Aidan lifted his head to look into her face and smiled. “Yeah,” he said. “You’re okay.”

“You can tell that just by my smile?”

“No. It’s the dazed I’ve-had-my-business-thoroughly-taken-care-of expression that gives you away.”

She laughed and closed her eyes, letting herself relax into him.

When she woke up, the light was finally off but morning had shown up. She replayed it all in her mind; the tenderness, the urgency, the passion … Still smiling she rolled over, but she was alone.

Chapter 20

Lily showered, dressed, and walked out into her living room only to stop in shock.

Wood was neatly stacked against the wall next to the woodstove. She stared at it as she pulled out her phone.

“I can load my own wood,” she said when Aidan answered.

There was a beat of silence.

She grimaced. “I mean thank you. Really. But I don’t expect preferential treatment just because we …” She trailed off, unwilling—and not to mention unable—to put a label on what they’d done.

“Did you forget already?” he asked mildly. “I can be there in seven minutes to remind you.”

As if she’d ever forget, and he knew it, too, the cocky bastard. Through the silence she sensed he was smiling, remembering everything.

And then so was she, picturing how he’d moved over her, his voice low and rough, his hands seductive, his body demanding and giving.

So giving …

Great, and now she was sweating a little bit. “I’m going to work now,” she said, walking to the freezer and sticking her head in it.

“You sure?”

“Yes!” She glanced down at her hardened—and still hopeful—nipples. “I’ve got to go.”

He laughed softly. “Have a good day, Lily. Think of me.”

She wasn’t sure she would do either of those things, but she ended up doing both.

“You okay?” Jonathan said when she’d walked into the staff room/kitchen twice, each time forgetting what she’d gone in there for.

“Yep,” she said. “Why?”

“Because you fell down the stairs thanks to a bunny.”

She sighed. “Hey, it was a very big, very scary bunny, okay?”

He laughed. “Whatever you say.”

Damn straight what I say … She sighed and pulled out the bags of dirty towels, replacing them with clean ones just to keep her hands busy.

“Why are you doing that?” Jonathan asked. “Rosa does that.”

“Rosa’s on her cell in the bathroom sobbing to her sister, something about Devon being a dick.”

“Devon is a dick,” Jonathan agreed. “But he’s a hot dick, and Rosa won’t cut him loose. She prefers looks over substance. Not me. How about you?”

“I don’t have any requirements right now,” Lily said. “I’m not interested in your species. At all.”

“Uh-huh. What about your own species then?” he asked. “Because there’s nothing wrong with changing up teams for a little bit.”