Festive Fling with the Single Dad

‘I thought you wanted the wine,’ he teased her, kissing her again hungrily.

‘Isn’t that just an excuse? To call round?’

‘Yes, it’s an excuse. Although if you’d prefer to just sit around the fire and drink it...’ Aksel seemed determined to give her the choice, even though their kisses had already shown that neither of them wanted to spend the rest of evening anywhere else than in bed.

‘No. I want you stone-cold sober. Upstairs.’

Aksel chuckled. ‘I’ll have you stone-cold sober, too. And calling out my name, the way you did last night.’

The thought was almost too much, but there was still something she had to do. Dougal was lying in front of the fire, still making those odd growling sounds.

‘Will you take a look at Dougal first?’

‘Of course. What’s the matter with him?’ Aksel walked into the sitting room, bending down to greet Dougal.

‘I’m not sure. He’s eating fine, and he doesn’t seem to be in any pain. But he’s making these odd noises.’

Aksel nodded, trying to stop Dougal from licking him as he examined him. Then he nodded in satisfaction. ‘There’s absolutely nothing wrong with him. He’s trying to purr.’

‘What?’ That didn’t sound like much of a diagnosis. ‘Like a cat?’

‘Yes.’ Aksel tickled Dougal behind his ears and he rolled on his back, squirming in delight and growling. ‘When I arrived at work this morning, I went to the office to finish up my report for Esme on the dog visiting scheme. I took Dougal with me to keep him out of the way as everyone was busy.’

‘And you have a cat in the office at the canine therapy centre? Isn’t that a bit of an explosive mix?’

Aksel shrugged, getting to his feet. ‘Cats and dogs aren’t necessarily natural enemies. A dog’s instinct is to chase smaller animals, and a cat’s instinct is to sense that as an attack, and flee. It’s all a big misunderstanding, really.’

‘Okay, so there was a cat at the centre...’

‘Yes, someone brought it in, thinking that they might take it. Esme wasn’t about to turn it away because... Esme doesn’t know how to turn an animal in need away. And Dougal’s natural instinct seems to be to make friends with everything that moves, and so by the end of the morning the two of them were curled up together. The cat was purring away and Dougal... I guess he was just trying to make friends.’

‘So now we’ve got a dog that thinks he’s a cat on our hands.’ Flora looked down at Dougal, and he trotted up to her, rubbing his head against her leg.

‘Maybe he’ll grow out of it.’

Maybe. It made the little dog even more loveable, if that was at all possible. And talking of loveable...

‘So... Mette and Kari are at the castle, and they’re both fast asleep by now. Dougal’s okay, apart from a few minor identity issues.’ She approached Aksel, reaching up to wrap her arms around his neck. ‘That just leaves you and me.’

‘And more than twelve hours before it’s time to go back to work.’ Aksel grinned, and picked her up in his arms.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

THEY LAY ON the bed together, naked. Aksel had made love to her, and each time he did, it was more mind-blowing than the last. Things were going to have to plateau at some point, or Flora’s nerve endings were going to fry.

‘You know, don’t you? When someone you’re with has an orgasm.’ Flora wondered whether the other guys she’d been with had known too. Maybe they had, and just hadn’t cared.

‘I do with you.’ He grinned lazily. ‘I suppose you want to know how.’

Yes, she did. Very much, because it seemed to please him so much. ‘Tell me.’

‘Your pupils dilate. You start to burn up, and you cry out for me. Then you

r muscles start to contract...’

‘You like that?’ Flora traced her fingertips across the ripple of muscles in his chest.

‘You know I do. And you can’t fake any of that.’