Page 88 of Paper Horses

“So you don’t drink boxed wine?”

He took two plates from the cabinet and returned to the island as I picked up the bottle to study it. Expensive brand and aged.

“Tried it just because I knew it would piss my mother off if she even imagined me doing it, but that was the end of my affair with boxed wine. My brother sends me a few bottles of the good stuff for Christmas every year.”

I glanced up from the bottle. “He really loves you, doesn’t he?”

Hand palming the back of his hair, he peeked over at me. “Yeah. But so does your brother.”

“Ha, he sent me to Montana and stranded me with an ex who very well could have killed me and hidden the body in one of his fields.”

“I doubt he would have sent you if he thought that. Besides,” he said, gathering the plates, “I’m not the killing type.” He walked through the kitchen and into the living room. “I would have made you suffer, but killing is just too messy.”

When I didn’t respond, he looked my way, chuckling. “Come on, I’ve got the perfect movie to bore you to death.”

I squinted at him. “So, you are trying to kill me.”

“Nah, I need you alive and kicking when I rip those flimsy pajamas off you later.”

“These aren’t flimsy. They’re silk and very expensive.”

He sat on the couch, patting the seat next to him. “I bet, but that’s not what anyone would call pajamas. Next time we go into town, I’m going to get you a real pair. Maybe with kittens all over them.”

I sat next to him, folding a leg under me. “Please don’t. Tori made me where snowman ones at Christmas, and I wanted to puke.”

His laugh bellowed through the room. “Did she get pictures?”

Elbowing him, I went to reach my wine from where I’d placed it on the coffee table. He caught me and pulled me further into his side, and kissed my head. I rested my hand on his chest and peered up at him. His irises were a rich shade of chocolate that I could lose myself in.

“I missed this,” I said, my voice barely a whisper, the words not completely encompassing the lonely nights and shallow days. The mere act of living that had been nothing more than a task to be completed.

Fingers caressing my cheek, he said, “I missed us.”

Ache and yearning tinged the words, and I pushed up on my knees, resting my hands on his chest. So much passed between our eyes, emotion that solidified the words we’d exchanged, the love that had bloomed again yet was still fragile. And it was that fragility that terrified me. Getting over Hudson had taken…well, forever because I never had. Only well-fortified walls and a mask of ice had given me the strength to continue through my days. The thought of going through that again terrified me, and with that fear, the fragments of the mask gathered, readying for the day I would need it again. I wasn’t so certain it would be enough this time.

“Olivia,” he said, and I blinked, seeing creases around his eyes. “You’re in your head again.”

“I know.” I looked down at his shirt, picking at the collar. “I’m not sure I can leave it.”

My voice shook as the double meaning in those words took shape. He released a ragged sigh and rested his head against mine. “Leave it for now. The pizza’s getting cold, and my beer is getting warm.”

“And you hate warm beer,” I said, turning my cheek and leaning it against his chest.

“Damn right I do.” He reached over and grabbed the blanket from the end of the couch and threw it over me before shifting so I was more comfortable. With a flick of the remote, he pulled up the movie. “Ready for some World War II history?”

“Can’t I go to DC to get that?”

He looked down at me. “I’m gonna pretend you didn’t say that. What are they teaching you in the big city?”

I smiled and curled further into him, thinking of all I’d learned in the city: how to be cold and aloof, distant and cruel. None of it had to do with any history but that of my family.

“You always were a big history nerd. Should have guessed that hadn’t changed,” I teased.

“I’m gonna turn you into one, you just wait and see.”

“Didn’t work last time.”

His hand smoothed down my back. “No, it didn’t, but you didn’t give me enough time.”