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  She frowned. “I’m not short.”

  Luke laughed, and Nate shot him a look.

  “Oh my God,” she said with realization.

  Nate had told Luke about last night.

  “Hey, don’t sweat it. Nate thought it was awesome,” Luke said. “Besides, I owe Nate. He called Elise FB for months.”

  “FB?”

  “Fuck Buddy,” Luke explained.

  Piper narrowed her eyes at Nate. “I cannot believe you told Luke.”

  Nate shrugged. “Sorry, he’s my person,” he said in a clearly teasing tone.

  Luke pointed his finger at Nate. “Don’t you ever say some girlie shit like that again.”

  Nate grinned.

  “And how dare you mention that sorry excuse for a ‘medical’”—Luke used air quotes and practically spit out the word medical—“show in my presence.” He turned and stomped back outside.

  “Jeez. What’s his problem?” Piper asked.

  Nate shrugged. “Luke hates Grey’s Anatomy and pretty much every other medical show. He can’t watch it without listing everything they do wrong.”

  “Luke watches Grey’s Anatomy?” she asked disbelievingly. Grey’s was more of a chick show.

  Nate laughed. “No. Elise watches it. Luke just bitches about it.”

  “That makes more sense.”

  Piper walked around Nate and filled up her coffee. “I’m going to go shower,” she said as she left the kitchen.

  “Okay…Squirt.”

  Nate was lying on Piper’s couch while trying to keep his eyes open. Piper was in the kitchen, finishing up dishes from their dinner of homemade mac and cheese and grilled chicken. She’d pretty much kicked him out after he dropped a glass on the floor and then a plate in the sink. His only excuse was that he was tired.

  Nate had met Luke pretty early in the morning to get a good day’s work in. Luke and Elise had early dinner plans, so he’d known they’d have to quit early. It had been worth it though because they’d gotten a lot done. They only worked on weekends, so it was a slow process overall. Plus, Nate was going out of town the next weekend and didn’t want to get behind.

  The original project that he had planned out with Jordan was to tear down the old rotted deck and build a new one. Nothing fancy, just a basic structure that was big enough to hold a grill and a patio set. But, somewhere along the way, Nate had upped the design. The main deck was twice the original size with a pergola and secondary deck off the side that held a screened porch. He was also building a fire pit because who didn’t like a nice fire pit in Minnesota? He was working with a landscape designer to put on the final touches.

  Piper hadn’t asked for any of the extra stuff and would probably insist on paying him and Luke, but he wanted the backyard to be perfect for her, and he refused to take her money. And he would pay Luke if it came down to it, not Piper. Nate knew he was doing it partly out of guilt for his role in her husband’s death, but it didn’t stop him from continuing on with the project.

  Nate yawned and let his eyes drift shut for a couple of minutes.

  But today’s excursions were only part of the reason Nate was exhausted. He was also tired because he hadn’t gotten much sleep last night.

  After he and Piper had had sex—after they’d had mind-blowing, amazing sex—he hadn’t been able to sleep. When he’d come out of the bathroom, he’d seen that Piper had already closed her eyes, and it had been only minutes later when her breathing deepened.

  He wasn’t used to being the one who stayed awake while his partner fell asleep. Nate rarely ever spent the night with someone, but it did happen every once in a while, and he always fell asleep without any problems.

  Not last night. He would like to attribute the reason he had been awake was because he’d already been sleeping for an hour or two before Piper got to his house, and his body had thought a good nap was all it needed.

  But he knew it was really because the two of them had actually done the deed. Never in Nate’s wildest dreams would he have thought that Piper would wake him up and ask him to take her.

  And then, when he’d pushed into her sweet, wet heat, it had nearly blown his head clean off. He’d gone slowly because he knew she hadn’t had sex in a long time, but that wasn’t the only thing that had factored into it. She had been so tight from not having sex in so long that he was afraid he would come before the show even officially started.

  Thank God Piper had no idea. He had a reputation to uphold. And it wasn’t one pump and dump. Nate would like to blame it on the fact that most of his sexual partners were as sexually active as he was, and their bodies were more used to having sex, but he knew that was only part of why he’d almost come so fast. The other part was that it was Piper he had been in bed with.

  He had told her last night that he didn’t want anything to change between them, and he’d been serious. But then, this morning, she had practically jumped five feet in the air when she realized that he was in the kitchen. And, aside from the little teasing he and Luke had given her, they hadn’t discussed what had happened last night at all.

  Piper had made sure they watched TV with the volume on high while they had dinner, so they couldn’t talk about anything. But Nate knew she couldn’t avoid it forever. They would have to have a conversation eventually. He wasn’t about to lose their friendship over some sex. Even if it had been phenomenal.

  Nate felt more than heard Piper come into the living room. She paused when she reached the couch he was lying on, but she didn’t say anything. He kept his eyes closed a little longer to see what she would do.

