Page 31 of Take Me Slowly, Part 1 (Aurora Hollow duet #1)

LEAH

"Thanks for having me over." I tucked a few strands of still-damp hair behind my ear. With any luck, Fiona would assume I had a shower before walking over to her place for dinner. Not that I washed to clean cum off my hair and body.

"We should have had you over sooner, right Sarah?" She smiled at her daughter, who sat on the floor, a colouring book open in front of her.

"Right," Sarah said without glancing up. Her attention was all on getting the green pencil inside the lines.

"She's very focused." Fiona slid an oven mitt off the oven handle and opened it to peek inside. "It's almost ready. I hope you like quiche." Homemade bread rolls were cooling on a rack beside the stove.

The smell was making my mouth water. "I love quiche."

"Grandma and Grandpa once gave me a birthday card that said hogs and quiches on it," Sarah said. "It was funny."

I'd seen cards with the play on the words 'hugs' and 'kisses' before, but I couldn't contain a smile at the expression on her face.

"That's hilarious," I said.

"It is. It had pigs and quiches on it. You know what else would have been funny?" Her eyes widened. "Bacon."

"Maybe the quiche had bacon in it," I suggested.

She tilted her head, thinking that over. "It might. Then it would be hogs, hogs and quiches." She grinned.

I laughed. "I guess it would." Apparently she didn't have a problem with where bacon actually came from. I'd known people who seemed to think it only came from the grocery store. Growing up in a place like this, and enjoying fishing, she'd have had a better understanding of the origins of food.

She pushed herself up to her feet, ran over to her mother and gave her two hugs and a kiss on the cheek. "Hogs, hogs and quiches."

Fiona hugged her back. "Welcome to my crazy life," she laughed.

I smiled softly. My mother and I never had a relationship like Fiona and Sarah did. Seeing it now made me realise even more acutely what I missed out on. If I ever had kids, I'd want them to grow up like this. Happy, content and accepted. Loved.

"Your crazy life is a lot of fun," I said. I couldn't help being a little envious.

"Yes it is," Fiona agreed. She patted Sarah on the back. "Go wash your hands for dinner. Don't take long."

"Okay!" Sarah skipped off toward the bathroom.

Fiona raised her eyebrows at me. "So, tell me about your crazy life. You've been busy?"

My face heated. "What have you heard?" Had Charlie or Seth said something? For that matter, had Connor or Riley?

She laughed at the expression on my face. "No one said anything. Why? Do you have a guilty conscience?"

I cleared my throat. "Of course not. You're right, I've been busy. I got some painting done this afternoon." After Connor took me back to get my car, I did a bit more work, touching up the first draft.

"Have they convinced you to paint them naked yet?" She pulled a bottle of white wine out of the fridge and held it up until I nodded. She poured some into two glasses and handed one to me.

"No." I took a sip. "I'm sure they'd enjoy that, though." They certainly enjoyed painting me. "If they could sit still for long enough."

She laughed and turned to pull the quiche out of the oven. "You might need to do it while they're asleep. They might stay still then."

I hadn't thought far enough ahead to consider sharing a bed with either of them all night. Or literally sleeping beside them. Would they want that? And if they did, separately or together?

Three of us in a bed would be a tight fit, but two attractive mountain men on either side of me? That didn't sound like the worst thing in the world.

"I'm not sure if they lie still when they sleep," I admitted. "They probably bungee jump."

She laughed. "That sounds about right. They couldn't keep still when we were at school. It used to drive the teachers crazy. Crazier. Not that I was much better, if I'm honest. I was just quieter about it than they were."

"Are you saying you weren't a perfect angel?" I teased.

She snorted. "Not even close, but I mostly turned out all right." She batted her eyelashes.

"You definitely did," I assured her. "Sarah is proof of that."

"That's it, you can never leave town," Fiona declared. "You're good for my ego."

I laughed. "I'm being honest, that's all." After a beat, I asked, "Do you remember Coral Clarke?"

She frowned as she opened a drawer to pull out a knife and started to slice the quiche.

"Not really. I remember the teacher sitting us down and saying she wasn't coming back. I don't think anyone really understood why. We cried, then we went back to cutting pictures out of old magazines. That seems really cold, thinking back."

Her eyes glazed for a moment before she shrugged and went back to slicing.

"Not if you were too young to understand," I assured her. "I would have done the same thing. All of those things seem, I don't know, abstract at that age. On the other hand, if our ice cream drops off the cone…"

She laughed and placed slices of quiche onto plates before carrying them over to the table. The rack of bread and a tub of butter followed, along with a bowl of salad.

"That's instant childhood trauma, right there." She placed knives and forks to either side of the plates and gestured for me and Sarah to take our seats.

"It's ice cream." Sarah slid into her chair.

"Dropping it on the ground is practically the equivalent to the end of the world." Fiona nodded, fighting back a smile.

"Unless you're a dog," Sarah said. "Or a pig. Then you're happy because you're going to eat it." She stuck out her tongue and mimed lapping ice cream off the ground.

She was too cute.

"Maybe we should go around dropping our ice cream more often, for the dogs and pigs?" I suggested.

