by Lauren Dane
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 before letting her off the hook. “So why are you eating microwave burritos for lunch, anyway? The library isn’t that far from some pretty great little cafés.”
“I’m a horrible cook. Sometimes I can’t get away from work for an hour for this or that reason, and I need something quick. Plus, I eat out. A lot. It’s better than a frozen diet meal, which tastes like tears and loneliness. I hate them. And yet, my freezer is full of them.”
He wrinkled his nose and then gave her curves a covetous look. “Why in God’s name do you need diet meals?”
“I love doughnuts and I hate exercise.”
“Sex is great exercise. I’m just saying.”
“Hmm. I’m not sure it’s a good selling point when you’re trying to get one woman into bed to reference other women.”
He cringed and then caught the twinkle in her eyes. “Oh, my God. You’re teasing me.”
She shrugged. “Some people think I’m funny. Even those of us who shush others for a living know how to laugh.”
He snickered and then paused as he imagined her all stern in a pencil skirt and a button-down white shirt. Maybe with a ruler and some really high black pumps and stockings with the line down the back.
Leading up to those twin red bows.
Clearing his throat, he drained the rest of his champagne and poured them both some more.
“Why libraries?”
“I was in my third year as an undergrad and I went to a job fair. I wandered up and down the aisles, took brochures. Took notes. Asked questions dutifully. And I ended up at the MLIS people—master’s in library and information science—spent forty-five minutes with them. I liked them. I liked what they did. Until that, I’d been considering getting a teaching degree. One of the folks I met that day urged me to apply to the graduate MLIS program, and I did.”
They continued to eat as she spoke.
“So I looked around and kept at it, and he was so helpful and kind and open. I applied and got in.” She paused. “Of course, by the time I was ready to graduate, the economy had changed. With all the cuts to libraries, I wasn’t sure what would happen. I’d been working part-time in a library near campus, so I knew how tight things were. I considered jobs outside public libraries—law firms need librarians, for instance. Colleges, universities, that sort of thing. But...the public library is important. I really wanted to pursue a position that way. This job here in town opened up, and one of my friends told me about it, and that’s pretty much history.”
“You probably could have made a lot more money elsewhere.”
Her eyes lost that teasing light and she got serious. “Libraries are important, Paddy. Libraries are not just a place to check out books. They’re a haven, a safe place for so many kids. You cannot undervalue that. Being a place, a home for people who need to escape their own unsafe places is something libraries provide. It’s a priceless thing. Some kids don’t have any adults in their lives who give a shit about them. They can go to the children’s librarian who does something as simple as holding back a book she thinks that kid would like, and it changes everything. I make enough to pay my bills and fortunately, I have family money, too. That I have the ability to be part of someone’s safe place means everything to me.”
Right then, Paddy fell a little bit in love with Natalie Clayton with her ferocity about kids and libraries.
“Go down a layer or two and you’re a fierce bitch about kids. I like that a lot.”
She shrugged.
“Family money?”
She looked away a moment and then nodded. “Yes. I considered giving it all up, but in the end, I like using it to help other people.”
“What does your family think?”
“Let’s talk about you for a while. Why did you stay here in Hood River instead of heading to L.A. or Seattle or New York?”
“I like all those places. I actually do have a condo in Manhattan and a place in Santa Barbara, where I head when I need the ocean. But my family is here. We have enough land that I can be left alone when I need it, but my brothers and my parents are close enough that I can get on my bike or take a brisk wa
lk and be on someone’s doorstep in a few minutes. I help when I’m around. We built a studio in an old converted barn, and we do all our own production there. I know where everything is. No one bothers us in town, really. I guess at the end of it, this is my home. Everyone should have a home.”
She smiled at him and it made him happy.
“I like Hood River a lot. Love it in the fall best. Love the colors of the leaves. So gorgeous.”
“I thought you grew up in Medina?”
“No. My grandparents lived there. I grew up in Los Angeles, actually. I visited a few times every year, but I grew up in a world where the leaves never changed.”
“Where at in L.A.?”
“Whittier. It’s a suburb east of downtown. So you mentioned a sister-in-law? When did your brother get married?”
