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  Nate might not be her husband or her lover, but he was her friend, and she no longer felt guilty for seeking comfort from him.

  Piper rested her hand on Nate’s chest, took in a soothing, deep breath, and settled in to finish their show.

  The sound of a satisfied moan woke Piper from her nap. At first, she’d forgotten where she was until she recognized the hard muscles under her head as she moved up and down from Nate’s breathing.

  She heard another moan coming from him, and then she opened her eyes and craned her neck to look up at him. Piper had slid down in her sleep until her head was pretty much on Nate’s stomach, but he had his head turned down and toward her. She could see he had fallen asleep, too.

  “Mmm…” Nate gasped.

  The next words out of his mouth didn’t make any sense, but she could tell by his tone that he was enjoying himself and whoever was in his dream with him.

  Afraid of waking him if she suddenly got up, she slowly rotated her head, so she was no longer looking at him in case he woke up. She moved until she was comfortable, and her nose was pointed at his feet, but when she realized what was right in front of her face, she sucked in a breath and froze.

  Nate was hard.

  And big.

  Good God.

  He moaned again, and Piper licked her lips.

  That feeling she’d had on Saturday when Nate pressed his sweaty chest against her was back. Only this time, it didn’t end at her belly. It kept going until the tingle stopped right between her legs.

  She hadn’t seen or touched a dick in over a year. And she hadn’t realized how much she missed it until now.

  Mesmerized by the hard-on straining against Nate’s zipper, she gradually reached a finger out to touch it.

  She was saved from doing anything inappropriate when Nate began to stir. Not knowing what else to do, Piper closed her eyes and pretended to sleep.

  When Nate had first met Piper, he’d noticed she was pretty and had a rocking body, but he’d immediately put her in the wife of a friend category.

  Then, when Jordan had died, Nate had felt guilty about his friend’s death. It wasn’t every day that a person was in a car accident with someone they cared about, watching the life leave their friend’s eyes before they went home from the hospital the next day. And, when Jordan had used the last of his strength to grasp Nate’s wrist and make Nate promise to take care of Piper, Nate had seen her as an obligation.

  But it hadn’t been long before Nate realized how cool Piper was, and even though he knew she was his buddy’s widow, he couldn’t help but start to see her as a woman.

  Piper was the type of female who always caught his eye. She was thick, just the way Nate liked woman to be. Piper would probably hate hearing him use that term because she had been brainwashed by the media into thinking that anything more than a size zero was a bad thing. But he liked his women to have meat on them. Skinny didn’t do it for him. Of course, a part of him thought all women were beautiful and all body types should be appreciated. But, if Nate had to pick, he’d pick someone just like Piper. Big booty and big breasts.

  And her breasts had been the bane of his existence for a while. He’d noticed them the moment he met her, and then after Jordan was gone, they had actually gotten bigger. The first time Piper had fallen asleep on the couch with him, he’d thought he might actually come in his pants. Something he hadn’t done since middle school.

  And then the dreams had come. For a long time, it seemed like he dreamed about her almost every night. And they definitely weren’t playing cards in his dreams.

  Thankfully, over time, he’d started to see her more and more as just a friend and less and less like a woman he would give his left nut to bang. He’d even gotten used to her body touching his without there being a sexual aspect.

  But, sometimes, like tonight, he would dream about her. She’d come to his house, wearing a sheer white blouse that only magnified her impressive rack. Sure, she had a tank top under it, but it didn’t stop her nipples from poking out just enough to get a man’s mouth to water. The sexiest thing about it was, she had no clue. He knew Piper well enough now to know that, if he pointed out her shirt to her, she’d be mortified. No, she wasn’t trying to dress provocatively at all.

  He’d done his best to ignore her body, like he always did, and when they’d lain back on the couch, he’d commanded his own body to concentrate on the show.

  But then he’d started falling asleep; all he could think about was her pillowy breasts pressed against his side, and it wasn’t long before she showed up in his dream. Naked.

  So, when he managed to shake off the effects of sleep, he wasn’t surprised in the least to see his fucking boner. Inches from her face.

  He groaned out loud with embarrassment, and Piper moved.

  “Shit,” he whispered as he frantically looked around. For what, he had no clue, but he couldn’t let her see his hard dick.

  He spotted movement out of the corner of his eye.

  “Fred,” he called out as loud as he dared.

  His cat stopped and looked at him.

  Nate patted his hip. “Come here, Fred.”

  It was times like these that Nate was grateful his cat was an attention whore and willing to do anything to have someone pet him.

  Fred jumped up onto Nate’s chest, and he nudged his cat down until he was lying down on his lap. Nate pushed Fred down and gave his head a couple of pets to get him to stay.

  Just in the nick of time, too, because Piper opened her eyes.

  “Hello, Fred,” she said and reached out a hand to stroke him.

  His cat immediately began to purr, but Nate didn’t miss the look Fred gave him, as if to say, You dirty dog, using me to cover up your hard-on from the lady.

  Nate wanted to remind Fred that the lady didn’t even like cats that much.

  “Did I fall asleep?”

  “Yeah. I did, too. I think we missed almost the whole episode.”

