“We headed back to Nolan’s now?” Cal was leaning in the open door of Kat’s rental, and she was looking up at him with those big amber eyes of hers. The angle at which he stood afforded him a stellar view right down her blouse, which he swore was a little more open that it had been this morning. “Cal?”

He plunged in. “What do you think about staying . . . at my place, at least for a few nights? I’m supposed to be off tomorrow and most of the day after.” When she didn’t answer, he blurted, “Or not.”

Kat rolled her eyes. “You don’t need to be so worried, Cal. I was just trying to decide if we needed to stop by Nolan’s so I could get my bags or if this was going to be a clothing-optional situation.” Kat had her hand curled possessively around his thigh, and while he liked the idea of a completely clothing-optional day and a half, they needed to have a serious discussion, lots of serious discussions, and “clothing optional” with Kat wasn’t conducive to talking at all. Kat settled back in the seat and snapped her seat belt around her waist. “Okay, let’s get my suitcase. We might want to go out to dinner or something.”

Cal cackled. “Yeah, there’s a dress code at Waffle House.” And suddenly, the image of Kat in a tube top and daisy dukes flashed into his head. Damn.

Kat’s head snapped to look at him. “There’s a Waffle House? Oh, I am there for it. Oh yeah.”

So they went to Nolan’s apartment, gathered up their things, and made their way down back down to the parking lot. Cal noticed Kat looking back at the rental. She stared at the car and then looked hard at him. “It seems like such a waste of money to just leave the car in the parking lot. I think we should go ahead and turn it in.”

She was looking at him, her gaze steady and sure, and Cal felt his heart lurch in his chest. “Cal, are you okay? You look kind of funny.”

He grabbed her, pulling her to him, and kissed her hard. “I’m good. I’m the best I’ve been in a long time,” Cal confessed while still holding on to her.

Kat followed Cal to Suki’s, where they dropped off the silver Corolla after a few minutes of negotiation, with Cal refusing a discount and Suki refusing payment for a second week. Cal watched Suki and Kat have a telepathic conversation, and then Suki shocked the hell of out of him by hugging Kat, a hug that Kat returned. Cal raised his eyebrows in question, and the women looked at each other and both gave him that worrisome secret smile.

Oh boy.

“Oh, and something else.” Kat dug in her huge tote bag and produced a pair of very tiny, very lacy purple panties. “I’d wondered where these had gone. Do I want to know how they got into your glove box?” She arched an eyebrow, taunting him. Instantly he envisioned those amber eyes looking up at him as she blew him in the cramped plane lavatory, all the while protesting that she never, ever did things like this and then going ahead and doing them.

“You dropped them when we were joining the Mile-High Club. I couldn’t just leave them there.”

“Well, thank you. They’re my favorite pair. I don’t like wearing non-matching sets. Makes me feel off-kilter.” Now she was staring at him from the passenger seat of his Nova, those long fingers of hers stroking the top of the door panel. Cal shifted uncomfortably, trying to unobtrusively ease the pressure on his rapidly hardening cock, because he knew she was wearing the matching brassiere today. Did that mean she was . . . Hot damn.

“Nice car,” she said.

“Thanks.”

“You know, I never thought of asking what you drove. I pictured you as more of an SUV guy, or maybe a Jeep.” She wriggled closer to him.

“Stop, woman. I’m trying to be a gentleman here.” Cal tried to get his imagination under control because all he could think about was getting her into the back seat of his car. Or maybe over the hood. Or, hell, both. “Your wriggling is making me crazy.” He had his hand on her thigh, ostensibly to stop her sexy, maddening gyrations, but now that he’d made contact with her body, all he wanted was a heavy, sweaty round of naked wrestling.

They stopped at a traffic light, and Cal took the opportunity to steal another kiss. And then another. And then another. Kat giggled while they were still in a lip-lock, and Cal wrapped his hand around her neck and deepened the kiss.

“Miss Fahey, you keep this up and we might have to go back to Nolan’s for a quickie,” he murmured, followed by another kiss. A car honked, and Cal grunted his displeasure at having to focus on the road and not on Kat, but then she pulled his arm around her shoulders and nestled as close to him as she could while still wearing a seat belt.

“Bench seats are very underrated.” She patted his hand and didn’t say anything more, but she had a little secret smile on those pretty lips of hers. He snuck another kiss, then settled back, content to stroke the creamy skin of her neck, at least for now.

“You’re thinking dirty thoughts,” she murmured.

Cal just shook his head and grinned. Kat Fahey was the woman for him, but was he the man for her? He was determined to find out tonight, period.

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 “Cal, this is gorgeous.” Kat let her gaze become unfocused, so the whole world seemed to go by in a blur. When she did fix it on something, the object became that much sharper. “I mean, I liked Cabbagetown a lot, but this is . . . something special. I can see why your main house is up here.”

Cal snorted. “We’re coming up in the middle of the afternoon in the middle of the week. The commute is a whole other thing on Friday afternoon or Monday morning, and heaven forbid there’s rain. For an area whose annual rainfall is greater than Seattle’s, you’d think people wouldn’t lose their damn minds every time there’s a little wet pavement.” He squeezed her hand. “But yeah, I love it.”

Though constrained by the seat belt, she settled as near to him as she could. “So, tell me about your little town.”

And he did, though Kat suspected he was only telling her about the good things. She got that he’d had a complicated upbringing and that he didn’t make the decision to live in his hometown lightly. There would be time enough to find out what the little town was really like.

