Turning Up the Heat: A Sizzling Modern Romance Novel

26. Kelsey

I wokeup at dawn the morning after Thanksgiving in my usual position in Oskar’s bed, his body wrapped around me and his nose in my hair. He really did have extremely long limbs. Seeing as how the rest of him was proportional, I couldn’t bring myself to mind.

I turned to look at him, sleeping so contentedly with me in his arms, a slight smile on his relaxed face. This week had been wonderful. I had to admit since we hadn’t spent more than about three days together since we met, I was a little worried that the relationship we’d built on the phone and in a few rushed weekends would be fish.

Gone off after three days.

So far it seemed like I’d worried needlessly. We were still getting along great, and we had settled into an easy routine around each other.

There were a few annoying things.

Oskar dropped towels on the bathroom floor. I would be more annoyed by that if it didn’t make mopping up the floor after he got out of the shower easier. I wasn’t sure how he managed to get the entire bathroom dripping wet, but I was beginning to think he just shook like a Labrador when he finished bathing.

He claimed that I never shut off lights. It was true, I was a bad conservationist, but it was partly because my house was so tiny. There weren’t more than five rooms in the entire place. The electrical bill wasn’t exactly a problem.

I knew he was thinking about me moving directly into his place when I moved back in the as-yet-to-be-determined future. But I wasn’t too sure about that. It was going to be a big change. Maybe it would be better to move back to the ranch for a while. It wasn’t that far away from Oskar’s place.

He wouldn’t like the idea, but it might be a good transition.

I looked at him sleeping peacefully, and his arms tightened around me. I decided I could sleep a little longer, so I shut my eyes and drifted off again.

Only to wake when the sun was shining through the windows. Oskar was behind me, one arm pillowing my head and the other lying lightly on my belly, moving ever so slightly in circles.

I squinted a little. “Oskar?”

“Mm-hmm?”

“Why are you rubbing my belly?”

“Was I?”

“Sort of.” I put my hand over his. “Oskar?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you imagining me being pregnant?”

His hand moved from my belly to my hip, and he tapped there lightly with his fingertips.

“Maybe a little.” His voice was a study in casual nonchalance.

“You were imagining me ‘a little’ pregnant?”

“Not right now or anything.”

I sat up and turned to face him. This was getting ridiculous. “Oskar, we have been together for a few months. I haven’t even moved back yet. You need to just… slow down a little, okay?”

He looked at me like a guilty little boy. His expression was ridiculously cute. I had to concentrate on staying serious with him. Damn it, why was he so good-looking? When he looked like that, I just wanted to kiss him, which was not conducive to trying to make my point.

Also, when he looked like that, I was forced to imagine how incredibly gorgeous his babies would be.

Again, not conducive to making my point.

“Kelsey, relax. I’m not thinking about right now. I was just imagining how cute your hypothetical children would be.”

“My hypothetical children?” I raised an eyebrow. “Would you have anything to do with these hypothetical children?”

He shrugged. “Hypothetically. Do you want omelets?” He moved to get out of bed, and I noticed that his happy expression when I woke seemed to have fallen a little.

Damn it.

I put out a hand to hold on to his. “Oskar?”

He paused on his way out of bed, his back to me. “Yeah?”

Time for some honesty. “I’m theoretically okay with the idea of you being involved with my hypothetical children.”

He glanced over his shoulder. “Theoretically?”

“Hypothetically.”

He turned and tackled me, kissing me as I laughed. Then he rolled us on our sides and murmured, “I love you. And I can be patient.”

“Good. Because this hypothetical is years away.”

“So tell me about Stan Brent.”

“Hmm?” I was distracted from my careful study of Oskar’s back muscles as he cooked at the stove. “Who?”

He turned and caught me ogling his butt. He gave a little wiggle, and his shoulders shook with laughter. “Kelsey, you better tell me. If you don’t, I’ll go put on a shirt.”

I gasped dramatically. “You wouldn’t.”

“I don’t know—it’s getting a little cold. I might need a sweater. A really bulky one.”

“You don’t play fair.”

He glanced over his shoulder again. “Like you wouldn’t pull out an apron if you wanted your way.”

