09
“What is wrong with you? It’s like you’ve never dealt with
10
women before. They always send you pictures of times they look
11
great. Duh. She’s like, hey, dude, look how foxy I am. Not, hey,
12
dude, I’m going to bang a stranger. She wants you to see what
13
you have. You’re dumb. Is she supposed to stay home and wear
14
sackcloth? Because we’re headed out the damned door to go
15
party in Portland. That’s what Mom would call a double
16
standard.”
17
“I’m not all duded up!”
18
“You’re going to get hit on by dozens of women. They’re
19
going to show you their tits and buy you drinks.” Paddy
20
shrugged. “Are you going to bang a stranger in the bathroom?”
21
“No! I told you, I’m with Mary.”
22
“So why would you expect that she would do that to you?
23
She’s a nice girl. A. Nice. Girl. Sure you’re not used to that, but 24
that’s what Mary Whaley is. You? You’re not so much a nice
25
boy, but you’re not going to fuck around on her. So I think you
26
should afford her the same trust you’d expect her to give you.”
27
“When did you get so fuckin’ wise?”
28S
“I was born wise. One of us has to be smart since the rest of
29N
you are dumbasses who lead with your dicks.”
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“Oh, the irony. I’m surprised you didn’t get struck by light-
01
ning right now.”
02
“Let’s go get our drink on.” Paddy slapped his shoulder. “I
03
told Vaughan we’d grab him on the way out.”
04
It wasn’t that Ezra couldn’t deal with the sight of them drink-
05
ing. He was far enough down his road to recovery that he wasn’t
06
bothered by people drinking around him. But they did it out of
07
respect and also, Portland had great clubs and hot women. Well,
08
for Vaughan and Paddy anyway.
09
“You drive. I’m gonna call Mary.” Damien settled in the
10
backseat and dialed her number.
11
“Hello there, Damien.”
12
He smiled at the sound of her voice. There was enough noise
13
in the background that he knew she was with her friends. It was
14
supper club night.
15
He missed her.
16
“Hello there, Mary. What are you up to?”
17
“Wrapping up supper club and then we’re headed to Adrian
18
and Gillian’s for a movie marathon. What are you up to?”
19
“Going out with Paddy and Vaughan. Thanks for the pic-
20
tures you sent last night. You looked hot.”
21
Her laugh made him miss her even more.
22
“Thank you. There was some jerk photographer there taking
23
pictures of Gillian. We got him removed.”
24
So ferocious in the defense of those she loved.
25
“Did you punch him in the throat? I seem to recall you have
26
a penchant for that.”
27
Again she laughed. “No, I batted my eyes and got wistful
S28
with the management. But I think it was probably more the fact
N29
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Lauren Dane
01
that she’s a sort of celebrity in his club and they didn’t want to
02
lose her business more than my eyelashes.”
03
He doubted it. She had great eyelashes.
04
“How’s my pig?”
05
“Ha! So far she hasn’t reverted to her former ways. But Ezra
06
says she misses you. You should come down again to visit her.
07
Keep her on the straight and narrow. Me too.”
08
“Are you in danger of straying from the path of righteousness,
09
young man?”
10
“Only if you’ll discipline me after.”
11
Her laugh had changed, lowered. Shivers slid through his
12
system.
13
“And no, I have no plans to stray. You know that, right?”
14
Flirting and joking aside, it was important she understood that.
15
“I should hope so.”
16
“When can I see you again?” He hadn’t planned to ask, but
17
he didn’t plan lots of things about the way he felt for her. It sim-18
ply was. He needed her in his life, damn it.
19
“Going into some busy times. Over the next three weeks I’ve
20
got jobs every day of the week. Some days I have two. Nice to
21
be able to pay for Christmas presents.”
22
“We’re going into the studio in November. Would you con-
23
sider being our personal chef?” He’d broached the idea with
24
Vaughan, who was fi ne. Ezra had brought it up fi rst anyway.
25
He didn’t care what Paddy thought by that point. Damien wasn’t
26
above admitting he wanted her with him and it would only be
27
fair to have her work there. She was good at what she did. He
28S
knew that. She’d be a calming infl uence. “We work all day and
29N
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into the night. It’d be good to have real meals and snacks. If you
01
were here to do it for us, we’d probably get a lot more done.”
02
Paddy gave him a look in the rearview, but held his tongue.
03
“We can talk about this the next time we see each other.”
04
“Fine, fi ne. I’ve got to run. I just wanted to check in with you
05
because I wanted to hear your voice.”
06
“I’m glad you did. I miss you.”
