His hands travel down my body, spreading goosebumps across my skin.
“Yes, sir.”
I giggle as he pulls me up out of the chair and takes us straight to the bed.
* * *
I kickaway Declan’s foot as he tries to keep his leg over me to entrap me, but as tempting as this warm bed is, I know better and should head home soon. But one minute more won’t cause any harm, I’m sure.
His arm adjusts around me as I lie with my head on the pillow.
“I think we can agree that we need to recover now,” I say.
“Pff, speak for yourself. I’m a well-trained athlete with stamina for days.”
I roll my eyes. “You’re aretiredathlete.”
“Ouch.”
“Yeah, because team owner sounds so drab.”
Declan rolls to his side and props his head up against his arm. “I might be horrible at it. I can’t even properly feed the woman I’m fucking like crazy.”
I wave him off. “You’ll be fine. I barely remember to feed the bird, and I’m still successful at my shop.”
He reaches back with his free arm to grab his phone, and he begins to connect to the Bluetooth. “What are we listening to?” He pauses, and his nose scrunches up. “What’s your musical taste?”
“Anything country or indie.”
“Ah, you’re a country girl. No wonder you like certain positions.”
I laugh as he brings up a playlist and hits play.
“I’m curious, how in the world did you get into origami? Trust me when I say that it’s the last thing I would ever expect your talented hands to do.”
Declan gets comfortable between the covers again and peppers a few kisses along the curve of my shoulder. “My grandfather taught English in Japan. Picked up the art of origami and taught me.”
“You’re close with him?”
“Was. He passed a few years back. Now it’s just my parents and me. My mom gets along with everyone, and for what it’s worth, my dad isn’t bad. He’s just waiting for me to step up, and I have no plans to take over maple syrup and hotels. I’ve been avoiding his calls all week, to be honest.”
This time, I’m the one to place a kiss along his arm, a sort of caress. “It’s okay, everyone is allowed to have their Lake Spark escape before making key decisions. You know everyone on Ford’s street kind of did that. Now you’re here and can enjoy Illinois summer and coffee with jellybeans before finding your career path and talking with your dad.”
“Illinois summer have just been rain for the past few days,” he deadpans.
I wrap my arms around his bicep. “True, but there is an extremely hot florist on Main Street who might just be able to guide you with indoor activities.”
“You’re guiding me?” He pretends to be offended. “Other way around, sweetheart. It’s more like you have a perfect ass and bring good conversation.”
“A winning combination,” I retort.
He rolls us over so I’m underneath him. “That’s kind of a problem.”
I get the feeling there is something underneath his words, but I don’t want to try and analyze. This is probably my cue to leave, anyway.
“On that note.” I tap his nose with my finger. “I need to go and let you enjoy the warm chocolate chip cookies that they deliver at turndown service.”
Leaving him in bed, I scramble to find my clothes.
