Page 52

“With a major splash of arousal.”

“Oh yeah. That’s a definite. And the way he kisses.”

Regan put her hand up. “Might not need all those details around my daughter’s ears.”

“Oh, be a good sport.” She hesitated for a moment. “Do you know him? I know you can’t tell me if he’s a client, but I know you do work for the PD. I guess I should have remembered that.”

“I don’t know him through the police department,” Regan said carefully, their eyes locked.

It said enough. “But you know him and I’m thinking it might have to do with Bella and you can’t say and I’m not going to make another comment about it. But... I need someone to talk to and you’re impartial so pretend whatever you know about him, you don’t right now.”

Because she trusted her sister-in-law as much as she did the other members of her family.

“Okay. I can do that. So you’re kissing, and you’re worked up. You’re almost glowing in a way, but you made it sound like it was all that it was.”

“Yeah. I wanted it to be more.”

“So he stopped it?”

“Yes.” Her fingers tightened around her cup. “Right when I was ready to throw every ounce of common sense out the window. I mean, literally a second away from me climbing into his lap and lifting his shirt over his head.”

“I’ve been there a time or two with your brother. Why did he stop?”

“Because he’s responsible,” she said, equal parts impressed and frustrated. “Because the boy he once was turned into a man I never imagined he could be. Because he has a thirteen-year-old girl he’s raising and he didn’t want to rush. He didn’t want regrets the next day. He wants to do it right.”

Regan waved her hand in front of her face. “Marly. Damn. Sexual frustration can be nudged aside for those reasons. That man just climbed several rungs higher than even your brother might have.”

“I know,” Marly said, letting out a long sigh. The kind a woman did when she was touched in places she didn’t know existed. “And I hated him for it. A little.” She pinched her fingers. “But I got over it because he was right. One hundred percent right.”

Regan laughed softly, careful not to jostle the baby. “So he just left? Left you there sexually frustrated but confused because you respected his reasoning?”

“Yes.”

Regan’s face winced slightly. “And you didn’t feel rejected.”

She sighed. “That’s why I love talking to you. It doesn’t feel like therapy.”

“It’s not,” Regan said. “It’s sisterly advice and venting and how I’d feel and be ashamed to admit but know that I’d have to get it off my chest at the same time.”

She pointed her finger. “That’s it. I felt this shame that I was ticked off he left, but at the same time shouldn’t feel that way when he’s doing everything I’d want another man to do. Then I felt like an idiot for not seeing that also.”

“You’re human. The same as me. I’m positive you know how he really felt? Or do you think maybe he wasn’t as into you?”

“Oh, he was into me,” she said, laughing. “I knew. He didn’t want to leave any more than I wanted him to, but had points in his favor for having the strength to walk away.”

“Let’s move on to the kiss. This will tell me everything I need to know. I’ll just cover my daughter’s ears.”

She rubbed her hands together, leaned back and closed her eyes as if she were reliving it all over again. “When he kissed me, it wasn’t about taking something. It was like he was learning me all over again. The adult me. Slowly. Like he already knew waiting would make it better. And maybe that was part of his plan.”

Regan let out a low whistle. “Talk about restraint.”

“It is,” she agreed. “And it makes me want him more than any man who’s ever tried to rush me. And looking back, I think that was part of his plan all along also.”

Regan shifted Zola gently, then met Marly’s eyes. “Do you trust him?”

The answer came without hesitation. “Completely.”

“Then here’s the thing,” Regan said. “Men who make you feel safe, wanted, and a little undone? They don’t come along often. But the right ones don’t disappear either. There will be faults on both of your sides, but you have to decide what carries more weight and what you can overlook.”