Isaac’s gay.

The reality struck her so hard that she laughed. “You’re gay?”

He nodded, avoiding her gaze.

Her eyes darted to the empty wrappers on the bedside table.

“You had sex with Trey?”

He flushed and did this cute eye-rolling thing that not only told her he had done it with Trey, but it had been phenomenal. Not icky.

Not boring. Not tedious. It had been full of passion. And the lights had definitely been on.

“I need to sit down,” Rebekah said. She sat on the edge of his bed and breathed through her lightheadedness.

He sat beside her. After a moment, he took her hand and gripped it in both of his. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For trying to come between you and Eric. I know you love him, but I needed you to marry me.”

“I’d like to say I understand, Isaac, but I honestly don’t.”

“I need a wife,” he said. “For appearance’s sake. You know my father will disown me if he finds out I’m gay. I might as well kiss the family practice good-bye. You and I get along so well. You can’t have kids anyway, so no one would be suspicious if we adopt. It just makes sense that we stay together.”

“So I’m supposed to give up my chance at happiness so you can pretend to be something you’re not.”

He ran a hand over his face. “It seemed like a good idea at the time. I love you, Rebekah. I do. I always have. I’d be a great husband.

Treat you well. Take care of you forever. Give you anything you could ever want or need. It’s just the thought of having sex with you makes me physically ill.”

As if she could forget how unattractive he’d made her feel. “But that’s not because I’m not sexy or because my body feels weird inside, it’s because…” For the first time, she realized she wasn’t the one with the problem. It never had been. She jerked her hand out of his and jumped to her feet to glare at him. “How could you do that to me?”

“Do what?”

“Make me feel so sexually unappealing! Talk about a major mind fuck, Isaac. If it weren’t for Eric, I’d still think I had nothing to offer a man in the bedroom. I thought there was something wrong with me. That my body was disgusting.”

“I thought there must be something wrong with you. I wanted to be attracted to you, Rebekah. I just… wasn’t. And I couldn’t… I couldn’t force myself to have sex with you after the surgery. I tried.

Mentally, I had convinced myself that I needed to. Physically? I couldn’t even maintain an erection. I really did think it was because of your surgery.”

“It never occurred to you that I wasn’t the problem?”

“Did that occur to you?” he asked.

She lowered her eyes. “Well, no, actually. You’ve always been so… so… well, perfect.”

“That’s a pretty hard label to live up to.”

The turmoil in his eyes made her cringe. She wasn’t even mad at him anymore. She emitted a loud sigh. “You must be struggling to come to terms with this. When did you realize?”

“Last night.”

“Thank you for confiding in me. I’m sure that wasn’t easy.” She sat beside him again and wrapped an arm around his back. He leaned against her for support, and they sat there for a long while, silently offering strength to one another. He’d done this so many times when she’d been sick. Just offered his presence so she never felt alone. She was happy to offer him this bit of comfort in return.

“Rebekah?” he said quietly. “I need to ask you a favor. Will you do something for me?”

She stroked the loose waves from his forehead with one hand.

“Of course.”

“My father is having a big dinner party next week. All the physicians from the clinic will be there. The entire staff too. He didn’t say specifically, but I think he’s going to ask me to join the practice full time. In front of everyone.” He took her hand and clung to it. “I was hoping… would you go with me? We could pretend…”

“Isaac…”

“We could pretend that we’re still a couple, and then after he makes the announcement, I’ll tell him about…” He took a deep shuddering breath. “I need time to come to terms with this, and if you’re there, I won’t get all the regular questions.”

“The regular questions?”

“When are you going to settle down, son? Are you ever going to get married? I already had two kids by the time I was your age.

Don’t you think you need to start having a family?” he said in a pretty good impression of his father’s deep voice. “You know. The regular questions.”

She understood exactly where he was coming from, and she was tempted to say yes, but she wasn’t sure how Eric would feel about her pretending to be Isaac’s woman. Even if it was only for one evening.

“I have to ask Eric,” she said.

Isaac cringed. “He hates me. He’ll never go for it.”

“You have been acting like an ass lately,” she said. “Can you blame him for not understanding how we can be friends?”

“Sorry.”

She kissed his temple. “I forgive you. This time.”

“You’re good to me, Reb. Sometimes I wish… Sometimes I wish you were a guy,” he said.

Rebekah laughed. “I’ve always been sort of a tomboy. Maybe that’s why you thought you loved me.” She glanced at the clock radio beside the bed and her heart sank. “Oh crap, I was supposed to meet Eric an hour ago. He’s probably worried.”

She pulled out her phone and found that it was turned off. She tried to turn it on, but the battery was dead. “Shit. He’s probably been trying to call me. Can I use your phone?”

“Of course.”

She climbed to her feet and kissed him on the temple. “I’m here for you, you know. Just like you were there for me when I needed you during my treatments.”

He groaned and fell back on his bed. “Stop being so nice to me.

You’re making me feel like a complete jerk.”

She chuckled. “Good. Maybe you’ll remember that the next time you act like a selfish asshole.”

He chuckled. “When did you become so blunt?”

“Recently. And I like it.”

She let herself out of the bedroom and went into the kitchen to use the phone. Trey was sitting on a stool at the breakfast bar still in nothing but his boxer shorts. He was fiddling with his smart phone.

He looked up and grinned. “Did he tell you?”

“Yeah.”

He nodded. “Good.”

“Are you going to break his heart?” Rebekah asked.

“Who, me?” His look of innocence wasn’t fooling her.

“Let him down easy.”

“I know what I’m doing,” Trey assured her.

Rebekah dialed Eric’s number and hoped he’d answer. He probably wouldn’t like seeing Isaac’s number on his caller ID. He answered after several rings. “Is Rebekah okay?” he asked breathlessly.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Sorry I’m late. I’m getting ready to leave now. I’ll tell you what’s going on when I get to the restaurant. Are you still waiting there?”

“Yeah. I think I’ve eaten twenty or thirty complimentary breadsticks. I tried to call. You didn’t answer.”

“My battery is dead. Go ahead and order for us both. I’ll hurry.”

Rebekah gasped when Trey cuddled against her back. “Come on back to bed, Rebekah,” he said near her ear and phone receiver.

“Isaac and I aren’t finished with you yet.”

Rebekah elbowed him in the stomach, and he chuckled.

“Is that Trey?” Eric asked.

“Yeah, he thinks he’s funny.”

“There’s nothing funny about how hot you look in this deep sea diver getup,” Trey said, making sure Eric would hear. His bangs tickled her cheek as he leaned close to the receiver. She giggled.

“Have you seen the oxygen tank and flippers on this woman?” he continued. “Lord have mercy. Hot.”

“What is he talking about?” Eric asked.

“He’s just teasing,” Rebekah assured him.

“Isaac, hand me the snorkel. I’m going down,” Trey said. “I won’t be coming up for air for a while.” Isaac leaned against the opposite side of the counter and quirked an eyebrow at Trey.