  Piper moved off him, giving Nate the opportunity to sit up and swiftly reposition himself before she turned to him.

  Fred jumped off his lap, turning to give him one last dirty look before sauntering away. Nate quickly grabbed the pillow that had been on his head and set it over his crotch.

  Piper finger-combed her long, dark hair with her fingers. She had once described herself as Black Irish, but he thought of her as more of a Snow White. She had black hair, pale skin, and red lips. Lips he had just dreamed were wrapped around—

  “I should get going,” Piper said with a yawn. “What episode were we on? I can go home and finish it.”

  Nate waved her off. “I fell asleep, too. We can finish it together tomorrow.”

  Piper grabbed her phone from the coffee table and looked at the time. “Probably a good idea. It’s late, and I have to be at work early.” She stood up and stretched her arms over her head.

  Nate, finally ready to move the pillow off his lap, got up from the couch to follow her to the door. But, before either of them moved, his phone rang.

  He looked at the display and groaned.

  “Who is it?”

  “My dad.”

  Piper put her hand on his arm. “You don’t have to answer that. You can always say you were already sleeping when he called.”

  Nate and Piper had been spending a lot of time together since Jordan’s death. Not only had she cried on his shoulder many a time, but he had confided in her about his mom’s death, his dad’s mental absence from Nate’s life, and his stepmom. She knew that he most likely didn’t want to take this phone call.

  “Might as well get it over with.” He swiped the green button on his phone. “Yeah?” he said by way of a greeting.

  “Nate, your dad here.”

  Nate rolled his eyes. “I do recognize your voice, you know. Plus, there is this new thing called caller ID.”

  Jerome Hall laughed nervously. Nate didn’t think the situation was funny in
the least. It was sad that a father couldn’t talk to his son with ease. Sometimes, they felt like they were strangers despite the fact that they had lived together in the same house for eighteen years.

  “Say, your mother would like you to come to dinner with the family on Saturday.”

  Nate scoffed. His mother. What a joke. The woman who had married his father would never be his mother—and not because Nate had rejected her. Sure, things were a lot better now between them than when his dad had married her, but it was too late for her to be any kind of a mom toward him.

  Opening his mouth to let his dad know how he felt about dinner with the family, he was stopped by the feeling of Piper taking his hand in hers. She was standing close enough to hear his dad through the phone, and it didn’t take a genius to read the look on his face.

  Nate closed his eyes and sighed. He opened them again and squeezed her hand.

  “Dad, I’m supposed to go to dinner with Geepa.”

  “Oh,” his father said. “Well…invite him along. We haven’t seen you in a while.”

  No way would he make his grandfather be his buffer. “I’ll talk to Geepa.” Instead, Nate would suck it up and go by himself.

  “Great,” his father said, his voice a little lighter. “See you at six.”

  Nate hit End on his phone and threw it on the couch.

  “You’re going to go to dinner, aren’t you?”

  “You know I am.”

  Piper let go of his hand, slipped her arms around him, and pulled him close. “You’re a good son,” she said against his chest.

  Nate hugged her back. “I don’t know about that. I just don’t want Dad bugging me. Plus, I haven’t seen Tiana in a while.”

  She tilted her head up and rested her chin on his sternum. “Well, at the very least, you’re a good brother.”

  He raised his brow. “Better than yours?”

  “Considering he tried to sell me automotive parts the last time I talked to him, yes.”

  Nate chuckled, and she laughed along with him. He looked into her eyes as she licked her lips, and suddenly, he realized she was in the perfect position for him to kiss her.

  Just like that, his dream returned to him, and he was very aware of her perfect breasts pushed against him.

  And he wasn’t the only one who was becoming aware.

  Nate dropped his hands from Piper and stepped back. “I’d better call Geepa and head to bed.”

  Piper tilted her head and smiled. “Okay.”

  Nate walked her to the door and said good-bye. He waited to make sure she got into her car before he went back to the den for his phone. He made a quick call to his grandfather about the change of plans. He, of course, understood.

  After hanging up, Nate lay back on the couch again to watch some television and settle his mind before going to bed. But, after thirty minutes, he gave up. He was still horny from his earlier dream and irritated from his previous discussion with his dad.

  He picked up his phone again and scrolled to the Vs. Vanessa picked up on the first ring.

  “Damn, that was fast.”

  She gave a throaty chuckle. “Maybe I was lying in my bed, touching myself, just hoping you’d call.”

  And this was why he’d called Vanessa. “I suppose that means you don’t feel like coming over.”

  “Baby, I always feel like coming for you.”

  Nate didn’t miss the double entendre. “Get your sexy ass over here then.”

  “I’ll be there in fifteen.”

  Fifteen minutes on the dot, Nate’s doorbell rang. He opened the door to find Vanessa standing there in an overcoat, high heels—she pulled the coat open—and her birthday suit.

  Dear Penthouse…

  Nate pulled her inside, pushed off her coat, and led her to the couch. He never took girls to his room. Even the ones like Vanessa, who knew they were nothing but occasional fuck buddies, still got the wrong idea sometimes.

