“We’re not telling them or anyone else. It’s no one’s business.”
She smirked. “Until your ex-wife walked in.”
“It’s a bit of a mood killer.”
Her laugh was faint until her gaze landed on the box. My stomach sank as she crossed to it. Would herimproved attitude last after she saw I’d never gotten rid of a thing? She poked through it with her fingertip. “I used to kid myself that you’d burned it all.”
“She’s a big part of my past, Kirstin.”
She jerked her hand out of the box like it burned. “Funny. So am I.”
Yet both women were in my house. I glanced at her suitcase. When she was in town, she stayed with me or Wren. There’d been nothing sexual between us since the divorce, but for some reason, having her under the same roof as me now felt wrong.
June might not care. Or she might tuck her muse back into the recesses of her brain. “You can stay here tonight and then you mind going to Wren’s?”
She snorted. “I’m actually surprised you’re letting me stay tonight after what I walked in on. You sure it’s just temporary?” Her question was laced with sarcasm. “You’re not tied to Bourbon Canyon like you were when she left town.”
“Her life isn’t here, and it’s too public. I’ll always do what’s best for Bethany and Hannah.”
She hummed a noncommittal noise. That sound said a lot. I could run through it all in my head, replay old arguments, but there was somewhere I had to be.
June
How cold of a shower was too cold? I kicked off my sandals and trudged toward my bedroom. Energy zinged through my body. The steady beat between my legshadn’t gone completely away. I’d beensoclose to orgasming.
I veered into the kitchen and dug out a glass. Whipping open a cabinet, I deliberated between the wine my sisters had left and the bourbon. I selected the holiday line from last year and poured enough to cover the bottom. Then I tossed it back and swallowed in one gulp.
“Sorry, Daddy.” I would’ve never talked with him about tonight—too mortifying for a dad-and-daughter conversation—but if I had, he’d have given his blessing for shooting good bourbon.
Leaving the glass on the counter, I went to my bedroom. I turned on the light and stepped out of my skirt. The fabric whispered over my skin and I shuddered. I could still feel the scrape of Rhys’s beard along my neck.
I rolled my head back and forth and savored the alcohol warming my belly. Change of plans. The shower would have to wait. I’d have to get myself off, then shower, or I’d never get to sleep.
All I had to do was think about Rhys’s head between my legs and I could come. A hard shiver rolled through my body. How could I still be so turned on?
Loud knocking at the front door made me jump. My heart pounded and I spun around in my bedroom. I had on my shirt and bra and that was it. I tugged my skirt back up my legs when banging shook the cabin again.
Where was my phone? There was a shotgun in the closet, bear spray in the cabinet, but I should call a brother. I was nearly defenseless in the cabin and alone.
“June!” Rhys shouted from the other side. “It’s me.”
I rushed to the door and whipped it open. Rainpelted the ground behind him, but he only had a few drops on his shirt. “You’re here.” My obvious statement came out breathless.
“She’s staying at the house. Didn’t think that’d go over well with you.”
“I mean, we’re not like a thing...” A heavy tug on my heart stole the rest of the words.
“But we have something we didn’t get to finish.”
“And that’s what you’re here for?” He’d come to the cabin for me. He could’ve used Kirstin’s arrival to talk himself out of something that could be so epically stupid for each of us.
“I’m here to make sure we finish a whole lot.”
My lips parted on a puff. I liked the sound of that.
“Gonna let me in, June Bug?”
I wasn’t able to finish my step backward. He charged in and swept me off the floor. Then he kicked the door shut and pinned me between him and the slab of wood.
