“Rona! Wake up! Rona!”

I groaned and rolled over. Who was pounding on my bedroom door? My sleep-addled brain couldn’t place the voice even though whoever he was, he knew my name.

Suddenly, my hands came in contact with a very firm, and very hot, surface. A surface that felt an awful lot like a muscular chest. A bare one.

And then something just as hot and firm brushed against my thigh, and I realized I was naked too.

My eyes flew open as a pair of strong arms wrapped around me, and I found myself staring into a pair of beautiful and familiar eyes. He smiled, and those eyes sparkled, little crinkles appearing at the corners.

“Hey, gorgeous.”

His sleep-roughened voice sent a wave of heat washing over my skin and pooling between my legs.

“Rona!” Another series of knocks, just as impatient as the voice sounded.

“Are you going to tell your brother you’re awake, or do you want me to?”

My heart gave an unsteady thump. “My brother?”

The wrongness of the situation hit me all at once. Where was I? Why was he in my bed? And why did he think I had a brother?

“I could tell Freddie that we decided it would be a good idea for me to sneak out of the guest room because you thought it’d be hot to have sex in your childhood bedroom, but I’d really like for your dad not to kill me.”

I gave him a sharp look, but the only humor on his face was good-natured. He was really joking about my father killing him.

What the hell was going on here?

I looked around. Yes, this did look like my old bedroom, but it also looked a little more…mature. More like the room of a teenager heading off to college rather than a girl on the brink of adolescence.

Even as I took in the details, the full impact of what he said hit me. “Wait, are you saying my dad’s here?” A bright flare of panic shot through me as I sat up, barely catching the sheet against my breasts.

“Of course he’s here.” He sat up too, a puzzled expression on his face. “Rona, are you okay?”

I shook my head. “I don’t understand. I shouldn’t be here. This isn’t right. I live in Colorado. I don’t have any family. You shouldn’t be here. I’m with Jalen. Where’s Jalen?”

Clay’s expression was concerned as he put his hand on my shoulder, but he tried to make his tone light. “Should I be worried that you’re asking about another man hours before our wedding?”

“Our what?” The words came out as a whisper instead of the shout I’d intended.

Clay opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He looked like he thought he was talking but all I heard was muffled voices growing louder. Yelling. Pulling me toward them. Faster and faster until…

“You need to answer my question about what the fuck you’re doing here!”

“That’s none of your damn business.” Clay’s voice was lower, but still loud enough for me to hear what he was saying. “You need to leave before you wake her up.”

The bitter laugh that came next was enough to get me out of bed. I stepped into the living room just as Jalen started talking again.

“Weren’t you able to wear her out enough last night that she’ll sleep right through this?”

“What’s going on here?” I didn’t raise my voice, but both men turned toward me.

Clay wore a pair of jeans I assumed he’d gotten from the emergency travel pack he kept in his car, but he hadn’t put on a shirt or shoes. With a towel over his shoulder and a spatula in hand, he definitely looked comfortable in my apartment.

Jalen looked rumpled, as if he hadn’t slept well in a while. He was carrying a box of donuts and a bouquet of assorted flowers, both of which suggested he’d come here to talk about our argument the other night.

“I don’t think I’m the one who needs to offer an explanation,” Jalen said. “I wanted to apologize for getting upset the other night, but instead of you answering the door, he does, dressed like that and telling me that you’re ‘still in bed.’”

I crossed my arms and tried not to feel self-conscious about the fact that I wasn’t wearing a bra under the thin t-shirt I’d worn to bed last night. I was glad it was cool enough in here that I’d worn sweats rather than just underwear. Otherwise this would’ve been a lot worse.

“What is it you want to apologize about?” I asked.

Jalen’s fingers tightened around the base of the flowers. “I wanted to apologize because Jenna told me what happened the night you stood me up. That she was the client you were working for and that you were helping her find her sister who’d taken off.”

