“It’s not even suppertime yet. Also, we’re not nineteen and we’ve got about ten more minutes in this position before we need to call for help getting up. Nobody wants that.”
“Good point. We could sneak upstairs to your bed. Nobody would even know I’m there.”
“Again, it’s not bedtime yet.” I chuckle, pushing myself up. I need to get out of here before we get into it again and find ourselves a condom short. “Your vehicle’s in the driveway, andit’s pretty distinctive since it’s bright red and has the CLFD logo on the doors and a light bar.”
“My vehicle’s often in the driveway.”
“But the people inside know you’renotinside with them.”
“Penny won’t say anything.”
I’m sure he believes that, but he also doesn’t have anything to lose if he’s wrong. Though I have no idea how my boss would feel about me being naughty in Santa’s sleigh with his brother-in-law, I’d rather not take the chance he’d question my professionalism.
“Time for you to go,” I insist, taking his hand and pulling him to his feet. “Let’s clean up. And make sure you get that rag from the sleigh because Charming Lake doesn’t need a generational memory about the year a used condom was stuck to Santa’s boot.”
We laugh while quickly fixing our clothing situation, and then we make quick work of cleaning up the barn.
Then Rob’s radio squawks again, and he listens to the information before cursing under his breath. “Dammit. I was going to drag you to the diner and use fries to lure you into letting me sneak into your room tonight, but this one’s going to take a while.”
“Raincheck,” I say, even though I don’t really mean it. Sneaking around in a barn is one thing, but I can’t have Rob Byrne in my bedroom. “Go. I’ll see you at the station in the morning.”
He pulls me in for one quick—but fierce—kiss, and then he’s gone.
Chapter
Twenty
Rob
I’m not alone in the equipment bay when Whitney arrives the next morning. Kevin, the youngest of the bunch, has been volunteering while working construction with his uncle, but he wants to start trade school and get his electrical license. I’ve written him some recommendation letters for some scholarships he’s applied for, plus we’ve talked about his possible schedule because he wanted some reassurance we can make do without him sometimes (we can) and that he won’t lose his spot (he won’t).
After I introduce them, we make small talk for a few minutes—mostly Kevin asking Whitney about the big city—but he finally has to leave to pick up some things at the hardware store.
“I thought he’d never leave,” Whitney says once the sound of his truck’s engine fades away.
Her arms reach up to circle my neck and I pull her close for a very thorough first kiss of the day. Hopefully not the last, but just in case, I make it a good one.
“What’s on the agenda today?” she says once I’ve reluctantly let her go. “You said to dress warmly, but you didn’t say why.”
“We’re going to check out the sledding runs.” I tuck a wisp of hair behind her ear. “Maybe we should go up to my office and figure out the rest.”
She laughs and pushes at my shoulder. “No, we donotneed to go upstairs to your office because I happen to remember you keep a bed in there, and we have too much to get done today.”
“You’d rather go sledding than spend some time in that bed with me?”
“I’d rather spend time in that bed with you than do just about anything else,” she says, and I’m not surprised my body heats, but I’d rather my heart stayed out of it. The pang in my chest isn’t entirely welcome. “But we have to get through this list. Also, I thought you said your dad and his friends took care of the sled runs.”
“They do. But I like to check their work because sometimes they think a jump or a corner might add to the kids’ fun.” I shrug. “Which it does, right up until a kid gets launched into the air and his parents collide trying to catch him.”
“Did they get hurt?”
“No, but the mom wasn’t impressed by the dad yelling at her that he waved her off, signaling it was his catch, and if she ever watched baseball, she would know that. They divorced a year later.” I laugh at her expression. “Not because of the sledding. They really didn’t like each other very much, even before that.”
“So we’ll definitely make sure they didn’t add any jumps,” she mutters.
“And since it’s cold, it’s a good idea to make a couple of runs to help compact them so they’ll keep their shape when it warms up some.”
“I’ll enjoy watching you do that.”
