My Missing Puzzle Piece (Creekside Falls #1) (12 page)

The furniture was all very masculine and comfortable looking, it fit Trevor well. The walls were painted neutral colors, it was obvious he’d moved his furniture in and started living there. His focus had been the backyard, which didn’t surprise her. She liked what she saw-she just needed to face the fact that she liked everything about Trevor.

After a few minutes Bruiser was ready to go back in, he was excited to have company and Elle happily obliged him by petting him while Trevor put out some water and a bone. Bruiser ran off to his bone and Trevor and Elle headed back off to her place.

In the truck again, she turned to Trevor and said, “I really like your place. It’s definitely you.”

“Thanks. I’m glad I found something I liked, that was the hardest part for me, I’m not too picky but I wanted something with a cool outdoor space, this was the third place I looked at.”

“The third one? That’s lucky! Mine was the tenth place I saw. I am pretty picky I guess and I didn’t even realize that until I started looking. I got kind of discouraged and just when I started saying I wasn’t going to find anything, my house went on the market. How long have you had your place?” Elle asked.

“I bought it a little over three years ago; decided it was time to get out of an apartment.”

They rode the short drive to Elle’s house in silence; but in a comfortable silence that they seemed to have developed at some point during the evening. Neither one could exactly pinpoint the moment they
transitioned from awkward to relaxed but both were grateful for the shift.

She made the hot chocolate she promised once they got to her house;
homemade
hot chocolate.

Trevor was concerned that it was colder out tonight than he had expected it to be, especially for this time of year; that could make his job more difficult if spring kept up this warm-during-the-day-cold-at-night trend. If the ground was still partially frozen he couldn’t start some of the planting his clients wanted done around their houses.

“Are you still cold?” Elle asked snapping him out of his thoughts; he looked up at her and said, “Definitely getting warmer, why?”

She handed him a cup of hot chocolate. “Thanks.”

“I was thinking of putting on the fireplace, it will be good with our hot chocolate.” Elle suggested.

“We can do that.” Trevor said with another smile that made her feel a little weak in the knees.

Elle smiled back and said, “Okay let’s go,” and put down her cocoa to make them a cozy spot in front of the fire. She laid out a few large blankets and plopped down grabbing the remote to start her fireplace, she insisted on changing it to gas when she moved in so she wouldn’t have to worry about having wood on hand and getting the chimney cleaned. Taking Elle’s lead Trevor sat down next to her; she looked over at him sheepishly and said; “Now this is much better.”

Trevor agreed, “I think you’re the one being romantic now,” as he nudged Elle’s shoulder playfully making them both almost spill their hot chocolate.

They laughed at themselves sitting on the floor drinking hot chocolate like kids and goofing around and Elle felt a sense of contentment she had never felt with a man in her life. To cover the feelings of vulnerability that rose up in her, she took sip of her cocoa now that it was less that “center of the sun” hot. Elle noticed Trevor shifting around, trying to get comfortable so she grabbed throw pillows off the couch to use as cushions. She set them down on the blanket and said, “Here, I forgot to grab these before we sat down.”

Trevor and Elle each set up the pillows so they’d be comfortable and she sat down next to him and shifted closer so she could lean back on him. They sat like that for a while just staring at the fire and enjoying each other’s company. She set her cup on the table near them and settled back into her spot, a second later, Trevor did the same but this time he wrapped her up gently in his arms as they began to cuddle again.

“This is nice I don’t get to relax very often, being so busy with work. When I do take anytime for myself I usually end up with Taylor or my family.” Elle said after a while.

“I totally get it, I feel like I haven’t seen anyone but my family, Jake, and the guys who work for me in forever.” He gently squeezed her hand that he was holding as she nestled in his arms.

When Elle turned to look up at him she was biting her lower lip. She released that delicious looking lip and said, “Thanks for everything tonight, dinner was great, and of course the company was great. I had a good time.”

That was all the invitation he needed because he lowered his head and set his mouth down on hers. Elle made a little moan in the back of her throat and within seconds she was kissing him back as fervently as he was kissing her, it felt as if they were keeping each other afloat with their passion.

