Page 58 of Full Mountie

All I get is another snort as he pushes his way out the back door to the deck.

“Do you want wine?” I ask Beth as I pick her up and put her on the counter. She spreads her legs and I step right up against her and give her a deeper, hungry, not-at-all-adorable kiss.

She’s breathless when I finally let her answer. “Sure. Red, if he’s got that.”

“We stopped and picked up both.” I pour her a glass, then finish making the Greek salad per Lachlan’s directions. He’s left olives and feta cheese out, too. I point to them. “How do you feel about olives?”

She wrinkles her nose. “Not my favourite, but I can pick around them.”

“Cheese?”

“Yes. All of it. Extra cheese. That’s what motivates me through a workout, the promise of creamy, salty…” She trails off as her cheeks flood red. “Cheese.”

“Uh huh.”

“You’re terrible,” she whispers.

“Definitely. It’s my best trait.”

She takes a long, slow sip of wine as she looks me over. “You’ve got lots of awesome traits. Dirty is just one.”

It’s the only one that makes people stick around for any length of time. “You want to go sit outside?”

She gives me a delicate frown before nodding. She didn’t miss my change of subject. “Sure.”

I help her down, then stick the salad bowl in the fridge before grabbing the wine and Lachlan’s glass, too.

On the deck, I deliver the chef his drink and a quick, hard kiss before settling in one of the two Muskoka chairs in the corner. Beth curls up in my lap, and I play with her hair as Lachlan asks her about her workout. Apparently he’s been giving her gruff exercise tips for a year.

“You haven’t taken her to the gym on the Hill?”

He shoots me a silencing look and Beth squirms in my lap. Ah, I’ve stepped in it.

Fuck it, I don’t care. “What?”

He sighs and grabs his wine.

Beth kisses my jaw. “Leave him alone. He’s prickly.”

“You’re way too kind to him.”

She laughs under her breath. “I promise I wasn’t before. But it doesn’t matter now.” She turns her attention to Lachlan and they share a long, meaningful look. “Right?”

He nods gruffly. “Right.”

“We’re living in the moment,” she says lightly, taking a sip of wine. “Enjoying a long weekend together. That’s all that matters.”

Living in the moment is usually my motto. Apparently all it takes to shatter that is one pokey comment from Lachlan about me being soft with Beth.

“What else do you want to enjoy tonight?” I run my fingers up her neck and into her hairline where it makes her shiver.

She taps her index finger against the sweet swell of her lower lip. “Should we see what sort of kinky toys Lachlan’s hidden around his house?”

I didn’t see that coming, and neither did Lachlan. The tongs clatter against the barbeque and we both swivel our heads toward the man of the house. He’s not blushing, exactly, but he’s affected.

“You do have stuff here, don’t you?” I flex my thighs, suddenly restless to play.

He clears his throat. “Yeah. Some.”

---