Her grip on his head tightened, pulling his chin up. Her lips ran across his throat. She licked the line of his jaw and he was so hard, he was dizzy. He ran trembling fingers down her white neck, lingering at the V where her pajama top buttoned. “God, I want to be alone with you. Really alone.”

“I do too.”

“I should go.”

“Yes.”

“I’m going now.”

“All right.”

They kissed some more instead. Her hand fisted around his shirt and pulled him toward her, toward the bed and her body. He was doing the same, but pulling her toward him, toward the floor and his hard lap and his arms. Teetering on the edge of I don’t care and I must care, they pressed foreheads, breathing hard, trapped and frustrated and purely alive.

“Have you ever felt this way?” she whispered.

“Never. I didn’t know. I knew, but I didn’t.”

“Nyck…”

“Stay here in Clayton. Stay forever.” His fingers tightened in her hair. Not too much and not too little, but lagom. Enough to hold her in his gaze and speak his truth: “This can be your home and I can be your man.”

She moved into his arms, crying softly. His eyes were dry, though. His mind made up.

“I’ll help you. We all will. I’ll talk to your mother. She can come live here, too. I bet she’ll love it. And when she sees how happy you are…” He buried his face in her hair. “Don’t cry, Asta. It will all work out. It already has.”

What Are Uncles For?

Like so many other young, working men in the Thousand Islands, Kennet had been easily seduced by the rich female swells summering at the grand resorts. These women—mavens from New York and Philadelphia and Boston—wanted diversion and a thrill, while the local fellows wanted uncomplicated experience and, occasionally, a good word put in with an influential husband… Once he got back from his golf game.

It was a satisfactory arrangement, as long as no one got caught.

“Or knocked up,” Major said. He’d given Kennet a box of Sheik condoms long before giving the lessons on drinking and bar etiquette. Naturally Kennet was mortified, but Major was having none of it.