Drawn Deep (Afternoon Delight 2)

“You did but I want more. Come with me to my sister’s graduation party tonight. If you’re free.”

She pursed her lips. “What kind of single, swinging lady makes Saturday night plans on Saturday mor—” She glanced at the clock and grinned. “Okay, Saturday afternoon.”

“Hmm, a woman that didn’t even know me last Saturday and couldn’t have saved her dance card for me even if she wanted to?” He picked up her hand and kissed her knuckles. “We rented out a gym. I promise to dip you plenty, even if it’s to Snoop Dogg instead of Frank.”

“Snoop Dogg, huh? How old is your sister and what is she graduating from?”

“Twenty-eight. She finished her last classes for her criminal justice degree in August. But her boyfriend was deployed and he only got back home a few weeks ago. She wanted to wait to celebrate until she knew he was okay.”

“That’s sweet. I’m glad he made it home safe.”

“Yeah. Me too. They have two little girls, Esme and Abra. She’s been working at their school in the lunchroom but that doesn’t pay much. They live in a shitty neighborhood and I want to help them out but she won’t let me. So I’m throwing them a party.”

“Small comfort.”

“Yes. I can take care of all of them with what Roch left me, but my mama won’t hear it beyond small checks here and there. Says it’s my money and they’re fine. Julie’s no different. I have all that room, and all that cash accumulating in my bank account, and my family’s in the city, so far away.”

“Why don’t you move them in with you?”

“I’ve tried. My mom doesn’t want to uproot their lives and take the younger ones out of school. Plus she’d never dream of invading my space. She thinks a man my age should have plenty of freedom to date and sow my oats, as she puts it.”

“You definitely have some sowing to do.” She stroked his back, played with his hair, rubbed his scruffy jaw. Small, light touches that kept him in bed with her instead of mentally with his family hundreds of miles away. “So why don’t you sell the house and move closer to home?”

“The house was important to Roch. I can’t offload it and forget how much it mattered to her.” As if he’d never considered selling it and moving somewhere else. But Roch had entrusted her home to him. He had a responsibility to fulfill.

“Sweetie, she’s dead. You’ve taken care of it this long. Sell it to someone else who would appreciate it more.” She forged on at his silence. “You said Roch came into your gas station. Where?”

“In Kew Gardens. Queens. She was visiting a friend.”

“And she took a liking to you.”

An edge had come into her voice, one he couldn’t place. “I guess you could say that. She came into the station a couple of times that week while she was visiting. She was beautiful. Statuesque, I guess you’d say. I was sure she was married. And she had been, years ago. Her husband made a fortune in oil, of all things.” He shook his head. “I’m living the way I do because some guy I never knew died of an aneurysm and left his fortune to his wife, who left her money to me.”

“Her family was all right with you getting all her cash?”

“She didn’t have any, just a few distant cousins. Her husband’s grown son tried to bring suit against me after Roch died, saying he had more right to the money than I did, but I gave him a generous amount. He deserved it. I probably should’ve given him more and I would have, if not for my family.”

“Your family who won’t take much of the money.”

“Not yet.” Smiling grimly, he kissed her hand again. “I’m a persistent bastard.”

“Oh, I believe it. Persistent enough to work two jobs to stockpile money you don’t need, just in case. For them. You’re doing all of this for them, still.”

“I do my duty.”

“You’re one of a kind, Michael Montgomery.”

“Don’t build me a pedestal just yet. I like to keep busy. Besides, I spent enough time closed up in the house, reading every one of the books in Roch’s library and watching TV with her. I like getting it out. Other than Roch and my family, the only person I saw on any regular basis was Rand.” He squeezed her fingers and let her go, shifting onto his back beside her. “So, come on, get it out. Ask again how was I still a virgin.”

“I can’t even figure out how you were a virgin before you met Roch. Dude, you’re hot. You must’ve had high school girls all over your jock.”

He turned toward her, resting his cheek on the pillow and sliding one arm beneath it. Talking in bed was a novelty he’d never enjoyed before.

So many things he’d never enjoyed, and she was his gateway to all of them.

“I went out with girls a few times in high school and fooled around but that was all. After my dad’s death so young, leaving all of us kids behind, there was no way I’d take a chance on accidentally fathering a child. I don’t trust any birth control that much. I also wanted it to matter when I slept with someone. My parents were so in love. Sex to me was never recreation, at least back then. Abstinence worked for the most part, though I slipped occasionally.”

“Horny teenage boy? Um, yeah, I’d think so. I