Lauren Dane - The Best Kind of Trouble

She smiled at him and it made him happy.

“I like Hood River a lot. Love it in the fall best. Love the colors of the leaves. So gorgeous.”

“I thought you grew up in Medina?”

“No. My grandparents lived there. I grew up in Los Angeles, actually. I visited a few times every year, but I grew up in a world where the leaves never changed.”

“Where at in L.A.?”

“Whittier. It’s a suburb east of downtown. So you mentioned a sister-in-law? When did your brother get married?”

She was touchy about her family, obviously.

“Let’s see, um, about a year ago. Yeah, they’re coming up on their anniversary soon. Do you have siblings?”

“I grew up thinking no. But a few years ago, my grandmother let it slip after five glasses of wine that a person I thought was my second cousin is actually my sister.”

“Wow, that’s some daytime-talk-show stuff right there. How did she react? Did she know?”

“She doesn’t know and really, she’s better off not knowing. Not like she’s missing out on any sort of stellar parenting.”

“You don’t want to tell her? To have a relationship with her?” Paddy couldn’t imagine not going to someone who was his brother or sister. He may fight like crazy with his brothers, but he couldn’t imagine not having them all in his life.

A shadow of grief passed across Natalie’s face for the briefest of breaths. “She grew up in a relatively normal household with both parents. She’s married and has three kids of her own. She runs a stationery store with her husband in a small town in Nevada. Her life is good. Who am I to tell her that her mother had an affair and everything she’s ever believed is a lie? What right do I have to do that?”

He sat back. He hadn’t thought of it like that, but she was right. Took the weight of knowing, he’d figured, but she’d done it to protect her sister.

“I’m sorry. You didn’t have such a great childhood, then?”

A shrug. “I have a good life now. That’s what counts. So is it weird being a rock star?”

“Yes. Sometimes it’s totally weird.” Having a conversation with this woman was an intricate process. She’d revealed things, personal things, but there were other topics she wove around and avoided.

He wanted to know her. All her wounds and sore spots as well as things that made her smile.

“Like how?”

“Well, you know, I’m just Paddy. I’ve been me my whole life. So I’ll be walking down the street in Manhattan and suddenly someone will gasp and call my name out and it’s like...being recognized as Paddy Hurley from Sweet Hollow Ranch has its own unique tone. It’s great. I mean, I’m happy people love our music and it pays my bills and enables me to do what I love and travel all over the world and stuff. But it’s an odd thing to have someone shake and cry just because they’ve seen me on my way back from grabbing a coffee.”

“Must make you feel responsible on some level, though.”

He warmed, pleased she’d gotten that. “Yeah. I mean, normally, if you catch me before I’ve had coffee, I’m grumpy. I can tell my brothers to fuck off and leave me be, but that teenage girl? I have to dig deep sometimes because I don’t want to be that guy. Even when I’m tired or hungry or pissed off.”

“Must be exhausting to be on all the time.”

“Another reason I live here and not L.A. or Manhattan. Anonymity is not overrated. I can go get groceries in a ratty pair of jeans and it won’t show up ten minutes later online. I’m protected here. Once I’m out in the larger world, it’s different. People you don’t know just make shit up about you. I hate that. Two years ago we were on tour and I got food poisoning. Have you ever had it? It’s the worst. I thought I was going to die. Anyway, so they had to take me to the emergency room because it was so bad, and so of course, it was reported that I’d overdosed. My mom flipped out.” He stopped abruptly, and she reached out, touching his hand.

“I know. About Ezra, I mean. It’s sort of impossible not to have seen all the reporting on it at the time.”

Paddy swallowed. He was careful sharing things about Ezra, who was so powerfully private in the wake of his battle with addiction.

“Your mom nearly lost one son, so I’m sure it was very upsetting for her to read that about another one of her sons. You all do live pretty hard out there on the road.”

“Did you look us up, then?” He wasn’t sure if he was embarrassed or flattered or what.

She snorted. “Please. I live in the world. The modern world with television and media. You’re supercute brothers in a rock band together. Of course it’s common knowledge that you booze it up and carouse when you’re on tour. I don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to know that.”

“Oh. Yeah. Probably. It’s not as wild as they make it out to be.” Mostly. Since Mary, especially. She came with them on tour and there was no way she’d stand for any bullshit in her presence.

“Anyway, so yes, it’s weird. But it gets me great tables at restaurants. I fly first-class. I don’t have to worry about money because I have enough, and I have a great accountant who manages it for me and invests it for my future. I’ve met some amazing people, seen some amazing things. I do this thing I dreamed about, and we’re lucky enough that we’re successful at it.”

They finished dinner and dessert.

“So, how’d I do?”

She looked back over her shoulder as she’d been standing, leaning to trail her fingers through the water.

“Dinner was great.”

“Date-wise?”

“Not much to complain about. Gorgeous man. Really nice boat. Beautiful scenery. The weather is perfect.”

He took her hand and took her down to the stern. “Gorgeous, huh?” He turned her to face him and got close, the rail at her back.

“Are we pretending you don’t know how pretty you are?”

“Nah.” She made him smile a lot. “Still, it’s nice to hear from a beautiful woman I really hope to kiss a time or two tonight.”

“I have such bad judgment.” Natalie said it, but she had no plans to fight it.

“Really, now? That sounds like it’ll be a win for me.”

She laughed, placing her palm on his chest. “You’re bad for me.”

“I promise not to rot your teeth or give you diabetes. That means I’m way better for you than doughnuts.”

She slid her hand up to his throat and around to the back of his neck. He stepped the last bit, bringing her to him, his arm around her waist.

He lowered his head, and she went to her tiptoes to meet him halfway for a kiss.

Ha, kiss was such a mild word for what it was.

She wove her fingers through his hair and tugged to keep him there. If she was going to make a really bad decision, she wasn’t going to do it halfway.

Plus, he was really good at kissing.

He traced her bottom lip with the tip of his tongue and then nipped hard enough to make her gasp. That’s when he barged right into her mouth and turned her knees to jelly.

And clearly, she needed to work as hard as he was working, so she hummed and sucked his tongue. He arched into her body, holding her tighter. She lost herself in him, in the way his hands felt on her body. In his taste as it filled her up and rendered her useless to think about anything else but his mouth on hers.

Out there, it was just the two of them. The stars overhead, the sound of the water, the breeze, Paddy and Natalie, and it was perfect, so she didn’t fight it.

That kiss slid into another and another until her head spun, and she clung to him, taking it in, savoring every moment until he finally broke away, though his arms remained around her.

“Yeah. So that was fucking awesome.”