Marco pulled into the parking lot at the address displayed on his phone. It was a large warehouse on the south side of town. As he got out of his truck and walked up to the door, he noticed the sign: ANNA FARRINGTON YOUTH CENTER.

Odd. Tony had texted him with the address, asking if he wanted to beat the shit out of each other, like old times. The answer was an immediate Hell, yes. The brothers had both been involved in marital arts in their youth and even after they stopped formally practicing, they still went rounds with one another. They’d broken more than a few lamps and vases in their day, much to their mother’s chagrin.

The timing of Tony’s invitation couldn’t be more perfect. Marco had some pent-up energy to expend.

He hadn’t seen Kat since their date, but he had made arrangements to take her out again this weekend. He couldn’t stop thinking about her. Maybe that was partially because he didn’t have shit to do.

Maybe, but probably not. He’d most likely be thinking about her regardless. She was a woman who begged to be scrutinized. She was complicated and simple at the same time and he wanted to unravel both sides of her. He wanted to learn what made her tick.

He opened the front door to the warehouse and walked into a large gym space, complete with cardio equipment, free weights, various punching bags, and a ring. Tony was already there, dancing on his toes and taking jabs at a bag. Fluorescent lights glared down and fans swirled the slightly musty air.

“What is this place?” Marco asked.

“Remember Natalie Farrington Kent?” At Marco’s nod, Tony continued. “She runs it. It’s an after-school program for troubled youth.”

“Wow.” Marco took a closer look at some of the equipment. It was all top-line, state of the art, much better than the shit in the gym on the base.

“Yeah, she spared no expense. Anyway, she gave me a key so I can use it when the kids aren’t here. It’s quiet and private.”

“I didn’t realize the two of you were friends.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know,” Tony said gruffly, the first sign that he actually did harbor some resentment toward Marco.

Marco couldn’t blame him. Having a CEO position he didn’t want dropped in his lap couldn’t have been easy. And Marco had basically disappeared for four years, not taking part in the goings-on in the family. But he had been self-destructing. He needed to get away, both for his sake and those he cared about.

He didn’t want to make another mistake that would screw up even more people’s lives.

Tony tossed him a roll of tape. “Warm up.”

Marco shrugged off his coat and peeled a length of tape off the roll. Damn, he hoped he didn’t get his ass handed to him by his little brother. Thanks to the army, he was in great physical shape, but he hadn’t sparred in at least a year.

Tony entered the ring and stood with his hands on his hips, watching Marco with a cold expression.

Damn. When had his brother gotten so menacing? Tony was bigger than the last time they’d done this, but then again, Marco himself had packed on pounds of lean muscle. It was Tony’s expression that shook him a little—it wasn’t the face of the easygoing brother he remembered.

Marco stepped into the ring and danced lightly on his toes for a moment, getting into a rhythm and loosening up.

“You ready?” Tony asked impatiently.

He wasn’t, not really. Tony had properly warmed up while Marco had just stripped off his jacket. But he wasn’t going to let his brother—now his opponent—know he had the upper hand.

“Yeah.”

Tony didn’t hesitate, coming in swinging hard and fast. Marco took a hit to the temple that spun him around.

Jesus fuck. So much for simply sparring. Guess they really weren’t holding back. But when the hell had Tony learned to fight like that?

Marco turned, his fists up in a defensive position. Hell if he was going to let his little brother beat him up. He just got back from war for Christ’s sake.

Marco dodged a few blows, not making any advances of his own while he studied his opponent. When he was a kid, Tony always had a tell—either a blink or a slight nod of his head before he swung. As soon as Marco figured it out, Tony would realize what was happening and it would change.

But from what Marco could see now, Tony had finally managed to eliminate the tell.

His tough luck.

Still Marco took his time. If the army had taught him nothing else, it was patience.

As Tony advanced with a faked uppercut and a right hook, Marco swept his leg, taking out Tony’s ankles.

Now it was Marco’s turn to act fast. He joined Tony on the mat, holding Tony’s back against his chest and putting him in a choke hold.

He grinned and put his mouth near Tony’s ear. “Now what, little brother?” He couldn’t help but gloat.

He should have resisted the urge.

Tony bucked his hips, loosening Marco’s grip just enough to get free. Marco reached out, trying to keep Tony on the mat. He hadn’t been a state contender in wrestling in high school for nothing, but Tony was too fast, already on his feet.

Marco charged him, wrapping his arms around his middle in a take-down attempt. Tony lost his footing, landing on his back. Marco took advantage of the situation and wrapped his legs around Tony’s stomach, using his arms to put him in a choke hold again.

