cocks a smile. “Please don’t say that, Leith. Nobody’s dying.” His turquoise gaze moves away from mine. I grab the empty pint. “From one to ten.”
“A number hasn’t been invented for sex with you.”
“Of course.” I grin. “But you know damn well I’m referring to the beer.”
“The best I ever had.”
“Leith, me or the damn drink!” I tilt my head.
“Both.”
“Both?” I gush as he peppers my face with the sweet taste from between my thighs. Leith presses tight against me as we laugh. The vibrations of his abdomen and chest send shockwaves against my softer body.
Sucking in air, I murmur, “Both?”
Gently, he says, “That’ll do, Chevelle.”
The opportunist that Leith is, he bites my bottom lip, hiking my legs over his. We have a visceral need to touch each other, even during conversation. This desire came way before he started traveling for work.
“Hen, the two of us are gonna open a pub. Call it ‘Chevelle’s.’ ”
“My name doesn’t have the ring I’m aiming for. I prefer ‘Mia’s Place.’ ”
“Name like that, it’ll have fizzy juice as a call to action on the windows. Nae Mia’s.”
I laugh. “Um-hmm, with my name in lights, you’ll have the place decked out with muscle cars. I’d rather it be classy.”
“Aye right, fancy.” He rolls his eyes. “Nae nuggets belting tunes in their ale. A right naff place.”
“Boring, really, Leith?” I pop his shoulder. “And the fools can still sing in their ales. It will just be fancy. . . posh.”
“Och! That’s British, hen. Nae posh.” Leith laughs, taking on a serious stance. He rubs my cheek with his thumb. “So, we save more. Tell me how much ye need, Chevelle.”
I catch his thumb in my mouth, showing my appreciation for his kindness. When Leith groans deep down in his chest, I bite the bullet. “I’ll . . . bartend again,” I reply, tentatively. “Mia’s birthday is around the corner. I’ve been out of the game for almost four years.”
He laughs. Not one of those best friend laughs, but a husband laugh where the final decision belongs solely to him. He’s vetoed my suggestion. The plains of his chest and abdominals are taut beneath my skin as I push him away. He’s been home for such a short amount of time, and yet an argument breaches our love story.
Chapter 4
Chevelle
“My mam’ll offer ye one of her places, Chevelle. Just ye and she have a chat about which one of her buildings is—less involved—in other things.” Leith clears his throat.
What does he expect? Should I jump up and down, clap my hands together with glee?
At my lack of response, he adds, “We’ll purchase yer pub legal—with a clan discount.”
“For the trillionth time, no thank you.”
“I’ll call her now. Then ye can add wee sparkly things all over. Aye?”
I was shoving him away. Now, I’m tugging him near as he reaches for his pile of clothes on the kitchen floor. No doubt his iPhone is there too.
Holding his thick, muscular waist between my thighs, I level a glare at him. “No, Leith. I love your mom more than you at times. None of your parents’ businesses are squeaky clean. Besides, we don’t have the money. But if I bartend again, we could save. Like the last time when I worked at Michie’s—”
“Nae!”
“Leith, I haven’t said anything.” I snort. “Wow, now I see how ‘no’ became our daughter’s first word.”
“Och, Crabbit Chevelle!” Leith snarls. But he doesn’t stop at the usual nickname. He flies off the handle in Gaelic. Though my body craves him, I’m untwining my legs from around his lean body.
Indecisive, I shove him again. “Hey, don’t start with that Scottish lingo, where you’re talking shit, and I can’t understand.”
“Why’d ye bring up Michie’s then?”
“I was just saying if I bartend again, we can save. And I won’t work for Mi—”
“Last time I allowed ye to work there, some bampot grabbed yer arse! Ye bloodied his nose. Bravo, Chevelle.” He chortles sarcastically. “I broke the eejit’s legs when I found out. Dinna feckin’ think I’m satisfied either.”
“You better be. We could’ve been sued.”
A hard, foreboding look flashes in Leith’s eyes. “When ye popped the nugget in his feckin’ nose, Chevelle, ye had my nighean, my daughter, in yer belly! Discussion over. And then there’s Michie. That eejit.”
I roll my eyes toward heaven. I want to agree with him about the guy. I know Leith was just protecting me. The MacKenzies value family above anything. The MacKenzies would be together through thick or thin. They’d lay their heads