In the ten minutes it takes to get back to her house, Corinna questions my parentage back to the Stone Age, right up until one of her favorite boy-band songs comes on the radio. Then she starts belting it out like a champ.

I don’t know whether to be pissed or laugh harder than I ever have in my life.

What on earth possessed the Freemans to go off half-cocked tonight, I have no idea, but seeing Corinna lying across the bar with her shirt pulled up, letting a random stranger suck tequila from her stomach didn’t just set fire to my temper, it blew the whole thing up like an FGM-148 Javelin missile. I’m barely holding on to the small semblance of control I have when Corinna reaches over and jacks the volume up on my stereo. “Ohh, oh-oh!”

I use the controls on the steering wheel to turn down the volume. She reaches over, but before she can touch the knob, I grab her wrist.

“Jesus, what the fuck is wrong with the men I come into contact with these days? Why the hell do they have to try to control me? Just let me fucking be!” Her drawl is intermixed with her drunken slur, so understanding the words out of her mouth is a challenge.

“We’re almost home, Corinna. Then you can put on whatever music you want,” I try to reason with her.

“Yeah. The cows and I can get together and have a real barn burner. Get it?” She slaps her leg as if she’s told the funniest joke ever. “Men. They’re not worth the fucking trouble. Family, friends, lovers. They’ll betray you in the end somehow.” And then she starts to cry. Huge heaving sobs that I have no idea what to do with.

Shit, shit, shit. “Look, I’ll turn the music back up.”

Her head shakes as she curls into herself.

What the hell am I supposed to do? Grabbing my earpiece out of the console, I quickly dial Keene. “Want to tell me what the fuck happened tonight?”

“I was just about to call you and ask the same thing. Apparently, you did something to our girl to push her over the edge,” Keene grates out. “Now I’m dealing with Alison riding my ass while Holly and Em are talking about marrying Corinna in a triad ceremony in my back seat.”

“Give me the phone, Keene,” I hear Ali demand.

“Not a chance in hell, baby,” Keene growls. “Tell me, Hunt. What did you say to Corinna?”

“I can tell you that, Keene. He called her a slut. He’s a douchebag, just like his best buddy, Jack. Only Jack added on she was a cow too. That’s part of what sent my future wife over the edge!” Em yells drunkenly. “How the fuck is he any better though? That’s what I want to know. How the fuck are any of you men any better? It’s okay for you to bang anyone, but your woman has to be pure? Fuck that shit. They’re our bodies. If I want a different cock every day of the week, then I should be able to have it.”

“And he had no right to carry her out of that bar,” Holly cries. “For once she felt beautiful. She’s always beautiful, but she never believes it. We can never make her see it. I bet it’s why she’s talking about canceling the surgery.”

“I’ll bet you’re right, Hols,” Em agrees. “All because of fucking men.”

“I’m glad I shot the assholes in my life.”

“Me too, baby girl.”

“Jesus, can you two keep the family secrets to, I don’t know, the family?” Keene roars. Silence descends on the car. “Does that answer your question, Hunt? It sure as hell answers mine.” He promptly hangs up on me.

Corinna’s still crying, but her tears are quieter as we pull into her driveway. Turning off the Jeep, I race around to her side of the car. “Princess, where are your keys?”

She sniffles. “Purse.”

I swing her up in my arms and carry her under the awning where she kissed me. Putting her back on her unstable feet, I pull open her purse and reach inside for her keys, then unlock the door and guide us both inside. She’s still crying when I carry her upstairs to her bedroom. Wrenching away from me, she mutters, “I need a shower.” She grabs a skimpy top and shorts from the couch and stomps off to the bathroom. Moments later, I hear the toilet flush and the shower start.

“You all right in there?” I yell out.

Her clothes being thrown out the door is my only response.

“I hope you’ll forgive me one day, babe,” I murmur, turning around the massive room, I spy a soft afghan casually tossed across the worn sofa. I touch the cashmere in electric pink, and it’s like I’ve found the single object that represents Corinna: vibrant, soft, delicate, strong. My hand can’t help but caress it as I whisper, “I’m so sorry, Cori. I never meant to hurt you. No matter what you believe.” Even if it’s not her, it’s something tangible I can hold that represents her. Turning, I slam into a body, sending me sprawling onto the couch. I get tangled up in the throw, and her scent fills my brain, imprinting on my soul.

It will never get out now.

Corinna’s standing there with her wet hair dripping down her back, her face vulnerable. “How could you not mean to hurt me, Colby? The things you said…”

I cut her off. “Came from a place of jealous rage. How could I fault you for being who you are when that’s what I need in my life?”

She steps back. “Don’t. Please don’t. I’m too vulnerable, and you…” She presses her hand into her stomach.

I shove to my feet and step closer to her, lifting my finger to her cheek. “I what?”

