“Sometimes I can’t help but wonder if he killed himself.” His eyes focused on me.

My heart was hurting, hanging so heavily in my own chest I couldn’t be sure it wouldn’t drop to the floor.

I buried my head into his shoulder, wrapping my arms around him. I felt his come around me in return. “I’m so sorry.” God, I was.

I was aching right alongside him.

“He was coming to see me.” His voice choked up. “He told me how proud he was of me, and they think . . .”

I lifted my head once again. “What about his wife?”

“I can’t bring myself to ask her.” He shifted to his side. Our legs were still tangled, and he used the position to pull me flush against his body.

“Then you have to.” I breathed out, knowing he could feel my air.

His hands tightened on my waist. “You’d come with me?”

I hesitated before shaking my head. “You know I can’t leave Shiloh.”

He let out a soft curse, moving to his back.

I sat up, and I gazed down at him. “This is the right time. They’re postponing the movie.” I began to trace circles on his chest. “You can go, talk to her, get some closure, and then come back to me.”

His hands went back to my waist, and suddenly, he lifted me. He held me above him like I was a doll, as if I weighed nothing. And he smiled up at me. My hair fell down, forming a curtain around us.

He said, “You heard everything, didn’t you?”

I smiled down at him. “Good hearing, remember?”

He grew somber, his eyes studying every inch of my face, and then he murmured, “You heard what I said to your stepfather?”

My throat went tight, my heart thumped in an uneven pitter-patter rhythm against my chest, and an odd giggle threatened to break free. I ignored all of that, just feeling my face heating up. I blamed the angle he was holding me.

“Yes,” I whispered my answer.

“It’s true,” he whispered back.

Lowering me back down until I was lying on top of him again, he looked up. His hand caught the side of my face, and his fingers slid through my hair. He was staring so hard at me. He repeated, “It’s true.”

He still hadn’t said the words to me.

My own words were caught in my throat, but I moved until my lips touched his.

Slowly. Tenderly. A soft graze.

My heart was thundering like the herd in me.

I moved up and applied pressure, trying to tell him I felt the same. I wanted to show him how much I felt the same, but his hand tightened around my face, and his lips opened over mine. His tongue slid inside, and after that, I was lost.

We made love through the rest of the day.

Once. Twice.

Later in the evening, we were still lying in bed when someone knocked on his door. Reluctantly, he got up to answer, and even though he shut the door behind him when he stepped outside, I could still hear their conversation. It was his manager. He told her he’d fly out with everyone else.

“Really?”

I curled on my side, hugging his pillow to me and smiling as I eavesdropped.

Brody laughed. “You sound surprised.”

“I just thought . . . I thought you’d put up more of a fight. That’s all.”

“It’s decided. I can’t fight it.”

“Really?”

He laughed again. “I’m not happy about it. Trust me, but I’ll go and come back when I need to.”

“Ah. I see. She’s inside waiting for you, isn’t she?”

There was silence.

“Just try to protect yourself, Brody. You’re unpredictable. You can be a hothead at times. You’re a rakish flirt other days, and today, I saw how much you can love someone. Please don’t get hurt, any more than you already have been.”

I sat up, suspending my breath.

There was silence again, and then I heard a very soft, “Too late.” And my lungs depleted themselves.

A single tear slipped down my cheek.

I didn’t want to hurt him. I didn’t want to get hurt either, but I knew what he wanted. It might not be the same thing Matthew wanted, but it was similar. He wanted me with him, and that meant wherever he would go after this.

As if sensing my pain, Shiloh whinnied in the distance.

I moved over, looking out his bedroom window.

She was at the edge of the fence, staring right back at me.

She wanted me to go to her, and she was waiting as she swished her tail back and forth.

I couldn’t, not that night.

I placed my hand against the window, trying to let her know.

I had to be his tonight.

The outside door opened, and I settled back against the pillows, snuggling under his blanket and closing my eyes. When he came into the room, I pretended to be asleep.

He snorted, sat on the bed, and ran a hand down my arm. “You’re a horrible actor.”

I laughed, rolling to my back and then closing my eyes when his hand went to my breast. “How’d you know?”

“Because I saw Shiloh out there, and I saw her leave so I know you did something to tell her to go. That’s how I knew.” His thumb tweaked over my nipple, then back again. They were hardening under his touch, and the ache was forming for him again.

I wanted to pull him down with me, but I waited.