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When Carter returned to the kitchen, I had flipped on the coffee maker and was pulling cups out of the cupboard. “We should talk.”

He paled when I said that, but nodded and accepted the cup I handed him. He moved stiffly, tension radiating from him. It was already midnight, and I had to open the bakery in the morning, but we had to talk about this. Carter was clearly carrying guilt that he didn’t need to be. I sank onto one of the stools at the island and reached for his hand. I felt him relaxing under my hands.

“You have to believe that I never wanted that reporter to actually catch Chad with those women,” he said. His guilt came through in each word.

I squeezed his hand. “I believe you. The reporter told me she asked you if you knew where Chad was staying in Seattle. You told her. Everything that happened after that isn’t your fault.”

It hurt me that Carter had been carrying this guilt around. I had come to terms with his role in the whole mess years ago. If I hadn’t, I never would have asked him to move in with us. He had helped expose Chad. In a very twisted way, he did me a favour.

He scowled. “I also told her his room number. Chad had been pissing me off, and I wanted to give him a little payback. One of Chad’s teammates had told me what room he was in. I’m guessing he was equally pissed at Chad and wanted to cause trouble without it coming back to him. It worked. I hoped the reporter would catch him drunk, or high. Maybe get him saying something stupid that she could write about. The worst I was looking for was for him to be fined by the league. I was pretty sure he was cheating on you, but I had no proof. I didn’t know he would have women with him that night. I never wanted to make his cheating public.”

“I knew you gave her the room number. She told me that too. There was no way you could have known that not only did he have multiple women with him, he’d let them record everything, including the trash talk about me. The fact that they were looking for a way to go viral and launch their OnlyFans careers was more bad luck. Most women never want their sex tapes to come to light. Those two wanted everyone to see them bed a famous baseball player. They probably would have released those videos anyway. The reporter showing up just made it easier for them.”

I stirred sugar into my coffee, staring down into my cup. Ironically, Carter sending the reporter to Chad’s room had only sped up the disintegration of my marriage. Those women would have released that video anyway. The publicity had simply given them a bigger audience.

“In a way, it was a blessing,” I continued. “I’d suspected he was cheating, and behind closed doors it seemed like all we ever did was fight. Chad was all about appearances, though. He threatened to take the kids from me if I even thought about divorcing him. The viral video allowed me to hire the best divorce lawyer in Texas and leverage a generous settlement for me and the kids.

“Moving back here was the best decision I ever made. The kids are happy, my business is stable. Even my personal life is spicier than it used to be,” I teased.

Carter’s eyes widened, but he smiled. That was all I wanted, to get him to see that it hadn’t been his fault.

“The reporter called you to apologize? I can’t believe she would do that. I mean, she seemed pleasant, but you might have leaked her story before she ran it.” Carter shook his head.

“She did. I guess Chad had hit on her once, then been a real dick when she turned him down. Tried to get her banned from the Texas clubhouse. She was out for revenge, and as much as bringing him down made her happy, I was collateral damage.”

“She and I had met at one of the Texas wives’ charity events, and had done some work together. We weren’t exactly friends, but she felt like she owed me that much.” I had been grateful that she’d given me that. It hadn’t prevented the tabloids from posting every embarrassing video they could find, including the ones of me that went viral, but it had given me a few more days to prepare for the end of my marriage. Including hiring a lawyer.

I took a long drink from my mug, then laced my fingers through his. “Let’s go to bed.”

As soon as I said it, I realized it wasn’t sexual. Instead, it felt comfortably domestic and made me want things that were not part of our arrangement.

I led him upstairs, pausing outside my bedroom door. The atmosphere felt heavy as I made my decision. My room was my space. We never hooked up in my room. If I invited him in, would it change things? I was starting to want more from our relationship, but I couldn’t forget that we wanted very different things from our life. My entire life was here, and I was never, ever sacrificing my dreams again for any man. But Carter wanted to win the World Championship more than anything else. He couldn’t do that from here. Our futures didn’t mesh.

Taking the risk, I pushed open my door and pulled him inside.

Chapter 28

Jane

Sharing my space with him felt like I was crossing an invisible barrier, letting down my guard and allowing him inside my sanctuary. Allowing him to really see me. Maybe I was making too much out of it. We were friends, and I cared about him. Now that Chad was gone, there would be less sneaking around. That was all.

Any buzz I’d had from the alcohol earlier was long gone, but I felt more alive than I had in a long time. The door latched behind Carter, and I heard him twist the lock into place.

I turned to face him, locking eyes. His were blazing, like I was the most desirable woman he’d ever seen. A rush of wetness soaked my panties. I grasped the hem of my top, pulling it over my head in one fluid motion, exposing the cleavage created by my bra. His pupils dilated as he reached for me.

“You are so beautiful.”

He traced one finger along the edge of my bra, sending shivers over my skin, my nipples pebbling against the fabric, aching to be touched. The way he looked at me, the way he touched me, I never doubted he actually saw me as beautiful.

Everything Chad had said in the kitchen was a lie. I tugged Carter closer, shoving the hem of his T-shirt higher, tracing his abs with my fingers. I wanted more. I needed more.

With one hand, he yanked his shirt up and over his head, tossing it to the floor. I winced when the light showed how nasty the purple bruise covering his rib cage was. Other, smaller bruises in various shades of purple and yellow dotted his abdomen and arms, all part of being a pro ballplayer, but that one on his ribs was worse than I’d thought. “You’re sure you didn’t crack a rib?”

“I’m fine. Just bruised. I promise, it will not change what I’m about to do to you.” With a growl, he picked me up and carried me to the bed.

His show of strength sent a thrill through me, and I squeezed my thighs together, seeking to ease my pulsing need.

Carter laid me out on the bed, brushing my hands away when I reached for him. He popped the button on my jeans and peeled the fabric over my hips and down my legs, dropping them on the floor. His hands skimmed my skin, his breath skating over every inch of me, burning like wildfire. I moved restlessly under him, need pulsing through me. He stopped touching me long enough to strip off his own jeans, then climbed back on the bed to hover over me.