Something stroked across my cheek. I wiggled my nose and batted at the air, still mostly asleep. I was caught in that twilight place where you still linger before coming entirely awake, and I wanted to stay a while longer.

A warm lethargy pervaded my entire body, and I wasn’t ready to open my eyes and face the day.

The touch came again. Groaning, I rolled onto my belly and buried my face against something warm and hard. Sighing in satisfaction, I drifted back closer to dreamland. Before I made it, a hand stroked down my back.

“Come on, sleepyhead,” a voice murmured. “I need to go, and I want to kiss you goodbye before I leave.”

Well, shit.

I opened my eyes and pulled back slightly. Cormac’s denim-clad thigh filled my entire field of vision. I flopped onto my back and stared up at him. He reached out and traced his fingertip across my lower lip.

“You’re leaving?” I asked, knuckling at my sleepy eyes.

“Yes. I’ve got things to do.” He pushed a hand into my hair. “Do you mind if I call you later?”

“You never bothered asking before,” I pointed out.

“You’re feeling mean.”

I yawned. “I’m always mean when I’m not caffeinated.”

He chuckled and bent over me. “So if I do this, am I going to get bit?” His lips pressed lightly to mine.

“I don’t know. Why don’t you do it and find out?”

Cormac flicked his tongue against my lips. “I guess I will.”

He kissed me, and I opened for him with a sigh.

The kiss lasted only a few seconds before he pulled back.

“I’ll give you a call later on.” He stood up, and before I could even try to call him back, he was out the door.

I groaned and closed my eyes.

If I’d been a little more coherent, I would have pressed him for something more definitive. We still had things unsettled between us.

Or maybe I was the unsettled one.

A couple hours and several cups of coffee later, I sent Anneke a text. I was still brooding over everything that had happened between Cormac and me, and no matter how hard I tried to puzzle through everything on my own, I needed to talk to somebody.

You doing anything today?

Her answer came almost instantly.

Working until 3!

Too much to hope we could both have the day off. Oh, well.

Want to get some coffee afterward? Maybe go to the bookstore?

She sent me back a smiley emoticon and a thumbs up. Immediately after, though, came the questions.

How are you doing? OK?

I hesitated, not entirely sure how to answer that. After considering it for a few seconds, I finally sent back an abbreviated version.

Cormac and I are talking again. But my head is all messed up, and I need to talk to somebody. Hope you’re ready to be a sounding board.

As I waited for her answer, I took another sip of my coffee.

That’s what friends are for, right? You want to pick me up?

We agreed on a time, and I put the phone down, thoughts already turning inward.

Instead of coffee and the bookstore, we ended up hitting a Mexican place. I needed a margarita, and I was craving tacos. I hadn’t eaten much since Cormac and I had the fight, but ever since last night, my appetite had come roaring back with a vengeance.

Anneke was always in the mood for tacos, she assured me after I suggested the change in plans, so after debating on which place to hit, I nosed the car into the heavy traffic on her street, and we headed off.

By silent agreement, we kept the conversation light during the drive and as we waited to be seated. Once we had a pitcher of margaritas in front of us, we filled our glasses and clinked them together.

“So,” Anneke said studying at me over her rim. “You two are talking again. This is like some sort of daytime drama. You’re the sexy, rich doctor and he’s the gruff rough-and-tumble tattooed bad boy. Who needs TV when I’ve got this in my life?”

I rolled my eyes at her. “You’re awful cocky and confident lately.”

“No choice.” She shrugged a shoulder and looked away. “Without you being around, I figured I could either develop a backbone or just let those jerks walk all over me. I figured out which one would make me less miserable, and after a few stammering, stuttering days…it got easier.”

“Good for you.” I smiled, happy for her.

“Now…” She pointed a finger at me. “Talk.”

I took a healthy swallow of the tart, ice-cold beverage, the smile fading from my face. Putting the drink down, I braced my elbows on the table and met her eyes. “Where do I even start?”

“The beginning is usually a pretty good place.”

I sighed. The beginning. What was the beginning?