She was touchy about her family, obviously.
“Let’s see, um, about a year ago. Yeah, they’re coming up on their anniversary soon. Do you have siblings?”
“I grew up thinking no. But a few years ago, my grandmother let it slip after five glasses of wine that a person I thought was my second cousin is actually my sister.”
“Wow, that’s some daytime-talk-show stuff right there. How did she react? Did she know?”
“She doesn’t know and really, she’s better off not knowing. Not like she’s missing out on any sort of stellar parenting.”
“You don’t want to tell her? To have a relationship with her?” Paddy couldn’t imagine not going to someone who was his brother or sister. He may fight like crazy with his brothers, but he couldn’t imagine not having them all in his life.
A shadow of grief passed across Natalie’s face for the briefest of breaths. “She grew up in a relatively normal household with both parents. She’s married and has three kids of her own. She runs a stationery store with her husband in a small town in Nevada. Her life is good. Who am I to tell her that her mother had an affair and everything she’s ever believed is a lie? What right do I have to do that?”
He sat back. He hadn’t thought of it like that, but she was right. Took the weight of knowing, he’d figured, but she’d done it to protect her sister.
“I’m sorry. You didn’t have such a great childhood, then?”
A shrug. “I have a good life now. That’s what counts. So is it weird being a rock star?”
“Yes. Sometimes it’s totally weird.” Having a conversation with this woman was an intricate process. She’d revealed things, personal things, but there were other topics she wove around and avoided.
He wanted to know her. All her wounds and sore spots as well as things that made her smile.
“Like how?”
“Well, you know, I’m just Paddy. I’ve been me my whole life. So I’ll be walking down the street in Manhattan and suddenly someone will gasp and call my name out and it’s like...being recognized as Paddy Hurley from Sweet Hollow Ranch has its own unique tone. It’s great. I mean, I’m happy people love our music and it pays my bills and enables me to do what I love and travel all over the world and stuff. But it’s an odd thing to have someone shake and cry just because they’ve seen me on my way back from grabbing a coffee.”
“Must make you feel responsible on some level, though.”
He warmed, pleased she’d gotten that. “Yeah. I mean, normally, if you catch me before I’ve had coffee, I’m grumpy. I can tell my brothers to fuck off and leave me be, but that teenage girl? I have to dig deep sometimes because I don’t want to be that guy. Even when I’m tired or hungry or pissed off.”
“Must be exhausting to be on all the time.”
“Another reason I live here and not L.A. or Manhattan. Anonymity is not overrated. I can go get groceries in a ratty pair of jeans and it won’t show up ten minutes later online. I’m protected here. Once I’m out in the larger world, it’s different. People you don’t know just make shit up about you. I hate that. Two years ago we were on tour and I got food poisoning. Have you ever had it? It’s the worst. I thought I was going to die. Anyway, so they had to take me to the emergency room because it was so bad, and so of course, it was reported that I’d overdosed. My mom flipped out.” He stopped abruptly, and she reached out, touching his hand.
“I know. About Ezra, I mean. It’s sort of impossible not to have seen all the reporting on it at the time.”
Paddy swallowed. He was careful sharing things about Ezra, who was so powerfully private in the wake of his battle with addiction.
“Your mom nearly lost one son, so I’m sure it was very upsetting for her to read that about another one of her sons. You all do live pretty hard out there on the road.”
“Did you look us up, then?” He wasn’t sure if he was embarrassed or flattered or what.
She snorted. “Please. I live in the world. The modern world with television and media. You’re supercute brothers in a rock band together. Of course it’s common knowledge that you booze it up and carouse when you’re on tour. I don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to know that.”
“Oh. Yeah. Probably. It’s not as wild as they make it out to be.” Mostly. Since Mary, especially. She came with them on tour and there was no way she’d stand for any bullshit in her presence.
“Anyway, so yes, it’s weird. But it gets me great tables at restaurants. I fly first-class. I don’t have to worry about money because I have enough, and I have a great accountant who manages it for me and invests it for my future. I’ve met some amazing people, seen some amazing things. I do this thing I dreamed about, and we’re lucky enough that we’re successful at it.”
