My heart skips in my chest as understanding dawns. “Why don’t you two have a seat.”
“Take your boots off first,” Nate instructs, and they do as their told. They join me at the table, and both cross their arms. Nate stands at the door and jams his hands in his pants pocket.
“What are your names?”
“Brett,” the older boy says.
“Liam,” the younger one adds.
“Were you two close to Gram?” I ask gently, as I cross my legs and place my hands on the table.
“Yes,” they say in unison, and my heart squeezes in my too-tight chest.
“I bet she loved you two. She always wanted grandsons.” That makes them smile a bit. “Let me guess—after school, she made you chocolate chip cookies.” They both sit up a little straighter and nod. “I have her recipe.” With a tip of my head, I gesture toward the cupboard. “Maybe someday we can put those eggs to better use. I don’t think Gram would appreciate you using them on her house.”
“But we don’t want you to sell it,” Liam whines.
I swallow against the pain in my throat. “I miss her, too.” I put my hand over my heart, and it pounds against my palm. “I miss her so much, but this, what you’re doing, isn’t going to bring her back.” Water forms in the younger boy’s eyes, and tears pound behind my own. “Maybe whoever buys this place will have boys you can play with.” I look at Brett. “Or maybe a girl will move in.” I don’t miss the way his lips twitch.
“Sorry,” Brett says. “We’ll clean up the mess.”
“Yeah, sorry,” Liam adds, taking a cue from his older brother.
“I’m going to walk these two home,” Nate says, “and have a talk with their grandparents.”
“You might want to stop in and say hello to Bridgette, too,” Brett says, snorting as he pushes from his chair, his heart a tiny bit lighter than when he first arrived, and I’m glad I could help with that.
Nate stays firm and focused. “Just so we’re clear, you’re going to make this up to Kira. I have some work that needs doing around this place, and you’re both going to help.”
Mumbles and grumbles come from the boys as Nate marches them outside. I can’t help but smile as I watch them go. He’d make a good father, despite his own being mostly absent from his childhood. As the door shuts behind them, I glance at the clock. With a little time before I need to start getting ready, I make a cup of tea and head back into the office. Nate comes through the door and peeks his head into my den.
“Have you solved your quantum verification problem yet?” he asks.
I glance at him, but from his question, it’s obvious he was listening to me, or at least trying to. Strong, supportive, attentive Nate. That’s a dangerous combination right there.
“Not that easy,” I say.
“I know, just checking in on you. Did you have lunch?”
“I met Ralph and Mindy at the Anchor today.”
He hovers in the door, his big body eating up the small space and overwhelming me a bit. Today he has a bit of scruff on his face, but it doesn’t detract from his attractiveness. It only enhances it. Perhaps he’s going to grow a beard with the colder weather coming.
“Right, you mentioned that to me.”
“There was a big pickle jar, very similar to the ones Gram has, on the bar top. Do you know anything about that?”
He holds his hands up, palms out. “You’ll have to ask one of the guys about that.”
“Nate…”
“Innocent,” he says, and I shake my head.
“Faith stopped by this morning. She was checking to make sure we were still on for tonight, and then she invited me on a Pathfinders survival night in the woods.”
“You should go.”
“And you should get a brain scan for even suggesting that.”
He laughs. “I’m sure we could round you up a tent.”
“I am not sleeping in a tent in below-zero temperatures.”
“What if I snuck in and kept you warm?”
“Well…”
He glances over his shoulder like he’s making sure the coast is clear, then takes a measured step toward me. Breath leaves my lungs because I recognize that look on his face. As a matter of fact, I love that look, love that it’s me who can put it there. As his presence engulfs me, his mouth lowers, devours mine, as he picks me up like I weigh nothing. He brings his body flush up against mine and sets me on the desk. Widening my quivering legs, he climbs between them, as his tongue seeks mine for a slow, leisurely taste.
I moan into his mouth and slide my hands around his body, to touch him all over. We’ve had sex nearly every night since that first time, but there’s a new hunger, a new urgency about him. Perhaps because it’s the light of day, and we’re going to do it in my office. It’s naughty, exciting, and completely out of character for me. Then again, I’ve been out of character since I’ve first met this hot fisherman.
“I need to be in here,” he says and puts his hand between my legs, rubs me through my jeans. “It’s all I could think about today, and it’s distracting me from my work.”
Need unfurls inside me. “We can’t have a distracted, Nate,” I tease, noting how at ease I am with him, how I can do or say things I normally wouldn’t. He somehow brings that out in me. Perhaps it’s because we’re simply enjoying each other, and he doesn’t have some secret agenda, or perhaps it’s because he appreciates me as a woman, not a lab coat.
“No, we can’t.” He unhooks my button, and my zipper hisses as he pulls it down. “What about you, Kira? Have you been thinking about my cock?”
“I have,” I say honestly, loving the dirty, blatant way he talks to me. “For some reason, I can’t get enough of you. I believe you just might have ruined me.” He chuckles into my mouth. Only problem is, I’m not really kidding. That thought evaporates as he slides a hand into my panties and brushes his finger over my cleft.
“Nate,” I moan at that furtive caress. Deft fingers sweep my sex, and I put my hands behind me, flatten them on the desk for leverage and lift myself, giving him better access to my body.
“You have been thinking about me,” he says, and dips into my hot core, which is now damp with need.
“I don’t lie,” I murmur. “Honesty is important to me.”
“Good. Then tell me what you’ve been thinking about doing?”