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three-year-old butt no more than five minutes before, had completely fallen for it. All was forgiven it seemed, as she put her hands on either side of the kid’s face and bent down to kiss his forehead.
    “And I love James so much,” she said.
    James. Nailed it.
    Clearly feeling left out, one of the other two grabbed Fitz’s arm, splashing the already sopping T-shirt even more. “I love Auntie Fitz, too,” he said. Then, pulling her away from James—and right into Deke, something he was doing everything possible to ignore—the kid plopped down cross-legged into the water. “I also love my penis.” Then he moved his hips back and forth. “Look! It jiggles!”
    It didn’t surprise him at all that Fitz then sweetly said, “Uncle Deke loves his penis, too. So much.”
    Deke snorted. And he felt the laugh ripple through Fitz as she fought to contain it; a giggle so soft he only heard it because he’d turned his head to say...
    Nothing. The words died in his throat when his eyes met hers and she looked so... happy . He wasn’t sure he’d ever seen her eyes sparkle quite like that. That itchy feeling in his chest changed into something entirely different, and he had a sudden urge to lean in. To cup the back of her head and bend down and kiss her.
    And, god damn , he almost did it. Almost lost every iota of sense he had in his head.
    He was saved by a tiny three-year-old voice piping up, asking, “Do you love Auntie Fitz, too?” Followed by a gentle tugging of Deke’s hat. “Do you love her penis?”
    It took Deke a moment to register the question, a moment during which one of the boys managed to get hold of the shower head and begin spraying with abandon. It was enough to bring Deke back to his senses. He pulled away from Fitz, grabbed the hose and regained control. “Time to rinse you guys off and get you into bed.”
    And forget any of this insanity had ever happened.

Chapter Five
    Fitz sat back on her heels, watching as Deke suddenly became Mr. Mom, rinsing off the boys with the utmost efficiency and speed.
    Had he almost just kissed her?
    Her hand came up to her lips. Granted, she didn’t have much experience. There hadn’t been a lot of boys around while she was growing up. Coming to Inspiration should have opened up some doors, but the whole Peggy thing had been humiliating enough that she’d never even looked at another boy for the rest of high school. And the downside of hanging out primarily with Nate and Co. during college meant spending far too much time in frat houses playing beer pong. Being damn good at beer pong she’d enjoyed herself immensely. She just hadn’t considered it a sufficient form of seduction and therefore ended up alone in her room at the end of the evening more often than not.
    So, no. Kissing wasn’t exactly her area of expertise. It was possible she’d read the situation entirely wrong.
    “For fuck’s sake, Fitz,” Deke muttered, pulling her out of her head. “A little help?”
    She suppressed a nervous giggle as he turned to her, his baseball cap half-forward, half-back, thanks to his attempts to bring the boys under control. Of course now it was hard not to notice his soaking navy-blue T-shirt clinging to his pecs and shoulders...
    So okay. Maybe she could forgive him for the wet T-shirt thing. She got it.
    “Fitz.”
    Right. “Sorry.” She turned her head away and reached for James. It was time for this bath to be over.
    “So, uh, what next?” Deke asked when they’d gotten the three boys out of the tub and wrapped in their towels.
    She looked up as he took his cap off and ran his hand through his now thoroughly wet hair. Her mouth went a little dry.
    What was her problem ? Two weeks ago he’d made her judge a burping contest in which extra points were given for substance and tone. Just the other day they’d had an argument over whether it was time to finally burn the tennis shoes in his gym bag. Which, by the way, it was.
    How was she possibly finding him