Chapter 2

McKayla knew she shouldn’t have been surprised, when she walked into Theo’s bungalow. Because he was living in a small town, she’d just been imagining him in a farmhouse - which, considering he was a professional landscaper, made no sense.

But that wasn’t what surprised her the most - it was how familiar everything felt. After all, they’d lived together for fourteen months; a lot of Theo’s possessions felt like hers, and so walking into the small house he was renting was surprisingly like coming home at the end of a long day.

“Milk?”

“What?”

“D’you want a glass of milk?”

McKayla wrinkled her nose.

“No?”

She could hear Theo laughing in the kitchen.

“Yeah you do. Trust me, honey.”

When he came out, he was holding a huge glass of milk with a spoon in it. He laughed again at the skeptical look on his girlfriend’s face, and gave the white liquid a quick stir.

“Trust me,” he said again, and McKayla narrowed her eyes and sipped at the beverage thrust in front of her face.

At least, she meant to sip. Before she knew it, the glass was empty, and she was staring at the viscous remains at the bottom of the vessel.

For the third time in a minute, she could hear Theo laughing at her.

“What the hell?” she asked, dazed, and Theo pulled her against his thick chest.

“Don’ worry about it, hon. I had the exact same reaction.”

“That was...”

“Amazing?”

“I was going to say ‘the best thing I’ve ever tasted,’ but yeah - amazing pretty much covers it.”

McKayla followed Theo into the kitchen, where he poured her another glass. As he stirred two tablespoons of honey into it, he explained.

“This is sort of what Scaphis Valley does - there’s more cows than people in this district, and most’ve the farmers keep bees as well. Separately they’re fine, but together ... wowee. I couldn’t believe it the first time I tried it.

“Cos it’s all local, it’s cheap as heck, too. Have some more - it barely costs more than tap-water. I practically live on it these days.”

As she enthusiastically gulped down the fresh drink that her boyfriend handed her, McKayla suddenly understood why Theo had been offered so much to come and take over a landscaping business in the Valley. The people who owned the farms which produced this magical beverage must have been making a killing ... and where there was money, there was rich folk looking to keep their lawns neat.

Once her glass was empty, McKayla found herself licking the rim, trying to lap up the last dregs of the amazing drink. As she did, she watched her boyfriend gulp down his own beverage - perhaps it was just the fact that she hadn’t seen him in four weeks, and had been relying on her own fingers for company since then, but there was something weirdly hot about the way his throat moved as he swallowed down the drink.

“Ahh,” he sighed, once the glass was empty. “I swear, I could live on this stuff.”

“Mmmm...”

“So, it’s been a month! Let’s catch up.”

McKayla grinned, and moved her mouth to his.

“I have a better idea...” she whispered, and was delighted to find no resistance as she dragged him towards the bed.

Sex with Theo had always been great. The spark that had first attracted them to each other had never gone away, and even when their relationship had been at its rockiest - even during the two weeks of fighting about who should move where and whether it was fair to continue dating from half a country away - the sex had never been anything but electric.