“Were you going to cancel your trip because of me?”
He snuggled into me, wrapping both hands around my waist. “Yes, I don’t give a damn about a prize-winning holiday when I have you back in my life.”
Perhaps I was being presumptuous inviting myself along, but I couldn’t be parted from him for days or weeks.
“You should go.”
“What?” He pummeled my chest in what I hoped was frustration before cupping my face. “No. I’m not leaving you.”
I peppered kisses over his cold cheeks. “You don’t have to because I’m coming too.” I added that if there was a surcharge, I’d gladly pay it.
Merrick giggled. “Ummm, you want to drop everything, leave your very important job behind, and come with me to a too-small cabin in the mountains?”
“Does it have a fireplace?” He nodded. “Can we order food from the resort?” He nodded again. “Single bed or larger?” He extended his hands as wide as possible. “Hmmm, appears it’d fit two.”
“But…” I kissed him and stopped the flow of words. When he pulled away and our breath fogged in the short distance between our lips, he asked if I was kidnapping him.
“Maybe. Are you willing or do I have to throw you over my shoulder and toss you in the trunk?”
He placed his wrists together. “Do with me what you will.”
Scooping him up, I dashed to the car. Wrapping Merrick in a warm blanket, I drove off and headed for the highway. I told him to sleep and I’d wake him when we arrived, but he refused, saying he didn’t want to miss a minute of my company.
I stopped along the way to grab burgers and fries after Merrick’s belly grumbled, and we fed one another as we sat in the parking lot. The chewing and swallowing was accompanied by giggles, hands on thighs, and greasy kisses, things that we’d been denied for five years.
“Didn’t they feed you?” I’d bring it up with Bex if the staff weren’t treated properly.
“Mmmm,” he said with his mouth full of beef and bun. “But how could I eat when I had pictures in my head of you eating me?”
“Merrick!” I considered doing just that right here, right now, but decided a warm room and a snuggly bed would be more comfortable.
“That pixie who organized the event. She kept eyeing me when I walked past.”
I’d probably never know what happened tonight and who was responsible for linking the chain of events, but I’d better send Bex flowers. It wasn’t adequate, but what did I get for a pixie who’d made my dreams come true?
Merrick eyed the folded shirt I’d placed on the console. “Is that for me?”
“It’s not for you, itisyours.” I handed it to him, and when he unfolded it, he stared at it and began to cry. Oh shoot, what if this shirt was important to him and held special memories and losing it had almost broken him?
“You kept it?” He did what I’d done countless times and put it to his face.
“This was all I had of you.”
He twisted his body so that he was facing me. “That wasn’t all you had.” He reached for my hand and placed it over his heart. “You had this, my heart. You captured it the moment you caught my eye the first time you walked into the bar.”
I couldn’t stop the tears from falling, and I leaned over and kissed him as his tears mingled with my own. He laced our fingers together, and I leaned my forehead on his.
“If we’re hoping to be in the cabin by morning, we should get going.”
There were few cars on the highway and even fewer as we began the climb up the steep road that led to the resort.
“I don’t know a lot about shifters, so let me quiz you. Do you hibernate?”
“Never, but I might if you stick around.” Sleeping together through the winter tucked around my mate sounded like a win.
“Will I get to meet your bear?”
Yes, as soon as possible, please.