“With nothing but words, you made me laugh, and you made me believe in myself when there was damned little to believe in. Then you destroyed me.” She turns her back to me. Her new ink taunts me. Involuntarily, I reach out to trace it, but she jerks away. “I’ll never forget who I am ever again because of you. Don’t start anything with me, including friendship, unless you plan to be here regardless of whatever happens. Because, I may not be perfect, but I deserve everything. And you can go to hell right now if you don’t think I do.”

I clasp her shoulder and turn her around to face me. “I just have one question.”

Her face takes on a wary cast. “Okay. Ask it.”

I slide my hand through her wet hair to the nape of her neck and pull her close. “Is there room on the couch for both of us? I don’t think tonight’s the night for us to try sleeping in a bed for the first time together.”

When the single tear slides down her freshly scrubbed face, I murmur, “We’ll talk more after we get some sleep.”

She sighs and relents. “Tonight, I’ll let you back in. I can’t guarantee tomorrow, but tonight…” Right before she face-plants into my chest, her arms wrapping around my waist.

After Corinna’s settled with her back to my front on the couch in her room, my mind wanders back to the nights she let me hold her like this, before I screwed us six different ways from Sunday. The lights entwined on the overhead beams cast a soft glow on her face. I can’t sleep. I don’t want to. Keene’s words are replaying in my mind.

How can the woman I’m holding in my arms be ready to give in? Somehow, I’ve got to find the scrappy fighter willing to do anything to survive, and encourage her to come out swinging.

I can tell by the light streaming through the window that it’s late. A quick glance at my watch shows it’s after ten. Most importantly, Corinna’s no longer in my arms.

Shit.

Sitting up, I toss the afghan we’d wrapped ourselves in aside and scrub my face roughly. Why didn’t she wake me? Getting to my feet, I stalk to the door to see if she’s still here when I hear her voice behind me. “Are you always this get-up-and-go in the mornings?”

One hand still on the doorknob, I turn my head and see Corinna standing in her bathroom door with a toothbrush still in its packet. “Catch.” She tosses it to me.

I cross the room in a few long strides. Corinna tips her head back to look at me. She looks good, like she got a full night’s sleep, but her smile is tentative. “Hmm, let me see.” I grab the toothbrush and grin. “Safety 1st Oral Care?”

Shrugging her own smile widens. “It was better than nothing. And morning breath sucks.”

“True,” I agree. I slide my arm around her waist. “Then again, I could have just used yours.”

Corinna scrunches her nose. “Eww. Seriously? You do remember what I was drinking last night.”

“Held it down like a champ too.”

“That’s because nothing can compare to the shit Phil used to try to make us practice on for learning how to give blow jobs.” Corinna’s hands come up and cover her mouth. “Crap, I wasn’t supposed to ever say anything.”

I sputter. “No freaking way.”

Eyes sparkling with mirth, she nods.

“Do I want to know how you learned how to kiss?”

She rolls her eyes. “I was a virgin when we met, Colby. I wasn’t a novice.”

A growl rumbles up from the center of my chest. “Corinna?”

Laughter fills her voice when she replies with “Yes?”

“Will you please let me by to clean up before I find out if you’re repulsed by morning breath or not?”

Just as I’m about to close the door, she says, “Colby?”

I lean with one arm against the jamb. “Yeah?”

She reaches up and touches one side of my cheek before kissing the other. “Thanks for the best sleep I’ve had since…well, you know how long it’s been.” Pulling away, she says, “I’ll be in the kitchen getting coffee.”

I can’t help but watch her walk out the door, and pray we’ve turned some kind of corner by my shutting my mouth for once and just listening.

I make my way down to Corinna’s kitchen a little while later. Immediately, I’m assaulted by scents I’ve dreamed about: rich coffee, creamy caramel, and pancakes. “I’ve died. Somewhere I’m lying in the middle of a desert daydreaming again.” I moan, announcing my presence.

She shakes her head, but I can’t help but catch the smile flitting about her lips.

“You think I’m kidding, but if you saw what I had to eat on a regular basis, you wouldn’t think I was kidding.”

“Saw it? Keene made us try an MRE. I don’t know how y’all don’t come home and start gorging on food as fast as possible to make up for the punishment of what the Army feeds you.”

I take my first sip of coffee—the Corinna special, filled with homemade caramel sauce and heavy cream—and sigh. Then her words penetrate. “Wait, Keene made you try an MRE?”

“Isn’t that what they feed you guys? A bag of that crap?”

“That’s what they feed you when you’re in a life-or-death situation. Most of the time there’s some type of a mess hall if you’re stationed on a base,” I explain.

“Keene’s going to be in a life-or-death situation again for making me eat that shit.” I grin, imagining the creative ways she’ll use to get back at Ali’s significant other. “I do have one question though.”

In the middle of swallowing another sip of coffee that poets would write sonnets about, I wave my hand.

“Why does all the meat taste like tuna? I mean, do they have special chemists in the military that chemically alter chicken?” After I finish snickering, she places a stack of perfectly golden, fluffy pancakes in front of me. “Taste that and tell me what you think.”

