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“Hi,” she breathes.
“Hello, wife.”
“You’re handsome.”
Three people behind me try, and fail, to muffle their laughter.
I lean a little closer, trying to see her features in the dim light. “Are you drunk?”
She shakes her head. “High.”
I sigh, “Hi, Savannah. Have you been drinking?”
She snickers and puts a hand next to her mouth, like she wants to tell me a secret.
Obliging the intoxicated beauty, I drop into a crouch, which is apparently close enough to put me in secret-sharing distance. “We smoked weed.”
I let my head drop back. “You got my wife high?”
“Umm…” Jamie starts, but no one finishes the sentence.
I look back down at Savannah, “Are you okay?”
She’s still smiling as she nods, making Duke lift his head, finally acknowledging me.
Savannah reaches up to brush her fingers across my cheek. “Don’t be mad at Duke. I told him I needed a fire and he found me one.”
The feeling of her skin against mine delays my brain. “Fire?”
“Yeah, I…” her eyes go wide, and she pulls her hand away from my face to drop it over her mouth.
Suspicion makes me stand and turn toward the fire. There’s still a small flame in the center of the pit giving off enough light for me to spot the charred square frame resting along the top of the pit.
I slowly turn back to Savannah, only this time I step across her form. Once I’m straddling her, one foot planted on either side of her hips, I lower back into a crouch. “Honey, did you burn my painting?”
“Well, technically,” she hedges, “it’s…”
Before she can finish, I drop my weight forward, my knees sinking into the thick grass as I snap my hand out to grip her chin.
“If you say his name right now, so help me god, I will be forced to teach you a lesson.”
I hear someone behind me mutterJesusbut I keep my eyes focused on Savannah.
Only she’s too stoned to be intimidated. Instead, she just blinks up at me with a dazed look on her face. “How’d you find me?”
“Duke.”
Savannah reaches a hand up, rubbing at the dog’s neck. “He’s a girl’s best friend.”
Since she’s not even paying attention.
I let go of her chin, and trail my thumb down the front of her neck. “Let’s get you to bed, Savannah Baby.”
She takes a slow breath, her head tilting to the side. “Why do you call me that?”
Because I’ve always wanted to call someone Baby.
Because your pretty eyes call to something inside of me.