I ate some cereal.”

  He leaned in for a quick cheek buss. “Good morning.”

  When he pulled back, she followed suit dropping a light kiss on his lips. “Morning.”

  After the kiss, those intense eyes eased up, taking on a playful glint and maybe something more. “I wish I could help you all day, but my shift begins at three. You’ll just have to use me while you can.”

  She could think of ways to “use” him right now, but that wasn’t the plan. “I don’t have that much to move.” She’d organized her things into a few significant piles: kitchen items, bedroom items, clothes, more clothes, bathroom items. “I lucked out that the place came furnished.”

  “Absolutely. Okay.” He clapped his hands, all business. “I borrowed my buddy Kent’s pickup truck so we should be able to get most of this stuff moved in one trip.”

  “I’ll put all the clothes in my car.”

  “Will you be able to see out the windows?”

  She delivered a frisky punch to his arm. He acted as if it hurt. “I’m just being practical here.”

  And that was another thing, since when had she ever been this playful with a guy before?

  After several trips up and down the elevator, sneaking sexy smiles whenever they passed in the hallway, the truck was full and so was her car and amazingly, nothing of hers was left in the extended-stay hotel room.

  After the last item was put in place, Lilly tugged the air. “Yes!”

  Gunnar slid on his serious-as-hell sunglasses, the kind that made him look like a motorcycle cop holding a grudge. “Let’s hit the road.”

  “I’ve got to check out first, but I’ll meet you up there.”

  A half hour later, she used the key to her very own cottage and they reversed their duties from the hotel. By one o’clock, not only had they brought every last item inside, but they’d almost had the kitchen and bathrooms set up. What a team.

  She tossed her new sheets onto the mattress.

  Gunnar’s eyes lit up. “Those are nice.”

  She glanced at the mauve-colored sheets. “I found all this stuff at Helga’s Home and Hearth. What a cute little department store.”

  “Yeah, we pride ourselves on not allowing the big chain stores into Heartlandia, so folks like Helga have a fighting chance to keep their doors open.”

  “I could have bought a lot more, but I decided to wait and see what else I’ll need.” She’d run out of money and refused to ask her father to spot her a loan. He’d never let her hear the end of it. You’re thirty years old and still can’t manage your finances.

  Before she could make her bed, Gunnar flopped onto the mattress and flapped his arms and legs, sort of like making snow angels without snow. “This feels good. You should try it.”

  She wasn’t sure what came over her, maybe it was the fact that Gunnar had bent over backward to help her find this place and move her in, that he was the most decent guy she’d met in a decade and that, well, he was sexy as hell. Most important, she liked him, she really liked him. But she crawled onto the bed, catlike, until she looked down on his face, then hiked up one leg and slowly moved her hands and knees on both sides of his body.

  On reflex, his hands went to her waist as he looked her dead-on in the eyes, communicating they weren’t horsing around anymore, that her climbing over him like that was as serious as sex in the afternoon.

  The message he sent both scared and excited her, and she didn’t want to let this chance pass her by. She made a half pushup pose, lowering her face to his, and kissed him with the intent of exploring every possibility. Her breasts pushed against his solid chest as his hands found her hips and edged her flush to his lap. She’d worn shorts today, and his palms made a pattern over her rump and down the sensitive skin on the backs of her thighs. The gesture made her skin wake up with prickles.

  They kissed like that first night, though this time they were fueled completely by each other and not beer. She let all her weight drop onto him, amazed how spectacular he felt. His hands continued an exotic exploration, caressing areas she’d never thought of as erogenous zones before, but under his touch, oh, yeah, every little curve and canyon apparently was.

  Slipping under her top, his fingertips kitten walked across her back, making her contort with tingly pleasure. As their kisses deepened, and their breathing grew more ragged, his hands grew rougher, kneading her skin, pulling her tight to him, making her fully aware of his complete reaction to her.

  Totally out of character, she broke away from his kiss, straddled his hips and pulled her top up and over her head. That smile returned to h
is face, looking nothing like a grammar school kid, but more like a man intent on having his way with her. Her excitement kicked up a notch, nerve endings tightened, she was ready for anything as heat pooled between her hips.

