keeping this wonderful cocoon of cozy perfection going any longer without poking a little bit to see how sturdy a cocoon it was going to be.
“It’ll be waiting for us—if you want to join me, that is—.”
She hurried to button her jeans. “I’ll walk the dogs and move Cicero if you rebuild the fires and dig up something to eat.”
“A deal which I’d be a fool not to take, but I guilt easily, too. And I can’t have you turning into popsicles with the pupsicles, while I’m all warm inside. Doesn’t seem right.”
“Except I’m getting paid to take them out. It’s not like I’m being the altruistic one.”
“Meaning if they were our dogs, you’d just say screw it and jump back into bed with me?”
“Well, no, because then I’d be obligated as their owner to take care of them. If we had dogs, which we don’t.”
“Do you? Have dogs, I mean?”
“No. I can’t where I live. Which I hate, but I’ll get my own place eventually. So, I have everybody else’s dogs. And cats. The occasional guinea pig. I’m an all-service pet provider, you see.”
He looked over her as she tugged on her sweater. “I happen to like what I see.”
“I’m sure I look rather frightening at the moment, but you lie really well. You must really be feeling…greedy.”
“I never lie.” He scooted his legs off the edge of the bed, still quite beautifully naked, and snaked out a hand, snagging her wrist, and tugging her into his lap. “Not about you. Not about this.”
“This?” she asked, this time knowing exactly what he meant, but delighting in letting him express it.
He smiled, and he was such a beautiful man, in ways that went far past his surface beauty, it made her heart catch a little.
“Yeah,” he said, softly. “This.” And he tipped her chin up and claimed her mouth with a kiss that was unlike any they’d shared yet, and they’d shared many during their night together. It was morning, and there had been no bathroom-toothbrush run, so she should have been cringing, but the fairy tale continued and it was simply warm, sweet, and magically wonderful. She really, really didn’t want the real world reality check that was likely in store.
She sighed as he lifted his mouth from hers, and kissed the tip of her nose, then the corner of her eye, then her temple, before pulling her more deeply into his arms. Tended to, indeed. She’d always been the caregiver—strong, healthy, and never thinking about needing it herself. And she was still all those things…but this touched her on a level, soothed her on a level she hadn’t realized needed soothing. Maybe everybody needed tending to, in some way. Maybe he’d been right, about finding your path in life, then sharing it with the person who would enhance the joy already found in it.
Jack’s howl reached new heights of discomfort, making them both laugh. She got up from Trevor’s lap, and liked that he reluctantly let her go, but did, indeed, let her go. He might be greedy—which she heartily endorsed—but he wasn’t selfish. Another trait to admire and respect.
“I’m on dog patrol, you’re fire captain. We’ll meet back here in, say, twenty minutes?”
“You drive a hard bargain.”
She grinned. “No, I believe you’re the one who will have to do that.”
“Cute.”
She leaned in and kissed the tip of his nose, surprising him, and maybe delighting him a little with the unexpected move. “Yes, you are. And after the hard bargain, we can arm wrestle over who has to figure out what to have for breakfast.”
“I’ll help.”
“I’ll let you. I’ll feed the dogs. Then we’ll hunt. And if we can get the power back on, I believe there is a game on later today that has stakes attached to it. If you’re very lucky, you’ll win, and I won’t have to cook.”
“How is it lucky for me to end up cooking?”
She walked to the door. “Did I mention I make really good dessert?”
“Maybe, but I’m thinking you’d make a really a good dessert, so we’ll arm wrestle for that later, too.”
She was smiling when she left the room. And despite the fact that the air in the house was downright frigid, she all but danced down the hallway, let two very anxious dogs out of the parlor, then floated down the stairs and got all three of them into their outdoor winter gear, and out into the frigid, gray morning…still smiling all the while.
And the smile was still on