“You don’t understand what that means to me, having the chance to do that. I’ve spent time with others over the years we’ve been apart—”
All feel-good sensations fled as I growled.
“But just this. Being with someone. Touching them. Giving comfort and receiving it.” He pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “We can have all the hot monkey sex we want later. Right now, I just want you in my arms, in my bed. Your scent in my nose and those cute little snores you make in my ears.”
“Snores!” I elbowed him hard, grinning when I heard a great oof of breath, but he rallied quickly, reaching down and sweeping me into his arms.
“Will you, Lily McGregor, have a nanna nap with me, Ben Morrison?” he asked as he laid me down onto the bed.
“I will,” I replied.
Chapter 48
“I’m stealing our girl,” Jasper said when I woke up.
I emerged sometime later, shuffling out into the living area of the cabin to find Damon and Jasper waiting. I just blinked owlishly at him as he walked over.
“I get you’ve got this whole ‘just mated’ thing going, but she’s mine too,” he told Ben as he tucked my body against his. I relaxed into that, too tired to do anything else.
“I was going to take her on a walk through the trees,” Ben protested.
“I was going to take her on one of the ATVs up to the old lookout so we could watch the sunset,” Damon suggested, cocking an eyebrow at me.
“I’ve got coffee and lots of it,” Jasper said.
“Jasper.” I pointed to the man, vehemently. “Jasper wins.”
“Yeah, I do.” He scooped me up then, tossing me over his shoulder like I was a sack of potatoes or something.
“Jasper!” I said, kicking my heels. “Jasper!” He finally set me down in front of one of the little carts that were used for transport on the property. “I said I’d go with you.”
“Maybe I just like the sound of you calling my name in a desperate voice,” he said with a cheeky grin, then gestured for me to get into the cart. I got in, scowling at him darkly. “You can look at me like that all you want, but you’ll be beaming as soon as I get you an endless cup of that toxic sludge you persist on drinking.”
“Dear god,” I said, letting out a huff of breath, “if you’re telling me you’re a tea drinker, this whole thing is off.”
“Worse, love,” he said, throwing himself in the driver’s seat and then shooting me a grin. “Water and beer are about all I ever drink.”
“Water? Water?! Fish fuck in water…”
The sun was beginningto set when we got back to the main house and it felt so strange to be just now wandering in and reconnecting with Evie. At this time of day I’d be fussing over showers, homework, school projects, and dinner. They say it takes a village to raise a child. Usually it’s some desperate mummy blogger writing something along those lines, decrying our increasingly isolated family structures. But right now, I could see how it worked. Evie was sitting with Barb and a bunch of the younger guys, showing them the box she’d made.
“So the possums go in here,” she said, pointing to the hole drilled in the front. “Jimmy said it needs to be exactly this big so the possums can get in, but cats can’t.”
“That’s right,” Barb said with all the warm patience of a born grandmother.
“And then they put them up in the trees so the possums have somewhere to live. They usually hide in holes in the trees, but there’s not enough of them around.”
“No, I don’t suppose there are.”
“Mum!”
I was gratified that Evie looked pleased to see me when she turned around. She came running over and gave me the same spiel but delivered twice as quick.
“Take a breath, Evie,” I told her, and she did with exaggerated care. “Now try again.”
But when we approached the big table Barb was sitting at, the young men there all seemed to perk up, taking a lot more notice of what was happening. Eyes raked over me, cataloguing me in the way single men often seemed intent on doing, but before they could get too far into their inspection, Jasper appeared. A coffee was handed over and, as soon as his hand was free, he put it on my shoulder. Just that simple gesture seemed to communicate something.
“Stop your silly posturing, boys,” Barb growled. “The girl’s mated, as you can see.”