“Let’s get something to eat,” Bobbie suggested, glad to have that conversation over and done. “Then we can spend the rest of the night doing…whatever.” She lowered her lids and licked her bottom lip, seeing if she could distract Buck.
He growled. “Woman. You want me to think about food when you do that?”
Score.
“Just teasing,” Bobbie snarked, leaping out of bed with a squeal as he reached for her. “Let’s see what we have on the menu.”
After kissingeach other in the small galley until they were both practically breathless, Buck’s stomach spoke again, and they refocused, debating cold food versus hot. They ended up with cold cuts, bread, and cheese; spreading it out to have a picnic on their messed-up blankets while they teased and fed each other.
Cooper and Reyghan looked on, begging the entire time, until they got what they were looking for, the spoiled little devils.
Bobbie was glad the mood had lightened, although she still felt a little guilty that she couldn’t simply drop her stupid barriers and tell Buck she loved him. But the hurt inside her ran deeply, and it was going to take some time before she trusted her own feelings where any one person was concerned.
Bobbie squared her shoulders. She wasn’t going to perseverate on this for a second longer. Buck seemed confident in his love, which would either prove itself or not, over time. And if he stuck to his guns and continued the way he was, Bobbie was sure she’d eventually believe in love again, and the words would spring to her lips, unbidden.
Bobbie and Buck finished their entire repast, then cleaned up amidst a bunch of teasing and some light, physical hijinks. They were both too full to do anything more, just yet.
Once the storm had mostly passed, they found some energy and ran the dogs in laps around the deck outside to tire the babies out.
When they finally came back in, wet and laughing, they dried off first, then took care of the dogs. The puppies resettled on their bed, while Bobbie and Buck went back to theirs.
It wasn’t long before the flame between them reignited. Buck’s sorcery, some sleight of hand, and his enchanted mouth, had her both screaming and seeing stars; a two-fer she’d never get tired of. She returned his generosity, if not with magic, at least with unchecked enthusiasm, and he seemed more than satisfied.
When they finally began to drift off, Bobbie couldn’t help but lament.
“This is the last time I’ll see you before we execute our plan,” she murmured into his armpit grumpily.
Tex, as well as the chief and Mason, had told them it was better if she and Buck put a hold on getting together again, to throw her brothers off Buck’s tail.
Bobbie had agreed. She didn’t like that one of her siblings had been trying to sabotage Buck’s house. If by feigning disinterest in him for the week, she could stop them from pulling any shit that would harm Buck, she’d suffer a bit of melancholia to make it happen.
“I know,” Buck answered sleepily with a grimace. “And I don’t like it, either. But we can still talk,” he grunted. “I’ll expect a call at least every night.”
“You know, the phone works both ways,” she admonished a little sassily, giving a playful nip to his ribcage.
“True. But it only makes sense for you to call me,” he explained. “I’m not working with the public yet. Spence and I are still busy setting things up at our new shop. You, on the other hand, are like a tornado; never sitting still. Which means I never know when I’m interrupting you doing something important.”
Wow. Buck had really given some thought to that. And it was a first. Neither of her brothers ever gave a shit if she was in the middle of serving a party of two, or two-hundred. Whatever they wanted always took precedence.
“Okay.I’llcall you, then,” Bobbie readily agreed.
As she settled down to sleep, a smile played on her lips. She hoped he wasn’t expecting those calls to be limited to once a day.
Shit.Not seeing Buck, sucked.
It had only been three days, and already Bobbie was jonesing for the man’s solid presence. She wanted to touch him, smell him, wrap herself around him and simply soak in his…rightness.
It was a damned good thing she was swamped this weekend.
Today she was catering a large retirement party for the executive of a local insurance company, and tomorrow she had a funeral spread to put on. It was enough to keep her brain mostly engaged until those precious moments when she could sneak out and call him, just to hear his voice.
He’d begun to tease her that she couldn’t live without him, and maybe he was right. Maybe this was what love was all about;an all-encompassing need to hear someone, be with them, or simply bask in an uncomplicated back and forth over what their day had been like.
Bobbie was jonesing for some Buck time right now.
She finally found just a few minutes where everything at the current event seemed to be running smoothly enough that she could slip away and get her “fix”. Mel would take over for a bit.
“Mel. I’m headed off the floor for a few minutes,” she called over to her second-in-command who was replenishing a tray of raw oysters.
