He snatched his boxers off the floor and stepped into them. “I really don’t need this right now, Kelly.”

“Tough shit, Brody. This is not going away just because you don’t want to talk about it.”

From behind him came the rustling of sheets, as though Elisa didn’t want to lie around exposing herself. He glanced back just as she’d pulled a cream-colored sheet over her glorious breasts. Goddamn Kelly.

Elisa’s eyes remained fixed to his, a sort of compassion and understanding softening her features. His heart melted a little and he dug for the strength to deal with his ex-wife and her inopportune phone call. He stepped from the room and walked down the hallway.

“I already told you, you’re not taking Tyler out of Wyoming. I’ll never see him.”

Kelly’s heavy sigh reverberated through the phone. “And you haven’t taken the time to really listen to me. Colin and I don’t have a lot of choices or a lot of time. We need to make a decision, and we can’t take Tyler out of state without your consent.”

The dog Elisa had been nursing trotted over on its gimpy leg and nudged Brody’s thigh with his cold nose. He ignored the animal and paced to the sliding glass door. “You don’t have my consent. Decision made.”

“I understand your concern, Brody—”

“I told you, I can’t talk about this right now.”

“You keep saying that.” Her words had taken on a desperate edge, very similar to how she often spoke to him during the final months of their marriage.

Brody leaned his head against the cool glass of the back door. “I said not now, Kelly. You can’t expect me to make this kind of decision over the phone. I need more time.”

“You said that the other day. I don’t know how much more time I can give you.”

“You’ve only given me a few days to process this. I promise we’ll talk about it, but not now. Not over the phone.”

Kelly didn’t respond for a moment and he heard Tyler’s voice in the background, something about a book he needed to check out from the library. Something inside twisted at the sound of his son’s voice. Brody could picture him now, his blond hair clipped close to his head, his mother’s green eyes lighting up with laughter or looking up at Brody with hero worship.

Those days are over, dickhead.

The thing that had twisted inside him grew sharper, more painful, like a living creature had crawled inside his gut.

His eyelids dropped closed and he inhaled a deep breath. He couldn’t lose his son. Brody couldn’t live a world that Tyler wasn’t a part of. Living a few streets over, he could handle. But three states away? Once-a-year visits and a few phone calls a month? Brody would rather drop dead.

“All right,” Kelly finally said. “Come over later and we’ll talk.” She disconnected the phone call without giving him a chance to respond. Kelly had gotten good at that toward the end of their marriage. Sometime before their divorce, she’d lost her ability to give a shit what he thought. Brody had always known how much in love with him Kelly was. At one point she’d worshipped the ground he walked on. That had changed, and he was one hundred percent to blame.

So is the situation you’re in right now.

He wrapped his fingers around his cell phone in a death grip, wanting so badly to crush the thing until it was nothing but jagged pieces.

Damn Kelly for doing this to him. Was she still punishing him for what he’d done? If so, he deserved it. He’d been a weak bastard, hell bent on drowning his sorrows and too stupid to think about the consequences. But even if he deserved Kelly’s anger, it didn’t mean he was going to allow her to take Tyler so far away. And Tyler didn’t deserve any of this. He’d been an innocent bystander of his parents’ dysfunction. Was Kelly even thinking how moving so far away would affect Tyler?

Brody pushed away from the door and headed back toward the bedroom. The scene was exactly how he’d left it a moment ago: clothes scattered on the floor and Elisa on the bed, covering that sinful body with a sheet.

“Sorry about that,” he said as he tossed his phone on the dresser.

“It’s okay.” She blinked up at him with those big eyes of hers, as though trying to break through his stubborn-assed mind to the thoughts beneath. “Do you want to talk?”

He stood there, staring at her, half naked in his boxers and coming dangerously close to sporting another boner. But his dilemma with Kelly chased away any erotic feelings he’d had.

Elisa sighed. “You won’t scare me away, Brody. No matter how hard you’re trying to, I won’t be scared away.”

And for the first time in a long time, Brody found himself wanting to spill his guts.

