CHAPTER THREE
LANEY
Before I could answer, Connor held up his hands and smiled.
“Your dad legit asked me for help. He saw me standing outside, and I couldn’t turn him down.”
Connor wore jeans and a nice sweater. No gloves, no hat, no coat.
“Why were you outside?”
“Fair question.” He flashed a tight smile at me. “My dad called, and I needed air after that conversation. You know how he is.”
I sure did. His dad was emotionally abusive, but every time I brought it up, Connor would deflect or defend him out of loyalty. After a while, Connor stopped mentioning his father altogether because it would lead to an argument. Yet another example of why we didn’t belong together anymore. Despite my initial shock of seeing him here, and the burst of joy from being in his presence, the familiar dread filled me. “Let’s get this tree inside.”
“I’m thinking we cut off one of the branches.” He pointedto the right, where a three-inch branch was stuck against the frame. “Does he have a saw? I can do it fast, so he can’t stop me.”
“Do you know how to use a saw, Connor?” I rummaged through my dad’s pseudo-shop area and pulled out the handheld. He owned the local hardware store and always had a large stockpile at home. My parents made me trim our trees and rosebushes growing up. I even learned enough basic woodworking that I sometimes built my own sets for photography events. My backgrounds for photo booths were one of my cool selling points.
“I know how to saw a branch off, Laney.” His tone bit, his usual arrogance leaking out. He was confident and used to being good at everything, yet I couldn’t recall a single time he’d used a saw.
“I don’t mind.” I walked up to the trunk, but he stilled me with his hand on my waist. The warmth of his palm caused my breath to hitch.
“What?”
“You have an event this weekend. I don’t want you to hurt your hands, even though I know you know how. This isn’t about your skills, but me trying to protect you.” He held my stare, enunciating every word as his gaze heated. “Let me do this one thing, please.”
“Fine.” I handed him the saw and stepped back. I didn’t need to be this close to him. His cologne lingered in the air, and his unshaven look was my weakness. I loved the scruff and lumberjack look when his beard grew out. It paired so well with his thick hair. His broad shoulders filled out the beige sweater,and I fisted my hands to prevent myself from rubbing them over his pecs.
In another world, where we went back to the old versions of ourselves, I’d tease the hell out of him with small touches all night. Then, once we were alone, he’d unleash and spend hours touching me. It had been weeks since we had sex, and while sex was never our issue, it wasn’t enough.
“There.” Connor tossed the branch on the floor, and then we easily pushed the tree through the frame.
“We can get this monstrosity set up for your dad, then I’ll head out. I promise.”
Everything felt so familiar, and different, as we hoisted the tree into the stand in my parents’ living room. It made me remember our first holiday as husband and wife as if it were yesterday.
“I feel like I got the better end of the deal.” Connor held my hips, a huge smile on his face as he swirled me around in my parents’ living room. “Your family is so welcoming. Your parents are… they’ve just taken to me like I’m one of theirs.”
“They love you.” I beamed. “It’s so easy to, husband.”
“God, I love hearing you call me that. Say it again, wife.” His eyes heated, and that always made my knees weak. I was completely smitten and in love and delirious with happiness. I fell forward, and he caught me.
“Breathe, baby.”
“Sometimes I forget around you.” I blushed and ran my hands over his pecs and stomach, loving that we were married. From the moment I met Connor, I fell hard and knew he was special. Our connection and chemistry weremagnetic, and it only deepened the more we talked. Marrying him was the easiest decision in the world.
“You know what?” I asked, smiling at the joy on his face. He loved my ideas, even if they were silly. He’d be on board just because it made me happy. “We should start our own holiday tradition. Something random. Wild. Weird. Something just for us that we can do every year.”
“Oh, like… a naked tradition?”
I rolled my eyes. “Stop it. No, like maybe we make a holiday ornament for each other? Or we do an adventure calendar? Or we visit every pancake place within an hour?”
“Oh, okay, I like this.” He rubbed his thumbs over my hips, right to left, the mere contact on my skin making me squirm.
“We could vow to find a different coffee shop every year and visit it. There have to be a hundred of them in the city. We’ll never run out.”
“Yes! And we can buy a mug from each one!”
