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My gut lurched. “What do you mean? Why would I lie?” It wasn’t as if I hadn’t already laid myself bare. Literally.

I looked up into Brody’s eyes and swallowed, realization dawning over me. This wasn’t about me. This was abouthim. “You don’t want to lie to Cooper. Or to Gran.”

He nodded slowly, the corners of his mouth down-turned. “And I don’t want you to have to, either. I know how much your family means to you. If we go any further. If we slept together tonight, I couldn’t look them in the eye tomorrow. I’d lose their trust if they found out we’d gone behind their backs. I don’t think either of us wants that.”

He wasn’t wrong. The thought of sneaking around, pretending to my family that Brody and I were anything other than friends, made my stomach roil. I looked up at him, and his eyes widened.

“Oh, please don’t think I don’t want you. I do. So much. But if anything is going to happen between us, we need to tell the truth.”

I clamped my jaw shut, picturing the look on Cooper’s face if we fronted up tomorrow morning, declaring that we wanted to sleep with each other, but only if we had his blessing. He’d blow his top.

My brother was already on the protective side. He’d frightened off plenty of potential boyfriends over the years, but he knew Brody better than anyone else. Knew all about his past. The women he’d dated. His one-night stands. Coop had always hinted at the adventures the two of them had whenever he paid Brody a visit. Every time, I’d swallow down bitter feelings. Feign disinterest, while my gut twisted into knots inside.

My stomach pulled a little now. What on earth made me think Brody was going to change? He wasn’t about to become a monk after one quick fumble with me.

“What are you thinking about?” Brody’s voice washed over me in the room's quiet. I could hardly tell him I was wondering what made me any different from a thousand other women he could meet. He’d left me high and dry before, after all. Hadn’t seen fit to reply to my note. What was to stop him from doing it again?

“What are you proposing we do?” My voice was small. Quiet.

He sighed, shifting against my pillows and pulling me into his chest. “I think I should talk to Cooper.”

I swallowed. Hard. Tell him what, exactly? His inexperienced little sister had almost thrown caution to the wind and slept with the notorious womanizer who was his trusted best friend? Not to mention him being on the verge of leaving town. I didn’t know if Coop would be more likely to laugh or run Brody out of town himself!

But as Brody stroked my arm, his rhythmic caress dancing over my skin, I’d agree to almost anything. Lying here in his arms was all I’d ever dreamed of. All I’d ever wanted from him. The thought of asking the universe for more unleashed butterflies in my stomach.

We lay together in silence for what seemed like forever, and my eyes grew heavy, my lids giving in to the hypnotic rise and fall of his chest. The endless caress of his fingers along my arm.

“Ro?” Brody’s voice was hushed and tight. “Will I speak to Coop?”

If he did, there’d be no going back. No stuffing the cat back into the bag. Was I really ready for my brother’s judgment? But if we didn’t tell Cooper we had feelings for each other, even if only physically, we’d be living a lie, and I didn’t want that either. Brody was right. We needed to talk to my family. I sucked in a breath, nodding my head.

Brody’s arms tightened around me, bringing his lips down to the top of my head and gently kissing my hair. “Thank you.”

Something fired deep in my belly. For better or worse, we would confess all in the morning. I shut my eyes, giving in to the lure of sleep, but my last waking thought was how I didn’t want to be in Brody’s shoes when he fronted up to my brother.

17

RO

Iwoke with a jolt, my body damp with perspiration. My eyelids fluttered madly until, finally, the room became less like a silent movie and more like my bedroom. Pressure around my waist and heat at my back brought me back to the moment. I looked down at the corded forearm resting across my stomach. The massive hand with the finest coating of blond hair on its back. Brody.

I’d imagined waking up in his arms like this a million times, but a burn ignited my chest as last night came back to me. His lips on mine. His fingers deep inside me.

I’d dreamed of Brody. Brody and me. In the nightmarish world my subconscious created, he’d invited me up to Denver after my family kicked me out for lying to them. He’d opened the door to his apartment, all smiles. But an assortment of gorgeous, naked women lay around, calling out his name. I’d reached out to pull him away, but he’d just shrugged his shoulders. Smirked and winked.

The unpleasant vision matched with the fitful night I’d had. Every time he’d stirred in his sleep, I’d woken, a feeling ofimpending doom hovering over me like a black cloud. The glow of my pleasure was tainted by the burn low in my gut.

Pale light filtered through the window, and a moth bashed softly against the glass. Maybe it hoped to make its escape after a night held prisoner in my room. The beat of my heart matched its fluttering.

Brody’s breath warmed the back of my neck, and I slowly shifted around to face him. He stirred a little at the movement, his eyelids trembling as he dreamed. Despite the bubble of nausea in my stomach, the corners of my lips lifted. He still had a scattering of faint freckles across his nose. Coop used to call him Pippy Long Stocking, but his youthful face now had a leaner, harder look. The purple smudges under his eyes told a story of worry, and I tamped down the urge to reach out and trace them with my fingertips.

In the golden light of morning, Brody looked like a God. A superhero. Apollo incarnate. A fantasy.

The ache in my chest deepened. That’s exactly what last night had been. A fantasy. A memory to be stored away somewhere safe. No gods were racing around in togas, marching up and down the streets of Tuft Swallow. No superheroes in crochet capes. And no matter how much I’d wanted Brody last night, giving in to desire would end in tears.

Mine.

Brody would be gone soon, and he’d leave me to deal with the fallout of my heart all over again.