She whispered his name and dug her fingers into his shoulders. His mouth descended on hers again, assaulting her with beautiful sensuality. Would they end up back on the couch? Or would he escort her to the bed this time?

I think you love me.

Her own words slammed into her out of nowhere and sucked the sensual haze away. He hadn’t answered her. Part of her hadn’t been surprised, yet another part had been deeply wounded by his silence.

What do you expect from someone who obviously has demons he still carries around? And one of them is named Kelly.

Reluctantly, she disengaged her lips from his and dropped her arms to her side. She took a step back just as Brody’s dark brows lowered over his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” he asked in a husky voice.

Elisa hugged her arms to herself to ward off the chill that just came over her. “Nothing, I—”

“No, you don’t get to say ‘nothing’ this time. Your whole body went stiff just now. What happened?”

Just tell him. How’s he going to know unless I give him a chance?

She plunged forward and hoped it didn’t send him out the door. “I’m having a hard time understanding you. One minute you’re all hot for me, and the next you barely glance at me.” He lifted a brow as though questioning her. “With the exception of just now. I mean…” Restless energy coursed through her bones, sending her pacing around the room. She walked to the spot Brinkley had occupied, then back again, this time putting the breakfast table in between them.

“I don’t know what you want me to say, Elisa.”

“Anything,” she replied with exasperation. “Something’s happened but you won’t tell me what it is. And you’re still carrying this weight on your shoulders from your divorce, and you haven’t dealt with it. That’s why you’re pushing me away.”

He jammed his hands on his hips and inhaled a deep breath, as though trying to find the strength. “I’m sorry about the other night, when I picked Tyler up. I was a complete jerk, and you didn’t deserve that.”

Something snapped inside her at his evasiveness. Apologies were nice and everything, but they were not what she wanted from him. She stalked around the table and came to a stop in front of him. “I don’t care about sorry, Brody. I just want you to give me all of you and not the parts you want me to see. There’s a very big part of you you’re holding back from me. Why do you do that?”

The muscles in his jaw flexed and his eyes zeroed in on her. His internal battle was a tangible thing. How long had he been carrying this burden around with him? And why wouldn’t he include her? Was she not important enough to him?

“Brody, I can’t just be a vessel for satisfying your sexual needs. I have to know I’m more than that to you.”

He lowered his forehead to hers. “Elisa, you have no idea what you’re asking of me. There are things I’ve never told anyone before.”

The wounds inside him went much deeper than she originally thought. Something other than the pain of a divorce had been consuming him for so long. “But I do know what I’m asking.” She cradled his face, and his whiskers bit into her palms. “I wouldn’t have asked you if I didn’t want to help you.”

His hands were big and warm on her cheeks. He cupped her there, then lowered his mouth in a gentle kiss that knocked the breath out of her. Every time he kissed her, there was an urgent desperation she’d barely been able to keep up with. This was a different man kissing her, as though he feared whatever ugliness he kept tightly hidden would surface and scare her away. Elisa didn’t care what secrets he had. She loved him, flaws and all. She could take whatever he tossed her way. What she couldn’t take was the secrecy.

His tongue ran along her lower lip, just barely slipping inside her mouth. Her body melted, as it always did when he seduced her like this.

“Dad?” The sound of Tyler’s voice coming out of nowhere shocked both of them. Elisa jerked away from Brody as if she were some teenager who’d been caught by her parents.

Then another female voice rendered her speechless. “Nice, Brody.”

Brody muttered a curse and ran a hand through his hair.

There, in Elisa’s doorway, stood Kelly, along with Tyler, who must have opened the front door without Elisa noticing because she’d been too busy sucking on his dad’s face. Brinkley’s brand-new purple leash was wrapped around one of Tyler’s hands. The dog nudged him, and the boy absentmindedly scratched Brinkley’s scruffy ears. Both mother and son stared at her and Brody with wide eyes, though both their expressions were different. Tyler’s was of confusion and Kelly’s was disapproval.

Kelly’s gaze lingered on them a moment longer before turning to her son. She placed palm on Tyler’s shoulder. “Honey, why don’t you take Brinkley to the backyard so he can go to the bathroom?”

Tyler glanced at his mother as if to say “But I just did that.” He didn’t argue, probably because he knew better not to. He tugged Brinkley behind him, then went through the sliding glass door.

