“Because of the photos,” she told him, entranced with the puppy. “You got me a present?”
“Of course. I’ll get you a present every day for the rest of your life, if you like. But I know you wouldn’t like that.”
She smiled. He knew her well. Within twenty-four hours of the okay from him to “redecorate” his cabin, she’d removed all the furnishings except the bare essentials, and had denuded the house of most everything except a framed photo or two. She’d even cleaned out his cabinets, tossing extra canned soups and power bars. Hell, he could have sworn that he’d come in for breakfast yesterday morning and caught her throwing away plates.
It didn’t matter. She was more at ease in his newly spartan home, so he didn’t care if a few throw rugs or decor pieces were gone. The furniture was there, and Brenna was there. He had everything he needed.
“Gollum it is,” she said with a happy grin, and then leaned over to kiss him. “You’re the best man I’ve ever known.”
“I can’t say I don’t have an ulterior motive.”
“Oh?” She smiled, still cuddling the squirming puppy to her. “I think I can live with giving you a week of morning blowjobs.”
“That . . . wasn’t what I meant, though I’ll definitely take it.” Grant grinned and tugged at a curled purple lock of hair. “I was talking about your smile.”
“Oh.” She laughed. “Well, I suppose that’s important, too.” This was a good segue, though. “I bought you a present, too, but it’s not here. We’re getting it this weekend.”
He looked surprised at her words, and a pleased look crossed his face. “You got me something?”
“Something as big to you as this puppy is to me,” Brenna told him, holding Gollum aloft so he could lick Grant’s chin.
“Uh-oh,” Grant said warily. “Am I going to like this present?”
“Probably not,” she told him. “But I’ll be strapped to you the entire way down.”
“Entire way down?” His eyebrows shot up and a look of horror crossed his face. “What did you do?”
She gave him an innocent look. “I might have signed us up for a tandem skydiving session to get you over your fear of control.”
“You what?”
“Don’t shout.” She shoved the puppy in his face. “You’re going to scare Gollum.”
“Brenna,” he said in a warning tone.
“It’ll be good for us,” she said, leaning in to kiss him. “Don’t you want to be tied up to me?”
“Not if someone’s going to push us off a plane,” he grumbled.
She gave him a mock-pout and held the puppy up again. It began to lick Grant’s glasses. “Then I guess you’ll have to take Gollum back.”
He pushed the puppy’s head away and gave Brenna an exasperated look. “You really want to do this?”
“Well, no,” Brenna said, pulling the puppy close and tucking it under her chin. She began to rock it against her chest. “I’ve never given it much thought. But since we’re all about conquering our fears to make ourselves better people, if I can get a puppy, you can go skydiving.”
“I’ll go,” he said slowly. “On two conditions.”
“What’s that?”
“First,” he said, and pulled up the edge of her skirt. “That you wear those panties for the rest of the day, because they are smoking hot.”
“Deal,” she said with a grin. “What’s the second condition?”
Grant gazed down at her with a look of infinite tenderness. “That you tell me you love me again.”
“I’ll tell you every day for the rest of our lives,” she vowed to him, and leaned in to give him a kiss.
“You still smell like hot dogs,” he murmured against her mouth.
“You sure do know how to sweet talk a woman,” she said.
And then no one spoke for a good long while.