Kat’s stomach growled. She closed her eyes, mortified.

“Darlin’, I know of a little place that’s right on the way. You’ll love it.” Cal gave her a quick kiss and turned his eyes back to the road. “You ready to experience Nappalachia?”

He turned off the interstate onto a state highway, and immediately, it was like another world, a world of covered bridges and tiny wooden houses and barns. And trees, so many trees, and rivers. Cal pointed out a waterfall that could be seen from the road, and Kat decided that even though she wasn’t necessarily the most outdoorsy type, she was getting close to that cascade before she left.

Kat sucked in a breath. She didn’t want to think about leaving at all. Even though she’d gotten an open-ended ticket, she’d decided on the plane that she’d stay for five days. That would allow her to spend some quality time with Cal and still be able to sort things out, like what she was going to do now.

“Chickadee? You okay?” Cal gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m good.” She nodded. “Just hungry.”

Cal snickered and then turned into a gravel parking lot in front of a log building with a large porch. “Well, I’m glad you are, because we’re here. Good thing you wore your eatin’ pants.” He leered at her, and Kat laughed and shook her head.

“You’re so silly, Calhoun,” she murmured before giving him a peck on the lips, which, of course, happened to coincide with another thunderous rumble of her stomach. Cal cackled, and then he pulled her into his lap and gave her a proper kiss, and then another, before pushing open his door and helping her out through the driver’s side.

Yeah, bench seats were totally underrated.

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 “Whoo! Look who’s a member of the Clean Plate Club?” Kat stuck her tongue out at Cal, who whispered in her ear, “You’d better watch where you put that tongue, darlin’.”

“Hon, I’m so full that I can’t even banter. Oof.” Leaning against his side in the booth at the Scuppernong Café, Kat settled in and yawned. “How far are we from your house?”

“Just about twenty minutes. And by the way, this is the big city. We have to come here to do major grocery shopping or just about anything else. You wanna walk around the town before we head home?” he asked, stalling and suddenly questioning the wisdom of bringing Kat to the Owltown house. He didn’t doubt her at all, but rather himself. What was he thinking?

“Cal?”

“I’m good.” He pressed his lips against her forehead. “Let’s get the check and get out of here. We can take a nap in the hammock.”

Kat looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “Cal, I fall out of the bed. How do you think I’m going to function on a hammock?”

“It’s a big, stable hammock.”

“Uh-huh,” Kat snorted, still obviously skeptical.

Cal chuckled. “You’ll like it; you’ll see,” he predicted and signaled for the check.

A waiter, who had not had their table earlier, put the slip of paper on the table. “Hey, I’m Rob. Shelly went off shift, but I’ll be—holy shit! Cal?”

“Robbie Mac! Holy shit!” Cal stood up, and the men swapped enthusiastic handshakes and backslaps while Kat looked on in amusement. “Kat, I’ve known this guy since we were in first grade. Robert McFerrin, this is . . . my Kat.”

Kat blinked. “Robert McFerrin?”

Robbie held up his hand. “As long as you don’t tell me to ‘don’t worry, be happy,’ we’ll get along just fine.”

“I promise,” she answered somberly, though Cal could see the side of her lip twitch.

Cal scooted the paid tab across the table. “Here you go, Rob. Hopefully, we’ll see you around.”

“I’m either here at the Café or at the Hemlock Creek Tavern at night.”

Cal frowned. “I thought the Hemlock Creek Tavern closed?”

“Nah. It’s still open but I don’t know for how long. The group that originally bought it is trying to sell it now because they aren’t happy with the performance. I’ve made a bunch of suggestions, but they’re not interested. It’s almost like they want it to fail.” Rob shook his head. “And they refuse to stock my wine or moonshine, even though I’m one hundred percent legal these days. If that Tavern closes, it’ll put me in a real tight spot. I’ve already taken out a second mortgage, so I’ve got too much invested in specialized equipment to just give up.” Robbie took a deep breath. “Sorry – working here, at the tavern, trying to run the distillery, and making sure everything else gets taken care of at home is getting to me.”

A little voice whispered in the back of Cal’s head, but he shoved it down as much as he could and turned his attention to further introductions. “Robbie Mac here has some of the best local fruit wine in the state.”

“Oh yeah? I love fruit wine. And other types of wine. And food. And just about anything you can put in your mouth.” Cal aspirated his beer, and Kat just batted her eyelashes.

Robbie hooted a bit but then slid the tab off the table. “Well, I’ll see you around, Harper.”

Cal extended his hand, and the two old friends shook on it. “If you ever feel like visiting . . . you know . . . come by the house, okay? Anytime.”

“I’ll do that. Thanks. Nice to meet you, Kat.”

“Nice to meet you, too, Robbie.”

When Robbie stepped away from the table, the little idea knocked louder, so Cal squashed it even more. When he was finished mentally compressing the idea, he caught Kat’s eye and realized she knew everything that had run through his head in the last five minutes.

“You miss this, don’t you?” she whispered in his ear.

“Yeah. You’re the second person who has said something similar in as many days.”

“Pretty wicked friends, huh?” She winked at him. “But you don’t want to talk about it right now, do you?”

Cal chuckled through a huffed breath. “No, not yet. Thanks for understanding, darlin’.”

Kat offered her cheek and he gave her a kiss. She blushed prettily and then motioned for them to go, so they made their way back to the car. Cal put the key in the ignition and paused for a moment.

Okay, Calhoun. Reckoning time.