Page 96 of Scars Forget Us

“Well then, I love it.”She stretched up on her toes to kiss my cheek.“Let’s go inside.”

I followed when she stepped forward.“You know what’s even better than silence, though?”

“What?”

Gripping her hips, I turned her.She screeched her surprise, and it echoed between the trees as I lifted her and tossed her over my shoulder.

“That sound you just made, and all the sounds you’re about to make once I get your jeans off.We don’t have to be quiet out here like we do at your place.”

“It’sourplace.But you’re right.I’d just die if Gran knew we were havin’ sex in her backyard.”

“She knows I live there and that you’re not a nun.”

“I know but still, she’s so innocent.”

I snorted.“If there’s one thing I know about Gran, it’s that she’sneverbeen innocent.You should ask her about it sometime.”

“Dixon!What did she tell you?”When I didn’t answer and I pushed open the cabin door, she swatted my ass.“Spill, now.”

“Ain’t my story to tell.”

I set AJ on her feet, and before she could get out another squeak of protest, I turned her and she shut right up.

“Oh my God.It’s so pretty.I didn’t expect pretty.”

“What’d you expect?”I asked.I ran my hand up and down the knotted wood wall that had been sanded and washed with a cool birch stain before Bax, Brand, and I sealed it.

“Dark wood and masculine.”

She walked to the only piece of furniture in the place, a comfy oat-colored chaise.I bought pillows to go with it in the colors of a pale sunset.I set it by a window that looked out at so many trees I couldn’t count.I’d picked it out for her two weeks ago and had it delivered.It wasn’t fancy or expensive, but it was comfortable.She sat and bounced once, testing the give, then leaned over the side to untie her shoes.She kicked them off, then tucked her feet beneath her butt.

“You like dark better than light,” she said.

I shrugged.“I like whatever you like, ’cause if you like it, you’ll spend time here, and I wanna be with you here.Brand showed me how to stain the walls light like this.We did a wash and then sanded it down, but it’s just enough to make the place feel warm, y’know?”

I nodded at the door behind her.“There’s a bedroom back there and a bathroom with a nice tub.We can soak our troubles away.”

Reaching her arms out for me, she cocked an eyebrow.“Oh, we’re not makin’ it to the bedroom.C’mere.”She extended her legs and spread them open, unbuttoned her jeans, and her hand disappeared beneath.

“I smell like fish.”

“Don’t care.”

“You’re trouble, baby girl.”I locked the door behind us and walked to the end of the chaise, then crawled over her.“Have I told you that?”

“More than once.”She pulled her hand from beneath the denim and lifted her wet fingers to my mouth.

Sucking those thin fingers, I let them glide over my tongue.My eyes rolled closed and I groaned at the sweet taste on my tongue.“Well, I’m sayin’ it again.”

She was trouble alright, spelled with a capital T, and her brand of trouble was the only kind I needed in my life.

And I’d spend the rest of it thanking her for it.