“So this is what you do with your time, Brody?” Kelly asked him. “Sending our son out to walk a strange dog so you can make out with his babysitter?”

Elisa jumped in to defend Brody, who already had enough to deal with. “I swear that’s not what happened—”

“You told me you were coming home next week,” Brody butted in as though Elisa hadn’t even spoken.

Kelly stared back at her ex-husband, her brows pinching together in disapproval. “Don’t you dare try and make me feel bad. I came home a few days early and wanted to surprise Tyler. I figured he’d be here, but then I saw him walking that dog down the street.”

“Tyler and I found the dog one day, and I decided to keep him,” Elisa said, still feeling the need to defend Brody. “I think he’s formed an attachment to the dog.”

“We came over here because Tyler said he missed Brinkley,” Brody added. “He asked if he could take the dog for a walk. There was no hidden agenda behind anything.”

Kelly uncrossed her arms, which she’d been holding tight across her chest. “Whatever, Brody.” She stalked passed them and left an icy trail of hostility in her wake. One of Elisa’s biggest fears was having a problem with Kelly and confusing Tyler. The look on the boy’s face had been one of utter bewilderment, and it pierced her heart. She felt like she’d breached the boy’s trust.

“Tyler, time to go,” Kelly called through the open back door. The boy came through, wrapped his arms around Elisa’s waist, and said good-bye to his father. Kelly opened the front door and slid her sunglasses on. “We still have to talk,” she said to Brody.

Seething anger rolled off Brody in waves. Elisa had never seen him so tense before, as if he could break a cinder block with his bare hands. He glanced at Elisa as though he wanted to come to her and kiss her good-bye. But he didn’t. Instead, he marched toward his ex-wife. “I’ll walk you out,” he muttered.

They walked out of the house, leaving Elisa alone and feeling like she wanted to be swallowed up by a black hole.


Several hours later, Elisa felt like she’d been run through the gauntlet. After Brody and Kelly’s frigid departure, Elisa had run a hot bath for herself and soaked in the water, along with her own misery, for the better part of an hour. The only reason she got out of the bath was because the water had turned downright tepid. As the water swirled down the drain, she’d wrapped herself in her thickest robe and collapsed on her bed. For the next hour and a half she dozed, although it wasn’t a peaceful sleep. No, she’d been tortured by the images of Brody undressing her with those smoldering eyes of his. Then her dreams had slowly shifted into nightmares of Brody and Kelly, yelling at each other, and poor little Tyler caught in the cross-fire. Then they turned their hostility toward her, blaming Elisa for everything, saying she ruined their chances at being a happy unit again. What a ridiculous thing, wasn’t it? They’d already been torn apart by the time Elisa had come into the picture. But her subconscious didn’t know the difference. Her cursed mind was playing out her worst fears and her paranoia.

A fine sheen of sweat coated her forehead and in between her breasts. She rolled out of bed like her limbs were made of lead. It took all her strength to put one foot in front of the other.

This is what happens when you fall in love. And this was why she’d tried so hard to protect her heart after her only serious relationship had blown up in her face. Somehow she knew allowing Brody into her heart wouldn’t end well. He’d been damaged in more ways than one and didn’t have anything left inside him to give.

Hadn’t said so in so many words?

I don’t know what you want me to say.

She’d wanted to say How about you love me? But she’d already given him the opportunity once, and he’d basically slammed the door in her face. Elisa hadn’t been too eager to allow him that chance again.

She padded barefoot down her hallway to the kitchen. Brinkley hadn’t touched the food she’d given him, and he seemed even skinnier than he’d been when she’d found him. She needed to get him to a vet ASAP.

In the meantime, she opened the fridge door and gave the contents inside half a glance. Why was she looking in here? She wasn’t even hungry.

She closed the fridge door with a soft thump. What she needed was a distraction. Something to remind her she actually had some self-worth.

She went back down the hallway and made a detour to her office. A few stock agents had requested to see some of her photos, which she’d already mailed. But she was restless and felt the need to send more queries. In a spiral notebook was a list of all the stock agencies in the country that specifically dealt with landscapes. Elisa retrieved the book and started with the next name on her list. Minutes ticked into an hour, then two as she organized photos into portfolios, and printed query letters. Each one got its own thick manila envelope and was stacked neatly on her desk all ready to be mailed first thing tomorrow morning.