“Later,” I said firmly. Maybe not tonight, but I’d be here long enough that “later” would happen, eventually.
I tore myself away from him, feeling as if I’d been pressed along his body, when the only points of contact had been our mouths and my hand on his five o’clock shadow.
I went to the sink and washed my hands, glancing at myself in the mirror. I wasn’t tired, mostly because I always felt better once I was done traveling.
“You still hate traveling?” Emery asked, his voice raspy until he cleared his throat.
I backed away from his tempting form and took my turn leaning to the door. “Yeah. But at least it wasn’t too long this time. It’s mostly the flying that gets to me. A car I can stop and take a walk before I get stir crazy.”
He smiled slightly and dried his hands, then quirked an eyebrow at me. “I could probably prescribe something for that.”
His expression belied the playfulness, and I stepped up to him, then grabbed one firm butt cheek and squeezed. “I’ll be counting on that, Doctor Harrington.”
Emery whimpered, then tilted his head up for a kiss, which I gladly gave him.
When I let go, he swayed toward me, and I was a little disappointed, knowing that we had to go downstairs.
“Okay, okay,” Emery said quietly, probably to both of us.
Just as we got back to the top of the stairs, I leaned down a bit to murmur into his ear, “Hey, look at it this way: at least you don’t have beard burn.”
When he’d left my hotel room that last time, he’d had it all over his body.
I heard so many things over the family dinner that my head spun by the time I was walking to the cabin I would be staying at.
“We lived there first,” Payton, who was hopping beside me, reminded me as if I hadn’t been told this fifteen minutes prior.
“Uh-huh.”
“And then my Daddies wanted to be together and now we live in our cabin all together. My room is brand new!”
“Pay? Let Ville be,” Crew called out where he and Mal were walking behind us.
“If you run now, you’ll get half an hour more reading time tonight,” Mal added.
“Oh yay! Bye Mr. Ville!” Payton waved and thenran.
I laughed and waited for his dads. “Can I assume that was something you would’ve given him anyway had he asked?”
Mal grinned. “Absolutely. There’s a schedule, of course, but we’ll never limit how much time he can spend reading.” His cell phone rang, and his grin widened when he saw who it was. “It’s my mom. I’m gonna take this.”
“Tell her I said hi,” Crew called after his man who jogged toward the cabin while answering the call.
As we continued walking, I asked the one thing I hadn’t really understood and hadn’t had time to ask during dinner.
“So how is Bodhi here already? I thought he’d come for the wedding.”
Crew frowned at me. “What? He’s been back for about a year. He’s done.”
I stopped in my tracks. “What?” I felt like a shitty echo.
“Yeah, he’s starting his own business on the north side of the property. There’s a build site there, with access from Millsbrook Rd.”
“Oh, well I’ll have to factor that into my plans, then,” I said thoughtfully, as ifthatwas the thing I was so confused about.
“Yeah. You probably need to take into account each business separately. Fern has the event barn, Hawk is building the horse therapy pool, and now Bodhi’s as well.”
“Right.” Luckily we got to the cabins then, and Crew lifted his hand before going to theirs.
