Page 23 of A Runaway in Winter
“Don’t push me on this,” I growl. “We shouldn’t even be doing this, but dammit you feel good.” My words are strained, as she nips her teeth along my jaw, sending sparks of desire through me.
“Why?” she asks, moving back to my mouth and licking her tongue against mine.
“Because we said Christmas.”
“Yousaid Christmas.”
“Pen.”
“Lake,” she mocks. “Let me kiss you. This is the first time I’ve ever been allowed.”
“And whose fault is that?”
“Yours for not having the balls to ask me out.”
“You can judge my balls for yourself after Christmas.”
She giggles, nuzzling her face into the crook of my neck, the desperation of moments ago dissipating with each exhale.
“Hey, Lake?”
“Hmm?” I hum, pulling the blanket off the back of the couch and haphazardly draping it over both of us.
“Thanks for letting me come home to you.”
“You’re home for me too, Pen.”
You always have been.
13
LAKE
“You don't think it's weird?”
“What?” Beau says, his coffee suspended in air as he looks at me with an annoyed expression, the crisp mountain air settling me in a way I haven’t been all week. I belong here, and as long as I can still put my boots on, I won’t feel like I’ve worked a day in my life.
“Me and Pen.”
“What about it?”
“She kissed me…more than once.You don't think it's weird?”
He sighs, scuffing his boot against the ground. “You're the only one who never saw this coming.”
He says the words like they should be obvious, as if Pen hasn’t been involved with someone forten fucking years.
“What?”
“She was getting married and she probably was going to get divorced.” I gape at my brother but he just rolls his eyes. “Anybody who’s been around you two for more than five minutes can see it. Why she kept that fuckwad around for so long is anyone’s guess.”
“It’s a big deal, Beau, and you haven’t even asked how she’s doing.”
“Why do I need to ask when I know Wren’s seen her, you’re smothering her, and she just got back from closing her life down in Bozeman and seeing Indie?”
“How do you know she saw Indie?” I ask, ignoring the rest and letting my lips curve up, knowing it’ll piss him off.
He opens his mouth to answer but our father calls his name, and with a curse muttered under his breath, he turns and walks away. It’s just as well, because I need to get my head in the game today.
