“Yes?”
“We had to move. Well, my mom wanted to, as well. But she definitely felt like she had to—to start over.”
“That must have been hard.”
“It was. For her.”
“And for you and your sister.”
Silence fills the space, but it’s not uncomfortable. It’s necessary. He nods. “Yeah, for everyone. Guess that’s why I like things the way I like them.”
“I won’t tease you about being a neat freak then,” I say genuinely.
He stares me down. “But if you didn’t tease me, maybe I wouldn’t know it was you.”
There’s nowhere for this fizzy feeling to go, so I bottle it up. “What’s the eye mask for?”
“Tension,” he says with some vulnerability. “I was feeling it the other day.”’
“With me?”
He’s quiet for a beat, then sighs and nods. “Yeah. I was.”
That makes me happy, but it’s a futile happiness. “Did it help?”
“It did.” A pause. “Be sure to tell the owner that lavender works.”
“I’ll let her know,” I say, but I don’t want him to feel more tense.He already seems to carry a lot on his shoulders. “Good night, Banks. Don’t try to cuddle me while we sleep.”
“Don’t you try to cuddle me,” he fires back.
“I mean it.”
“You mean it like a challenge?”
“I dare you not to cuddle me.”
After he sheds his shorts, so he’s down to boxer briefs and a T-shirt, he flips to his other side, his big back to me. “Done.”
We turn off our bedside lamps. The cottage goes dark. Eventually, sometime later, we fall asleep.
I wake to his arms wrapped around me, his breathing steady against my neck, his body unbearably close to mine.
26
THE BIG, EXUBERANT SPOON
BANKS
Mmm, this is nice. Soft, warm skin. Sheets of silky hair. The first rays of sunlight drifting over our bodies. The last remnants of sleep fading away. Before I open my eyes, I drink in this floaty moment one more time. I breathe in—long and leisurely.
Yeah, this is better than nice. She smells like lavender and vanilla, and fresh laundry, and all my dirty dreams. There were a lot of them. A round-the-clock movie house playing in my brain all night long as she snuggled up against me. Wedged her body to mine. Murmured in the dark.
I burrow my face in the crook of her neck and wrap my arms a little tighter around her. This lovely, sexy, feisty woman is in my bed, out here in a cottage, far away from everyone else. Just us.
Except…whoa.
There’s a tongue on my face.
