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Her hand went to my arm, which she squeezed gently. “I’m sure he’ll feel good as new after some sleep.”

I nodded and got up to close the living room blinds. We walked into the kitchen, where Chloe was waiting.

“Is Drew okay?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I said, ruffling her blonde curls. We’re gonna let him rest.”

“Are you the library lady?” Chloe asked Samara, who grinned and nodded. “Will you read me a story?”

“I’d love to.”

Chloe reached for her hand and took it, leading her toward the bedrooms.

“Me and Drew have a playroom here. There are stories in there.”

Samara looked back at me and I smiled. When they disappeared, I sat down at the kitchen table so I could be close to Drew. About an hour passed before my mom came in the back door, her arms full of groceries. I got up and took them, setting them on the counter.

“Is there more to carry in?” I asked.

She nodded. “I miss the days when you’d carry the groceries in for me every time I got home.”

“I miss the days when you cooked me dinner every night.”

The wrinkles around her eyes deepened as she gave me an appreciative look. “Well, I’m cooking tonight.”

“Hey, Grandma,” Drew said, yawning as he walked into the kitchen.

“Did you just wake up?” she asked.

He nodded groggily. “I got tired at the pool but I feel better now. Uncle Orion, where’s—”

He stopped when Chloe and Samara walked into the kitchen, still hand in hand.

“Mom, this is my friend Samara,” I said. “She was at the pool with us when we needed to come home for a rest.”

“She’s the story lady from the library,” Chloe said, gazing up at Samara reverently.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Samara,” Mom said, reaching for Samara’s hand.

“You too, Mrs. Caldwell.”

“I hope you’ll stay for dinner? I’m making lasagna.”

I met Samara’s gaze across the kitchen before speaking up.

“Uh, we were planning to go out tonight, actually.”

“No!” Chloe scrunched her face with dismay. “I want Samara to stay for dinner. Please?”

“I don’t mind,” Samara said quickly, still looking at me. “If you don’t.”

“Not at all.”

“Alright then,” Mom said, smiling. “Drew and Chloe, please water my flowers on the patio while I start dinner.”

“Come on, Samara,” Chloe said, pulling Samara’s hand to lead her toward the sliding patio doors.

“She’s coming with me, squirt,” I said, taking Samara’s other hand.

“But I want to play with her,” Chloe said in a stubborn tone.

I fought my urge to say that I did, too. Samara had me going, and I needed to be alone with her.

“You two move it,” Mom said gently to the kids. “You’ll get to see Samara more later.”

I led Samara to the basement stairs and she followed me down.

“I feel like we’re in high school,” I said to her. “It’s weird being back home again.”

“Your family is so nice,” she said with a small sigh. I waited, hoping she’d say something about her own, but she just followed me into my bedroom.

I closed the door and faced her, resting a hand on her hip.

“I was hoping to see you in a swimsuit,” I said, cupping her cheek in my free hand.

“You were?” Her brows arched and her lips parted.

I nodded and took a step forward, closing the distance between us. “I really like you. I think about you all the damn time.”

“I like you, too,” she said. Her wide eyes and vulnerable expression made fire run through my veins. This woman was unlike any I’d ever known.

I wanted to push her against the wall and kiss her neck. To feel her long legs wrapped around my waist. To grind my raging erection against her and elicit a moan of desire.

But I knew she was skittish, and I didn’t want to push her too fast. So I kissed her softly instead, physically holding myself back. She tensed at first, but relaxed into me after a couple seconds. I ran my hand around her waist to her back, grazing her skin near the waistband of her jeans slightly.

She tasted sweet, and I couldn’t get enough. I forced myself to pull away from her mouth and kiss my way down her jawline to her neck. She inhaled sharply, her body stiffening again. I stroked my thumb across her cheek, hoping to relax her.

“Oh God,” she said, her voice barely audible. “Orion.”

“Should I stop?” I whispered against her skin. “Maybe we shouldn’t get all worked up right before dinner with my family.”

“Right,” she said, exhaling softly. She started moving her hands to my shoulder but stopped halfway there.

“Don’t stop,” I said, disappointment coursing through me. “Touch me, Samara.”

She moved her hands higher, wearing a tentative expression. When she slid her hands over my shoulders and then behind my neck, I closed my eyes for a few seconds. I’d never had a moment like this, where I felt desperate for something as simple as a touch.

