“Come inside.”

I’d escorted her to the door, which was habit, but now I wished I’d just stayed in the limo.

With her hand gripping my tie, Kimberly tugged me inside her lavishly decorated home. It looked more like it belonged on a movie set than anything else, meant to display. But that was everything in Kimberly’s life—including me.

We were barely behind the door when she turned around, her hand still gripping my tie. She pushed me back against the door, her eyes burning with lust.

“I’ve been thinking about getting you naked all night. You look so good when you get dressed up for me…and I know you hate it.” She gave me a coy smile as she started to loosen the tie.

She was right. I did hate it.

But I hadn’t exactly dressed up for her. It was to keep Pete from yanking my chain when he saw pictures of me in jeans the next day.

“Since you did all this for me…” She skipped her fingers along my chest and gave the tie a final tug, dropping it on the floor. “I’ll do something for you.”

The light in her eyes made it clear what she meant.

I had so little interest in it, it was pathetic.

But in some distant, disconnected part of my soul, I thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea, necessarily, to spend the night here with Kimberly. She was a sexual athlete and she could exhaust me to the point that I would sleep. If I slept, I wouldn’t stay awake brooding about the fight with Cane, or the fight with Maya. I wouldn’t think about seeing Maya at the party and wondering why she’d been there. Granted, I’d seen her leave with Florence, so it wasn’t like I had to think about her being there with another man.

Kimberly raked her teeth down my neck. Out of reflex, I craned my head to the side and closed my eyes.

Another man.

Cane had taunted me about asking her out, but sooner or later, another man would ask her out.

Sooner or later, Maya would say yes.

“That’s it…get rough with me, baby,” Kimberly said against my neck. “Hurt me a little. I love it.”

Her voice jerked me out of my head and I stiffened my arms, forcing distance between us.

Unconsciously, I’d been gripping her hips and I forced my fingers to loosen. She’d have bruises. “Sorry,” I said gruffly.

“Sure you are, honey.” Laughter glowed in her eyes as she rose up onto her toes to wrap her arms around my neck. “What else do you want to be sorry for?”

She bit my lip hard enough to make real pain flare.

Shoving my hand into her hair, I wrenched her head back. “Hey, cut it out.”

“Why?” She poked out her lip as she stared at me. “You can play rough, but I can’t?”

Before I could even respond, she rolled her eyes. “Fine. Do whatever you want to me, Glenn.” She rubbed her hands up my chest once more, leaning closer to cuddle into me. “Do whatever you want. I want it.”

Whatever I wanted consisted of peeling her off me, walking out that door, getting in the car and telling my driver to take me to Florence’s.

I shoved that idea out of my head and closed my eyes.

Kimberly pressed her lips to the corner of my mouth then started to work over to cover my earlobe with her teeth. Get focused, I told myself.

Focused…on what?

I could smell the smoke in her hair. One of the nails digging into my arm was uneven.

“Glenn…”

Her voice was full of heat and promise.

I couldn’t even find a spark of interest. Even as she moved her hand down the front of my shirt, freeing buttons as she went, I told myself to think about what she’d probably do next—I could picture her still in her dress and heels in front of me, on her knees, taking my cock in her mouth.

And I felt nothing.

No, it was worse than nothing.

I didn’t want her touching me.

I wanted to pull away and leave, so I could just go home—go home and do nothing but think about Maya.

Boy, you are in trouble. Just as I realized just how much trouble, Kimberly slid her hand up and down my crotch.

And her sweet, curvaceous body tensed.

I caught her wrist and dragged it away, mouth already open to tell her…something. Anything. I’m tired. I’ve got a headache. Not in the mood.

Of course, that last bit was something I would have called bullshit in my other life. When was I not in the mood?

But I knew the answer to that: right after seeing the woman I’d once loved with everything I had in me.

That right there could make it damn easy for me to be not in the mood.

“It’s late,” I said. The excuse sounded lame, even to me. “I’m worn out from all the shooting and the PR shit Pete’s thrown at me this past week.”

Kimberly twisted her wrist free and backed away. “Yes. I’m sure that’s exactly what the problem is. Of course, I’ve seen you work eighteen hours straight, then we’ve come here and fucked like rabbits. But now, you’re tired.” Her mocking falsetto grated on my nerves.

“Yeah.” I gave her a tight smile, refusing to rise to the bait. “Glad you understand.”

“Oh…of course. I totally understand.” She smoothed her hands down her dress, settling it back into place. “I’m certain it has nothing to do with that stupid, insipid bitch we saw at the party!”

She was screaming by the time she finished.

