“Hmm.I think I’d go wine before flowers.Elizabeth has a greenhouse in her backyard.”
“A horticulturalist?”He checked his watch.“I might have time.I know someone who grows exotic orchids.Perhaps I can get one for her.”He stood.“Thank you.”He waved at Declan.“Have a good evening and I’ll see you tomorrow.It’s a gallery day, yes?”
I nodded.“Yep.We’ll be open.”
Bracken took off in search of rare plants and I went back to my young man, who was throwing the tennis ball for a certain speckle-headed seal.
FOURTEEN
The Wave for the Win
When we got home, I went straight for the bedroom.Declan had put the bedding on.The sheets were a warm brown that reminded me of his eyes.I’d had the comforter custom made.Alaskan king comforters weren’t common.I’d chosen a deep green brocade, with subtle medallions in varying greens and browns.Our bed was looking appropriately foresty.
Declan picked me up and tossed me onto it before climbing on himself.“This may be the greatest bed ever made.Look at this.”He stretched out across the narrow side—if one could call anything about this thing narrow.“I fit going this way too!”
Grinning, I climbed on top of him and stretched out with him.“There’s so much room now.I guess we don’t need to cuddle up together anymore.”I tried to roll off him, but his arms came up, caging me in.
“Where do you think you’re going?We have a football field of bed to make our own, starting right here.”He pulled my top over my head and drew me in for a kiss that had me yanking at his clothes.
Much later, we finally made it to the kitchen for dinner.
“I can grill a couple of steaks?”Declan suggested.He’d added a grill to the side deck.The outside stairs to our second floor flat crested at a deck that spanned the whole side of the building.The far end had a perfect ocean view.Most of the deck, though, looked out over the trees between Declan’s property and the B&B next door.
I considered steak.I normally wasn’t much of a meat eater, but that sounded good.“Okay.Do we have vegetables to go with it?”
He looked in the fridge.“We should.I can grill the zucchini.”He pulled out a yellow one, grabbed a cutting board, and got to work chopping.“Do we still have those garlic twists you baked?”
“We should.”I looked in the freezer and pulled out a plastic baggie filled with them.I watched him a moment, fixated on his large, beautiful hands, the way the muscles in his arms moved as he chopped.
“Whatever you’re thinking over there, cut it out or we’ll never eat.I won’t be accused of starving my pregnant mate.”
I often forgot that he could scent emotions, like lust.“You’re doing all the cooking.What should I do?”
Grinning, he looked over his shoulder.“You should give me a kiss.”
So I did.
“And you could keep me company while I grill.”He pushed all the zucchini pieces off the cutting board and into a bowl.He drizzled olive oil over them, hit them with seasonings, and stirred before pouring them into a metal mesh basket.
“I’ll get the steaks in a few.The zucchini takes longer.”He held out his free hand for me, and I took it.
While he cooked us dinner, I went down to the end of the deck to watch the waves.The sun had set while we’d christened the new bed.The sky had a stranglehold on the last of the reflected light, the ocean taking on an otherworldly periwinkle color.This was my favorite time of day.We had only a few minutes at most before the light changed and the landscape returned to normal.
Declan wrapped his arms around me and rested his chin on the top of my head.“My favorite time of day.”
Why that made me tear up, I didn’t know.I held on to him and breathed in the perfection before the magical light disappeared.
Declan kissed the top of my head and said, “Dinner’s ready.Let’s go in.”
He went to collect our steaks and veggies, but I stayed at the railing.A person was walking along the opposite side of the road, toward my gallery, and that person was making me uncomfortable.They hadn’t done anything unusual or problematic, but I didn’t want them near my gallery.
“Arwyn?”Declan called.
“Be there in a minute.I need to make sure of something.”He went in, but I continued to watch.The person—slight, in black jeans and a black hoodie—slowed at the gallery.Yes, there were things to look at, but it felt menacing.
Declan was back, his arms slipping around me again.“What’s the matter?”
I pointed.“I don’t know who that is, but I don’t like them.They’re up to something.Neither Bracken nor I are over there tonight.”
