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At first morning’s light, she woke. They were still snuggled together, her chest pressed against his, while he was on his back, and she guessed his back wasn’t feeling too bad, for which she was glad.
She sighed. “Hey, I guess it’s time for me to go home and get to work.”
He sighed too and ran his hands through her hair. “After a hearty breakfast.”
“I can go for that.” But then they settled down tosnuggle some more, and before they knew it, they were both late to work, hopping out of bed, groaning, and laughing.
She knew just how this would look to her siblings, and the same for Nate with his sister and his parents.
Chapter 9
That morning, after Nate and Kayla made pancakes, he was amused to see her rushing through breakfast so they weren’ttoomuch later to work. Then he drove her to her house and parked, and she rolled her bag inside while he carried in all the things she’d had in her car since it would be towed away as soon as Desmond Reynolds, the insurance adjuster, took a look at it and released it.
Roxie was at work, so she wouldn’t know exactly what time Kayla had arrived home, only that she showed up late for work this morning. Nate knew Kayla was embarrassed about it, but he figured they’d be late, and there wasn’t anything further they could do about it. Not that there was anything wrong with it either.
“I’ll look into the situation with the owner of the keys that were found in the room safe. Roxie sent me the third-party booking information already,” Nate said.
“Okay, good. I should have thought of that when I asked if you could do it. Oh, I forgot to ask. Does anyone know you were planning to invite me to go with you to the cabin?”
“Jake Silver might have figured out what was going on. I had to reserve the cabin through him. Though I didn’t tell him I was taking you. And he didn’t ask. He might have thought I was taking the family.”
Jake was the pack leader’s brother and second in charge, so that was one of the jobs he took care of for the pack. Nate said it with a teasing light in his dark eyes and a smile on his lips, dimples appearing on both cheeks.
She loved his dimples. They made the rugged Army Ranger approachable. She wrapped her arms around his neck. She wasn’t sure if she should tell him that Nicole had already let the cat out of the bag with Roxie or not.
“And Nicole knows because I had to tell her so I could take off and make arrangements with the Green Valley wolf PIs to help out. But I didn’t tell those PIs who I was going with on the vacation. Nicole would have known I was taking you, or I would have said I was going with some of the guys in the pack,” Nate explained.
“Okay, so since Nicole knew, Blake would know. And if he knew, Roxie and Landon would know.” There. She hadn’t given away Nicole, not wanting to get her in trouble. Roxie had slipped up by telling Kayla the news. Kayla kissed Nate. “If there’s any chance of a storm, we’re not going for a run in the woods.”
He chuckled. “No, you’re right. Only fun stuff this next time. Let me know if we’re on for two birthdays or—”
“One. Four on one day. That’s it.”
“Sounds good to me, but don’t be shocked if I have a birthday surprise for you after that.”
“I would be surprised if you didn’t, and it will be welcome.” Then she kissed him until he parted his lips and she tongued him.
He groaned.
“Oh, are you hurting?”
“No. I just wish”—he smiled—“we didn’t have to get up so early to go to work.”
She laughed. “We are late to work.” She knew what he meant though. At the cabin, they could make love to each other the whole week long, go to bed when they wanted, get up when they wanted. No sisters or brothers or jobs to worry about and they’d be all healed up.
“If you’d like, I can take you to Green Valley to look for a car,” Nate said. “This afternoon or tomorrow afternoon?”
“I need to speak to the insurance adjuster this morning. Then he’ll release it and it can be towed off.” She had figured she’d just get one of her brothers or Roxie to go with her, but it would be nice to go with Nate. “But sure, that would be great. Look at your schedule and see which would be best for you.”
“Okay, I’ll see what Nicole says too.”
“Sure.” She liked how he was eager to help her with her car and didn’t put things off. She could always borrow Blake’s or Roxie’s car, but she’d rather have her own in case they needed theirs.
As soon as they said goodbye, she locked up the house, then walked to the lodge and saw Landon’s car parked there, so he was in. Blake would have walked from his place already if he wasn’t home with Nicole.
Kayla walked into the lodge through the staff entrance. If she was bringing Rosco and Buttercup, they always went through the front doors to show off the arrival of their lodge mascots. When she entered the lobby, Rosco hurried to greet her with licks and body rubs. Kayla gave him a big hug. “I missed you too.”
“Hey,” Roxie said, joining Kayla and giving her a hug. “If you can’t tell, Rosco missed you last night. So did Buttercup. I’m so glad you stayed with Nate after that storm hit though.”
