An older apartment complex over by the Catholic church was being auctioned this morning—”

“The one on Fourth Street between Chance and Farrell?”

“You know it then?”

“Natalie’s dad used to own it. He struggled to keep it leased, and so he sold it to someone else and then it ended up in foreclosure. It’s been abandoned for some years now.”

“Three,” he answered, “and I think it has potential so I came for the auction—”

“I hope you didn’t buy it—”

“I did.”

“No.”

“I was the only one who showed up to bid.”

“Because everyone else knows better,” she muttered.

“Or maybe everyone else was too afraid to invest in the community.”

“It’s not easy trying to sell that part of Marietta. It’s considered undesirable.”

“It doesn’t have to be.”

“You say that because you weren’t raised over there. I was, and I know it’s a hard sell. One of the reasons I moved into my mom’s house after she died was because I couldn’t get a fair price for it. Natalie tried to sell it for me, and she got lowball offers, and so rather than take a pathetic offer, I let my apartment in Bozeman go and moved back home. As it turns out, it’s been a good decision because her house was paid off, and I don’t have a mortgage and am saving quite a bit of money, but you... I don’t envy you trying to turn that complex into something appealing. There’s a lot of crime over there.”

“Like what? Kids on skateboards carrying spray paint cans?”

“Graffiti is a problem.”

“Thank you for the heads-up.”

She knew he was laughing at her and she sniffed. “I hope you got a good deal.”

“I did. It was a great deal.”

The waitress arrived to take their order. Sadie waited for her to leave to ask, “How did you get started in real estate?”

“A former girlfriend convinced me it was better to invest in real estate instead of letting my money just sit in the bank.”

“Sounds like she was a serious girlfriend.”

“We were together a number of years.”

“What happened to her?”

“What always happens, the relationship ran its course, and we parted ways.”

“Just like that?”

“Darlin’, every woman I dated knew upfront I didn’t do forever.”

“So you never loved any of them?”

“I cared for them, and I loved making love to them—”

“Not the same thing!”

He smiled at her, a smile so slow and hot and sexy that it seemed to suck every bit of oxygen from the room. “You’ve never made love to me.”

Sadie struggled to catch her breath. He was big and imposing from afar, but close like this, he was positively lethal. “Nor will I. I’m not looking for sex.”

He grinned at her, white teeth flashing, creases fanning from the corner of his eyes. “Are you quite possibly a thirty-year-old virgin?”

Sadie considering tossing her ice water at him to knock that smug smile off his gorgeous face. “No.”

“It’s okay if you—”

“I’m not. I’ve had serious boyfriends, and a fairly long-term relationship with a pilot that my mom hoped would turn into the ‘one,’ but it didn’t.”

“Why not?”

“Turns out he was seeing a couple different flight attendants at the same time.”

“That must have been devastating.”

“If I’d loved him. But I didn’t.” She grimaced. “My mom took it hard, though. She thought he was Mr. Wonderful.”

“Was he that wonderful?”

“He’d bring her flowers when we had dinner with her. She loved that.”

“What kind of flowers would he give you?”

“He didn’t.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “Maybe he was too busy giving them to his other girlfriends.”

“At least you can joke about his other girls.” Rory leaned back against the booth. “Have you ever been in love?”

She took a quick drink of her water. “Just once.”

“What happened?”

Her shoulders shifted. “Nothing. I never told him.”

“Sounds like you need to take more risks.”

“While you, Rory Douglas, need to take less.”

Chapter Five

Rory had avoided relationships ever since he and Krissy broke up a couple years ago, but even with her, he’d made it clear he wouldn’t ever get married, or start a family.