  Gunnar sat up to do the honors of removing her bra. She was far from busty, but the way he looked at her made her feel like the most perfect woman on earth. She grabbed his cheeks and kissed him hard, enjoying the feel of the tips of her breasts rubbing against his old worn-out and scratchy T-shirt. But she wanted to feel his skin and, like magic, and with excellent teamwork, his shirt disappeared.

  Heat radiated from his skin and she rubbed tight against the dusting of hair on his chest as they made out like ravenous lovers. His hands covered every part of her in their never-ending explorations. The warm pool in her center coursed down between her legs, readying her for him. Still straddling him, she moved over his erection beneath his jeans. Strong as steel, his wedge thrilled her, but their clothes were in the way and something needed to be done about that.

  An attentive lover, Gunnar read her mind and soon made sure that first her shorts then his jeans both disappeared. She finished by pulling off her thong while watching him release his fully extended self from his briefs. The sight instantaneously became tattooed in her mind. He literally took her breath away with his muscles and sinew and full erection, and she needed to feel him again. It was his turn to crawl onto the bed and she went back on her elbows welcoming him.

  She dropped back her head when he found her breasts, kissing and taunting them with his tongue while his fullness prodded her belly. She clung to his back and repositioned herself to capture his erection between her thighs, savoring the smooth steely feel of him.

  The kissing never stopped as their bodies heated to near boiling point. He probed with his fingers, gently opening her, making sure she was ready for him. Hell yeah, she was. She bucked underneath him, impatient to feel him inside.

  He came up from a particularly exciting kiss, a questioning look on his face. “Do you have condoms?”

  “I think you know the answer to that,” she said, remembering that glint in his eye when he’d noticed her little naughty box in the cart at the market the other night.

  “They’d come in handy right now, right?” He grabbed and kissed her before she could protest.

  She pointed, speaking over his lips. “They’re in that box labeled Bathroom.”

  He zipped to the box, ruffled through the items inside until he found the box labeled “ribbed with heating lubrication for extra pleasure.”

  On the condom went and after another rough and hungry kiss, Gunnar entered her one blissfully consuming inch at a time.

  Soon they were completely lost in each other, taunting, teasing, pleasing and generally driving each other crazy. Slowly but steadily over several minutes their lovemaking built to a frenzy and onward to the most unbelievably intense orgasm Lilly had ever experienced.

  She gasped and clung to him, the sensations surging inside her and fanning across her entire body in tingling heat waves as he made another powerful thrust accompanied by a groan, then he followed her off the cliff to free-fall into paradise.

  After a moment’s reprieve, he rolled onto his side, still tucked deeply inside her, and brought her along with him as if she was weightless—which she pretty much was seeing that she’d essentially catapulted out of her body with the thrill he’d just provided. Once he caught his breath, he said the one word that would keep Lilly flying for days to come.

  “Wow.”

  She wanted to jump up and dance around the bed saying yes, yes, yes! Never before in her adult life had she made a man say wow after having sex. Granted she’d only dated a few guys, and her experience was very limited, but still…

  As far as her end of the deal went, well, for a journalist she should have been able to come up with something better than “Double wow,” but at least it made her point, and Gunnar seemed to like it.

  There was that bright grammar-school grin crossing his face again, but this time with the addition of blue-ribbon pride for outstanding athletic performance.

  Chapter Nine

  Gunnar hated that he’d had to leave Lilly naked in her bed in order to shower and leave for work on time Sunday, but he never missed work unless a hospital or doctor’s diagnosis demanded it. Sure, it was part of “making up for the past” but it also was because of his total respect for the job and his fellow officers. His sister had once accused him of being married to his job, and truth be told, he didn’t argue with her. For the past ten years, being a cop was as much his identity as being a Norling.

  Monday he stopped by Greta’s Garden and bought a Kalanchoe indoor flowering plant for Lilly that Greta promised anyone could care for. Though he enjoyed growing his own vegetables, he didn’t have a clue whether Lilly had a green or black thumb, so he went with easy care and surefire blooming. Plus the planter was made by a local potter and the flowers on the plant were small but bright pink and reminded him of Lilly.

