“Finn, look at Aunt Sloane.” Sloane covered her face with her hands, on the grass at her father’s house with her nephew plopped across from her. She pulled her hands away quickly. “Hi, Finnie!” He gave her a drooling smile that melted her heart.

This was what it was all about. Being part of Finn’s life.

Making sure her father wasn’t lonely.

Keeping an eye on Sullivan.

Not having sex with Rick.

The thought made her cheeks warm and she couldn’t help but dart a glance over to the firepit where he was sitting in an Adirondack chair drinking a beer. Looking casual and cool. As if he hadn’t been buried inside her the night before. She envied him his complete control over his emotions and facial expressions.

He had entered the back yard with River and had given her a wave and an easy, “Hey, Sloane,” before heading right into the house to deposit a six pack in the fridge.

Finn reached for her with his plump little fingers. He touched her cheeks, squeezed his fingers into a fist, pinching her skin. “Ow,” she said, pretending to be hurt. “Owie, zowie.” She made a funny face and he laughed, that hearty belly baby laugh that could bring world peace if anyone ever thought to bottle it up. Forget waterboarding. They needed to make prisoners listen to baby belly laughs in a total opposite approach.

Sloane was exhausted, but she realized she was bone-deep content. She’d survived her thirtieth birthday. Had actually ended it with a bang, in the truest sense of the word. Sex with Rick had been beyond anything she had ever experienced and she realized at some point, when she was ready, she could have that in a relationship. If Rick had gotten her off, someone else could, right? In theory. It wasn’t like he was a unicorn. Surely other men existed who knew how to please a woman.

It had been a long day at the groomers after a night filled more with sex than sleep, but she loved dogs so much being able to pet and cuddle them while working had refilled her well, which lately had been so damn empty.

Now she had baby Finn and her family and friends around her. Both Becca and Emily were here at her father’s request to do a low-key birthday cookout, along with Sullivan’s buddies and Lilly, who was everyone’s friend. It warmed her heart that they still wanted to be a part of her life after all these years. A woman couldn’t ask for much more.

Her eyes wandered to Rick again.

Well.

She could ask for that again.

She hadn’t known sex could be that intense. That deep and satisfying. It had popped in and out of her head all day, making her nipples harden at totally inappropriate times. But she had shown Rick to the door and they hadn’t discussed anything other than that she had demanded it wouldn’t be weird or awkward.

Finn gave a happy shriek and crawled up onto her legs, which were sprawled out in front of her. Then without warning, he reached out and squeezed her breast like he had her cheek, which he seemed to think was hilarious.

“Kid knows a good thing when he sees it,” Rick said, as he moved past them, an empty beer in his hand.

“Stop it!” she said. “He’s a baby.” She moved Finn’s surprisingly tight grip down to her stomach.

Rick didn’t say anything else, he just disappeared into the house. She bounced Finn on her legs and held his little hands in her own.

The house was the one she had grown up in and she was right next to the brick patio her father had installed when she was in her teens. The firepit had been there longer and she and Sullivan also had friends over for bonfires back in the day. The house itself was a standard colonial in a suburban neighborhood, one of the few planned developments in Beaver Bend. In a way, it surprised her that her father still lived there. It wasn’t really a house for a tattooed bar owner with an empty nest.

But at the same time, she knew why he didn’t leave. It was the house her mother had wanted. The house that was supposed to make her happy and hadn’t. It hadn’t been the solution to her discontent. If anything, from what her father said, it just amplified it because then she couldn’t figure out why she wasn’t happy.

Then one day Sloane had gotten up and instead of her mother in the kitchen it had been her father. He had poured cereal in a bowl for her and plunked her down in front of cartoons on the TV and told her that her mother had left and wasn’t coming home.

