Oh, I’m pretty sure I had an idea. He hated that they wanted me to date someone? I hated that he was married. My body temperature started rising, and it had nothing to do with the way Brody and I hadn’t been able to get enough of each other not even five minutes before. I was back to hating this situation, hating that I couldn’t claim him as mine, hating that I had to share him with another woman.

I blinked hard against the sudden tears that pooled in my eyes and moved to the cupcakes that were waiting to be filled and frosted. “I really need to finish these and go home to change into whatever outfit Kinlee picked out for me.”

A few tense moments passed before Brody let out a huff, then moved so he was behind me again. With a soft kiss to my cheek, he wrapped his strong arms around me and pinned my body to his. “I need to warn you now. If I see him touch you, then everyone will be finding out about us tonight. I won’t be able to hold myself back, Kamryn.”

Part of me wanted to lash out at him, and my body froze when I realized I felt that way. I’d never wanted to use our situation, or Brody’s marriage, against him . . . and now that I was, I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. As I fought with myself over my feelings Brody whispered in my ear . . . and the agony in his three words broke me.

“I hate this.” His voice broke in the middle, and the tears that had flooded my eyes earlier rolled down my cheeks.

Three words we’d both used plenty of times over the last month and a half. But his tone, mixed with the way his grip tightened and his body trembled against mine, was breaking me. My anger faded immediately, and I turned in his arms to drop my forehead to his chest.

“I do too.”

Brody held me in his arms for a few minutes before kissing the top of my head. “One day everyone will know. One day it will just be you and me. One day this will all be behind us.”

When no words left my lips, I simply nodded against his chest as I replayed the words he’d already promised me so many times.

“I’ll be waiting for you at their house, Kamryn. Don’t be too long.”

I felt empty as soon as he released me, and the second I heard the chime from the door as he left I let loose the pained sobs that had been building up in my chest. I continued to tell myself that he was right, that we would be together soon. But a small part of me was beginning to doubt my ability to keep this going. I didn’t know how much longer I could handle all the guilt, secrets, and days alone wishing for things to be different.

A LITTLE OVER an hour later I was pulling up to Jace and Kinlee’s house, my pulse drumming quickly. I parked behind Brody’s SUV and sat there for a few minutes, just staring at it and telling myself that I could get through tonight. I could get through a night of being so close to him and, at the same time, so far away from him.

I’m meeting his parents tonight. I’m meeting his parents and will have to look them in the eye knowing I’m having an affair with their son. I can’t do this, I can’t do this! I quickly reached for the keys still in the ignition and started to turn them when a truck pulled up behind me. With a defeated sigh, I let my hand drop for a few seconds before pulling the keys out of the ignition. Reaching for the door handle, I jumped back and a startled scream tore from my chest when someone knocked on the window.

Aiden jumped away from the car and held his arms up like he was surrendering, and I sent him a shaky smile as I shook my head.

“You trying to give a girl a heart attack?” I asked as I opened the door.

He laughed and stepped toward me with a hand stretched out. “Hardly. I just pulled up and saw you sitting in here. Jace said you were bringing cupcakes, so I thought I’d ask if you needed help.”

I took his hand and let him help me from my car and wrapped my arms around his waist when he pulled me in for a hug. Leaning back, he looked down at me with a soft grin, and it suddenly felt like I was too close to him.

“How’ve you been?” he asked, his voice low and barely audible.

Putting one hand to his chest, I pushed back until he released me. “Good. Busy, but good. How about you?”

The slight tilt to his lips fell, and he looked away as he realized I was distancing myself. Nodding twice, he glanced back at me and tried to smile again, but it fell flat. His words sounded rough but full of understanding when he stated, “You still belong to someone else.”

It hadn’t been a question, but I responded anyway. “I do.”

With another nod, he shot me a smile, this one genuine. “Well, it’s still great to see you, KC, and you look beautiful.” Before another awkward silence could come between us, he shut my door and walked to the back. “What do you say we get the dessert taken in?”

“Aiden,” I whispered. He stopped walking, but didn’t look back at me. “I don’t want you to waste time waiting for me. You should find someone who can be with you.”

Turning, he shrugged. “If I find someone, then I find someone. But until then, I’d rather spend the time I have away from work waiting for you to realize you’re in love with me,” he said teasingly.

Whether he actually meant those words or not, I was glad the heaviness between us had been lifted, and I laughed as I opened the back of my car. Using the same teasing tone, I leaned forward to grab a couple of the boxes. “And what if I told you it was never going to happen? Would you stop then?”

“Ugh.” He stumbled back from the car and gripped at his chest. “You’re wounding my ego, KC.”

“Oh, I’m sure that was a big blow to it.”

“The worst.” He sighed dramatically, but shot me a wink. “I’m not sure if I can go on after that kind of dismissal.”

I laughed and pushed him away when he draped a heavy arm over my shoulders. “Toughen up, Donnelly. I need help taking these boxes in, and I doubt a firefighter turned princess is up for the job.”

“Princess, huh?”

Turning my head to look at him, I eyed him and sucked air between my teeth before mouthing, Princess.

He laughed loudly and grabbed most of the boxes. “Better watch yourself, KC, I’ll force-feed you one of the cupcakes in front of everyone.”

I gasped and shifted the boxes to one arm so I could close up and lock my SUV. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“I don’t know . . . in the last three minutes you crushed what little ego I had, and then called me a princess. I think that calls for a show of you eating your cupcakes.”

Groaning, I followed him up the walkway to the house. “I hate Kinlee for telling y’all that.”

“I sure as hell don’t. It’s now my mission in life to watch you eat something sweet.”

“Not gonna happen.”

“We’ll see.” He smiled widely and laughed when I rolled my eyes. Opening the door, he stepped back to let me in first, and I wished he hadn’t.

Brody was standing just inside the living room with Jace and a few other guys I didn’t know. Since Aiden wasn’t blocking my view of him, I watched as his eyes lit up when he saw me . . . then saw all expression leave his face when he noticed the man behind me.

I heard Jace say my name and Aiden begin talking with the guys standing there, but I wasn’t able to focus on anything else as I stared at Brody. He wasn’t even looking at me anymore. His eyes were pinned to Aiden, and the jealousy there was apparent.

I knew if I stood there waiting for him to acknowledge me again, someone was bound to notice, so I straightened myself and walked into the kitchen so I could put the boxes down. Aiden was there setting the rest on the counter when I turned, and I thanked him before opening them up and putting them out on the platters Kinlee had waiting.

My head jerked up as I heard Brody’s name being called, and I watched as he walked over to someone I assumed was his mother.

Kinlee came up behind me and wrapped her arms around me. “Don’t you look hot!”