Michael sprawled in the pillows, satisfied beyond belief. Kim slept in his arms, face tucked into his neck, her leg curled around his. They’d made love twice before going back to sleep with the promise of myriad sexual positions to try once they woke up. He ran his hand over her hip. She was like an erotic candy store full of naughty things to try and dirty rides to take.

A lifetime wouldn’t be long enough to explore them all.

He’d known her five days and she’d already expanded his world so much. Having her around was like throwing open the curtains to the light after a lifetime spent fumbling in the dark.

“You’re awake.”

He smiled. “I am.”

“Here I thought I’d have to throw a bucket of water on your head to get you up again.” She glanced down their bodies to where his slumbering cock had roused. “Okay, so maybe not.”

Grinning, he tightened his grip on her and rolled them over on the bed until she was beneath him, her dark hair spilling over the pale blue sheets. Bright winter sunlight streamed through the window and highlighted her features—full rosy lips, tangled lashes, high cheekbones. Lines fanned out around her mouth but they only added to her beauty. She’d laughed a lot over the years. He wanted to make sure that never stopped.

“Thinking deep thoughts already.” Her finger smoothed over his brow. “Should I be afraid?”

He considered for a moment, caught between the desire to keep things exactly as they were and telling the truth. She tended to spook easy. If he held back—

If he held back, he wasn’t being him. Not really. She’d been attracted to his warts along with all the rest, reluctantly or not, so he had to trust she could handle even the parts that might make her worry.

“When we first started, I wanted to use you for a quick fuck.”

She frowned, those faint lines under her eyes digging in deep. “I think I’m insulted. Do I look like the kind of woman who can’t handle a long one?”

He laughed and framed her face between his palms. “Absolutely not. Now I know without a doubt that you can go and go and go. Good goddamn, woman.”

“I’m pretty sure it was you who went and went and went. And after making me think you were a stiff breeze away from a mess on my sheets.” She tsked under her breath.

“It’s your fault I was so close to disaster. You should make it up to me for putting me in that state.”

“I thought I did. More than once, I might add.” She smirked.

“You did but I want more. Come with me to my sister’s graduation party tonight. If you’re free.”

She pursed her lips. “What kind of single, swinging lady makes Saturday night plans on Saturday mor—” She glanced at the clock and grinned. “Okay, Saturday afternoon.”

“Hmm, a woman that didn’t even know me last Saturday and couldn’t have saved her dance card for me even if she wanted to?” He picked up her hand and kissed her knuckles. “We rented out a gym. I promise to dip you plenty, even if it’s to Snoop Dogg instead of Frank.”

“Snoop Dogg, huh? How old is your sister and what is she graduating from?”

“Twenty-eight. She finished her last classes for her criminal justice degree in August. But her boyfriend was deployed and he only got back home a few weeks ago. She wanted to wait to celebrate until she knew he was okay.”

“That’s sweet. I’m glad he made it home safe.”

“Yeah. Me too. They have two little girls, Esme and Abra. She’s been working at their school in the lunchroom but that doesn’t pay much. They live in a shitty neighborhood and I want to help them out but she won’t let me. So I’m throwing them a party.”

“Small comfort.”

“Yes. I can take care of all of them with what Roch left me, but my mama won’t hear it beyond small checks here and there. Says it’s my money and they’re fine. Julie’s no different. I have all that room, and all that cash accumulating in my bank account, and my family’s in the city, so far away.”

“Why don’t you move them in with you?”

“I’ve tried. My mom doesn’t want to uproot their lives and take the younger ones out of school. Plus she’d never dream of invading my space. She thinks a man my age should have plenty of freedom to date and sow my oats, as she puts it.”

“You definitely have some sowing to do.” She stroked his back, played with his hair, rubbed his scruffy jaw. Small, light touches that kept him in bed with her instead of mentally with his family hundreds of miles away. “So why don’t you sell the house and move closer to home?”