They finished dinner and dessert.
“So, how’d I do?”
She looked back over her shoulder as she’d been standing, leaning to trail her fingers through the water.
“Dinner was great.”
“Date-wise?”
“Not much to complain about. Gorgeous man. Really nice boat. Beautiful scenery. The weather is perfect.”
He took her hand and took her down to the stern. “Gorgeous, huh?” He turned her to face him and got close, the rail at her back.
“Are we pretending you don’t know how pretty you are?”
“Nah.” She made him smile a lot. “Still, it’s nice to hear from a beautiful woman I really hope to kiss a time or two tonight.”
“I have such bad judgment.” Natalie said it, but she had no plans to fight it.
“Really, now? That sounds like it’ll be a win for me.”
She laughed, placing her palm on his chest. “You’re bad for me.”
“I promise not to rot your teeth or give you diabetes. That means I’m way better for you than doughnuts.”
She slid her hand up to his throat and around to the back of his neck. He stepped the last bit, bringing her to him, his arm around her waist.
He lowered his head, and she went to her tiptoes to meet him halfway for a kiss.
Ha, kiss was such a mild word for what it was.
She wove her fingers through his hair and tugged to keep him there. If she was going to make a really bad decision, she wasn’t going to do it halfway.
Plus, he was really good at kissing.
He traced her bottom lip with the tip of his tongue and then nipped hard enough to make her gasp. That’s when he barged right into her mouth and turned her knees to jelly.
And clearly, she needed to work as hard as he was working, so she hummed and sucked his tongue. He arched into her body, holding her tighter. She lost herself in him, in the way his hands felt on her body. In his taste as it filled her up and rendered her useless to think about anything else but his mouth on hers.
Out there, it was just the two of them. The stars overhead, the sound of the water, the breeze, Paddy and Natalie, and it was perfect, so she didn’t fight it.
That kiss slid into another and another until her head spun, and she clung to him, taking it in, savoring every moment until he finally broke away, though his arms remained around her.
“Yeah. So that was fucking aweso
me.”
She laughed as she tried to catch her breath.
“Do you want to go for a swim?”
“I didn’t bring a bathing suit.” Also, she sure as heck wasn’t going to wear some cast-off suit from another chick he brought out there.
“There’s no one around. You don’t need a suit.”
The sexual invitation in his voice wrapped around her, caressing, teasing.
“It’s been a really hot day. I’ve got fluffy towels and a shower here to rinse the river off if you want.”
He pulled his shirt off like a challenge.
“Live a little dangerously.”
He unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans, easing them down, and she wasn’t surprised in the least that he didn’t have any underwear on. Or that he was really interested in that swim.
He followed her gaze to his cock and looked back with a grin. “Yeah, well. You’re sort of irresistible. But I promise it’s just an invitation to swim. Not that I really don’t want to fuck you, because I do. But we’ll take it at your pace.”
He popped a cushion from a nearby couch free, revealing a stack of neatly folded towels. He pulled two out. “What do you say?”
She needed to say no. Needed to say she had work in the morning and should really go home.
But she found herself saying, “You go in first.”
With a grin, he jumped from the deck into the water with a splash. “I’ll even keep my back turned until you get in.”
She unbuttoned her dress, slid from it, her bra and panties, folded them and put them out of splash range and took a running jump from the boat into the river.
CHAPTER SIX
“SO, IT WENT GOOD, huh?” Tuesday paused to examine a pair of hand-beaded slippers. They’d headed to a craft fair in Portland and had sucked down coffee and sang along to the radio on the way.
“It was... Yeah, it was good. He made me dinner and wooed me a little.”
It had been a few days since the date, but she and Tuesday had barely connected between work and other stuff, so this was the first time they’d been able to talk about it all.
Tuesday put the slippers down, and they moved on, this time it was Natalie who paused to look at a framed photograph that had been hand-tinted. “Wow, this is fantastic.” She turned to Tuesday. “This would look perfect in the front hallway, don’t you think?”