“Or your leprosy plans.”
“Yes. Or my leprosy plans. That goes without saying.”
Cletus cracked his first true smile and gave me a quick kiss, like he couldn’t help himself. “I love you.”
Smoothing my palm over his beleaguered beard, I cupped his jaw. “And I love you.”
His smile grew, warmed, heated, and his hands on me tightened in a way that felt both instinctual and possessive. “That’s the first time you’ve said it.”
“I know.” My grin mirrored his. “You kept interrupting me.”
Cletus’s eyes dropped to my lips and he rumbly whispered, “Remind me to stop interrupting you.”
I endeavored to ignore the ache in my chest, the circle of heat around my neck, and worked hard to sound serious. “Please stop interrupting me, because I have something important to say.” I tried twisting toward him to be closer, but the angle was awkward. So I huffed. “Can you just move—yes, like that. Move there so I can straddle your lap. I can’t see your face.”
“For the record, I will never turn down you straddling me.”
Shaking my head at him, I waited until he was centered on the bed, then I climbed on his lap and twisted my arms around his neck. “That’s better.”
“So much better.” His voice was low and sent a shiver racing along spine, which he chased with his hands.
I caught his fingers on their way to my backside and pressed them against my waist. “As I was saying, we have a few things that need discussing. A lot has happened.”
“Agree.” He nodded once.
“And last night, you really hurt me.”
A forlorn frown chased away his friskiness. “I know. What can I do?”
“Your apology helped. Thank you for that.” I swallowed, fighting to suppress the butterflies in my stomach. Being this close to him, in this position, was a bad idea. My hormones wanted me to abandon my plan. They wanted me to release the horses and unwrap my presents, starting with my man.
But I couldn’t.
Not yet.
“Here is how things are going to be: I am moving out of my parents’ house and into Claire’s house—”
“Agree.” He moved to kiss me.
Ducking, I dodged his mouth. “By myself.”
Frowning severely, his eyebrows pulled low into a dissatisfied line. “Disagree.”
I ignored him. “And I’ve talked to my mother. She’s going to pay me for the work I do at the Donner Bakery. I’ll also be baking for Sienna while she’s pregnant. I have some ideas—based on the lemon cakes she likes—that might help her.”
“Let’s go back to the housing part of the plan.”
Again, I ignored him. “I am going to support myself, with my baking, or whatever else I choose to do. Because it is right and normal for a twenty-two-year-old woman to support herself.”
“Yes, but—”
“Just like you are going to support yourself. Because it is right and normal for a man of your age to support himself.”
His frown became an eye squint. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying we need to stand separately,” unable to help myself, I kissed his nose, “so we can eventually stand together.”
His lips flattened into a dissatisfied line and his squint intensified as he mulled this over. “And if I disagree? If I want to—let’s say—get married and start making babies now?”
I gave him an indulgent smile and shook my head. “The answer is not yet. Because we’re not ready. I’m not ready.”
“And if I insist?” His hands slipped lower, his fingers caressing my backside. “I can be very persuasive.”
I grinned, because he was right.
“I will not discourage you from using every weapon in your persuasion arsenal.” He leaned forward to kiss me and I dodged his mouth again, holding a finger to his lips. “But I have to warn you, I currently have the upper hand.”
His left eyebrow arched and a delightfully mischievous smile claimed his lips. “Do you? How so?”
I withdrew the last thumb drive from my back pocket and held it up between us. He looked at it, then at me, then at it, his smile falling by degrees.
“That night I gave them back to you, I couldn’t find this one,” I explained. “I found it the next week and planned to hand it over when—or if—I saw you next.”
“Is that . . .?”
“Yes.”
A torrent of emotions passed behind his eyes. Before he could settle on a feeling, I plucked his hand from my body and placed the data drive in his palm. Confusion claimed his features while his gaze followed my movements.
“Here.” I waited until he’d refocused on me. “Now no one has the upper hand.”