He flipped his car keys on the kitchen counter.

What a night.

"Well, I'm glad you finally loosened up. I thought I was going to have to start forcing drinks on you to get you to smile. Where'd you learn to be so uptight?" Josie tossed the sequined black purse he'd bought her into the corner and pulled a couple bowls from the cabinet. "Ice cream?"

"Fine."

Josie had been brilliant. She'd been herself and Dr. Black had loved her. Okay, he'd been a little worried at first, but it had worked out well. Who'd have guessed that a man of Dr. Black's money, heritage, and class would prefer dinner with people who were imperfect?

He supposed he had, given that he'd invited Josie in the first place. Truly, he must be a business genius, even if it was still on a subconscious level.

Josie turned her back to him and he watched her dress swish gently with her body. She looked gorgeous and sexy.

"Chocolate or mocha almond crunch?"

"Don't care." Her shoulders moved under the thin spaghetti straps, flexing.

He had a new client. His biggest one ever. Thanks to Josie. He'd never have had the courage to relax around Dr. Black, to be open and honest. But Josie had forced it, and it had worked.

She turned around with the container of chocolate, her fingers wrapped around it as if she were caressing it. She set the ice cream on the table and pried off the top.

Josie had given him his dream—Dr. Black for a client.

She picked up the ice cream scoop and tried to dig out some ice cream. "You have the freezer on Antarctic temperatures or something? It's like a rock."

Because of Josie, he had everything he'd wanted. His career. Finally. Her family. Her. Her.

She paused. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Like what?" He levered himself off the door and walked toward her. Toward his Josie.

She held the ice cream scoop up like a weapon. "Like you're going to eat me."

Not a bad idea.

Not a bad idea indeed.

"Evan? What are you doing?" She backed away as he got closer. "You stay away from me. Just because I had fun with Dr. Black doesn't mean I like you. I don't. You're a selfish, cold, unfeeling cretin."

"Sounds about right." He kept walking.

She reached the counter. Nowhere to go. "You stay away from me."

"Did I tell you that you looked incredibly sexy tonight?"

"Shut up!"

"No." He came to a stop in front of her. "You also look sexy in jeans and sneakers. Throw out the dress if you don't like it. I don't care. You're perfect the way you are."

"You back off right now, buster." She leaned back, arching over the counter to try to stay away from him.

"It shows off your collar bones." He traced his index finger ever so lightly across the curve.

She flinched under his touch. "Get away from me."

"Why?" He let his hand drop to his side, but he leaned closer. Not touching, but almost. "I want you."

"You're a horrid man."

"I'm aware of your opinion of me. I'd still like to kiss you."

"No." But her voice was losing some of its force.

"Fine." He leaned back, giving her room. But he couldn't walk away. "I got Dr. Black as a client."

She smiled. "I know. I was there, remember."

"Thanks to you."

She arched her eyebrow. "It's about time you noticed how fabulous I am."

"You could be my secret weapon."

"Is that right?"

"You could become my shadow." Didn't that sound great? "Behind the scenes, lurking, then jump in to woo every client."

Josie's face immediately darkened, then she smacked him in the chest with the ice cream scoop. Hard. "I will never be a man's shadow. Ever! I'm my own woman and don't you dare try to put me in the corner!"

Damn. That hadn't come out right. "That's not what I meant..."

"Oh, yeah? Well, it's what you said." She pushed herself off the counter and shoved at his chest, forcing him to take a step backward. "First, you accuse me of being a liar. Then you seduce me."

"I seduced you? Wait a minute..."

She pushed him again. "And then you refuse to acknowledge it ever happened. How dare you pretend the best sex of my life was nothing more than a mirage? A fantasy? You are despicable. Horrid. A beast."

The best sex of her life?

"And wipe that smug grin off your face. It's no compliment to be the best sex of my life. I was thinking of someone else while I was having my orgasm."

He stopped backing up. "Kiss me."

"No!"

"Fine." She wanted acknowledgement. She'd get it. "We did make love. Each time it was incredible. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. Does that make you feel better?"

"Don't think you can get me into bed with some wimpy apology which wasn't actually even an apology." She pushed his chest, but he didn't back up. Instead, he slapped his hands over hers and held them against him.

"Kiss me, Josie."

"How dare you order me to kiss you? I hate you." She didn't pull her hands away.

"Do you?"

"Of course I do."

"I don't hate you." He rubbed his thumbs over the back of her hands in small circles.

"Too bad for you." She moved closer, until her forearms pressed against him. "I hate everything about you." She dug her fingers into his chest. "Except the fact that you had a fence built for Max." She moved closer, her breath hot on his chin.

"Thank you." He dipped his head, until his forehead was against hers, their lips only a breath apart.

"For what?"

"For tonight. I owe you everything."

She sucked in her breath. "Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Be nice."