He might have had a point there. I was going to fill him in a little, but I was trying to decide how much Hanna would be comfortable with me sharing. “He’s sort of a friend of mine at work. We don’t really hang out or anything, but he seems to be a really nice guy. He’s very good at his job.” I figured Oskar would appreciate that about Stan. “He’s the online editor. He lives in the city. Hanna and I ran into him when we were having lunch one time, and I introduced them. I think they’ve gone out a few times.”

I figured I would be safe sharing the general information about Stan. After all, it wasn’t really my job to fill him in on his sister’s love life.

Oskar frowned. “She blushed when I said his name. Hanna never blushes.”

I couldn’t help it—I bounced in my seat a little. “I know. Isn’t it cute?”

Oskar looked at me as if cute was the last thing that came to mind at the thought of Hanna blushing. I settled down.

“I don’t know anything about this guy.” Oskar pointed a spatula at me as if he had just found something highly suspicious. “And if they’re going out, why did she say he’s a work friend of yours?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, Oskar, I can’t imagine why your sister wouldn’t want to fill you in on her latest love affair at Thanksgiving dinner.”

He winced. “Don’t say love affair and your sister in the same sentence, all right? I know, I know… I just don’t want to know.”

“Seriously? She’s twenty-five.”

“Are you going to fill Josh in on how we’d like to have the bunkhouse remodeled for the next time we visit the ranch?”

I pursed my lips. “Point taken.” I looked at him and his damned raised eyebrow. “Just don’t say anything about it until you come for a visit. Unless she brings him up, wait to meet him. I’m sure she’ll introduce you if it’s serious. And he’s really very nice.”

“I’ll have to talk to Victor about what weekend would be best to take the kitchen,” he grumbled.

“Just remember, check with Hanna about whether she’s traveling this month.”

He nodded, still frowning a little.

“What’s wrong?”

He shook his head slightly. “Things just seem like they can change so fast.”

I got up and put my arms around his waist, holding him from behind. “I fell in love with you pretty fast. Doesn’t mean it’s not the real thing.”

He turned to me and he was frowning. “Do you believe that? Really? Sometimes?—”

“Sometimes what?”

“It feels like you doubt what we have because it happened fast.” He stared at me intently.

I had no idea he felt like that. “Is it scary sometimes? Yes, completely. But that doesn’t mean it’s not real.”

“Don’t go back.Just stay here,” Oskar murmured while he was kissing my throat as we lay in bed on Sunday morning.

I was supposed to pick Hanna up at one o’clock in Paso Robles to head back up north. I didn’t think he could have any more energy after the week we’d had, but he was once again proving to me what superior Scandinavian breeding could do.

I sighed as I turned into putty in his hands.

Oskar could turn me on like no other man in the world. His hands, his lips, practically everything about him made me hum. I felt the rough scrape of his morning stubble as his lips devoured my collarbone. His hands stroked down my body, lingering in every spot he knew I loved. When his tongue traced around my sensitive nipples, I sighed in pleasure. His mouth closed over one, sucking and biting a little as I clutched at his shoulders and moaned.

“I’ve got to head back ho?—”

“Don’t.” His head darted up, and he looked me dead in the eye, his breath panting out a little and his lips flushed from his efforts. He closed his eyes, frowning before he spoke. “Just don’t call it home. Your home is here.”

I put my arms around his shoulders.

“Tell me.” His gaze bored into mine.

I brought my lips to his mouth. “This is home,” I whispered. I moved under him, needing to feel his solid weight on me. I nudged his erection closer to where I wanted to feel him. “Do you understand? This is home.”

I stared into his intense blue eyes as he made love to me.

After we finished, we rested in bed, my fingers tracing the muscles of his back. His fingers played lightly with the ends of my hair, and I held my ear to his chest, listening to his low heartbeat.

Every time it got harder to leave. I needed to have a serious talk with Octavia. I couldn’t keep doing this. I felt like I was tearing myself in two every time we parted, and more and more of my heart was being left behind.

“I can be patient,” he said quietly. “I know it’s fast.”

“I know.”

“I really don’t want to be patient though.”

I smiled sadly and traced his jaw with the tip of my finger.

“I know.”

“Kelsey, why don’t I drive?”

