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Carter yawned as he shucked off his heavy wool coat and hung it up. Straightening his suit jacket, he made his way into the teachers’ lounge and headed for the coffee pot.
“Morning, Sunshine!” Joe Curtis chirped from the table where he sat, reading his paper. “Late night?”
“Yeah,” Carter said over his shoulder as he poured himself a mug of what was sure to be terrible coffee. Nothing a little— or a lot— of cream and sugar wouldn’t help.
“Tsk. Shame on you, Andy. Don’t you know the old saying, ‘early to bed, early to rise’?” Joe asked.
“Oh sure. But I was in the middle of doing repairs to that house I bought and I lost track of time. It was past midnight before I even bothered to check my watch!” He took his coffee and joined Joe at the table.
“That’s home ownership for you,” Joe replied. “You either fix things yourself or pay someone else through the nose to do it for you.”
“Guess so,” Carter said. He sipped his coffee and frowned. Not even cream and sugar had fixed it. “Yech. I had better coffee as a prisoner.”
Joe laughed. “You’re a teacher now; it’s almost the same thing!”
“Now, Joe,” Mable Perkins scolded as she approached. “You love teaching!”
“I do, I do,” Joe conceded.
Mable smiled and sat next to Joe. “So your house is coming along then, Andy?”
“Yes ma’am,” Carter nodded. “I gotta put a fresh coat of paint on it and a few other things and then I think it’ll do just fine.”
“Good for you,” Mable said with a smile.
“I remember when I bought my house,” Joe said. “Me and Lisa were already married and we were renting this little suite from a nice old couple. Say, Mable, you know the Wilkinsons, right?”
“Of course.”
“Well, they rented to us pretty cheap so long as I was willing to cut the grass and—”
Carter tuned Joe out because, at that moment, Lucy Morgan walked into the room. Everything else faded away, lost in her aura. He was mesmerized by her dark curly hair, long lashes that framed brown eyes, and perfect red lips.
Immediately, he stood up and raced over to help her out of her winter coat.
“Morning,” he greeted.
“Morning,” she said. She looked around and then gave him a quick kiss. Carter felt a wave of dizziness wash over him as he reveled in the simple yet intoxicating act.
He must’ve been frozen in place because he heard Lucy giggle and then suddenly she was no longer in front of him. He whipped his head around to find her pouring herself a cup of coffee. From the corner of his eye, he saw Joe and Mable exchanging sly looks.
“Told you,” he heard Joe murmur.
Carter couldn’t stop his cheeks from going hot. Though he had met Lucy earlier, Joe had made a point of bringing her and Carter together at a Christmas party about two months ago. Overcoming his initial hesitancy, Carter had asked Lucy out for coffee. They had seen each other outside of work at least three times a week since then. She had even invited him to her father’s New Year’s party. That was where she kissed him. If Carter hadn’t been hooked before (and he very much was), that kiss sealed his fate.
“Uh…” Carter’s brain turned back on. He raced Lucy to the table and pulled out a chair for her. She thanked him and sat down. Carter sat next to her and rested his cheek on his fist, watching her as he again became lost. She rested her chin on the back of her hand and looked back at him, a delicate blush colouring her cheeks.
“Twitterpated,” Mable mock whispered to Joe.
“Both of them,” Joe whispered back. “So!” he continued loudly. “I heard aliens landed in Fargo.”
“Really? I heard they were dinosaurs who crawled out of the earth!” Mable said.
“No, aliens. Big ugly green ones that… Huh. Say, this is serious, Mable.”
Carter barely registered what the two other teachers were saying. It wasn’t until someone cut between him and Lucy, leaning on the table with his back towards Carter, that he snapped out of his love-induced haze.
“Hi, Lucy,” Tony Davis greeted.
“Oh… hello Tony,” Lucy replied.
“Say, I was thinking of catching a movie tonight. Wanna join me?”
“No thank you. Andy and I are having dinner.”
“Andy? Who?” Tony straightened and turned. “Oh right. Sergeant Carter.” He clapped Carter roughly on the shoulder and then squeezed tightly. “Everyone’s favorite new chemistry teacher.”
“Actually, Andy was a Lieutenant,” Lucy said nonchalantly.
“Yeah, didn’t you hear about that crazy SNAFU with his rank?” Joe said. “Boy, I tell you, that army bureaucracy can never be accused of having any brains!”
