The Best Kind of Trouble

“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 knew her when you two were young and silly, and now you’ve grown.”

“Yes.” The good thing was that because the girls were there, his mother wouldn’t bring up safe sex or anything else embarrassing and cringeworthy. But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t find him later to do it.

“Is she pretty?” Maddie snuck a piece of bacon off her dad’s plate, and he pretended to be scandalized.

“She’s really pretty.”

“She likes books, and she’s pretty, too. Is she smart?”

He nodded. “She has a master’s degree. You know what that is?”

Maddie shook her head.

“You go to grade school and then high school. She went to college after that. That’s four years. And then she went to school for more years after that to get a special degree in being a librarian.”

“That’s lots of school! Smart and pretty. My momma says pretty fades but smarts last forever.”

“That’s what she says when Maddie doesn’t want to finish her homework,” Kensey added.

“Well, your mom is right.” Vaughan laughed, winking at his brother.

* * *

WHEN SHE WALKED into Common Grounds Monday morning, he sat there at his regular table.

“There you are. Morning, Natalie. I took the liberty of ordering for you.” He pointed at a very large mug and a plate with two spice doughnuts.

“You’re the devil.”

He laughed. “How so?”

She sat and looked at the pretty design Bobbi had made on the top of her cappuccino and then back to the masculine glory of his face. “Doughnuts? Two of them, even.”

“It’s Monday. If an extra doughnut is what it takes to get through unscathed and without violence to another human, I say eat two.”

Because he had what was probably 2 or 3 percent body fat, it was clearly easy to say. Which did not stop her from eating that first doughnut in what felt like three bites. Maybe it was four.

She hoped so.

He just grinned at her.

“What?”

“I like watching you. Did you have a good weekend?”

“Went to a craft fair with Tuesday. Bought stuff for my house. Ate too much. We planted stuff in our front yard, and yesterday she made me go on a hike. I just pray for winter when I don’t have to hike up hills for a few months.”

“Aw, come on now. You wouldn’t do it if you really didn’t like it.”

She nearly choked on the second doughnut. “I hate to break it to you, but I do it because my best friend likes it. I don’t like being really sweaty.” She sipped her cappuccino. “Well, outside of a few examples. Some kinds of sweat are worth the exertion.”

He leaned closer. “Please tell me you’re talking about sex.”

She blinked, keeping her expression serious. “No, I’m talking about raking leaves. Of course I’m talking about sex.”

He wiped his brow theatrically. “I’m going to change the subject, or I’ll be useless for hours. Bobbi says you never drink iced stuff. Now that September is here, that’s one thing, but in full summer, too?”

“Are you a coffee spy, Paddy?” She raised a brow.

“If I am, can I capture you and do whatever I have to to get you to cooperate?”

The words fell over her, heated, dirty innuendo. “Maybe.” They watched each other as they sipped their coffee.

“Tuesday says my dislike of iced coffee means I’m broken and tragically weird. I’ll eat coffee ice cream, because I’m not that tragic. But I’ll happily guzzle hot coffee all year around. I’m a traditionalist that way.”

“Did you know you have a dimple?” He reached out to brush a fingertip over the space to the right of her mouth. Of course she wasn’t smiling then; she was probably looking like a deer caught in the headlights because he set her aflame.

She ducked her head. “Did you have a good weekend?”

“My nieces were visiting, so we rode horses and went on picnics, and I endured three DVDs worth of animation. So yes, I had a good weekend. You should go out with me again.”

Her head spun at that quick change of topic. “I should?”

“Oh, yeah. Do you like movies?”

“Yes, again, not that tragic.”

“Our manager is dating a producer so we just got a bunch of stuff that’s just released. I have a home theater. Why don’t you come to my house? We’ll have dinner and watch movies.”

“I can’t tonight. Monday night is my book club.”

“Book club? What are you reading?”

“We have themes. This month is graphic novels, so we’ve been doing all the Walking Dead issues.”

“Really? Amazing. Is this open to new members?”

She laughed. Nearly choking on her drink. “We’d never get anything done if you joined my book club.”

“What? Why do you say that? I like to read!”

Natalie waved a hand at him. “You’re far too charming, flirty and sexy. I’m the most steadfast member of the group, and I can’t even concentrate around you. The rest of them would dissolve into goo. No book club for you, Patrick.”

He laughed. “I’d say you were mean, but you did compliment me and say I messed with your concentration, so I’ll let it pass. How about Wednesday?”

“Okay.” She looked at her watch. “I need to get moving.”

He stood with her. “I’ll walk you.”

She could have refused but she didn’t want to.

“All right.”

He walked on the outside, her barrier from the street. His gentlemanly ways surprised her at times.

“I admit it’s way nicer now that you don’t reject me over and over. Would I be pushing my luck if I tried to hold your hand right now?”

“Yes. I’m on my way to work. I like to keep my work and my private life separate.”

“Hmm. We’re going to need to talk about all this.”

