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Colt leaned against one of the uprights of the swings frame and crossed his ankles. He stuffed his hands into his pockets. How had he not noticed Ashley before? The man made him laugh, smile, think…horny as hell. God, he hoped the bulge behind his zipper wasn’t that obvious—not yet. He’d vowed he’d take things slow the next time he decided to start a relationship. Something about Ashley made him reconsider his vow. Yes, there was a kid involved, but he kind of liked Wyatt, too.

Something Colin had said once came to mind. “Love me, love my kid. If you can’t, then we can’t do this.” Ashley no doubt felt the same and he should. He had to protect his kid.

“Anyway, so I student taught high school kids with endowment issues. They believed they deserved As because they showed up. I challenged them and some of the parents in the district made my life miserable. The parents pretty much wanted to buy good grades for their kids instead of making the kids work. That’s when I realized I wasn’t cut out to teach older kids. I did a second student teaching stint in an elementary school and found my calling.” Ashley pushed Wyatt higher on the swing. “Then Danica mentioned Wyatt and things fell into place.”

“I’m sure they did.” He couldn’t miss the opportunity to joke with Ashley, although thinking of Ashley fucking a woman bothered him. He had nothing against women, but that body, if it was as magnificent as Colt suspected, needed to be worshiped and adored by a man—him.

“You’re bad.” Ashley grinned and winked. “But that did happen.” He blushed from his hairline to his collar. “What did you do before you owned the diner?”

“I worked in a museum.” Colt shifted his weight from his right foot to his left and recrossed his ankles. “I went to college with the intention of becoming an artist. There wasn’t any money in art and my then-boyfriend liked to cook, so I learned to cook. When I ended up being better than he was in the kitchen, he left. I didn’t care. I could do something besides paint, so it worked out. I spent time in the museums in Cleveland and Detroit then came to Cedarwood.”

“I’m glad.” Ashley resumed pushing Wyatt and his smile widened. “It wouldn’t be the same without you.”

Colt bit back a laugh. This was why he liked Ashley. The guy knew how to make him feel like a million dollars. The longer he spent with Ashley, the more he wanted to get to know him better. He’d grown fond of the art teacher. Hell, he wanted to pick up his paints and create again. Between their artistic abilities, their sexuality and the cause, they could be unstoppable. Unstoppable sounded just about perfect to Colt. He couldn’t wait to get started.