“The house was important to Roch. I can’t offload it and forget how much it mattered to her.” As if he’d never considered selling it and moving somewhere else. But Roch had entrusted her home to him. He had a responsibility to fulfill.

“Sweetie, she’s dead. You’ve taken care of it this long. Sell it to someone else who would appreciate it more.” She forged on at his silence. “You said Roch came into your gas station. Where?”

“In Kew Gardens. Queens. She was visiting a friend.”

“And she took a liking to you.”

An edge had come into her voice, one he couldn’t place. “I guess you could say that. She came into the station a couple of times that week while she was visiting. She was beautiful. Statuesque, I guess you’d say. I was sure she was married. And she had been, years ago. Her husband made a fortune in oil, of all things.” He shook his head. “I’m living the way I do because some guy I never knew died of an aneurysm and left his fortune to his wife, who left her money to me.”

“Her family was all right with you getting all her cash?”

“She didn’t have any, just a few distant cousins. Her husband’s grown son tried to bring suit against me after Roch died, saying he had more right to the money than I did, but I gave him a generous amount. He deserved it. I probably should’ve given him more and I would have, if not for my family.”

“Your family who won’t take much of the money.”

“Not yet.” Smiling grimly, he kissed her hand again. “I’m a persistent bastard.”

“Oh, I believe it. Persistent enough to work two jobs to stockpile money you don’t need, just in case. For them. You’re doing all of this for them, still.”

“I do my duty.”

“You’re one of a kind, Michael Montgomery.”

“Don’t build me a pedestal just yet. I like to keep busy. Besides, I spent enough time closed up in the house, reading every one of the books in Roch’s library and watching TV with her. I like getting it out. Other than Roch and my family, the only person I saw on any regular basis was Rand.” He squeezed her fingers and let her go, shifting onto his back beside her. “So, come on, get it out. Ask again how was I still a virgin.”

“I can’t even figure out how you were a virgin before you met Roch. Dude, you’re hot. You must’ve had high school girls all over your jock.”

He turned toward her, resting his cheek on the pillow and sliding one arm beneath it. Talking in bed was a novelty he’d never enjoyed before.

So many things he’d never enjoyed, and she was his gateway to all of them.

“I went out with girls a few times in high school and fooled around but that was all. After my dad’s death so young, leaving all of us kids behind, there was no way I’d take a chance on accidentally fathering a child. I don’t trust any birth control that much. I also wanted it to matter when I slept with someone. My parents were so in love. Sex to me was never recreation, at least back then. Abstinence worked for the most part, though I slipped occasionally.”

“Horny teenage boy? Um, yeah, I’d think so. I’m impressed you managed to hold out at all.”

“I had a family of young kids I was helping to raise at sixteen. Believe me, it wasn’t all that tough to jerk off rather than risk an unplanned pregnancy.”

“Until Rochelle came along. She couldn’t have children?”

“No. And she also had medical issues where sex was uncomfortable for her, which I didn’t know until later.”

She rubbed his hip, offering comfort in her own quiet way. “Coincidentally she didn’t mention that ahead of time, huh?”

“In all fairness, she never indicated we’d have a full-on sexual relationship. I just assumed after we’d gone on a few dates and we’d…done things that led me to think we were heading that way.”

“Did you find her attractive or was it just because you knew she was loaded?” When he stared, she held up a hand. “Look, no judgment here. You had your reasons. If she wanted companionship and it jived with your needs, there’s nothing wrong with—”

“I had feelings for her. I wouldn’t have moved in otherwise. She was a wonderful woman and even if she hadn’t been loaded, as you put it, I probably would’ve moved in with her when she invited me to anyway. Because I was a frigging kid who didn’t know any better and just wanted to get the hell out of Queens.” He fought to stay still as she went back to rubbing his hip. He’d never told this whole story before. “But I’ll be honest. If she’d only been my friend and wanted us to be lovers, I would’ve gone for it. I didn’t know she was dying. She didn’t tell me until I’d committed to her. I don’t shirk my duty.”

