It Must Be Magic (25 page)

“Too plain.” He rubbed his body lightly to hers, and a thrill spread through her limbs. Tanner was hard in all the right places. Except that she
was
at work. And there
were
people, lots of people, in the back room. Including Kate.

“Well, then I think you need to be much more specific, sir, so that I can fulfill your every request.”

“Oh, I’m sure you can fulfill
all
my requests, even the ones I haven’t thought of yet. I need something exotic, vibrant and imaginative. Something with wildflowers. And it needs to be very, very expensive.”

“Hmm, this special lady likes expensive things?”

“Of course. She’s a woman. And she’s perfect.” He slid a finger along the waistband of her skirt.

“I might have just the thing. I’ve been doing a little tinkering. If you want to come by my house later tonight, I can show you.”

“Now that sounds like a perfect idea.” He skirted her earlobe with his tongue, then whispered, “I love you.”

Lili twirled and looped her arms around his neck. “And I love you.” She kissed him, once, just a taste. “I thought you were doing yard work.”

“I missed you.” He nuzzled in her hair. “And I wanted to tell you that last night was incredible. I think we should keep Wanetta’s house for our own private hideaway even after we’re married. That way you can scream as loud as you want.”

“I did not scream.”

Her pulled her hair gently and tipped her head back, his eyes a deep, dark, delicious blue. “Oh, yes, you did.”

“Okay, but it was very ladylike.”

“It was hot. I want you to scream like that every time.”

“Then I guess you have your work cut out for you.”

“I am so looking forward to it. Much better than yard work.” He kissed her eyelid. “Damn, a whole month until you’re in my bed. You don’t know how badly I want to go to sleep with you in my arms.” He kissed her other eyelid. “And wake up beside you.”

Uh-oh. She hadn’t told him about Einstein yet. That would take some leading into. Lili leaned back in his arms. “I think we need to talk to Erika about Fluffy’s name. You know, he’s not a Fluffy. That might be part of the problem between him and Einstein. She’s always bringing up the emasculation thing. But if he had the right name, that would take some of the power out of her teasing. What do you think?”

A sweet smile grew on Tanner’s face. At least she thought it was sweet, but someone else might have thought it was maniacal. “How about we ask him if he’d like to be called Loki?”

Wow. He’d said “we” and called Fluffy a “he.” She did so adore this man. He was a fast learner. “Loki?”

“The Norse god of mischief.”

“Oh,” she said on a breath. “That’s wonderful. Even Erika will love it. And when Einstein says she’s the reincarnation of the smartest man ever born,
Loki
can say, ‘So what,
I’m
a god.’”

Tanner hitched her closer. “Then it’s settled. As long as Fluffy agrees. Now, what time do you get off work? I think we should take a drive up the Grade. I know a spot where I can lay you down —”

“I only just got here, Tanner.”

“Oh, yeah, right.”

And really, Kate was taking an awfully long time in the back room. Any minute now, she’d come out or a customer would walk in…. Lili had to say what she’d been putting off since Tuesday.

She took a deep breath. “Okay, here’s the thing.”

Tanner gave her a quick yet hard kiss. “God, I love it when you say that. It fires off all my nerve endings.”

“This is serious. I need to tell you what Einstein sai —”

Tanner covered her mouth. “Let me guess.”

He’d never get it, but she blinked agreement.

“Einstein doesn’t want to give up her spot in the middle of the bed once you both move over to our house.”

“Oh, my God,” she said behind his hand, then licked him. He didn’t let her go.

“But she and I are working on a compromise.” He finally let go of her mouth to cup her cheek in his palm. “We’ll let you know when we’ve got it worked out.”

Oh. Oh. It almost made her cry. “You talked to Einstein. But how? I don’t understand.”

Tanner kissed her lips, her nose, then nuzzled into her hair and whispered, “It must be magic.”

ISBN: 9781426801792

IT MUST BE MAGIC

Copyright © 2007 by Jennifer Skullestad

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

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