“Vivienne? Yo, Vivienne,” I heard someone yell from far away. It must have been a dream because we were in Vivienne’s bed with her spread all over me—head to toe. She stirred a bit, but then settled back in, pushing her soft body into mine. Heaven. That was the only word for it.

I started to drift off again because fuck was I fuckin’ tired. We’d stayed up the whole night, talking, making love, and just generally making up for lost time. It was wonderful, but it was also time to sleep. I hugged her closer to me, almost back in dreamland again when I heard someone say, “Jesus.”

It came from the doorway. Both Vivienne and I jumped. She grabbed the sheet to cover herself as I pulled a pillow down to shield my man parts. “Dean,” Vivienne said, trying to catch her breath. Her heart must have been beating out of her chest just like mine, making it difficult to breathe.

“I’ll be downstairs, darlin’,” he boomed from the hallway.

“Oh my God...my boss just saw me naked...with a naked you,” she whispered loudly, hand clutched to her heart in an attempt to calm it.

“How’d he get in?” I asked, still holding an innocent pillow to me for dear life.

“Oh, I gave him a key a long time ago.”

“You gave him a key?” I cocked my head to the side in question as to why she’d do that.

“He’s my person.”

“He’s your person?”

“Yeah, you know, everyone has a person they give a key to in case something happens.”

“Has anything ever happened before that he needed to use a key to get into your house?”

“Uh, yeah. I sort of couldn’t really get out of bed much after we broke up, and Dean kind of came to rescue me.”

Fuck. I’d done that to her. I knew exactly what she was talking about because I didn’t exactly venture out either. Hearing how it affected her gutted me. I reached over, drawing her in for a kiss. “I’m sorry,” I told her for the umpteenth time.

“I better get downstairs. What time is it, anyway?” I looked at my phone. It was ten-thirty. Shit. We really slept hard after our last go at each other.

“Late. Ten-thirty.” I looked at her sheepishly, feeling guilty for making her late for work.

“Oh no,” she yelled, bursting up in a frenzy of activity, searching for clothes to throw on.

I got up in an effort to calm her beautiful ass down. Grabbing her shoulders, I said, “Vivienne, chill. It’ll be fine. I’m guessing he knows now what’s been going on between us, and he’ll understand why you slept in.”

She stilled, staring up at me, taking a deep breath.

“I don’t know how happy he’ll be that you’re here,” she told me honestly. My face hardened, but I had to face the facts.

“Yeah, I’m sure he’ll be pretty pissed. But that’s on me, not you. Now get ready, but don’t kill yourself doing it.” I smiled at her, kissing her messy rat’s nest hair. She smelled like cinnamon and sex, much like the bed did at the current moment. The tray on the bed had flipped over when...well, probably the same time I had flipped Vivienne over, and the entire contents were now spread all over the bed. We had been too tired to clean it up, deciding to sleep instead.

Watching her get ready was pretty hilarious. First, she stubbed her toe on the dresser, then she nearly fell over pulling up her jeans. There wasn’t a brush in the world good enough to cut through the knots we’d taken turns making in her hair—mostly my fault—so she muttered, “Screw it.” Bunching it up into a massive ball of chaos and tying an elastic band around it, she created an oblong globe sticking out the back of her head. Nothing that a cup of conditioner and a team of hair stylists couldn’t fix.

Without looking back, she darted out of the room like her life depended on it.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Dean yelled, his keys sailing across my counter, landing beside my red KitchenAid. Shoot, I hope he didn’t scratch it. I’ll polish you up later, my wonder-machine, but right now I need to deal with a crazy man with a temper tantrum. I swore to the heavens above I could see steam coming out his ears.

Attempting to calm down Dean was about as easy as tackling a wild boar. Not that I’d ever tried to tackle a wild anything before, but boars were especially cranky, so I bet they’d be more of a chore. “Dean, calm down. We, um, worked things out.” I explained, picking up a few stray envelopes that hadn’t made their way into the basket on the counter. One was stamped with a red PAST DUE on it. I’d had other things on my mind the last few weeks, and paying bills in a timely manner hadn’t been one of them.

“That fuckin’ jerk off is gonna mess with your fuckin’ head again. Can’t you see that? How many times has he done that now, huh? You get back together, he uses you, then he sends you packing. Do you not see a pattern developing here?” he said, his arms wide, his eyes wild, searching mine for any hint of clarity. Still, his beauty and his big heart surpassed his madness. I walked over and hugged him hard around the middle.

“I love him, honey,” I muttered into his chest and felt his big arms squeeze me tight, then tighter. His spicy cologne surrounded me while his soft black T-shirt caressed my face. “We both screwed up, but mostly me, and he’s forgiven me. It’s for us to figure out now,” I said and looked up into his face full of concern. “I’m pregnant.”

“What? Are you sure?” he said, barely audible.

“Yeah, we found out yesterday.”

“I’m ecstatic for you. Congratulations,” he said, hugging me harder. “You’re going to make a wonderful mom.”

His words choked me up, making me cry. “There’s no possible way for me to ever thank you for being here when I needed you most. You picked me up when I was down and I’m forever grateful.”

He looked into my eyes, holding my face in his big, calloused hands. “Did the same for me a while back.”

