by Zoe York
Her eyes widened and her lips parted. Good, she hadn’t expected that. He grinned.
“Your fill of me?” She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. “Is that a good thing?”
“I promise, I’ll make it good.” He saw her retort coming and kept talking. “Good enough to last you through months of scholastic-induced celibacy.”
Another laugh. “I’ll come home for visits.”
They both knew that wouldn’t be enough. But that was a conversation for a more private time and place.
“You want to come over tonight? I told Megan you might be sleeping over, so you wouldn’t need to sneak out again.”
She looked chagrined. “I woke up around five and thought it might be best…”
“Baby, it’s fine. I just missed you.”
“K. I’ve got a girls’ night tonight, but maybe after that?”
“Will you be tipsy?”
“Probably.” Her gaze flicked down his body, moving left to right in a zigzag pattern, taking stock of him with honest hunger that gave him a decent boner before he could get control of his physical reaction.
Fine. Two could play at that game. “Good. Wear that skirt we never got around to violating the other day.”
She swallowed what sounded suspiciously like a moan, and he took a quick step back before his dick took over and he molested her in the cracker aisle.
It wasn’t exactly smooth, or romantic, but it would do. “Karen?”
She took a deep breath before responding. “Yeah?”
“I’m going to get better at this.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
He was already better than anyone else who’d ever been interested in her. A short list, sure, but he still topped the list in a major way.
Mari had offered her kid-free apartment for the girls’ night, which was conveniently just down the street from the store, so Karen sent Melody home a bit early and locked up herself. She was the first to arrive, but Carrie and Stella came together a few minutes later. Cousins by marriage, the two women were total opposites, but thick as thieves. Carrie was bubbly and outgoing, a vivacious, curvy woman with bright red Manic Panic hair and what looked like a brand new nose piercing. Karen didn’t understand what her friend liked about piercings, but at a previous girls’ night, she’d admitted to having her nipples pierced before she had kids. Whatever floated her boat.
Stella, on the other hand, wore a plain blue t-shirt and blue jeans. Everything about her screamed natural, from her own red hair, more strawberry blond than red, long and fine and twisted in a braid down her back, to her scrubbed clean face and serious demeanor. The two women shared a passion for Wardham, and spent a lot of time working together on furthering projects that would raise the town’s profile as a tourist destination. Stella lived on the Nixon family’s maple syrup farm, and Karen knew she was trying to convince her father and uncle they should do a big festival the following winter.
Laney and Evie were the last to arrive, and by the time they knocked on the door of Mari’s apartment, the margaritas were flowing and the bowl of salsa had already been replenished once.
Karen gave Laney a big hug and apologized for missing her engagement party, which Laney waved off and immediately shifted the conversation to Chase’s care. They weren’t close friends, but over the last six months, Karen had really come to admire Laney; for her career, and for taking a big leap of faith in re-starting her relationship with her first love, Kyle.
“So the latest news is that he’s going to start rehab next week. He had a new set of x-rays today, and they’re happy with everything, so he’s got more permanent fiberglass casts on now, which will be easier to wash around, and lighter to move with. His right leg, he might actually be able to bear weight on soon, does that make sense?”
“He doesn’t have a rod in that leg?”
Karen shook her head. “I don’t think so, but it has a cast.”
“The cast might be as much for pain management as letting the fractures heal. Keeping the leg immobilized is more effective than pain killers, even. So if they say that he can toe-touch, that’s great. It’ll make getting in and out of the wheelchair easier, and in a couple more weeks, if that cast comes off, switch to crutches.”
“Hopefully he’s on crutches by the time he comes home.”
Evie drifted over, a full margarita in her hand, which she set on the coffee table. “He’s not going to Phoenix?”
Karen shook her head. “He’s adamant that his rehab is here. Ridgemount Nursing Home has a pool, and an accessible apartment that he could rent for the first little while. I don’t understand why he’s leaving Phoenix. It’s like he’s already given up on hockey, but the team hasn’t given up on him.”
“It’s a normal reaction to trauma, but it can be quite confusing from the outside looking in.” Laney set her glass on the coffee table, and after a beat, picked up Evie’s and started drinking it. Karen glanced over at Evie, but her friend was staring off into the distance and didn’t seem to notice. Audrey would bitch-slap her if she stole her sister’s drink, but maybe Evie was driving. Also, Audrey was a spitfire. Karen grinned at the thought and went for a refill of her own.
Carrie found her in the kitchen. “So…spill.”
“About what?” Karen gave her a good, long side-eye glance and took a deep breath. “Okay. We should go sit.”
“Not good?”
“No, good.” A nervous flutter danced through her chest. “Very good. Just confusing.”
Carrie pushed her back into the living room and everyone settled down. Karen felt a bit on display, but she needed advice, and the more the better.
“Paul told me he loves me.” She glanced around the room, taking in the positive expressions of her friends. “And I didn’t say it back.” They just waited. “Well? What does that mean?”
Carrie was the first to speak. “We don’t know. You tell us.”
“I don’t know either! I mean, of course I love him. He’s…you know?”
