“No, but one night was your original plan, and?—”
“That was before we’d made love. I honestly had no idea it would be….” She waved a hand in the air. “I can’t come up with a word for what it is. Nothing seems adequate.”
“I know what you mean.”
“Maybe I’m rationalizing, but I thought about what you said, that everyone expects us to be consulting with each other during the week. We just had a council meeting, which makes it even more likely.”
“I’m sure we can pull it off. That’s not my concern.”
She met his gaze. “I understand your concern. Mine might even be bigger than yours. I can’t afford to lose the good will of your family.”
“Financially?”
“Hell, no. I appreciate the business your family gives me, but the emotional connection is way more important. Thanks to the Bridger Bunch, I don’t feel like an only child. I can’t lose that.”
“You won’t, no matter what?—”
“You can’t guarantee I won’t. If we make a mess of things, or worse yet, I’m the one who makes the mess, it will change things.”
“We won’t let that happen.”
“That’s why we need an escape clause.” She chugged the rest of her water. “You might want to drink yours, too. We don’t want to take a chance of accidentally dumping water on your laptop.”
“You want to work on the contract now?”
“I do. I’ll return the comforter to the bed while you fetch your laptop. We might as well enjoy the fire since I got it going again.” She headed out of the kitchen, hoisting the comforter up so it didn’t drag on the floor.
He drained his glass and went to do her bidding. Maybe this was the way to go. He wasn’t sure anymore. Standing next to her knowing the comforter was the only thing between him and her responsive body had hijacked his brain.
What if he cooked up a business trip that required him to take her along for her legal advice? That would never fly, but the concept of running away to a place where they could do whatever they wanted was vastly appealing. No wonder couples took honeymoons. He?—
“Make sure your Wi-Fi’s on! We might need to look up some wording.”
“Got it!” He hadn’t moved except to set his glass on the counter.
“Stop thinking, cowboy. This is gonna bring us both peace of mind.”
“If you say so.” He walked over to his desk and glanced through the window that looked out on the porch. From here he could see Mila’s house. No light in any of the windows. They’d have questions tomorrow. And he’d be a sitting duck since he had barn duty.
“Providing peace of mind is what I do.”
“Is that so?” He opened the laptop. Yep, Wi-Fi was still on. “Could’ve fooled me the past six weeks.” Closing it, he carried it over to their temporary bed, where she sat with her back against the sofa and the comforter pulled up to her waist.
“Yeah, I know.” She made a face. “We wouldn’t be fooling with any of this if I hadn’t?—”
“Stop right there.” He set the laptop on the easy chair to his left and slid under the covers next to her. “Considering what’s happened here tonight, I’m glad you kissed me on New Year’s Eve. How about you?”
She held his gaze. “I’m glad, too.”
“No more apologizing?”
“No more apologizing if we work this out, but if we don’t….”
“I’ll be glad even if we don’t work it out.”
“How can you say that?”
“Easy. If you hadn’t kissed me, chances are good we never would have made love. We would have missed out on an amazing experience. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
