was real. And if I was asleep, I really didn’t want to wake up.

“So wet,” he said, pressing his lips to my neck. “Slick little hot pussy is gonna kill me. You are too

much. I want a taste of you, and I can’t keep my hands off you even though I know this will hurt you. I

don’t want to hurt you.”

He wasn’t hurting me now. I could hardly form words as he slid his finger inside my entrance. I

squeezed his arms and panted.

“I want to fuck this. I want you. I want inside you. Right motherfucking now I want inside you so

damn bad my dick is about to bust out of these jeans. But that will be all it is. We won’t do it again. I

don’t do relationships. I don’t want you hurt.”

He wanted to fuck me. Just this once and then he’d be done with me. We would be friends again. Or

he’d just be my son’s uncle. Could I live with that? Could I give myself to him knowing it was just

this once?

No.

I wanted more.

I’d loved Dustin when I had slept with him. Maybe I hadn’t been in love with him, but a part of me

did love Dustin. I hadn’t been ready for sex then, but I had loved him and he had wanted to. He had

loved me, and that had been enough. But this wasn’t love with Dewayne. He didn’t love me. He never

would.

His finger slid back out of me, then circled my clit, and it felt so very good. Being with him would

be the most epic moment of my life. I knew that. But then what? I would find a way to move on? Love

someone else? Could I ever love someone else? If I tied myself to Dewayne this way, I wouldn’t be

able to let him go. Not in my heart. And didn’t I deserve to be loved? To know what it felt like to be

held like Preston held Amanda? To know that the man beside me wanted only me?

He was right. I deserved more.

I pushed him away, and he went without a fight. Closing my eyes, I caught my breath. “I want

more. I can’t. I can’t do this with you and have it mean nothing to you. If you’re going to walk away

from me, then I can’t do it. I’ll want more. I don’t want a taste of something I can never have.”

I opened my eyes. Dewayne’s hands were tucked in his pockets, and he hung his head as he took

deep breaths. He looked defeated. I felt defeated. The young girl inside me who thought Dewayne

Falco was my own prince charming was realizing he wasn’t. He was a man. Just like any other.

“I’m sorry, so fucking sorry,” he said, still not looking at me.

This was it. I couldn’t go back inside. Not after he had hauled me out of there like that. I would call

Amanda and apologize later. Right now I just wanted to go home.

I didn’t tell him good-bye. I’d see him again soon enough. He would come see Micah. I would

pretend like I didn’t feel something for him. I would act as if he hadn’t hurt me. I would deal. I was

good at surviving. I could survive this.

Luckily, Amanda had driven to Live Bay with me, so I had my car here. Preston had dropped her

off at my house earlier, and she’d helped me get dressed. She wouldn’t need me to give her a ride

home. I climbed in my car and turned it toward home. To put on my pajamas and cuddle on the couch

with the little boy there who loved me. The one man in my life who I would be enough for. I always

had my son.

I was still three miles from home when the car started jerking. This had happened once before and I

had managed to crank it back up after it went dead. I just didn’t need it to happen now, on a dark road.

I pulled the car over to the side of the road just as it gave up the struggle. I waited a few minutes

and tried starting it up, but it was completely dead. I couldn’t sit here all night. I had to move.

Besides, I had walked three miles home before. Maybe not at night, but I had walked three miles.

I grabbed my purse and took my keys with me, then headed the rest of the way home on foot. My

feet were going to have blisters after walking three miles in these boots. That was the least of my

problems, though. In the morning I had to find a tow truck service I could afford.

DEWAYNE

I didn’t go back inside after she walked away. Instead, I leaned against the wall and laid my head back

as her words returned to me in a rush. She wanted more. She wasn’t willing to let me take her and

have that be it.

She knew her self-worth. She wasn’t willing to have casual sex. She respected her body. She was

fucking perfect. I’d actually told her I didn’t do relationships and that what we were doing was a fuck

and nothing more. What kind of sorry motherfucker does that to a woman like Sienna?

Touching her had been . . . God . . . it had been amazing. She smelled even better than I’d imagined.

I could still smell her on my hand. It was reminding me of what I wasn’t good enough for. Dancing

with her and feeling her body against mine had worked me into a frenzy. One only Sienna Roy could

satisfy.

No one in that club appealed to me.

I didn’t dance, but I had held her in my arms, and there I was, dancing with her. Holding her close.

Enjoying every minute of it. Then she’d moved against my leg and trembled in my arms, and all I

could think of was touching her. Making her come on my hand. Watching her.

I sank down to the ground and sat there. Songs played inside, and I could hear when Jackdown took

the stage. The crowd roared, and I closed my eyes and wished like hell I had been stronger. Better.

“You gonna sit out here all night and beat yourself up for whatever the hell you did, or get up and

go check on her?”

I opened my eyes to see Rock standing over me.

“She doesn’t want to see me,” I told him.

Rock cocked an eyebrow. “Really? ’Cause the girl I met inside looked at you like you were some

angel from heaven. For a minute there I thought you might walk on fucking water and not have told

us.”

Normally, a comment like that would’ve made me laugh. But right now I felt sick to my stomach.

“She left. I told her all I’d ever be was a one-time fuck, and she said she wanted more. That she

deserved more. And she’s right. So I let her go.”

Rock didn’t respond right away. He agreed with her, I was sure. Everyone saw how amazing she

was. It was easy to see.

“I’ve known you all my life. And I’ve never seen you treat anyone the way you treat Sienna. Not

when we were in high school and not now. She’s your one. The one who reaches you. The one who

makes you different.”

“She was Dustin’s,” I said, reminding him that in high school she was never mine. I had protected

her when my brother hadn’t. Nothing more.

“No one was ever Dustin’s one. We both know that. I believe Sienna may be the only one who

doesn’t know that.”

“Don’t. He loved her. He made mistakes. He was a kid.”

Rock shook his head. “It’s time you faced some things. One of those things is that Dustin never

deserved Sienna. You did. You gave her to him. She wanted you, and you handed her to him.”

“She was a kid!” I yelled. I didn’t want to hear this. Dustin had loved that girl. He had since he was

little. He’d made some mistakes, but he’d have done anything to protect Sienna.

“Explain Kimmy Bart, then. Make it make sense in your head. Because it never has in mine,” Rock

said, then turned and walked away.

I watched him leave. I hated that he had brought up Kimmy Bart. I didn’t want to think about her. I

didn’t want to remember what she’d done to my family. The pain she’d caused when we hadn’t needed

it.

She’d been one of Dustin’s biggest mistakes. One I’d never wanted Sienna to know about. It would

destroy her.

When I finally got up and went to my truck, I decided I’d drive by Sienna’s to make sure her car