It hadn’t made any sense to her then and it still didn’t now. Sloane should have more memories of her mother given she was five when she left, but she really didn’t. She remembered being cared for by her father while her mother was either gone or sitting talking on the cordless phone in their family room, laughing with her girlfriends. Sloane would attempt to climb on her lap and mostly get shooed away. She didn’t remember her mother being cruel to her, just disinterested.

But even though she barely remembered her, sometimes she wondered if she was a lot like her mother. Take what you want. Attempt to twist it to what you want it to be. There was something similar to that in her marriage to Tom. But Sloane hadn’t, and never would, just roll out on of her family’s life. Ill-suited or not, she’d been committed to Tom, and if she ever got married again and had kids, she’d be the same way.

She felt Rick’s presence and knew it was him before she even saw him drop down onto the grass beside her. Funny how after just a few hours she could recognize his movements, his presence, his smell. But it had been a very intimate few hours. She glanced over at him and raised an eyebrow in question.

He was holding his beer by the neck of the bottle and he raised it to his lips and took a sip. Then he said, “You look tired.”

Sloane rolled her eyes. “I think you’re renowned flirting skills are slipping. No woman wants to hear she looks tired.”

His eyebrows shot up. “I meant it as concern.”

“I’m fine,” she said, and it sounded more snappish than she really intended. “It was just a long day. But I am positive I’m really going to love this job. It’s a good fit for me.”

“You love animals, huh?”

“Yep.” Sloane pulled Finn forward and blew a raspberry on his chubby cheek. He shrieked in delight. “I have a dog but I lost her in the divorce. It’s honestly the worst thing that’s happened to me as an adult. Worse than the marriage ending.”

“You had a custody fight for your dog? Damn, that sucks.”

She nodded. “You know how they swear that you’ll see someone’s true colors in a divorce? But everyone insists their own divorce will be amiable? Well, Tom turned out to be a p-r-i-c-k.” She spelled it out since Finn was on her lap. “He doesn’t even like Kate, but he bought her so he kept her. It was mostly a way to hurt me, nothing more.”

“Because you broke his heart?” Rick asked, picking at the label on the bottle. He had one leg up and a forearm resting on his knee.

Sloane wanted to reach over and run her fingers over his beard and kiss him full on the lips. He was so damn sexy and masculine. Even sitting this close to him did strange things to her insides. He was wearing the jeans and T-shirt he’d had on earlier. The one thing about northern Minnesota was it was full on August and it wasn’t even that hot. No one needed to be wearing shorts. But Rick had changed his work boots for sandals.

His words made her wrinkle her nose. “I did not break Tom’s heart. In fact, he actually left me.” She shot a quick glance in Rick’s direction. “For a guy he’d been dating secretly for a while.”

“Shut the hell up.” Rick looked as astonished as she probably had the day Tom had told her.

“Yep. So, there you have it.” She gave a laugh. “And I haven’t told a single person in Beaver Bend the whole truth either, until just now. I don’t like to talk about it. I have no idea why I just told you that.”

“It does explain a few things.” Rick reached out and put his hand on her neck, massaging it. “No wonder your marriage was a total dud in the sack.”

“Rick, you shouldn’t do that. Secret, remember?” His hand on her in front of everyone made her extremely uncomfortable. “Very true,” she said, and scrambled to her feet with Finn in her arms. “Where’s River?” she asked, partly to change the subject, but mostly out of curiosity. “Your sister seems like a bright kid.”

“She’s an evil genius,” Rick said ruefully, slowly rising to his feet. “And I’m not kidding. She’s brilliant, top of the class. And I have no idea how to raise her. I’m stumbling around in the dark, most likely jacking her up, but what else am I going to do?” He blew out a deep breath.

There was a furrow in his brow that Sloane could see indicated genuine worry. “I’m sure you’re doing a great job,” she said. “She seems like a cool kid, and hey, aren’t you and I both living proof that as long as there is an adult who loves you, you can turn out relatively normal?”

Rick grinned. “Are we normal?”

