“So you’re excited to be going back home soon, then?” Damien approached, Mary along with him.

“Thing is? I am. I know my toddler is running around and getting into everything, dancing and singing. This is what happens when you settle down. I miss my gorgeous wife and my kids. My son who is now three inches taller than I am. He’s more like his uncle Brody every freaking day. Miles just chose a college. A college. This kid thing happens really fast, Mary. Take lots of pictures because you blink, and they’re driving and leaving home.”

Paddy turned to Natalie. “Adrian Brown, this is Natalie Clayton.”

She held her hand out, and Adrian shook it. “Hey, I’ve heard all about you. Mary is pretty tight with my wife and they talk about you, so I hear about it that way.”

Mary sighed and patted Natalie’s arm. “That sounds worse than it is. He means I tell Gillian, who’s one of my very best friends, how wonderful I think you are.”

“Sorry! Didn’t mean for that to sound weird.”

Natalie blinked, blushing and smiling, and Paddy put an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close.

They chatted, and Jeremy showed up with some champagne and some sparkling cider for Ezra.

Paddy needed to talk to his brother about all that had happened that night. Honestly. Because having Ezra up there with them had been so good, but not at the expense of his brother’s hard-fought mental and physical health.

* * *

AN HOUR OR so later, Adrian had left to go back home. Jeremy was off to visit with another client, and it was time to wrap up and head back to Hood River.

“I wish you could drive home with me.” He kissed her temple.

“Tuesday and I rode in together. Anyway, you probably need to decompress and what do they call it—debrief—after tonight with your brothers, as well.”

She was right.

“You’ll come to me, though? After you drop Tuesday off at home?” She had the following day off, and he was quickly getting used to waking up with her in his bed.

“Yes.”

“Let’s all walk out together, then.”

They rounded everyone up and headed toward the door.

They walked down that noisy hallway. A woman stepped in front of him with a smirk. “Hey, Paddy. You and your friend here want some company?”

“Uh. No thanks. I’ve got plenty.” He looked to Natalie with a smile, but she did not look happy at all and he got that, too.

He kept himself between Natalie and the other woman, and they went outside. He helped her into her coat.

“We’re right over there.” She pointed to her car. Tuesday gave Mary a hug and made her way over to where he stood with Natalie at her car.

He got close enough to whisper. “Sorry about that out there.”

“We’ll talk about it later.”

Uh-oh.

“Okay. I’ll see you in a little while.”

“Yes.”

He took her chin, tipping it so he could meet her eyes. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

He brushed a kiss against her mouth and she kissed him back, so whatever she wanted to talk about, it didn’t preclude a kiss.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

SHE DROVE EAST, and Tuesday broke into her thoughts. “So, what’s going on with you? That face isn’t your happy one.”

“You first! Oh, my God. I can’t believe you held back about Ezra. Tell me every last detail right this moment.”

“You’re a bossy bitch.”

“Damn right I am. Holder backer! You’re a holder backer. Jeez.”

“That’s such a dumb insult, I can’t even be mad at it. You have a master’s degree, and that’s the best you’ve got?”

“You’re ducking the subject.”

Tuesday sighed. “I don’t even know what’s going on with me. I haven’t told you because I don’t know what to think. He’s... Oh, my God, he’s so intense. I get near him and he looks at me and I can’t hear anything else. I can’t feel anything else. I see him. I hear him. He listens to me like there’s no one else in the world.”

“Did you do the sex with him?”

Tuesday burst out laughing at their longtime joke.

“No! We bumped into each other last week. He was in town, and I was walking from the shop to my car, and we saw each other on the street. And then we had dinner and then he walked me back to my car, and he kissed me.”

“You kissed Ezra? Oh, my God! I can’t believe you got your mouth up in all that, and you didn’t say a word. I am so mad at you, but I’m willing to put it aside if you tell me how he kisses.”

“How do you think he kisses? First. He smells really good. Not like leather and man or whatever, but he has this cologne and it smells like sex. And so does he. Also, he’s superwarm. I was shivering. He opened his coat. He didn’t even say anything. He just opened it and looked at me, and I walked into him, and he closed it and he had a hard-on. And then I was like, hello, sailor, and I looked up and he was looking at me, and he kissed me.”

She took a breath as Natalie drove, impatiently waiting for the next part of the story.

“I’ve never in my life been kissed like that before. He just...got up in there and took over. He’s the best kisser. The. Best.”

“Why do you sound so miserable?”

“What about Eric, Nats? Huh? What about him?”

And suddenly, her annoyance about groupies and that whole backstage business was swept aside by something real. Something deeper.