“I can’t argue with that,” Tony said. He gave Carter’s shoulder another squeeze before letting go. Then he grabbed Carter’s coffee and moved around to sit on the other side of Lucy. “I tell you, there were times when I forgot who the real enemy was. But then I’d get in my plane and go up against a bunch of Japs and that set everything right again. Say, did I ever tell you about the time that I saw one of them Japs bail out and then get eaten by sharks?”
“Oh, Tony, please, how gruesome,” Mable said, appalled.
“I heard that one,” Joe said. “You really have some great stories, Tony.”
“Yeah, well, that’s what happens when you’re actually fighting. You don’t get a lot of great stories from being a prisoner, huh, Andy?”
Carter shrugged. “Nothing that would interest you.” He checked his watch. “Say, we all better get to class.” He stood and gave Lucy a kiss. “See you for lunch?”
“Always.”
Carter grinned. If he was a smug sort of person, he would have shot Tony a triumphant glare, but, as it was, Carter didn’t pay him any attention. He took Lucy’s hand and gave it a small squeeze before heading out of the room.
Kids were already starting to fill the halls, talking loudly to each other. A few said ‘good morning’ to him as he passed.
As he approached his classroom, he noticed the door was slightly ajar. He tilted his head. It was supposed to be locked. Maybe the janitor had forgotten to close it back up. Deciding that was it, Carter pushed open the door.
Two boy, hovering over something at a table, immediately straightened and turned to face him, hiding whatever they were working on.
“Gentlemen,” Carter greeted, an unasked question in his tone.
“Er, hey, Mr. Carter,” Bobby Bucks said sheepishly. “You’re early.”
“No, but you are. What you got there?”
Bobby and his companion, Dale Stuart, exchanged a panicked look. “Errr, ummm…”
“You know you ought to be wearing safety gear before you muck around with anything,” Carter said nonchalantly. “First rule of experimenting.” He couldn’t really get mad at them for sneaking in to experiment. After all, he had done the same thing when he was in school. But, on the other hand, he had always been good at chemistry. Bobby and Dale? Not so much.
“So what are you cooking up?” Carter asked. He grabbed a couple of lab coats off from their hooks.
Again, the boys exchanged a look, but they seemed relieved when they turned their attention back to Carter. “Dale here read about stink bombs and we thought…”
Carter laughed. “You thought you’d have some fun. All right. Tell me about your process.” He handed over the lab coats. “Goggles. Gloves.”
Both boys reached into the table drawer to pull out the objects. “Well, we mixed a little bit of this and a little bit of that,” Dale said. He moved to show Carter a nearly full beaker. Carter’s heart immediately stopped. The contents were bubbling angrily.
“A little bit of this and that? This and that what ?” He noticed several bottles on the table and quickly catalogued them. Whatever they were making was definitely not a stink bomb.
“Um… well I don’t remember exactly… just anything that smelled nasty!”
“But this is the last ingredient! It smells the worst!” Bobby said, grabbing a graduated cylinder of something .
“Okay, don’t—”
Before he could get his words out, Bobby poured the contents into the beaker. Almost instantly, the concoction spewed out of the beaker, flying everywhere.
They all cried out in surprise as the brew splattered on them. They shielded themselves the best they could from the onslaught. It fizzled and popped and then everything was still. Slowly, Carter straightened and looked around. Their experiment was all over.
“Are you boys all right?”
Both boys looked around. “Uh, yeah, I—”
“ARG! Mr. Carter, my hand is burning!” Dale cried.
“Sink. Now.” Carter could feel some burning on his skin, too. Together they rushed over to the sink to rinse off. Carter turned on the water and they crowded around, rinsing off their hands and arms. “Did it get in your eyes?” Bobby had poured before any of them had put on their equipment.
“No, I’m okay.”
“Me too.”
“Wait! It’s burning through my jacket!” Dale cried. “My back!”
“Take it off!” Carter tore off his own suit jacket and noticed a couple of holes. “Okay, showers. Now!” There was too much to rinse off in their relatively small sink. Not for the first time, Carter cursed the fact there wasn’t an emergency shower station in his lab.
Together they burst out of the room and towards the gymnasium. “Out of the way, out of the way,” Carter barked to the kids in the hall. Surprised by their mild-mannered teacher’s tone, kids quickly pressed themselves against their lockers, clearing a path for them.
