Luanne pulled me by the hand to the kitchen. Before too long, she had made me a variety of snacks and laid them out on the table. I didn't even know where to begin. I couldn't even believe how much food she pushed in front of me. All of it was homemade and homegrown.

I took a bite of the sausage spread on homemade baguette and immediately forgot all my troubles. She called it "Hanky Panky." It was heavenly. She explained the sausage came from one of the local farms. I coughed a bit when she said she handpicked the pig. I was a suburban girl who liked to eat meat, but the thought of choosing your animal creeped me out a bit.

Apparently, my hand and stomach didn't get the memo because I swallowed the rest of the slice before I even knew it. Luanne smiled at me as I closed my eyes from the satisfaction I felt.

We sat and talked for a long time. We talked about everything from my family, my job, her job, and some extra cute embarrassing Ezra stories I will have to tease him about later. I could stay here for hours listening to her. She was an amazing, vivacious woman. Her spirit made her all the more beautiful.

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I had forgotten to text my Mom when I got here. I looked down with a frown on my face.

Mom:  Riley, where are you?

Mom: RILEY ANSWER ME NOW!

Mom: IF YOU DON'T ANSWER ME RIGHT NOW, I WILL CALL THE COPS!

I groaned and began typing back to her quickly. She was in full-on Mom meltdown mode.

Me: We made it, just hanging out and talking. Chill out. Be back tomorrow.

"Your Mom?" Luanne asked, laughing at me.

"How'd you guess?" I questioned, wanting to know what gave it away.

"Your face. You just lied to her, didn't you?" She raised the same eyebrow in the exact same way Ezra did when he was trying to get information out of me.

"Yeah. She doesn't know Ezra's back. My family hasn't forgiven him yet. I'm not sure how to tell them we are back together."

"You probably need to figure out how to tell them. I don't see him leaving your side anytime soon." She winked at me.

Luanne understood and didn't judge me for keeping Ezra a secret from them. Maybe we could just move here with her. Not many people would miss me in Ohio. It would get me out of having to be in JD and Anna's wedding. The thought sounded nice in my head, but I knew it was totally irrational. We would have to face the reality of our situation sooner or later. We couldn't hide behind closed doors forever.

I heard the front door open and closed my eyes, hoping it was him. I wanted Ezra to walk in and wrap his arms around me so we could move past the dramatic back and forth. 

"Look what I found wandering the streets." A male with a deep voice said near the front of the house.

I looked up to see a tall thin older man walking behind Ezra with his hands on the back of his shoulders. He was pushing Ezra in the room. Ezra looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but in this house. The man paused when he saw me and looked at me with a smile. He turned his head to Ezra and patted him hard on the back.

"Damn bug, what did you do to land her?" He gave Ezra one last playful shove into the room when Ezra hesitated to come in. He turned back to me, smiling, and walked over to reach out to take my hand. "Hey, babycakes. I'm Ezra's ruggedly handsome Uncle Charlie."

"Hi, I'm Riley." I smiled while taking his hand and shaking it.

Charlie had the same eyes as Luanne and Ezra. Charlie and Ezra looked so much alike it was almost funny. Their hair fell in the same way and they stood with the same dominant overpowering stance. Charlie didn't have the piercings Ezra had, but he looked exactly like what I imagined Ezra would look like in twenty years. The only thing keeping them from looking like identical twins was age and the fact that Ezra's shoulders were slightly broader than Charlie's. Charlie had little flecks of silver in his full head of dark hair and a short five-o-clock shadow covered his face.

"Did you have a good walk?" Luanne asked Ezra raising her eyebrow at him. It was so strange to see where Ezra picked some of his habits up from. It was like watching a synchronized facial expression show.  It was very entertaining.

Ezra finally acknowledged I was in the room before offering up a response. He was trying to read my face. I smiled at him to let him know everything was fine between us.

"Yeah, a little, I guess." He said sheepishly. He was ashamed of his behavior earlier.

