“Ross, this is Tuesday. She’s here with Vaughan’s brother Ezra. Tuesday, this is Ross Porter.”

They complemented one another. It was pretty easy to see they had an easy affection with one another and the kids.

He shook Tuesday’s hand with an open, warm smile and there was nothing to be done but respond in kind. “Nice to meet you. Sorry about the circumstances, though.”

“We caught it before it got scary. Maddie heals quickly so that’s a good thing.”

Tuesday caught Ezra’s gaze as he came in with Vaughan. He moved straight to her and she waited, stuck in place by the sight of all that masculinity prowling toward her. Every bit of his attention was on her and it left her breathless.

“Ready for some food?” He slid an arm around her waist.

“Even if Mary did break out the little meatball things on the drive over I’d be open to having nine more.”

His grin was nearly boyish.

When they filled their plates in the large kitchen, Tuesday spied Vaughan setting himself up next to Kensey and Kelly. Which would have left Ross at the other end of the table.

She didn’t frown. Because Tuesday knew what it meant to fight for someone. There’d been someone else once, between her and Eric. It was all fine and good to make proclamations about what you would or wouldn’t do in a situation like that. But the reality had been different.

The world wasn’t perfect.

People weren’t perfect.

Love wasn’t enough. But the right kind of love would be worth a second chance.

Tuesday snapped out of it and spoke to Kelly. “Those meatball things. You need them in your life.”

“Yeah?” Kelly put one on her plate and then added another. “Thanks for the tip.”

At the table of course, Kelly figured out what Vaughan had done. Tuesday watched the realization hit her face. Kelly’s attention flitted to Ross, who had already settled with his daughters. She looked back to Vaughan, pausing.

“So you know she’s figured out what Vaughan is up to, right?” Tuesday said in an undertone to Ezra.

“The key is going to be what she does in response. She’s smart and she knows Vaughan better than he thinks.”

“Just because she moves to where Ross is doesn’t mean she wouldn’t give Vaughan another chance if he really made an effort.”

Ezra nodded. “I agree. In fact, I’m betting she’s going to up and move to where Ross is sitting. She’s going to be loyal because that’s who she is. She made mistakes, but that isn’t one of them. It’s then how Vaughan takes that and either quits or redoubles his efforts to win her back that’ll be key.”

Ezra was so much smarter than she’d ever realized. Oh sure, she knew he took care of his brothers and was the caregiver of the family. But he was sort of scary in his ability to manage people and opportunities to help them realize things themselves.

“Because he won’t know until he feels it,” she murmured. “The loss I mean. How will he use the pain then?”

The intensity in Ezra’s gaze when he got very still, staring at her, sent a shiver through her body. “Exactly.” And then he smiled. A different sort of smile from the ones she’d seen from him before. This one made her breath catch. This one was intimate on a wholly new level.

He broke the moment with a tip of his chin. Tuesday turned to find Kelly moving herself down to where Ross was, though Kensey stayed next to her grandpa, who was on one side.

Vaughan watched, disappointment on his face.

Tuesday hoped it would be enough.

CHAPTER EIGHT

HE CAME BOUNDING off the stage, veins coursing with adrenaline and ego. A potent mix and one he’d loved the taste of since they performed the very first time at Jimmie Streeter’s kegger.

And right there, long and fierce, was Tuesday. Deep red lips curled into a smile that was for him alone and that adrenaline heated.

Need beat at him so hard he couldn’t deny the equally hard cock he was sure anyone looking could see. In fact her gaze flicked down and then that smile went feline. When she looked him in the eyes again, there was a challenge there, banked with no small measure of heat.

They all got carried down the stairs and the hall until they’d got a fair bit away from the stage. “Give me five minutes to shower. I mean it. Just five. Then you and I are getting the hell out of here. I don’t care if everyone knows why. I mean to have you as soon as I possibly can.” He took her upper arms, pulled her in for a blistering kiss and left her at his door, where he peeled his clothes off on his way to the shower.

* * *

TUESDAY BLEW OUT a breath as she licked over lips swollen from a kiss that had made her heart pound. This sort of want made her skin feel too tight.

Natalie came out of the greenroom, smiling as she caught sight of Tuesday. “Hey, you.”

Tuesday was able to move her legs and walk over in a reasonable impression of a woman who hadn’t just nearly come from a kiss.

“Hey, yourself. I’ve been instructed to wait five minutes and then we’re out of here.”

“Really, now? Well, he may not want to go in there.” Nat motioned toward the greenroom. “There’s a whole giant crowd.”

Tuesday’s hormones subsided for a moment as concern for her friend overruled it. “Are you all right?”

Natalie had grown up in a house with an addict. With lots of addicts from time to time. Being around wild partying made her uncomfortable, though Tuesday knew Nat would do it for Paddy because her man was so social and high energy.