Overheated

the room.

“Dad?” Steve’s voice drifted up from the downstairs entry, and there was the sound of the front door closing behind him.

Larry quickly headed out of the master bedroom, hit with a sudden flash of guilt.

“On my way down,” he called over the railing.

He trotted down the stairs to see his son in the entry hall in a blue golf shirt and a pair of navy slacks.

“Where’s Heidi?” he asked, surprised to find Steve alone so soon after their romantic reunion.

“She’s at the vet clinic.” Steve frowned. “What’s this I’m hearing about you and Crystal Hayes?”

Larry slowed to a stop at the bottom of the stairs. “What is it you’re hearing?”

“That you spent this past weekend together.”

“Where are you hearing that?”

Steve took a step forward. “What does it matter?”

“It matters a great deal. I don’t like people gossiping about her.”

“About her? That’s what you’re worried about? What about you? ”

“What about me?”

“Are you having a midlife crisis?”

“What the hell kind of a question is that?”

“You want a sports car, Dad? Because I can get you a sports car.”

“I don’t want a sports car,” Larry growled. He hated that his own son could write off his feelings as nothing more than some statistical hormone grasp at youth.

“You do know she’s younger than I am,” Steve accused.

No. Larry hadn’t known that. Quite frankly, he’d been afraid to ask. It shouldn’t surprise him. It didn’t surprise him. But, damn, it would have been nice if she was a respectable thirty-five.

“I want to know who’s gossiping about her,” he told his son.

“Everybody.”

“Well, everybody ought to get a life. We’re friends. We’ve been on two or three dates.”

“Dates?” Steve snorted his disbelief. “Uncle Dean thinks you’re sleeping with her.”

“My personal life is none of Uncle Dean’s business.”

“Are you sleeping with her?”

“My personal life is none of your business, either.”

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

“Take it any way you want.” Larry didn’t need the third degree from his own son.

“Dad, you need someone your own age. This isn’t going to end well. I’m worried about you.”

Larry hadn’t been thinking about it ending at all. As far as he was concerned, it had barely begun. Crystal was a beautiful, intelligent, incredibly sexy woman who seemed to enjoy his company. Why did that have to be a problem?

“You stop to think about what she’s after?” asked Steve.

Larry glared at him.

“She has to know you have money.”

“How the hell would she know that?” Larry didn’t lead a flamboyant lifestyle. His investments were just that, investments.

Sure they’d done well. He was a mathematician after all. In his second year of graduate school, he’d written an algorithm to predict the stock market. It had worked. But nobody outside the family had any inkling he made any more than a college professor’s salary.

Steve threw up his arms in frustration. “She researched you, Dad. You’re a Grosso. We’re one of NASCAR’s first families.”

“I approached her.”

“The best cons always start that way.”

Larry felt anger well up from the pit of his stomach. Crystal hadn’t researched him. She wasn’t after his money. She wouldn’t even spend the money Simon left her, because she was too principled to touch it. She was one of the most honest, unselfish, honorable women he’d ever met.

His voice went cold. “I think you’d better leave.”

Steve’s jaw clenched tight. “You’re in denial, Dad.”

“I’m falling in love, Steve.”

As he uttered the words, Larry knew they were true. Maybe it was wrong. Maybe it was too soon. Maybe the age difference was insurmountable. And maybe Crystal didn’t return his feelings. But, there it was.

It was the reason he was putting Libby into perspective, into the past, in a sweet, warm corner of his heart where she’d stay forever.

“I can’t believe this,” Steve hissed. “Is it about sex? Is that it?”

“This conversation is over,” said Larry.

“What are the odds?” Steve persisted. “You’re a bloody mathematician. What are the odds she’s in love with you-”

“I never said she was in love with me. I said I was in love with her.”

“Well, at least you’ve got that part right.”

“Goodbye, Steven.” Larry crowded his son toward the door.

“Protect your assets, Dad.”

“You don’t know a single thing about her.”

Steve put his hand on the doorknob. “Maybe not, but you can bet I’m going to find out.”

“Don’t do it.”

Steve’s gaze bore into his. “Afraid of what I might find out?”

“I’m afraid you might hurt Crystal.”

“Dad.” Steve’s sigh was pleading.

“I’m an intelligent man, son.”

“On paper, I know.”

Larry drew back. What the hell did that mean?

“Your social IQ,” said Steve. “It’s…”

“Oh, don’t stop now,” Larry urged, his voice a low growl.

“You know social interaction’s not your strong suit.”

Maybe not in crowds, but it was perfectly fine with Crystal. “And you genuinely believe, through my social ineptitude, I’d let some gorgeous, young woman get her hooks in me?”

“You’re only human, Dad. And you’ve been lonely since Mom died.”

Larry paused for a moment. “You should meet her.”

It was Steve’s turn to draw back. “Bad idea.”

“Afraid you might like her?”

“I’m afraid that’s exactly what she wants. To insinuate herself into your family life.”

Larry drew an exasperated sigh. “I hope you change your mind. Because I won’t stop seeing her-not for you or anybody else.”

Steve paused. “This could be an expensive lesson.”

“I’m betting the lesson will be yours. I have good taste in women, Steve. I picked your mother, didn’t I?”

“That was a long time ago.”

A pain flicked across Larry’s chest. But it was weaker than before, less sharp. He was sad now, not devastated like he’d been for so many months and years.

“It was,” Larry agreed softly.

“Be careful, Dad,” said Steve, genuine caring evident in his eyes.

“I will,” Larry promised, feeling the fight go out of him. “See you at Pocono?”

Steve nodded, opening the door.

AMBER WAS LATE ARRIVING FOR dinner. But when the kids bounced through the front door, Crystal breathed