Barbara Dunlop - An After-Hours Affair

“What?” she asked after he’d signed off.

“Apparently, Brad is talking to Cole about making the Tigers’ home city Royal and giving me a job in management.”

“Wouldn’t they have to build a stadium?”

“I suspect this had more to do with Brad distracting the electorate from the blackmail issue than any serious bid for the team.”

“Would you do it?” Jenny pulled back the covers and got out of bed herself. Burgers on the deck watching the sunset with Mitch would be fabulous.

“Up to you.” Mitch stuffed one leg into his slacks.

“Do I have to decide now?”

“You absolutely do not have to decide now. I told the people in D.C. that I need a couple more months in Royal.” He moved around the bed to where she was retrieving new underwear and pulled her into his arms. “I was hoping to spend it with you.”

“Before you broke my heart?” She settled against his bare chest and the cool fabric of his slacks, reveling in the feel of his strong arms around her, wondering if dinner could wait.

“By that time, I’d come to the conclusion you’d be the one breaking mine.”

“Never,” she whispered, stretching up for a kiss that somehow went on and on.

Mitch was the one to pull back. “I am going to feed you,” he vowed.

“It can wait.”

“No, it can’t. Our baby is hungry.”

Jenny’s heart melted into a pool of joy. “I love you, Mitch.”

His expression sobered, and he gently cupped her cheek with his palm. “I love you so much, Jenny.” Then he sighed. “Took me a long time to work that out, didn’t it?”

The tenderness in his expression went straight through to her soul. “It doesn’t matter. Not anymore. We have the rest of our lives together.”

writes romantic stories while curled up in a log cabin in Canada’s far north, where bears outnumber people and it snows six months of the year. Fortunately she has a brawny husband and two teenage children to haul firewood and clear the driveway while she sips cocoa and muses about her upcoming chapters. Barbara loves to hear from readers. You can contact her through her website at www.barbaradunlop.com.