I wanted to tell her everything, but I was still leery about saying too much about my family. I’d told her enough already, and if she went digging around, she could probably find out a lot more—more than what I probably knew. Whether it was loyalty to my family or some kernel of shame or even both, I couldn’t bring myself to tell her everything.

But without telling her everything about my family, how could I explain the mess with Jerrel and Cormac?

Vague, I told myself. Just keep it vague.

“I found out that there are some things Cormac might have been lying to me about,” I said hesitantly.

Her brows shot up. “What? Is…is he like married? Got a few kids?”

“No.” I laughed. “No. Nothing like that.”

That would have been easier. I would have booted his ass to the curb and not feel the least bit disturbed by it.

“Okay, so what’s the problem?”

“It’s…complicated.” Making a face, I waved my hand. “I wanted a few days to think everything through, then I’d talk to him. But he showed up at work and saw me walking with another doctor who’d just ended his shift the same time as me. Dr. Moyes.”

She took a sip from her drink, listening. “And…” she prompted.

“He gets all crazy jealous and acts like an ass, then I embarrass myself…” I blushed even thinking about it and decided to gloss over that part altogether. “And we didn’t talk about what I’d heard. The next day, he sends me flowers, with this card that says he’d been a jealous asshole and he was sorry, he just got self- conscious seeing me with a doctor, and he didn’t react well.”

“What happened next?”

I shot her a nervous look. “I’ve had guys flake out on me before over stuff like that...” My words faded as my cheeks flamed hot. I couldn’t even explain it well.

But I didn’t need to. Anneke reached over and squeezed my hand. “You’re not the only one, Briar,” she said, her other hand joining the first to envelop mine between them. “And I’m not even super-freak smart.” She added on a wag of her eyebrows to let me know she was teasing.

It surprised a laugh out of me. “So, it’s like reasonable then?”

“What do you mean?” she asked, letting me go to grab onto her glass once again.

I licked my lips, uncertain how to go forward. “I just…I don’t know if I can entirely believe him. About anything. We talked, and I told him to come over, and I told him about this shit I’d heard. There’s this guy he knows…he came by to see me and he told me some stuff about Cormac. If it’s true…”

I trailed off, and Anneke held up a hand. “Have you talked to Cormac about this?”

“Yeah.” Miserable, I stared at her. “That’s what we talked about last night. I just…I don’t know if I believe him.”

“Why not?” she asked gently.

“Because some of what this other guy told me made sense.” It didn’t sound as concrete now that I actually put it all in words. Still, I pressed on. “There have been these little things that Cormac has said or done that makes me think maybe he isn’t being entirely upfront with me.”

Anneke shook her head. “Then you ask him about it. Confront him. Get answers. But relationships don’t thrive where there is mistrust. I mean, come on. How would you feel if he had doubts about you and instead of coming to you, he just believes it? Wouldn’t you rather he come and talk to you?”

I scowled at her. “You know, I kinda miss the days when I was the one giving you logical advice.”

“Don’t worry.” She snorted. “I’m sure those days aren’t gone. And I kind of like being the one offering advice for a change.”

Later that night, belly full of tacos and head full of Anneke’s advice and my own doubts, I sank into a tub of hot water to brood.

Anneke wasn’t wrong.

I mean, there were all sorts of things that Cormac could have heard about me and assumptions he could have made. If he came to some sort of assumption about me and wouldn’t talk to me, I would be hurt.

I couldn’t just take Jerrel at his word. Maybe I hadn’t had many relationships, but I knew Anneke was right—relationships couldn’t thrive on mistrust.

I took a sip from the glass of ice water I poured myself and sank a little deeper into the steaming, scented water while sweat beaded on my forehead.

Cormac hadn’t called today, but he had sent me some messages. I texted him back, and we managed to set up plans for dinner together tomorrow.

Maybe what I needed to do was just give things a little bit of time and see how everything played out.

I mean, really, all in all, we hadn’t known each other all that long. A couple of months.

We needed to get to know each other better, and we needed to spend more time together out of the bedroom.

And out of each other’s pants, I thought with a rueful grin.