LITMIR.BIZ

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      This made Natalie laugh so hard they had to stop so she could get her breath. “You’re so broken and wrong, Tuesday. Thank goodness for you. We didn’t because I wasn’t ready.”

      “Ready? You’ve already fucked him. What’s the holdup? It’s not like you’re a virgin.”

      “You should get laid yourself, since you’re so invested in what I’m doing. Jeez.”

      “Mine are better,” Tuesday said in an undertone as they left the jewelry stall they’d stopped at.

      “Duh.” This particular craft market had a wait list, and Tuesday was on it. Hopefully soon she’d be able to get a stall at some point.

      Tuesday waved a hand. “Anyway, you like sex. He’s gorgeous. Why aren’t you ready?”

      “I needed a little time and he gave it to me. That said a lot. We talked. We flirted. We kissed. It’s all good. The pace works. If he was only after me to fuck me, he won’t come around again.” Just as he had been concerned about people after him for his celebrity, she needed him to want more than sex from her.

      “Ah. I get it. I guess that’s fair. If he passes your test and calls to ask you out again, will you go?”

      Natalie couldn’t afford to lie to herself, and Tuesday would know it, anyway, and call her out. So she went with blunt. “Yeah, definitely. I like him. He’s funny and obviously talented. Plus he cooks.”

      “Always a plus.”

      “He’s nosy, though. I ended up telling him more than I had intended to. Back in the day, we just had a lot of sex and drank. This talking thing is new.”

      They laughed at that.

      “So you’re... This is you dating him. For real?”

      “Yeah. Maybe. I don’t know. So far it’s one date. But I just needed to do it like a real person. I wouldn’t have banged some random dude on the first date, either. That doesn’t erase all the other things I pause over. He’s still...” Natalie whipped her hands all over the place. “A tornado? A storm? He’s messy, and he comes with a lot of stuff I don’t want or need.”

      “Whether you need it or not is a whole different conversation, Nats. Anyway, he didn’t ask you to marry him or go out on the road with him. Right now he’s farmer Paddy, and you’re the librarian. Come to think of it, that sounds like a really hot book I’d totally read. So live a little. It’s not that serious.”

      Natalie blew out a breath. She wanted him, at least for the next little while, so it was really in her best interest to let Tuesday talk her into it. Tuesday rarely steered her wrong.

      Tuesday linked her arm with Natalie’s. “We’ve spent enough money, and now I’m starving. I need a lot of pancakes and pork products.”

      “Yes, please. Let’s go put this in the car, and we’ll get brunch.”

      * * *

      PADDY WAS UP EARLY, needing the physical activity to ease the burn. Even masturbating in the shower hadn’t made it better, so he’d been out with Ezra in the orchards since the sun had risen.

      The work, being outside and the cool morning air that would be gone in just a few hours, all combined to make a far more relaxed Paddy, along with Ezra, making their way up the front steps of their parents’ place for breakfast.

      The sound hit him immediately. A smile broke over his face as he remembered his nieces were with Vaughan that week.

      Kensey and Maddie looked up from where they poured pancakes with their grandmother and squealed at the sight of two of their uncles coming in.

      “That’s how I wish I was greeted every time I came into a room.” Paddy knelt and held his arms open to get kisses and hugs from the girls. “You guys are getting way too big. Stop that now.”

      Vaughan grinned at his daughters. “Second and third grade already.”

      It was a little bittersweet because they didn’t live there with their dad. Instead, their mother had primary custody and lived in nearby Gresham. But Paddy had to hand it to Kelly. She’d had more than one opportunity to leave the area for school and her job, but she’d turned it all down so their daughters could see their dad on a regular basis.

      They’d married too young and divorced too quickly. Vaughan and Kelly’s marriage had been a casualty of their lifestyle as well as their age and inexperience at being in a relationship.

      Paddy looked over at his brother. Vaughan had never truly let go of Kelly. There’d been plenty of women so it wasn’t as though it hindered him in the sex department. But there’d been no one he’d been interested in for longer than a week or two, and he only rarely went out.

      Kelly and Vaughan had gotten together for the same reason they split; they had an intense connection and chemistry. But at twenty-three and twenty-five, neither Kelly nor Vaughan had known how to manage it, and it had exploded.

      Paddy stepped to the side as the girls moved to Ezra, grilling him about the animals he kept. “Yes, of course we’ll go horseback riding after breakfast. You can come over and see the goats, too. Violet herds them.”

      The girls thought that was hilarious. A pig herding goats? And yet, that’s exactly what Ezra’s crazy, bossy pig, who thought she was a dog, did.

      “Coffee just finished.” His mother motioned to the coffeemaker with a spatula. “Mary and Damien are on the way up, too, so you boys need to put the extra leaf in the table.”

      They all moved to obey their mother, and ten minutes later the dining room was filled with the happy noise of a family eating a big breakfast.

      “How’d your date go?” His mother never forgot anything, which made her awesome and frightening at the same time.

      “Good. Mary’s food went over well and only made my salmon look better. We drank champagne, went swimming.” He attempted what he hoped was a nonchalant shoulder thing. It had been a pretty nice date. And he rarely had nights like it. Just regular, fun get-to-know-you dates.

      “You gonna ask her out again?” Ezra asked, dropping pancakes on Kensey’s plate.

      “Yes.” He hadn’t even needed to pause to think it over. He’d sent her wildflowers the next day. She’d called him to thank him but got his voice mail. He’d returned the call and got hers.

      He would totally ask her out again and hopefully this time, he’d end the date the next morning. The kisses they’d shared had been a taste of heat. Their chemistry was still there in a big way. But they were both different.

      Natalie especially. The carefree girl he’d dallied with for those two weeks had never shared anything personal, and he had to admit, he’d never asked. She’d said a lot but not much had been intimate.

      “The way she talks about her job? So much passion. It’s more than a place she goes to pay her bills. This is her calling. It was awesome.”

      “Is this your girlfriend, Uncle Paddy?” Maddie asked.

      “I’d like her to be. She’s a librarian here in town.”

      Kensey’s eyes widened. “For real? Can we go check books out from her, then? I love the libary.”

      “Library, darlin’.” Vaughan kissed her head. “And sure, I think checking books out is a great idea.”

      His mother went back for another pass at information-gathering. “So how does she talk about her work, then?”

      “She talked about the library like it was a haven. How she wanted to be part of a safe place for kids and others in the community. Said the library was more than just checking out books.”

      His mother smiled and Paddy knew it spelled trouble.

      “I like that. Girl’s got a good heart. So you

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