Her mouth opened and closed repeatedly as she tried to make her voice work. His smile was beginning to dim when she finally pushed out, “It’s… I… You…”
A frown replaced his smile as he stepped closer. “You what? It’s okay if you don’t like it. You can just tell me, and I can make you something else.”
“I just… it’s…” Gesturing to the table, she cleared her throat, frustrated with herself as she saw hurt creeping into his gaze. “I love it. It’s beautiful,” she said, relief filling her when she formed a full sentence.
Eyes clearing, his smile came back as he cupped her face, leaning down to give her a lingering kiss. “Whew. You scared me for a minute there. I’m glad you like it.”
Shaking her head, she rolled her eyes at herself. “You’d never know I have a PhD, and have a successful career as a scientist. I’ve been nothing short of goofy since meeting you.”
Brow twitching, he took a step back as his eyes clouded with an expression she couldn’t interpret. “About that. There’s something you should know.”
Concerned, she followed him as he stepped back. “What? What’s wrong?”
“It’s not that anything is necessarily wrong,” he replied, running his fingers through his hair, leaving it mussed. “I mean, not to me. It might be to you.”
Puzzled, she shook her head. “I don’t understand. Tell me what it is.”
“I never finished school,” he blurted out, refusing to look at her. “I don’t even mean college. I mean high school. I never earned my high school diploma. I don’t even have my GED.”
“That’s it?” she asked, confused.
“What do you mean, that’s it? Don’t you understand? You’re smart. You graduated college. Hell, you have your PhD already, and you’re only twenty-five. You deserve someone on your level, someone more.”
“Oh, Seth. You are more. You talk like I deserve better, but you’re not seeing yourself how I see you. Not finishing school doesn’t mean you’re not smart, because you are. And we don’t have to be able to do everything the other does. I can’t make anything with wood, much less create something beautiful like that table. Does that make me less in your eyes?”
“Of course it doesn’t,” he replied, his frown starting to ease as he listened to what she was saying.
“And not being able to do what I do doesn’t make you less in my eyes. I think you’re perfect just the way you are.”
A slow smile spread across his face, chasing away his frown and the shadows in his eyes. “I see what you’re saying. I just don’t want to bore you when I can’t give you any kind of stimulating conversation.”
“Our conversations are stimulating in a different way,” she replied with a wink, basking in his laugh. “Besides, I can have those chats whenever I like. Remember the group message when my dong kept going off?” she asked mischievously.
“How could I forget?” he asked, eyes crinkling with amusement as he chuckled.
“There are six people from my lab in the chat that I can have those kinds of conversations with whenever I like. That’s not what I need from you.”
“And just what do you need from me?” he asked huskily, bringing her close and pushing his erection into her.
“Everything,” she answered in a whisper, a wave of desire washing over her so strongly it nearly brought her to her knees. “But that’s a good start.”
Leaning down, he took her mouth in a scorching kiss that he ended far too soon. Grabbing her hand, he pulled her from the room and toward the stairs.
“What are you doing? Don’t you need to go back and help your friends with the roof?”
“They can get on without me for a few minutes. And what does it look like I’m doing?” he asked, smacking her on the ass as she walked past him to climb the stairs.
Laughter erupted from her throat, and she stopped complaining. Who was she to argue with that, especially when she wanted to go where he was leading her?
Seth drove passed the town limit sign, shifting down to slow as they neared main street. Smiling, he glanced over at Amelia as his sensitive hearing picked up on her soft hum. Squeezing her hand, he lifted it to his lips, kissing it quickly before he lowered it to where it had been resting on his thigh.
They were just getting back from Cheyenne, having dropped off her rental car. One more sign that she was planning on staying much longer, and he couldn’t be happier about it. It was one step closer to her staying here permanently.
“Hey,” he said, glancing at her as they stopped at the lone red light in town. “What do you say to me working on your house? Anderson really let it go, but it wouldn’t take too much to get it back in shape.”
“I think that’s a great idea,” she said enthusiastically, shooting him a bright smile. “Work up a plan, and give me an estimate.”
“Honey—”