Sylvia and I are walking toward the exit, reviewing plans for the week. I’ll talk, share some drills with those who play basketball, though I’m limited in what I can physically do, and participate in a beautification project in one of the rec rooms.

We’re wrapping up when Iris calls my name.

She’s walking toward us, her daughter on her hip. This isn’t fair. Both of them? If you ever want a man to keep dreaming, give him a glimpse of what could be.

They could be mine.

A wave of misplaced possessiveness rolls through me. The thought of them returning to Caleb’s house grinds my teeth together. The thought of Iris in his bed is physically painful, clenching my gut. They’re both Caleb’s, and I covet them.

But one flash of that however-many-carat diamond on her finger reminds me how futile hope is.

When they reach us, Iris glances uncertainly from me to Sylvia and clears her throat.

“August, could I, um, speak to you before you go?” she asks, fixing her eyes on me and not straying to Sylvia.

“Sure,” I say easily, like she and I talk every day. “See you tomorrow, Sylvia.”

Sylvia interprets the comment as the dismissal it is and considers us speculatively before smiling, saying her goodbyes, and walking away.

“You need something?” I ask abruptly. “My ride’s probably waiting.”

She flinches at the impatience in my voice, and I feel like an asshole. Sarai wiggles on her hip and blinks at me with long, curly lashes. I bend until I’m level with Sarai and smile into her violet–blue eyes. I’ll regret this, but the kid’s as irresistible as her mother.

“She’s gotten so big,” I tell Iris but don’t look away from the little girl staring back at me.

“Yeah.” Iris laughs. Sarai’s dark curls have grown longer since I last saw her, and Iris brushes them back from her face. “It’s going too fast already.”

Sarai reaches out and grabs a handful of my hair, pulling my face closer. It also brings me closer to Iris. I ignore the electric field our nearness creates and focus on Sarai. She drags her little hand over my eyes and nose, leaving a wet trail of exploration.

“Oh, God.” Iris points to the wet patch I feel on my cheek. “She got you. I’m sorry.”

When I allow myself to look at Iris again, the shadow is gone. Humor and affection light her eyes, for her daughter, maybe for me. If anything, she’s more beautiful than the girl I met in the bar a few years ago. There’s a strength, a maturity, a resolve—I don’t know what has added dimension to what she was before, but it stirs a hunger in me. Not just to taste her body, but to know her heart. To read her mind and share her thoughts.

Fuck. I cannot make myself stop wanting this woman. And as Sarai flashes her little dimpled smile up at me, I want her in my life, too. I want too much. I want things I can’t have, things that aren’t mine, but that kid who showed up every Saturday before the community center doors opened, who was always the last to leave the court, he never learned to stop wanting impossible things.

The humor fades from Iris’s eyes, the smile melts from her wide, sweet mouth, and she releases a ragged breath. She feels it, too. I don’t have to ask if she does. Her widened eyes and stuttering breath, the answering jerk of awareness from her body to mine tell me. But too much stands between us: another man and the gaudy ring on her finger, circumstances I don’t understand. We’re separated by an incalculable distance, but she feels so close.

“I’m not engaged,” she says softly, catching me off guard.

“What’d you say?” I glare at the ring on her left hand. “Then what does that ring mean?”

“Caleb asked me to marry him, but I haven’t said yes.” Her jaw flexes and her eyes ice over. “I don’t plan to say yes, but he wants me to wear it for now—wants me to think about it.”

“I don’t get it.” The more she reveals, the less I understand.

“I know, and I can’t fully explain, but one day I will. I have to work this out on my own.” She drops a kiss on Sarai’s head resting on her shoulder. “Just know that she’s the most important thing—securing Sarai’s future is the most important thing.”

“Securing her future? You mean money? Do you need money, because I can—”

“Please don’t insult me. I’m not with Caleb for the money.” A quick frown pleats her dark brows. “I mean, money is a factor, but not the way you might think.”

If hope is the gap between what if and what is, her words, these few moments shorten that distance. I tentatively run a hand over Sarai’s soft curls. She giggles and buries her head in Iris’s shoulder, shyly peeking back out at me. God, these two could tie me in a knot with their hands behind their backs. Effortlessly.

“I better go.” Iris looks at her watch, her eyes wide and panicked. “My ride’s probably waiting, too.”