Carrie shook her head. “No, not really.”
Karen took a fortifying drink. It didn’t do anything for the growing-ever-louder pulse she could feel at the base of her neck and hear behind her ears, a staccato drum beat for the thoughts she was afraid to voice out loud. “He’s my everything. And I want him, but I want to go to school, and stay in school this time, and not come running back to him because I’m a pathetic, love-drunk fool.”
Understanding dawned around her, and one by one, they each shared an anecdote about surprising themselves with tenacity, or courage, or trust. Laney was the last to speak, and for a minute, Karen wasn’t sure she would. But of everyone, she suspected that Laney could most closely identify with her dilemma.
“You know that Kyle and I have been doing the long-distance thing for the last six months.”
She did—the whole town knew when Kyle was heading to Chicago for a weekend, or when Laney would be visiting Wardham. There was an analogy to be made there about Laney being the sun and Kyle having different climates, but Karen was tipsy and the precise imagery eluded her. Suffice it to say, it was frosty when they were apart. “It seems like it’s been hard, to be honest.”
“Yep, I won’t lie. I’m really looking forward to moving into our new house together, and our little family being whole again.”
“New house?”
Laney ruefully nodded her head. “Kyle’s had enough of getting up with Buddy and heading down an elevator and a few blocks away to the park at six in the morning. Can’t say I blame him. Besides, my condo is convenient, but it was never home. We found a fixer-upper that Kyle can put his mark on.”
“Wow, congratulations.” She meant it, but envy still tinged her words.
Laney looked like she understood. “It’s sweeter for having waited, though. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m sure I’d be ecstatic if our path to being together had been easier, but our time apart didn’t weaken the core of what we have. Every weekend together was concentrated, and specia
l. I’ll always remember my drives back and forth fondly.”
“And the time between visits? Working and missing him…”
“Evie told me about how you left this program once before.” Karen blushed, but Laney wasn’t passing judgment. “You’re a different person now. You’ve got a goal, and it sounds like a really supportive guy. Only time will tell, but for me, I actually found throwing myself into work helped the weeks go by faster between visits. I became super productive, knowing I’d want two weekends a month clear and free—for the most part. Sometimes I had to work while we were together, but so did he. That’s life, even for couples who aren’t geographically separated.”
“Totally. When I was starting the bakery, I swear the only time Ian and I saw each other was Saturday night family dinner and brunch on Sunday morning. The rest of the time we were two ships passing in the night for months on end. Same for our kids; they spent a lot of time with their grandparents that spring.” Carrie sighed at the memory. “More than once, I wondered if I was making a giant mistake.”
“You never said anything,” said Karen.
“Same reason you hesitated to share about your worries about Paul, maybe. Didn’t want to voice the fear, in case that became an excuse to give up.”
Karen’s face turned red. There was her fear, laid out in the open.
“One difference between now and back then, this time you’ve got Paul firmly on your side.” Carrie winced. “Your parents rock, but they’re a little too nice, ya know? Maybe they should have kicked your ass and sent you back to school.”
She hadn’t thought about it like that. A protest had germinated deep in her gut, but that was rooted in loyalty. Carrie wasn’t wrong.
“Is it too trite to offer that everything happens for a reason, and leave it at that?” Mari gestured to the kitchen. “There are more margaritas to be had!”
The next hour was spent catching up on gossip. About the slow as molasses plans for the community centre—
“Karen, at this rate, you’ll be done school before construction on the new library even begins!”
—and a mysterious new store that was going in on the corner of Watson and Heritage—
“The windows were papered over last week and no one knows who the holding company is leasing it to…”
—to the regular rumours about the West brothers and their playboy ways.
“I heard that Ty is getting serious about someone for the first time ever.” Mari leaned forward and splayed her hands out for effect. “And he’s been in for lunch with the same woman three times in the last two weeks. They looked cozy. And he hasn’t been in at night, flirtin’ it up as per usual. This rumour might be true.”
Stella snorted.
“What?”
“Never going to happen.”
Carrie nodded her head in agreement. “Gotta go with Stella on this one. He’s going to be a bachelor forever. Evan has a greater chance of settling down than his brother does.”
Evie, who had been quiet and withdrawn to that point, laughed under her breath. “That’ll never happen, either.”
Karen knew Evie had dated the older West brother in high school, but the younger women probably didn’t. It was a good thing they didn’t end up together. Evie and Evan. Ugh.
“Why?” Carrie asked the question they were all thinking. Evie pressed her lips together and shook her head, but a rousing protest rose around the room and she tossed her head back and sighed.
Evie gave each of them a serious look before taking a deep breath—and blushing. “It’s not a secret that Evan’s gay, and it’s not a secret that we dated for a couple of years. We were happy, and…suffice it to say that being with me wasn’t a problem for him.” She glanced around the room again, and Karen only saw interest, no judgment. Her own pulse picked up a bit, wondering what was coming next. “This isn’t inside knowledge at all, but my guess is, the type of relationship that would finally hook Evan isn’t with one other person.”