Elle leaned into Trevor and tilted so she had better access to him as they kissed. He brought his hands up to the side of her face and started to tilt her head more to deepen the kiss and give him better access. Her tongue darted out of her mouth and started to play with the seam of his lips, he immediately opened for her. They were kissing for all they were worth, learning each other’s mouths’ completely. Elle leaned back a little to catch her breath and looked up at Trevor with heavy lidded eyes that were laced with desire; he wanted her bad. At this point he had a decision to make, Elle was here, she was under him, she was beautiful and she seemed willing. The man-lust part of him wanted nothing more than to take her but his mind kept interrupting to remind him this was their first date and this woman had admitted to him more than once that dating was something she struggled with and had limited experience with. He took a deep breath, kissed her gently on the lips the face and then on her nose and smiled down at her. “Elle, you are so beautiful, I want to make love to you here and now, but I don’t want to do anything that will ruin what I think could be something special and real.”

He held his breath, not knowing how she would react to what he said. She pulled away and propped herself up on
her elbows. “That has to be the sweetest and most amazing thing any man has ever said to me.” She said. Her eyes were wet with unshed tears and he knew at that moment that he was in trouble. This woman had the potential to make him fall in love. He sat up and rolled his shoulders, shook his head a bit to clear his mind. The last thing he needed to do was go over the deep end when he was still just getting to know her.

He looked over his shoulder and gave a small sheepish smile but didn’t say anything. Which made her laugh a little, she could tell that he felt a little awkward too and that made her completely comfortable with him all over again, when she only doubted it for a minute. Even though she had no idea why he would feel awkward or shy. It was usually her who felt that way. Elle looked up at Trevor and gave him another kiss for being so sweet and amazing.

He was still shocked how quick everything moved, he didn’t want their first time together to be on their first date. Even though they didn’t have sex, based on the kissing and chemistry alone if that did happen it would no doubt be beyond mind-blowing.

“Come here” Trevor said as he pulled Elle into him so that they were cuddling.

They kissed for a while longer and both felt the heat begin to build again, they needed a change of scenery and action, otherwise they’d both be naked in a matter of minutes. She decided to include him in her nightly ritual of getting as comfortable as possible. She preferred to live in sweats or a t-shirt and jeans while at home.

“I am going to go change…”she stopped and had a thought, “sometimes my brother and cousins stay here too, you may be about their sizes if you want to come see if something they left fits so you can be more comfortable.” She thought a moment before adding, “Don’t worry only one of them is a girl the other three are guys.” She gave him a cheeky grin and headed upstairs.

He swatted her on the ass and said, “Okay, it can’t hurt to look.”

He followed her upstairs to a guest room; the room was painted a deep purple with hardwood floors, a full size Queen Anne bed, dresser, nightstand and big, fluffy sitting chair near the window. She started to open drawers in the dresser, “Here, this looks like the drawers with their stuff, see if something fits and go for it. I’ll be right back.” He could tell she wasn’t sure what they were doing or where to go from here, hell he wasn’t sure either but he knew he didn’t want to let her go or let go of what they had started, that was for damn sure.

He started to look through the clothes and found a pair of running shorts that fit and a shirt that was a little tight but it would do, he threw those on and went to look for a bathroom. He left the guest room and turned to the left and thought that was it but it was another guest bedroom as well. He walked to the one on the right of the room he changed in and that was another bedroom but it was completely empty except for the light tan colored walls, good grief, how many bedrooms did this woman need? He figured it was time to just ask, he called out to her, “Elle where’s the bathroom?”

She yelled back through a partially open door at the end of the hall, “Across the hall from the room you changed in.”

“Thanks,” he said and went to the bathroom; it was painted light gray with dark green and purple towels and matching shower curtain -- Elle definitely liked rooms with splashes of color.

When he opened the door to the bathroom and stepped out, he and Elle collided hard into each other. “Whoa, sorry!” he said to her as he grabbed her shoulders to steady them both before they fell.

