“What’s happening right now?” I whispered.

“Well,” he chuckled, “I woke up this morning without you in my bed, which I wasn’t happy about, FYI. I went looking for you, found you wearing nothing but my shirt, got hard enough to pound nails with my dick, heard you talking to another dude, stuck my foot in my mouth and made an ass out of myself, and now I’m trying to apologize. That about sum up our morning so far?”

“Uh…”

“But I’d much rather get back to the part about you wearing my shirt.” His tongue snaked out and ran across my bottom lip, sending a shiver throughout my body. “Please, for the love of God, tell me you aren’t wearing anything underneath.”

As his face came closer, mine leaned further away. “Seriously, what’s happening right now? Did I wake up in an alternate universe or something?”

He pulled back, looking as confused as I was feeling. “What are you talking about?”

I struggled against his hold until he finally let go. I needed space if we were going to talk about what happened between us. I couldn’t think when he was touching me. I couldn’t afford that kind of distraction.

“Rowan, it was just one night, right? I mean, you don’t… I thought…”

“You thought what?” he asked agitatedly as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“I thought…” Oh, God, there was no way to say what I had to say without coming off like a raging bitch. Sucking in a lungful of air, I pushed forth, the awkward tension in the room putting my nerves on high alert. “I thought you didn’t do repeats. I mean, I saw how you dismissed that woman on my first day and I just assumed… Gah! I planned on being gone before you woke up to avoid this very conversation! I’ve never had a one-night stand before. It’s not like I know proper procedure. Cut me some slack!”

His jaw ticked as he grew stiff. Oh, damn, he was pissed. “You thought this was a one-night stand?”

I shrugged. “Well… yeah.”

“Jesus Christ!” he boomed, and I immediately went on the defensive.

“Come on, Rowan! Your track record with women isn’t exactly classified. You can’t be mad at me for being confused. Put yourself in my shoes.”

He sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly as he ran his hands through his sexy, sleep-rumpled hair. His abs bunched and I found myself licking my lips hungrily as I watched his muscles flex and release.

“You’re right. Shit,” he hissed. “I’m sorry.”

It was right then that something dawned on me. My heart began pumping at a frantic pace at just the thought. I didn’t want to be hopeful. I knew better than to hope. But, God, could he really…?

“Do you…” I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry as the desert. “Do you want this to be more?”

Oh, God, I thought pathetically, please say yes.

Did I want it to be more?

Fuck, I wasn’t sure.

I knew I wanted more of her body; there was no doubt about that. I knew I loved her company. I couldn’t remember laughing as hard as I had since I had met her in years. I knew I genuinely liked her. But the idea of more, the idea of turning what we had into something official, something serious, scared the shit out of me. I wanted Navie in my life. That much I knew for certain, but if my past was anything to go on, relationships imploded and things turned ugly and bitter. That love you thought you felt for a person turned sour, bitter, and hate took its place.

I didn’t want that.

But the hope shining in the deep blue depths of her eyes knocked the wind from my lungs. I knew without a doubt that saying the wrong thing would send her away and I’d lose her completely. I was walking on egg shells as I tried to give her an answer that would accommodate what we both wanted… what I needed. Because the thought of her not being in my life, well, that was a pill I just couldn’t swallow.

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. The moment the last word left my mouth, I watched those shutters drop around her. The light in her eyes flickered out and I knew she was just seconds away from shutting me out. Grabbing her hands and pulling her to me, I continued. “I don’t know what I’m doing, Navie. I want to be honest with you, you deserve that much. I don’t want what we had to be just a one-time thing. But I’m out of my depth here. I don’t want to make you any promises I can’t keep, but I will tell you this. I want more of this. I want more of what we had last night—”

“So… you just want to keep having sex?” I was losing her.

“No! I mean, yes. Fuck!” I paused to suck in a much needed breath before I royally fucked everything up. “Not lying, baby, I definitely want your body again. And again, and again, and again. But I also like spending time with you. Can we just… can we take this one day at a time and see where it leads us?”

I inhaled my first relieved breath when that shine came back and her body loosened against mine. “Yeah,” she whispered. The smile that overtook her face made me want to kiss her all the more. “I think I can do that.”

“Thank God,” I sighed, earning myself the wonderful sound of her laughter. Then she lowered the boom.

“But I need to know one thing first.”

“What’s that, baby?”

“Who’s Bree?”

You know how movies draw out a car wreck, in slow motion, amplifying the squeal of the tires as the brakes lock up? The loud, jarring boom of impact, metal screeching as it’s twisted and mangled, glass shattering at an earsplitting level? Well, that was exactly what played out in my head after Navie asked who Bree was.

It was a goddamned car wreck.

“I’m going to need coffee for this conversation,” I answered, lacing her fingers through mine and leading her into the kitchen. I measured the grounds and started the pot to brew before turning back to Navie. Christ, she looked good sitting on my barstool in nothing but my shirt. She rested her elbows on the countertop and had her chin propped in one of her hands, shifting the top of the shirt just enough to give me a tantalizing view of her luscious cleavage. Before I could talk myself out of it, I was picturing running my tongue along that valley, reveling in the taste of her skin. That visual quickly morphed into me thrusting my cock between those two mounds, her dusky pink nipples standing at attention as I fucked her tits.

Son of a bitch, I was hard. Having a conversation about Bree while sporting an erection was not an ideal situation. I sucked in several calming breaths, trying to tame my raging hard-on.

By the time the coffee finished, I had myself under control. I poured myself a cup and made one for Navie, sliding the mug across the counter to her. “Bree was my ex-girlfriend.”

“What the hell? But I thought you didn’t do relationships.” The comment wasn’t sarcastic or biting. Her face held nothing but genuine surprise.

“And I don’t, not anymore. And I didn’t do relationships before Bree either, so to say I’m a bit out of practice would be putting it lightly. She was the only serious relationship I’ve ever had. And that fucker went up in flames.”

“What happened? I mean, I can kind of piece together parts of the story based on what you said to your brother last night, but I’d rather hear it from you than jump to conclusions.”

If I had the choice between reliving my past with Bree and shoving an icepick into my brain, I would have gladly taken the icepick. But considering what I had with Navie seemed to be at stake, I suffered through the pain and started from the beginning.

“I met Bree when I was twenty-five. I’d just signed my first book deal and had been out with some friends celebrating. She was at the bar that night with her friends and, well, one thing led to another and she went home with me.” Awkward was the only word that adequately described talking about an ex with a woman I was currently sleeping with, or at least hoping to sleep with again in the very near future. “Things moved fast from there and before I knew it, we’d been together for three years. Or at least, that’s what I thought,” I added bitterly.