"Sorry."

He said nothing.

She said nothing.

They both stood there.

Foreheads touching.

Breathing.

Waiting.

In the same instant, they both went for each other. Lips crashed against lips, hands dove for bodies, breath intermingled.

Yes. This was what he needed. He needed Josie. More than anything he'd ever needed in his life.

"Now," she whispered against his jaw. "Here."

Her fingers flew to his waistband. Unbuckle. Unbutton. Unzip. "Come on, Evan!"

His body tightened, his mind spun, his chest hurt. He nibbled her collar bone, swept his hands up her legs, under her dress. Lace. Hooked his thumbs, slid it down her legs. Skin so soft. Warm. Alive.

His pants around his ankles. Josie's arms around him. Up on the counter. Her legs anchored around his waist. Yes.

It was Josie.

It had to be Josie.

It would never be anyone but Josie.

Heat closed around him. Groans. His. Hers. He had no idea. Everything was right. Perfect. She's the one. She'd always be the one.

Shudders wracked her body.

And his.

Together.

This was how it was supposed to be.

* * *

"I'm going to take sword fighting lessons." Josie trailed her fingers across his bare chest.

He caught her fingers and entwined his with hers. "Why are you going to do that?"

"So I can kill you."

Wasn't that a nice affirmation after three hours of fantastic lovemaking? "Might I ask why you're plotting my death?"

She sighed and rested her cheek against his chest, her feet twisted in the covers. "You need to be taught a lesson."

"What's the point in learning a lesson if I'm too dead to act on it?"

"Don't try to make me be logical." She closed her fingers around his chest hair, but didn't tug. "Just because you gave me a record number of orgasms in a year doesn't mean you're out of the dog house."

"In two nights, we've beaten your annual record?" He liked that. As long as he didn't think about the fact it implied there'd been other men before him.

"Don't try to distract me when I'm planning your demise. Great sex isn't enough to convince me to spare your life." But she burrowed deeper against him and sighed with female contentment.

He figured he wasn't really in that much trouble. "I'll ask again. Why?"

"You deserve it."

He groaned. What was up with her? "Is this still about Max?" Who hadn't seemed remotely concerned about his three hours in the garage when they'd gotten home from dinner.

"Nope. Never was about Max."

He hoisted Josie up his chest so she was level with his face. "What's going on?"

"You're a jerk."

"I'm figuring that out. Why?"

She propped her chin up on her hands and studied him. "In the morning, are you going to pretend tonight never happened? Like before? Because if you do, I won't wait for the sword lessons. I swear."

"Ah." So that was it.

She narrowed her eyes. "Expand."

"No."

"No, what?"

"I won't pretend it didn't happen."

"And..."

"And what?"

She ground her elbow ever so slightly into his chest. "How about something like—you're a goddess, I can't live without your body and this is the start of a wonderful affair?"

Something clunked in his gut. Damn, that sounded good. "I can't."

She lifted her head and stared at him. Even in the dark, he could see the tension on her face. Or maybe he could just feel it, emanating from her body. "Don't even say his stupid name."

He loved her fire. And he loved that she didn't hold back what she thought of him. He owed her the truth. "I can't lie, Josie. It was great. Unbelievable. You're an amazing woman."

"But..."

"But I owe my brother."

Josie sat up, grabbed a pillow and smashed him in the head with it. "What's the deal with your idiotic brother? Why are you so obsessed with him?" She clocked him once more with the pillow. "And don't say it's just because he's your brother because I don't believe you."

His amusement at the pillow attack faded. "I'm not interested in going into my past."

"Tough." She whacked him again, and a feather floated gently down. "When you made love to me tonight, you lost the right to shut me out of your past."

He grinned.

"Why are you smiling? This isn't funny."

"I love it when you don't let me get away with anything."

"Shut up and talk."

"Most women are too worried about losing a chance to get at my money to tell me how they really feel about me."

She looked baffled. "What are you talking about?"

"You make me feel real."

"You are real. A real jerk if you don't stop avoiding the subject. You owe me the truth, Evan. Now."

She did have a point. Besides, he was in too deep. He wouldn't be able to get up tomorrow and pretend nothing had happened. He'd gone too far to back out.

"Evan. You better start talking or I'm going to release Max into your office to destroy everything."

He grinned.

"Stop smiling! I'm upset and I'm mad at you!" She took a deep breath, and lowered her voice. "Tell me what's up with your brother, or I promise to withhold all sexual favors from you forever." Then she sat on top of him. Stark naked. "You going to talk, Dorsett?"

"I don't talk about my past." He set his hands on her hips and settled her. Damn, she felt good.

"So? I don't sleep with men I hate."

"You don't hate me."

She scowled. "Don't be so sure. I'm really not too pleased with you at the moment. Talk."