They flew into the change room, interrupting the boys who were getting ready for their morning gym class. They rushed to the showers, turned them on and stood under them, rinsing off.
“Are we good?” Dale asked.
“Fifteen minutes,” Carter replied.
“Aw, but we’re going to be late for class!” Bobby whined. Carter shot him a dangerous look and he immediately stiffened and shut his mouth.
“Strip,” Carter ordered, feeling the chemical burn under his clothes.
“Slacks, too?” Dale asked.
“Yep. Everything.”
“This is humiliating,” Bobby said.
“ This is what happens when you mix random chemicals together!” Carter snapped as unbuttoned his shirt. “For Pete sakes! For a stink bomb, all you need is ammonium sulfide, vinegar, and bicarbonate! I thought you said you read about it!”
“We did ! We read about stink bombs and thought it would be a good idea to make one. But we didn’t read how .”
Carter covered his eyes with his hand and squeezed the sides of his face. “You two are going to be in detention for a long time,” he growled. He didn’t care if it took the rest of the school year, he would drill safety protocols into their heads until it sank in.
“We’re sorry, Mr. Carter,” Dale said as he peeled off his clothes.
“Me too,” Bobby mumbled, looking down in shame.
“We’ll talk about it later,” Carter said. “Let’s just focus on rinsing this stuff off.” They turned away from each other as they finished undressing. The bell rang, signalling the start to class. They remained under the water, rinsing off in silence.
“Hey, what’s going on in here, fellas?” Carter heard Tony bark from the main room. “You lot were supposed to be out on the court five minutes ago. Hey, who’s showering back there? Get on the— Holy shit!”
“Chemistry accident,” Carter explained, not bothering to open his eyes as the water rained down on him. “We’ll have to borrow some gym uniforms for the—”
“What the hell happened to you?” Tony asked.
“I told you, we had a—”
“Mr. Carter!” Bobby exclaimed. Carter looked over his shoulder and saw Bobby’s eyes wide with horror.
“What?”
“Geez! I’m gonna be sick,” Dale said.
“What?! Did you ingest any of that stuff? Sit down and let me—”
“Mr. Carter, your back!” Bobby said, pointing.
“Your… everything,” Dale said in disbelief.
It suddenly clicked.
“Oh.”
“Geez, Andy, what the hell?!” Tony said as he gestured to him. “Someone put you through a meat grinder?”
“I was… shot down… remember?” Carter said, knowing that excuse could never explain away even a portion of the scars that marred his body. He managed a small, nervous chuckle. “War is hell, right?”
Tony blinked, looking overwhelmed by the sight. Then he snorted. “Just get dressed. You’re going to give me nightmares.” And with that, the gym teacher turned on his heel and marched off.
Carter and the boys continued to rinse off in awkward silence. Carter tried to ignore the fact that they were zeroed in on his scars with wide, disbelieving eyes. He unconsciously rested his hand over his left shoulder where the worst of the scarring was.
“Fifteen minutes,” Carter announced, trying to keep his voice even. “Let’s dry off and we’ll see if your ‘stink bomb’ caused any permanent damage.”
Even if the chemicals had no lasting physical effects, he knew that the incident had permanently changed something that might not easily be repaired.
Carter looked ridiculous. The lab coat he wore clashed terribly with the t-shirt and red shorts– with their ‘Prairie Breezes’ emblem– that he had borrowed from the gym closet. But he felt terribly exposed without the coat on. He wanted to hide himself as much as he could.
Word of the morning incident had quickly spread throughout the school. Principal Hanson had already chewed him out and Carter had spent nearly an hour talking him down.
It was lucky neither he nor the boys had been seriously injured. After going over the chemicals the boys had used and pressing them on their exact method, Carter was surprised they had escaped relatively unscathed. He made a note to either change, or add locks to all his cupboards.
Carter padded down the hall in his bare feet— his shoes were near the radiator, drying. He had debated eating his lunch in his classroom, but he had plans to meet Lucy. She had already seen his ridiculous getup when he had reported to Hanson’s office and her only reaction was to ask if he was okay.
As he passed through the halls on his way to the teachers’ lounge, he heard kids whispering. Some even pointed at him as he passed. Carter frowned and shrank into his coat. He swore that the long, jagged scar on his shin shone out like a gaudy neon light, drawing every eye to it.
“Andy!”