“Hmm.” She mimicked him. “It’s going to have to wait until Wednesday.”

“Fine.” He chitchatted about silly stuff until they got to the library.

“I take it a kiss would not be okay according to your rules?”

“You’re learning. Oh, I need directions to your house for Wednesday night.”

He took her phone and put the information in. “I’ll see you Wednesday, then. I can’t be at the café tomorrow morning. We’re doing an interview, so I’ll be busy doing that for a while.”

She didn’t want to be disappointed, but there it was, anyway. So reckless of her to go getting attached to him like that, but her brain didn’t seem to care. The other parts of her had lost that battle weeks before. “Okay. I’ll see you Wednesday, then. Have a good interview.”

She turned with a wave and headed into work.

CHAPTER SEVEN

HE SPENT MOST of Wednesday preparing for his date. He went in and got a haircut and a beard trim. He picked up snacks and supplies for dinner. He also picked up extra condoms. It was like a talisman. For luck.

They’d end up in bed. He hoped it’d be that night, but even if it wasn’t for another month, it would happen. They had so much sexual energy between them, it sizzled.

He cleaned the house, changed his sheets and bedding. Aired everything out and moved furniture three times.

He was officially ridiculous, and he didn’t stop even after he’d realized that.

There were three movies. Horror, a thriller and some comedy bro-flick. He’d let her choose.

In the shower he considered jerking off so he’d be more relaxed. Thinking about her had him tense and agitated, but in a way he sort of dug. He hadn’t had to work this hard for a woman, well, ever, actually. He’d had her before, which only spiced things up. He knew what it was like to be inside her. Knew what her lips felt like wrapped around his cock. Knew what she tasted like.

He’d thought he’d remembered her body. He’d seen it naked an awful lot. But in the brief glimpses of her he caught out at the river, he’d noted curves. More than she’d had then. He had tended toward tall women with big tits and a lean look. But Natalie was voluptuous. He hadn’t realized he had a thing for all that swoop and dip, but he was utterly converted. Nicely though, the big boobs part was there, too. He’d been so focused on the curves, he’d only barely noticed the ink and hoped for a far closer inspection very soon.

So yeah, he soaped a hand up and wrapped it around his cock as he imagined her naked. Wet, but not from swimming. Flushed from orgasm. On her back in his bed. Her lips swollen from his kisses and from sucking his cock. Her eyes half-lidded and dreamy.

“Open those thighs.”

She complied with that smile of hers. Unashamed of what she wanted, of what he did to her. She was slick, dark with desire and when he fed her his cock, pressing in slow and steady, she made a sound that wrapped around his balls and tightened.

She wound her legs around his waist, grabbing two handfuls of his ass and pulling him closer, urging him on. She loved fucking as much as he did. That wouldn’t have changed. Tight and hot, her inner muscles would flutter around him as she got closer. As he got closer. Her nails dug into his skin as she arched, her neck bared to his lips as he licked and nibbled.

Climax shot through him, yanking him from that fantasy as his dream Natalie dissolved, leaving him alone and still half hard as the water rushed over his skin.

* * *

SHE’D GONE WITH casual that night. Her favorite supersoft T-shirt with the V-neck and some jeans. No heels this time. He lived on a farm so if he wanted her to walk or do something outdoorsy, she’d be better off in the sneakers she’d chosen instead of sandals.

Of course, as she followed the road, drove through a gate that he’d given her the code to and continued on, she realized the word farm probably wasn’t adequate for the land, the orchards and fields in the distance. She saw lights from a few houses and passed two until she saw the turnoff for his.

Off the main road, she could see the river in the distance as she parked in his driveway. All glass and gorgeous, warm wood, his house was Northwestern modern. The opposite of her Victorian, but it fit him.

She didn’t get the chance to knock; he opened up with a smile before she’d even been able to raise her hand.

“Hey, you found me.”

“Yes. Your instructions were perfect, thanks.”

He opened the door wider and motioned her inside.

“Are you a shoes-off house?”

He snorted. “No. If you want to, go on ahead. I’m not wearing shoes because I don’t want to. But it’s your choice.” He paused and bent to kiss her quickly. “Sorry to burst your foot-fetish suspicions.”

She laughed and put her bag down in the entry.

He took her hand. “Want a tour?”

“Yes, please.”

It was a great house. Clean. Very modern but warm at the same time. His living space was great with big couches and chairs.

“Is yours the house everyone hangs out at?”

“We split it up pretty evenly. My house is the middle point between Ezra, who is closest to the big house where my parents are, and Damien, who lives the farthest from it. We spend more time at Damien’s these days because Mary is such a great cook.” He paused. “Want to see the upstairs?”

Natalie nodded, and he took her up the stairs fronted by a wall of glass. “This view is insane.”

“We all worked with the same architect who took the land and views into account as she worked. All our houses are unique and fit our individual tastes, but they’re on the same continuum so you can see the thread. It’s a light touch. Each room has something about it that I love. My work space has excellent afternoon light. My bedroom gets the sunset. Kitchen gets morning light. All that jazz.”