I put my cup on the counter and swallow hard. My hand wants so desperately to reach for the fork and to shovel the food into my mouth, but there’s something I have to do first.

And she has to be sober and awake to hear it.

“Cori.” Her head whips up to mine. “I know. That name’s no longer mine to use, except it’s Cori I need to apologize to. I hurt her when I never meant to. I need to give peace of mind to her, and if I have to piss off the woman she became to do that, I will.” Standing, I move closer to her so I can lay my fingers on her heart. It’s pounding beneath my touch. “I want you to know I heard you the other night. More importantly, I heard you last night. And I realized something.”

“What’s that?” Corinna’s face is pale, and she eyes me warily.

“I owe you an apology for the present too. Your sister said something last night that struck me hard.”

“Considering how drunk we were, I’m surprised. Which one?”

“Emily. She said it’s your life and your body and your right to live your life as you choose. And she’s right. Who am I to judge your life?” I shake my head. “No one. Even if any of it were true, the words I lashed out at you still stem from nothing other than what I said last night. I’m jealous. I’m jealous of any man whose had the chance to win this magnificent heart of yours.”

Corinna tries to shove away. “Sure you are.”

My other arm bands around her waist. She looks at me like a skittish kitten, not the sultry feline she so often resembles. “You give of yourself constantly. You run yourself ragged trying to be everything to everyone. You feel you owe the world for the life you’ve already paid the dues for. You read what I wrote to you. When are you going to understand you’re everything just for being you?”

“When I can take in a breath in my darkness and know down to my soul that I’m not someone’s pain, but their cure,” Corinna replies. “That’s when I’ll know.”

Wrenching out of my arms, she picks up her coffee, leaving me reeling from her words. “Is that how you see yourself?”

Taking a sip, she shrugs.

Tell her, my inner voice says. Tell her all the things she doesn’t know. “No one is perfect, Corinna. There are dark parts to everyone’s past.” Including mine.

Sighing, she gestures to my pancakes. “You had better eat, Colby. Those are a spin-off of Chef Eric Greenspan’s lemon ricotta pancakes. And if you’re planning on telling me about your family, you’ll probably want a full stomach.” She mutters as an aside, “I know I would.”

I’m frozen in place. “How do you know?” I wanted—no, I needed—to be the one to tell her.

“Let’s just say, Addison was all too informative about her boyfriend after you graduated.” Bitterness seeps into her words.

“I never told Addison either, Corinna. And let’s be clear, I wasn’t her boyfriend.”

Ignoring me, she continues. “Then you’re not the son of Brett Hunt of Hunt Enterprises. Your family business isn’t worth billions?” she drawls. Turning her back to me, she stomps into the adjoining family room and picks up a familiar box. “Bet your daddy would just love it had these actually made it into my hands, Colby. Because damn you, I did read them. And I felt every word on every page straight in my heart. And I knew there could be nothing more between us but friendship because of who you are. More importantly, because of who I can never forget I am. Where I came from. What happened to me. What’s going to happen to me.”

“Would it help you to know I haven’t spoken to them since the day my father hit me when I decided to join the Army?” The words come out so calmly, I surprise even myself. “He dislocated my shoulder the summer between my senior year of high school and my freshman year of college, shoving me into a wall because I refused to fall in line to just make the guns to kill people instead of heading out into the Jawa to serve with them. He almost cost me my ROTC scholarship, which I think was his point. I haven’t spoken to my family since.” The silence following that announcement is deafening.

Throwing out my self-preservation, I stalk to where she’s holding the box, trembling, and give her my truth. It’s time. “I don’t hold regret about the lives I’ve taken or the life I’ve led. I can count on one hand the things I regret.” I hold up my first finger. “One. My grandfather hasn’t contacted me since I left home. God only knows what the old bastard thinks, and despite everything, I did love him. Two.” I flick up another finger. “Letting you slip away when I knew damn well it was something I could fix. And finally”—I throw up the third finger—“not fighting hard enough to get through to you when I got back. Everything else will end up being a left-handed monkey wrench.”

“What’s that?” she asks cautiously.

“Something that doesn’t exist. Why hold on to the regrets that mean nothing? Life’s too precious.”

Corinna drops the box at her feet. Letters fly everywhere, but she pays them no mind as she launches herself at me. I clutch her close, knowing how priceless this moment is. Knowing for so many reasons it almost didn’t happen. Burying my head in her neck, I breathe in her intoxicating scent. It’s sweeter than the coffee I just drank, more addicting than nachos, and more necessary than air. It’s just Corinna.

I don’t want to break the mood, but my stomach has other ideas. It growls noisily in the quiet room. Corinna’s body shakes from the shelter within my arms. “It’s not that funny. Do you even remember last night?”

“Of course I do! I wonder if it’s poor form not to invite my sister wives over for breakfast?” Her voice is laced with mirth, and her face is lit with humor. “Before I worry about them, let’s get you fed first.”

“Best offer I’ve had in a long time, princess.” I rub my chin against her head as we make our way back into her kitchen.