Wow.
“What other kind of relationship is there?” Stella wrinkled her brow, then looked affronted when Laney and Carrie burst into hysterical laughter on either side of her.
“Oh honey, you need to spend a little less time reading your textbooks and pick up a ménage romance novel instead.” Carrie sighed. “I’d like a second husband from time to time.”
“Would Ian go for that?” Laney looked almost hopeful. Karen made a mental note to add a few books to her own reading list as well, it sounded like she was missing out.
“Not a chance in hell.”
“Threesomes are intense, that’s for sure.” Evie turned beet red as everyone swiveled their heads back to her again.
Karen blinked hard, processing what her friend had just shared. “Evie! You and the guy in Toronto?”
Carrie gasped and wagged her finger in the air. Only Laney remained un-phased.
“No, not the guy in Toronto.” She shook her head. “Evan. A long time ago, and it wasn’t my scene. But it meant something to him, more than just hot sex.”
“Wow.” Karen finally found her voice. “Look at what comes out when we ban the men and add a bit of tequila.”
The short walk home from Mari’s apartment above Danny’s took a bit longer when tipsy, but between wondering what was going on with Evie, who had been distracted all night before dropping the mega bomb of sharing, and thinking about Carrie’s typically acerbic analysis of her family relations, she was at her driveway before she knew it, and had to double back a few feet. Before she made it to her porch, Paul’s front light switched on.
Even better. His bed was bigger. His cock was yummier. She snorted and smacked her hand over her mouth. Keep it together, his daughter is in there, too.
His front door swung open, and pure bliss coursed through her veins as she took in the glorious sight of her favourite half-naked man, wearing nothing but a pair of sweatpants that sat low on his lean hips.
Paul raised his eyebrows, silently repeating the same question she’d just asked herself, when she leaned happily against his door frame and waved her hands up and down in front of his bare torso. “This is very nice, sir.”
He grunted, and tugged her inside. “I could get used to hearing you call me that.”
“Yes, sir!” She jerked to attention, but nearly toppled in the opposite direction as she over-compensated for the movement.
“Come on, darlin’, let’s get you to bed.”
“Naked bed?”
“Sleeping bed.”
“You can take advantage of me, sir, I don’t mind.”
“I do.”
“Hey!” They were halfway up the stairs, but she didn’t care. Megan was probably sleeping, so she kept her voice low, but a protest could still be made. She twisted, taking care to hang on to the bannister because doing a header back down the stairs would be a terrible idea, and plunked her butt down on the soft carpet running up the center of the staircase. That was when she noticed she was still wearing her shoes. Flipping them one at a time down the stairs bought her a bit of time to think ever so carefully about what she wanted to say next. The wine might have muddled her head a bit, but logic was on her side for this point. “I stumble home, you flip on your light, I don’t need to ask what that means. We might not have had our first official date yet, but I think we’re past the point of you needing to worry if I’m sober or not.”
He tucked in behind her and squeezed her neck before working to release her hair from its ponytail. He sucked in a breath, then held it, as if he stopped himself from saying something. After a minute, he started again, and this time kept going. “You’re probably right. It’s a thing for me.”
“A big deal thing or a little deal thing?” Unexpected worry started to nibble at her gut. Was this part of why he thought he wasn’t a good guy? Crappity crap. She should be sober for that conversation.
“Just a little deal thing, I promise.”
“I don’t get it.” Confusion warred with desire—for him, n
ot just in this moment, but for always. Whatever issues he’d had in the past, did they really matter? He’d proven over and over again that the Paul of here and now was good and decent. And hot. “You really don’t want to sleep with me tonight?”
“Sleep, yes. Want to do more, yes. But it’s…” He growled quietly as he leaned forward and kissed the top of her head. “Why won’t you just let me tuck you in like a good girl?”
“Because I’ve learned it’s so much more fun to be bad.”
“Just what did you ladies talk about tonight?”
Karen giggled quietly to herself. Should she share?
His hand pulsed against her neck. “Maybe I should give you a sobriety test.”
“What do I get if I pass?”
“An orgasm or two.”
Hot diggity. “Lead the way.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“Karen, are you awake?”
Under the light summer weight blanket she must have yanked over her head to block out the morning sun, Karen froze. Sun. Morning. Crappity crap.
A quick head-to-toe check reassured her she was decently attired, so she slowly peeled back the covers enough to show her face and offer a brave smile to Paul’s daughter, standing in the open bedroom doorway. “I sure am!”
“I brought you a cup of coffee.” Megan came in and set a steaming mug on the bedside table. “Dad said we should let you sleep in, but I’m too excited about the hike.”
“Right.” Karen glanced around the room, but Paul must have tidied at some point. No evidence of anything inappropriate, except for her in his bed. Wearing his t-shirt and what felt like a pair of his boxer shorts. Maybe she’d leave the covers on until Megan left the room.
“Are you okay?”
No. “Yep!”
“You look kinda freaked out.”
She needed more prep for a conversation like this. “Why don’t you head downstairs and I’ll be along in a jiffy, okay?”
