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I didn’t doubt it, either, not from the way she spoke of the knife she’d been given. Lia put the board on the table, running a finger over the smooth wood, and I desperately wished she’d run her finger over my…right, okay. I needed to get my thoughts out of the gutter. When she leaned up and kissed my cheek, her lips lightly brushing my skin, it took everything in my power not to reach for her. I’d never met someone who had such a profound effect on me before.
“Use it in good health,” is what I said instead, and mentally kicked myself for sounding like a polite grandfather. Turning away, I wandered to the spice cabinet to put some space between us before I bent her over the table and showed her all the ways I wanted to use her. No, correction, worship her. “This spice cabinet is cool. It’s quite old, eh?”
“It is. I’m kind of obsessed with it and how they just put the spices directly in the drawers. It’s incredibly well made. And the little round handles on each drawer. Want to try this recipe? I’m not really a baker, but I know scones will be a must-have, and they’re easy enough. I was trying out a blueberry and crushed coriander seed. Hey!” Lia shouted, and I whirled, hands up.
“What?” I gaped at the glob of batter that dripped from her hair.
“What the hell, Munroe?” Lia half-laughed, half-glared at me.
“I swear…I didn’t…” I held my hands up, confusion filling me, though I couldn’t help but laugh at the glob of batter running down the side of her head.
“Oh, you think this is funny?” Lia ducked her hand in a bowl, and to my complete shock, she came over and ran her palm down the side of my face, streaking my cheek with batter that smelled faintly of blueberries.
“I can’t believe you just did that.” I looked at her in shock.
“You started it.”
“I didn’t, no, but I’ll end it.” The thrill of battle lit inside me, and Lia must have seen it in my eyes because she squealed and ran from the room. Laughing, I chased her into the banquet hall and caught her in two steps, pinning her to the stone wall. Our eyes caught, and laughter fell away as something else heated between us.
“Munroe,” Lia gasped, as I angled my mouth closer to hers.
“Lia.” It was a question as much as it was a demand.
Lia closed the space between our lips, making the decision for me, and that was all the assent I needed. Her lips were hot against mine, and I teased her mouth open, tasting the sweetness of blueberries on her tongue.
This woman.
Her.
She was everything. I had no rational explanation for why I knew that she was meant for me. Maybe it was the way that the world quieted when I was with her, and how my focus narrowed to just her. It was as though she was the sun, and I was determined to spend my life in her orbit, basking in her brilliance. It was over the top, this rush of desire and need to care for her, to claim her, to make her my own…and yet I couldn’t force those thoughts away.
I didn’t want them to go away.
For the first time in my life, I felt,reallyfelt, like I’d finally found my way home. For years now I’d been searching for something I couldn’t quite grasp, until my eyes had landed on Lia, and everything had clicked into place.
We barely knew each other, and yet I already understood everything that I needed to.
My hands trailed down her sides, and I lifted her, positioning her legs around my waist, pressing my hardness to where I wanted her most. Lia arched against me, breaking the kiss, and leaned her head back against the wall. Taking the invitation, I traced my lips across the soft skin at her neck, sticky with batter, and licked my way down to the open V of her shirt. I was just following the trail of the batter, I reasoned, and I pressed a kiss to the soft swell of her breast. Lingering there, I waited for her to tell me no, or to invite more, and when she said nothing, I skimmed my teeth across where her nipple pebbled against the thin fabric of her tank bra.
Lia bucked against me, and I almost embarrassed myself by finding my release so quickly. She was warm against my body, curvy and soft, and just so…lush. I wanted to lick her from head to toe, to press myself into the soft folds of her flesh, to watch the ripple of pleasure dance across her face. She threaded her fingers into my hair, pulling my mouth back to hers, and there we feasted on each other until we both broke apart, gasping for air. My arms shook, and still I held her, never wanting to let her go.
A bowl clattered to the floor behind us, and I spun, Lia stuck to me like a barnacle on a ship. We both inhaled in shock.
A small shaggy being, with a crinkled face, curious eyes, and a wiry coat of hair peered at us from under the table. Clothed in patchwork overalls and a faded red hat, it disappeared as quickly as it had come.
“Holy shit,” Lia breathed. “Did you see that? Tell me you saw that.”
“Wheesht,” I whispered. I backed up, carrying Lia from the dim banquet hall, and kicked the door closed behind us. Once we were in the kitchen, I put her on the prep table, and just caged her in with my arms, wanting to keep her close in case anything untoward would arise.
“What the hell was that? I thought…the other day…was that a goblin? Is it going to kill me?" Lia gasped, her head turning wildly, as she scanned the room.
“No.” I knew what it was, though I’d only ever known it to exist in fairy tales. Leave it to Loren Brae, home of the Kelpies and a ghost coo to house another mythological character. Why stop at one, right? “It’s a broonie.”
“A broonie? What is that? Is that like…a local animal?” Lia asked hopefully.
“No, darling. You’d probably know it as a brownie. A brùnaidh.” I pronounced the Gaelic term.
“No way. Like an elf? A house elf?” Lia gaped at me.
