“I would have laughed more,” he said.
“Because you love to laugh so much,” she teased.
He snorted, which made her laugh, which made him laugh.
Somehow they ended up sitting on the floor, leaning up against the door to his office, laughing hysterically. His arm was around her, and she leaned against him, and while she wasn’t quite sure how they’d gotten here, she couldn’t imagine wanting to be anywhere else.
“I am so glad it wasn’t just a dream,” Roan said after a moment, “even if in the beginning I thought it was a beastly dream.”
“You’re the only beast here,” Abigail responded, enjoying the frown that creased between his eyes, because it gave her the opportunity to reach up and smooth it away. “But you’re my beast.”
She smiled winningly and Roan shook his head. “I suppose I can live with that,” he said, leaning in to kiss her again.
Chapter fifteen
Roan
HemissedAbigail.
The thought was irritating. He had gone from being a perfectly self-sufficient man a week ago to feeling alone without her.
Roan hurried to the tavern. Maybe she would be there early.
He’d walked her home the night before—their first official outing as a couple. And today was their first day opening the tavern together since everything had happened…and it was also the day he was hoping to apologize to his brother and return the letters.
But first, he needed to see Abigail.
Beastie trotted after him as he hurried toward the tavern. Would Abigail feel the same way and also be there early, or was she enjoying the feeling of a real bed again?
He arrived at the tavern and unlocked the front door, turning to look for her before he entered the building. There she was, just coming into view, wearing a different dress than she’d been wearing, and smiling wide when she saw him.
She was perfect.
“Hello, my love,” she called as she came within speaking distance.
“Hello, darling,” he said, wrapping his arm around her waist the moment he could and pulling her to him.
“Did you sleep well? I missed dreaming with you,” she admitted, resting her hand on his chest and smiling up at him.
He’d missed it, too. After spending nearly every moment together for the past week, it was disturbing to be alone again.
“Did you change your mind at all?” he asked. Distance might have made a difference for her, even though he hoped desperately that it didn’t.
“I did not,” she assured him, smiling up at him as she leaned up on her tiptoes.
He leaned down to kiss her, holding her tight in an effort to show just how much he’d missed her overnight.
If this was how they felt after one night, what was it going to be like when they spent weeks apart?
“I missed knowing you were in the same building while I was sleeping,” Abigail admitted quietly. “I feel safer with you.”
Roan nodded. “I felt the same way,” he said. “My brother wasn’t home last night—he probably slept at the orphanage—and it was odd being alone with Beastie.”
He sighed and followed her into the kitchen, where she put on the kettle and he began pulling out bowls.
“Did you not eat this morning?” she asked, glancing at the bowls with a smile.
“No,” he said, turning red. “I was in too much of a hurry to come see you.”
