Page 49 of Teach Me to Laugh

His eyes lit and I had my answer. I had disappointed him. “Let’s get the food put away and I’ll take you around. Then I’ll make a fire.”

I couldn’t wait for a fire. Isocouldn’t wait for a fire that I sort of wanted to tell him to hold off on the tour and build a fire instead, but I didn’t want to disappoint him. He seemed excited and uncharacteristically nervous to be here, so I didn’t want to make whatever he was going through worse.

I might be the nutcracker when it came to protecting my friends, and the ice queen when it came to protecting myself—but I wasn’t heartless. At least not when it came to Beckett.

“That sounds great.”

With the groceries put away, I was closing the fridge when I felt Beckett standing close behind me. I tensed, aware of every inch of his nearness. About to tell him to back off, I didn’t register the heat that shot through my body when his hand moved over mine, his fingers locking around my hand. And then I was being pulled through the kitchen, below the open stairs, to the hall I’d noted before. I’d been right in my suspicion. A half bath was on one side of the hall, and a massive master bedroom with a large master bath and a closet Raina would die for were behind the two doors on the other. Next, we moved upstairs where a large open living area overlooked the main floor. The furniture up here looked even comfier, and it faced a massive television that stood surrounded by a wall of books. I’m not kidding; I nearly drooled.

That’s when I realized Beckett still had a hold of my hand, because I wanted to move toward the wall of books, but instead I was moving deeper into the room.

“Bedroom one and bedroom two share a bathroom.” He turned and pointed to another set of stairs that was more a half set. “And we’re staying up there. It’s the guest suite over the garage. It can be entered from outside as well.”

As soon as he pointed out our bedroom, my heart forgot to pace itself. It was going on a full rampage as I climbed the stairs behind Beckett, still holding his hand. There was another small seating area with a comfortable little chair and lamp next to two huge glass double doors. The glass wasn’t fogged, but instead a crocodile green curtain had been hung.

Beckett opened the door and my breath snagged in my throat as my eyes widened. I’d stepped from the land of “wow” to the land of “paradise” in seconds.

The room had a feeling of warmth I never imagined was possible. A ginormous king size bed centered the wall to my left, surrounded by a plush shag area rug in deep moss green. Draped across the bed was a thick winter duvet with thin gold twigs threaded intricately into the fabric. Pillows—so many pillows of brown and green and cream were positioned against the padded russet headboard. I wanted to do nothing more than fall into the chocolate cloud that was that bed. But then I saw the fireplace. Again, the masonry was stunning. Large natural stones climbed the wall opposite the entrance and the hearth was begging—I mean begging, for flames. I could already see myself lounging on a blanket on the thick brown rug that was sprawled before that fireplace.

“Suddenly sharing a room with you isn’t seeming like the end of the world.”

Did I say that aloud?

Beckett barked a laugh that had my cheeks burning. I was back to glaring, so I decided now was the time to pull my hand from his grip. He only laughed harder, tossing his head back.

“What changed your mind? The bed or the fireplace?”

“None of your business.” Yep—I was vexed.

“Come on, babe. I gotta know.”

“And why is that?”

“So I know what I need to make you want to spend every night in the same room as me.”

Was he being serious? Surely he wasn’t.

I snorted. It was entirely un-lady-like, but what did I care? “What you’d need is this exact room.”

“Really?” He raised a brow. “Well, maybe one day that could be arranged.”

“Call me when that happens.” I mumbled sarcastically, ignoring the race in my heart, padding across the oak floor to the double patio door. The snow was falling even harder now, and I shivered just at the sight of the winter storm blowing in.

“You hungry?”

Turning back to face him, I was startled still by his expression. For a moment, I stared at him and he at me. I didn’t know how to respond, or what he was thinking, so I decided to nod. “Starving.”

I should have known when Beckett asked if I was hungry, that what he was really saying was, “You should cook us dinner, Amara.”

So, I’d struck a deal. I’d cook dinner if he built a fire in the brilliantly huge fireplace in the living room. I made a simple dinner of spaghetti with a side of garlic bread. I’d debated on a salad too, but decided I’d save my big dinner energy for when everyone else was here. I knew Kaiden had a lot on his mind with proposing to Raina, but I was hoping he’d at least cover the kitchen for a couple nights. Still, if it came down to it and Raina volunteered, I knew it’d be safer if I kept my apron on. No one needed food poisoning all the way out here.

And that’s what had me asking, “How far are we from Banff?”

“About ten minutes.”

“Really?” Well, if we weren’t that far from the hospital, surely we could take the risk of Raina killing all our guts. “That’s nice and close.”

“It is.” Beckett agreed around a large mouthful of spaghetti. “Why?”

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