The doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it!” Dani called, trotting past the kitchen and toward the door, still in her pajamas. Ophi smiled. Dani looked a lot like her father, caramel skin from his Latin heritage and hair so curly and voluminous she could have used it as a blanket at night. But it was the eyes, her big brown eyes that reminded Ophi so much of Dani’s father, Jose. When Ophi had first met Jose, he’d batted thick eyelashes at her and charmed her right into bed.

“Uncle Armie!” Dani screeched, jumping up and down. Richard ran to the door, hearing who it was. Ophi’s kids loved their uncle.

“Hey, my favorite niece and nephew!” He held out his arms to hug them, then made a show of running into the walls. They laughed, recognizing the old routine, knowing he was joking. Eventually, he got on his knees and wrapped them both up, giving them large kisses. Even ten-year-old Richard wasn’t old enough yet to scoff at Armie’s easy affection. He loved them and treated them like any good uncle should, especially one who knew all too well he was the only stabilizing male figure in their lives. Armie took great care to spend time with Richard on a regular basis, and Ophi would always feel she owed him for that. Her family didn’t have to be this great, but they were, and she was lucky.

“Can you guys take me to your mom?”

“Sure!” Dani held on to his pants leg while Richard took his hand and guided him into the kitchen. Despite his blindness, he could have made his way there himself, but he always said the kids liked helping him. It made them feel they’d done something good and also taught them to respect and care for people with disabilities.

“Thanks, kids. Why don’t you go play with Josh and Nettie.”

“Aw, we want to spend time with you, Uncle Armie,” Richard whined.

“I need to talk to your mom for a bit, boring grownup stuff.”

“Fine, but Josh better let us win this time.” They both trudged, hand-in-hand, back to the living room where Nettie and Josh had set up the game system, and Mario Kart races were being had. Armie reached for one of the counter stools and took a seat. Ophi knew instantly why he wanted to be alone with her.

“My damn nosy siblings. Nettie couldn’t keep her mouth shut for one hour?”

“Of course she couldn’t because I told her to bug you about what was going on and she called me the instant she found out. That’s how things in this family work when one of us is being stubborn and ridiculous.” He pointed toward the living room where Josh and Nettie sat watching the kids play video games, ensconced in their romantic bliss. “If it hadn’t been for us butting our nosy noses into that situation, Nettie would still be alone, and Josh would still be a grumpy fucker.” Ophi placed a bottle of wine next to his hand, and he guided the tip to his mouth, taking a swig.

“So,” he said after putting the bottle down. “Tell me about it.”

Ophi set aside any lingering unease she had with talking to her siblings about sleeping with someone and gave Armie the play-by-play. At the end of it, he was frowning and nodding. “Well?” she asked, needing some sage advice.

“You’re fucked.”

“I hate you.”

“David is a great guy. He deserves to have someone who calls him every now and then after banging his brains out. There are plenty of single women in this town who would pounce on his fine ass and never let go.”

“Fine ass?”

“I’m not fully blind yet; I know a fine ass when I see one. Or rather, when there is a sultry voice speaking to me and it must be a nice ass accompanying it or else the world is a cruel joke of a place to live.”

“Stop talking about David’s ass.” Ophi took the bottle from her brother and corked it, noticing he’d drunk about a quarter of the contents without blinking. “And don’t go near him. You’ll probably try to turn him.”

“Please, there would be no trying involved. But if David and I were to ever tangle, it would probably be more of a one-night gay-for-you thing than a permanent turning. Nettie says he always seeks you out in a crowd at town events, always looks for you. Why do you think you ran?”

“I don’t know—probably because it was easy, being with him. Nothing in my life is ever that easy. There are always complications, and I didn’t want to wait around and find out later what they are and be heartbroken all over again. I can’t do that shit three times in my life. I’m not built like that. I’m not strong enough.”

Armie held out his hand, palm up, on the counter. Ophi grabbed it, holding on tight.

“You’re the strongest woman I know, Sis, but you don’t need to be alone to prove you’re strong. David is a good man. Promise me you’ll try to talk to him, try to explain what is happening in your head.”

It would be excruciating and embarrassing, but she’d do it for her brother.

“I promise.”

The doorbell rang. Again. The damn thing wouldn’t stop ringing.

“Ophi, can you get that?” Nettie called from the kitchen. “Josh and I are trying to make the turkey look pretty.”