“I can’t speak for you, but I’m totally normal.” A little dented but for the most part, doing all right. She bounced Finn on her hip. “Hey, you’re around my dad a lot, right?”

“Yes.” Rick took another sip of his beer. “I have always admired Liam. He’s been good to me, the ragamuffin kid coming around.”

“Does he date?” She figured if anyone would know about it, it just might be Rick. Her dad kept everything from her and Sullivan—go figure-—but she worried about him. “Does he have a secret girlfriend or anything?”

“I think the key word to ‘secret girlfriend’ is ‘secret.’” Rick shook his head. “Not that I’m aware of, but it’s not like we’re buddies. I’m his kid’s best friend.” Rick turned and glanced at her father flipping burgers on his insanely over-the-top gas and charcoal grill. “I’m sure a lot of women would go for his type though. He’s what, fifty? Still young. He keeps in shape.”

“Not even fifty. He’s forty-eight. Back in high school I had a couple of friends who said they had crushes on him, which was horrifying at the time. But I can see it now. He’s a cool guy. He should be enjoying his life more.”

“Agreed. And I can’t imagine not enjoying my life. I enjoy my life a lot.”

Rachel’s body count comment popped into Sloane’s head. She was sorry she had brought the subject of dating up. She made a face. “So I hear.”

“Jealous?”

“No. And you already asked me that. Stop repeating yourself.”

“You repeated yourself first,” he pointed out. “You already mentioned rumor has it I’m never lonely.”

He was right, which annoyed her. She had no comeback, which further annoyed her.

River came over and saved her from saying someone petty or stupid. She was tempted to give the kid five bucks for saving her ass.

“Hi, Sloane.”

“Hi, River. What’s up?”

“Can I hold the baby?” River had her arms outstretched.

“Sure.” She passed Finn down to River, who confidently put him on her hip and started kissing the top of his head. “Cute Finn.” Then she turned to her brother. “I’m a vegetarian now.”

Rick groaned. “River. Where did that come from? The only food here is hot dogs and burgers.”

“I’m fine. I’ll eat the fruit and the chips.”

If Sloane thought about it, that’s really all she wanted to eat too. The kid might be on to something.

“What brought this on?”

“I watched a documentary. Don’t worry, I’m working on a Power Point presentation to show you the evils of animal farming in the US and the underlying health risks.”

Rick sighed and looked at Sloane. “The thing is, she means it. By tomorrow I’ll be watching her presentation and resenting that she has ruined beef for me.” He ruffled his sister’s hair. “Fine. Eat whatever you need to, kiddo. I support you.”

River wandered off, still holding Finn.

Sloane put her hands in her front pockets and eyed Rick. He really was a good guy and she felt warm inside just watching him with his sister. “I’m serious, Rick. What you’re doing with River is impressive. Not everyone could or would raise their sibling.”

He shrugged, clearly embarrassed by the compliment. “It was me or foster care and there was no way. Not happening. But it’s hard. I’m not going to lie.” Then he eyed her over his raised beer bottle, hovering near his lips. “I’d rather impress you in other ways.”

Of course he had to lighten the subject. She would do the same thing so it wasn’t like she didn’t get it. “Oh, you did. Trust me.”

“Can I impress you again tomorrow night?”

The idea of repeating the night before instantly made her wet, nipples beading. She took a deep breath through her nose. She could not be turned on at her father’s cookout. It was ridiculous. But Rick was giving her that look… the one that said he wanted to tease and touch her until she screamed in pleasure.

But at the same time, they had said one night. That’s what she remembered. So what game was he playing? “I don’t know…”

“Hey, Dick. I mean, Rick,” Sullivan called. “Get over here. I need a corn hole partner.”

She could see her brother impatiently waiting, Axl and Brandon down there as well. She didn’t see Jesse but he might already be heading back to Houston, where he lived and played hockey.

“This isn’t over,” Rick said under his breath as he turned and yelled that he didn’t want to be partners with a loser.

