Fall by Winter

“But I was confident,” he said. “That’s probably why you remember me as happy and carefree during our dinner. I knew there was something. The way you blushed, baby…”

I exhaled a laugh and felt the heat spreading across my cheeks in response. He was right; we’d always had that spark of a connection. Chemistry. Something tying us together.

“Then about a year ago, I was done.” He sighed and rubbed his jaw. “You made a post on Facebook about the house Brady and Aurora grew up in. You’d initially wanted to wait to sell it until Aurora was off to college, but you said it was time to move on. Time for a fresh start. And by then, Tristan was in Vancouver. I was at a job I’d thought I was going to love, but there was no challenge. So, I told Meghan I wanted a divorce, and I started preparing to leave Arizona.” He took out his car key. “I actually spent the summer in Vancouver. I rented a house outside the city and got the chance to get to know Katie better. Part of me wanted to ensure I wasn’t making any rash decisions by just showing up on your doorstep.”

I smiled in wonder and suppressed a shudder from the cold. Heading for the hospital in a hurry had left us without coats.

Mason unlocked the car and opened the door for me.

Before I climbed in, I stood up on my toes and kissed him. “I will never let you forget how grateful I am for you making that journey to me, Mason. You’re the only future I want.”

He grinned faintly into the kiss and touched my cheek. “That’s how I wanted our forever to start, however cheesy that makes me.”

I chuckled quietly and got into the car. I bet our first evening together in Camassia hadn’t made him any less confident, considering we’d gone from twenty years of being in-laws to making out on the sidewalk in the span of a few hours.

Once Mason had started the car and pulled out of the parking lot, he grabbed my hand and said, “So, burger and fries for m’lady?”

“And mozzarella sticks. And onion rings. And a milk shake. Please.” Ignoring the amusement from the sir next to me, I counted on my fingers and nodded to myself. “Stay tuned for PMS-ing, love.”

“I think I can handle it.” He squeezed my hand and made a turn. “I should tell you one more thing, just because I know Tristan will do it otherwise.”

“Oh?”

He cleared his throat, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was experiencing some discomfort. “I was by no means drunk off my ass when I called him, but it’s possible I was intoxicated enough to give this whole pursuit of mine a name.”

Oh, perfect. I grinned in anticipation. “What was it?”

“Well, I figured I’d give you a month or two to resist my charms, but then you’d come to your senses.”

“Come to my senses,” I gigglesnorted. Very ladylike and sexy.

“Operation Fall by Winter,” he revealed. “Which, in my opinion, is pretty fucking poetic. Not to mention, it was a raging success. I did make you fall by your definition of winter.”

I put a hand over my mouth and shook my head, and not for the first time around this man, I smiled so hard that my cheeks hurt.

“You sure did, Special Agent Calvert. You sure did.”Nine“We’re gonna need some rules around here for when you spend the night, Lis. This is my house.”

I glanced at him over my shoulder. He looked so hot and rumpled in his morning glory. Just a pair of sweats and a bed head. “Good morning to you too, love. What’s up?” Returning my attention to the cheese rolls I was making, I waited for his no-doubt stern speech about something I’d done. Yesterday morning before we went back to the hospital, I’d evidently hurt his feelings by not inviting him when I took a shower.

He came to a stop behind me and kissed my neck. “First, you wake me up with your perfect little mouth around my cock.”

“I’m so sorry I did that,” I chuckled, checking the timer. The blueberry muffins were almost ready to come out of the oven.

It’d been Katie’s only tentative request. She’d asked me to make something with blueberries.

I was excited to have them home today. She’d lost a fair amount of blood during labor, so the doctor had wanted to keep her an extra day as a precaution, but today they were finally bringing baby Olivia home to us.

“Second, you leave…wearing my boxer shorts and T-shirt.” Oh, poor Mason. “And when I wake up again, I’m alone, and I smell something amazing from the kitchen that’s way out of my reach.”

“My God, how are you still alive after all that trauma?” I was amazed, truly. And finding it increasingly difficult to keep from laughing.