"Your smokin' girl got you nervous, bug? Being that pretty oughta be against the law. I'm going to have to call down to the sheriff to take her in for stealing an old man's heart." Charlie said as he slapped Ezra's back again, almost knocking him over. Ezra scowled back at his Uncle.

I chewed on my bottom lip and looked down at the ground.  Charlie was purposefully pushing Ezra's buttons.  He was trying to get a rise out of him.  Ezra's death glare didn't intimidate Charlie in the least. 

"Why don't you take her outside to go play so the adults can talk for a bit?" Charlie suggested to him.

Luanne looked over at me like she didn't think it was a good idea this soon after what just happened. I looked back up at Ezra, who was studying me nervously and had shifted his hands in his pockets. I missed his confidence; he would normally grab me by the hand and pull me to him without thinking. It was like he was scared to even touch me right now.

"That sounds like a great idea." I said, getting up from my chair. Luanne closed her eyes and shook her head. Charlie was smiling and I caught him checking my butt out as I walked past him. I blushed from the attention he was giving me. Ezra caught his Uncle ogling me and his mouth dropped open.

"Close your mouth, kid. You're letting the flies in." He put his hand on Ezra's shoulder and squeezed. "Come on, Ezra, you can't blame me for looking. She is quite delicious."

"Charlie!" Luanne reached over and smacked him. "Riley, you have to excuse his manners. Charlie is an old man who refuses to grow up. Charlie, you leave this poor girl alone. You're going to creep her out." She smacked him again harder.

"Aww, I'm just messing around." Charlie said as he looked back at me and winked. "Unless you decide to ditch my nephew. We do look a lot alike, so I already know I'm your type."

At Charlie's last words, Ezra finally reached and grabbed my hand to pull me out of the house. I was laughing as we got close to the front door. I could see where Ezra got his confidence from. He must have spent a lot of time with his Uncle while he was growing up.

Ezra threw open the door and continued to pull me towards the car.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"This was a terrible idea. I'm taking you home." He pulled open the car door and tried to make me get inside. I stopped and pulled my hand from his.

"We are not going home." I said, crossing my arms over my chest, refusing to move.

"Quit being so difficult and get your stubborn ass in the car Riley."

Ezra's eyes were wide and he pointed to the seat trying to give me command like I was a dog. I snickered at him and moved my hand to cover my mouth.

"What's so funny?" He asked, clenching his jaw as he stepped towards me.

"You really want to drive three and a half hours back to Ohio because you're Uncle Charlie is teasing you?" I laughed again.

"He was hitting on you." Ezra dug his heels in the ground like a child who wasn't getting his way.

"He is poking at you. That back there had nothing to do with me. You think everyone hits on me, Ezra." I said, rolling my eyes at him and biting my lip.

"It's because they are. How am I supposed to keep you when everyone is always trying to take you from me?" When he said that, I could see his insecurities all flying out. He really believed what he was saying.

I uncrossed my arms and slowly walked towards him. He backed up against the car nervously, unsure what I was going to do next. I stood in front of him and closed the passenger door gently behind him. I traced my fingertips across his chest and down his hard stomach.

He was watching the small space between us. He swallowed hard when I dipped my finger in the top of his jeans. I teased at his hard skin before pulling my hand back out to look up to his eyes. He shifted, trying to readjust himself.

"What are you doing?" He asked, surprised. 

"Just showing everyone who wants me that I belong to you."

I got on my tiptoes and wrapped my arm around his neck to pull his mouth to mine. I bit his lip ring as I pressed him back into the car. He shifted his legs down low enough to rub his arousal against me.

Ezra moved his hands to the back of my head and slid them down to my back, stopping long enough to squeeze my butt before roughly turning me so he could take control. He used one arm to lift my leg to line my hips up to his. He pushed, rubbing against me until I moaned his name. The other hand moved to my breast and he squeezed and twisted my nipple between his fingertips. His mouth was all over my neck and collarbone as he was working his hips against me. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the car.

I was ready for him to devour me.

"Get you some, Ezra." I heard a voice bellow from the bottom of the driveway. Our eyes flew open and I saw him turn his head to look down the driveway where the voice came from.

"Fuck." He swore, closing his eyes.