  He heard her sigh, and he was afraid she’d leave the room again, so he opened his eyes and said, “I’m awake.”

  “Oh,” she said.

  Nate swung his legs off the sofa and sat up. He patted the cushion next to him. “Go ahead and sit.”

  Piper hesitated and then pointed behind her. “Well, I should—”

  Nate cut her off, “Piper?”

  “Yes?”

  “You’ve been avoiding me all day. Don’t you think we should talk about what happened last night?”

  Her cheeks immediately flushed pink, and Nate had to try really hard to pretend he didn’t notice, or he’d laugh.

  She was just so damn cute.

  A few more seconds passed, and it seemed like she wasn’t going to say anything, whether out of embarrassment or other reasons. It was up to him to address the issue.

  “Piper, sit down, please.”

  She sat.

  “You’re obviously feeling something about what happened last night.”

  This awkwardness and talking about feelings was why Nate didn’t do relationships. It usually made him uncomfortable. One-night stands and occasional fuck buddies were much easier. Hello, have sex, shake hands, say good-bye. Done.

  But, because this situation involved Piper and she was his friend or because he knew she wouldn’t want to get serious when she still loved her husband, Nate didn’t feel all that uneasy.

  “Well…I don’t…” Piper started and failed.

  Nate chuckled. “Do you regret what happened last night?” He decided to confront the whole thing head-on.

  Piper’s eyes widened, and then she looked confused. “No. Not at all.”

  The sense of relief that went through Nate surprised him. And it left him a little troubled. “Then, what’s wrong? Are you afraid it will happen again?”

  “No. That didn’t even cross my mind as something to be worried about.”

  “Then, why have you been avoiding me?”

  She held up a finger. “I would just like to point out that you were outside all day.”

  “And you were inside,” he pointed out. She wouldn’t spend all day in the backyard when he was working, but she normally came out several times during the day. “And then there was dinner and the incredibly loud television.”

  She winced. That was enough to confirm he was right.r />
  “Spill it,” he told her.

  “I can’t believe you’re going to make me say it.”

  He had thought it was impossible, but she turned even redder.

  He leaned closer and grabbed her hand. “Please don’t feel like you can’t talk to me about anything. I can tell you’re embarrassed. I’m not going to tell you not to be because you get to feel how you feel, but know I won’t judge you.”

  “Really? Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure.” He let go of her hand and sat back.

  She sighed again and opened her mouth. “I’m embarrassed about what happened when I”—she sucked in a breath—“orgasmed last night,” she quickly finished.

  Nate had thought about that moment and how fucking amazing it was. He didn’t know if he had ever made a woman come that hard before. A lesser man would have bragged about it to all his friends. That meant that Nate had no idea what she was struggling with.

  “I’m sorry, Piper, but you’re talking to a man. You have to spell it out for us guys. We don’t pick up on beating around the bush well.”

  Piper closed her eyes and made an exaggerated crying face. She opened her eyes and said, “The part where I…” She used her hands to motion in between her legs, spreading them in a V shape several times, and then she flicked her fingers like there was water on the tips.

  Nate burst out laughing.

  Piper narrowed her eyes at him. “It’s not funny.”

  “It kind of is,” Nate barely said through his laughter. He held up a finger to indicate he needed a minute before he could fully speak. “Oh my God, Piper, what you did last night—”

  “When I squirted. All over you,” she cried out. At least her anger had made her less embarrassed.

  “Yes, when you squirted. That was fucking amazing. That is something many guys strive for, yet few achieve.”

  “Really?” The anger had left her now.

  “Well, at least any guy who wants to make a woman happy in bed.”

  Piper fell back against her seat. “Wow.” She looked at him. “So, you’re saying, I shouldn’t be embarrassed.”

  “Hell no,” he said kind of harshly. He didn’t like it when she felt insecure. “I personally hope it happens again.”

  She raised her brow. “You hope it happens again?”

  He shrugged. “Yeah. As long as you’re up for it. I was a little disappointed in how you crashed on me.” He looked up to the ceiling, as if he had a serious thought. “Oh gosh, maybe that means I wasn’t any good.”

  She pushed him. “Shut up. You know it was good. I squirted, for heaven’s sake.”

  Nate looked at her and grinned. “I know.”

  She shook her head, but she smiled back. “You’re horrible.”

  “Yeah, I know that, too.” He tilted his head. “So, does that mean you want me to go, or do you want me to stay?”

  Monday morning, Piper stared out her front window while she sipped her coffee. The weekend had been great weather-wise, but today was promising to be hot and humid. The kind of day where your clothes stuck to your skin.

  Yuck.

  Thankfully, Piper worked in an air-conditioned office. She scanned the neighborhood. It was the sort of day where even the kids didn’t want to go outside.