He opened the door to a huge room with several guitars on stands, a large desk with two monitors, big chairs and a wet-bar-sized sink and fridge. “This is my work space.”

She went in, impressed. “Wow.”

He blushed, brushing his fingertips over the neck of a guitar. “I spend more time in here than any other place but my bedroom. I can run tracks in here. We’re all hooked into a network with the board in the barn, that’s our studio here. I write here. Ezra sleeps on that big couch a lot.” He snorted a laugh.

“You and he do the writing?”

“About eighty percent of it is me and Ezra. Ezra does the bulk of production. Damien and Vaughan write a song or two each album.”

“So you’re closest to Ezra, then?”

He laughed. “Ezra and I collaborate really well, but we’re too much alike in some ways, so we fight a lot. In the old days, it was nose-breaking sort of fighting, but now it’s more pissy bickering. Though we do occasionally get physical. He knows how to push my buttons. He and Damien are closer. Vaughan and I tend to pal around more, but he’s been away a lot over the last month. His girls just went back to school, so he’s been spending time with them. But, and don’t tell Ez this, Ezra is the person whose advice I seek out when I need an honest take. He’s pretty wise for a dick.”

She shook her head, imagining what it was like for their mother to have four really handsome sons who got into all the trouble they did.

He opened another door.

“My bedroom.”

She walked into the room, spinning slowly. Stunned.

“What? Why do you have that look on your face?”

“I never expected this.” Where the rest of his house was modern though comfortable, his bedroom was homey. His huge bed dominated one wall and was dressed with fluffy bedding. Heavy drapes were pulled back to expose sheers and windows looking out to the fields beyond, and if she was right, Mt. Hood on clear days.

Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves lined two walls. She traced her fingertips over the spines. This was the bedroom of a hedonist. Of the kind of person who spent the entire day in bed reading and watching movies.

Fucking.

“Never expected what?”

She turned to him. “This warm, inviting, comfortable space. It’s womblike. I want to take a nap in your bed right this instant.”

The worry on his features wisped away with a pleased grin. “Well, go on ahead. But only if I can nap with you. I love a good nap.”

“I can tell.” Napping was one of her biggest vices.

There was a big chair near the fireplace with an ottoman and a blanket on the back. She pointed. “Where’d you get that chair? I want one like it in my bedroom so I can read and nap on rainy days.”

“If I told you, I’d be discouraging you from coming here on rainy days to read and nap, instead. That’s self-defeating, Nat.”

“You travel a lot. How can I leave my napping needs up to chance? You’re quite heartless to make me, Patrick.”

“Your sense of humor turns me on.” He stepped closer. “You’ve been in my house for about twenty minutes now, and I haven’t really gotten a good kiss yet. Have a heart.”

“You’re the one who won’t even tell me where to buy that chair. Mean.”

“You’re all breathless.” Paddy cupped the back of her neck and slowly walked her into his chest. And she let him.

“I have asthma and you made me walk up stairs.”

He laughed. “I swam with you a few days ago. You’re in excellent shape. But goddamn, I love your body.”

She gulped. “Oh.”

“You need to be quiet so I can kiss you now.”

She nodded.

He started at the corner of her mouth. Just a brush of his lips. When she smiled, he licked at the spot, making her draw a breath. That’s when he used her distraction to sneak his very talented tongue right into her mouth.

Just a quick flick, and then he was gone again. He nipped her bottom lip, tugging until she moaned softly, digging her nails into his biceps where she’d been grasping him to stay standing because her knees had gone to jelly.

“You taste like cinnamon.”

He backed off, and she was sure she should have been glad, but she really liked his mouth on hers.

“Gum. The cinnamon, I mean. And maybe two boxes of Hot Tamales.” Perhaps three, but that wasn’t something she could confirm as she tended to lose count.

He grinned. “Come downstairs. Ezra went into town, and he’s picking Thai food up for us. He should be here shortly.”

She followed him from the room and down the stairs. He had a great back. And a great butt, too.

“I should have asked if you liked Thai food. If you don’t, I can make something. I went to the grocery store, but then I realized I’d rather order in and have more time with you.”

“Thai is good. I order it all the time, but I haven’t had it in a few weeks. Tuesday got a slow cooker and she’s been making all sorts of great stuff in it. It’s pretty awesome that one of us can cook.”

“How come you can’t?”

She started to answer, but there was a knock on the door.

“Hold that thought. Ezra’s here.”

Paddy bellowed out a come in as he jogged toward the front entry. When Ezra came around the corner into the room, she totally recognized him from before. Where Paddy was gorgeous, Ezra was ruggedly handsome. Big and brawny, he looked every inch the rancher he was. She bet he looked really good doing sweaty things like baling hay or riding a horse.

He flashed her a smile. “Hey! I remember you.”

It was impossible not to smile back. He thrust the bags at Paddy and headed to her, taking her hands in his. “It’s good to see you after all these years.”