We fell asleep on the floor, sitting upright. It wasn’t until Rowan shifted beside me and lifted me into his arms that I realized it, and by then it was too late, he was already walking toward the rooms. I lifted an arm and pointed at the guest room I’d been using, and he headed that way. As he walked, I let myself revel in the way I felt in his strong arms. I closed my eyes and let myself dream of things I hadn’t even contemplated before tonight. Him being around for Miles meant nothing in terms of our relationship. It didn’t matter how tempting he was, we had a lot of work to do before I could let him back into my life in that way, assuming he wanted that. It wasn’t as if he’d outright said that to me, but the way he looked at me said enough.

He set me on the bed and when I settled onto my side, he crawled in next to me.

“You’re sleeping here?”

“Is that a problem?”

“Um . . .” My heart rattled. It was a problem because I actually wanted him to sleep here. “Don’t you have an apartment nearby?”

“It’s missing a lot of things.”

I couldn’t see him in the dark, but I turned toward him anyway. “Like furniture?”

“Like you.”

“Rowan,” I warned. I didn’t like the way my pulse quickened.

“Tessa,” he mimicked.

“You know, there are two other rooms available.”

“You aren’t in either of those rooms,” he said, pausing. “Do you really want me to leave?”

No. That was the real answer. I didn’t want him to leave and that was a problem. “I agreed to you seeing Miles. I’m not agreeing to you seeing me. It wouldn’t work.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.”

“Do I need to keep reminding you that you’re married to another woman?”

“No,” he said softly. “Do I need to keep reminding you that the marriage is a façade? That the only woman I care about is lying next to me right now.”

“Stop saying things like that,” I whispered.

“I’ve been bottling things like that up for years.”

“And you suddenly decided that you can open up and tell me them? Did you figure out that you bleed like the rest of us?”

“Yes.”

I blinked. What was happening? “Even after these projects are done with, we’ll have to see each other and work together for Miles. Parenthood doesn’t stop at end of business.”

“You already said that and I’m ready for it.”

“Good.”

“It isn’t my son I’m worried about. It’s his mother. I don’t know if I can have her in small doses,” he said. “I don’t think I want to try.”

“I don’t think I want to find out where this can lead if I don’t go to sleep right now.”

He reached for me, took a hold of my hand, and squeezed it. “Rest.”

I nodded in the dark, slipped my hand from his, and turned over to face to opposite wall.

“Would you believe me if I told you that I’ve spent these last few years regretting every decision I made before you left?” he asked into the darkness.

“Considering who you married, yes.”

“I could have married any random woman and I would still feel this way because she wasn’t you.”

His words hit me smack in the middle of my chest, spreading the warmth of a sunrise after a seemingly endless night. “Ro, go to sleep.”

“Okay, but I need you to know that I’m not going anywhere.”

For the first time in my life, I knew that to be true. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the assurance Miles brought or because I could genuinely feel that he meant it, but I liked it.

The sound of the shower woke me the next morning. I turned over and scooted into the space Rowan had vacated. The pillow smelled like him. I closed my eyes and breathed it in, waiting for the water to stop and for him to get out of the bathroom so I could use it. When the water turned off, I rolled back to my side, heart pounding as I waited.

There was something about knowing that he was fewer than twenty feet away from me, soaking wet and naked, that made me feel a bit unhinged, too hot in my own skin.

When he finally opened the door, I was half-relieved, half-disappointed that he was completely dressed in gray sweatpants and a black T-shirt. His hair was clearly wet and brushed back away from his face. His beard, which was so much sexier than I thought a beard had any right to be, had obviously just been trimmed.

Maybe that was what scared me about the whole thing with Miles. I wasn’t sure how I’d handle Rowan coming into our lives and nitpicking at everything I’d built for my son. I got out of bed and grabbed my overnight bag on my way over to the bathroom. He moved out of the way slowly, as if his feet were dragging him in the opposite direction, but he really wanted to stay.

“I’m going to . . .” I started, pointing at the bathroom.

He cleared his throat. “Yeah, I’m going to get us breakfast. I’ll be right back.”

I darted into the bathroom, closed the door behind me, and leaned against it for a moment. I really needed to get a hold of myself in front of him, but after all of the things he said last night, I knew it wouldn’t be that easy. It didn’t change the fact that I needed to finish setting up my presentations and figure out how to introduce him to Miles. Really introduce him to Miles, unlike the other day. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t asked about his dad. His teacher had sent out a letter about a Father’s Day breakfast the school was setting up and while I’d already enlisted Freddie with the task of going, I had to dodge questions from him about his real dad. Thankfully, he’d just started asking.

He’d only ever had me, so he didn’t think it was abnormal until he was forced into social settings with people who had both. The same went for grandparents and siblings and . . . hell, even pets. We took our cues from society in every aspect of our lives. I’d told Miles that not everyone had a father or mother or grandparents. It seemed to appease him, but only because Uncle Freddie was going to be there with him. It made me sad, not for him, but for so many kids out there who would be missing their father. It also made the guilt flare inside me because it was my fault that his wouldn’t be going. I dried myself and dressed quickly, picking everything up as I went.

When I opened the door to the bedroom, the smell of bacon hit me, and my stomach once again, growled, reminding me that I hadn’t been very good to it lately. I found Rowan in the kitchen, his back toward me as he flipped something in a pan.

“You’re cooking?” I sat in front of one of the settings on the counter. “This is new.”

The smile he flashed me over his shoulder made my pulse skitter. “Stick around, I’ll show you all my new tricks.”

