CHAPTER ONE
Sunday, September 20th
Warmth spread through Kate Valentine’s body.Soft lips moved against her ear, and Marcus’s deep, rough voice breathed,Kate.She shivered and moaned his name, then turned into him.
Her hand fell against the bed.She opened her eyes.
He wasn’t there.Shewasn’t there.In the dream, she was in her apartment.Marcus was with her, and they were about to engage in activities that had yet to occur between them in real life.
In the real life her senses were slowly beginning to admit was different from the dream, she was in her old bedroom at her mother’s house.Marcus wasn’t here, and the warmth she felt came from the sunlight streaming through the window.
She checked her phone.Only seven a.m.Septembers in Portland weren’t frigid, but they definitely weren’tthiswarm.That meant the warmth came because her mother had turned the heat on.
She frowned.That wasn’t like her mother.She preferred not to turn the heat on until later in the autumn after the first snowfall.
She rolled out of bed and received two exuberant kisses.Not from Marcus.Not from a human at all.These kisses came from Sapir and Whorf, her mother’s two Irish setters, both of whom enthusiastically welcomed her to the land of the living.Kate spluttered and did her best to keep the dogs off of her face, but they got a few good licks in—literally—before she was able to stand.
"Good morning to you two," she said, sliding her feet into thick woolen slippers, then sliding them right out when the warmth in her body threatened to increase to blazing heat.She chose flip-flops instead and trotted down the stairs, the dogs following.
Her mother was in the kitchen sprinkling bits of feta cheese over two spinach omelets.She beamed when she saw Kate.“Good morning.Sweet dreams?”
More heat climbed Kate’s cheeks.Had she been moaning out loud when she was dreaming?She studied her mother’s face, but Catherine Valentine had a better poker face than nearly anyone Kate had ever met, and even with her powerful deductive skills and her intimate knowledge of her mother, she couldn’t tell for sure if Catherine’s question was coy or not.
She opted for a neutral reply.“I slept fine.You?”
“Wonderfully as always.”
Now that Kate looked more closely, therewasa hint of something in her mother’s smile.“All right, spill it.What’s going on?”
“Nothing!”
She brought the omelets to the dining room and set them in front of chairs opposite each other on the carved oak table.Sapir and Whorf sat as close to the plates as they dared and whined plaintively.They knew better than to attempt a theft.
Kate's stomach growled.She was certain now that her mother planned to hold her hostage to a conversation she definitely didn't want to have, but her mother was a damned good cook, and a home-cooked breakfast beat the hell out of the microwave burritos she usually consumed.
She took a seat and resigned herself to an hour of probing and deflection before she eventually got tired and tossed her mother a bone.Not that she had many to toss.She and Marcus had been dating for three months and done nothing more scandalous than make out briefly in his car after her birthday dinner last month.
“So!”Catherine said brightly, setting a mug of steaming coffee in front of Kate, then carrying hers to her own seat.Sapir and Whorf took a respectful step backward but didn’t yet cease their pleading.“How’s Marcus doing?”
“You can ask him when he comes downstairs,” Kate replied.“He sneaked in through the window last night.”
“Really?”Catherine asked.
The hope in her voice made Kate feel guilty.“No, not really.He’s doing fine.”
“Oh.”Catherine pursed her lips.
Great.Now I’ve made it worse.
“Mom, we’re going great.We like each other, we’re spending quality time together, we’ve kissed—”
“That was a month ago.”
“Well, I’m not going to give you a play-by-play of our physical relationship.”
“I’m not asking for a play-by-play.I just want to know when that boy is going to get serious about you.”
Kate sighed.“Thatboyis a thirty-two-year-old man who is in the middle of a divorce.Iam a thirty-seven-year-old woman who is perfectly comfortable taking things slowly.”
