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He wanted to know why but didn’t have time to ask.
“So, your place...tomorrow night?”
“All night?”
“I’m sorry, Kace, but it’s going to take that long. At least the first time. Maybe later, when we’re...well...maybe later we can meet for quickies, but not this first time.”
She was still smiling, but the tenor changed. Instead of looking eager and young, she looked all woman to him. Strong, confident, needy woman. Tears filled her eyes.
“You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Michael.”
He took the words in stride. They were recovery words. And he had her back.
He kissed her. Covering her lips with his. Pushing his tongue into her mouth, caressing hers. He held her close. Trembled inside, where it really counted.
And he thanked whatever fates had sent her his way.
* * *
“BO’S TELLING EVERYONE that he broke up with me.” Kacey looked at her twin, wishing she could tell her how dramatically her life was about to change. Wishing she could let Lacey know that she really thought she might be all right. But she’d promised Michael.
No one else would know.
She’d been so intent on giving him his boundaries that she’d forgotten about Lacey. It wasn’t like she ever sat around and thought about her sister during sex talk anyway.
“You seem okay with it,” Lacey said.
They were sitting in Lacey’s Arizona room, sharing a cup of tea, watching Jem and Levi practicing catch out in the yard. The little boy was going to have his first game the next weekend. Kacey had promised him she’d be there. Pinky promised, even.
The kid didn’t know yet that she wouldn’t miss it for the world. But he’d catch on. She was going to be a person those who loved her could count on. Period.
“I am okay with it,” she said now. “I just... He goes to put his arms around me and I just...” She shuddered.
Lacey’s frown would have bothered her if she hadn’t been feeling so damned good. “You know that’s just because of the...what happened.”
She might have thought so. But she wasn’t frigid.
Not that she could tell Bo that. He’d demand to know how she knew. And she couldn’t tell her sister, either.
She shook her head. “I...actually...we haven’t slept together in a few months.”
Lacey’s brows rose. “But you just agreed to meet his family. You were thinking about giving him a key.”
Unexpected as hell, tears filled Kacey’s eyes. “I wanted what you have,” she said. And knew right then, for the first time, that she very well might never have it. Because she wanted it with Michael and couldn’t see any likelihood of that ever happening.
“Oh, Kace.” Lacey ran soft fingers down her face and as she’d done so many times in the past. Kacey turned her lips into her sister’s palm and kissed it. “You’ll find your Jem,” she said. “And when you do, you’ll—”
Lacey broke off. Teared up.
And Kacey pulled back. Completely out of herself and focused on her sister. Lacey wasn’t a crier or prone to drama, either. That was all Kacey’s bailiwick.
“I’m sorry,” Lacey said. “I’m just... It’s...”
“You and Jem?” Kacey could feel the horror seeping all the way through her. “You aren’t having... Oh, Lacey, you just have to be patient with him. He was a victim for so long...he’s bound to have rel—”
Lacey was shaking her head, smiling, but still looking so stricken.
“What?”
