Otter’s fingers tightened just a little on my face, and I didn’t like the frown he wore very much. I shouldn’t have said any of that. I didn’t know why I did.

And no matter what you do, that voice whispered, that damnable voice I didn’t think I’d ever get rid of, she’ll always be right there, won’t she? You can go for days without thinking about her, and then surprise! There she is, all over again.

“Ignore me.” I nuzzled his hand just a little, trying to distract him. “I’m just bitching because I can. Tell me what else you bought in order to take down Melanie Marshall like the responsible adult you are.”

“What makes you think I bought anything else?”

“Otter.”

“Bear.”

“Everyone knows you can’t walk into Lowe’s without coming out with at least ten things you didn’t know you desperately needed.”

“I’m a man. That’s what men do.”

“Oh Jesus. I’m a man and I don’t do that.”

“Kind of a man.”

I shoved him off as he laughed at me. He snagged one of my hands and tugged me toward the kitchen, walking backward and grinning at me. “Come on. I’ve got a surprise for you.”

I narrowed my eyes at him but allowed him to pull me along. “This better not be anything like the last surprise.”

“Yeah, okay. But that wasn’t my fault at all. That was on the Kid.”

“Both of you brought home that dog. And don’t you try and tell me different, Otter Thompson. I saw the look on your face.”

“Yeah, because we could possibly have known that you’d be allergic.”

“I got splotches. On my everywhere.”

He grimaced. “So you showed me. And that’s still an image I’ll probably never get out of my head, so thank you for that.”

And maybe I was trying to play at being annoyed, but my husband was holding my hand and I just so happened to love him a lot, so I huffed out a breath and said, “As long as it’s not an animal.”

“Not an animal,” he promised. “It’s better than that.”

“I don’t even know how to take that.”

His smile took on a bit of a wicked curve. “I’ll show you how you can take it a little later.”

I stared at him.

He waggled his eyebrows at me.

And I laughed. Of course I did. I’d had a shitty fucking day, and all I wanted to do was make it to the end of the week and we’d officially be on break for the holidays. I was cranky and tired, but Oliver Thompson was here, looking like he did, acting like he did, just being himself, and so of course I laughed.