She played with the buttons of his shirt, feeling triumphant when his body responded, already hardening against her. “I can tell you plenty,” she whispered against his neck. “And I can show you, too.”
His groan was all disappointment as he tugged her close. “As nice as that sounds, I owe Andy a visit. I didn’t finish my work yesterday. Then I have to check up on Mum and Eiley.ThenI promised I’d take the kiddos trick-or-treating.”
“Oh.” She perched on one of his handcrafted chairs, trying not to look put out.
“You could come with me to the B&B,” he suggested. “I wouldn’t recommend it, mind. Andy is a tyrant when we’re working.”
“If I help out, do you think they’ll give me a discount when they reopen?”
He tssked. “Just like that, you turn your back on my cabin, where your new writing desk will soon be.”
“I will take my writing desk with me, but… normal showers. Quicker Wi-Fi. No owls keeping me awake all night.”
“Did you hear that, Bernard?” He called over to the mutt, who had curled up on a tattered blanket by the door. “She prefers hot water and superfast broadband to us.”
“Don’t bring Bernard into this!” she chided, and then, to Bernard: “Don’t listen to him, Bernard. I would take a thousand freezing showers for that boopable face.”
Fraser laughed as he kissed her, a soft finger tilting her chin so she couldn’t look away. Not that she wanted to.
She huffed dramatically. “I suppose I canpretendto work with you. Only if I’m rewarded for it tomorrow, though.”
Fraser nipped her ear lobe playfully. “I’m sure that can be arranged, sunshine.”
Harper stepped into the B&B and couldn’t help but gawp at the mess. Stairs had been torn out, doorways went without doors, and the wallpaper had been ripped from the walls. It might have been nice before,but Harper couldn’t see much beyond the dust sheets and, well, dust. Apparently, this was normal, because Fraser didn’t falter as he called out, “Help has arrived!”
“A whole twenty-four hours late!” Andy’s voice drifted from somewhere nearby. They appeared in the hallway wearing an expression of thunder, tapping their Converse-clad foot impatiently. Their dark hair was covered by a black beanie today, choppy ends feathering around their elfin face. “What’s your excuse? Did your dog eat your tools?”
“I left my tools here, smart ass,” Fraser said. “Since your tongue is so sharp today, perhaps it’s you who’s eaten them.”
He stepped aside so that Harper was in view. She waved nervously, suddenly unsure if she’d be welcome here after all. She wasn’t very good at… well,anykind of DIY, let alone DIY that would be judged by someone whose personality was the love child of Gordon Ramsay and Scary Spice.
But Andy’s scowl lifted when it fell on Harper, their hazel eyes lightening as they uncrossed their arms. “Oh, hi, Harper! I didn’t know Fraser had brought company! You’ll have to excuse the state of this place. I am being very calm about it, as you can probably tell.”
Fraser let out aHa!so sardonic he almost choked on it, and Harper nodded sagely. “Well,Iam sort of renovating my entire life at the moment, and I, too, am very calm about all the chaos it’s brought. I’m absolutely not having a crisis.”
“Good. No crisises here, then. Or is it ‘crises’?” Andy rubbed their pointed chin with a wry smirk, displaying chipped black polish on their bitten-down nails.
“How come you’re nice to her but not me?” Fraser asked incredulously.
Andy slapped his chest as they passed him to fling their arm over Harper’s shoulder. “Because Harper is pretty.”
“I’mpretty,” Fraser grumbled.
“He is very pretty,” defended Harper, her resolve melting due to the compliment nonetheless. Having felt on the edge of the queer community for most of her early twenties as a femme who had dated mostly men, such validation felt like a rare, special thing. That was probably why she’d been so crazy about Kenzie in those years. A confident, attractive lesbian with experience? It had taken Harper at least a year to believe such a woman might actually like little old her – and about five seconds to realise she no longer did, in the end.
“Besides,” Fraser said to Andy, rocking on his heels. “It was Harper’s fault I didn’t come back yesterday.”
“No, actually, that’s not the truth, Fraser.” She turned to Andy. “He just doesn’t trust me to walk on my own.”
Andy’s head snapped between them as though they were watching a tennis match. They scratched their paint-smeared cheek in bewilderment. “I am ever so sorry, but I actually don’t care about any ofthis.” They narrowed their eyes, wafting a hand through the air between Harper and Fraser. “I care that my parents are coming back to town for the autumn festival next weekend, and the beloved B&B they entrusted me to take care of isfucked!”
“It’s not fucked.” Fraser leaned against a closed door and almost tumbled through it. He caught both the door and himself from falling just in time,inspecting the wood as he propped it against the frame. “Okay. It might be a little bit fucked.”
“Jack said he fixed that yesterday!” Andy groused.
“I’ll sort it. Don’t worry.” Fraser reached out and rubbed Andy’s arms. Andy glowered before letting Fraser soothe them.
“And I will pretend to look busy with this.” Harper picked up a hammer from the floor, waving it around like she was wielding Thor’s great weapon – and nearly crashed into Fraser when the heavy weight sent her teetering back.
