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But she didn’t kno to combine sexy and a solid relationship Actually, she wasn’t convinced it could be done Not with the type of erous, and players

So, she chose the complete opposite to protect herself

And was unfulfilled

Breaking up with Chris was the rightoverdue He’d be upset for a while, but in the end, it wasn’t fair to string hi in a relationship she wasn’t fully invested in

“I was sorry to hear about your parents,” Zach said as he accepted the beer she offered when she returned

“Thanks” She lowered into the e chair adjacent to Zach’s

He planted his booted heel against the porch railing and set his chair in h stretched and bunched under the deni next door to them my entire life They were assholes”

Surprise had Toni sucking in a sharp breath and a hed as the liquid burned a path down the wrong pipe Zach’s large hand pounded her back, forcing the beer froasped for breath

“Christ, babe, I’m sorry”

Unable to speak due to a spasm, Toni waved away his concern “N-no worries,” she said after another cough “Wheas not expecting you to say that”

He gri to say about your family who just passed”

She swiped her hand back and forth again “Really, it’s okay It’s honest They could be assholes No one knows that better than me” A weird emotion she couldn’t identify settled as an ache in her chest “I stayed away for a long tie er, and indifference” Oh, er fro we barely know each other I’nore me”

Zach chuckled then flashed her his perfect toothpaste-ad smile “Doesn’t bother me”

As though he sensed she needed a et over Chris’s departure and talk of her complicated relationship with her parents, Zach fell silent It was nice Sitting on the porch with a beer, watching the sun dip behind thethe need to fill the silence

“So,” Zach said after a few moments “I hear scoundrels like me are now allowed at your diner”

The laugh that bubbled out of her felt great Hot, funny, wasn’t scared of serious talk Zach should con, because he was hell on the ovaries Just what she did not need She was not staying in Townsend for a o She was there to figure out her life and sort her parents’ affairs That’s all