I don’t know that I’m getting the answer tonight.
Or that I mind.
10
Book Club Ladies Group Chat
CarolAnn: Dying here! Give us the details. Is everything firmed up for the wedding?
Miriam: Can you hear me squealing across town? It absolutely is. I can just picture them together having a dance, maybe a bite of Sara’s coconut cake, toasting to the happy new couple. It’s all so picture-perfect.
Sara: My heart is fluttering! (Though I’m not baking a cake for a wedding! Puh-leeze. That’s only for my man.) But this outcome almost makes me want to try to set up CarolAnn’s handsome paramedic nephew with my niece. You know, the one who works at Arden’s bookstore. What do you say?
CarolAnn: Yes! Madeline would be perfect for Hunter. He’s a teddy bear, and she’s a smarty-pants.
Miriam: Being a retired teacher, that’s my favorite kind of gal to set up. The paramedic and the bookstore gal are next on our list! Once this first project is complete, of course, in a few more days.
Sara: These youngsters just need a little nudge sometimes. And when they are so right for each other, they don’t always see what’s in front of their noses.
Miriam: Truer words. And you two may have given me a hard time about how long it took, but it never would have happened if we hadn’t intervened. Am I right?
Sara: Right, yes. Smooth, no.
Miriam: Smoothness is overrated. All that matters is these two young lovers are coming together! We simply had to be involved.
CarolAnn: They do need go-getters like us to move them along. And we know how to wring the most out of our lives.
Sara: Nobody does life better than us.
11
Vanessa
I dip a toe into the bubbling water. “It’s toasty,” I declare as stars twinkle in the inky sky. I shiver as the chilly night air wraps around me.
But I’ll be hot in seconds.
Shaw peers at the hot tub. “It damn well better be boiling since it’s colder than a polar bear’s pinkie outside.” He glances toward the back door—I wedged a brick in it. I’m no dummy. I’ve heard stories of people who freeze to death in outdoor hot tubs on back decks when the door locks behind them. The keys, bathrobes, and towels are all on a chair right outside the glass door.
Which is unlocked.
We’re triple-covered, though, because Shaw raps his knuckles on the window he’s also cracked open. “That way I won’t have to break out the ax and bust down the door if we did get locked outside.”
“But you could, right?” I untie the bathrobe and drop it on the wooden deck.
His eyes bulge.
“Could what?” He sounds transfixed.
I step into the hot tub, and I roll my hands, reminding him of the conversation. “You could break down a door or a window? That’s what you firemen do, right?”
“Yeah,” he draws out, as if the word stretches into the next century.
“Why do I get the feeling you lost the thread of the conversation and you’re staring at my boobs instead?”
Shedding his bathrobe, he steps into the tub as well. “Because I was. Because you’re fucking distracting. You’re naked and hot as hell. I can’t think about fireman stuff. I can’t think about anything but getting my hands on you again.”
That’s all I want too.
Once wasn’t enough to curb my desire for him. Once, as magnificent as that one time was, barely scratched the surface. As I sink into the decadently hot water that bubbles around us, he glides over to me, wraps his arms around my waist, and drops a delicious kiss to my lips.
I murmur, my eyes fluttering closed, goosebumps rising on my flesh.
This time, his kiss is soft, an exploration. Like he’s taking the time to get to know my mouth, my lips, my jaw. His lips skate over mine, travel across my face as if he’s marking me with kisses—with mind-bending kisses. I scoot closer, my wet, naked body pressed to him.
He slides his hands up my back, into my hair, then down again, cupping my ass. “You’re spectacular.”
My fingers have goals of their own, and they travel along his chest, across his shoulders, down his strong arms, tracing his muscles. “So are you.” I stop at the jagged white scar cutting from his stomach to his right hip. “I noticed this in the calendar.”
“You were looking at my calendar page?”
“Of course. You’re the hottest.”
“Damn straight.”
“Is it from work?”
He nods. “Fire at a winery. A beam fell. Hit me and ripped some skin.”
I wince. “Ouch.”
He shrugs like it