Talk. Just like that. So easy for a woman to say. What was he supposed to do? Just start pouring his heart out? He wouldn't even know how to start.

And even if he did, then what? No way would Josie be interested in him if she knew the truth.

So maybe that was the key.

Tell her the truth, disgust her, and she'd walk away. He ignored the drop in his gut at the thought of Josie being repulsed by him. It was the only way to do right by Buddy, because he certainly wasn't strong enough to do it on his own.

But how to start? Except Bertie, who'd dragged it out of him, he'd never talked about it in his life. How was he supposed to do it now? "Fine."

She lifted an eyebrow. "Fine? You'll tell me?"

"You can ask questions. I'll answer."

"This isn't a game."

"No kidding." He tensed and waited.

She pursed her lips and studied him. Finally, her face softened. "Fine. I'll ask."

All right, then. This wouldn't take long, at least until Josie grabbed her clothes and stalked out of the room.

"Where are your parents?"

He cleared his throat and focused on the ceiling. "Dead."

She made some sound, but he refused to look at her.

"How?"

"Died in prison." He tensed, certain she was going to leave.

But she didn't. "How long ago?"

"When I was nineteen."

"Was this the first time they were in prison?"

He ground his teeth and refused to look at her. "No."

She looked thoughtful, not repulsed. "So hold on here a second. Were your parents in prison when you were growing up?"

"Yep." See, Josie? The Dorsetts are nightmares you don't want to be around.

"And so, who raised you?"

"Relatives. Foster homes. We got passed around."

"And you tried to look after your little brother."

"Yeah." He shifted. Why was she still here? He hadn't been prepared for this to go on so long.

"And then when you were nineteen, they left for good."

"So?"

"And then what? Buddy messed up? Started experimenting with crime?"

"Yeah." He really wanted to look at her face, see what she was thinking. But he couldn’t. No way could he stand to see her revulsion.

"What happened then?"

He gritted his teeth and dug his fingers into her thighs, which were still around his hips. "Buddy screwed up. Stole a car. Went to prison. When he got out, I told him I wasn't going to support him anymore. Shape up or get out." He closed his eyes for a moment. "So he left. Never saw him again."

"And so now you don't have a family, and you want one, and you'll do anything to make amends with the one family member still out there."

He opened his eyes and looked at her. She was looking at him, her eyebrows crunched, her lips pursed, and her jaw clenched. "Why do you look so mad?"

"Because! That's heroic!"

Heroic? She thought he was heroic for dumping his brother? "I don't get it."

"You're madly in love with me, and you'll deprive yourself of true happiness for your brother. I thought you were too soft, but you're just caring and wonderful and all that bunk."

"I'm not madly in love with you." He nearly choked on the words.

"Shut up. If I want to turn you into a hero, it's my prerogative. Especially if it helps my ego." She flopped down next to him and draped her leg across him. "It was so much easier when I was able to hate you. Then it didn't matter if it was just great sex. I mean, it did bug me a little when you ignored me. But now I can't possibly hate you. You love your brother, and you overcame your childhood to be this big success and everything." She grabbed the pillow she'd been whacking him with and planted it over her face.

She screamed into the pillow.

Why didn't she hate him? Maybe he hadn't made it clear enough. "I failed Buddy. Don't you see? When he got arrested and then sent off to prison when he was eighteen, it was my fault. I couldn't save him. And then I failed him again when I kicked him out of the house. I'm responsible for Buddy's miserable life." There. He'd admitted it. That he was a failure. Didn't feel any better to finally say it out loud after all these years. "I let him down."

Josie flung the pillow aside and sat up. "Did it ever occur to you to let Buddy take some of the responsibility?"

Evan frowned. "I was left in charge of him and I screwed up."

"You were a kid. You had the same parents and you turned out okay. Why can't Buddy take some responsibility for his life? Especially as an adult? Why do you have to keep trying so hard?"

"Because he's my brother."

"So?"

"I love him."

"A man who can admit love." She sighed. "How did I get so miserably lucky? Boggles the mind. Sexy, smart, kind, and loving. And yet, somehow I have to figure out how to dislike you."

He said nothing. Just grabbed her and pulled her against him.

"So, when we find Buddy, you're going to foist me off onto him, aren't you?"

He closed his eyes and concentrated on her heart beating against him. "Yes."

"And what if we never find him?"

He opened his eyes. What if we never find him? He turned his head and looked at Josie. Her eyebrows lifted in question. "I don't know," he said.

"Maybe we keep going as we are and see how it turns out."

Yes. No. It was wrong.

"You've already made love to me. You can't take it back," she said.

"I know."

"It's not like we'll fall in love. I still have three years before I can care about a guy again. It would just be sex."

He grinned. "Very good sex."

"The best." She tilted her head. "So? What about us?"

What indeed?