Page 103 of Beastly Mountain Man

I rested my head against his shoulder.

Lucky rubbed his thumb slowly along my arm. “You tired?”

“No. Comfortable.”

“I’ll take comfortable.”

I tipped my face toward him. “You should. I’m very selective.”

His smile came before the kiss.

This one took its time.

I slid closer until half my body was across his, my fingers moving into his damp hair while his palm settled low at my back. His mouth moved over mine with easy familiarity, no hesitation between wanting and touching anymore.

When I shifted against him, Lucky’s breath changed.

His lips moved to the corner of my jaw.

“We have hours until midnight,” he said.

“I’m aware.”

“You said you wanted to make it to the countdown.”

“I also said I was comfortable. Circumstances evolve.”

Lucky laughed against my skin.

I kissed him until the wine glasses sat forgotten on the table and the music moved through three songs without either of us noticing.

We eventually made it upstairs.

We eventually came back down.

My hair was no longer as neat as it had been for the video call, Lucky’s T-shirt had disappeared somewhere along the way, and I’d traded my jeans for soft charcoal pants and one of his old shirts. By then it was after eleven, the woodstove had burned lower, and the house had settled into the deep quiet of a winter night.

Lucky added one log to the stove while I brought out the bottle we’d saved for midnight.

He took it from me before I could start working on the wire cage.

“I know how to open it,” I said.

“I know.”

“Then why are you taking it?”

“Because you don’t like things under pressure that might fly into your face.”

I considered the bottle.

“Fair.”

He grinned and opened it away from both of us with a soft pop.

At eleven-fifty, we carried our glasses to the couch. Lucky sat close enough that our legs touched from hip to knee. I tucked the wool throw across both of us, and he pulled me against his side while the low New Year’s broadcast played on the television.

The final minutes slipped by with snow falling outside and Lucky’s fingers moving slowly over my shoulder.