"No!" Ruth sat up, her hands reached for his face and covered his beard, knocking his hands away. "Don't you dare!"
She was smiling when she made the declaration.
"I like this." She moved her hands over his beard and the way she touched it, he liked it even more. "I wouldn't mind a little trim." Her fingers combed through his beard at the bottom where it was the thinnest. She frowned a little. "It's softer here at the ends."
Her fingers felt like magic.
"It might be why it tickled."
He smiled, enjoying her touch more and more. "If I trim it, it'll be thicker and maybe even prickle a little."
The look on her face was a revelation for him.
He could see her considering his words, but he saw a little smile turn up at the corners of her lips and then a little glint in her eyes when she looked up at him.
"I wouldn't mind it. Who knows how that would change the way it feels?"
She leaned in and placed a kiss on his lips, a kind of glancing blow before she turned her cheek to brush it against his beard along his jaw.
Nick closed his eyes and enjoyed the sensation of her touching him and the scent of her skin filling his nose.
He reached out his hands and settled them on her hips.
Settled... because anything more was going to get things started all over again and while he might not be all that young anymore, he wasn't sure he'd be able to stop with just a quick roll in the sheets and Katie was coming home in the near future.
He did move her just a hair to the side so he could capture her lips in another kiss.
When he eased back a few minutes later, they were both flushed and breathing heavier. He reached out and brushed a few loose strands of hair from her face. "I guess I'll have to trim and see how that works for you."
His voice softened at the end of his words, leaning in to read her expression as well as he could.
The color in her cheeks hadn't faded at all.
There was a bright light in her eyes that reminded him of the flashes of light off of the surface of the lake by their cabin.
Everything about her just seemed to fit into his life... and Katie's.
His phone PINGed again and he lifted it to look at the screen.
KATIE: I'm headed home! Miss both of you!
WINK EMOJI
KATIE: C U soon!
Nick smiled and showed the screen to Ruth.
Her complexion was the reddest he'd seen so far.
And a moment later, she slid off of the sofa. "I should probably go before she comes home."
Nick reached out and took her hand in his, keeping her from running away.
"She said she missesbothof us."
He didn't let go of her hand until he felt the tension bleed out of her body.
"Maybe you could stay for a little. I know Katie would love to have you spend some time with us."
