“He just hurt my feelings, that’s all. Maybe he was right.”

“I doubt it. If he was right, Sully would like him. He doesn’t like him.”

“He never told me that,” Maggie said.

“Because he’s just a guy,” Cal said with a laugh. He put an arm around her shoulders. “I should’ve kissed you last night or the night before. I should’ve done that before some useless old ex showed up and made you feel like you were missing something.”

She laughed in spite of herself. “You arrogant fool. What makes you think you kiss that good?”

He turned her toward him. He grabbed her so suddenly her arms were flapping like a bird’s wings. He covered her gasp with his lips, tightened his arms around her waist, held her close and moved over her lips with urgency, giving it his very best effort. The fit was perfect and he thought this might be one of his most outstanding kisses. He kept his eyes closed but he knew if he peeked hers would be wide-open. He tilted his mouth over hers to kiss her more deeply, edging his lips apart just enough to run his tongue along the seam of her lips, urging her to open up to him a little bit.

Her arms finally wrapped around him. That was what he was hoping for. Then her lips opened a little bit. She took a small, experimental taste and then with a sigh, he felt her sink into his kiss. He concentrated on just that, making it a wonderful kiss for as long as he could. She was molded to him and it felt just right. When he thought he’d given her a minute of brain-numbing kissing, he slowly pulled his lips away. But he didn’t let go.

Her eyes were closed now, that’s for sure. Her head tilted back, her chin lifted slightly and she let out her breath. Without opening her eyes she said, “Meh. It wasn’t that great.”

“It was fantastic and you know it,” he said. Then he nibbled at her bottom lip a little bit. “If it wasn’t perfect, I’m willing to keep trying.”

“Okay,” she said in a breath, leaning toward him.

Cal was happy to comply, especially if it helped her mood, as it was definitely helping his. It wasn’t typical of him to do much thinking while he was kissing or making love, but in this case he did a little of that. He was reminding himself that this was perfectly normal. Reasonable. He’d been around the crossing for weeks now. He’d gotten a little attached to it. He liked helping with the store, liked the locals who stopped by, the lake was lovely. Then Sully and Maggie came home and the place took on a new dimension. He was busy and starting to feel needed. He’d always liked feeling useful. The surrounding towns were friendly and quirky, there was no more beautiful landscape in the country, and Cal had seen a lot of the country.

And then there was Maggie. Yes, he had gotten to know quite a few doctors but he’d never kissed one before. Never one in khaki shorts and lace-up hiking boots.

He gently pulled away from her lips. “Am I getting any better?” he asked.

“Pretty average, so far,” she said.

“Let’s rest a minute, then I’ll go at it again. Let’s have something to drink. I have some brandy in my camper.”

“Brandy?” she said. “Bllkk. That’s for eggnog.”

“We can break into the store,” he suggested.

She patted her pocket to feel for a key and smiled. “Let’s.”

He wouldn’t let her get too far away from him. He put his arm around her waist and strolled with her from her back porch to the store’s back porch. She unlocked the back door. “Don’t turn on any lights or people will see and come wanting something.”

“Where’s Sully?”

“He’s on his way to bed. He just doesn’t have that much stamina. Truth is, he wasn’t up past nine very often when he was a hundred percent because he gets up so early. Don’t trip over anything,” she said as they entered the store. The only light was from the front porch. They didn’t mind if people gathered there and used the tables after the store was closed but it being a cold early April night in the mountains, folks preferred their campfires and the porch was empty.