Broken Open. Lauren Dane

really like each other then, huh?”

      She nodded. “I never knew other people’s parents weren’t constantly hugging and kissing and laughing until I got old enough to have sleepovers. My parents are straight up in love. They can fight—don’t get me wrong. But yes, Greg and Diana are mates in the deepest sense of the word.”

      They’d given her an example of what a working relationship was. She and Eric hadn’t been perfect, but they had been united. Tuesday sometimes felt that loss like a phantom limb.

      A phantom relationship.

      Something would happen and Tuesday instinctually found herself turning to Eric. The bones of her relationship with him still remained, though the rest of it had faded over time.

      But the instant she remembered—that moment in time when reality came back like a punch to the throat—that hurt to her bones.

      For a long time there was so much grief she couldn’t see past it. Couldn’t imagine a time when it didn’t make her ache every moment. But it hurt less that day than it had a year before. And it would hurt less next week. And so on.

      Ezra cleared his throat. “So tell me about them. Your family.”

      “Diana—that’s my mom—she’s an engineer. She works for the state of Washington and claims she’ll be retiring in a few years. I don’t believe her because she’s a person who is constantly in motion. I don’t know that she can stop working. My dad owns a roofing company. He and my uncle started it when they first moved out to the West Coast after my mom finished school. Anyway, he fell off a roof about nine years ago and broke his back so he had to slow down some. I say some because he still gets out on roofs when he feels a need.”

      “Sounds like your dad and mine would get along well.”

      “Does your dad like baseball?”

      “Yes, he’s a die-hard Red Sox fan. It’s like religion to him.”

      “Red Sox? Okay then, they’ll get along just fine. My dad converted the garage into what they call a man cave now, but it’s actually a sort of grungy place with his television and his recliner. He eats bags of peanuts and watches all four hundred sports channels. And she pretends she doesn’t know how much beer he drinks.”

      “Your dad sounds kind of awesome.”

      She laughed. “He is.” Her parents were awesome. Full of love and support no matter what her choices had been or where they’d taken her.

      “Where are the rest of your siblings? I know you have a sister in San Diego.”

      “You do?”

      “You went there at Thanksgiving. Natalie mentioned it.”

      Low in her belly, warmth spread.

      “Yes, my sister and her family live in San Diego. She and I are the only girls. The boys are two sets of twins. The oldest set both live in Seattle with their wives and kids. My younger brothers, one lives in Atlanta. He’s in sports medicine so he works with a lot of professional athletes. The other one lives in San Jose. He’s getting married in the fall. Since his boyfriend has a really great job my parents adore him. No rock stars in the bunch but we do okay.”

      “Doing okay is underrated.”

      Neither of them spoke for a while.

      “It’s up there on the right. I’m going to park here at the curb and we’ll walk. Otherwise we might get parked in.” After he’d done that and keyed the car off, he turned to face her.

      “Are you saying you might want to make a quick escape?”

      “Stick with me, beauty.” He winked and she drew a breath of appreciation. He paused, cocking his head. “What?”

      “You.”

      “Me? What?”

      She flapped a hand in his direction. “Everything. You’re handsome and charming and sexy and you just put all that—the entirety of which you have a considerable amount—into a wink and a quick response.”

      He blushed and she wanted to groan. He blushed. Which of course was charming and sexy.

      She pointed at him. “See?”

      He laughed then, taking her hand and kissing the inside of her wrist. A warm wave of pleasure slid through her.

      “You’re so good with your mouth.”

      He broke away from her wrist for a moment to say, “Wait till you see what I can do with my cock.”

      “I’m devastated I have to.” Which was 100 percent true.

      He’d just started to lick up along the sensitive line of her tendon leading to the heel of her palm, which he nibbled on and her whole body throbbed, when Sharon came out the front doors of the very pretty house just ahead and looked around.

      “Your mother sees us.”

      He cursed under his breath but let her hand go reluctantly. “She’ll only come over here unless we go in.”

      “Is she worried we’ll go too far and I’ll get knocked up?”

      He barked a laugh and it made her laugh even harder.

      By the time they got to the front steps, Ezra carrying a bunch of presents for both girls, Tuesday had managed to stop giggling, but as he reached out to put a palm at the small of her back to guide her into the house, she realized how much she liked it, that small touch. In it he helped her, he touched her like a lover, he marked her as being with him.

      She just had no idea at all where to put it, this intensity he brought to her life with the smallest of touches.

      Kensey launched herself at Ezra so Tuesday stepped to the side and grabbed the bags he’d been holding.

      “She loves her uncles as much as all the other women in the world do.” A gorgeous blonde came into the entry. Perceptive blue-green eyes took Tuesday in, along with the bags and her proximity to Ezra.

      Then her wariness fell away and she smiled and it was like all that beautiful went sensual and earthy. Welcoming.

      Tuesday knew what it meant to feel like an outsider. Here, even in this woman’s home she was outnumbered by Hurleys. For that reason, Tuesday really liked Kelly from the very first smile.

      Ezra listened intently to Kensey tell him all about her sleepover and how she didn’t even know her sister had her insides bursted out until she got picked up the next day. He made the right noises and asked the right questions and Tuesday liked him even more.

      Turning back, she held out her hand. “Hi. I’m Tuesday.”

      Kelly took it and shook. “Kelly Hurley. Vaughan told me a little about you. He said you make jewelry. I’d love to talk with you about that at some point in the future. But for now, please come on through to the kitchen. There’s some sort of unpacking of food. Ross—that’s my fiancé—he’s just run over to his house for extra chairs.”

      “Tuesday has some things for you in that bag.” Ezra kissed both Kensey’s cheeks and put her down.

      She peeked inside as Ezra knelt next to her, pulling things out. Each item resulted in a delighted squeal and a dramatic hug with arms thrown wide and then around him.

      “I know. Gifted, right? She’s never even had a drama class.”

      Tuesday snorted as she glanced at Kelly, who watched her daughter with Ezra.

      “I’m going to get toothache from all that sweetness,” Tuesday said as Kensey gave him one last hug before backing off.

      “You have whispers like a walrus, Uncle Ezra.” Kensey rubbed her cheek.

      Tuesday’s ovaries may have exploded when Ezra picked her up and nuzzled her while she giggled and patted his head like he was a