LITMIR.BIZ

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Once I’m out in the larger world, it’s different. People you don’t know just make shit up about you. I hate that. Two years ago we were on tour and I got food poisoning. Have you ever had it? It’s the worst. I thought I was going to die. Anyway, so they had to take me to the emergency room because it was so bad, and so of course, it was reported that I’d overdosed. My mom flipped out.” He stopped abruptly, and she reached out, touching his hand.

      “I know. About Ezra, I mean. It’s sort of impossible not to have seen all the reporting on it at the time.”

      Paddy swallowed. He was careful sharing things about Ezra, who was so powerfully private in the wake of his battle with addiction.

      “Your mom nearly lost one son, so I’m sure it was very upsetting for her to read that about another one of her sons. You all do live pretty hard out there on the road.”

      “Did you look us up, then?” He wasn’t sure if he was embarrassed or flattered or what.

      She snorted. “Please. I live in the world. The modern world with television and media. You’re supercute brothers in a rock band together. Of course it’s common knowledge that you booze it up and carouse when you’re on tour. I don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to know that.”

      “Oh. Yeah. Probably. It’s not as wild as they make it out to be.” Mostly. Since Mary, especially. She came with them on tour and there was no way she’d stand for any bullshit in her presence.

      “Anyway, so yes, it’s weird. But it gets me great tables at restaurants. I fly first-class. I don’t have to worry about money because I have enough, and I have a great accountant who manages it for me and invests it for my future. I’ve met some amazing people, seen some amazing things. I do this thing I dreamed about, and we’re lucky enough that we’re successful at it.”

      They finished dinner and dessert.

      “So, how’d I do?”

      She looked back over her shoulder as she’d been standing, leaning to trail her fingers through the water.

      “Dinner was great.”

      “Date-wise?”

      “Not much to complain about. Gorgeous man. Really nice boat. Beautiful scenery. The weather is perfect.”

      He took her hand and took her down to the stern. “Gorgeous, huh?” He turned her to face him and got close, the rail at her back.

      “Are we pretending you don’t know how pretty you are?”

      “Nah.” She made him smile a lot. “Still, it’s nice to hear from a beautiful woman I really hope to kiss a time or two tonight.”

      “I have such bad judgment.” Natalie said it, but she had no plans to fight it.

      “Really, now? That sounds like it’ll be a win for me.”

      She laughed, placing her palm on his chest. “You’re bad for me.”

      “I promise not to rot your teeth or give you diabetes. That means I’m way better for you than doughnuts.”

      She slid her hand up to his throat and around to the back of his neck. He stepped the last bit, bringing her to him, his arm around her waist.

      He lowered his head, and she went to her tiptoes to meet him halfway for a kiss.

      Ha, kiss was such a mild word for what it was.

      She wove her fingers through his hair and tugged to keep him there. If she was going to make a really bad decision, she wasn’t going to do it halfway.

      Plus, he was really good at kissing.

      He traced her bottom lip with the tip of his tongue and then nipped hard enough to make her gasp. That’s when he barged right into her mouth and turned her knees to jelly.

      And clearly, she needed to work as hard as he was working, so she hummed and sucked his tongue. He arched into her body, holding her tighter. She lost herself in him, in the way his hands felt on her body. In his taste as it filled her up and rendered her useless to think about anything else but his mouth on hers.

      Out there, it was just the two of them. The stars overhead, the sound of the water, the breeze, Paddy and Natalie, and it was perfect, so she didn’t fight it.

      That kiss slid into another and another until her head spun, and she clung to him, taking it in, savoring every moment until he finally broke away, though his arms remained around her.

      “Yeah. So that was fucking awesome.”

      She laughed as she tried to catch her breath.

      “Do you want to go for a swim?”

      “I didn’t bring a bathing suit.” Also, she sure as heck wasn’t going to wear some cast-off suit from another chick he brought out there.

      “There’s no one around. You don’t need a suit.”

      The sexual invitation in his voice wrapped around her, caressing, teasing.

      “It’s been a really hot day. I’ve got fluffy towels and a shower here to rinse the river off if you want.”

      He pulled his shirt off like a challenge.

      “Live a little dangerously.”

      He unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans, easing them down, and she wasn’t surprised in the least that he didn’t have any underwear on. Or that he was really interested in that swim.

      He followed her gaze to his cock and looked back with a grin. “Yeah, well. You’re sort of irresistible. But I promise it’s just an invitation to swim. Not that I really don’t want to fuck you, because I do. But we’ll take it at your pace.”

      He popped a cushion from a nearby couch free, revealing a stack of neatly folded towels. He pulled two out. “What do you say?”

      She needed to say no. Needed to say she had work in the morning and should really go home.

      But she found herself saying, “You go in first.”

      With a grin, he jumped from the deck into the water with a splash. “I’ll even keep my back turned until you get in.”

      She unbuttoned her dress, slid from it, her bra and panties, folded them and put them out of splash range and took a running jump from the boat into the river.

CHAPTER SIX

      “SO, IT WENT GOOD, huh?” Tuesday paused to examine a pair of hand-beaded slippers. They’d headed to a craft fair in Portland and had sucked down coffee and sang along to the radio on the way.

      “It was... Yeah, it was good. He made me dinner and wooed me a little.”

      It had been a few days since the date, but she and Tuesday had barely connected between work and other stuff, so this was the first time they’d been able to talk about it all.

      Tuesday put the slippers down, and they moved on, this time it was Natalie who paused to look at a framed photograph that had been hand-tinted. “Wow, this is fantastic.” She turned to Tuesday. “This would look perfect in the front hallway, don’t you think?”

      Tuesday nodded, and Natalie bought it, tucking it carefully into the rolling cart she brought to fairs, green markets and swap meets.

      “Did you sleep with him?”

      Natalie snorted. “You’re so shy.”

      “Whatever. Did you?”

      Natalie shook her head. “Nope. We did get naked, but it was to swim. And it was dark so I saw some—well, okay a lot—when he just stripped off and jumped in.” A smile came unbidden, and because it was Tuesday, Natalie gave in. “Everything is how I left it last. We kissed a lot. He felt me up. But we got out, and I dried off and got dressed and so did he, and he brought me

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