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  It didn’t matter, I told myself. It was only a movie. We were only hesitantly dating, I thought, refusing to contemplate how deep I’d already fallen. I turned off the ringer and tucked my phone into my purse as the lights dimmed for the previews.

  Just as the movie itself started, a shadow slipped into the seat beside me. Creeped out, annoyed, knowing there were probably no other empty seats in the whole theater, I turned my body slightly away as I gave the intruder a fake smile. Then a real one, along with a gasp of surprise that was fortunately covered up by the giant robot’s first appearance in a crash of cinematic thunder that rumbled the theater’s speaker system.

  Niall leaned into my ear. “I made it.”

  * * *

  We took William and his friends to the food court after the movie for whatever kind of food they wanted, an offer from Niall that amused me so much I could only laugh and shake my head as the four boys took off to four separate places. Niall laughed with me. He pointed in the direction of the food court.

  “You, too,” he said. “Whatever you want.”

  “Oh, hey, fancy.”

  “Hey, when you go out with me, you get the full royal treatment.” We followed the path of the boys so that Niall could pick up the tab for each of them. When he turned to me, though, I shook my head again.

  “I’m not hungry. I had dinner before the movie then candy.” I laughed at his expression. “But you eat, if you want to. I have to wait for William to finish anyway.”

  Niall ordered from the Indian place, and we sat at a small table across from each other and next to the boys. I didn’t make a big deal out of watching them, but it was something of a relief to see my nephew laughing and joking around for what felt like the first time in a year. When I glanced back to Niall, he was giving me a curious look.

  “What?” I asked, and stabbed a bite of his curried rice.

  “He looks like you.” Niall gave a surreptitious nod toward William.

  I laughed. “He’s my twin brother’s kid. Makes sense.”

  “You’re a good aunt.” Niall dug through a pile of rice and took a bite, grains tumbling from his mouth to the plate as he tried not to let them.

  I handed him a napkin. “Thanks. He’s a great kid. And since he’s the closest I’ll probably ever get to one of my own...”

  “You think so? How come? You don’t want any kids?” Niall wiped his mouth clean, which drew my attention to his lips and made me want to kiss him.

  I restrained myself. “I don’t really think I’d be the greatest mom. You have to be pretty unselfish to have a kid, I think. If you want to be a good parent.”

  “You don’t think you’re unselfish?”

  I shrugged. “No. I don’t think I’m unselfish.”

  “Do you think you’re more selfish than normal?” Niall pushed his plate toward me with a raised brow, inviting me to sneak another bite.

  I didn’t, though I liked that he’d offered. “Maybe.”

  I looked up to see him looking thoughtful. Under his scrutiny, I felt warm and flushed, watched and somehow weighed. I’d looked at men that way, I realized, but I couldn’t ever remember anyone ever taking the time to study me with such intent.

  “I don’t think you are,” Niall said. “You’ve been pretty generous, in my experience.”

  Before I could answer that, William’s friends collectively got up to leave, and he crossed to our table.

  “Their moms are here,” he explained.

  “We should get you home. It’s getting late, and I have to work in the morning.”

  It pleased me and made me proud that I didn’t have to remind William to thank Niall for the food. The three of us went out to the parking lot together, but Niall had parked in a different section of the lot. William asked for my keys so he could go on ahead and get in the car while we said our goodbyes.

  “The kid’s smart,” Niall said, watching William head for my car. “Considerate enough to give us time to smooch.”

  “He just doesn’t want to see it.”

  Niall pulled me into his arms. “Has he had to watch you kissing lots of men?”

  “No.” I let him tug me closer. “I haven’t had a boyfriend around him in...well, ever, I guess.”

  “No?” Niall looked surprised.

  I shook my head. “Nope.”

  “So how come you invited me along tonight?”

  “I wanted to see you,” I told him. “And I didn’t think it was a big deal.”

  Niall squinched an eye closed to look at me. “Huh. Not sure if I like that or not. I’m not a big deal or not a boyfriend.”

  I’d been leaning to kiss him, but now stopped. I’d asked him this before, and come to think of it, he hadn’t exactly answered. “Do you want to be a boyfriend?”

  “I am kind of a big deal,” he said.

  I laughed a little uncertainly. “Niall.”

  He kissed me hard enough to make me feel it, but briefly enough that we weren’t making a spectacle of ourselves. His hands settled naturally on my hips. I looked toward my car, but William must already have gotten in, because I didn’t see him. I looked back at Niall.

  “Boyfriend is...a word.”

  He smiled. “Yeah. It’s just a word.”

  I tried to take a step back, but he didn’t let me go. I put my hands over his to get him to release his grip. He did, then, but linked his fingers with mine to trap me.

  “Okay,” he said. “Just thought I’d toss it out there. See what you’d say. I mean, some girls, you take them out once, and they’re picking out china patterns and talking about the catering menu.”

  “Girls like the ones who broke your heart?” I kissed him, and this time I was the one making it fierce but brief. I couldn’t stop myself from nipping his lower lip lightly as I pulled away. Not enough to hurt him, but enough to...what? I didn’t know. Show him who was boss? Make him forget there’d ever been a woman before me? This conversation had unexpectedly disgruntled me.

  “Anyway,” he continued, rubbing his thumb along his lower lip while his eyes gleamed and didn’t leave mine. “You’re the girl who takes lovers instead of boyfriends, isn’t that right?”

  He was poking at me, teasing, and unexpected heat rushed through me. My nipples tightened. The seam of my jeans rubbed me with a delicious pressure, and my breath caught.

  “Yes. That’s what I told you.”

  No music, no steps. We weren’t even moving, but this was a dance all the same. Or maybe it was more like a sword fight. Thrust and parry. Dodge and weave.

  “Thanks for asking me to the movies,” Niall said and took a step back. Then another. He put his hands in his pockets and gave me a slow, sly smile that made me want to chase after him and push him up against the wall and have my way with him. “It was fun.”

  “Thanks for coming. And for treating William and his friends.”

  “I’ll call you,” Niall said then pivoted and stalked away without looking back.

  I watched him, though, waiting to see if he’d turn at least once. He didn’t, which was the worst and best thing he could’ve done, whether he knew it or not. Because I wanted him to look back at me, of course. Wanted him to want me enough to look even if he didn’t want to. But I also wanted him to be the sort of man who didn’t have to.

  What the fuck was happening to me?

  “Is he your boyfriend?”

  The first words out of William’s mouth when I got in the car stumped me. I put the key into the ignition and started the engine before I twisted in my seat to answer him. “No. Why?”

  “He’s cool.” William shrugged. “He works with Dad.”

  “I know.” I drove for a bit before saying, “What made you ask me if he was my boyfriend?”

  William shrugged, looking totally uninterested. “I don’t know. I heard my mom saying she thought you needed to spend more time on your own boyfriend than worrying about what everyone else was doing.”

  The way he said it, so carefully without lookin