“Brody.” I whimpered his name like a plea. What I was asking for, I still wasn’t sure of. He needed to leave before someone caught us. But I didn’t want him to stop.

“You should let your employees leave early more often.”

“They left because I closed up since I’m supposed to be finishing the cupcakes for Kinlee’s party.” Smiling against his mouth, I nipped at his bottom lip and kissed it softly as I pushed him back, only to grab his shirt so I could pull him back to me. “You’re going to make me late and cupcake-less.”

“And you’re not about to hear me apologize.”

“We can’t both show up late,” I said and pushed him away again.

“Okay, you’re right.” With a sigh, he nodded and grabbed a piece of the cupcake he’d been picking at earlier and popped it into his mouth. He grunted and went to pick another piece off. “Damn, these are good. Is this the kind you made for tonight?”

I didn’t think twice when he put the piece in front of my mouth. I was already in such an intoxicated state from his kisses after over a week of not seeing him that I just opened my mouth and let him place the sugary cake in there. My eyes fluttered shut, and I moaned my appreciation for the sweetness—too late realizing my slipup. I swallowed quickly, breaking off the noises I was making, and looked up to see him standing in front of me with an obvious hunger in his eyes.

“Oh, God. I—”

Brody quickly closed the distance between us and crushed his mouth to mine. His tongue invaded my mouth relentlessly, and I clung to him as he pulled me closer to the edge of the counter.

“We’re going to be late. I don’t give a fuck what anyone says,” he growled against my throat as he moved down to my collarbone. Moving my shirt to the side, he bit down gently and spoke again. “You can’t make noises like that and then expect me to just leave, Kamryn.”

With the way his mouth and hands were attacking me, I was forgetting the reasons to not let him take me right there. My hands pushed up under his shirt, and I lightly ran my nails over the muscles of his torso, causing him to shiver.

Simultaneously, the door chimed, Brody and I broke apart, and Kinlee’s voice filled the front of my shop. “KC,” she sang out.

Jumping off the counter, I straightened my shirt and apron and ran to the swinging doors. “Hey!” I said too brightly when I saw her.

Her eyebrows drew together, and I swear to God I stopped breathing. “Are you feeling okay? You’re really red. Do you have a fever?” She moved toward me and went to touch my forehead, but I caught her hand and laughed it off.

“I’m fine, honestly. I’m just trying to get your cupcakes done so I can go home and change before going to your house.” I hated lying to her, and yet it was all I seemed to do.

“Really? Ooh, can I see?” Her eyes brightened, and my stomach dropped.

“No, ma’am! You never accept anything I try to give you, so this is the only kind of gift I can make you take. Let me act like it’s a present until later.”

She pouted and crossed her arms under her chest. “But that’s not fair! You won’t let me buy you presents either.”

“Get over it. You can’t see them yet.”

Kinlee looked like she was going to make a run for the kitchen, but thankfully, she huffed and turned back toward the shop. “Fine, fine.” Turning her head to look at me, she winked. “I figured this was going to happen, so I won’t count your cupcakes as a gift if you won’t count this as a gift.” Bending down, she picked up a bag from her boutique from the other side of the counter and set it down.

“Kinlee! No. Besides, it’s not my birthday, so try the ‘nongift’ thing when it is.”

“But Aiden is going to be there tonight, you need to look hot for him, and we just got this in! It will look amazing on you.”

Oh, shit. There was no way Brody hadn’t heard that. The acoustics in my shop were insane. “Kinlee—”

“I don’t want to hear it,” she called behind her as she jogged to the door. “Just know you will break my heart and ruin my birthday if you don’t wear this tonight!” With a sly grin, she slipped outside and ran to her car.

She didn’t play fair.

With a deep breath in and out, I turned and went back into the kitchen. I didn’t even need to see Brody, the thick air in there was unmistakable. Chancing a glance at him, I cringed when I saw the angry expression on his handsome face.

“Brody . . .” I trailed off, not knowing what to say.

The muscles in his jaw worked a few times before he finally turned to look at me. “Do you know how much I hate that I couldn’t walk out there and tell her that you belong to me? That my sister-in-law and brother still think something might happen with you and Aiden Donnelly?”

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.”