Page 61 of Merry Little Midlife Matchmaker

A little zip of pride went through me. Ithadbeen unbelievably hot, and I was glad he thought so too. “Twice,” I pointed out.

“Twice,” he agreed.

“Maybe we’ve earned a snack.”

He huffed, then dipped down to kiss me. It was tender, just a brush of his lips against mine while his fingers stroked my cheek, and it made me feel more off-balance than when he’d bent me over the couch and had his way with me.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked gently, gaze flicking between my eyes.

“You kiss me like this was more than just hot sex to you.”

His throat bobbed. “I like you.”

A denial was on the tip of my lips, because what did that mean? How could he like me? My life was complicated. I was busy—really busy—and I didn’t have time to date. Besides, he was possibly the worst option in terms of dating prospects. There were a thousand reasons that made dating Sean more complicated than someone else, mostly because my family would go bananas if they found out.

And then what would happen if this fizzled out? Aaron would keep being friends with Sean, probably. Would I have to see him at every family gathering? He’d been a fixture at every Butler event growing up, and I knew my parents and brothers wanted the same thing now that he was back in Heart’s Cove.

How would they react if they found out I’d just messed it all up? Would they blame me, just like they’d blamed me for the failure of my marriage?

I cleared my throat. “I’m supposed to be setting you up with one of my friends.”

“No,” he said.

“No?”

Sean shook his head, and his lips began to curl. “No. You’re not going to do that anymore.”

“But—”

“I’m not going on any more dates, Lizzie. I want you.”

Wow. All I could do was stare at him and blink for a minute, because the thought of this beautiful man eschewing all other women for the sake of me was so mind-bogglingly, intoxicatingly flattering that I just had to breathe through the feeling for a minute or so.

“You want me?” I finally asked in a small voice.

His smile grew. “You’re asking that now? After everything we just did?”

“That might’ve been a fluke,” I pointed out.

“Give me an hour to recharge, and I’ll prove to you that it wasn’t.”

I rolled my lips in to bite back my smile, my heart aglow. “Maybe we should have a snack to help you along.”

He laughed as I got up. We got our clothes back on and shuffled to the kitchen. Sean chose a bottle of wine while I threw the charred remains of my Christmas cookies in the trash. Then I opened the fridge and put together a poor woman’s charcuterie board, which was a packet of Slim Jims, leftover grapes from one of the kids’ lunches, and some sharp cheddar plonked onto my cutting board.

We ate and drank wine. I watched Sean over the rim of my glass, and he watched me over the rim of his.

“Are you going to tell my brother about this?” I finally asked.

Sean finished chewing his bite of cheese and took a sip of wine. He set the glass down, shrugged, and met my gaze. “I don’t know. I hadn’t thought that far.”

“I thought you’d been planning this for weeks.”

He arched a brow. “I said I’d been wanting you for weeks. None of this was planned.”

I took a sip of wine and nodded. “I see. Aaron might be upset.”

“I know he’s protective of you, but—” Sean frowned when I started laughing.

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