Hunter does this on purpose, I know he does. We’ve been together long enough that he knows what gets me going, knows just how to push my buttons.

I’ve been nagging him to paint the cabin for months now, and he waited until the hottest day of the year to do it, because he knows that seeing him in a sweaty white T-shirt just does things to me. He checked off this item on his to-do list just in time, because our wedding’s in two weeks. Even for a small backyard ceremony, there’s a lot we need to take care of.

“Here,” I say, as I hand him a glass of iced tea. “I thought you could use this.”

Hunter’s sprawled out on a lawn chair in paint-spattered jeans and that damned T-shirt, looking good enough to eat. He grabs the hem of his shirt and wipes his face with it, which shouldn’t be as hot as it is.

He takes the glass of tea in one hand, then wraps the other around my waist and pulls me onto his lap.

“Thanks,” he says, nuzzling my neck with his still-sweaty head, which makes me squeal. He laughs against my neck—his warm breath cooling the sweat on my skin—and kisses me there.

“You need to take off this shirt or you’re gonna get weird tan lines.”

He looks down at it and shrugs. “What does it matter if I have weird tan lines? I’m going to be wearing a suit. And we’re going to Bali on our honeymoon, which is a place where I plan on getting a tan. And not wearing a shirt.” He moves his head just so slightly upward and sucks on that spot below my ear that drives me crazy. “I plan on not wearing much of anything, really.”

“Mmmm,” I hum dreamily, running my fingers through his damp hair. “Bali. It’s really hot out here; you should come in soon. You can take a shower, and then I can help you get dirty again.”

Hunter raises his brow, then gives me a smile. “I’m almost done.”

“I wish we’d put central air on our wedding registry,” I tease.

“The window unit acting up again?”

“Yeah. I just want to cool off.”

“I think I know what will help,” he says with a grin and a mischievous glint in his eye that I’ve learned by now is completely untrustworthy. He sets his glass of tea on the ground.

“What are you gonna do?”

Hunter moves quickly, wrapping me up in his arms and jumping out of the lawn chair. I trust him with my life, so I wrap my arms around his neck and laugh as he runs across the pier and flings us both into the water.

“You jerk!” I laugh when we surface. “This is my favorite shirt.”

He looks so pleased with himself that I can’t be mad at him, but I do splash him with a handful of water. Instead of flinching, he just grabs my hand and pulls me close until I can wrap my arms and legs around him.

“You love me,” he says.

“Enough to marry you, I guess.”

“I can’t wait.” He moves in for a kiss, but I can’t stand the lake water, so I give him my cheek instead. “Is it too early for a wedding present?”

We’ve been down this road before. “I’m not having sex with you in this lake, I don’t care if we’re getting married or not.”

Hunter laughs. “Not a present for me, a present for you.”

“Oh.” I perk up. “In that case it’s never too early.”

“I’ve been watching that movie you love.”

I narrow my eyes. “Which one?”

“Dirty Dancing?”

“Okay,” I reply, drawing out the word. I’m really not sure where he’s going with this.

“Do you remember what you told me the first time you came down here?”

I close my eyes, pulling from the deep, dark recesses of my terrible memory and draw a blank. Which is distressing, because clearly whatever I said to him made enough of an impact for him to want to do something about it.

“You said you thought the lift was—”

“Peak romance!” I’m so excited I remembered that I cut him off.

“Right,” he says, coming in for a kiss. This time I let him have one.

“I thought that was peak romance before I met you, babe. You left that in the dust a long time ago.”

“You don’t want to learn how to do the lift?”

It could be fun. A wet Hunter is always a good time. “Maybe after the wedding? I don’t want you to throw your back out or something. We need that for very important things in the coming weeks.”

Hunter gives me the dirtiest grin. “I have a very strong back.”

“Mmmm-hmmm,” I hum against his lips. “Very strong.”

“Well,” he sighs. “That was my plan for this afternoon. Now what do you want to do?”

“Take me inside,” I tell him. “All I want is you.”