Page 159 of Worth the Trip

“That last one sounds suspiciously self-serving.”

“I designed a mutually beneficial system.”

“You designed a reason to put your mouth on me whenever you feel like it.”

“Exactly. Mutual.”

Her laugh filled the bathroom while I kissed the shoulder my shirt had left bare. I made it as far as the side of her neck before she reached behind her and put a hand in my locs.

“Breakfast.”

“I remember.”

“Your mouth appears confused about the assignment.”

“Preliminary work.”

“On my neck?”

“Improves morale.”

“Landon.”

I looked at her through the mirror.

She rose onto her toes and kissed me once, soft enough to suggest dismissal and long enough to sabotage it.

“Go cook, baby.”

Shit.

She slipped out of my arms before I could respond and reached for the unopened toothbrush beside the sink. I stayed exactly where she left me.

Her eyes met mine in the mirror. “Something wrong?”

“Nah. Just confirming you know how powerful you are.”

“I’m brushing my teeth.”

“You weaponized tenderness.”

“You were blocking the sink.”

“Dangerous woman.”

“You seem pleased.”

“I’m the primary target.”

Her laugh disappeared behind the toothbrush.

By the time we reached the kitchen, sunlight had spread across the cabin, revealing a lake washed clean by the storm. Water still clung to the pines, and the clouds were breaking apart above them while the surface beyond the windows settled into blue-gray ripples.

Nolani stopped there in my shirt.

Of course she did.

“It looks completely different.”