All's Fair in Love and Chocolate (Marietta Chocolate Wars #1) - Amy Andrews Page 0,70

the day off tomorrow. So they could have a leisurely breakfast and discuss things like adults. And he’d be fine because she’d always been going to leave. And so would she.

She’d walk out the door and everything would be just fine.

*

Viv had been awake for several hours the next morning when Reuben joined her in the living room. She was in jeans and her favorite baby-pink cashmere sweater and socks and had been working on her laptop in front of the fire, trying not to think about what would happen when he woke and realized her bag—Delish were keeping the cottage for her return so no need to worry about the other stuff—was at the front door.

Head office had directed her to Houston and she’d deliberately booked a flight out of Bozeman Yellowstone International at nine tonight, which wouldn’t touch her down until after the New Year’s shenanigans were over. She had zero desire to be in some bland business hotel when the ball dropped. She’d rather be sitting in business class with her laptop and noise-canceling headphones and forgetting that she could have been ringing it in with Reuben.

The smell of warm clean skin filled her nostrils as scratchy whiskers nuzzled into her neck. “Good morning,” he murmured, the stir of his breath adding to the avalanche of goose bumps breaking out both north and south.

Viv shut her eyes on a sigh, reaching behind her to ruffle his hair as her nipples stiffened to tight peaks. She adored his sleepy morning voice. “You’re awake,” she said, forcing herself to unhand him.

He dropped a kiss on her neck before straightening and stretching if the noises he was making were any indication. “I hope I didn’t wake you when I got in last night?” he said, rounding the couch and sitting on the opposite end.

All he had on was a pair of boxer briefs and despite telling herself not to ogle his almost naked body, her eyes betrayed her.

Damn eyes!

“No, I barely heard you.”

Which was a lie. He got in at two forty-six, his arm coming around her as he spooned into her and kissed her neck and she’d wanted nothing more than to turn in his embrace and get lost in him. The same as this morning when she’d woken. They hadn’t had sex since just before the fire and she wanted him so fiercely. But more than that, she’d wanted to disappear inside him for a while. Hold him for a bit longer. Create a send-off to be remembered.

But it had felt dishonest when she knew her intention was to leave—when the flight was booked and her bag was packed—and she hadn’t told him yet. If, after she told him, he wanted to take her back to bed and make her call his name all damn day, she’d be totally up for that but she owed him the truth first.

“How was it?” she asked, seeing the faint lines of tiredness etched around his eyes. It couldn’t have been good to have been out till past two.

He grimaced. “A bit of a mess.”

“Fatalities?”

“Two.”

Ugh. Viv shuddered. How dreadful for the victims and their families. How awful for first responders. She slid her hand across the couch and touched his fingertips. “Sorry.”

He shrugged as he linked his fingers through hers. “All part of the job.”

Yeah. But still, seeing that kind of stuff couldn’t be easy. “You want me to cook you some breakfast?”

“Nah.” He smiled and shook his head. “What I want is to get dressed and go into Bozeman with you. We can have the day there and I’ve booked us into that hotel where we first met. I’ve even managed to score the same room. And I want to make you come at precisely midnight so you can hear and see metaphorical fireworks as you scream in the new year.”

He was grinning like crazy now and Viv’s heart squeezed painfully as she dropped her gaze to the laptop, her hair falling forward a little. God, that sounded so good. But…she was expected in Houston. She had a job to do, damn it, and the company relied on her.

This thing between them had always had a shelf life. It was just a little shorter than they’d both expected.

“Okay.” He turned his head to the side and peered around the curtain of her hair to her downcast face, his grin replaced with a playful smile. “That seems less than enthusiastic. We can go to any hotel. I don’t mind which one I