Page 75 of Must Love Lavender and Little Lies
Soon, we moved quickly, both of us sweating and panting. Granik’s groans grew louder and louder as he began to near completion. I moved faster, feeling my own pinnacle rise once more. As we worked together, I felt heat spiral out of me as I moved to ecstasy, Granik joining me as we both groaned with pleasure. Bliss. Oneness.
When it was done, I slipped off him and lay on the bed beside him. We lay together in the low amber glow of the dying fire, his arm around me, my cheek against his chest. I could hear his heartbeat, still quickened, beginning to slow.
He pressed a long kiss into my hair.
“Happy?” I asked.
“Exceedingly.” His hand moved slowly up and down my back. “You?”
“Exceedingly,” I agreed. “Granik?”
“Mm.”
“I’m very glad I lied.”
“Me too.”
We lay there in the dark a moment longer before I whispered, “Granik?”
“Junie?”
“Want to do that again?”
“And have sandwiches after?”
“Yes. Sandwiches after.”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
CHAPTER 28
GRANIK
The following morning, after lingering in bed and celebrating our relationship once more, we returned to the farm. My family had already told me they’d be departing today. While I was sad they would be leaving, I was looking forward to starting my new life with Juniper. My family was loud, chaotic, and had thoroughly upended the steady peace of my Moonshine Hollow life, but I loved them.
Juniper and I arrived to find the kitchen in a flurry of activity. We heard a full chorus of voices and the smells of eggs, potatoes, and bacon frying and cinnamon rolls baking.
“Ah, the happy couple!” my ma declared when we entered. “Just in time for breakfast.”
“Just in time to help me load the wagon, you mean,” my da said. “Apparently, your mother had packages of her purchases sent to the farm. To fit everything in the wagons, some of us are going to have to take turns walking.”
“Oh, it wasn’t that much,” my mother said, waving a spatula at him.
Outside, I heard the sound of children’s laughter as the kids played with Abraxis, who was using his horn magic to help themplay a magic-enhanced game of leapfrog. I grinned at the sight of them.
Gree-Gree appeared in the kitchen doorway, wearing her traveling shawl and the particular expression of a woman who had seen everything she’d come to see and was ready to go.
“Good,” she announced. “You’re both here. Sit.”
We sat.
Gree-Gree lowered herself into her chair at the head of the table with great deliberateness and accepted the plate of food my ma set before her. She ate several spoonfuls in silence while we waited. This was her way. You learned quickly not to rush Gree-Gree.
“I have advice,” she said finally.
Juniper smiled kindly. “I’d be happy to hear it.”
“See, that’s how you know you’ve married well,” Gree-Gree told me. “First bit of advice, don’t assume anything. You’re not mentalists. Talk to one another. Second piece of advice. If you don’t like something, say so. Otherwise, you’ll spend the rest of your lives eating rabbit soup and attending yodeling competitions when you hate it. That goes for a lot of things, understand me?”
