Page 109 of The Mechanics of Lust

And so, I’d pulled back just enough to get the words out, our lips a heartbeat away. “There’s something I need to say.”

“Oh” was all he’d said, like he didn’t dare hope.

And in the end, the words came so easily. “I love you, Luke Nichols. I love you so much I don’t fucking know what to do with it all.”

His breath whooshed out of his lungs. “You do?” He’d crushed me to him. “You really fucking do?”

I’d laughed. “Yes, I really fucking do.” And then I’d bawled like a fucking baby against his neck.

Mydeclarationhad been quickly followed by the official meeting with Luke’s family who flew down to Oakwood to meet me. No pressure, right? To say they’d been curious about the southern shepherd who’d stolen their son’s heart was the understatement of the year. But that was relegated a distant second place to their wide-eyed astonishment when Holden and Gil hosted us all for lunch at the station. Reality TV had nothing on us. The meal wasn’t without its awkward moments, but once Charlie offered up a toast to the ridiculous path of love and the miracle of second chances, there were nothing but smiles.

“Up and at ’em, boys!” The bedroom window rattled in its frame, and I shot bolt upright in bed. “Aw, there he is. Morning, sunshine.”

Holden’s voice registered in my brain, and I turned to shoot daggers at my best friend only to find Gil and Jules standing alongside, wriggling their fingers in greeting and wearing shit-eating grins that I wanted to wipe off their faces tout suite.

“Jesus Christ, I’m gonna kill them all.” I flung back the sheet only to find myself held firmly in place by an arm wrapped around my waist.

“Whoa there, Tiger. In case you hadn’t noticed, you’re naked.” Gil was pointedly tapping his watch while Holden and Jules wore shit-eating grins.

“Oh, right.” I pulled the covers back over my junk before flipping all three of them off. “But I’m still gonna kill them. Just as soon as I get some clothes on.”

Luke chuckled. “My hero.”

Holden held aloft a bag of pastries from Meg’s café and pointed meaningfully toward the front door. “Let us in.”

Luke leaned across and snapped the curtains shut, an act that only drew loud laughter from the men outside. Then he pulled me on top of him and kissed me soundly, adding a decent grope of my nether regions just for good measure. “Go on.” He slapped my arse. “You take the shower and I’ll get the coffee on.”

“They weren’t supposed to be here to help until nine,” I grumbled, sticking my feet out of the covers before whipping them back under. “Fuck, it’s cold out there.”

Luke checked his phone and handed it to me before getting out of bed.

Eight forty? I blinked. “Damn, I must’ve gone back to sleep.”

“Well, itwasa tiring night.” Luke circled the bed and pulled me up into his arms, nuzzling his way up my neck until he found my chattering teeth. “An extremely enjoyable but tiring night.”

“Mmm.” I wriggled my burgeoning semi against his. “Hmm. That feels promising.” I wriggled again. “Wanna join me in the shower? Those bozos can look after themselves.”

A loud pounding on the front door put paid to both our semis along with any hope of doing something with them.

Luke groaned. “Back to plan A. But remember, we have a new home to christen tonight. And a lifetime of days and nights after that to do whatever we want, whenever we want, however we want, and for as long as we want.”

I brightened at the thought. “Excellent point. Still, do me a favour and put a spoonful of salt in Holden’s coffee, will you? That fucker knew exactly what he was doing arriving this early.”

* * *

By mid-afternoon, we had all our boxes moved and unpacked in our new cottage at the southern end of Miller Station, closer to Lake Tekapo. From there, I could be at the woolshed in under fifteen minutes, while Luke had a forty-minute commute to the airfield this side of Oakwood. Not ideal for him, but as he was quick to remind me, tons of city people had a much longer commute without the benefit of any spectacular scenery along the way.

It was Emily who’d come up with the suggestion of refitting the hunting cottage and renting it to us. She had offered ushercottage first since she and Harry had decided to move into Oakwood by the end of the year, but Luke and I had looked at each other, given the idea about five seconds of serious consideration, then answered with a flat no. As much as the two of us got on well with Holden and Gil, I wasn’t about to live fifty metres from both our exes. That waswaytoo close for comfort. And by the immediate relief visible in Gil’s and Holden’s expressions when we turned it down, it was clear they felt the same.

Originally built as a two-bedroom hunting and fishing retreat for the Miller clan, the hunting cottage had a cosy, rustic feel with a large sitting area, covered deck, and open-plan kitchen. But it hadn’t been used in Holden’s lifetime, and Luke and I had put in a fair amount of work over the previous few weeks to get it liveable. Nothing structural, just cleaning and repairs, some new plumbing, a few rugs, and a kitchen and appliance upgrade. The result was worth it. With Luke’s furniture from Wellington and a few of my things from my old cottage back on Lane Station, which Jules had insisted I raid as needed, the place felt warm and inviting and completely and utterly ours.

Against our protests, Miller Station had fronted the costs of the basic repairs and upgrades since Gil insisted they’d be using it for guests once Luke and I eventually moved on to a place of our own in a couple of years. We’d talked about maybe building something on a small piece of land nearer to Oakwood. Room for my business and closer to town for Luke.

“Well, I think that’s the last box emptied and flattened,” Holden said, joining me on the deck with its view over the billowing tussock to Lake Tekapo in the distance. “We’ll head off and leave you two love birds to settle in.” He winked.

I shot him a sour look. “If by ‘settle in’ you mean inhale a reheated pizza on the sofa with a rerun ofTheBourneIdentityplaying in the background to fall asleep to and absolutely zero chance of any sexy times happening, you’d be bang on.”

Holden laughed. “Welcome to couple life.”

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