Spencer’s whole body shook with laughter as he tightened his grip and pulled her in. “You are not running around on a stage shouting ‘enema’ at a dog. This is a family show.”

“I’ll shout anything I want,” she said, but considering that Spencer had started kissing her, she wasn’t sure he heard her.

Just to check—and to ensure that the kissing didn’t stop anytime soon—she added, “Something like…porcupine.”

He pulled back, with laughter lifting his lips and a dark, meaningful glint in his eyes. “Don’t even think about it. I finally found a copy of that book, and I’ve never been so scandalized in my life. You can’t possibly expect me to do all those things. Some of them didn’t seem physically possible.”

Ruby’s heart, already so full, practically overflowed. “You read it?”

“Of course I did,” he said. He dropped a kiss up her jawline and down her neck, not stopping until he was buried deep in her hair. “I’m not saying I want to join your book club, but I’m starting to see the appeal.”

“Oh, really?” She arched her neck to give him better access, reveling in the soft, sensual way he trailed kisses everywhere he landed. He might not be up to porcupine levels of daring—yet—but Ruby wasn’t a woman to give in easily. “And what’s that?”

“They always end happily,” he said and swept her into his arms. “Just like you and me.”

Epilogue

“The thing is, Ruby, you’d really be doing us a favor. We don’t have anyone else.”

Ruby sat cross-legged in the middle of Spencer’s bed, her phone on speaker. Not only had Spencer come in to hear what Parkwood Manor had to say that was so urgent it interrupted dinner, but Caleb, Mrs. Orson, Eva, and at least two of her children also seemed to be pushing their way in.

The room was packed. It was a good thing Spencer was so tidy.

“I appreciate the offer, I really do, but I’m no longer interested in being a nursing assistant. I don’t know if you heard, but I recently started college classes and—”

“We’ll give you a raise. You can set your own hours. We’re really struggling here. Harry left us in a huge mess.”

A muffled cackle arose from the assembled crowd. Ruby mistrusted that sound almost as much as she mistrusted this unprecedented show of begging and generosity from her former employers.

“What kind of mess?” she asked.

“You haven’t heard?” A groan sounded on the other end of the line. “There was a sting operation. An exposé. Someone uncovered a drug ring that Harry was running behind everyone’s backs.”