  Vanessa pulled off his jeans, pushed him onto the couch, and rode him like a rodeo queen. She got off. Nate got off. Both were happy. When it was over, Nate ditched the condom, and Vanessa pulled on her overcoat.

  Nate told her good-bye and shut the door. He went upstairs, took a shower, crawled into bed, and went to sleep.

  The best part was that there were no dreams of Piper.

  It was almost six o’clock on Friday evening, and Piper was finishing up some work before she left for the weekend.

  “Hey, Piper.”

  She looked up to see her coworker, Lainey, at her desk. She was surprised she hadn’t noticed Lainey sooner. Lainey was almost six feet tall, sporting a pixie cut of bleach-blonde hair. Put that together with her eccentric dressing, just this side of professional, and she was a hard person to miss.

  “Hey, Lainey. What’s up?”

  Piper considered Lainey and a couple of the other girls her work friends. She had a great time working with them, but she didn’t hang out with them much outside of work.

  Lainey sat on the edge of Piper’s desk. “Kayla, Simone, and I are going to see this awesome cover band on Saturday night. Do you want to come with?” The eyebrows over her green eyes wiggled.

  Piper didn’t know what to say. She hadn’t really gone out and done something like see a band play since before Jordan passed away. And this was the first time a coworker had asked her to do something like this.

  “Are you sure?”

  Lainey laughed as if the question was ridiculous. “Of course. Remember how much fun we had at the company picnic last month?”

  They’d had a lot of fun, but a picnic was a lot different than, say, going to a bar, having drinks, and listening to loud music. And, truth be told, Piper just wasn’t sure she was ready to get out there again. Sure, it was hanging out with the girls; it wasn’t a date. But it was the potential to meet someone new, and she felt like she would be betraying her husband.

  “Can I think about it?” Piper asked.

  “Yes.” Lainey looked down at her shoes and back at Piper but didn’t say anything.

  “Go ahead and say it,” Piper said with a smile.

  Lainey could be blunt at times, and Piper could only imagine what her coworker was thinking.

  “I know you loved your husband, and still probably do, but you’re how old? Thirty?”

  “Twenty-nine.”

  “You still have a lot of life to live, and if the situation were reversed, would you want Jordan to sit around for the rest of his life, mourning you?”

  Piper swallowed, her heart heavy and her mind full.

  “Listen,” Lainey said, “just think about it, okay?”

  Piper nodded.

  Lainey smiled and rapped her knuckles on Piper’s desk before walking away.

  Lainey’s words resonated with Piper as she finished up her work and drove home. If the situation were reversed, there was no way she would want Jordan to spend the rest of his life alone, pining for his dead wife.

  Has enough time passed?

  Piper had looked up grief on the internet on a few occasions, but of course, the answer was that there was no set amount of time that one had to grieve and that everybody was different.

  But am I ready?

  When Piper got home, Nate’s truck was already in her driveway, and Luke’s SUV was parked on the street in front of her house. She’d almost forgotten they were going to finish up a part of the backyard project tonight.

  Piper didn’t know if she was happy for the distraction from her thoughts or if she was wishing they weren’t there so that she could be alone. Maybe she shouldn’t have given Nate free access to her house to come and go as he pleased.

  Her garage door was already open, so she pulled right in. When she got out of her car, she could hear banging and other noises coming from the backyard, telling her that the guys were already hard at work. Piper decided she would go in and change clothes and maybe collect her thoughts before she went to say hi to them
.

  The evening was surprisingly pleasant for a Minnesota summer. Either Nate or Luke had left her back door open for the cool breeze to travel through her screen door.

  Piper entered through her screen door and made sure to carefully close it, so it didn’t bang against the doorframe, just in case the guys could hear in the back. Her garage door opened into her kitchen, but before that, off to the right, was a mudroom and laundry room combo. That door was closed, which was weird because Piper only closed that door if the washer was running. She supposed that maybe Nate or Luke was using her laundry facilities, but they never had before.

  Taking a step closer, Piper listened for the sound of the washing machine or dryer and was just about to reach up and push the door open when she heard giggling.

  “Come on, Luke. Please.”

  “Elise, don’t look at me like that. You know it’s hard for me to tell you no.”

  “Good. Now, take your pants off and fuck me.”

  “Elise.”

  Elise didn’t respond right away, and Piper couldn’t be sure, but it sounded like clothing was being shuffled around. And then…

  “Ohhhhh. Yes.”

  That was Elise.

  “Damn, I think I like you pregnant.”

  Elise chuckled, but the laughter turned into a moan. “Harder, Luke. Please, I need it.”

  A grunt came from the other side of the door and then the sound of squeaking from either the washer or the dryer.

  Piper took a step closer just as she heard Nate shout, “Luke,” from the backyard.

  She jumped a foot in the air and quickly stepped away from the laundry room.

  Holy hell.

  Had she just been listening to two of her friends having sex? And she was pretty sure that, if Nate hadn’t said anything, she would have put her damn ear to the door to listen for more. When had she become such a voyeur?

  When Nate walked in from the backyard through the sliding glass door Piper was pretty sure her face was the color of a tomato, going by the fact that she felt like it was on fire.