Sloane needed a cold drink. “Do either of you need anything?” she asked her girlfriends. They were lounging in lawn chairs positioned next to a spinach and artichoke dip platter. Lilly was over by the firepit chatting with her father and her aunt, her dad’s sister.

“No, I’m good,” Becca said.

“Same,” Emily agreed. “And don’t think you’re going to get out of talking about a certain someone and a certain something. We want the scoop.” She grinned.

Sloane was surprised they had waited this long to ask frankly. But she wished they hadn’t asked at all. She didn’t want to lie. But she wasn’t sure she wanted to tell them about sex with Rick. It seemed so… private.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

They gave peals of laughter. “Uh-huh.”

Sloane opened the slider and went into the kitchen. The style and décor in the house were stuck solidly back in the early nineties. Her dad had never changed anything as far as she could tell. There was still a wallpaper border in the kitchen featuring cherry pies coolly on a fence post. Which seemed wildly impractical to her. The countertops were a forest green laminate. As a teenager, it had just embarrassed her. Now it made her worry about her father. He was holding on to the past with two fists.

He was chopping up onions on the peninsula. “Hey, baby girl,” he said, glancing up and giving her a smile.

“Hey, Dad. Who’s manning the grill?” She went straight to the fridge for a can of soda.

“Burgers and hot dogs are done. We can eat in a few minutes. And then, birthday cake for the birthday girl.”

They weren’t the family to exchange presents and she was fine with that. But cake, she could get behind. “Yum.” She shut the fridge door and popped open the can in her hand. “So what’s new, Dad?”

He gave her a skeptical look. “Nothing, Sloane. Not since I saw you yesterday.”

“No, I mean, what is going on in your life.” She leaned over the counter on the opposite side from him, watching his skilled knife work. He’d started out in the kitchen of a local seafood restaurant at sixteen. “Are you online dating or anything?”

Now he looked at her like she had lost her mind. “Where the hell did that come from?”

Resting her chin on her palm she shrugged. “Just seems like maybe you should. You’re still young, you’re handsome.”

“Do you need to borrow money?”

“What? No!” This family. Geez. “I’m just showing interest and expressing concern.”

His hand paused. Then he just started chopping again. “Did you hear from your mother or something?”

That shocked her into standing straight up. “Why would I hear from Mom?”

“I don’t know. It was your thirtieth birthday. Just thought maybe she would reach out.”

“No, she didn’t.” Sloane realized with a sinking feeling that her father still wasn’t over it. Over her. She who will not be named. “Dad, it doesn’t bother me. Seriously. I don’t even care. What bothers me is you not leading a full life. I want you to be happy.”

He shot her a look of horror. “I am happy.”

“Don’t you ever want to get married again?”

“Do you?”

“I don’t know.” Yes. If there was a man out there she could laugh with, share a dog with, have amazing sex with. Who would love her, flaws and all.

“Me either.” He handed her a tray filled with burger toppings. “Take this out to the table.”

“Sure. Good talk, Dad.”

He shook his head like he didn’t even know what they were talking about. “Yep.”

“Think about Tinder, Dad. You’d be a hit. You can write ‘hot grandfather, bar owner, loves tats, whiskey, and blondes.”

“Shut up, Sloane,” he said mildly, popping a spicy pickle in his mouth. “Or I will shut you up.”

She laughed. “Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

That was about as emotional as an O’Toole chat was going to go. She’d take it.

---

Sullivan threw a corn hole bag at him. Hard. It hit Rick in the chest before he could catch it. “What the fuck was that for?”

“For sniffing around my sister like a dog after a bitch in heat.”

Shit. He’d been too obvious. “I don’t think you should refer to your sister as a bitch in heat. Just saying,” he said, keeping his voice neutral.

“You may be bigger than me now, but I can still kick your ass.” Sullivan looked furious.

“You’re going to start a fight in front of your kid and my little sister? Calm down.” He turned and called over to Axl and Brandon. “Who’s throwing first?”