“Sounds like duty is all you’ve ever known. To your family, to a woman who was supposed to be a partner and took advantage.”

He touched her cheek. Here and now mattered more than all the rest. “You’re nothing like her. From the first time I saw you, I could tell you were self-reliant and strong.”

“Whoa, now who’s whipping out pedestals?”

But he wasn’t finished. “I certainly took advantage of the situation with Roch too. Because of her, I had options. My mom needed my help. I was working my ass off but I was a high school dropout. How far was I going to get?”

“You expect me to tell you that you were wrong.”

He shrugged. “You wouldn’t be the first.”

“I’m not your judge and jury. We all need to live our lives as we see fit.” She wriggled closer and looped her arm around his shoulders to toy with his hair. He loved how easily she touched him. As if skin-to-skin contact was the most natural thing in the world. She’d never understand how starved he was for just that little—or that much. “So you’re going to drag me to Queens tonight, huh?”

Pleasure bloomed inside him so swiftly that he didn’t have a chance in hell of steeling his features. “You’ll come?”

“How many of your siblings are going to be there?”

“All eight. The youngest, Tanya, is thirteen. Four more of them are still teenagers. A couple of the older ones have significant others and kids of their own.”

She only grimaced slightly. “And your mom? She’ll be there too?”

“Yes.” He reached up to cup her jaw. “I’ll make you a milkshake when we get home.”

Her laughter gusted across his cheek. “You think I’m easily wooed with cold products?”

He pulled her close and pressed his mouth to her forehead. “And hot.”

“Wise man. I guess I’ll go. But I haven’t finished all my instructional episodes of Sex For Newbies so you might want to take some extra vitamins with your Wheaties.”

“God, such a hard bargain you drive.”

She grinned. “A girl can only hope.”

* * *

She’d never been to Queens. She’d definitely never danced until her feet hurt in a sweaty middle school gym-slash-recreation center. She’d never been accepted into a huge family with almost no effort on her part.

And she’d never found herself ridiculously charmed by a man so different from her in almost every way that somehow they ended up being similar in their oddities.

“More punch, dear?”

Kim glanced up at Michael’s mother and tried not to shrink away from the endearing smile she wore. Darlene Montgomery appeared to dote on her children as well as the grands and assorted spouses and significant others. The only problem seemed to be that she liked partnering off her kids a bit too much. So far, she’d attempted to matchmake the nineteen-year-old with one of the catering staff and the twenty-two-year-old with one of the DJs. And she was absolutely elated at the idea of matching Kim to Michael, despite Kim’s increasingly frantic attempts to prove her unsuitability for Darlene’s son.

Too bad Darlene wasn’t having any of it.

“Oh no, I’m already into the hard stuff.” Kim lifted a flask she’d borrowed from Michael’s brother Billy for the sole reason of getting Darlene off the scent and took a bracing sip.

Darlene rubbed her hands. “Oooh, whatcha got? Can I have a sip?”

Kim handed over the flask without a word. It figured her son had hardly ever drunk before the last week yet his mom had no such reservations.

“Mmm.” She smacked her lips. “Bourbon. Haven’t had that in years. Good choice.”

Kim accepted the flask she passed back. “It’s extremely inappropriate for me to drink at a family get-together. I should be ashamed of myself.”

“Oh, pshaw to that. Look around. Everyone’s drinking and having a nice time. And that boy of mine.” She shook her head, clucking fondly.

Kim would’ve asked which of her boys she meant—she’d already met more of her children than she could remember—if she hadn’t followed the other woman’s gaze to where Michael crouched with brunette six-year-old twins, Esme and Abra, his sister Tanya’s kids. They were playing with some kind of tablet and squealing with laughter at whatever he was showing them. The grin on his face lit up the gym.