  She was about to turn and finish getting ready for the day when her eyes landed on the mailbox. She’d forgotten to check the mail Friday and Saturday, and she’d promised her mom she’d watch for her wedding invitation.

  Piper set her mug down on the table at the front entrance and braced herself to go outside. It was already muggy out, but at least the temperature hadn’t risen to the high for the day. She probably shouldn’t complain at all after the long winter they’d had.

  When she reached the box on the street, she retrieved her mail and quickly flipped through it. No invitation. But she did get two credit card bills. Yay.

  “Yoo-hoo.”

  Piper looked up from her mail.

  “Oh, Piper, dear.”

  It was her neighbor, Mrs. Grant.

  Piper walked toward the elderly woman to meet her on the lawn. “Hi, Mrs. Grant.”

  Mrs. Grant was a tiny woman. Piper guessed she couldn’t be any taller than five feet, and she was skin and bones.

  She put her hand on Piper’s arm. “Dear, I was wondering if you would be willing to come with me to church on Sunday.” The older woman looked so hopeful.

  “Oh…um…”

  Piper had grown up, going to church and Sunday school, but her parents hadn’t raised her to be overly religious. As a result, she’d pretty much stopped attending church on a weekly basis after college. It hadn’t helped that Jordan’s family was a church on Christmas and Easter kind of family. Because of this, she liked to think of herself as more spiritual than religious.

  After Jordan had passed away, Mrs. Grant had tried to get Piper to go to church with her. It had been hard though because Piper was mad at God for a long time for taking her husband away from her. Whether it was fair or not, God had received a large amount of her wrath.

  Some of her anger had left her during the past few months, but that didn’t mean she wanted to go to church with Mrs. Grant. The two of them had almost nothing in common, and Piper could only imagine the stiff, traditional service Mrs. Grant attended. She’d bet her car that almost everyone was similar in age to Mrs. Grant, too.

  Mrs. Grant’s face fell. “Oh. Well, after Saturday night, I thought maybe you’d changed your mind about church.”

  Piper ran through everything that had happened on Saturday. She could not come up with one single thing that her neighbor could be referring to. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Grant, I am not sure what you mean.”

  The elderly woman turned red. “I apologize, dear, but I was eavesdropping. I didn’t mean to hear you praying, but your window was open, and so was mine.”

  “Praying?” Piper asked, having no idea what her neighbor was talking about. Maybe she should mention something to Mrs. Grant’s daughter the next time she visited about getting her mom checked for dementia.

  “Yes. I heard you say, ‘Oh God, I’m coming.’ You said this several times, each time louder than the last.”

  Piper might not be going to church, but she was praying pretty hard at the moment that the ground would open up and swallow her up.

  She knew the exact moment the woman was referring to. Nate had been lying on his back, and she had been straddling him. She really liked Nate’s take-charge attitude in bed, but she also liked that he was man enough to let her be on top and take the lead. It hadn’t been long before she was coming all over him and, yes, crying out as she came. She hadn’t even known what had spewed out of her mouth at the moment. Until now, that was.

  The older woman kept talking, oblivious to Piper’s mortification. “I thought you meant you were coming to church. But I didn’t see you at church.”

  How in the hell was she supposed to tell her elderly neighbor that she hadn’t heard Piper praying, but heard Piper having sex?

  Is she really that clueless?

  Piper looked the lady up and down. Yeah, she probably hadn’t had sex since 1762 and had no idea what people did in their bedrooms nowadays.

  But that didn’t help her get out of this conversation. So, Piper did what any other trapped female would do.

  She lied.

  Piper put her hand to her ear. “Oh, I hear my phone ringing. I’m expecting an important call,” she said as she walked backward toward her house. “We’ll talk again.”

  Mrs. Grant put her hand in the air. “But, Piper, dear—”

  “Sorry, gotta go.” Piper turned around and ran. The second she was through the front door, she slammed it behind her.

  She reached for her phone and pulled up Nate in her text messages.

  Piper: We are never having sex AGAIN!

  Nate: What happened?

  She could almost hear the sigh in his voice. He knew
her well enough to know that she wasn’t mad at him or anything, and it warmed her heart. But she wasn’t going to let it deter her from her current mission of telling Nate how embarrassed she was.

  Piper: Mrs. Grant heard us having sex. Actually, she heard me orgasming. She thought I was praying!!!

  Nate: Bwaha-haha-haha!

  Piper: That’s not funny!

  Nate: Yes, it is.

  Piper scowled at her phone.

  Piper: That’s it. Friendship over.

  Nate: No, it’s not.

  Piper: Yes, it is. I don’t want to see you anymore.

  Nate: Yes, you do. I’ll be there on Wednesday.

  Piper: Maybe I just won’t show up.

  Nate: It’s your house.

  Piper stomped her foot.

  Piper: Fine. I’ll see you on Wednesday.

  Nate: