Page 142 of Top Shelf

“With flowers?”

“Yes. There will be flowers and lots of food. Some words. Probably too many candles if Mamma and Freja win. Music. Dancing.”

Her eyes widen. “Dancing?”

“Yes.”

“Do you dance, Karlsson?”

“No.”

“But you will.” Her smile goes bright enough that I almost forget the rest. “For wife reasons.”

“Yes,” I say, and the word comes out rougher than planned. “For wife reasons.”

“And the rope?”

I blink at her.

“What?” She lifts both brows and grins. “Your mother mentioned tying our hands together after lunch.”

“It is ribbon,” I correct. “Or a cord. They tie it around our joined hands while a blessing is read. It is symbolic.”

“Mm. Symbolic rope.”

“It is not rope.”

“It ties hands, just like when yo—”

“It is a ribbon, Heidi.”

“A ribbon that restrains,” she teases.

“It does not restrain.”

“Really? I thought that’d depend entirely on who ties it.”

“Heidi.”

Her grin widens, wicked and delighted now, the exhaustion no match for her innuendo. “Well, I think it’s sweet that your family also supports our interests.”

My body reacts before my better judgment can intervene, and I watch as her eyes drop, then lift again. “Oh, you liked that, huh?”

“You are in my grandmother’s kitchen.”

She hums. “And yet…”

I lean down until my mouth brushes her earlobe. “Careful what you say here, min fru. My grandmother’s hearing is selective, but dangerous.”

Her breath catches, then her grin returns, slower this time. “Jag vill ha dig.”

My entire body locks, and Heidi’s eyes go wide with triumph. She still doesn’t know what it means yet, and I have no intention of telling her that Jag vill ha dig translates to ‘I want you.’

“Did I say it right?”

I close my hand around her wrist and pull her gently away from the window before I do something inappropriate in Ebba’s kitchen. “You’re done learning.”

From the living room, my mother calls out about dessert. Heidi looks toward the sound, then back at me, mouth twitching.