“I was thinking we could go for a hike and then maybe into town for lunch,” he said. “What do you think?”

“That sounds good to me.” Mary was relieved that they weren’t going to hunker down in the house for the entire time they were together. It was easier to deal with her nerves and the excess emotions storming around inside her if they were out and about rather than alone together in a house full of beds.

“Linc told me about some great trails nearby that we can check out.” Patrick held the door for her as they left the house and walked down the dirt road toward one of the trails. He took a deep breath of the cool fresh air. “It smells so good here, like pine and wood smoke and clean air.”

“After the first time he was there, Will said he couldn’t believe the wide array of bad smells he encountered in the city.”

“New York is nothing if not stinky.”

“Even your part of New York?”

He laughed at the teasing tone of her question. “My neighborhood isn’t quite as fragrant as some of the others.”

“Why am I not surprised?”

Grinning, he looked over at her.

Oh that boyish grin did weird things to her insides, just like it had the day of the wedding, the last time she’d seen him in person.

“I like the way you poke fun at me.”

“I don’t mean to be unkind.”

“You’re never unkind. You’re truthful and real, and you make me see things from a whole new perspective. I like your perspective.” He casually draped an arm around her shoulders, like it was no big deal when it was a huge big deal to be touched by him, to be close to him like this, even if they were strolling along a dirt path in the woods.

Everything he said and did meant something to her, more than it probably should.

“Are you really as nervous to be alone with me as you seem?” he asked.

“I wish I wasn’t, but I can’t help it. I have no idea what I’m doing here.”

He stopped walking, dropped his arm from her shoulders and turned to face her, seeming stunned. “You really don’t?”

Mary immediately missed the weight of his arm around her. “I do, but…” She rolled her bottom lip between her teeth and diverted her eyes away from the intense gaze that saw her a little too well.

Patrick framed her face in his big hands, unnerving her even further, if that was possible. “You have nothing at all to be afraid of where I’m concerned. I couldn’t wait to see you again. I can’t recall the last time I was this excited for a weekend.”

“Me either.”

Keeping his gaze fixed on hers, he lowered his head and very gently touched his lips to hers. “I couldn’t wait another second to taste you.”

Mary leaned into him, hoping he’d do it again.

He didn’t disappoint. His lips brushed against hers in a light, undemanding caress that had her holding back a moan and a plea for more.

Just like he had the first time they spent time together, he scrambled her brain with the way he looked at her and touched her, and then he made it even worse by kissing her and setting off a firestorm inside her.

“Tell me what you’re afraid of.”

“I can’t.”

“Yes, you can. We’ve talked about so many things. Don’t stop talking to me now when it matters so much.”

“Does it?”

“Hell yes, it matters. I’m completely gone over you. You have no idea.”

She drew in an unsteady breath. “Are you really?”

“Mary… God, yes. I think about you all the time. I count the hours until I can talk to you every day, and decline invitations and meetings that would require me to miss our nightly phone calls. My entire life is governed by the hour I get to spend with you every day. So please, sweetheart. Tell me what you’re worried about so we can make it go away.”

He stripped her defenses the way no other man ever had. That was why she didn’t hesitate to share her deepest concern with him. “I’m afraid you’re going to hurt me.”

“No,” he said fiercely as he wrapped his arms around her and brought her in tight against him. “Never. For the first time since I lost my wife thirty years ago, I have real, genuine, significant feelings for a woman. The last thing in this world I would ever do is hurt you, Mary. You have to believe me.”

He had significant feelings for her. Oh my God. “I want to. I want to so badly.”

“You can. I swear to you, if you go all in with me, you won’t be sorry.”

“How can I go all in with you when we live six hours from each other?”

“Logistics can be managed. Don’t make that a reason to hold me at arm’s length.”

“I don’t seem to be holding you at arm’s length at the moment.”

His low chuckle made her smile as she breathed in the rich, appealing scent of him.

“You smell so good,” she whispered.

“Do I?”

“Mmm. Whatever it is, don’t ever change it.”

“If you like it, it’s here to stay.”

“I like it.”

“I like you, Sweet Mary from Vermont. I’m so happy to have this time to spend with you.”

With his arms around her and the scent she loved so much filling her senses, she took comfort in his assurances that she was safe with him. Mary finally relaxed, and her nerves gave way to excitement and anticipation.

Later that night, they sat in front of the fire playing a competitive game of checkers that she was winning, but not by much.

“Are you sure you’re not cheating?” he asked as he refilled both their glasses with Chardonnay. The firelight cast her in a warm glow that only made her more attractive to him. Her cheeks bore the slightest flush from the heat of the fire and the wine. Patrick remembered that wine had made her cheeks rosy at Will and Cameron’s wedding. He remembered every minute he’d spent with her, and that alone made her different from any other woman he’d spent time with since he’d lost his wife.

“I do not cheat,” she said indignantly—and adorably. “You’re just mad because you win at every game you play, which makes you a sore loser when things don’t go your way.”

“That’s very true,” he replied bluntly, making her laugh. “I don’t like to lose.”

“I would imagine you have very little experience with losing.”