Ophi finished placing a knife and fork at one of the table settings and called out, “I got it!”

It was after four, and about half the guests had arrived. They were relaxing in either the sitting room or the living room, chatting, listening to music, or having a drink by the fire. Everyone seemed merry and happy and excited about the smells coming from the kitchen. All the food brought by the guests had been placed on the serving table Ophi set up, a buffet-style dinner more functional with this many people.

She checked her outfit and hair in the mirror. On Nettie’s prompting, she’d worn a red dress, this one a much tamer number than the sexy bombshell dress from the blog dinner. Her hair was gently curled and the red lipstick she wore matched the dress. She had to admit, she looked pretty great.

Feeling good and confident for the first time in weeks, she strode to the door and opened it, saying, “Happy Thanksgiving.” By the time she’d gotten to the th sound in Thanksgiving, her backbone melted, and her confidence had flown out the window.

David Goldberg was on her porch. Beautiful, wonderful, David was on her porch wearing a blue formal shirt with a button-up holiday-style sweater with reindeer running across the chest. His hair was perfectly coiffed, and his stubble was short enough to be shy of a full beard. She couldn’t speak; her command of the English language had abandoned her.

David was on her porch, and she wanted to cry or scream or kiss him.

Mostly kiss him.

“Hi!”

It was only then that Ophi realized there was a woman on the porch with David. She was waiting pleasantly, completely unaware of the tension thrumming between them.

“I’m Leighanne, David’s neighbor. Thanks for having us. We made pie, and I brought aged whiskey. Apparently, it’s very good.”

Ophi took the bottle, not caring about the damn whiskey, and clutched it to her chest. She had a smile on, knew it because her cheeks were hurting from how forced it was.

“Hi, Leighanne. Welcome to my home. You made a pie.” She looked at David who still hadn’t said anything. He stood there like a big dumb idiot holding what must have been the infamous pies.

“We made two!” Leighanne said proudly.

“Two. You made two pies. Together. You and your neighbor David. That’s fun.”

David’s brows arched down, but he still didn’t say anything. No hello, no yelling or screaming, nothing. Just stood there holding his stupid pies that he’d made with his stupid pretty neighbor that he brought to her house.

Just fucking great.

Ophi was all of a sudden very, very angry.

“Ophi, you’re letting all the cold air in,” Nettie said, looking over Ophi’s shoulder to see who it was. “Oh. Hi, David. Nice to see you. Come on in both of you; it’s cold.”

Nettie had to almost shove Ophi out of the way to let David and his date into the house. She wanted to pull the little bitch’s hair out, but no, that was wrong. It wasn’t the girl’s fault—she probably didn’t know a thing about what happened between her and David. It was David’s fault. The vindictive asshole had brought a date to Ophi’s house to rub what she’d been missing in her face.

What a colossal dickhead.

“Earth to Ophi!” Nettie waved her hand in front of Ophi’s face. She’d let David and Leighanne pass into the house, but now she was hovering there, imagining slamming David’s head against the doorjamb.

“Are you okay? Did you know he was coming?” Nettie pushed Ophi fully out onto the porch and closed the door, sectioning them off from the house.

“What? No, I didn’t know he was fucking coming. I didn’t see his name on the guest list. Though, Mrs. Berkin never really remembers how many people she invites.” Ophi handed the whiskey to Nettie then gripped the railing. “I can’t do this. I can’t put a fake smile on and pretend that nothing is wrong between us. He didn’t say anything to me, just inhabited space and stared at me like I was some disgusting alien. He probably hates me. Which is fine, because I hate him.”

Nettie set the bottle on the porch then grabbed Ophi by her shoulders, shaking her slightly. “Honey, we have a house full of twenty people, probably more coming, and they need a host who has her shit together. Can you keep your shit together for one night? And then I promise we will eat desserts and drink wine in our pajamas the rest of the weekend.”

“What about the kids?”

“Josh and Armie can watch them. Well, Armie will speak at them, but you know what I mean.”

“Will you quit teasing him?”

“What? We have to tease him or he’ll get all serious about it.”

“Fine,” Ophi said, her resolve settling over her like a blanket of steel. She’d had to keep her shit together many times when raising her kids, and before them, her siblings. “One night. I can do it.”

“I know you can. Now let’s go eat a dead bird!”