“That was my fault, sorry.” She looked him up and down before saying, “You did find something, good.”

“I did thanks. You okay?”

“I’m good. I’m kind of hungry though, you feel like a snack?” Elle asked.

“Sure I could always eat, lead the way.” Trevor said.

They walked to the kitchen but Elle made a stop in the living room for their hot chocolate mugs. Once in there she asked, “Do you want something to drink?”

“Sure”

She opened the refrigerator and said, “I have iced tea, water, milk, tea or…hot chocolate. Is iced tea okay?”

Trevor laughed and said, “That’s fine.”

In the light of the kitchen Trevor saw that Elle had taken off her makeup and put on some lounge clothes, the lights in the hallway upstairs were low and he hadn’t had a chance to see her in good light until now. He didn’t think she could look any more beautiful but she managed to. “You look beautiful you know that?”

“What? I’m in sweats and no makeup. You sure you don’t need glasses?” Elle said with a laugh.

He smirked at that, “No I don’t need glasses and I don’t care if you have makeup on or are in sweats, I think you look amazing, more so than you did earlier actually, and trust me that’s hard to top.” He added playfully.

“You must be crazy but thank you for that.” Elle added.

She filled their glasses and then went for some of the cookies she made with Taylor the other night. “Want some?”

She grabbed one for herself and put the cookie jar in between them as they sat at her breakfast bar.

Trevor grabbed a few himself and ate one whole. “These are amazing. You made them?” He said after eating his cookie.

“Yes, Taylor and I made them the other day, I’ll make sure and tell her you like them. Between the two of us I’m more of the baker than the cook, but we try to help each other out. There’s chocolate, chocolate chip and cherry chocolate chip.” She grabbed her iced tea and the cookie jar and said, “Come on want to go sit in the living room?”

“Let’s go.” Trevor said as he got up and grabbed his iced tea. He was still not sure Elle’s thoughts about everything that had happened, but being here felt good to him.

They went in the living room; Elle fixed the pillows and blankets in front of the fire, and put the cookies down on the floor so they would be in between them to eat. She sat down and grabbed a blanket and started to cover herself when she held it up and gestured for him to get under it with her.

Trevor followed suit, he put his glass on the table also and sat next to Elle. He wanted more of those cookies. Plus he’d bet she was an amazing cook despite what she said especially if these cookies were any indication.

When Elle saw Trevor was settled in next to her she set the cookies on her lap so they could both have some. Trevor immediately grabbed two out of the jar and stuffed another, whole, into his mouth.

“I have to tell you something and you may not like it too much.” Elle said as she nervously toyed with the sleeve of her shirt.

“What is it?”

“Well when I was in high school Rob and I were in the same group of friends but we also dated for a little while.”

“You and Rob?” Trevor said managing a deadpan expression; at least he hoped he was.

“Yes, me and Rob. I just figured I should let you know.” Elle said fidgeting. Trevor had no expression, no reaction that she could tell, and this worried her.

“Thanks for being honest with me and letting me know. But I have to ask, is there still anything there between you two?”

“Definitely not. Until I came to your office I hadn’t seen or spoken to him in years.”

Trevor relaxed and some of the tension settling in his shoulders loosened. “Okay.”

“That’s it…okay?” Elle asked unsure biting her lip and glancing away.

“Yeah. I don’t know what else to say.”

“Okay,” Elle said sitting closer to him again so this wouldn’t put a wedge between them.

They sat there for a few minutes while Trevor absorbed the whole
Elle and Rob situation
, he didn’t like it one bit but knew she had a past just like he did. The only thing that mattered was the two of them now. He reached over to intertwine their hands and squeeze her fingers reassuringly, he would be damned if this put distance between them.

After eating a few more cookies, Trevor decided to change the subject completely and said, “I noticed the one room upstairs is completely empty that seemed out of place considering how carefully you’ve furnished and decorated this whole house.”

Elle just looked at him for a second blankly. He seemed to take her being with Rob really well, almost too well.