07
Pride roared through him. She rarely gave him little bits of
08
praise like this when they were apart. It made him unbearably
09
happy.
10
“Yeah?”
11
“Yeah.”
12
“I miss you too. Sweet dreams, Mary Whaley, very nice girl.
13
I’ll talk to you soon.”
14
“Bye, Damien Hurley, very dirty musician with the very big
15
heart.”
16
She hung up and missing her came right back.
17
“What’d she say about the personal chef thing?” Vaughan
18
asked.
19
“She said we’d talk about it when we see each other next.”
20
Which would be very soon because he was sick of not being
21
with her.
22
23
24
25
26
27
S28
N29
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01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
19
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
S
16
he was still smiling when she pulled up to the garage. It
17
had been an awesome night with her friends, though she
18
was the only uncoupled one now. Adrian had asked her
19
to do an event for Gillian. Just a little gathering with their
20
friends and family to celebrate the pregnancy.
21
There had been too much food, lots of laughter. Ice cream
22
and scary movies. She’d left full up of laughter and love. Though
23
she did still miss Damien.
24
She grabbed the totes with all the dishes in them. Adrian,
25
Cal and Miles had done cleanup in exchange for the cooking,
26
so all she had to do was put her stuff away. When she came
27
around the corner to her back door she screamed and jumped
S28
three feet when a man stepped away from her stoop.
N29
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01
“Curly, darlin’, it’s me. It’s Damien.” He stepped closer his
02
hands up in the air, voice calm the way you use with toddlers
03
and crazy people.
04
Her heart threatened to beat out of her chest as she tried to
05
catch her breath.
06
“You scared the hell out of me! I thought you were a prowler.”
07
“I’m so sorry.” He approached and she allowed him to hug
08
her. His scent registered and she calmed a little. “I didn’t mean
09
to scare you. I didn’t want your neighbors to call the cops if they 10
saw me on your front porch so I’ve been back here. I parked on
11
the side of your garage like I always do. I fi gured you’d see me.
12
Um. Surprise?”
13
“I didn’t see the car.”
14
“It’s a rental. I had them meet me at the airfi eld. I . . . Is it 15
all right that I’m here?”
16
She hugged him again. “Yeah. Better than all right. I’m glad
17
to see you. Come on inside.”
18
He took the totes and went in fi rst, making sure no giant zom-
19
bies or anything were inside. She went to her junk drawer and
20
pulled out a key. “Here. You may as well have a key. That way
21
you don’t have to sit on the back porch in the cold. How long
22
have you been here? Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”
23
He kissed her and she melted into his embrace. Loving his
24
mouth on hers.
25
“Now then. Thank you for the key. I’ve only been here about
26
forty- fi ve minutes or so. I didn’t call because I wanted it to be 27
a surprise. I knew you had two jobs today so I fi gured I’d come
28S
in later so as not to interrupt. Also, yesterday when I called you
29N
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and heard your voice I knew I’d rather be here than anywhere
01
else.”
02
“Oh. Well.” She grinned and tiptoed up to kiss him again.
03
“Hi. I’m glad to see you.”
04
“Me too.”
05
He looked back over his shoulder. “Door locked?”
06
Her heart, which had just stopped pounding over being so
07
surprised, started to
thud-thud-thud
again. Desire pulsed 08
through her, slow and heady.
09
“Yes. Why?”
10
He smiled. “I have plans for you, Curly. Plans that would
11
send a casual viewer into therapy.”
12
“Only because they’d be sorry you weren’t doing it to them
13
instead.”
14
“You always know exactly what to say. How is that?” He
15
unzipped her fl eece, peeling it back and then down off her arms.
16
Her hands went to his belt, getting it unbuckled, and then
17
to his button and zipper. His cock was hot and hard in her hands
18
within several breathless moments.
19
But he spun her to face the wall, his hands moving to cup
20
her breasts before he peeled the cups of her bra back to tug on
21
her nipples over and over until she nearly cried for him to get
22
on with it.
23
His cock nearly burned through her pants as he pressed
24
against her. Taunting.
25
One of his hands left her right breast and slid down into her
26
jeans, down into her panties. He cupped her pussy for long
27
moments, just holding. The heat of him singed her memory.
S28
N29
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Lauren Dane
01
She’d be unable to forget this moment. Not for a long time and
02
maybe not ever.
03
No one had ever done this to her. Only Damien with his
04
cocky smile and his clever fi ngers. With that mouth of his. He
05
drove her crazy.
06
Her head fell back to his shoulder and he kissed her temple
07
with so much tenderness it brought the prick of tears to her eyes.
08
“All I could think of over the last two weeks was this. The