Funeral home owner and undertaker Dual Hood knows a good thing when he sees it, so when Charlie Soder applies for the job of embalmer, he snatches up the young man in a heartbeat. Charlie, fresh-faced and just out of college, also knows a good thing when he sees it, and immediately sets his sights on his new sexy boss.<br><br>It doesn’t take long for sparks to fly and romance to blossom. But Dual worries what folks in his small Mississippi town will say, and whether his family-owned business will suffer if word goes round about his new love interest. He isn’t at all certain he has the courage to do the right thing and grab love before it slips through his fingers.

The Undertaker's Secret

I knew exactly what he was saying, and I knew it was true, but the bullshitter in me wanted to make excuses, wanted to hash it out, wanted to prevaricate and dilly and dally and ponder and consider the matter and think about options and—


“I’m sorry,” he said as I sat there with my mouth open. I’m sure my face was redder than a beet. “I told you I was pushy, and I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be. I’m just an ass sometimes. I did say I wasn’t good at pretending. And shit.”


“You did,” I agreed. I said it because I couldn’t think of anything else to say.


“And sometimes you gotta be petty cause bitches gotta learn,” he added. “That’s what my friend Alvin always used to say.”


Chapter 21