Carter stopped and looked over his shoulder to find Lucy popping out of her office. He smiled brightly, but was suddenly hit with a wave of self-consciousness, and his smile faltered.
“Ready for lunch?” Lucy asked as she caught up to him. She looped her arm through his. Carter gave her an affirmative hum. “You sure you’re okay? You didn’t get hurt, right?”
“I’m okay,” he said, trying to smile. He glanced into her eyes before quickly averting his gaze.
“I’m glad.” She rested her head against his arm. Together, the entered the teachers’ lounge. “I made us chicken sandwiches!” she said as she let go of him and headed for the refrigerator.
“Sounds good. I’ll grab the coffee.” He went over to the pot and grabbed two mugs.
“Hey, Frankenstein.”
Carter stiffened.
“Hey, Joe,” Tony said, “did you hear about our friend Frankenstein?”
“What are you talking about?” Joe asked.
“You heard, didn’t you Lucy?” Tony said.
“Heard what? Who’s Frankenstein?” Lucy asked, sounding confused.
“Frankenstein, written by Mary Shelley in 1818,” Jill Cunningham, the English teacher, said from over her newspaper. “Many erroneously refer to the monster as Frankenstein, when it’s really the name of the scientist.”
“He’s also in some pretty good movies,” said Del Russell between mouthfuls of food.
“I know who Frankenstein is,” Lucy said, exasperated. “I just don’t know what Tony is talking about.”
“I’m talking about Sergeant Carter, here,” Tony said. “All stitched up like a horrible experiment gone wrong.”
Carter took a breath and closed his eyes. He couldn’t let Tony rile him up. That was exactly what that bully wanted. His hand shook as he replaced the coffee pot. He grabbed his and Lucy’s mugs and turned, trying to fix a smile on his lips.
“Tony here saw some of my scars,” Carter said, adopting a light tone. “I picked up a few when I was shot down.”
“A few?!” Tony exclaimed. “Are you kidding? It looks like you were eaten by a shark!”
“I’m sure you’re exaggerating,” Mable said coolly.
“I swear I’m not,” Tony replied. “Seriously, you guys have got to see them to believe them! They’ll give you nightmares!”
“That’s enough,” Carter growled, finally losing his temper. He pulled himself up to his full height and took a breath. “Yes, I have a couple of scars. They’re not pretty. But I earned every one of them in war so we’re not going to talk about them. Understood?”
Tony cocked an eyebrow at the display, but then smirked. “Whatever you say, Frankie.”
“Come on, Tony,” Joe said warily. “Drop it.”
“I think it’s disgusting that you would make fun of him for his war wounds,” Mable scolded.
Tony just shrugged. “It’s not like I didn’t fight in the war either. But I’ve got medals to show for it.”
Del suddenly jumped up, shaking his sandwich at Tony. “Carter deserves more medals than all of us put together,” he said furiously. “Why if you only knew half the things he—”
“We’re done,” Carter said quickly, cutting Del off before his anger caused him to expose more than they were allowed. “Tony, Mable’s right: you’re being disgusting. And if you want any friends at the end of this conversation, I suggest you drop it. Now.”
Tony stared him down, but Carter stayed firm. Finally Tony shrugged. “Fine. Keep your shirt on. Literally.” The gym teacher grabbed something out of the fridge and sat at a table.
An awkward silence hung over the room. Finally, Carter set the mugs down on the table and pulled out a chair for Lucy. She handed him a chicken sandwich and they ate quietly.
Eventually, the bell rang and everyone packed up. As Carter stood, Lucy grabbed his hand. “See you tonight?”
“Ummm… Actually, you know, I have a lot to do at the house. Repairs, painting. All that. Rain check?”
Lucy frowned. “Andy…”
“I promise, another time,” Carter said, offering her a weak smile.
“Well… okay. Another time.” She stood and went to kiss him, but he turned his head and her lips landed on his cheek.
“I should get going,” Carter said. He retreated, not looking back as he left Lucy behind.
Wearing a towel around his waist with water dripping down from his hair, Carter let out a long sigh as he swiped his arm across the bathroom mirror. Two weeks of nightmares had left him feeling old and worn.
As the fog cleared from the mirror, it reflected back the source of his nightmares. A horrendous network of scars covered his torso, stark reminders of the dangerous work he’d done during the war.
