A sick feeling settled in the bottom of Elisa’s stomach. It felt like her heart actually stopped beating for a moment. “Oh God, Kelly.”

“We weren’t even legally separated and he’d slept with someone else.”

FIFTEEN

ELISA NEVER THOUGHT JUST LISTENING to someone tell a story could leave her so exhausted and mentally drained. Nor had she listened to something so heart-wrenching in her whole life. Because of Kelly’s story, Elisa had new understanding for the look of resentment on Kelly’s face when she walked in on her with Brody. Seeing that must have stirred old memories Kelly had worked so hard to keep buried.

Heading away from Kelly and Colin’s charming home, Elisa felt as though her heart had been carved out with a spoon.

You wanted to know, didn’t you? Well, now you do.

How heartbreaking that must have been for Kelly, being so in love with a man, giving up everything for him, then finding him in the arms of another woman. How would she feel if she stumbled across Brody locked in a passionate kiss with another woman? Most likely the same way Kelly had felt all those years ago.

Filing the divorce papers didn’t make me stop loving him any less. I just had too much dignity to be with a man who clearly didn’t feel the same way about me.

The same way Kelly couldn’t love him less, Elisa couldn’t love him less either. Even knowing the unforgiveable thing he’d done, she was still very deeply in love with him. At the same time, she couldn’t fathom the Brody she knew doing something like that. Had something driven him to it? Had he done it out of loneliness? Kelly hadn’t offered much explanation. Elisa had a feeling telling the story was draining enough, and the other woman hadn’t had anything left in her. Or, maybe, Kelly had no idea what had been going through Brody’s mind.

This is none of your business. All this happened well over four years ago. Brody is obviously a different person now.

Or was he?

Maybe she didn’t know him as well as she thought.

No, the Brody I know would never do that. He’s different.

Elisa drove through town while a dull ache formed in her head. She damn near ran a stop sign and had to slam on her brakes to keep from plowing down some innocent pedestrians.

In her purse next to her, her cell phone rang. She fumbled blindly for it while keeping one eye on the traffic light.

“Hello?” she answered after locating the device.

“I am going to be your best friend until the end of time.” The voice on the other end of the line was that of Shelly, the woman who’d originally contacted her about her defrauding issue.

“I know it’s taken me a long time,” Shelly continued. “But I’ve done some digging into my old e-mails and I struck gold.”

The light turned green and Elisa pressed forward down the street. “I could use a piece of uplifting news.”

“Not only do I have the original e-mail, but on the e-mail is the guy’s first and last name, the name of their company, address, phone number, and a link to your website. Above the link are several sentences saying they have photos of yours in their possession and they express their intent to sell them. I forwarded the e-mail to you and made a hard copy for our records. I also forwarded you our response to him. The only catch is this e-mail is a follow-up to the original phone conversation I had with him, which I don’t have any record of.”

Elisa didn’t care about the phone call. “They gave you my website address?”

“I know, pretty stupid. But those e-mails should be sitting on your computer, waiting for you. Maybe you can give them to that lawyer who’s helping you.”

“I really appreciate it, Shelly.” Elisa maneuvered her car through her neighborhood. “At this point, I don’t even care about being compensated for what they’ve sold. I just want them to stop.”

“Hopefully this will help. If you need anything else, let me know.”

“Thanks.” They said their good-byes and hung up.

Elisa had never felt so violated before. She’d entered into an agreement with this stock agency, and along with it had given them her trust. Their blatant violation was like a huge slap across the face. What had she ever done to them to deserve this kind of disrespect? Maybe it was her fault for holding humanity to such high standards. But Shelly had offered a glimmer of hope. All Elisa needed now was to hear back from Mr. Frank’s office.

She paused at a stop sign and made a left past Tyler’s school, then turned onto her street.

What she wanted to do more than anything was go out and take pictures. She could lose herself for hours and not think about Brody and her confusing situation with him. Unfortunately, the middle of the afternoon wasn’t the best time for snapping photos. The light was always best at sunrise or sunset. The shadows during those times of the day were spectacular.