SIXTEEN

BRODY’S ANGUISH HAD BECOME SUCH a burden for him, following him around and clouding his everyday thoughts. In the past, he’d become a master at masking over the shell of the man he’d once been, at making his family believe he hadn’t changed. He’d once been honorable, marrying Kelly because it had been the right thing, providing for his child, defending Lacy when Chase had thrown out a muddled marriage proposal. There was none of that left in him anymore. The truth was he hated himself. He hated the reality that he was solely responsible for.

So, yeah—without a doubt, he deserved the hell he was going through.

For some insane reason Elisa saw the man he once was. It was evident just by the way she looked at him, very similar to the way Kelly had once looked at him. Elisa believed in him. Hadn’t she said that to him once before, at the restaurant? That she believed in him? How had he not managed to scare her off? He didn’t deserve her admiration.

“Brody, are you all right?”

He sat next to her on the edge of the bed and tried to ignore the sheet that was barely covering her breasts.

“That was Kelly,” he replied.

“I figured as much. What did she say that’s got you so upset?”

He pulled in a deep breath and plunged forward. “She and Colin are talking about moving to Michigan to be closer to her mother.” Just saying the words out loud was like a rusty knife in his gut.

“And she’s talking about taking Tyler with her,” she concluded with that observant mind of hers.

Brody nodded while staring down at the floor. “I can’t let her take him.” He glanced at Elisa. “I won’t.”

“Of course you don’t want him to go. He’s your son.” Elisa leaned forward and placed a hand on his bare thigh. “Have you talked to Kelly about this? I’m sure if she knew how this was tearing you up, she’d never go through with it.”

“Oh, but she would. And she knows exactly how I feel.”

“You have to be able to work something out with her. I can’t believe she’d just take your son out of state without you agreeing to it.”

The sheet had fallen to Elisa’s waist, and her breasts hung heavy and free of any restraints. He had to hold himself back from cupping them in his hands. “Kelly is obviously a different person with you than she is with me.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “But I appreciate your optimism.”

She leaned forward and kissed him. Not a ravenous, I-want-you-in-bed-now kiss, but a sweet, slow one. One that said I love you, demons and all. No matter how hard you’re trying to, I won’t be scared away.

Yes, he had been trying to scare her away. Because he figured, in the end, he’d screw this relationship as badly as he’d screwed up his marriage. But Elisa proved to be a lot stronger than he’d given her credit for. So far she hadn’t given up on him or any potential future they could have together. Didn’t he at least owe her a little honesty?

Brody reveled in Elisa’s kiss for as long as she let him. Her lips were so tender and pliant, like she’d been born to kiss. He pressed her to the bed and stretched his body along hers, loving the feel of her naked flesh against his. She ran her hands over his shoulders, which were bunched tight with the tension that hummed through his body.

After several minutes of slow, deep kisses, Brody lifted his head and caressed his thumb over her cheek. “You told me you wanted to know everything. Are you sure you’re ready for that?”

Little worry lines appeared between her eyebrows, then smoothed out. “Yes.”

He rolled off her, even though what he really wanted to do was slide inside her and forget everything. But if there was any chance of them having some kind of meaningful relationship, she needed to know everything. Elisa propped herself onto her side and watched him, waiting for him to speak.

“I wasn’t a good husband,” Brody started, keeping his gaze fixed to the ceiling. He didn’t want to see the disappointment in Elisa’s eyes when she heard what he had to say.

She placed a hand on his shoulder. “Brody—”

“Don’t try to defend me, Elisa.” He cast her a look. “Don’t make me out to be better than I am. Right now I need you to listen.” She nodded, and he pressed on. “Things weren’t always bad between us. In the beginning they were good.” When he first met Kelly, he’d been taken with her. She had a way of making him laugh and turning even the most serious moments into something silly. Basically she found a way to take his stress away. For a while he’d relied on that.

“I think part of the problem was that Kelly and I never had a dating period. We rarely had time alone. Most couples have that time when they can get a feel for each other and figure out how their relationship is going to work. I’d only known Kelly for about six weeks when she told me she was pregnant.” He folded one arm behind his head and tried to ignore Elisa’s wildflower scent. “To make a complicated story short, we moved in together so I could take care of her the way I needed to.”