“I’m sorry you’re getting dropped into this so fast,” I said. “With my family. We haven’t even gone on our second date yet.”

“This kind of counts as a date, right?”

I leaned my forehead against hers. “We’ll make it into a better date later. We can watch a movie down here or something.”

“It’s been a good date.”

I put my hands back on her hips, reconsidering my suggestion that we stop getting worked up.

“Thanks for helping with the kids,” I said, kissing her lips softly.

“I was glad to.”

“I think I’m gonna have to fight Chloe for your attention tonight.”

On cue, the sounds of the kids’ feet on the stairway sounded, and Samara jumped back from me. I grinned at the sight of her pink cheeks. Damn, was she sweet. I wanted to skip dinner and lock the two of us in my room for the evening.

“Uncle Orion!” Drew called as he burst into the room. “Will you play catch with me?”

Chloe went right for Samara, taking her hand. “We can go play in the playroom,” she said, leaving no room for doubt.

“Guys, sit down on the bed,” I said. They both climbed up and looked at me expectantly.

“Do you know why Samara came to the pool with us today, and why she’s here now?”

There was silence as they both stared at me.

“Because I like her.”

Drew wrinkled his face. “Ew. Is she your girlfriend?”

Dammit. This conversation was getting tricky fast. “Those are the kinds of feelings I have for her, yeah. I want to hang out with her.”

“And kiss her?” Chloe asked.

“Yeah, and kiss her.”

“So you want us to leave so you can kiss?” Drew asked, his disappointment evident.

“No,” I said, sitting down on the bed with them. “Let’s just all do something together, okay?”

“We could play Barbies,” Chloe suggested.

“No!” Drew glared at her.

“Dinner’s gonna be about an hour, so how ‘bout we play Barbies for 30 minutes and then do what Drew wants to do for 30 minutes?” I said.

“I’m not being a girl Barbie,” Drew grumbled. “And she only has one boy Barbie over here.”

“I’ll be a girl Barbie, then,” I offered.

The kids led the way out of the room and I reached for Samara’s hand, bringing it up to my lips to kiss her knuckles. Her wide smile made me eager for dinner to be over so we could be alone. I’d told her how much I liked her, but tonight I was hoping for a chance to show her.

I had a worry in the back of my mind that I’d get attached to Orion – really attached – and then he’d leave for his real, much more glamorous life. And in the span of one day, I now had the same worry about his family. They were so easy to like, and I already knew I’d miss them if this was a here today, gone tomorrow kind of thing.

“So Chloe tells me you work at the library,” Orion’s mom Diane said to me.

I nodded and swallowed the bite of lasagna I’d been chewing. “Just three evenings a week. My full time job is at the Supersaver.”

I waited for her head to swivel toward me. Surely she’d wonder what her pro athlete son saw in a woman who worked at the local grocery store. But instead, she smiled at me.

“Really, what do you do there? Tim Anderson is a friend of ours. Well, my late husband’s, anyway.”

Tim was the store manager at the Supersaver. I didn’t know him very well, but he seemed like a good guy from what I did know.

“I work in the bakery.”

Diane’s face lit up. “You must know Liz, then!”

“I do. She’s my boss.”

“Liz is a character. I just love her,” Diane said, smiling. “We used to be in PTA together.”

“Did you go to school in Henley?” Olivia asked.

“Yep, she graduated in my class,” Orion said.

“Did you guys know each other back then?”

My cheeks warmed as I stared at my plate. Now it would come out that I’d been part of the Goth crowd that everyone considered the scariest subset of the entire class.

“Not all that well,” Orion said. “Hey, you need me to hang out with the kids again tomorrow?”

“No, I’m off tonight, but thanks.”

“Uncle Orion did a backflip into the pool,” Chloe said in a tone that made it sound like she was revealing a deep secret.

“Did he?” Olivia said.

“Can you do that, Mommy?”

Olivia laughed and covered her mouth with her napkin. “Um, no. Orion’s always been the athletic one.”

“Which one are you, Mom?” Drew asked.

“The smart one.”