Both of them looked playfully horrified at the idea.

"Only if it's strawberry ice cream." Sarah grimaced and started on her quiche.

Fiona shook her head sadly. "Sometimes I wonder where she came from. On the other hand, more strawberry ice cream for me."

"You can have every spoonful," Sarah said. Judging by the way she dug in, she preferred quiche.

I sliced off a section and popped it into my mouth. "Mmmm, this is good." I could taste the bacon, and the handmade pastry, which melted in my mouth.

"It's nice to cook for someone else," Fiona said. "Too often, Sarah and I heat up something in the microwave. I'm trying to teach her how to cook."

"I kneaded the dough!" Sarah declared, her mouth full of eggy quiche.

"You did a great job." I picked up a roll and broke it open, watching the steam rise from the perfectly cooked bread. "This is delicious."

"I might be a chef when I grow up," Sarah said. "Or a baker."

"You'd be a good baker," Fiona told her. "You like being up before the sun. You could make me cupcakes."

"Yes!" Sarah wriggled in her chair.

I ate quietly, watching them as they bantered back and forth, talking about their Sunday and the school week ahead. The conversation was cozy, comfortable. Like a warm hug.

The whole town was like that. A warm hug with hot, possessive mountain men thrown in for good measure.

While they talked, I thought back to the afternoon.

Connor fucking my mouth, then binding and edging me, then finishing me off before Riley fucked my mouth.

Knowing Seth and Charlie were close by, knowing what was going on.

Did they know I was the one in the truck?

They probably guessed. Next time I saw them, I was going to blush like hell.

"Does Miss Ferguson's brother like you?" Sarah asked me.

I tried to contain my surprise at the sudden question, but probably failed. "Why do you ask that?"

She shrugged. "I saw him leaving your house one time. Is he your friend?"

"I guess you could say he is," I said. We hadn't talked about anything beyond that. Did I want to be more than friends? More than fuck buddies? I couldn't deny I was attracted to him and Riley, but my feelings for them were complicated.

"Is he your best friend?" she asked, in that singsong way kids had when they were teasing.

I laughed softly. "I don't know. Maybe. I've made a lot of friends since I moved here. You might all be my best friends." I glanced over at Fiona, who smiled.

"I feel like I've known you forever," she said. "I'm glad I spoke to you that day and told you about next door."

"I'm glad you did too," I said sincerely. Otherwise, I might have spent a couple of nights in the hotel before moving on. For some reason I couldn't put my finger on, it felt like the universe wanted me here. Like I belonged here. As though these were my people.

Whatever happened with the guys, I was going to do whatever I could to stay here.

"Mom said we could have had a serial killer next door instead," Sarah said, her eyes wide. "You're not a serial killer, are you?" She scrunched up her brow as if trying to picture me doing something horrible like that.

"Definitely not," I said with a laugh. "I like to eat cereal, not kill it."

Sarah giggled. "Me too.” After a beat or two she added, "Mom also said she wouldn't have minded the hot mafia twins from her favourite books, to live next door."

"Sarah!" Fiona said with mock outrage.

"What? You did," Sarah insisted. "Remember? You said they could?—"

"If you want ice cream for dessert, don't finish that sentence." Fiona waved her fork at her daughter. She rolled her eyes and turned to me. "It's not my fault if book boyfriends are better than real-life ones. Especially the hot mafia ones." She sighed.

“All boys are yucky," Sarah declared.

"Yes. Go on believing that until you're at least…forty," Fiona said jokingly. "Maybe fifty. I am not ready for you to grow up and start dating."

"When are you going to start dating?" Sarah asked her.

Fiona almost choked on a piece of bread. When she'd finished coughing, she said, "When you're forty. Until then, I have my books to keep me warm." She slid me a sly look. "Did you know Riley and I exchanged books? He likes a good mafia romance too."

"That explains a lot," I said.

Should I be jealous at the idea of them sharing something like that? I decided I shouldn't. They'd known each other for so long, if something was going to happen between them, it would have by now. Both of them made it more than clear it wouldn't.

Honestly, it was cute. I hadn't known Riley was a reader. Was Connor one too? He seemed more like the kind of guy who would sit down in front of a different action movie every night. Or make furniture out of reclaimed wood, just for fun.

She laughed. "It really does, doesn't it? Those two would make good mafia henchmen. I can see it now.” She held up hand in front of her as if sketching out the scene. “Breaking kneecaps and threatening people during the day, showering women with presents at night."

"I might have to start reading mafia romance," I said.

Although, my reality sounded better than that. Yeah, they claimed they were assholes, but they gave good orgasms. Better than anyone I've ever been with by a long way.

Imaginary guys couldn't do that, could they? Maybe they could, with virtual reality and the right toy, but give me the real thing.

"I can let you borrow some if you want," Fiona offered.

"I'd like that," I said. "I can let you borrow my dinosaur romance in return." I picked up my wine and held it in front of my grin.

"Dinosaur romance?" Sarah echoed. "What?—"

"I think it's time for ice cream," Fiona interrupted. She gave me a sidelong look, but smiled as Sarah scrambled out of her chair and raced over to the freezer.