Before Tony’s rude reminder, he had been able to shuffle his memories into the back of his mind. While he couldn’t ignore his scars entirely, they hadn’t bothered him in a long time as they simply became part of him. He had the occasional nightmares, but they had thankfully become fewer and further between as the war continued to move into the past.
But after being exposed, the ensuing terror in his students’ eyes, the quiet whispers, Tony’s jabs, and the gossip that had gone far beyond the walls of the school, all came together to remind him of past terrors. And despite his efforts to forget, he still remembered how he got every single scar. Daily nightmares had come back with a vengeance, making up for lost time. Each had been a swirling mess of jumbled memories and when he slept, the pain of each resurfaced and seemed terribly real.
Carter gently ran a finger over an ugly, firework-shaped scar on his right rib cage— an electrical burn courtesy of Herr Grendel in Bayonne. He knew if he could see his back, he’d find more souvenirs from his time in Bayonne and he shivered at the memories that came into his head.
A small scar on his hip spoke of an encounter with a German patrol and a knife while on a mission outside the wire. The jagged scar on his shin told of a piece of shrapnel from an explosion that went off a minute too early. A dozen of other scars each told their own stories.
The worst of them, though, centered on his left arm and shoulder, creeping onto his chest and extending to his back. A testament to Major Hochstetter’s crazed desperation to finally pin Papa Bear’s identity on Colonel Hogan. The upper part of his bicep, which had borne the brunt of the attack, dimpled where the muscle had been shredded and torn apart. Carter could hear his own screams ringing in his ears, above the growls and frenzied barks of the German shepherd.
Carter gripped the counter tightly as he hung his head, his breath coming out in gasps. He needed to stop thinking about it. He needed to forget it. It was in the past. He’d survived. He had survived it all. He had his whole life ahead of him; he couldn’t let himself disappear into the shadows of memories.
But that was exactly what he had been doing for the past two weeks. He had shied away from everything and everyone. He could no longer muster his usual enthusiasm in class. He ate alone in his classroom, locking the door to keep anyone from joining him. He came to school right before the bell rang, and left as soon as class was dismissed.
And Lucy?
Carter groaned as an ache settled into his heart. He had avoided Lucy like the plague. He couldn’t bear to be near her. She was so beautiful and wonderful, while he was broken and grotesque. She deserved better than him. But, coward that he was, he hadn’t been able to tell her that directly. Eventually, though, she’d get the hint.
He knew it was silly. Surely Lucy wouldn’t let a few— a lot of— scars bother her. She was too good a person for that. Steady, kind, tender. No, they wouldn’t bother her.
But what if they did ? What if she saw them and was completely repulsed? Or, worse, what if she saw them and pitied him.
He should have told her before. Shown her before. He was in love with this woman and had seriously considered proposing more than once, despite their short courtship. And yet he hadn’t thought to warn her. What kind of a man hid that? What kind of a man trapped a woman into a marriage with damaged goods?
A faint knock from the front door filtered past his thoughts. Carter took a few deep breaths and looked up into the mirror. The scars stared back at him.
The knock repeated. Carter quickly dried himself off and threw on a bathrobe. He grabbed some slacks on his way through his room and pulled them on as he hopped down the hall to the front door. He glanced at the wall clock— 0800. Who would be knocking on his door this early on a Sunday morning?
Carter opened the door. Lucy stood on the porch, her hand raised to knock again.
Unsure of what to say to his unexpected visitor, Carter stood still, staring at her blankly.
“Hi, Andy… may I come in?”
Carter mechanically stepped aside to let her enter. She looked around. “It’s nice. The house, I mean.”
“How did you know where I live?” They always met in town or at her house since he lived so far outside Bismarck.
“My dad helped close the paperwork when you bought it, remember?” Lucy said. She slipped out of her overcoat and passed it to Carter, who took it wordlessly and hung it up in the closet. She made her way into the living room. “You don’t have much furniture,” she remarked, nodding to the lone armchair.
“Well, it is just me,” he said. In truth, he had plans to add to the furniture but there was still a lot of work to do before he reached that point. Right now he wanted to subtly impress upon her that he wanted to be alone.
Lucy turned on her heel to face him. She reached out to take his hands, but he quickly put them into the pockets of his robe. Lucy dropped her own hands to her side.
“Andy, what’s going on?”
“What do you mean?”
Lucy scrunched her nose and glared at him as a hand went to her hip. “You know what I mean! You’ve been avoiding me! You’ve been avoiding everyone !”
