Big Sky Ever After: a Montana Romance Duet
Page 46
“Everything OK?”
“It’s the middle of the night back home. I was just scrolling through my email, of which there is plenty, but it can all wait until morning. Shall we to bed, my dear?”
With his burr, he could carry off that question—quaint, vintage, old-fashioned—and still make Violet’s insides dance.
“C’mon,” she said, taking his hand. “There are two bathrooms upstairs.”
Elias grabbed his pack back and came along peaceably. “I could do with a shower.”
The image of him wet, naked, and slick with soap had Violet nearly jogging up the steps. “Separate showers, I think. Quick showers. Three minutes, tops.”
Elias came to a halt outside the bedroom door. “Are you nervous, Violet?” The idea seemed to genuinely puzzle him.
“A little, but mostly…I don’t want to lose my nerve. A friendly encounter, you called it. A roll in the hay by any other name. A part of me still thinks I ought to know a guy better before I—”
Elias kissed her, a little smacker that let him snatch the conversation ball. “A friendly encounter can be memorable, and you’ll know me a whole lot better by morning.”
She wanted to know him better, which was stupid. He’d be back in Scotland before strawberry season was over, and then she’d miss him, which was stupider still.
“Bathroom is down the hall to the left, help yourself to anything. Last one in bed’s a rotten egg.”
He sauntered off, back pack hanging off one shoulder. Violet took a minute to admire the view, then darted into her room, and shucked out of her clothes. The shower she took was more than three minutes, but not much more, and because she owned exactly one summer nightgown, her what-to-wear debate lasted only a moment.
Elias knocked on her door—she really would miss this guy—which gave Violet time to grab her hair brush and take up a place sitting cross-legged against the bed’s headboard. He wore his jeans, nothing else.
Not even a smile.
“I can brush out your hair for you,” he said, hanging his back pack on the bedpost.
“I have other jobs in mind for you. What do we do about protection?”
He rummaged in his knapsack then tossed a box of condoms on the night table. “And yes, they’re well within their expiry date. Any other questions, because if not, I have a few for you.”
Gracious days, he was a fine specimen. Broad shoulders, clean musculature, just the right dusting of hair across his chest. Oh, yes, Violet would miss him for a long, long time.
“We’re not talking about tabs and slots,” Violet said, unraveling her braid and angling her head to shield her face. “Parts is parts, Mr. Brodie. Please lock the door.”
This was why college students got drunk, because conversation under these circumstances was an exercise in inanity.
Violet finger-combed her hair free of the plait she’d put in sixteen hours earlier. The shower had left her hair damp enough to brush out without creating that oh-so-stylish porcupine-meets-light-socket look.
“Who or what am I locking in or out?” Elias asked.
Violet hit a snarl as the sound of jeans being unzipped ripped across her composure. She wanted to look, and she wanted to dive under the covers.
I’m being an idiot. “The dogs sometimes come in here, especially if there’s a thunderstorm.”
Elias prowled closer, his fly undone. He sat on the bed at Violet’s hip, brushed her hair back over her shoulder, and leaned in for a sweet, soft, nearly chaste kiss.
“The dogs are outside at their dinners,” he said. “Should I let them in?”
What dogs? “Please.”
“Violet?”
The kissing part was so easy, so lovely. Violet left off indulging herself to pull back an entire inch. “Elias?”
“I have a suggestion,” he said, fingering the neckline of her nightgown. “I’ll tend to the dogs, and you can turn out the lights and scoot under the covers. You might consider taking off this fetching bit of pup tent, but you should know one thing about me first.”
She knew she liked him, respected him, and wanted him. She also knew he’d soon get on a plane for Scotland, though what law said a hardworking farmer wasn’t entitled to a little frolic in spring?
“What should I know, Elias?”
He kissed her nose and pushed off the bed, shutting out the lights when he reached the door. “I’ve recently discovered that a shy woman makes me hot, that’s what you should know.”
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Copyright 2017 Matthew Lieber Buchman
and Grace Burrowes
Published by Buchman Bookworks, Inc.
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Cover images: Montana Mountains and Wildflowers © Ramblingman
Young Couple Riding © Andriy Bezuglov
cover for Tartan Two-Step © kayjj
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