“Hm.” Maybe I will, I added silently as I watched him fix two plates, setting one in front of me and the other beside me. He brought a mug and placed it in front of me next.

“You still take it black like your soul, right?”

“Yeah.” I smiled. “You still take yours as sweet as yours?”

He winked. “You know it.”

I couldn’t stop smiling as I ate. “This is really good.”

“At your service.”

“Miles would like the pancakes.”

He was silent for a beat before asking, “What’s his favorite food?”

“Depends. He’d probably say bacon.”

Rowan chuckled. “A boy after my own heart.”

“Yeah, hearts that bacon definitely doesn’t help.”

He kept chewing, but even after I looked away, I could feel his eyes on me. “What else does he like?”

“To eat?”

“Or do, or anything.”

“He’s obsessed with the sky,” I continued. “He loves constellations and rockets and the idea of being an astronaut. He also loves tools, so if you leave any out, you can be sure he’s going to take them and use them for something. He loves to read, ice cream, the park.” I shrugged. “Stuff like that.”

“How are you going to tell him about me?”

I was glad I’d finished eating and had put my fork down because otherwise I would’ve dropped it. “I don’t know.”

“But you are going to tell him.”

I swiveled in my seat and faced him, brought my hand up to his face, and looked into those concerned blue eyes. “I’m going to tell him.”

He kissed me when we said goodbye. It wasn’t a long-lasting kiss, just a peck, but my lips were still warm from it. We drove back in separate cars. When I got home, I went straight to my bedroom and started unpacking. I’d dressed in what I called business-chic this morning, which was really just dark jeans, a plain button-down blouse, and flats, and then I headed into the office. The entire way, I moved on autopilot, too consumed with what I would tell Miles to pay much attention.

I’d given him my new phone number and saved his. I was specific in that he should only call me for things pertaining to Miles. Yes, the hopeless romantic in me wanted to get lost in the idea of love again, but I was also very aware that the last time I felt this way about this man, it ended in heartache. I’d definitely be careful this time, but I wasn’t going to rule anything out. One thing I learned in the aftermath of our love was that my heart can crack, break into a million pieces, and shatter like glass, but it kept beating. In my case, it definitely kept beating, for Miles, for myself.

By the time I arrived at the office, I felt refreshed. As Seth, Tommy, Chloe, and I sat in the conference room waiting for Ryan Ford to join us, we all buzzed in anticipation. We rehearsed our presentation, presented it to Ryan. Once he gave us the thumbs-up, we called the car company and video chatted the presentation to them about our rocket concept car for Fashion Week. Then we called the boutique hotel and pitched our ideas. The whole time I gave the presentation and showed him our conceptual design, I wished I could turn around and look at Ryan’s face. The man I was talking to looked so much like him, with the same dark brown eyes and dark hair, they even had the same little cleft on their chins. The man, Brody Ford, looked too much like Ryan to be anything other than family.

When we were finished, Brody smiled and thanked us. His attention seemed to be behind me, though, where Ryan sat. I moved out of the way and looked over there.

“What do you think?” Ryan asked.

“I think you’re a son of a bitch and I’m going to have to pick you,” Brody replied. “But you already knew this.”

“I’ll tell Donovan,” Ryan said with a twinkle in his eye.

“Don’t you dare,” Brody warned. “Thank you for everything. You captured everything we’re looking for. I’ll expect the contract so we can start right away.”

And then the video cut. We all looked at each other, stunned into complete silence.

I spoke first.

“He’s your brother.”

“What gave it away?”

“Why did we jump through hoops for this if you knew you were going to end up with the contract anyway?” I asked.

“I didn’t know we’d end up with the contract,” he said simply. “Just because he’s my brother doesn’t mean I dictate his decisions.”

There was another stretch of silence and then Seth clapped his hands and stood.

“I’m excited about this. I’m going to talk to the furniture company first and then call the car people to see when we can get the seats down here to start on that.”

I nodded. “I’ll finish with the fabrics that we picked for the hotel. I’m thinking maybe we can upholster the walls in a pretty ivory. Maybe add buttons for texture.”

“Like a backboard?” Chloe asked, jotting it all down on her clipboard.

“Yeah, sort of like that.”

Ryan stood. “I like where all of this is going. Tessa, a word?”

“Sure.”

I followed him out of the conference room and into the hall, where he stopped and turned to me.

“What’s going on with the fabrics?”

“I narrowed down the hotel fabrics for the lobby,” I said, because that had been the easy part. “I have ideas for the lounge area as well and now that we got the job, I think it should be easy to figure out the rest of the layouts.”

“Right. What about the leather for the car seats?”

“That . . . well, Rowan Hawthorne seems to think he has the perfect leather for it, as well as other colorful fabrics, but they’re owned by another company.”

“Tell him to get them.”

“That’s the problem.” I glanced away, hoping to hide the cringe I felt coming on. “The lady won’t sell to a man-owned and operated company.”

Ryan looked at me like I was growing tentacles. “What do you mean?”

“Exactly that. She won’t sell Rowan her fabrics.”

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.” He frowned. “She’s losing business. All textiles companies are owned by men.”

“Not true, actually,” I said.

“Well, most of them are.”

“Well, the one that seems to matter in this conversation is not only owned by a woman but also owned by a woman who doesn’t want to work with men.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Why don’t you speak to her? You’re a woman and the director of your department. That has to count for something.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” I moved to walk back into the conference room.

“I want to see this fabric,” Ryan said as he walked into his office. “Have it on my desk by Monday. I know this is your project, but all of our reputations are riding on this. If it doesn’t live up to the hype, we’re moving on.”