Ryker holds his hand up and Delaney mutters, “Bring the bottle of bourbon with you. I think I need it.”

I snicker and then head into the house. As I open the sliding glass door, Ben comes barreling out. I let him pass and then step inside, shutting the door behind me. When I step into the kitchen, I see Kate with her head in the refrigerator, that beautiful ass sticking out slightly. In two strides, I’m behind her and my hands go to her hips.

She startles but then immediately realizes it’s me, and I know this because she gives me an exasperated sigh and slaps my hands away. “Stop. Someone might see us.”

My hands go right back to her hips, then one slides across her stomach to pull her back in to me. “No, they won’t,” I whisper in her ear, just before I nip at it.

Kate gives a tiny moan and her head falls back on my shoulder. “Come on, Zack. Stop playing around.”

“This isn’t playing,” I tease her. “After I get back from the airport tomorrow, I intend to do a whole lot of playing around with you.”

And Christ…she fucking shudders hard in my arms.

I release her quickly before the bulge in my pants grows any bigger. “Hand me three beers, if you don’t mind.”

She pulls them out, holding them to me one by one over her shoulder. She pulls another one out for herself and shuts the refrigerator door. When she turns to look at me, she asks, “That, um…thing down there with Ben. You okay with that?”

“What?” I ask with my eyebrow cocked at her. “The fact my son didn’t want me to comfort him but wanted you?”

She nods hesitantly.

“Completely fine with it,” I assure her. “He loves you. It’s natural.”

Kate’s face flushes red and she ducks her head a bit. “I love him too.”

My insides fill with warmth over the tenderness in her voice as she tells me she loves my son.

“Yeah,” I tell her gruffly. “I know you do.”

—
Delaney is uncharacteristically quiet as we drive to the airport. Ben is in the backseat, flipping through one of his books.

She hasn’t said anything else to me about Kate, but I know my sister well. It’s coming, and since we’re almost at the airport, I expect it will be at any time now.

“So the thing last night on the deck,” she starts out carefully.

Bingo. Right on time.

“Let’s not go there,” I warn her.

“It spells disaster,” she answers me back softly and in a completely nonargumentative way. I know she does this because Ben is in the backseat and she doesn’t want him to understand what we’re talking about.

“She’s a sweet girl,” Delaney says carefully. “And you’re…um…probably not the best person for a sweet girl right now.”

“I understand that,” I tell her candidly.

“You have to think about…” she says, and then points over her shoulder to the backseat. “He’s crazy for her. Don’t ruin that.”

“I’ve got it handled, Delaney,” I say in exasperation.

“Do you?” she asks, her voice starting to sound a little hysterical. “Do you really, Zack?”

I turn to give her a quick glance. Her eyes are filled with worry. “I won’t hurt her,” I tell her with soft reassurance, even though this might be a lie. “She and I have an understanding.”

Delaney takes a deep breath and lets it out. “I don’t want her hurt, and I don’t want you-know-who hurt,” she says as she points again to the backseat. “But I don’t want you hurt either.”

My head snaps back over to her. “Me? Why would I get hurt?”

“Because I don’t care what you think is going on, I can tell you have feelings for her,” she whispers urgently.

Yeah…I do. Have feelings for Kate. I’ve admitted that to myself.

But that doesn’t matter. The feelings I have aren’t enough for her, and she deserves better than what I can give her. So until such time as she expects more, and as long as she is okay with the tiny bit I can give her, I’m not going to worry about it.

Self-centered prick that I am.

She’s silent for a moment and then she raises a hand to squeeze my shoulder. “You are a beautiful man, Zack, inside and out, and I know one day you are going to find someone that makes you very happy.”

I can’t help the snort that comes out of me as I immediately dismiss that idea.

“It’s true…you will,” she asserts, completely ignoring my skepticism. “You have so much to give and share with someone.”

A wry smile comes to my face even as sadness creeps into my heart. “I love you, Delaney. Think you’re pretty brilliant too. But I’m here to tell you, Sis…you’re wrong. Anything special I had to give to a woman died in the car that night, right alongside Gina.”

Chapter 26

Kate

Zack sure knows how to send a text.

Get naked and be in my bed waiting. Be there in twenty.

Tingles of anticipatory pleasure skitter up my spine and I give a squeak of excitement as I practically skip my way into his bedroom.

Yes, I’ve been invited into the inner sanctuary this past week and a half that Ben has been gone. Zack had never once taken me into his room at the other house, but the minute he walked into the house after dropping off Ben and Delaney at the airport, he simply picked me up, threw me over his shoulder, and walked into the master suite. He tossed me on the bed, followed me down, and didn’t let me out of it for several hours.