They picked the bottle up then went back into the house, arm in arm. The warmth and cheery sounds of laughter coming from the living room filled Ophi’s heart with an unexpected delight. She looked at her sister, smiling and waving at people as they made their way back through the kitchen, and thought, for probably the millionth time in her life, that she didn’t know what she would have done if she hadn’t had Nettie and Armie motivating her, pushing her to be the best she could be.

She’d slept with David, then she’d left him, and she regretted it.

What was she going to do about that?

Nothing that another glass of wine couldn’t fortify her against. She looked over at David before passing into the kitchen. He sat with a glass of whiskey, his thick and comfy-looking cardigan open. His elbows rested on his knees as he leaned toward Mr. Dearborne, listening to the older man tell some funny stories about drunk patrons at his pub around the holidays. David didn’t laugh when everyone else laughed, but he did turn his gaze toward her without reason, as if he knew she’d been standing there, watching him. She gave him her best Mona Lisa smile, and his frown deepened. She walked the rest of the distance into the kitchen, feeling a little satisfied that she’d thrown him off his game.

David didn’t know what Ms. Croft was playing at, smiling at him like that, but he knew for certain that if he didn’t get control of his rock-hard erection, he wouldn’t be able to stand to move to the dining table. Then he saw her, red lipstick and red dress that flared at the waist; her dark hair so soft-looking and curly that he wanted to run his fingers through it; her eyes bright and her cheeks flushed. He got hard so fast he couldn’t string two logical words together. His erection was painful, and the way his slacks bunched him in wasn’t helping. Leighanne had asked him about Ophi’s—Ms. Croft’s—weird greeting, wondering why she’d looked about ready to blow a gasket.

He hadn’t thought what it might look to Ms. Croft, him showing up with a woman stating that they’d made pies together. At the moment, his wily neighbor was chatting with one of her bandmates who’d shown up last minute. Leighanne wasn’t remotely interested in David. In fact, she’d brazenly commented on more than one occasion how she wasn’t into blonds, but if letting Ms. Croft think he and Leighanne were an item would get some sort of response from her, he might run with it. It wasn’t his style to be sneaky, but he’d been blunt and had pursued Ophi—Ms. Croft—in the only way he knew how and that had gotten him zip. Actually, it had gotten him laid, but once wasn’t anywhere near enough.

Time to change tactics.

Time to play dirty.

David wanted Ophelia Croft. He wanted to be in her bed and in her life, and in her children’s lives. He wanted to be in the Croft family, and he would play the game as deceitfully as he could to get what he wanted.

No more politeness. No more, Ms. Croft. David would figure out what happened to make her run, fix it, and then his Ms. Croft would become his Ophi.

First, he needed to get his head back in the game and take care of his hard-on. Christ, it hurt. He took his cardigan off, casually holding it in front of himself to cover the jutting cock pushing against his slacks, and asked for the bathroom. Armie kindly offered that the first floor bathroom was in use, but there were two upstairs. This would be painful, but he’d try to run cold water over his dick until he got it under control. He couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t get hard the instant he saw Ophi again.

He climbed the stairs, waving to Richard and Dani on the way up. He wanted to make a point to sit and chat with them, get to know them better. From what he could tell, the kids were as creative and smart as their mom. He’d talked about the kids with teachers from the elementary school, not to mention everything he’d heard from the locals about the entire Croft family. Their accomplishments in spite of their hardships never ceased to amaze him, especially Ophi.

Someone was in the upstairs bathroom so he waited patiently, shutting his eyes tight and thinking of boring, unattractive things. The door opened, and he turned to the person exiting. A person with brown hair, a red dress, and lips so kissable he could have come by looking at them.

“David,” Ophi began, looking as startled as he felt. “I feel like I should say something—”

“I have things to say too, and I think I deserve to go first.”

She nodded, clasping her hands in front of her stomach. She looked apprehensive. She should be.

“I did not come here with Leighanne. I know that’s what you think.” To hell with playing the game; his honesty could not be contained. “All I have thought about for the past few weeks is you. In the costume at the dance. Your expression when I got in the car. What you looked like as you came.” Her eyes widened, and he moved in on her, pressed his advantage. “How your pussy felt around my fingers and cock.”

“David, there are guests downstairs.”

“I don’t care, and I’m still talking.” All rational thought had fled his brain the moment he saw her at the door. “I’ve thought about gripping your waist and kissing you over and over again. I’ve thought about what I’d do if I saw you on the street.”

