“I can’t imagine that. How’s your father?”

“Full of piss and vinegar, which is a good sign.”

“Thank God.”

“He’s anxious to meet you.”

Clare muffled a yawn. “I want to meet him, too.”

“First, you’re going to sleep. I don’t want you having a relapse.”

“Yes, Doctor O’Malley,” Clare said with an impish grin.

His eyes clouded. “Don’t call me that, okay?”

“I’m sorry. I was only kidding.”

He kissed her hand. “I don’t mean to be a jerk, but I just can’t hear that.”

“I understand.”

They drove through the picturesque town of Chatham on their way to Aidan’s parents’ home. He took a left onto Shore Road. “I’ll take you to see Chatham Light after we get some sleep.”

“These houses are amazing.”

“None of this was here when my parents moved in. It’s gotten really built up and swanky, but the O’Malleys keep the neighborhood humble. I have to warn you that the paint job on our house was not my father’s idea,” he said as they pulled into the driveway of his parents’ colorful home.

“Oh, it’s adorable!”

“It’s ridiculous,” Aidan grumbled. He grabbed their bags and led her inside. They went straight upstairs to Aidan’s old room, where he immediately pulled off his shirt. “God, I’m beat.”

“Um, Aidan, where am I sleeping?”

“Right here with me.”

“I am not sleeping with you in your mother’s house. No way.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Aidan groaned. “I’m almost forty years old, for Christ’s sake.”

Clare winced. “You have to keep reminding me you’re not even forty yet, don’t you?”

He dropped his jeans. “That’s not the point.”

Clare’s eyes drifted over him with appreciation for his muscular chest and belly.

“You’re really going to look at me like that and then tell me you won’t sleep with me?”

She walked over to caress his chest. “Uh-huh.”

He captured her mouth in a searing kiss. Molding himself to her, he left no doubt in her mind about how badly he wanted her.

“Aidan,” she gasped. “Stop. Not here.”

He wrapped his arms around her so she couldn’t escape and kissed her again like she hadn’t said a word.

“Where am I sleeping?” Clare asked when she managed to extricate herself from his kiss.

Groaning with frustration, Aidan leaned his forehead against hers. “If a man could die of want, I’d be stone cold dead right now, do you hear me?”

“Soon,” she said with a nervous giggle. “I promise. But not here.”

He released a tortured sigh. “Okay, come on. You can have Erin’s room. My mother will be totally in love with you when she hears about this. But you already know that, don’t you?”

Clare smiled. “What was it you once said? Once a mom, always a mom?”