‘Here this one suits you best,’ she said, handing him a candle with Cinnamon Roll written on the side.
He sniffed it. ‘Smells good. Still don’t get what any of that means, though.’
‘Doesn’t matter.’ Kira shook her head, her laughter petering out. ‘But you should probably pay more attention when your sister talks about books.’
‘Books?! I thought we were talking about baked goods.’
She patted his arm as she made her way around the mattress that was now taking up most of the room. ‘Nope. Romance tropes.’
‘Romance, huh? So is a cinnamon roll … like a sex thing? Is there frosting involved?’ He waggled his eyebrows and Kira laughed harder.
‘Sounds sticky,’ she said, wrinkling her nose as though she didn’t like the idea, but Bennett’s mind was already happily imagining a naked Kira with vanilla icing drizzled over her body and his tongue tracing the pattern…
‘Help me with this.’ Her distressed plea broke through his inappropriate but delicious daydream.
At that moment, a fully dressed Kira was struggling to put a fitted sheet on the mattress. Every time she pulled one corner down the other popped up.
‘Would it kill the fitted sheet makers of the world to make them a tiny bit bigger?’ Kira groaned in frustration. ‘It’s times like this that I miss Elaine. That woman was a treasure.’
Bennett laughed and grabbed one corner while she took the other, and together they managed to tug it over the mattress. Once the sheet was on, Kira collapsed, arms and legs out like a starfish in the middle of the bed. The firelight gilded the side of her face, dancing gold over her dark hair.
She grinned up at him. ‘Well, I don’t know where you’re sleeping tonight. I take up a lot of space.’
‘I’ll take the couch.’ His response was so fast that Kira’s eyebrows rose in surprise. A frown crossed her beautiful face.
‘I was kidding.’
‘Kira, I don’t want you to think—’
Kira cut him off before he could cock-block himself any further. The last thing he wanted to do was sleep on the damn couch.
‘Let’s agree that overthinking anything that happens during this storm is a bad idea, okay? Let’s just…’ She bit her bottom lip, her gaze meeting his again. ‘Let’s just live in the moment.’
‘Live in the moment, huh?’
‘Yeah. Let’s pretend there’s nothing outside these walls. Nothing after tonight. We don’t have to worry about the consequences. This storm, this day … it’s a free pass.’
A free pass? God, what a tempting thought.
A purely selfish moment. He’d wanted Kira North since he first saw her on the farm wrapped in her duvet, and now he could have her. For today, for this storm, for this moment. And he didn’t have to wonder what would happen after, or who would have to uproot their life for whom, or when she would get bored of him and leave. There would be none of that.
Only today.
Kira stared up at him from the mattress. He was still kneeling beside it after helping her with the sheet. He could tumble into bed with her and stay there for the rest of the night. He could have his perfect Christmas gift.
He didn’t know what it was about this girl that had him so into her after knowing her for a short time. But no, that wasn’t true, was it?
He knew exactly what it was. It was the way she sparred with him, teased him, and didn’t back down. It was the way she’d decided to change her life and then actually did it. It was the way she smiled at him like that, like he’d earned it.
‘So … what do you say?’ she asked, hesitation seeping into her question.
He leaned forward, bracketing her body with his arms, his legs straddling hers. ‘I say, I told you so.’
‘About what?’
He let his mouth tip into a smile. ‘About you being full of good ideas.’
Kira’s smile grew then, the uncertainty leaving her face. ‘Yeah?’
He dipped his head, letting his chest brush against hers and he felt her breath catch. He kissed the corner of her mouth.
‘Definitely.’
Kira blew out a dramatic sigh. ‘Oh, good. I was worried you were going to go all nice-guy on me and refuse to take advantage of me or something.’
Bennett huffed a laugh, as he nuzzled behind Kira’s ear, placing another kiss on the soft skin he found there.
‘Do you want me to act like a nice guy?’ he asked, lowering his hips and pressing lightly into hers. She squirmed a little beneath him.
‘No.’
‘No?’ he asked, teasing, brushing against her center again.
‘No, I don’t want you to be a nice guy right now, Bennett.’
He smiled against her throat. ‘Good.’
Chapter Eighteen
