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“I don’t deserve it.”

“Probably not,” he said, though not harshly. “I know I haven’t made it easy on you.”

I ducked my head and picked at the sheet. “That’s okay.”

Kit came over to the bed, fully dressed now, and put a hand under my chin to tilt my head back. “Imagine if we’d met without all this between us. We’d have been something, huh?”

I tried to smile. “I really think we might have been.”

His hand tightened a fraction, and he looked as if he might kiss me. Then he dropped it and turned away. “Good night, Joey. I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah,” I echoed. “Night.”

The door closed behind him, and I fell back on the bed with a sigh. I hadn’t expected to ever have Kit again. Even if this was the last time, even if it never turned into anything but sex, I couldn’t suppress the grin that spread.

Kit and I were explosive together, and that had been a damn good way to relieve the tension I’d been carrying. I sank into the mattress and closed my eyes, floating in the afterglow, and not thinking about what came next.

According to my father, that was what I did best.

CHAPTER 16

KIT

I opened the cupboard above our coffee maker, looking at the array of mugs before me. I’d taken to collecting them, and now I received one for every birthday.

I considered the full spectrum of colors, logos, and patterns, and pulled out my Sheldon Cooper Bazinga! mug.

My thoughts wandered while I poured my coffee, and as usual, they wandered directly into Joey’s bed. Last night had been amazing. Too amazing. Despite Dakota telling me it was okay to like Joey, I couldn’t shake the feeling it was still wrong.

This man had paralyzed my sister. What did it say about me that I wanted to be with him so much?

Dakota rolled into the kitchen. “Morning. You let Pogo out?”

“Yep. He’s happily chasing squirrels.” I glanced over my shoulder. “You want any coffee today?”

I fully expected her to say no because she’d taken to stalking her crush at Mug Shots coffee shop.

She went to the pantry and pulled a box of Raisin Bran from the shelf. “Sure.”

“Yeah? No Mug Shots today?”

“Maybe I just want to double up on my caffeine.”

“That doesn’t seem like a great idea.”

Dakota was usually careful of how much caffeine she ingested. It could irritate her bladder, causing spasms that ended in a mess, and too much could make her blood pressure spike, which didn’t lead anywhere good for someone with a spinal cord injury.

“Kidding,” she said. “You know I usually get herbal tea at Mug Shots, anyway.”

I smirked. “Yes, that way you can ingest cup after cup while making moon eyes at Felipe.”

“Someone’s feeling feisty this morning,” she said. “Might it have anything to do with you going out last night?”

I took down a second mug—a small one shaped like a narwhal, which was Dakota’s favorite—and poured her coffee. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Uh-huh. You do realize that even though I was in bed by eight, I’m not actually an old woman. I was still awake when you got home.”

I set her cup on the breakfast bar. “So?”