Orion rolled his eyes dramatically. His hand rested on my knee beneath the table. Sitting next to him at dinner with his family was disarming. I was already realizing this guy was different. He was genuinely sweet and caring. He wasn’t self-centered, like I’d assumed he would be. But seeing this nurturing side of him was melting me into a puddle.

He was a pro hockey player who probably could’ve been on a yacht in the south of France right now, but instead he was home in Henley, Indiana because he wanted to help out his family. This knowledge, paired with his undeniable sex appeal, made me want things I hadn’t wanted in a very long time.

The thought scared me. I did sometimes get lonely from my sole close relationship being with my cat Libby. But I needed safety and predictability. After all the years of living a life of chaos, I needed to not feel afraid every day anymore.

When the kids were excused from the table, Diane rose and started gathering dirty dishes. I stood up and met her eyes across the table.

“I’d like to help with the dishes,” I said, wishing I didn’t sound so damned insecure all the time.

She waved me off. “No, I’ve got it. You spend time with Orion, honey.”

“No, really. I’d like to, if you don’t mind.” I tried for a more assertive tone this time, and the corners of her lips turned up slightly.

“Okay. Thank you.”

She turned to leave the room and Orion took me by surprise, planting a quick kiss on my lips as soon as her back was turned. I flushed, knowing his sister could see.

“I’ll help too,” he said. “And then we’re watching a movie. Alone.”

“I’m taking the kids home,” Olivia said to Orion. “Thanks for taking care of them today. I’ll just come in and help scrape plates and pack up the leftovers and then we’re out of here.”

“I’m glad I got a chance to meet you,” I said to her, smiling. It was rare for me to put myself out there like that, but Orion’s presence gave me a boost of confidence.

“Me too,” Olivia said. She smiled, but it felt put on. That wasn’t a surprise. She was probably protective of her brother, especially after what happened with Amy.

Diane washed and I dried. She asked where my family was from, making me break out in an apprehensive sweat. I said Wyoming, which was true, and changed the subject.

Drew and Chloe came in to say goodbye, and Chloe surprised me by throwing herself at me for a hug. I’d just finished drying my hands, and I hugged her back, my heart melting.

Since he was older, Drew was much cooler, so he just offered me a wave and Orion a fist bump.

“Have fun kissing the library lady, Uncle Orion,” he said on the way out the door.

My cheeks burned as Orion called after him, “Thanks buddy, I will.”

Diane went out back to tend to her garden and Orion led me back down the stairs to the basement. Butterflies took flight in my stomach. The way he’d kissed me earlier, and looked at me with fiery desire in his eyes, made me nervous and excited at the same time. Every time I got a taste of him, I wanted more.

I couldn’t have as much as I wanted, and I knew it. But maybe a little bit more. Maybe just a longer taste to satisfy the longing he’d awoken in me.

He turned on a movie, flipped all the light switches off and sat down next to me on the couch. I had no idea what movie it was, and I didn’t really care.

“This is a nice basement,” I said, tugging nervously on the hem of my t-shirt. It was true – the space had light brown carpet that looked and smelled new, leather furniture and a big screen TV. But really I was just chattering nervously.

“You like it?” Orion asked softly, reaching a hand behind my neck.

I nodded. His fingertips grazed my skin and then worked their way into my hair, and I sighed softly.

“Are we gonna make out in my parents’ basement?” he murmured, giving me a sexy grin.

“I’m hoping so.”

His lips met mine just a second later, and his fingers wound their way further into my hair. My sigh of contentment turned into a soft moan this time, and Orion wrapped his free arm around my waist, pulling me closer.

Tingles spread to places in my body I hadn’t heard from in years. The bliss of it was followed immediately by a dull warning alarm in my head.

This couldn’t happen. Well,
more
couldn’t happen. What was happening right now could go on for hours on end as far as I was concerned.

Orion leaned in to me and eased my back against the end of the couch, his lips skimming my jaw line. The brush of his scruff over my skin made me moan again.

The throbbing sensation between my legs was growing stronger by the second. I eased it a little by arching my back to press my body into his. His low groan of approval was the most delicious sound I’d ever heard.

His lips trailed slowly from my jaw line down to my neck. I’d never been kissed here, and
God
, was it good. I never wanted it to stop. My breathing came fast and shallow, and I wound a hand into Orion’s hair, needing something to hold on to as my senses assaulted me.