She quickly made mental plans to forward Shelly’s e-mail to Mr. Franks’s secretary, then go out this evening on a camera outing. As soon as she neared her house, Elisa knew she wouldn’t be doing that.

Because Brody was sitting in her driveway.


Brody had just about paced a hole through the solid concrete of Elisa’s driveway while waiting for her to return home. He only had a few short hours to spare while Tyler was in school. When not pacing, he’d debated getting into his truck, driving to the market, and purchasing every bottle of liquor they had. His willpower against getting shit-faced had gotten weaker and weaker over the past few days. He’d never been a heavy drinker, but he’d come close to turning into one.

After he’d been waiting for eons and wearing out the soles of his dressier work shoes, the woman who’d driven him to the point of insanity finally arrived. In order to feign nonchalance, even though he didn’t feel any, he leaned against his truck and slid his hands in his pockets. The past few days without her had plunged him into a state of madness, the likes of which he’d never known. Add in his dilemma with Kelly, and Brody was about to come out of his skin.

He’d needed Elisa like he never needed anyone. Only her soft voice and sensual touches could offer him comfort and bring his mind back to sanity. Oh, he’d tried to deny it, how much he needed her. Hell, loved her. But what was the point? Denying the reality didn’t make it go away. He just needed to be near her. And also make sure she was okay after their encounter with Kelly.

Almost immediately after he and Kelly and Tyler had left Elisa’s house, Brody recognized his departure had been cold. There she’d been, practically throwing herself at him, begging him to include her in his troubles, and he’d all but shoved her away. He’d barely glanced at her as he’d stalked out the door. How wrong he’d been. If he could take his behavior back, he would. He would have poured out his entire soul, then dragged her to bed. And afterward he would have told her how much he loved her, how he’d never felt such a profound and life-altering love before, and beg her not to go to Mongolia. His confusion over his own feelings and anger with Kelly had muddled his brain. His mind hadn’t been able to churn out one rational thought, only that he hadn’t been in any state to have a deep conversation.

Elisa pulled her car next to his in the driveway and stopped without opening the garage door. Brody came around her car just as she opened the driver’s door and stepped out. Lord, she was so beautiful and such a breath of fresh air in his lonely life. Her dark hair was pulled back in a sleek ponytail and her eyes were hidden by a pair of sunglasses.

His heart squeezed in his chest and made breathing damn near impossible. She closed the car door and stood in front of him.

“Hi,” he said lamely, like some imbecile who couldn’t articulate words.

Elisa licked her lips and adjusted her purse strap on her shoulder. “Hi,” she said back.

Okay, great. They’d managed to greet each other. Now what?

You’re the one who came over here, moron. Make the next move.

His eyes strayed down to her ample breasts, which rose and fell gently underneath her cotton shirt.

You’ve already made a big enough mess of things. Don’t add to it by gawking at her.

“I, uh…” He paused and glanced down at his feet, like the damn things held all the answers. Then he decided to plunge forward, and damn the world. “You’re more to me than just a vessel.” The idea that she thought she was nothing more than just some kind of sex buddy had twisted his heart up. From the very first kiss, he’d known that Elisa would be so much more than that. He’d kicked himself repeatedly for leading her to think such a demeaning thing.

“You’re more to me than that,” he continued. “I just needed to get that out right away.”

She exhaled softly. “Do you want to come in?”

Did he want to come in? He was only madly in love with her.

“Yeah,” he replied.

She took his hand in her softer one and led him to the front door. Her feminine scent of wildflowers teased him the whole way, and by the time they walked through the front door, he was as hard as a damn iron post. He discreetly adjusted himself while she led him through the house. Brinkley continued to sleep on the floor.

As soon as she set her purse down, he gave in to his desires and grabbed her. He folded her into him by winding one arm around her slim waist. She came to him without any effort or protest. Those glorious breasts came in contact with his chest, pressing up against him and reigniting his hard-on. He cradled the back of her head with his free hand and lowered his mouth to her ear. He breathed in her scent, then whispered, “You’re more to me than that.”