“He’s got a way with kids,” Kim commented. So odd he didn’t want any of his own. She supposed she had no room to talk since she’d been thrilled at the idea of being an aunt in spite of her decision to remain childless. A decision originally borne from pain that had eventually ended up being the right one for her.

Some people were meant to be aunts and uncles who spoiled kids rotten and some were meant to be parents. While others were stuck pretending they’d snuck in bourbon to prove they didn’t belong when a small, niggling part of them wanted nothing else.

“He always has. Even back when he was nothing but a young’un himself.” Darlene patted her large purple bouffant. It probably wasn’t actually a bouffant, just teased and sprayed to a volume Kim couldn’t get her own hair to reach.

The unusual hairstyle somehow matched Darlene’s painted-on jeans, ruffled blouse and cowboy boots. And the raucous smoke-tinged laughter that shook her body from boots to roots.

“He’s not exactly old now,” Kim said dryly. “Which reminds me. Do you know how old I am?” There, that should work to convince his mother that Kim was a black widow using sex and wiles to charm her wealthy eldest son.

“Sure I do. Michael said you were thirty-nine. I think that’s just great.”

Beam me up, Scotty. “You do?”

“Oh yeah.” Darlene slid her arm through Kim’s and marched her over to the other end of the refreshment table. She grabbed a handful of baby carrots sans dip and started munching with abandon. “I’m forty-six and in the market for a new bestie.”

Of course she was.

Time for a new tactic. “I already have a bestie. We’re kind of…exclusive besties.”

“Oh, we can just sneak around then on weekends and nights off. I won’t tell if you won’t.” Darlene hip-checked her and held out a carrot. “Veggie?”

“Not that one.” Kim shook her head and selected a celery stalk. Just to be spiteful she dipped the vegetable in ranch before she crunched in. She couldn’t give up this easily. Bad enough that she could tell Michael was heading down a dangerous path—one she’d already caught herself skipping along merrily when she wasn’t paying attention. His mother liking her too was simply unacceptable.

“I’m a serial dater,” she announced. “My ex-boyfriend said I broke his heart. I tend to like younger men and then when I get bored, I wander on to the next. I’m not a nice person. Everyone says so. Even my brother. He’s moving across the country to get away from me.” Not exactly true but desperate measures and all.

“Good for you, dear. About time those men get some of their own medicine. Why should they get to have all the fun?” Absently, Darlene patted her arm while seeking out someone across the room. “Gert, over here. I have someone I’d like you to meet. This is Kim, Michael’s girlfriend. She works at that big bird sanctuary over on 41. She brought me the cutest stuffed macaw.”

“Technically it wasn’t for you. It was for the twins—”

“Kim, this is Gertie, my older sister. She’s a bit of a wild card so watch out.”

“Oh, she’s lovely.” The woman who must be Gert rushed Kim in a football-style tackle, folding her in a welcoming embrace that smelled of talcum powder and heavy floral perfume. “Our Michael always had good taste.” Gert moved back and patted Kim’s cheeks.

“Nice to meet you, Gert. I’m not his girlfriend.” Kim glanced helplessly at Darlene, now chowing down on cherry tomatoes and broccoli florets. “I’m really not, I swear.”

“And a shy one at that. What a hoot.” Gert slapped her knee—actually slapped her knee—and demanded to see Darlene’s macaw.

From there, everything spiraled out of control.

By the time Michael found her drowning her sorrows in the punch bowl half an hour later, she’d committed to wallowing. She had failed, utterly. Part of the point of going there tonight had been to show to Michael and everyone else that she wasn’t girlfriend material. She sure as hell hadn’t been a decent wife. She’d tried. Oh she’d tried. Eventually it became easier to just cut her losses and walk.

She’d hoped to avoid that for Michael’s sake—and hers. She liked him enough to wish that this…ease between them would last forever. That things would never get messy or complicated or painful. But everyone kept insisting they were a couple. It had only been days since they’d met and still, Michael held her hand like she was more to him than a lover. More than a friend.

