Page 81 of Waste of Worth

“Yeah?”

“As soon as I can get away.”

Karen didn’t question him on what he had to get away from, and he was grateful. Without warning, her hand fell to the nape of his neck, her fingers threading through his hair. Subconsciously, Dino found himself leaning into her touch, his head resting against her thigh as her fingers ran over his scalp with tender strokes.

“Could have woke me up,” she said softly.

Dino shook his head. “I was up too early to be waking you up, too.”

Karen laughed. “I do like to sleep in.”

“Come here.” Dino grabbed Karen around the waist and pulled her giggling self into his lap, making the dock rock from the movement. Once she was situated in his lap, her camera forgotten to the dock as she straddled him with her hands cupping his jaw and his hands grasping firmly to her waist, he felt lighter again. Clear in the head, calm in his heart, and content in his soul.

A soul that was usually so dark—battered, blackened, and wasted—was reborn with her.

He was a little amazed by that, honestly.

“Promise that’s all it was,” Karen said.

Dino understood what she was asking—did a nightmare wake him up?

“I’m good,” he promised.

She smiled, then leaned forward and pressed her soft lips to his. It only took a slight shift of her hips on top of his groin, her lips parting to let his tongue dive in deeper, seeking out the heat and sweetness of her mouth, and the press of her hands against his chest, and Dino was falling backwards to the dock.

Karen laughed above him, bending down to kiss him again.

Silently, he offered her his hands, and she met his palms with her own without question. Their fingers weaved together, tangled tightly and she didn’t let go.

“I almost don’t want to go back,” Karen said. “You spoiled me all weekend.”

He had—late nights, later mornings, and he’d taken advantage of each one by seeing just how loudly Karen could scream his name in a forest where no one could hear her. On her knees, her back, or hell, standing up against a wall.

Fun and games, he knew.

It certainly had been fun.

But every game came to an end, eventually.

“We’ll be back,” he promised again.

Maybe …

Maybe next time, they wouldn’t have to leave.

DINO swung the axe again, the heavy tool cutting fast through the air before slicing through the block of wood with ease. There was something relaxing about chopping wood.

It certainly wasn’t that he and Karen needed wood for heat in the cabin. The weather was warm enough without the fireplace being put to use, but Karen had liked the sight and smell of it in the evening.

Dino had gone out to the wood shed to bring in a handful of blocks—all they would need for their last night at the place—and noticed how the pile of split wood was getting a bit low. There was still lots of wood, it just wasn’t bucked up and ready for the fireplace.

Of course, Dino hadn’t really needed to grab the old axe from the corner of the shed and get to work on splitting wood. He paid a guy to do all of that and a lot more where the property was concerned, but he was there, there was time, it was his place, so why not help while he could?

Plus, the guy who looked after the place was in his mid-fifties. The man never complained, and he always took great care of the property just how Dino asked for him to, including keeping it warmed in the winter, which meant a drive out to the property at least once a day, if no one was living in the cabin, just to keep the fireplace full.

And despite the fact they hadn’t actually needed the fireplace or the wood during their weekend visit to the property, Dino had been pleased to see there actually was enough split wood for them to use should they need to.

That meant his guy was doing his job.