I paused with a slider halfway to my mouth. “You didn’t go to school?”

“I was homeschooled.”

“Ah.”

“Later I wanted to go away to college. Backpack around Europe like my sisters had. Do you know that I’ve never even been out of the United States?”

“No?” I asked, surprised.

She shook her head. “No. I have a passport and everything, gathering dust in a drawer.”

I reached for the last slider. “Where would you go first?”

“Hmmm.” She thought for a moment, pressing her lips together. “France. I’ve always wanted to go to Paris, of course, but I’d also like to visit other places. We had a French pastry chef at Cloverleigh years ago, before you came on, and he was from a little town in the Loire Valley that has the castle that inspired the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yes. Château d’Ussé,” she said with perfect French pronunciation. “He’d tell me all about it, and I’d dream that one day he was going to pluck me from my humdrum life and whisk me away to his enchanted castle, where we’d live happily ever after.”

I laughed as I stuck the last bite in my mouth. “Didn’t happen?”

Giggling, she shook her head. “Alas, Jean-Gaspard did not prefer women. Eventually, he moved back to France, leaving me alone and heartbroken. But I learned a lot from him.”

“Well, I’m no French pastry chef, but I have total confidence that you can start your own business.” I sat back and tipped up my beer. “Christ, that was good. Thanks for making dinner for me.”

“You’re welcome.” She smiled happily. “The bride from the wedding at Cloverleigh last weekend offered to help me, did I tell you that? She’s a commercial real estate agent, and she said she sometimes invests in female-owned small businesses. When she gets back from her honeymoon, she’s going to get in touch.”

“That’s awesome,” I told her. “See? The universe wants you to do this. All signs point to success.”

She laughed. “Maybe. We’ll see.”

I finished my beer, picked up my plate and took it to the sink. “I should go check on Winnie.”

Frannie rose to her feet too, stifling a yawn. “Yeah, it’s late. I should get going.”

“Wait, don’t go yet. I’ll be right back down.” I touched her back as I passed her on my way to the stairs.

Hurrying up to Winnie’s room, I looked in on her, double checking that she was breathing easily and her lip hadn’t started bleeding again. I picked Ned the Hammerhead from Shedd up from the floor, tucked him in next to her and pressed my lips to her forehead a moment, thanking God again that she was okay. I’d never take the health and safety of anyone I loved for granted. I’d seen too much for that.

Quietly I left her room, leaving the door all the way open and the nightlight on in the hall. I’d sleep in Winnie’s room tonight just in case she woke up and called for me. But first I wanted to say goodnight to Frannie and walk her to her car.

Downstairs, she was loading dishes into the dishwasher. Affection and gratitude for her overwhelmed me. What had I done to deserve the kind of devotion she showed me? I came up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist, burying my face in her sweet-smelling hair. “You’re the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time, you know that?”

She placed her arms over mine. “That makes me feel good.”

“And I wish you didn’t have to leave.” I kissed her shoulder.

“Me too. But it’s late, and you’ve got—Mack … what are you doing?”

One of my hands had wandered beneath her sweater, and the other had moved between her legs. The feel of her warm bare skin, of the heat beneath my palm, sent blood rushing through me. The crotch of my pants was growing tight. “Don’t go,” I whispered, rubbing her through the tight-fitting denim. “Stay with me a while longer.”

She made one small sound of protest, but stopped when I undid her jeans and slid my hand inside her underwear, stroking her gently with my fingertips. “Oh, God,” she whispered. “That feels so good.”

My other hand found her breast and I filled my palm with her perfect round flesh, then teased her pebbled nipple through the lace of her bra. That’s when I noticed I could see our reflection in the window over the sink. Her eyes were closed and her mouth open as she began to writhe against my hand. By now I knew exactly how she liked to be touched, and I loved making her feel good.

“You want to come for me, don’t you?” I spoke low in her ear. “You want to come for me right here, standing at the window.”

Her eyes flew open and she noticed our images on the glass against the darkness of night. I had no curtains or shade to hide behind.

She struggled to get loose. “Mack, stop,” she whispered frantically. “Someone could see in.”

“If there was anyone in my yard at this time of night, I’d break his fucking neck with my bare hands.” Anchoring her in place with the arm across her chest, I slid two fingers inside her. “You’re not going anywhere until I make you come.”

“But—”

“Shhh.” She was hot and wet, and I fucked her easily with my fingers. I knew from the way her hips were moving that her body wanted it, even as she told me to stop. “I’ll stop as soon as I make that sweet little pussy come all over my fingers,” I told her, rubbing her clit hard and fast. “As soon as I hear you make that sound—the soft little moan you make when I’m fucking you, and my cock is so deep it hurts, and you feel me start to come, and your body—”

Suddenly she cried out, her knees buckling, and she would have gone down if I hadn’t been gripping her so tightly. I did my best to hold her up and keep my fingers moving until I was positive she’d come, while she braced herself against the counter and gasped for air.

“Good girl,” I whispered, keeping her pinned against me. “Now let me taste you.”

In the glass, I saw her eyes pop open and she watched as I brought my fingers to my mouth and sucked them clean. My cock bulged painfully in my jeans. “Fuck,” I growled in her ear. “Do you know how hard you make me? Do you want to feel it?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “Please.”

I forgot all about my promise to move away from the window and yanked off her pants, and then mine. Taking my hot, swollen dick in my hand, I rubbed the tip over her plump little ass, then pushed inside her, making both of us moan.

“Fuck yes,” I muttered through clenched teeth as I grabbed her hips and watched myself slide in deep.

Frannie fell forward but kept her legs together, which made her feel even tighter around me. She whimpered and clutched at the edge of the counter as I fucked her harder and faster than I’d intended to, but her ass was so perfect and her pussy so wet and her sounds were making me crazy and the taste of her was still on my tongue and in no time at all I was erupting inside her with the force of a nuclear blast. I felt young and powerful and virile—fucking invincible.

When the spasms subsided, I pitched forward, covering her back with my chest. My pulse was thundering. My body rippled with aftershocks.