Page 51 of Handy

I chuckle, his head bouncing with the movement of my shoulder.

“Alright, what’s that?” I point to a random cluster of stars off to the left.

“Ah, that is the Camel’s Anus constellation, first discovered by the ancient Egyptians in the year seventy-five.”

“Don’t they usually have stories that go along with them?” I ask, fighting a smile.

“Of course. The, um, Pharaoh Hemomphmph… he had his favorite camel, Humphrey, who he lusted for, because ancient stories are always weirdly full of bestiality—”

I put a hand over his mouth before he can say any more. “Alright, that’s enough.”

He shoves my hand away, laughing. “No, wait, I was just about to get to the best part about their forbidden love and how Humphrey’s anus was immortalized for eternity in the stars.”

“Stop. Stop forever.” I cover his mouth again and we tussle playfully as he tries to dislodge it, rolling and grappling across the blanket until we end up with Ledger straddling me and our lips only an inch apart.

He smiles at me in the darkness, sliding his hand under my shirt to stroke my belly, a few strands of his hair falling over his forehead and his breath ghosting over my lips.

“You know, Jericho had this whole theory that my thing for grumpy bears was some subconscious way of sabotaging relationships for myself to keep from getting hurt.”

“You don’t agree with him?” I ask.

Ledger shakes his head. “No. I think I just always liked the challenge of making a scowly, closed-off guy smile.” He grins wider and closes the minuscule space between our lips. The kiss is slow and sweet and over too soon, leaving me aching when he pulls back to nuzzle his nose against mine. “That, and grumpy bears are just stupidly hot.”

I bark out a laugh and kiss him again. As our tongues tangle, I think back to that night I saw him out on his deck, drunk and giggling with Jericho. I didn’t even know him then, but some part of me recognized the light I craved. Some part of me wanted to slink out of the shadows and bask in his warmth. I can feel his heart beating against my chest and mine slows to match it, the two of us sinking deeper into the kiss without any sense of urgency.

The future is always uncertain, but that won’t stop me from greedily hoarding every minute of happiness I can get with Ledger. It won’t stop me from planning and daydreaming about years from now, decades even, imagining a future with him that we’ll work together to build. Nights like these, drinking and kissing under the stars, weekends together hiking in the U.P., lazy Sunday mornings where we can’t be bothered to get out of bed… I want all of it.

“You shone a bright light on my life, Ledge, and you filled it with colors I thought I’d lost years ago,” I murmur roughly against his lips. “I never thought I’d fall in love again, but you made it impossible not to. Falling for you was like coming home,safe and easy andrighton this bone-deep level that I can’t ignore.” My voice quivers and I clear my throat, cupping his jaw in one hand and staring into his eyes so I know he hears every word and feels everything he’s awoken inside of me just by being him. “I love you.”

“Who knew there was such a squishy, overstuffed teddy bear under the grizzly exterior?” His eyes are soft and his lips trembling in spite of his cavalier smile. “I’m stupid in love with you, Griff. I’m not obsessed, not infatuated, not filling in all the blanks of your grunts and growls with a caricature of my perfect man… I’m just in love with you.”

A relieved sob catches in my chest, and we fall into another kiss right there under the stars.

Chapter 20

GRIFF

“Baby girl, you havegot to stop squirming so I can make you look beautiful,” Ledger huffs.

“Need a hand?” I ask, coming around the corner into the kitchen after putting the finishing touches on the bathroom with the final light fixture in place. Talk about running down the clock; people are going to be here for his official housewarming party in twenty minutes and I know he’s going to want to show off all the renovations I’ve been putting blood and sweat into over the last few months.

“Yes, please.” He passes the squirming raccoon off to me and I cradle her the way I’ve seen him do a thousand times, like a baby or a football, right in the crook of my arm. She chitters and squirms, apparently not a fan of the pink bow Ledger bought to put around her neck.

“Maybe she’d prefer a different color?” I suggest with bland amusement.

He huffs. “Well, it’s either a pink bow or the tiny cowboy hat I just couldn’t resist.”

He tosses the bow dramatically aside and disappears from the kitchen, returning a minute later with the aforementioned tiny cowboy hat. It’s clearly made for pets, with a pair of holes for the ears and a strap to go around the chin and hold it in place. No way is TP going to keep that on for more than two minutes. I hold her while he slips it into place and tightens it under her chin. Surprisingly, she makes her toothy smile and then scrambles out of my arms, leaving the hat in place as she scampers into the living room.

“Huh, guess you were right. I’ll make a note that she doesn’t like to wear pink.” He tosses the bow into the trash then turns back to me with a smile, leaning into me and tilting his lips towards mine for a kiss.

I’m more than happy to give him what he wants, growling quietly with satisfaction as we sink into a heated kiss for just a minute before a frantic pounding at the front door pulls us apart.

“No one is supposed to be here for another twenty minutes still,” I grumble.

“Very rude. Maybe we should make them wait outside while we fuck on the kitchen floor,” he teases, nipping at my lips one more time before slipping out of my grip and heading to answer the front door.

While he does that, I pull the marinating steaks out of the refrigerator to check them and then lean against the counter and take in the kitchen. It’s the only room he told me not to bother renovating since TP has made the walls and cupboards her own personal jungle gym. I have ideas though, and maybe if I design it specifically for TP there’s a way to make it work and still look a little nicer.

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