He realized his mistake almost immediately. To him, home meant only one place—the same place it had always been, whether for good or bad or, as was more often the case, terrible. Since Sophie had been staying there, however, he’d found himself seeing it with a more optimistic eye. It was rundown as all hell, yes, and there was no mistaking that it contained memories that should have been exorcised a long time ago, but she could make even a backwoods cave feel like the only place he wanted to be.

To her, however, home meant Spokane. It meant her mother and sisters. It meant those people who loved her and underestimated her in equal proportions.

Although how they could go twenty-six years of living with this woman and not see how superior she was to every other goddamn person on the planet, he had no idea.

“Home,” he repeated more firmly this time. He moved his hands around to her backside, forcing their hips into more perfect alignment. The rounded softness of her ass filled his hands, and he realized that he probably wasn’t going to make it the entire twenty-minute drive home. “But you wanted to show Bubbles around here first, didn’t you?”

He released her, causing her to blink up at him in some perplexity, but he took her by the hand before she could misunderstand. “I think she should see inside the DNR building, don’t you? Especially my office.”

“Your office? But—”

“But isn’t the building empty?” he asked. “Yes, it is. I, however, have a key. We’ll be all alone in there.”

“Oh,” she said and, with dawning understanding, “oh.”

“If you don’t like it, you have nothing to blame but that shirt,” he added. “Why can’t you wear sweatpants like a normal person? Have you ever noticed that no matter what you have on, there’s always at least one part of your body on display?”

She giggled and allowed herself to be pulled across the field, Bubbles trailing happily in their wake. “Do I? How strange.”

“Not strange,” he grunted. “Torture.”

The Department of Natural Resources didn’t employ very many full-time employees. It was something he’d often lamented in the past, especially when trying to get any kind of equipment budget passed, but he could only be grateful for it today. Everyone had already gone home for the evening and, given the time of year, weren’t likely to return until morning.

“I didn’t know you had an office here,” Sophie said as he let them in the front door and flicked on the reception lights. “Poor Oscar only has a tiny room, so I figured space was at a premium.”