“No I’m fine.” I sniffed as Hanna put her bags in the back of the car. Josh was loading a case of wine in the trunk for her and studiously avoiding his crying sister.

Hanna grimaced. “You’re leaking like a sieve. I do not feel comfortable having you drive down the highway when your vision is impaired. Give me the keys.” Hanna held out her hand and raised her eyebrow in an Oskar-like fashion, which set off another round of tears. “This is ridiculous.”

“Fine!” I handed her the keys and got in the passenger side.

Josh waved awkwardly at us from the porch as we left the ranch.

We had driven in silence on Highway 101 for about an hour, me staring out the window at the passing scenery, Hanna driving and listening to a podcast in what I thought was Mandarin.

She huffed out a breath. “This whole thing is ridiculous. Kelsey, do you want a plan for moving back here or not? If you want a plan, we will figure out a plan. I’m excellent at planning.”

I sniffed and smiled a little. “I know.”

“And I dislike dripping noses.” She pulled a tissue from the center console. “This is absurd.”

“I got an email on Tuesday that they want us in the office three days a week now.”

“They sent that the week of Thanksgiving?”

“Yeah.” I stared ahead. “They’re moving away from remote work to ‘foster greater collaboration among contributors.’ Which is bullshit because we all talk all the time anyway. They’d just doing it because some asshole in Human Resources said we were more productive in the office.”

“I have not found that to be the case with my employees,” Hanna said. “But you can work with this.”

“How? By giving up my career?”

“My brother’s penis cannot be nice enough to give up your career,” Hanna said. “That’s not an acceptable option.”

I frowned. “Can we change the direction this is going in, because?—”

“I’m assuming you like it considering?—”

“Lalalalalala.” I put my fingers in my ears. I loved Oskar’s sister, but she was so weird.

She pulled my hand from my ear. “We’ll come up with a plan.”

We spent the rest of the drive outlining some of my professional options. Hanna was, in fact, an incredible planner, plus she was gifted at corporate-speak. I took notes.

In the back of my mind, I wondered if I could just hand her my planner, let her write me out a detailed schedule for the rest of my life, and never have to make another decision again.

She would probably enjoy that too much, and I would probably end up wearing far too many dress clothes.

“Kelsey?”

We were driving through San Jose.

I was exhausted at that point and leaning back in the seat, thinking about what Oskar would be doing right then at the restaurant. “Yeah, Hanna?”

“If it helps…” She tried again. “If it helps, I may be falling for Stan. I can’t imagine being that far away from him. I think you and Oskar are doing quite well considering the circumstances.”

I was stunned. “You’re falling for Stan?”

She glanced at me. “Are you leaking again? I thought you liked Stan.”

“I do. I’m just really, really happy for you. Does he… Do you think he’s falling for you too?”

She had a faint blush on her cheeks. “Yes.”

I thought about her being in Paso Robles for the past week, spending time with her brother and my family. “Thank you for spending Thanksgiving with us, Hanna. I’m sure you’ve been missing him.”

“Are you finished crying now?”

I smiled. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Good, because you can drive yourself back across the bridge. You’re dropping me off at his house. Don’t get into an accident on your way home.”

“I’m sure I can manage.”

We drove silently the rest of the way into the city. As we drove into the Marina, I gaped at the houses. “Wow. Stan has some money. Maybe I should be trying to make editor.”

Hanna snorted a little. “He does perfectly well, but the house is his grandmother’s. He just moved in a month ago. He doesn’t even have a dining table yet.”

We pulled into the driveway of a beautiful old home.

Hanna looked sideways at me. “I’d invite you in, but I really don’t want you there. I know you understand.”

I smiled. “Completely. Thanks for driving, Hanna.”

She smiled at me, and I could see the quiet happiness in her eyes. “You’re welcome. Drive safely. I’ll call you later this week to talk about your professional plan of attack.”

“Got it.”

I gave myself a little pep talk as I drove across the Golden Gate Bridge. Its rich orange color was lit up that evening as I crossed it. It was beautiful, but I realized that it didn’t feel like going home anymore.

Home was two hundred miles away, wearing a white chef’s jacket and missing me as much as I missed him.