Nora dusted a brief kiss over Quinn’s lips before turning to see what had made the pup so upset, and she shook her head as she muttered fondly, “Oh, Fortissimo.”
Quinn licked her lips as she also looked his way, and chuckled when she saw Fort doing a frantic tap dance in front of a slowly deflating Rudolph. “Buddy…”
Fort looked at her with wide eyes and let out a positively forlorn, “Woof!”
“I see that,” she assured him. She pressed her lips to Nora’s forehead. “He probably just unplugged it.”
“Or maybe it has a hole and needs to be thrown away,” Nora ventured, a touch of hope lightening her tone.
Quinn chuckled. “You’re mean.”
“You underestimate my dislike for inflatables.”
“You’re the one who put it in the cart.”
“Technically, it never went in the cart because Fort would only come with us if he could see it.”
Unimpressed by their playful banter, Fort barked and gave a frustrated little hop to demand their attention.
Quinn laughed and kissed Nora’s nose. “I’ll go fix it.”
Nora smiled and patted Quinn’s ass in ayeah, you do thattype of way. “Since we’ve finished decorating, would you like to watch a movie or something before you head over to the market?”
“Depends.” Quinn threw a playful wink over her shoulder as she knelt to check Rudolph’s power source. She shook her head when she saw that Fort had, indeed, somehow managed to unplug Rudolph, and gave him ahow the hell did you pull this off?look as she tied the flimsy power cord in a loose knot around the substantially thicker one of the outdoor surge protector it’d been plugged into.
“Oh?” Nora played along. “On what?”
Quinn dusted her hands off on her hips as she stood, and she grinned at Nora as she asked, “Do I get to cuddle with you?”
Nora laughed and nodded. “Of course. And I’ll even make us some popcorn, if you’d like.”
“Sold.” Quinn darted forward to pull Nora into her arms. “What movie are you thinking of watching?”
“I’ll let you pick.”
“Wow. Living dangerously, Kile.”
“Mm, maybe,” Nora agreed as she pressed onto her toes to kiss Quinn. “But you’re worth the risk.”
Something in her tone suggested she meant more than just Quinn’s taste in movies, and Quinn nuzzled her cheek as a fragile hope sparked in her chest. “Yeah?”
Nora’s eyes shone with affection as she leaned in to press her soft, “Yes,kjære,” directly to Quinn’s lips.
“Just have to put these in the truck, and then I’m good to go.” Quinn glanced at Nora, who was sitting on the grass with Fort, as she laid the last few ornaments from that night’s display into a half-empty bin, carefully arranging them to hide the little project she’d begun working on the day before. “Anything in particular you want to do tonight?” she asked as she snapped the bin’s lid into place and stacked it atop her final full container of ornaments. She laughed when Nora bit her lip and smiled suggestively, and shook her head as she said, “Besidesthat.”
“Sorry, but it was just too easy,” Nora chuckled as she climbed to her feet. She looked down at Fort, who was busy chewing on a stick he’d found, and shrugged. “I honestly just want to spend the evening with you. I don’t care what we do.”
Quinn’s heart swelled at the gentle honesty in Nora’s voice. “What if we went back to yours and watched the parade from the balcony?”
“Mm, a glass of wine, cuddling on the balcony…”
“Now you’re talking,” Quinn said as she picked up the bins. “That sounds perfect.”
“It really does.” Nora pointed toward Quinn’s truck. “So, come on. Chop-chop, Haavik. Go put that stuff away.”
Quinn chuckled and dipped into a short bow. “Yes, Ms. Kile.”
Fort, still chomping merrily away on his stick, let out a little bark and wagged his tail.