She was up against the wall now, and he had his hands framing her face.

“But mostly I’ve thought about what I did wrong to make you run. Why didn’t you call me back? Why didn’t you pick up?”

“I’m sorry.” She clutched his wrists, pressing her body into his. “I wish I could go back and redo the past few weeks.”

“Do you still want me?”

“Since the moment I met you, fuck yes.”

“Then kiss me,” David said, grabbing her by the back of her head, then kissing her, moving her into the bathroom with him. A new way to relieve his erection presented itself.

She wrapped her arms around him instantly, moaning against his mouth. She pulled away, trying to talk as he shoved her up against the wall and locked the door. “David, we should talk. I want to try to explain—”

“Still mad at you. No talking now.”

He undid his pants, and his cock sprang out. It felt so good to not be confined anymore that David actually groaned. “I’ve been hard since seeing you in this dress. You’re stunning.” He kissed her neck as he rucked up her skirt, searching for her panties.

“No, David, stop.”

David removed himself immediately, crashing against the counter behind him. “Shit, I’m sorry. I just saw you, and I needed you, and I’m so hard it actually fucking hurts.” He gripped the base of his cock, trying to alleviate some of the pain.

“No, I didn’t want us to stop. I wanted to do something else.”

She walked toward him the two steps available to her, then knelt and began nuzzling his cock.

“Oh. Shit.” David looked away, the sight of her red lips kissing the head of his dick too much for him to take. “I can’t look at you.”

She paused, her cheek rubbing against his length. “Why?”

“You’re too beautiful, and your lips are just” He cursed, losing all composure. “I’m gonna go off right now if I look at you.”

“That’s unacceptable. You need to be in my mouth. I can’t have anything getting on my dress.”

Her lips engulfed him then, taking him to the back of her throat and sucking all the way to the tip. David bit his knuckles, trying to keep from shouting in case any other guest was waiting outside for the bathroom. She was sucking him roughly, furiously. There was no finesse, nor did he want any from her. He needed something quick and dirty, and she was giving him everything he needed. It was as if they’d never been apart for three weeks; they were still in synch.

He carded his hands through her hair, guiding her, teaching her what he wanted. She continued to suck, to rub her tongue along the bottom of his cock, flicking it at the top, dipping into the slit.

“Ophi, Christ. Your mouth is perfect. Suck me harder, baby.”

She added her hand into the mix and began to pump him, the spit from her mouth easing her way. He felt his gut tighten and his balls pull in tight. “I’m coming,” he said as quietly as possible, covering his mouth with one hand and holding her cheek with the other. He watched her as he came, shooting his cum into her mouth. Her throat moved as she swallowed it all. She was gorgeous. She was everything he wanted, and he wasn’t letting her go. They were going to figure this out.

She licked up anything that had escaped her mouth, then tucked him back into his pants, zipping and belting him up. He went down to his knees when she finished, wanting to be level with her. He framed her face, taking his time to look her over and memorize every smile line around her eyes and furrow in her brow. He kissed her, savoring his flavor mixing with hers. She clutched at his cardigan, keeping him close, pursuing his kiss with an equally soft and strong enthusiasm.

After a few moments, they pulled away.

“Still mad?” she asked.

“Yes,” he admitted honestly, chucking all ideas of playing any games out the window. He could never be anything but honest with this woman. “I don’t understand what happened.”

She glanced toward the door, biting her bottom lip nervously. “I promise we’ll talk about it. I have a—”

“House full of people waiting to be fed? I get it.” He helped her up and watched as she fixed her makeup and straightened her hair. He smoothed down a few stray strands in the back where he’d clutched her head to his cock. His flaccid dick twitched, as though it might have the energy to go again. Nope, he’d have to try not to think of Ophi with her mouth around his cock the rest of the night.

She turned, leaning against the counter and smiling up at him. “I can’t believe we did this with all those people downstairs.”

“I know. It was hot. Any regrets?”

“Only not calling you back for three weeks. I’m sorry.”

He kissed her forehead, then took her hand, leading her out of the bathroom. They were lucky no one had been waiting for the bathroom or they definitely would have been busted. “Don’t worry,” he said softly as they began to descend the stairs. “You have three weeks’ worth of blowjobs to give me to make up for it.”

She snorted. “Deal.”