He got up and stalked to her. She was so surprised she stood rooted to the spot. Ezra caught her around the waist and walked her from the room. Around the corner he backed her against the wall.

“Are you insinuating I make you blush?” he asked in a low tone.

“Only when I have blood in my face to blush with. Right now it’s all south of my belly button.”

He paused and then laughed, leaning in to kiss her. “All right then. My work here is done.” He stepped back. “Make your call. I’m going to work on a few ideas on how to make you blush even more.”

“I’d complain about you being incorrigible or whatever, but I can’t really find anything to dispute in your statement. So, you go on and get to brainstorming. I’m going to call my mother. By the way, they’re going to refer to you, and to Paddy, as the boy until you pass inspection. This is the cross anyone dating an Easton has to bear.”

She petted his beard a moment, pleased at how it felt and that he stood still and allowed her to pet him the way she did.

“She’s going to love you, though. I can tell already.”

“Why? Does she have exceptional taste?”

“She does actually. But you’re handsome. You work hard. You have fantastic facial hair. You’re charming. She loves a pretty, charming man.”

He kissed her again and swatted her butt. “I am a charming man, beauty. It’s a curse, but someone has to do it.”

She called her parents back to let them know three more would be attending the birthday dinner.

“Jim and Brenda say you can sleep over at their place. You can all stay here, too. Just bring a sleeping bag.”

It wasn’t as if she never had. She’d slept on the couches in the bonus room at her parents’ house with her friends dozens of times. But this was different. She liked having him all to herself at the end of the day. Like a delicious secret.

And after a day with them she’d need to escape. She loved her family. They were important to her. But no one could get to her and hammer at all her insecurities like her family.

“Thank them for me. And yes, I’ll thank them, too.” Jim and Brenda lived three houses down. Their sons were close with the two oldest Easton boys. The Cuthbarts were for all intents and purposes, her family, too. “We’ll get a hotel and come back for breakfast Sunday.”

“How long have you been seeing this boy?” her father demanded.

“No, Dad, Nat is seeing that boy.”

Her mother whooped a laugh, along with her dad once he’d got the joke.

“Nicely done. Now, who is this man you’re seeing?” Her father’s teasing lilt hardened to steel.

“He’s Paddy’s brother.” All kidding about that boy aside, they knew who Natalie was seeing. She was considered part of the family. They’d have looked closely at who Paddy was. What he did. “I met him in September. He runs the family ranch.”

“And you said—”

“Enough. Greg, leave it be,” her mother interrupted sharply.

“It needs to be discussed, Di.”

“I am aware of that.”

Tuesday broke in. “If you two can hold off for a moment. I’m right here. On the phone. Stop talking about me like I’m helpless.”

This was one of the reasons she liked staying in a hotel when she went up for some big dinner-type thing at her parents’ house. They wanted to wrap her in cotton and protect her from all the hurts in the world. Which was their job when she was growing up, she got that. But man it drove her nuts as an adult.

Probably just a little because she felt better when they did it, a reminder that she could always go home and her mom would make her grilled cheese and tomato soup and let her watch sitcom reruns all day until things got better.

Which she’d done for about three months.

They’d gone out to scatter Eric’s ashes and something had just sort of given out inside. They saw her at the lowest point of her life. Natalie told her once that seeing Tuesday broken and aimless and not being able to reach her for so long had been a terrible nightmare.

Her annoyance wisped away. They loved her. They never wanted her to go through any of that mess and so she needed to give them some space to feel however they wanted about it.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”

“Always had the best manners of all six. Thank you, punkin,” her father said.

Her mother broke in. “Your dad and I know you’re not helpless. But you’re our child and you’ve had some hurts to swallow. We worry. It’s our job to worry. Daddy and I watched you fade and fade to little more than a shadow. You haven’t brought us a man, or even talked about one, since Eric. We can talk about it another time. I know you’re there with your friends and it’s your birthday. We love you, Tuesday Marie.”

“I love you, too.”

She hung up, leaning against the wall for a few moments, her eyes closed as she mended herself once more.

With a long exhalation, she pushed away and headed back out to the living room where her friends played cards, laughing and trash talking. With a smile, she let herself enjoy the butterflies of a new relationship as she slid herself into the chair next to Ezra.

“When you three are done losing to one another, deal me in again.”

“Bold words, beauty.” Ezra winked as he shuffled the cards and tossed one her way. “Let’s see what you got then.”