LITMIR.BIZ

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swanky. What brought a rich girl from Medina to a shithole bar in Portland?”

      “They’re the rich ones.” She blew it off, not wanting to get into it. She was rich, too, but it was their house and their lifestyle. The guilt would start if she thought about it too long. Guilt and anger and all the stuff she knew didn’t belong to her, but she felt it, anyway.

      He let her avoid the topic. “Come on, then. Let me get ready. Have a seat up there. Once we’re away from the marina, I’ll crack open some champagne.”

      She watched him, the sun behind his head highlighting him like a freaking angel. He was confident there at the wheel. Hands steady, sunglasses shielding his eyes and rendering him even more attractive.

      * * *

      THE TIME IT took to get away from the marina to the cove where they finally ended up had allowed her to get herself together and shove all that stuff about her family far away.

      He handed her a glass. “Now, what should we toast to? New beginnings? Old times?”

      “Dinner.”

      He smirked and clinked his glass to hers. “That’s a good start. Come on over and sit while I work.”

      She managed to climb down and finally just bent to undo the shoes. Yes, they had been cute and sexy but walking barefoot was easier on a boat than in heels. “Hope you don’t mind,” she said when she caught him looking at her.

      “I don’t mind at all. They’re sexy heels, I can’t lie. But I like you making yourself comfortable on my boat even more. I’m hoping your skirt blows up enough for me to see if you’ve still got those bows on the backs of your thighs.”

      He’d licked her tattoos a time or three, if she remembered correctly. And she knew she did because it would be impossible to forget a man like Paddy Hurley licking the skin at the top of your thighs and then giving your ass cheeks a sharp nip. She shivered and was proud of the way her voice didn’t betray how breathless he rendered her. “Those’d be some powerful gusts. The breeze isn’t that strong and the dress is long enough to defeat what we’ve got now.”

      He looked back over his shoulder at her. “So, the bright red bows are still there?”

      “I hear tattoo removal is pretty painful.”

      “Shame. Maybe I can see them later. Or next date you can wear a shorter skirt.”

      “Don’t get your hopes up. I have to bend and kneel all the time at work. Parents in Hood River tend to frown upon librarians flashing their panties at the library.”

      He groaned. “You’re a wicked tease, Natalie.”

      He made her laugh. She hadn’t expected to feel so relaxed with him. But she did. This was dangerous ground, but she couldn’t help herself. Flirting with him was fun. And...it was easy because things just flowed between them.

      He shook his head at her, still smiling. “Be right back. I need to put something in the oven and the microwave.” He dashed down to the galley, and she contented herself looking out over the water. She loved being out on the water, but it had been years since she’d been on a boat. The last time had been when Tuesday had scattered Eric’s ashes.

      He popped back up a few minutes later. “Need a refill? I have juice and sparkling water, too, if you prefer.”

      Champagne was one of her favorite things, so on the rare occasions she did drink, she loved it. However, she needed to go easy because Paddy was like three glasses on an empty stomach just by existing.

      “I’ll have more when we eat.”

      He put a platter out on the low table in front of her. “Some snacky things. I considered taking credit. Once you taste them, you’re going to love them and think I’m awesome. I’m all about that. However, it wouldn’t be nice of me, and eventually you’d find out that my sister-in-law, Mary, is an amazing cook and gives us all food on a regular basis. She made all those little things and gave them to me. I was going to do cheese and crackers or chips. I particularly like those there. The ones that look like little sacks. They have cheese and spinach and other stuff in them.” He pointed.

      Natalie popped one of the phyllo bundles into her mouth. “Oh. Yeah, these are really good.” She ate two more and then made herself try the other stuff. Dates stuffed with blue cheese, spiced nuts, cantaloupe wrapped in prosciutto.

      After Paddy grabbed a few appetizers, he turned and got to work, oiling the grill as she settled on the rather comfortable couch on the deck to watch. He was at ease with himself, clearly at home in his skin.

      “This should be done in like five minutes. You don’t need to cook it very long.”

      “Want help? Not with cooking because I’d set something on fire. But I can lay out plates and that sort of thing.”

      “Nope. Table is set. If you want, you can take the pilaf out of the microwave. There’s stuff in the cooler, but I’ll bring it and the salmon in a minute.”

      She made her way down to the galley, guessing—correctly—at its whereabouts and grabbed the stuff he’d asked for and headed to the table on the main deck.

CHAPTER FIVE

      PADDY BROUGHT THE salmon and the other things from the galley on a big tray but paused at the sight of her, the breeze playing with the hem of her dress and the hair at the nape of her neck. He wondered if she had any ink beneath the material of her dress.

      Wanted pretty badly to see it as the sun rose, as she woke up in his bed.

      “Hope you’re hungry.”

      She turned, and it was a punch to his gut. The pleased smile, the ease on her face. She was so damned beautiful. Open in that moment, and he craved more with such longing, it alarmed him. There was something so alluring about her manner. Not when she was closed off, that sucked, and he hated it. Natalie was...elegant. Strong, sure, but she moved with a lithe grace.

      Natalie padded over in her bare feet. And no, he wasn’t a foot fetishist, but damn, she did have sexy feet, and he liked the way she looked. A little casual, rumpled by the wind. Distracting him with his nonstop imaginings of what was under her clothes. He had been with her before, sure. But that was over a dozen years past.

      “I really am. I had a microwave burrito for lunch.”

      Snapping away from wondering what color her panties were, he pulled her chair out, and she sat. “I hope this is better than that.”

      She laughed, sipping her champagne. “The appetizers alone were better than that.”

      “Music. We need some music.” He got up.

      “I’ll get started on dinner. You know, take one for the team and all.”

      Laughing, he found the remote for his dock and turned it on as he went back to join her.

      “Wow, so you just go from zero to John Legend?”

      “I’ll take all the help I can get.” He dished up some of the tomato salad.

      Natalie had this way of pausing, he’d noticed. She considered her answers so carefully sometimes. Made him want to know more.

      Finally, she finished her champagne and locked her gaze on his. “God save me, Patrick Hurley, but you don’t need any help.”

      Oh, yes, that felt good. “Yeah?”

      She sighed. “Yeah.”

      “Is that a good sigh? A bad sigh?”

      She chewed her lip. “I don’t know.”

      Then she shook her head and forked up some salmon. “I’m a liar. It’s a good sigh. Also, the salmon is fantastic.”

      He preened a moment as he grinned

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