  In his experience with women, he knew they liked to be thought of after the big night, or afternoon in their case. Buying flowers may be general etiquette where Gunnar and dating were concerned, but this plant, designed to last, seemed different. It made him think of Lilly and new possibilities, and that made him smile until he started to squirm at what those possibilities might be. Trusting someone was paramount for being together. At this point, Lilly still had some proving to do, but that didn’t stop him from being a gentleman about their first time together.

  She wasn’t at her desk when he delivered the gift on his way into work that afternoon.

  “I sent her out to the college to cover the story about the search for an artist to paint the city college mural,” Bjork said.

  Gunnar knew the administrative board of the college and the city council had agreed to hire an artist to tell the history of Heartlandia in pictures on the college campus walls. It would be a huge undertaking, and if Leif Andersen hadn’t contributed bucket loads of cash, either the project wouldn’t have moved forward, or they’d have had to settle for a local artist or the art majors at the college to complete the task. Who knew what quality of art that would have turned out? Last he’d heard they were down to a handful of finalists from all across the nation.

  “Then she said something about interviewing a guy who raises free-range chickens after that,” Bjork said.

  It sounded as if Lilly’s day was completely booked up. Gunnar packed away his disappointment at not seeing her, and scribbled out a quick note—“Lunch tomorrow? G.”—then headed for his department and signed in for duty.

  On Tuesday he took Lilly to his favorite lunch place, the Hartalanda Café. It was right across the street from their building, so they could walk over. She knocked him dead in a smart-looking business dress that he guessed would pass for sophisticated back in San Francisco. It had fine black plaid on the bottom with the top half being cream-colored with lacy trim and black pearl buttons down the front. He dug the schoolmarm-style collar, especially after knowing what a wild kitten Lilly had turned out to be in bed. Plus she wore a thin cardigan in an odd shade of green with pushed up sleeves and a little flare out at the bottom since it was end-of-summer cool and overcast.

  When he first saw her, a weird dip deep inside his chest made him pause. Then she gave a bright smile that matched the pink flush on her cheeks, and he forgot about the odd sensation, having become completely wrapped up in her. He leaned in and kissed her, setting off a cascade of memories that they’d made so far, and after that the first-time-seeing-each-other-since-making-love nerves vaporized.

  “Did you know they’re down to choosing from four famous artists for the city college mural?” she asked as they walked to the diner.

  “I haven’t been keeping track, but I’ll be sure to read your article to stay up-to-date.”

  She grinned at his subtle message reminding her they’d made a pact not to talk shop with each other. If he let her talk about her stories,
she’d expect him to share about his job, and that might be a conflict of interest, plus it could overtake their time together. He wasn’t going to let that happen, not if he wanted to get to know Lilly, the real Lilly, even better.

  The waitress sat them immediately, since she’d been saving Gunnar’s favorite table for him. He didn’t need to look at the menu, so he sat back and enjoyed the view of Lilly in decision mode perusing the daily choices. She wound up asking the waitress to recommend something and went with the soup of the day—Scandinavian summer soup, even though early fall was already upon them, and half a turkey sandwich.

  After the story on husmanskost came out in the newspaper Monday, word was people in town looked forward to having their establishments featured, too. In his opinion, the Hartalanda Café was deserving of a public review, but he’d let Lilly make that decision.

  “My sobo sent me some seaweed so I wanted to invite you over for dinner Thursday for sushi, since you’re off.”

  “Remind me who Sobo is again?”

  “Oh, sorry. My grandmother.”

  “Ah, how nice of her to send you seaweed.”

  “Don’t make fun. She wants to make sure I don’t forget my roots.”

  “Can we make that Friday?” He had another special meeting on Thursday night and didn’t want her to know. Elke had been visiting Ben Cobawa in the hospital while he recovered from his second-degree burns and smoke inhalation, and had been discussing her findings from the journals. With Ben’s help she’d figured out approximately where the buried treasure might be located and she wanted to run it by everyone, so they were having an emergency meeting.