“You didn’t drive?” I walk beside her, holding the door open so she can pass ahead of me.

She glances across the street and up the sidewalk in the direction of a large black SUV. Her eyes go wide and she swallows, looking back to me.

“Don’t walk with . . .You don’t need to walk with us. We’ll be fine. My ride’s here.”

She swings her head back to look at the SUV once more before flashing me a quick smile and wave.

“I gotta go,” she repeats. “See you tomorrow.”

Before I can reply, she dashes across the street. A huge body-builder looking guy steps out and helps her and Sarai into the back seat. He stares at me once they’re inside, his presence like a threat—like a warning. He makes me want to snatch Iris and Sarai away from him. I stand there frozen, feeling helplessly protective until the red taillights disappear around the corner.

“Gus!”

I turn toward the only person who calls me that. Jared is parked a few feet away. I’m still not driving much, so he dropped me off.

I tap the hood of his low-slung sports car. “Dude, you’re such a poser.” I laugh and slide into the front seat, careful of my throbbing leg.

“You’re just jealous of my whip,” Jared replies.

“That fact that you used the word ‘whip’ in an actual conversation makes my point.”

We share a grin, but Jared’s ebbs as quickly as it appeared. “Was that who I think it was?” he asks, never one to pull punches. “Walking out with you? The chick with the kid?”

“Who?” I conveniently find something outside my window fascinating. “Was that who?”

“Cut the shit. That was Caleb’s girlfriend, Iris DuPree, wasn’t it?”

I swivel a curious look around to him. “How do you know Iris?”

“I interviewed her maybe two years ago for an internship,” he says. “She’s sharp.”

“Yeah, she is. Why didn’t you give her a job then?”

“Because at the end of the interview, she threw up all over me.” Jared’s grin is rueful. “She found out she was pregnant. I offered her a job, but by then she was on bed rest and couldn’t work. I believe she was on bed rest almost the entire pregnancy.”

Pregnant. Unable to work or earn money. Confined to the bed for months. No wonder she said she’d had hard choices to make. It sounds like she did the only thing she could do—stay with Caleb.

It infuriates me. She barely knew me. Of course, she wouldn’t have turned to me, but I wish she had. I would have done anything to keep her free of him.

“Please tell me this hasn’t all been about her. Tell me you didn’t provoke Caleb and jeopardize your career, a thirty-million-dollar contract for some chick?”

“Some chick?” I lift one eyebrow. “You must not remember her if you think she’s just some chick.”

“I do remember her. I know how she looks.” Jared shows his disgust in the scrunch of his brows. “You sound whipped. I assumed it was just pussy.”

“Watch your mouth, Jared,” I snap and point a warning finger at him.

“I didn’t mean any disrespect, but damn. She lives with Caleb. They have a kid together. It’s really inconvenient if you have a thing for her, Gus.”

“We’re friends.” I rebuke him with a glare. “And don’t call me Gus.”

Jared knows I hate the childhood nickname and uses it to get on my nerves. I have enough on my nerves without adding him.

“So this dirty play was about Iris?” Jared asks. “I saw her at the game with her daughter.”

“Yeah, I saw her, too.”

“Doing rehab here in Maryland—that isn’t about her, is it?” Jared shakes his head, not waiting for my answer. “And now you’re conveniently volunteering with her.”

I tip my head back into the soft leather of the headrest, answering with only a sigh.

Jared bangs a fist into the steering wheel. “Dammit, August. What part of ‘keep the hell away from my girl’ do you not understand? What’s Caleb gonna have to break next for you to get the message?”

I snap narrowed eyes over to him. “I’d like to see that motherfucker try to break something else.” I adjust my seat, leaning back, worn out from the few hours at the community center. “There’s more going on than meets the eye. She’s wearing his ring, but she tells me they’re not engaged.”

“Maybe she’s playing you both. The only thing better than having one rich man strung out on you is having two.”

“Shut the hell up. If you’ve met Iris, you know she’s not like that.”

“She seemed like a nice girl. Driven. Bright. Sharp. I wanted her on my team,” Jared admits. “That doesn’t mean she’s not trouble.”

“Well if she’s trouble, it’s trouble I want to get into,” I tell him, defiance in the look I level at him from the passenger seat. “She made sure I knew she wasn’t engaged for a reason. She doesn’t want me to give up.”