A flash of anger went through me, and I pushed it down as I asked, “Is that the only reason?”

He scowled at me. “What other reason do you want?”

My temper bubbled up again, and I wondered how I’d been able to keep it this long. “I don’t know. It might’ve been nice if you’d simply accepted my apology and waited until I wasn’t exhausted to talk instead of skulking off and ignoring me for days.”

“You could’ve called me,” he pointed out. “You know, instead of running to Clay like you always do.”

“You need to back off,” Clay said, somehow managing to look threatening while pointing a spatula at Jalen.

“Let me handle this,” I said to him. I took a step toward Jalen. “Okay, we both could’ve picked up the phone, but that doesn’t give you an excuse to come barging into my apartment, yelling and making accusations.”

“Accusations? Really?” Jalen sneered. “This is the second time I’ve shown up at your apartment early in the morning and found him half-dressed and you looking freshly fucked.”

Heat flooded my face, as much from anger as from embarrassment. “How dare you come in here and say that to me!”

“Oh, was it making love then?” He threw the box of donuts at the closest table. “Guess that makes me the pity fuck, right? You two get together and laugh about it? About how stupid I am for believing you the last time I caught you two like this, and you said nothing happened?”

“Yeah, Jalen, it’s the whole world ganging up against you.” I shook my head as my voice dropped. I was still pissed, but that wasn’t the dominant emotion anymore. “You decide how the world is and that makes it so. Must be nice to know everything.”

“I actually thought you were different.” He dropped the flowers, stepping on them as he left.

“Bastard!” I shouted as he slammed the door shut behind him.

Tears burned against my eyelids, but I pushed them back. No way in hell was I going to cry over Jalen Larsen. Not anymore. I was done with him and his inability to trust. I’d thought I had issues, but I was nothing compared to him.

“Rona, are you okay?” Clay put his hand on my shoulder.

“Fine.” I glanced at him. “But would it kill you to wear a damn shirt?”

“We both know it’s not about me not wearing a shirt.”

He had a point.

“I’m sorry for my part in it,” he said. “I shouldn’t have let him come in. I thought you knew he was coming.”

“It’s not your fault,” I said, moving out from under Clay’s well-meaning hand. Between my dream and Jalen’s accusations, I wasn’t feeling particularly comfortable with my friend touching me right now.

“Did you tell Jalen that you and I used to…be a thing?”

“I did,” I said as I picked up the flowers and set them on the counter. Some of them were crushed, but I was still going to check to see if any of them could be salvaged. No point in wasting them. “And I also told him that it was over. That we’re friends.”

“You have to admit,” Clay said, “from his side of things, it did look pretty bad.”

I almost threw the donuts at him, but it would’ve been a waste of good sugar. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m just saying, I know I’d be pissed if I showed up at my girlfriend’s place some morning and a gorgeous, shirtless man answered the door.”

“Gorgeous?” I raised an eyebrow. “You think a little highly of yourself.”

He grinned at me, but I didn’t quite have it in me to smile back.

“Anyway, it doesn’t matter,” I said. “I don’t care what it looked like. He’s crossed the line more than once.”

“Don’t you think it’s because he’s scared?” He held up a hand when I opened my mouth to argue. “He is, Rona. He’s absolutely terrified that he’s going to lose you.”

“Then he should talk to me instead of behaving like a child,” I countered. “He should trust me.”

A little voice in the back of my head reminded me that Jalen had good reason to be untrusting. Elise had done a number on him.

But he should know that I wasn’t Elise. It wasn’t fair to me to be held responsible for the infidelities of his crazy ex-wife…excuse me, wife. Besides, it wasn’t like I didn’t have my own baggage from my past to deal with. He’d seen most of it.

Maybe that was the problem. He needed someone who could handle his shit without him having to deal with theirs. The thing was, I had no problem working with him on his issues. It seemed like he didn’t want to try to get better though. He just wanted me to accept things the way they were. Maybe some women could do that, but I couldn’t.