More than she dared to feel in return.

“Hey you. Having fun?” He slid his arm around her waist, tucking her into his side as if she weren’t almost as tall as he was and probably not all that far from his weight. She had a lot of curves. A lot of mileage. And the kind dark eyes that peered down into hers barely had any laugh lines.

“I’m not girlfriend material,” she insisted.

Instead of calling her out for being crazy—because let’s face it, she sounded a bit too panicked—he pulled her toward the dance floor. Saying nothing, he tugged her into his arms.

“This isn’t really my kind of dancing,” she began. Before she could finish, the song changed from hip hop to Frank Sinatra’s “Witchcraft” and she couldn’t hold back a laugh. Most of the younger couples around them groaned but after a minute or two, the grinders gave in and started slow dancing.

“Better?” He spun her out and back, catching her arms around her back while his mouth came down, feather soft, on hers. Taking away her answer and her reservations and replacing them with warmth.

Rather than Jay-Z or Pitbull, the song changed to Patsy Cline. That same laughter bubbled up, trapping in her throat as he started to sing in her ear about being crazy. His voice was surprisingly rich, skating over the words with a heat that didn’t fully explain the acceleration of her heart. She couldn’t stop staring up into the dark eyes that held her captive. He whirled her out and back, over and over again, making her dizzy, and she still couldn’t drag her gaze from his. He mouthed the words when their bodies separated, breathed them over the damp skin of her neck when they connected again. His hips slid against hers, his hard chest teased her nipples to sensitive points. Even his hand on the small of her back coaxed her need higher.

Every place they touched, sparks flew. From the way the color rose on his cheeks and his eyes turned bright, focusing on her as if she were the only one in the room, she knew she wasn’t alone in her feelings.

They danced for another half hour then clapped appreciatively as the graduation gifts were unveiled. Michael bought Tanya a fancy desk set with a monogrammed pen and other stationery items as well as a gift certificate to her favorite store. A generous gift certificate from all the chiding protests. Kim handed over her own hastily chosen present, a fancy business card holder she’d purchased that afternoon with Michael. She wasn’t sure if it was even the right thing for Tanya’s field but Tanya hugged her and squealed as if she’d given her a brick of gold.

Then Tanya’s boyfriend showed off his gift—an engagement ring. Tanya cried and laughed and everyone squealed, giving Kim and Michael a chance to make a graceful exit. That took a while, since Michael’s family was the size of a squadron and they all wanted to kiss Kim too. She couldn’t help being as enchanted by the Montgomerys as she was by Michael himself. It wasn’t hard to see where he’d gotten his amazing personality.

The ride home from Queens took a couple of hours. Once they arrived at Kim’s, she turned to him, prepared to thank him for a surprisingly wonderful night. Him heading home on his own made sense. He had work early in the morning. O’Halloran’s stayed open seven days a week.

But when he asked if she minded him staying over, she couldn’t say no. Couldn’t say anything at all as they wound their way up the stairs to her bedroom, passing the closed door of the master suite where she heard Brad and Sara’s quiet laughter.

In a few weeks she wouldn’t hear that sound anymore. There would be no more sounds at all she didn’t make herself.

She kept it together until they reached her bedroom and he quietly shut the door behind them. Then the tears came, hot and inexplicable, flowing over her cheeks. When he wrapped her in his arms, saying nothing, giving everything in his silence, she didn’t hold back. She slipped her arms under his jacket, encircling his waist, and pressed her face to his throat. He smelled of his mother’s cigarette smoke and the biting winter air and something richer, like a fire set to kindling in a hearth.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, though she wasn’t sure if she was sorry for what she’d already done or what she would do.

“Shh. It’s okay. I’m here.”

Yes. He was there. She reveled in that, even knowing it couldn’t last.

She couldn’t let it.