Setting my jaw, I focused on the buttons of my shirt, redoing them as quickly as I could. I needed to get the hell out of here. Unlike me, Kimberly lived inside the city, and her elegant little bungalow had neighbors on both sides. She might not care if we attracted attention, but I was done with all of that.

“What, you don’t have anything to say?” She lifted her chin, her cheeks flushed, eyes so hot and angry, I wouldn’t have been surprised to find singe marks on me.

“There’s nothing to say, Kimberly. I’m tired. It’s been a long week.”

“Yes, I know. You’ve done nothing but mope and pout over that stupid fight with Cane. Then you see Maya…” She stopped and sucked in a breath. “Wait a minute. You never did tell me why you fought with him. Was it…you son of a bitch!”

She launched herself at me and I just barely caught her hand before she slapped me. “You bastard. You knew she was back, didn’t you?” She went to drive her knee into my balls and I jerked to the side, twisting to catch the blow on my thigh. “Didn’t you?!”

“Kimberly, damn it, calm down!”

Those words only made her madder. “Don’t you tell me to calm down, you bastard!”

I let her go and ducked away, twisting to put room between us. “Fine, stay pissed off. But do it alone. I’m not hanging around here for you to rant like this.”

“You…!” She shuddered, shaking with her rage. “You are a bastard. You paraded your ex-lover in front of me, and you act like I’ve got no reason to be angry.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Storming over to her, I shoved my face into hers. “For future reference, I didn’t parade any lover in front of you. I didn’t know Maya was going to be there. Yes, I knew she was back. Did I tell you? No. But didn’t you and I establish that what we had was just a mutually beneficial relationship? It’s a PR deal, and we have the added benefit of having a bed partner. And it was your idea to add in that last part, not mine. Emotions were never on the table.”

She gaped at me, pressing her hand to her breasts. “How can you talk to me like this? We’re…we’re…”

Ah, hell. If she was going to try and claim she was developing feelings for me…No. Just no. Throwing up my hands, I backed away. “I’m out of here, Kimberly. I already told you, I’m tired. I meant it.”

I got the hell out before she could quite recover from my quick exit.

I only made it halfway down the sidewalk before she flung open the door, screeching at my back.

But that didn’t slow me down.

* * *

At home, I stared out the window at the Pacific Ocean as it pounded into the sand. The water was rough, and it wasn’t having any sort of calming effect on me.

I missed my home. But I’d closed the place up after Mrs. B had died—and even before that, I’d all but stopped living there. This place in Malibu wasn’t exactly home, but it worked. I’d bought it in the days after I’d climbed out of my drunken stupor, after Maya’s disappearance.

Being home was just too much.

I saw her everywhere, in everything. If I was outside, I saw her everywhere we’d walked, everywhere we’d talked. And I’d worried, and wondered. Was she dead? Had somebody stolen her from me? I’d turned my property upside down, searching for a body.

If we were inside, I smelled the fragrance of her skin, even long after it would have faded.

Her ghost haunted me and after a time, I told myself maybe she was dead. Yes, I had the PI’s reports that Maya Cruz, as I’d known her, didn’t exist. But I’d known Maya. I’d held her. She was—or had been—real. Then she was just…gone.

Women didn’t just disappear.

But she had.

Maybe somebody had stolen her away from me, and that was why I hadn’t been able to find her. I’d almost—almost—come to accept that over those long twelve months.

And now she was here.

How could she possibly be here after all this time?

How could she look at me with those big eyes and expect…?

I didn’t know what she expected.

I knew that she flinched when I yelled at her, but she hadn’t raged back.

I knew she looked at me the same way she always had.

I knew that my heart felt the same damn thing it had felt three years ago.

You need to go and see her, Glenn. Give her a chance to explain.

But even on the tail of those thoughts, I had another. If I went down that road, then I had to consider something else.

He was gone, already shipped out to Vietnam, and I’d never so much as apologized. It was just another one of those things eating at me.

“So I’ll apologize. I’ll call.” The ludicrousness of that idea almost made me laugh, but hell. It had to be possible. People did make calls across the ocean, right? And I could write to him, too. I’d find a way. And I’d keep trying until I got in touch and apologized. Even if I was still trying when he showed back up stateside.

Give her a chance to explain.

The way he’d looked at me as he said it made me realize something.

He’d given Maya the chance to explain. He wouldn’t have insisted I do the same unless he’d talked to her and heard her out. And while Cane was a different man now than he’d been a few years ago, one thing hadn’t changed. He was loyal, and he was my best friend. If he thought I should hear her out, then whatever she’d told him had changed something inside him.

“Fuck.”

I dropped my head against the glass window and closed my eyes.