The Mighty Quinns: Eli. Kate Hoffmann

dropped it on the floor, the loaf tumbling out of the pan to land in front of a pair of well-worn hiking boots.

      Lucy glanced up to see Eli watching her through the screen door. Either he’d left before sunrise or he’d run up the mountainside. It was barely ten and she looked as if she’d just crawled out of bed.

      He opened the door and stepped inside, then bent down and grabbed the loaf of bread. “I think you dropped this,” he murmured, his gaze slowly drifting down to her mouth.

      Lucy groaned inwardly. So he’d come back. Had it been his choice or had Annalise had another conflict in her schedule?

      “Thanks,” she said, grabbing the bread with the towel, then slowly straightening. She was dressed in a faded T-shirt and nothing else. Thankfully, the T-shirt nearly reached her knees. “You’re early.”

      “I figured you might need a hand with a few things, so I gave myself some extra time to help you.”

      She shook her head. “I can’t—”

      “I know, I know. But I thought maybe after two months on your own, you might have changed your mind.”

      “Nope,” she said. “I haven’t changed my mind.”

      He grinned, then turned and grabbed his pack from just outside the front door. He pulled a thermos from the side pocket and held it out to her. “Then you probably don’t want this, either.”

      Lucy regarded the stainless-steel container suspiciously. “What’s that?”

      “Caramel latte. Triple shot, I believe. Still hot. As I recall, you requested it the last time I was here. I’m just following orders.”

      Lucy smiled. She had told him that she’d been craving her favorite coffee drink. And she’d also promised a kiss in exchange. But she’d just been joking.

      “Maybe there’s a rule against drinking it, though,” he said. “If there is, I’ll just dump it.”

      She reached for it, then drew her hand back when she recalled her promise. “And what do you expect in return?”

      “I believe you promised a kiss.” He handed her the thermos. “But since it’s my job to look after you, I won’t demand payment.” He paused. “Yet.”

      She wanted to kiss him. It was all she’d been thinking about for the past month. Maybe getting it over with would satisfy her hormones and allow her to move on. So why not just go for it? What did she have to lose? He’d be leaving again in a few hours, and at least she’d have some real-world experience to add to her fantasies.

      Lucy took the thermos from his hand and smiled. She stepped up to him, wrapped her hand around his nape and gave him a sweet, slow kiss. But then he slipped his hand around her waist and pulled her closer, and a tiny cry of surprise burst from between her lips.

      The moment he touched her, the tenuous hold on her self-control vanished. He deepened the kiss, his tongue gently tasting until her body melted into his. Lucy thought the kiss would go on forever, but then he loosened his hold and she stumbled back.

      When she met his gaze again, he was smiling at her. “Judging by that kiss, I’d assume there was a major rewrite on those guidelines of yours within the last month.”

      “I was...just paying a debt,” she said. “For the coffee?”

      “Wait till you see what else I have in my pack, then,” he said.

      “Why don’t you unpack it on the porch?” she suggested. “I’ll be out in a few minutes.”

      When he’d closed the door behind him, Lucy walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge. She touched her lips, still damp from his kiss, then flopped back and stared up at the ceiling.

      She’d accepted this project because she’d been intrigued by the challenge, at least that’s what she’d said whenever she was asked or interviewed. But it was also a way to live an entire year in one place.

      She couldn’t remember the last time that had happened. Her childhood had been spent in a series of foster homes, none of which she’d stayed in longer than six months. At fourteen, she’d run away from a bad foster family and ended up on the streets. She’d managed to survive there for two years before she’d gotten a job and started bringing in a paycheck. After that she’d bounced from one cheap room to another.

      Sometimes, she’d slept on friends’ couches or took a house-sitting job. Then, when she’d gotten a full-time gig with a production company, she was often on location. But here, on the mountain, she had a chance to live in a home, rugged as it might be.

      Working in television and movie production had always been a perfect job for her. She’d enjoyed the shifting scenery, a new location every few months. But the past year or two, she’d started to wonder if her lifestyle was keeping her from finding contentment in her life.

      The cabin wasn’t just a home. It was place for her to settle. She’d hoped that a year on her own, alone in the wilderness, might give her time to figure out her future. Who was she? Where did she belong? Was this the only life she was destined to live or was there something else waiting for her?

      Lucy thought she’d have at least a few answers by now. But the longer she stayed on the mountain, the more confused she became. The only thing she knew for sure, at this very moment, was that she wanted to spend the day enjoying the company of Eli Montgomery. They had the next five hours together and she was going to make the most of them.

      Lucy crawled off the bed and quickly dressed, then found her brush and pulled it through her tangled hair. She hadn’t had a real bath or a shower since the day before she arrived at the cabin, but she’d scrubbed herself clean last night with a bar of homemade soap and six pots of water she’d heated on the stove.

      When she opened the door again, she found Eli sitting on the top step, petting Riley. She grabbed a couple enamel coffee mugs and sat down next to him, then poured out the contents of the thermos he’d brought. The scents of caramel and coffee wafted in the morning air and she groaned softly. “You were very sweet to remember,” she said after taking a slow sip.

      “I was just interested in that kiss,” he said.

      She clasped her hands around the mug. “I was really expecting your mother this time. Was she busy again?”

      “No, I wanted to come. I thought I should check up on your shooting. And bring you coffee.”

      “I’m glad you came. I mean, it would have been fine if Annalise had come. She’s just amazing and—”

      “Amazing and insane,” he murmured.

      “Why would you say that?”

      “She’s been dating this real estate developer, whom she hated until recently, and she’s acting like a lovesick teenager. I told her to seek professional help. She said I could use a father figure in my life.”

      “Where is your father, if that’s not too personal of a question?” she asked.

      Eli shrugged. “I never knew him. My mother raised me on her own. I found out who he was when I was fifteen, but by that time it was too late.”

      “Too late?”

      “He’d died in a climbing accident several years before. On Mount Everest. He left behind a loving wife and four legitimate children—and me. I was the result of a brief fling he had with my mother in a tent during some climbing expedition.”

      “And you never met him?”

      “Once, apparently. My mother claims that she took me to New Zealand when I was six and I met him then. I don’t remember it, though. It’s always been just me and Annalise. And Trudie. And my grandfather, Buck.”

      “That’s a family,” she said. “That’s a pretty big family, by my standards.”

      “What about you?”

      “I