Cody and Hannah sat well past closing at the booth in Dinah’s. When Dinah finally shooed them out, it was past ten.
The sparks were flying between them, and they were both having a hard time concentrating on the real reason they met. There was definitely something there and Cody wanted to explore it with all his heart. He’d never had a reaction to any woman before like the one he was having around Hannah. She was a breath of fresh air, blowing life and vitality to his tired soul. He was never a man to mince words, but he found himself stumbling, nonetheless.
“So, would it be all right if I called you again? For personal reasons this time?” he asked as they stood by Hannah’s Blazer.
“Well, if those personal reasons are to come help you unclog your toilet, I’ll have to take a hard pass.”
Cody roared with laughter.
“But”—Hannah giggled—”if one of those reasons is to ask me out on a real date, I’d love that.”
“Woman, you are too much.” He chuckled. “Yes, that’s exactly the personal reasons I was getting at.” God, her smile could light up the whole state of Montana. “I don’t know about you, but there’s something here,” he said, motioning to the space between them. “I’d like to find out what it is and explore it.”
Hannah’s heart skipped a beat…or two. “Yeah, there is,” she agreed. “I felt it the first time I met you in the hospital with Nathaniel and Cailiegh. It seems to get stronger each time we meet.”
She moved a little closer, just to get a whiff of his cologne. She loved whatever it was he was wearing, but the scent that made her knees weak was the pure maleness of him.
Cody took a step closer to her until there was very little space between them. “Really? Huh. I thought it was just your Granny Swiftfoot’s ‘special tea.’” He chuckled.
Hannah giggled but before she could come up with a rebuttal, he kissed her. His big, calloused hands cupped her face as he moved his lips tenderly across hers.
She sighed and melted into his embrace, holding onto his forearms. A gentle nip on her bottom lip made her gasp, giving him the invitation he needed.
Cody tilted her head to deepen the kiss, languidly swirling his tongue with hers. When he pulled away, she was breathless.
“I guess it’s too late to tell you I don’t kiss on the first date?” she murmured.
Cody laughed, resting his forehead against hers.
“But you know, if you feel the urge to do that again, I won’t say no.”
Cody obliged her, this time searing her mouth with a kiss full of need and desire. Holy shit, the man could kiss. He wrapped his strong arms around her and pulled her into his chest, tasting her mouth in every corner and diving in for seconds.
Her fingers sifted through his blond curls, tugging him closer as she returned his kiss with her own heat. When the oxygen became intensely needed, they parted.
“Wow,” Cody said, his voice deep and gravelly with need. He held her close while they both tried to catch their breath. “Damn, Hannah, I…”
“Will you two go home?” Dinah shouted from the door as she locked it.
“Dinah, you act like you’ve never seen two people kiss before.” Hannah laughed.
“Honey, that wasn’t a kiss. That was damn near pornographic. Now get your young asses home.” The older woman laughed. “Shoot, now I gotta go home and wake up Rusty,” she said with a wiggle of her eyebrows. “Need to see if the old bastard still knows how to kiss me like that.”
“Dinah! Get out of here! I don’t need to know that!” Cody was dying laughing, his face buried in Hannah’s neck.
Dinah was still laughing as she pulled out of the parking lot.
Cody opened Hannah’s door and tucked her in, fastening her seatbelt. “She’s right, Hannah. It is late and I can see the exhaustion in those beautiful brown eyes. Call you tomorrow?”
She nodded, chewing her bottom lip. She reached up to cup his cheek and place a light kiss on his lips.
“Be careful going home, okay?” He closed her door and watched as she pulled out. Once he was sure she was safely on her way, he climbed into his old beat-up red Ford. Smiling to himself, he started the truck and meandered out onto the road. “Cody, my man, you are in deep,” he said to himself.
With a chuckle, he ran his hand across his grizzled chin. “Damn, that woman can kiss.”
Once Hannah got settled in bed after a long shower and plenty of steamy thoughts about Cody, she couldn’t sleep. She was too wound up after that last kiss. The man had lips that lit her whole body on fire. She couldn’t help but imagine what they would feel like on her body.
She hunkered down under the covers and screamed. She felt like a teenage girl with her first crush. Giggling, she couldn’t wait to tell Jess but that would wait for the morning while they were having coffee. Right now, she needed to calm her mind and body so she could get some sleep.
She turned on her white noise app and let the sounds of Native American flutes relax her into slumber.
The next morning dawned bright, and Hannah woke with a smile. She had dreamed of Cody all night. They were not the erotic sex dreams she expected. It was more like a preview of what could be.
They had been dreams filled with chubby babies and the most beautiful man she’d ever met holding them. There were visions of his big hands rubbing her rounded belly with so much love and affection, his blue eyes telling her all she needed to know. They were amazing dreams she would be more than happy to see come to fruition.
As she sat at Jess’s table, sighing into her cup of coffee, she couldn’t keep the smile off her face. The morning sickness tonic was brewing on the stove, and they had just given the kids breakfast. Carri was coming in an hour to take them out for the day, giving Jess and Hannah some much needed friend time.
“So,” Jess started. “Is a certain hunky therapist the reason behind that Cheshire cat grin on your face?” She wiggled her eyebrows, making Caileigh laugh.
“Oooh, Aunt Hannah gots a boyfriend!” Nathaniel giggled as he finished his last piece of bacon.
“Come here, you little scamp.” Hannah laughed as she chased the dark-haired little boy around the table. When she finally caught him, she tickled his bare tummy with raspberries. She hugged and kissed the little rascal, letting him go.
He snuggled into her lap, laying his head on her chest. The conversation was light until Carri came to pick up the kids. After many snuggles, hugs, and kisses, the babes were off, and the girls were alone.
“Ok, Hannah Swiftfoot, spill the deets,” Jess said, giving her a stern smirk.
Hannah’s phone beeped, signaling the tonic was done. She got up and removed it from the heat, preparing it for the sterile jars she had ready.
“He is the hottest kisser, Jess. The man damn near turned me into melted lava with his luscious lips!”
Jess squealed. “Ha! I knew it! I knew you two had the hots for each other!”
Hannah laughed as she jarred up the tonic. “Yeah, Dinah caught us making out in her parking lot. It gave her ideas. She said she was going to go home and see if Rusty still knew how to kiss her like that.”
Jess burst out laughing, tears escaping down her cheeks.
“Now there’s a visual for you.”
This only made the pregnant woman laugh harder. “Damn it, Hannah, stop! It’s easy to make me pee myself these days.” Jess was six months pregnant, her stomach a perfect round basketball. She still looked stunning, the pregnancy only making her more beautiful.
“He’s supposed to call me today. I agreed to go out with him. I may just go home and spend the rest of my life with him,” she sighed.
“Seriously?”
Hannah nodded. She told Jess about the dreams she had last night, along with the feelings she got whenever she was near him.
“Wow. That’s pretty intense, babe.”
“I know. We both feel it though. That tells me there’s a reason it’s manifested with such intensity. Neither one of us can explain it, but we both acknowledge it and are willing to see where it leads us. Besides”—she shrugged—”if it leads to him spread out before me in all his naked delicious glory, I’m def down to see where it leads.”
“Ok, that’s it.” Jess laughed. “You made me pee, you bitch!”
Both women burst out in laughter.