“No, I… I’ve just been busy… I have…” He let his words trail off lamely as he gestured to the room. “Repairs… papers to mark…”
“Is this about Tony? You know he’s an idiot, right?”
“It’s not about him,” Carter replied, though he didn’t meet her eyes as he said it. “It’s just…”
“Andy, I miss you.” She stepped closer and reached out, grabbing the fuzzy sleeve of his robe. “I… I’ve been going crazy because two weeks is too long to be without you. Don’t you know I love you?”
At that, Carter looked up and blinked in surprise. The ‘L-word’ hadn’t yet entered their conversations.
“I—” His brain was reeling, preventing him from forming a coherent response. She loved him? Him ? Carter nearly forgot everything that was bothering him. In that moment he wanted to howl at the moon; he wanted to wrestle a bear; he wanted to climb the highest mountain and shout to the world that the most wonderful woman he had ever known loved him !
Before he could collect his thoughts, Lucy bridged the gap between them and kissed him.
They had kissed before, but this was different. This was every good and exciting feeling in the world coming together and enveloping them, surrounding them with light and music and fireworks. Carter forgot everything as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close so there wasn’t any space to keep them apart.
But then her hand went to his chest and slipped under his robe to his shoulder. He instantly pulled away.
“Stop.”
His brain was still floating from the kiss, but he had enough sense to reinstate some distance between them.
“Andy—” Lucy, her cheeks red, sounded breathless as a look of confusion marked her lovely features.
“Wait.” Carter held up a hand. “The thing is… I love you too.”
Lucy beamed, but then her smile faltered. “But…”
“But… But Tony was right… I’m…”
“Don’t.” Once again, Lucy moved closer and placed her hand gently on his lips.
Carter shook his head. “No, look, I’ve got to be honest. I… I can’t let you… we can’t… You need to see before… before anything. ”
Lucy stepped back and nodded. “If you think so, then all right. But, Andy, I love you, and nothing is going to change that.”
Carter bit back a skeptical snort. “Okay, well… if you change your mind…”
“I won’t,” Lucy said firmly.
He desperately wanted to believe that. But he hesitated as he fumbled with untying the sash around his waist. “Actually… maybe this isn’t such a—”
Lucy put her hand on his. “It’s okay.”
“Right… Okay.” Carter took a deep breath and untied the sash. From the corner of his eye, he caught Lucy steeling herself. Then, like a band-aid, he pulled off his robe, exposing his scarred torso to the woman who held his future happiness in her hands.
Despite whatever efforts she had made to prepare herself, Lucy gasped and her hand flew up to cover her mouth.
“Pretty awful, huh?” Carter said lightly, trying to ease the anxiety that had taken root in the pit of his stomach. He watched as Lucy’s eyes flitted across his body, soaking in every gruesome detail.
“Oh Andy,” Lucy breathed before turning away. She sucked in some air and then met his eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
Carter’s heart sank. Pity. It was worse than disgust.
“Stop it,” Lucy suddenly said, a harsh tone warping her voice into something alien. “Stop. It’s not pity. Don’t you dare think that.”
Carter blinked. “How did you—”
“Because it’s written all over your face. But it’s not pity. It’s… I’m just… I’m just sad . I’m sad you— wonderful, gentle, wonderful you— had to go through any of that.”
“That sounds like pity,” Carter said, trying hard to keep the bitterness out of his voice.
“It’s not. It’s anger at whoever did this to you. It’s sadness you had to go through it. It’s… Oh, I don’t know what it is. What I do know is that I loved you before you showed me and I love you now. And I know I’m going to love you more and more with every second we spend together. Not because of any scars. But because you’re wonderful, and smart and fascinating, and… because you’re Andrew Carter, the man I adore.”
A small smile tugged at Carter’s lips. “You know what? I believe you.”
Lucy returned his smile. “You better!”
Carter’s small smile expanded into a grin. He grabbed her hand and pulled her close before wrapping his arms around her. He kissed her, drinking in her warmth and goodness as she kissed back. They broke apart and he rested his forehead on hers.
“You know, I, uh, have more furniture in the…” His cheeks burned and he cut off his scandalous suggestion before it fully left his lips. Golly, he nearly sounded like Newkirk for a moment!
Lucy smirked before pulling him into another kiss.
And, well, if they made their way to the furniture in his bedroom, he was too much of a gentleman to ever admit it.