I could feel the muscles in his back tightening, and the pull in my lower stomach grew as I got closer to my climax.

“Come on,” his gruff voice whispered in my ear. “Give me one more.”

Bringing his hand between us, he rolled his fingers against my clit, and I whimpered incoherent words as the mix of him moving inside me and his hands on me sent me over the edge. It felt like my body was suspended in air for long seconds before it came crashing down, and Brody’s body shuddered beneath my fingertips as he followed me into his own orgasm.

He lazily kissed up my throat until he reached my lips, and somehow I figured out how to release my death grip on his back to pull my hands through his dark hair as I returned the slow kiss.

“God, Kamryn. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get enough of you. Not after that.”

I smiled against his lips, and feeling his hard length still inside me, pushed him back and rolled us over until I was on top of him. He groaned when I moved my hips, his hands flying back to grab them. I’d been afraid he was about to stop me, but his fingers flexed against my skin before pressing me harder against him. Sitting up, I let him lead our movements, and my head fell back from the feel of the new position. This time was slow and controlled as we took our time getting to know each other’s body, but the heat and passion only seemed to grow.

My body curled over his, and I pressed my forehead into his chest when it was over. Every part of me felt like it was floating, and at the same time I couldn’t find the strength to move from where I was lying on him.

“Come here,” he said as he pulled his body from mine and wrapped his arms around me.

Pressing a kiss to my lips, he tucked my head under his chin and tugged on the comforter until he could pull it over us.

“You’ll stay?” I asked as I pressed closer to him.

“I need you in my arms right now,” he said simply. And just before sleep claimed me, I heard him say, “I’m not going anywhere.”

MY BODY JERKED awake, and I lay still as I listened for whatever had woken me. Brody was now behind me with his body curled around mine, and the sound of his soft snores was all that met my ears for a few moments. Closing my eyes, I relaxed into the pillow again when I heard the ringing. Moving from Brody’s arms, I glanced around for my phone but didn’t see it. Then I remembered I’d left it in the bathroom—this ring was coming from outside my room. Grabbing for the pants that were on the floor in the hallway, I searched the pockets until I found Brody’s phone. My body turned to ice when I saw the screen.

Olivia.

“Brody,” I said as I climbed back on the bed and shook his shoulder. “Brody, wake up.”

His eyes shot open and moved quickly to the phone I was holding out to him. “What—”

“Olivia is calling you.”

“Fuck,” he whispered and pinched the bridge of his nose as he turned to his back. Taking the phone from my hand, he cleared his throat a couple times and answered. “Hello?”

“Where the hell are you? Do you know what time it is?”

I didn’t need to be sitting directly next to him to hear her. I’m positive I would’ve been able to hear her shrill voice if I’d been back in the hall.

Glancing at his phone for a second, his aggravated expression never changed as he brought the phone back to his ear. “Yeah, Liv, I got caught up at work.”

“And you couldn’t call to tell me?”

“You said you’d be staying with your parents if you got back from Washington tonight. I didn’t know it would matter to you if I was late or—shit, Liv. Why . . . fuck, why are you crying?”

“Well, obviously I’m not at my parents’, Brody! I thought something had happened to you. You know, I’m trying to be a good wife here. And you are hours late and don’t even think to—” She cut off on a sob.

Brody’s hand fell over his face, and his head gently shook back and forth. “All right, I’m sorry. You’re right, I should have called you.”

“Come home, please. Please, come home.”

My body locked up when I heard her desperate plea, and I watched as Brody’s hand moved and he turned his head to look at me. Even in the dark I could see the war he was fighting as he listened to his wife cry on the phone and watched my every move.

Olivia said something that was now too low and mumbled for me to hear, but Brody’s expression suddenly looked like he was in pain.

“I’m finishing up a report, I’ll be back soon.” Without waiting for her to respond, he ended the call and reached out for me, but I stopped his hand.

“Stay. Please.”

His jaw clenched shut, and he shook his head once. From the way his eyes studied my face, as if trying to memorize it, I knew he wouldn’t. Twisting away, I got off the bed. I needed to get away from him before I lost it.

“Kamryn, don’t do this, I’m sorry. But you know I—”

“I know. You have to leave, Brody, it’s fine.” I quickly grabbed up my clothes on the floor and dashed into the bathroom.

“Kamryn!”

Once I’d dressed, I pressed my hands to the marble counter as I bit down on the inside of my cheeks to keep from crying. I’d gone into our relationship knowing we wouldn’t be able to have this—nights together with nothing standing in the way—but after the night we’d just shared I’d let myself hope.

Olivia’s call had been like a slap to the face. I couldn’t do this, I couldn’t be this person. But as Brody came up behind me and eased his arms around me to press our bodies together, I knew that for this man, I would. I would go through anything if it meant he was mine in the end.

“I’m so sorry,” he said softly before pressing his lips to the sensitive spot behind my ear. “Please don’t be mad. I couldn’t handle it if you were.”

I kept my eyes trained on my hands gripping the countertop and nodded, not trusting my voice anymore.

“One day . . . one day we won’t have to do this anymore. I’ll come home to you, and get in our bed, and never leave. I swear.”

My vision went blurry, and I closed my eyes tightly against the tears.

How was it possible that I was already falling so hard for this man that the thought of him anywhere but beside me had me feeling like I was drowning and unable to pull in the air my body needed to live? I was quickly becoming addicted to him and the way he made me feel with the smallest of touches. We were dangerous together, but I knew I couldn’t live without him.

“Forgive me,” he pleaded, and suddenly his body and warmth were gone. As much as my mind and body screamed at me to follow him, to beg him not to leave, I was rooted in place for long minutes until I heard the door shut and his car start up in the garage.

Taking shaky steps back until I hit a wall, I slid down until I was seated on the cool floor, and the tears I’d been holding back fell mercilessly as desperate sobs racked my chest.

Brody

May 20, 2015

THE SECOND OLIVIA’S car pulled out of our driveway, I was rushing to pull on clothes and running out the door. I needed to go to Kamryn. I needed to try to fix what I’d probably destroyed the night before.

Waking up to Kamryn telling me Olivia was calling me—being pulled out of my perfect moment with Kamryn to have the truth of our situation thrown in my face—had been agony. There was no other word for it. We’d decided when we began that we would go slow, and Kamryn knew there would be days at a time when I wouldn’t be able to see her or even talk to her. But that had changed last night.

It had killed me to see the look on her face as I talked with Liv, and everything in me had been yelling at me to stay with Kamryn, to take care of her. Then Liv brought up Tate, and I remembered why Kamryn and I had agreed to keep this quiet: I needed to make sure Olivia was going to be okay first. So I’d given in.