Page 77 of Sterling Heat

“Vale told me it’s a knit shop.”

“It’s a front.” Sebastian wiggles his brows.

“What?” I laugh.

“You’ll see.” He presses his lips to Adara’s head but watches me. There’s a playful gleam in his eyes that causes me to shiver in a new way. A better way. Because Sebastian’s attention is fully on me and I’m trying to accept he might mean it.

I’m with him.

My gaze lowers to Adara.

We’re both his.

Chapter 23

[Enya]

Hours later I’ve learned what Sebastian meant about the local book club. The She Shed sells yarn and knitting supplies downstairs, but the store is a front for another money maker on the second floor. Out of her home, Meredith Mulligan, a sixty-nine-year-old woman, sells a variety of adult toys and lingerie.

“A woman cannot live off yarn alone,” Meredith teased before explaining the titillating benefits of a new item she’d received.

Vale told me that the book club rotated to keep things interesting, and tonight was Meredith’s turn. A book might have been assigned, but nothing literary was discussed. Wine and women’s intimate apparel was the topic of conversation, along with the line of vibrators and stimulators up for purchase.

“You’re officially a Sterlet,” Vale toasts me.

“A what?” I laugh.

“A member of the book club. It’s a play-off the word starlet. For Sterling Falls.”

My chest warms from wine and a night out with this silly woman who has quickly become a friend.

“What happens here, stays here.” Vale winks before someone bumps into me.

“Trinity?” I’m pleased to recognize the curvy blonde nurse who was once assigned to Adara in the NICU.

“Well, this is awkward.” She lifts a dark purple dildo in her hand.

“I’m so happy to see you again,” I say, trying to ignore the eggplant-looking item. “Thank you one more time for all your help with Adara.”

Trinity waves the sex toy to dismiss my gratitude. “How is that sweet baby? Better question is, how is her daddy? He treating both his girls right?” She wiggles her brows, giving me a knowing grin. As in, she might know Sebastian is not Adara’s father.

Vale wraps her arm around me and with false sternness admonishes Trinity. “Trin, you know my brothers are off the table.”

Trinity shakes her head. “Men are so stupid.” Holding up the purple fake phallus, she shakes it again. “Thus, the need for these things.”

I chuckle and reach for her wrist. “It was so great to see you.”

“Welcome to the Sterlets. One day we might actually read a book.” A teasing smile brightens her face but also suggests she’s kidding. This book club doesn’t read. When she walks away, I turn to Vale.

“Why are your brothers a touchy subject, other than most of them are hot, and single.”

Vale exaggerates a full body shiver. “Hot-headed is more like it, but there’s a cold war between the Sylvers and the Havens. It’s just stupid, small town, long-time ago stuff. Stuff that should rest in the past where it belongs. Our two families were once best friends. Now . . .” Vale gets a faraway look in her eyes for a second before lifting her glass of wine and emptying it in one long drink.

She shrugs. “In public, Trinity and I don’t acknowledge one another, but during book club, we hold a truce.”

Vale winks like the dirty book club is a secret society and not a bunch of small-town women looking for an excuse to get out of the house every other week.

“Want more wine?” She nods at my empty hand. I shake my head. One glass was enough.