“We are. Switch sides.”

Rick took the bags and started to walk down to the other board but Sullivan grabbed his shoulder.

“Rick, listen to me.”

His friend’s voice was earnest, not angry. He paused and looked back at him. “Yeah?”

“I found out Tom was cheating on Sloane. She didn’t say anything to us about it, so obviously she’s having such a hard time. I don’t want you fucking with her head, okay?”

He nodded. He had no intention of fucking with Sloane’s head. He would never do that to her. And he was honored she had trusted him both with her body and the information that her ex had cheated on her. “Sure. And maybe you should talk to each other more, you know? Like share feelings and shit. It might make all of you feel a whole hell of a lot better.”

Sullivan made a face. “Fuck that. We don’t do feelings.”

“So I’ve noticed.”

Brandon came over to their side. “What’s the hold up, losers? Are we playing corn hole or grabbing our dicks?”

“O’Toole is dick-grabbing. Watch your junk.” Rick jogged over to the other side.

Axl eyed him. “Sul knows you have the hots for Sloane, doesn’t he?”

“Yep.”

“Dude, you can’t fuck your best friend’s sister. Not good game play.”

Rick tossed the bags in his hand up and down, in a lame attempt at juggling. One dropped to the grass. He bent over and accidentally made contact with Axl when he stood up.

“Shit,” was Axl’s opinion. “You already did, didn’t you?”

“I’m not saying a word.” He turned and tossed his first bag at the opposite board. It slid straight off.

“You deserve it if he kicks your ass. I might even have a go at you myself.” Axl tossed a bag. It landed on the board.

“Don’t worry about it, man. It’s all good. I would never hurt Sloane.”

Axl shook his head. “I don’t like this. It won’t end well. You know that.”

“I’ve known Sloane my whole life. I’m not going to be an asshole.”

“Don’t tell me anything. I don’t want to have to lie for you.”

“I’m not asking you to lie. And I’m not admitting a damn thing.” Rick threw another bag and it slid in right next to Axl’s.

Sullivan threw and knocked Rick’s bag off into the grass.

“We’re on the same team,” Rick yelled over to him dryly.

“I don’t care.”

“Yeah, he’s pissed,” Axl said.

“He can’t prove anything.” And never would if he and Sloane were discreet. He really didn’t want to damage his friendship. “He’ll get over it.” Because he didn’t think he could give up Sloane. Not yet anyway.

“Time to eat,” Liam called.

Good. Maybe with food in his mouth Sullivan couldn’t say something stupid.

All the guys, River, and Liam’s own sister, Bridget, were all moving around the peninsula in the kitchen filling up plates. He reached for a paper plate and Sullivan shoved him out of the way. “Excuse me.”

Sloane was holding Finn and she shot her brother a look. “Watch where you’re going, Sullivan.”

“Why, am I hurting your boyfriend?”

The casual chatter came to halt in the group. “What did you say?” Liam asked, glancing back and forth between Sullivan and Sloane. “Sloane, what’s your brother talking about?”

“My brother is being an idiot,” Sloane seethed. “Who doesn’t know anything about what he’s talking about.”

Lilly tried to do her magic trick, where she touched Sullivan’s arm and about fifty percent of the time he calmed down. It didn’t seem to work this time though. Sullivan was fuming.

Liam turned to Rick. “Are you and Sloane dating?”

Oh, shit. He did not want to be put on the spot like this by a man he respected. He cleared his throat and told the closest approximation to the truth. “No, sir.” Technically they were not dating.

“That’s true,” River said.

He could have kissed his sister for backing him up. He was going to buy her ice cream for the rest of the week.

“I mean, he has a lot of girlfriends but Sloane isn’t one of them.”

And… she blew it. “River,” he said, giving her a warning look.

Emily laughed, biting a carrot loudly in the awkward silence.

“What?” River asked, pulling a super innocent face.

