Page 27 of Mated in Flames

Warwick

It takes only a week before I know that I never want to lose Luciana.

The thought strikes me as I look up at her from where I’m lying on the ground, covered in mud after the pig that I’d been trying to shepherd toward the barn had barrelled me over. She’s laughing heartily, clutching her stomach as the clear, beautiful sound rings out around the field, and she’s beautiful.

I want to see her laugh for the rest of our lives.

“Thanks,” I said, deadpan, shoving all other thoughts to the back of my mind for now; I can think more about it later. “Are you going to keep laughing at me, or help me up.”

Still snickering, Luciana offers me a hand, which was her first mistake. I clasp it, holding on for a moment as I feel the warmth of her palm. And then I yank her into the mud beside me.

She yells out in shock as she falls, but doesn’t have enough time to catch herself. The mud is particularly slimy today after a brief shower the previous night, she looks up at me with a glare, globs of wet dirt on her cheek.

“Seriously?” she growls. “Well, since you like the mud so much…”

She picks up a handful of it and dumps it straight over my hair. I sputter and shake it off, making her laugh and scramble backwards as flecks fly everywhere. We’re both filthy now, which means we’ll need to wash before we even think about doing anything else, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. It doesn’t help that thoughts of joining Luciana in the shower immediately fly through my mind, bringing with it images of wet, silken skin and drops of water that fall down, down, down her long, lithe body…

I hear someone clearing their throat and my thoughts immediately snap back to the present, yanking my mind away from the sultry images as I feel my pants tighten. I cough and then Luciana and I look up.

Dane is standing there, looking disapproving.

“Dane,” I say. “What are you doing here?”

Dane scowls.

“Did you forget about the delivery pick up?” he demands.

My eyes widened. Shit, I completely forgot. Once a month, I travel to the nearby city to pick up supplies that we can’t get in the small valley. As I’m the only one between us who can drive, the job inevitably falls to me. Normally, I don’t mind the chance to go to the city and explore civilisation for a day, but today is different. Today, I have Luciana, and I had promised her my help.

However, there’s not much I can do. After all, I’m the only one who can do the supply run.

Seeing the indecision on my face, Dane sighs, aggravated.

“What are you doing tomorrow?” he grumbles.

“I was going to help Luciana with some things here, and she was going to show me her studies on the poison,” I say.

Dane’s eye twitches, as it always does when he’s particularly upset.

“Is it something I can do?” he asks Luciana, reluctance clear in his voice.

“Well, yes, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Luciana says, smiling at him.

I roll my eyes when he doesn’t smile back.

“Warwick won’t go if he thinks he’s depriving you,” he sighs. “I’ll call them and tell them we’ve been delayed a day. I’ll come over here and help out while you’re in the city.”

Regardless of how antisocial and sour he can be at times, Dane truly is an amazing brother. I smile thankfully at him.

“Sounds great,” I agree.

“Only if you’re sure,” Luciana adds.

Dane grumbles something under his breath and stalks away. Luciana and I look at each other and then swiftly look away, not wanting to dissolve into giggles while he was in earshot.

“We should probably clean up,” Luciana says, standing and futilely trying to brush mud off her pants.

“You go have a shower first,” I say. “I’ll get the pig.”

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