“So, Jake,” Bethenny said with a slyness to her tone that had me rolling my eyes. “Are you ready to retire yet? I know this girl…”
“Not you, too,” he groaned. “I already have to deal with this from my mom, and recently even Raven has been harping on me to settle down.”
“It’s just that she—”
“Leave him be, little one,” I murmured as I moved to stand next to her.
She dropped her head back and looked up at me with an adorable pout. “But—”
I shook my head. “No matchmaking.”
Bethenny sighed. “Fine.”
Jake looked at me with relief. “Thank you,” he muttered.
I nodded, but gave him a meaningful look as I slipped my arm around my wife, resting my palm on her belly.
“I’ll just go catch up with Lara and take her to get some hot chocolate,” he said before hightailing it—as fast as he could while walking with skis on—over to the ski lift and hopping onto one. He tried to hide it, but I hadn’t missed the flash of longing on his face. Jake was adamant that he didn’t want a relationship, but as he got older, he was having a harder time convincing himself it was true.
“Why can’t I play matchmaker?” Bethenny’s pout was back, and I laughed before leaning down to kiss the look right off her face.
“When and if he’s ever ready to be set up, he’ll ask.”
Magan squirmed and pointed excitedly toward a small shack that was the docking station for a big, glass gondola that took people from the lodge up to the peak of the highest, most difficult ski run, where they’d recently built a small cafe and lookout. “It’s Raven and Delilah! Can I ride with them? Can I?”
“Let’s go ask her,” Bethenny replied, her eyes twinkling merrily. Our family was the light of her life, and I loved seeing her relaxed enough to find joy in so many things.
Raven spotted us as we approached and waved. “Do you guys want to take a ride with us?”
“Yes, please!” Magan screeched, jumping up and down and clapping her hands. Delilah, Raven and Caleb’s five-year-old, did the same thing, making a loud ruckus that caused a lot of chuckling from passersby.
“Bethenny and I are good here, but would you mind taking Magan with you?”
“Of course not. Let’s go, sweet girls!”
They all climbed happily into the gondola, and we waved at them as it began the assent.
After a few minutes, I released Bethenny’s waist and took her hand, carefully guiding her over the snow to the ski school. I nodded at one of my instructors, but I didn’t stop until we entered my office. Then I shut and locked the door.
Taking a deep breath, I slowly turned to face Bethenny, and she smiled innocently. “Did you need something, Lincoln?”
I prowled over to her and grasped her waist, lifting her and setting her sexy little ass on my desk. “I specifically told you not to go off the shoveled path without someone to help you,” I growled. “Were you itching for a punishment, little one?”
Her eyes went wide and round—too wide and round for her to not have known exactly what she’d been doing—and she blinked. “What do you mean?”
I might have laughed if I hadn’t been so irritated that she’d disobeyed me by putting herself in an unsafe situation. “Waddling like a penguin won’t keep you from slipping and falling.”
Bethenny gasped. “I don’t waddle!”
I cocked my head to the side and studied her with an amused smile. “Yes, you do. But it’s cute as fuck.”
Her expression lightened a tad, but she still looked a little put out. “Fine. If you want to make it up to me—”
“Oh, no,” I interrupted with a wicked grin. “You aren’t going to get out of your punishment, wife.”
An hour later, she had a red ass and a very satisfied expression as she snoozed on the couch in my office. I whispered my declaration of love in her ear, then kissed her forehead and went to sit behind my desk. I couldn't help wondering how my life turned out so perfectly. My eyes strayed to the picture of the girls visiting Santa earlier that month. Perhaps I owed it to the big man in the red suit. Christmas miracles were his specialty, right?
Although…I was the one keeping Bethenny’s naughty list.