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“Good. It’s likely just a crush, ignore it. Find anybody more appropriate than him.” She wrinkles her nose. “He’ll eat you for breakfast.”

“He already did.” I let out a breath. “I didn’t explain this right. We’re already doing stuff.” I close my eyes. In for a penny and all that. “And we’re married.”

Autumn starts to choke. Proper, chicken ciabatta in her throat, gasping for air, spittle everywhere choking. Can you do the Heimlich maneuver on a pregnant woman? Hell, how do I even do the Heimlich maneuver? I roll onto my knees, ready to fish that damn sandwich out of her throat if I have to.

But then she coughs up the chunk of sandwich, and I wince.

When she’s finally located her voice box, she looks at me with watery eyes. “What in the actual hell, Eden?”

“I’m sorry. I was going to tell you.”

“No you weren’t. But now you’re telling me everything since you almost killed me.” She gives me the most pointed look. The kind she’d give me when I used to hide the last bit of candybecause I was saving them for later and she needed a sugar fix now. “Spill.”

So I do. I lay it all out, from the confrontation in the casino to West stepping in to try to smooth things over. To our agreement, and the way it was supposed to be platonic. A business deal. And then, how it isn’t anymore.

Not once does Autumn interrupt, which must be some kind of record for her. She just stares at me, her mouth agape, her eyes widening with every confession. And when I finally stop for air, she reaches for my face, cupping it.

“You’re married. To West,” she breathes, like she’s trying the words out.

“Yes.”

“And you’ve had sex with him. Multiple times.”

“Also yes.” I nod.

“And you’re falling for him, even though you know it’s the most idiotic, potentially heartbreaking thing you can do. And you know that he’s all wrong for you and it’ll never work and it’s all going to end up breaking you.”

“This is not helping,” I point out. “You’re supposed to be on my side here.” I sigh. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“No, you should have said something sooner. I could have sent Hudson over to castrate him as soon as I heard this stupid idea that the two of you were husband and wife. What were you thinking?” She shakes her head. “More importantly, what the hell washethinking? I love the guy, but this is so unlike him.”

“I know,” I whisper, feeling suddenly vulnerable.

Her brows knit. “I don’t know what to say. No wonder you’re confused.” She leans her head toward me until our brows are touching, and for a moment we just stay there. Though neither of us speak, it’s strange how less alone I feel right now.

How comforting it is to be with the sister I’ve been avoiding for years.

“Do you think he likes me too?” I ask her.

“West? I’m not sure he’s capable of liking anybody like that.”

“That’s not true. He’s always been there for Hudson. For Parker. For all of us. He’s married to me because he’s trying to save this stupid resort.” I understand why she looks so confused. Of all the people in the world you’d ever put together, West and I would probably be the last.

Yet every time I think of the way he looked at me last night my heart aches. The way he whines when he’s down. The way he lets me take care of him. The way he makes me laugh.

“It’s such a mess,” I whisper.

“It’s going to be even more of a mess when Hudson finds out. And Asher.”

I lean forward, panicking. “You can’t tell them. You can’t tellanybody. Seriously, West’ll kill me if he finds out I told you.”

“You really think you can hide this from them?” she asks me, looking skeptical.

“We’ve done it for this long. You didn’t even suspect a thing. You thought I was with Bennett.”

She sighs. “This is true. I’m losing my touch. I hate that.” She looks at me. “I’m worried about you.”

“You’re always worried about me.”