He wasn’t buying it. She could manipulate circles around everyone in the room. She was just stirring the pot for excitement.

“Does someone want to explain to me what is going on?” Liam asked, scooping baked beans onto his plate. “Sullivan?”

“My best friend is trying to get with my sister.”

At least Sullivan thought he was still in the trying phase. “That is not true.” Because it wasn’t. He’d already got with her.

“And that’s your business, why?” Liam asked calmly. “Sloane is a grown woman.”

“Sloane is straight off a divorce.”

“And my wife left and your wife passed and neither of us want anyone to have any sort of opinion on us or what we do now. Extend the same courtesy to your sister.”

Sullivan threw his still-empty plate down and stomped off. He went down into the basement, slamming the door behind him.

“Should I go after him?” Sloane asked her father.

“Nah. Let him work it out. He’ll come around.”

“Give me that baby,” Bridget said to Sloane, reaching for Finn. “Go talk to your brother. None of you do enough talking.”

“Don’t do it,” Liam said.

This was getting awkward. “Grab a burger, River. Let’s go back outside.”

“I’m a vegetarian, remember?”

“Right. Grab your fruit and let’s go outside.”

River was studiously sorting through the fruit tray. She seemed to have an aversion to melons, which took up fifty percent of the tray. Rick sighed.

This was the downside of having impulsively—after fifteen years of wishing for it—having sex with Sloane. The O’Tooles were his second family and now he’d changed the dynamic. There was tension in the air.

His fault. He hadn’t been discreet enough when he was talking to Sloane. He’d touched her neck. And he’d talked to her too long.

He should fucking know better. He was used to being discreet. With River, it was essential. Sure, his kid sister was smart enough to put together two and two when it came to his dating, but she never saw anything first hand. He did all his dating when she was with their father or Rachel. He should have used the same rules when it came to Sloane. No leaning in to whisper in her ear. No singling her out.

So for the rest of the cookout he studiously ignored Sloane.

Even when Bridget lit candles on a cake for her, he hung back, trying to emulate what would be his normal behavior.

It didn’t matter that when she bent over to blow out her candles he could see down her shirt, just a teasing glimpse at the pale flesh he’d in his mouth the night before. It didn’t matter that he was picturing her lips wrapped around his cock, something he hadn’t had the pleasure of enjoying yet.

He just shifted behind the breakfast table so no one could see the growing hard-on in his jeans.

Sloane tried to blow out all thirty candles in one fell swoop and failed miserably. A solid third of them were still burning and there were groans of disappointment. Her father said, “Geez, kid, you need to work out more.”

“Yeah,” River said. “You’re really bad at blowing.”

Fuck. The kid had no idea what she was saying obviously but he was already fixated on a blow job and this wasn’t helping. He wanted to laugh, desperately. Rick tried to look anywhere but at anyone.

He almost succeeded to holding it together.

Then Sloane said, “Maybe I need to practice.”

Maybe she didn’t mean it dirty. But he fully aware of his thoughts taking a nose dive straight into the gutter. Without intending to, he lifted his eyes and met the amused gaze of Sloane.

He felt the power paradigm shift ever so slightly in her favor. She had him by the balls, wanting more, and she knew it.

Oh, hell, no. He wasn’t giving up control that easily. He’d pined for Sloane all through school and then the night before the ball had been solely in his court.

He was going to wrestle it back.

Not now, with her family and friends standing around all watching them intently. But back at his apartment building, where the other two neighbors were a ninety-year-old woman, Mrs. Williams, who was hard of hearing, and a guy in his fifties who worked nights at the convenience store and slept all day long.

“Well, isn’t this just so sweet?” Sloane’s aunt Bridget said, looking intentionally clueless.

No. Sweet was Sloane’s lips. Sweet was Sloane’s pussy, hot and wet beneath his tongue.

Rick went and grabbed a beer. He was suddenly very thirsty.