“Do you want me to go?” he asked, fighting the urge to go to her, draw her in his arms and show her how he felt.

“I...don’t know.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“This isn’t going to work if you refuse to tell me what’s going on inside that head of yours.”

Baby blues he’d so often drowned in implored him to understand. “I’m a horrible person. I ran away from you, stayed away from you, tried to make you angry—and now I want to complain because you were alone with my sister.”

She was...jealous?

Don’t smile. “Your reaction is understandable. I slept with her.”

The color vanished from her cheeks. “I know. The image is burned into my brain.”

He wished she hadn’t walked into his room that night. Even the thought of her with another man... Deep breath in, out. “Like so many other things, I can’t change it,” he said. “What’s done is done.”

“I know that, too,” she said, shoulders sagging with dejection.

He sensed a “but” and leaned against the counter, crossed his arms.

“Do you compare us?” she asked.

“No!” he burst out. How could she think that, even for a second? “There is no one who compares to you.”

She flinched. “I just...I don’t...”

Forcibly controlling his tone, he added, “Tell me what you want me to do, and it’s done. Burn my bed and get a new one? Done. Buy a new house? Done. The only thing I won’t do is stay away from Jessie Kay. The two of you are a package deal, honey, and that’s never going to change. You know it, and I know it. Besides, if I ignored her, it would hurt her, which would hurt you.”

“I don’t want you to ignore her,” she said. “I don’t want any of those things. I just...I don’t know.” She stomped across the room, but she didn’t draw him closer when she was within reach. She pushed him, as if daring him to react. “I’m so frustrated with us both right now. There’s no quick fix for any of this.”

“Trust me, I know.”

She looked down at her hands, as if she couldn’t believe what they’d done, before turning away from him.

He gently latched on to her waist, stopping her. “You do whatever you need to do to me, as long as you stay with me.”

* * *

MY RESISTANCE IS melting all over again, Brook Lynn thought.

Seeing Jase with her sister had caused the darkest, most primal surge of jealousy to shoot through her. It had been irrational. It was irrational, not to mention illogical. She trusted him not to cheat. And she trusted Jessie Kay. But...

The emotions were still there, frothing, propelling her toward madness. Even knowing she was out of line didn’t help. And now she couldn’t shake the questions rapid-firing through her mind. Questions she voiced. “What sets me apart from my sister in your mind? What makes you want one of us but not the other—when you once wanted the other, too?”

Warm breath fanned the curve of her neck, making her shiver. His chest pressed against her back, the strength of him buffering her from the rest of the world. He picked her up and turned, placing her on the kitchen counter. Parting her legs, he stepped into the cradle she provided.

He framed her face in his big, callused hands. “You’ve known hardship, and yet you’ve never allowed it to define you. You are serious...about having fun. You carry responsibilities too heavy for your shoulders, and yet you don’t seem to notice. And I have never wanted a woman the way I want you. Never needed one the way I need you. You were made for me—she wasn’t.”

“Jase,” she said softly. Had more beautiful words ever been spoken to her?

“I’m not done.” His hands moved to the back of her neck, fisting her hair. Ravaged, he said, “You are pleasure to my pain, hope to my fear. You are everything I’ve ever needed but didn’t think I’d be lucky enough to have. I adore the way you think and the things you say.” Voice going husky, he added, “And don’t even get me started on the way you move.”

A tremor danced along her spine as she played with the ends of his hair. “That’s the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

“Brook Lynn,” he said.

“Yes, Jase.”

“I love you.”

Oh...wow. She’d been wrong—more beautiful words had been spoken to her. “But...you can’t. You shouldn’t. I abandoned you when you needed me most.”

“Not your fault. I started our relationship in the wrong place. But we’re on the right track now. You know everything. I can prove myself. I will.”

Well, it was suddenly clear to her that she had things to prove, as well. “Jase, I—”

“Still not done, honey. I love you with every fiber of my being.” His thumbs caressed her cheeks with reverence. “I’m happiest when I’m with you and resent any time apart. I think of you and smile. I think of you and crave. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”

She melted against him, and in that moment, that instant, that snap of time, the fear left her. Just, boom, it packed up and moved out. This man—this amazing, precious man—might have a temper, but he loved her. He loved her, defective Brook Lynn Dillon. And she knew without a doubt that he would never turn his rage on her.

She might not have forgotten his rages, but she had forgotten his reaction to her, at least for a little while. He’d snapped out of his darker emotions at her command, at her touch, and his first thought had been of her, of her safety.