Much Ado About You(69)

“I might as well take the rest of the day off,” he said, grinning as he got out of bed. “Now.” He turned to reach for my wrist. “We shower.”

Showering with Roane was the perfect experience to follow an afternoon of sex. As we soaped each other up with his citrusy-smelling shower gel, we touched and petted and explored. When he spread kisses across my breasts, I confessed, “I love your beard.”

I did. I loved the way it felt against my skin. There was something so appealingly masculine and rugged about it.

Roane lifted his head, his grin pleased. “Then the beard stays for however long you want it to stay.”

Forever.

But I was too afraid to say that out loud.

Once we were done with the shower, we dressed and hurried downstairs to Shadow, who got up from his cool corner of the kitchen to greet us with lethargy.

“These hot days are no good for dogs, are they, baby,” I crooned, scratching behind his ear with one hand while I gave him a rubdown with the other. He swiped me with his warm tongue in thanks. “You need to drink more, gorgeous.”

I straightened from petting the dog to find Roane smiling at me. “What?”

“I love that you love my dog.”

“He’s very easy to love.”

“True.” He stroked a hand across Shadow’s head. “Dinnertime, boy?”

His sudden wagging of the behind suggested he was up for that.

Not long after, all three of us jumped into Roane’s Defender and we drove back to Alnster. After parking outside the bookstore, Roane rounded the SUV and took my hand as I let us inside. Shadow ran ahead, his claws clattering on the wooden staircase, and we could hear Caro upstairs greeting him in delight.

I squeezed Roane’s hand. “Are we telling people?”

His eyes narrowed. “Considering I can’t keep my hands off you, I think it’ll be more than obvious. Or do you not want to tell people?”

At the slight irritation I heard in his voice, I tried not to smile and failed. “I think keeping it a secret hardly goes hand in hand with giving us a real shot.”

“Agreed.”

To my surprise, I didn’t feel nervous about telling people. I already knew that mostly everyone wanted us to get together.

My building was almost as stuffy as the farmhouse, but as early evening hit, it grew somewhat cooler. There was a slight break in the air because Caro had opened all the windows and had the electric fan from the shop rotating in the corner of the living room.

I expected Caro to take one look at us and know.

However, she was sitting on a stool at the kitchen counter with her head buried in her laptop. “I’ve seen some flats and houses I’d like you to look at,” she announced without lifting her head. “Some of them are pretty decent but I don’t know how much I should pay in rent. I need advice.”

“That’s your cue,” I said to Roane. “I’m going to change out of these clothes.”

His eyes flashed at my words, and I sauntered down the hall to my bedroom with a smug swing in my hips. There was nothing like getting thoroughly laid to put you in a good mood.

When I returned in a fresh pair of shorts and a T-shirt, Roane was sitting on the side of the counter adjacent to Caro, looking at the laptop.

“What do you think?” Caro asked, chewing on her bottom lip.

I rounded the counter to Roane’s side to see what he was looking at and, without thinking about it, slid my arm around his shoulder and rested my chin on his other. “What are we looking at?” I murmured.

He curled his fingers around my hand, absentmindedly caressing my skin with his thumb. “Two-bed flat in Alnwick.” He clicked through the photos with his free hand, and I frowned at the images.

“It’s a little dingy.”

“That’s what I think. It’s overpriced.”

“And Alnwick?” I frowned over at Caro. “You’re not staying in Alnster?”

Her gaze moved between Roane and me, her smile widening as she said, “There’s not a lot of options in Alnster, I’m afraid, and when did this happen?” She gestured to us. “Because it’s happening, right? You haven’t progressed to torturing my cousin?”

Laughing, I slid into the stool next to Roane. “Do you think I’m that evil?”

“Yes,” they answered in unison.

I made a face at Roane and he winked at me.

God, he was sexy.

And yes, I’d always thought so, but over the last couple of months this man’s appeal had grown exponentially. It was true what they said. When you started to care for someone, they became infinitely more attractive to you.

“So you’re together?”

“Yes, we’re together,” I replied.

Caro’s whole face lit up. “Oh, I’m so pleased for you. This is wonderful news. We should go out to celebrate. And to let everyone know so you can get that part over with.”

“Over with?”

“You know they’ll tease you mercilessly for a while.”

True. “Yeah, sure, why not.”

“Don’t sound so thrilled about it,” Roane said drily.

“Are you thrilled about the teasing coming our way?”

“I can’t answer that how I really want to answer it, because my wee cousin is sitting right there, but they can tease all they want. It’s worth it.”