Page 98 of The Wedding Engagement

She frowned, hesitating. Not what she’d expected him to say. “How come?”

He stroked her hair. “For the longest time sitting with a boner hidden inside painting overalls. I don’t know how I got that sketch done without exploding in my pants.”

Her disappointment at him not uttering something more profound was still palpable, but her laughter went a little way to taking the edge off. “You could be right. But I reckon that’d have to go in the adult version of the publication.”

Arran smiled as he brushed his lips across her cheek. “Can I ask you something?”

She nodded, stroking a hand over his hair.

He propped himself up on one elbow. “Do you ever regret staying in Glenavie? After Maya and Elise went off to university and then set up elsewhere, I mean.”

“No. I’ve always loved it here. Though I have to admit that Dad leaving and Sam being with Cat affected my decisions at the time. I didn’t want to leave Mum on her own or leave Sam in Cat’s hands without me being around to keep an eye on him.” She gave him a smile. “I know that Sam had similar reasons for staying around, wanting to keep watch over me and Mum. I didn’t tell him until recently that I was also secretly looking out for him in return.”

Arran smiled. “That doesn’t surprise me. You’re always there for everyone.”

“I never regretted my decision, though; I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. What about you? Do you regret staying here?”

“Nope. I love it. I love that Jayce gets to grow up among the mountains. But I still want to travel a bit. I would have done it a little earlier, but then Jayce came along, so we delayed the plan for a while.”

“You and Jess were going to travel?”

“Yeah. She wasn’t too bothered, but said she’d come along for the ride.” He paused, tracing his fingers across her cheek. “I would still like a travel buddy, though. Someone who’s as enthusiastic about the adventure as I am.” For a moment it seemed as though he was going to say something more, but then he closed his mouth and let his fingers slide onto her neck. “Oh shit,” he said, lifting his hand.

She frowned. “What?”

He shot her a “yikes” expression. “I’ve got paint on you. Sorry, I should’ve washed up first.”

She lifted a hand to her neck, and there was a little green residue on her fingers. A glance downward confirmed a few little streaks of it on her breasts, hips, and round onto her arse.Everywhere his hands have been.“That’s all right. It’s kind of sexy.”

Arran kissed her. “Probably be sexier if I wash it all off for you.”

A thrill coursed through her. “Sounds good to me.”

He eased off, taking her hand to help her to her feet, then led her up to his en suite, where he turned on the shower.

His eyes were on her as she stepped inside. She could feel his gaze stroking over every inch of her skin as the water washed over her, before he finally stepped in behind her and closed the door.

He moved his hands over her, soaping up a lather and removing all traces of paint. Then he held her from behind, paying some more attention to rubbing the soapy bubbles over her breasts.

She smiled. “I think they’re clean now, Arran.”

“Just to be sure,” he murmured against her neck.

The slickness of his skin slid over her back, contrasting with the graze of his chest hair and the hardness of his arousal. “Bettercall the Guinness book of records, because I can feel your prizewinning pencil again.”

He chuckled against her, the rich sound thrumming into her being. “I told you not to call it a pencil.”

“Sorry.” She smiled as she bent her head further to the side, allowing him more access to kiss and bite her neck. “Prizewinning…very thick branch?”

“That’s better.” He took hold of her and spun her around to press her against the shower wall, sliding his hand between her legs and making her gasp. “Just one more time.”

No way a girl could refuse that offer. She had a brief thought that it might take her a while to get there, with this being her third orgasm of the day. No, wait—was it her fourth? But Arran clearlywassome sort of sex god because it was an embarrassingly short number of minutes before her orgasm was rolling over his fingers and she collapsed onto him as he held her up.

When he stepped back as if to turn off the shower, she dropped to her knees and took him into her mouth, enjoying his gasp of surprise, which turned into a groan of pleasure.

Once they did finally emerge, she felt as if all her bones were soft and her brain had turned into a relaxed mush. It went some way to quieting the little voice of doubt telling her that Arran still hadn’t uttered a word about what any of this meant to him.

They toweled off and she watched him throw on some clean clothes, before he led her back down in her towel to get her things back on. Whenever she looked up, he was watching her, and he didn’t try to conceal it.

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