“Better?” He smacked my backside.
“No!” I wiggled my legs. “Put me down.”
Callum grinned at Duke. “Muffin lords shouldn’t walk anywhere. They must be carried like royalty. Keep him nice and high off the ground.”
“You two are evil,” I whined, still wiggling. “A mean cinnamon roll and his redheaded minion of doom.”
Duke laughed so hard he almost dropped me.
Ban watched us with a blank expression before losing interest and facing ahead. Why didn’t he talk? How long had he been like that? Maybe he was just shy.
Reaching the inn, Duke carried me through the entrance and set me down in the front parlor. The place was the nicest one we’d stayed in so far. Nice and clean but cozy too, with a roaring fire and smells of something cooking coming from the back room, where I assumed there was a kitchen.
August stepped through a doorway, gnawing on a dinner roll. “About time you showed your faces. I was about to track you down.”
Finnian appeared beside him. The top half of his wavy hair was pulled back from his face, drawing attention to his high cheekbones and angled jawline. “You’d have to stop stuffing that hole in your face first.”
“The only face you should concern yourself with, Finn, is your own before I put my fist in it.”
Finnian ignored him and looked at Ban. “All went well this evening, I take it?”
Ban nodded.
“Good. There’s food in the back if any of you are hungry.”
Of the three of them, August barked orders and acted like his word was law when Finnian seemed to be the one really in charge.
Not sure if Lake had been able to eat anything for dinner, I grabbed a plate from the kitchen. Herb-crusted chicken with carrots and rice.
“Good night.” I rose up on my tiptoes to kiss Callum on the cheek, then did the same to Duke. I debated on doing it to Ban, too, since he’d also stayed by my side all evening. But one, he was way too tall for me to reach, even if I stood on my tiptoes. And two, he didn’t seem like the type who’d appreciatemy slobbery germs. So, I waved at him and turned toward the staircase.
A tug on my sleeve stopped me.
Ban withdrew his hand and dropped his gaze to the floor. Maybe it was the flickering glow of firelight, but his cheeks looked a shade darker.
“Do you, uh, want a kiss too?” I asked.
He kept his gaze lowered and gave a nod so subtle I would’ve missed it had I blinked.
My heart felt all wobbly. He was a muscled giant who never said a word and who rarely showed any emotion, but he was asking, in his own silent way, for a kiss. Damn if I’d be the one to deny him that.
“It’d be my pleasure.” I bounded closer to him and rose up on the balls of my feet. When he bent down and offered his cheek, I pecked him right above his jaw. “Good night, Ban. Thank you for keeping me safe.”
My silent but sweet bodyguard.
Another sweetheart waited for me in the room. Right as I walked in and closed the door, Lake pulled me into his arms.
“I brought dinner,” I said, my soul relaxing in his presence. Such a strange, but incredible, feeling to be so close to another person. So attuned to every part of them, from their breaths to the beating of their heart. “I wasn’t sure if you’d eaten yet—”
Lake kissed me.
I made a little sound of surprise against his lips, then eased into it. With our mouths sliding together, he removed the plate from my hands and set it on the small table near the fireplace.
Neither of us said a word. We didn’t need to. I sensed what he needed. Hell, I needed it too. Intimacy after so many hours without it. The need to feel each other skin on skin and heart to heart.
Our soul mate connection stirred within us, sparking as we touched.
Lake’s hands slid up my tunic as our mouths laced together. The feel of his slightly calloused palms on my bare skin gave me shivers. We made our way toward the bed, tugging at each other’s clothes and untying boots before kicking them off. I reclined on the mattress, and he covered my body with his, wearing only his trousers. I reached between us and unfastened them before tugging them down his hips.