His thumbs wiped the tears falling from my eyes, as I flashed back to that dark time in Dean’s life when he’d lost his whole world in the blink of an eye. “I did, didn’t I? And I’ll always be here for you. No matter what, no matter when. You know that, right?”

He kissed my head, nodding. “Always.” Then he let me go and strode to the end of the counter.

After retrieving his keys, he called back over his shoulder, “But if he fucks with you again, we’re gonna have a problem.” Then he slammed the front door behind him, making the entire house shake.

“I just make friends everywhere I go,” Jason said, appearing out of nowhere.

“You scared the crap outta me,” I gasped, holding my hand to my mouth.

Depositing the tray with the remnants of the poorly abused baking onto the counter, he came to me. “You all right?” he asked, his warm hands rubbing my shoulders while his crisp blue eyes searched mine for regret.

I smiled up at him. “Never better.”

“That seemed...intense.” He nodded in the direction of Dean’s exit and watched me closely.

“We’re close, and he’s worried.” I shrugged.

“Can’t blame the guy, I guess,” he replied, then kissed me quickly. “I should try to get some work done today. You free for supper?”

“Yep. I’m cooking. Bring some clothes and don’t forget that cat and all of his accessories. You’re gonna be here a while and I’d hate for him to get lonely.”

“I’m going to be here a while?” He cocked his head to the side and grinned.

“That’s what I said. You have a problem with that?”

“Ah, no. We can stay at my place sometimes, though.”

“No, we can’t.”

“We can’t?”

“I’m still having nightmares about your apartment. My place is bigger, and it’s less...” I paused, searching for the right words. “Murdery.”

“Right, murdery is hard to deal with.”

My body shook as he chuckled, holding me tight.

“Well, glad that’s settled. Now off you go so I can shower and get my fanny to work.”

“I could stay and help you with that?”

“You could, but then neither of us would actually get to work today.”

“There’s that. Give me one more kiss and I’ll go. Make it good. I won’t see you for hours.”

On my tiptoes, I kissed him hard, raking my fingers through his hair. He seemed to appreciate the effort I put into it, too.

“Yo, Jason,” I heard before I could open my door. Dean sauntered toward me. Obviously he’d been waiting for me to leave Viv’s house. His sunglasses covered his eyes but not his intent. Like most powerful men, his aura of confidence and authority greeted me long before his physical presence did.

The rocks, dirt, and other road detritus slid out from under his feet until he skidded to a stop in front of me. “Dean,” I answered back, removing my sunglasses and hopefully my defenses.

“We have a problem,” he stated the obvious. Unintentional eavesdropping wasn’t my thing until this morning. Not much else you could do when you found yourself around the corner with a tray full of smashed baking, about to interrupt an intimate conversation.

“No problem from me, man. Everything’s good.” I held my hands up in surrender.

Ripping his aviators off, he unveiled possibly the most intimidating eyes I’d ever seen. “Everything’s not good, man.” He glared at me. Truth be told, it scared the fuck out of me.

I took a step toward him, the dirt under my shoe slipping a bit as I did. “Vivienne and I are back together. As far as I’m concerned, that’s good.”

“As far as I’m concerned, that’s trouble,” he grumbled, hands on his hips. “You keep fuckin’ around with her and I’ll have to find a way to make sure that stops.” He leaned in for full effect. “For good.”

“I’m not fucking around with her, Dean. I love her. She’s mine and I’m stepping up.” I bent forward, closer to him. “For good.”

He looked me up and down before replacing his mirrored glasses. The guy looked like a cross between a biker and a lumberjack. I was incredibly grateful he’d left his axe at home. “We’ll see,” was all he said before swaggering back to his truck that was almost as massive as he was. “One more thing, Jason?” He turned briefly, looking over his shoulder. “I’ll be watching.” And he climbed up into his truck like it was no small feat.

My eyes followed him as his vehicle roared to life and he tore out of his spot.

Yep. Makin’ friends wherever I go.

As he drove back to his ranch, the pounding behind his eyes wouldn’t stop. He rubbed his forehead and the bridge of his nose, trying to relieve the pressure in his head that told him he’d just lost his best friend. Like it often did, the loss of the last few years weighed heavily on his shoulders. It was a fucking wonder he could still walk upright.

The ache inside of him hadn’t dulled, like everyone said it would.

“Time heals all wounds.”

“It’ll take some time.”

“You’ll see, in time this will all pass.”

Fuck time. Time only fed his anguish.

He turned onto the deserted road, the stones crackling under his tires. Clouds of dirt and dust followed him. Rain was a distant memory as was the vague recollection of the joy he used to feel every time his house would come into view. The anticipation of seeing his wife…his beautiful, kind, loving wife. His dead wife. She left, taking their baby with her. Their hope. His last piece of her—of them.

He shook his head. This wasn’t fucking helping.

As his truck came to a grinding stop, he began mentally preparing himself for what was to greet him when he opened the door to his house. Silence. The only sound coming from echoes of the past.

No wife calling to him from the kitchen, no baby doing whatever babies do. He didn’t know. He wouldn’t ever know. That part of his life was over, and now he had this to look forward to for the next...million or so years.

Taking a deep breath, he somehow found the courage to once again open the door and greet the deafening silence.