“I have some.” His brows furrowed as he examined the board, delight unfurling inside him when he saw the chance to win—and win big. “And I’m very sorry to say that I’m not going to add to my loser résumé tonight.” With his one king, he performed a triple jump that basically wiped out her remaining checkers.

Stunned, she stared at the board where she’d been thoroughly decimated. “You did not just do that.”

“I’m afraid it had to be done.”

“That was not nice.”

“No, it wasn’t. But all’s fair in love and checkers.”

“Of course I knew you had this ruthless side to you. You don’t get to where you are without being ruthless, but that… That was just…”

“Brilliant?” He loved to goad her and to watch her expressive face as she formulated what was certain to be a witty reply.

“Evil is the word I would use.”

“I’m very sorry.”

“No, you’re not! And P.S., I quit.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You want to play Monopoly instead?”

“Absolutely not. I can’t even imagine how good at that you must be.”

He flashed a smug grin. “I’ve never lost a game of Monopoly.”

“Which of course you weren’t going to tell me until you thoroughly trounced me.”

Her indignant comment turned him on. Hell, everything about her turned him on. If she had any idea how badly he wanted her, she’d run screaming from the house and be back in Butler before midnight. “The first key to running a successful business is to never tip your hand to the opponent.”

“Oh, so now I’m your opponent. I see how it is.”

Patrick laughed at her sauciness. He loved how real she always was with him when other women tended to fawn over him, plying him with insincerity to keep him interested. Mary wouldn’t know how to be insincere if she tried, and as a result, she had him fiercely interested. “I’m very sorry for thoroughly trouncing you in checkers. Will you please accept my apology?”

“I will not, because I don’t believe for one second that you’re truly sorry.”

And she was fun. So freaking fun to be with. They’d had the best day hiking in the woods, walking around downtown Burlington, having lunch at one of the cozy restaurants and going to a movie. Since neither of them was starving after a big lunch, they made sandwiches for dinner from the groceries he’d bought before she arrived and had decided to check out the Abbotts’ game closet.

He couldn’t have dreamed up a better day than the one they’d had today. The best part was they got to do it all again tomorrow and most of Sunday, too. Patrick couldn’t recall the last time he’d taken three full days away from work, but he’d left his laptop on the plane and had given his assistant very strict instructions to call him only in the event of a true emergency.

“Patrick Murphy unplugged,” his assistant, Maggie, had said when he told her he’d be off the grid this weekend. “It must be love.”

Her teasing comment had sent him reeling. Was he in love with Mary? The more time he spent with her, the more he suspected he might be well on his way. But he had to tread carefully with her. She was skittish and uncertain and felt out of her league with him for some reason that baffled him. He wasn’t good enough for her, not the other way around.

“Why have you suddenly gone quiet on me?” she asked as she put away the game. “Are you trying to think of some other game you can crush me in?”

“Actually, I’m wondering if you’re going to let me kiss you again.”

Because he was watching her so closely, he noticed her entire body go rigid with tension that made him realize she was still uncertain where he was concerned. We can’t have that, he thought, as he let a strand of her soft hair sift through his fingers.

“Now you’ve gone quiet on me,” he said.

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to act like a middle school girl around you.”

Patrick laughed. “You do not act like a middle school girl.”

“Well, I feel like I’m in ninth grade and have somehow managed to attract the captain of the football team, and he’s looking at me like he wants to do wicked things to me under the bleachers after the game.”

The visual she created made him hard for her. “What a vivid imagination you have.” He ran his finger over the sweet blush on her cheek. “For me, it’s like the sweetest girl in school has somehow agreed to spend time with me, and I’ll do anything to make sure I don’t screw it up with her before I ever get a chance to show her how special she is to me.”

“Your imagination is rather vivid, too.”

“You’re not the only one who feels out of your league here, Mary.”

“How is that possible? You’re Patrick Murphy, for crying out loud.”

“Forget all the hype and the BS that goes with being Patrick Murphy. Right here and now, I’m just a guy who desperately wants to kiss his girl.”

Her gaze flickered to his lips as she licked her own.

I’m a fucking goner for her, Patrick thought. Watching the subtle movement of her tongue over her lip had him clinging to the edge of reason.

“Desperately, huh?”

“Incredibly desperately.” Was it wishful thinking on his part or did she lean in a little closer to him? No, definitely not wishful thinking… He put his arm around her. “Come here, sweetheart.”

She hesitated, but only for a moment before she moved closer to him.

It had been a very long time—decades, in fact—since Patrick had felt as uncertain around a woman as he did with her. It had been just as long since he’d wanted a woman the way he wanted her—in every way it was possible to have her. “Tell me this is what you want. That I’m what you want.”

“I’d have to be dead to not want you, Patrick.” After a short pause, she said, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said it that way. I don’t mean to be insensitive.”

“It’s okay. I liked the sentiment behind it.” Smiling, he leaned in and forced himself to go slow, to be gentle and tender rather than ravenous, which was how she made him feel, as if he were starving for her. The instant his lips connected with hers, he understood two things very clearly. One, he was absolutely in love with her, and two, moving slowly for her was going to be one of the biggest challenges he’d faced in his entire life.