The Good Chase (32 page)

“Thank you for bringing your family here,” she said between their soft footfalls on the carpet.

“Thank nothing. I'm thrilled I actually got them above the Mason-Dixon Line.” He stopped in the middle of the hall, tugging her around to face him.

“How'd you do it? You've been begging for years and now this Christmas they decide to come?”

He shrugged, and his eyes made an arc around the hall. “I stopped pushing, I guess. I stopped telling them I was going to do all this stuff for them, telling them I was going to set them up for the rest of their lives, blah blah blah. And then I just . . . asked. I called them a couple weeks ago and asked if I could buy them tickets to come up here and see me for the holidays. And to meet you. To see what you're building here. They accepted. So I suppose I should be the one thanking you.”

All she could do was smile at him. Until he smiled back and then all she could do was get ridiculously turned on.

“Come on.” She walked backward, bringing him with her. “I've made some changes to our bedroom.”

“
Our
bedroom?” He resisted moving forward, like a stubborn dog on a leash. His fingers tightened around her hand, and she had to stop again.

“Were you planning on staying somewhere in town every time you came up to see me? Or maybe you wanted to borrow my tent?”

“No.” That crooked grin.

Breathless. That's what he made her.

“So then this is our bedroom.” She nudged her chin toward the door. “Yours and mine. I got us a real bed. A big kids' bed.”

“Oh, really?”

She opened the door to reveal the massive four-poster bed that wouldn't look good anywhere but in homes like this. “You like?”

“I do. Very much. But I'd like it even more if you were in it. Naked.”

She was already taking off her clothes, excitement vibrating through her. “That can be arranged.”

She removed her sweater and jeans deliberately slowly, in the exact way he liked. Her bra and underwear came off millimeter by millimeter. When she climbed up onto the bed, she expected to have to do a little more wiggling, a little more teasing, before he was on her. She'd barely twitched her ass to the left before Byrne pretty much tackled her, rolling her over. Kneeling on the bed, he whipped off his sweater and undershirt.

There really were no words powerful enough to describe what she felt for him at that moment.

“Hey, I want to ask you something,” she said.

“Shoot.”

“It's about your parents. And your sister.”

He cringed, his whole face scrunching up. Then his head tipped forward and he tapped his forehead on her shoulder twice. “You did not strip down after me not having seen you for two weeks, wave that perfect ass in my face, and then bring up my parents. Tell me you did not.”

She laughed low and pushed at his shoulders so he'd look at her in the eye again. “I did. And I'm sorry, but I don't think I can wait anymore to ask.”

His brow furrowed. “What is it?”

“I was thinking . . . I mean, I've been knocking the idea around for a few weeks now . . . I thought it might—”

He grabbed a throw pillow and playfully knocked it against the side of her head. “Out with it. You're naked and I'm getting hard and precious time is being wasted.”

She licked her lips. “Well. I wanted to ask you if it would be all right if I asked your family to move up here and work for me. Work at the distillery, I mean.”

He was so silent. So still. The only thing that moved were his eyes as they darted back and forth between hers.

“Are you serious?” he whispered.

She loved the sharp bristle of his weekend stubble. Pretty soon she would get to feel it more often. Every day, if they each got their way.

“Completely,” she replied. “I mean, you've said how hard it's been to get them up here when they think they're taking handouts from you. But if you want to help them have a new life, and you want to respect the pride they feel for having a hand in their own existence, why not here? Things are really going to pick up in just a few months once I get in the grains and barrels and stills. I'll need lots of hands. Not to mention the whole back-office organization. I'll be hiring locally for sure, but I wanted to run this past you first.”

More silence. More staring. So she continued on.

“I know we haven't talked about moving in together—and that's not what I'm proposing here, if that scares you—but with you leaving your company and going out on your own with a few clients, you could work more from here if you wanted. There's a local rugby team, too. And if your family worked for the distillery—even Caroline, too, now that Kristin's dad is out of the picture—you could see them a hell of a lot more. There's a lot of affordable housing in Gleann, and I'll have insurance and benefits and such. You could easily make sure they were okay. Take care of them that way. Because from what I saw tonight, I can say that they love you more than anything, and want to be near—”

He kissed her. Hard and consuming, pressing her deep, deep into the fluffy new comforter. When he finally released her, pushed to his elbows above her, and gazed down at her with smiling eyes, it was her turn to be speechless.

Sliding a hand down her side, around the curve of her breast and the dip in her waist, he took her hip in a gentle but claiming grip.

He said, “God, I love you.”

She was glowing. Could feel the light and heat radiating from where those words had implanted themselves in her heart. “I love you, too,” came her reply. “So is that a yes? You'd let me ask them?”

“Yes.
Yes
. You can ask them.”

Shifting her head on the comforter she said, “You don't look so sure.”

“I'm one hundred percent sure. I'm just—”

“Letting someone help you get what you always wanted.” She let that sink in. “How does it feel?”

It took him a few moments to answer. Except he didn't do it with words. His shoulders gave a little shrug, and then his whole body shivered.

“It's okay,” she murmured. “I understand.”

Her turn to kiss him, to lick away his doubt.

“For the record,” he said after stopping the kiss, “moving in with you does not scare me. Nothing about you scares me.”

“But I still surprise you?”

One hand swept over her hair. “Absolutely. In the best possible way.”