“Fuck,” Tony ground out. Marco took the word to mean his brother was tapping out, so he released him.

Tony immediately flipped on him and jumped to his feet. “What the hell? Why’d you give up?”

Marco stood and rested his hands on his knees, panting. “What? I didn’t give up. You tapped out.”

“No, I didn’t.”

The two brothers stared at each other in the ring, both winded from their fight. As it had been since they were teenagers, they’d been evenly matched. But unlike then, now there was discord between them.

“Why are you back?” Tony asked.

Marco had been asking himself the same question. “I need to right some wrongs. You’re one of them.”

“There’s nothing you can do to fix this.”

Marco wasn’t entirely sure what Tony was referring to—his leaving or the recent trouble at Adamo caused by their father. Either way, his answer was the same.

“I want to do what I can.”

Tony shook his head and looked away. “So, what? You want a job or something?”

Marco stared at his brother for a moment before shrugging. “I don’t know what the hell I want.” Though it was honest, it was less than helpful.

“Well, let me know when you figure it out.” Tony exited the ring, leaving Marco to watch after him.

* * *

Kat knocked on the door of her brother Ryan’s ground-level apartment, shooting a disgusted glance at the pile of dog shit sitting just off the patio. He rented the bottom level of a duplex and his landlord lived on the top level with three dogs that barked incessantly. But because the man was Ryan’s landlord and his rent was way below market value, Ryan didn’t complain.

Kat, on the other hand, was tempted to scoop up the pile of shit, put it in a paper bag, and set it on fire on the man’s doorstep.

The screen on the window hadn’t been fixed yet, either. Granted, it was too cold to open the windows, but it still needed to be repaired. But she knew what Ryan would say if she asked him about it—Joe would get around to it when he got around to it.

She sighed, wanting to add it to her own to-do list, but knowing he’d take care of it himself in his own time and way.

Ryan opened the door and Kat smiled. He looked good today—he’d showered and his clothes were clean. These days, he was having more good days than bad. It was such a relief. She could still remember when her will for him to live was all that kept him going.

“Hey, sis.” Ryan pushed back in his wheelchair to allow Kat to enter. He was amazingly adept at navigating the small space that wasn’t meant for wheelchairs.

At the time of the accident, she’d been living in Florida with Leo. Shortly after the accident, that situation blew up in her face and she returned home. The timing was lucky at least. Their mother hadn’t been doing shit to help Ryan.

She liked to think that she’d been Ryan’s salvation during a dark time in his life and while that was true, it wasn’t the only truth. She’d been in the middle of her own dark time and she’d needed him as much as he’d needed her.

As she passed him, she leaned down to give him a kiss on the cheek. Then she continued into the kitchen and placed the bags of groceries on the counter.

Ryan eyed them warily. “I told you not to buy my groceries.”

Kat looked at him and arched an eyebrow. She pulled open the fridge. Empty save for some leftover Chinese takeout, as expected.

“Then start buying your own,” she challenged. When his leg was first amputated, she tried coddling him, but quickly learned that he didn’t take well to it. So she’d turned to a careful balance of coddling and tough love. But dammit, it’d been nearly four years and he still wasn’t fully taking care of himself. When he lost his leg, he lost more than just a limb—he’d lost part of himself. She was slowly trying to help him find it, but he didn’t make it easy.

It would be so much easier for the two of them to find a two-bedroom apartment and split everything, but Ryan wasn’t having any of it. He didn’t want his little sister babysitting him, or so he said.

Whatever. He would starve to death if she didn’t make sure his kitchen was stocked.

“Have you eaten yet?” she asked.

Ryan shook his head. It was already after seven. Kat had gone straight to the grocery store from work and the errand had taken longer than she’d expected. If she cooked the chicken she’d bought, it would be at least eight by the time they ate.

Soup and sandwiches it was.

She hunted around in his drawers for the can opener.

“Got any plans this weekend?” he asked.

She shifted so he couldn’t see her blush. That was another reason he didn’t want her living with him—he didn’t want to “cramp her style.” His words, not hers. There really wasn’t any style to cramp. Since the Leo situation, she’d sworn off men.

So why the hell did she have a date lined up with Marco Adamo for tomorrow night? And why the hell couldn’t she stop thinking about him?

Because he was sexy as hell. She couldn’t deny that. And she couldn’t deny that the memory of his mouth on hers had kept her awake at night.

If his lips had felt that good on hers, she couldn’t imagine how good they’d feel elsewhere on her body.

Thinking about that while her brother stared on proved she’d been in the self-induced drought long enough.

Maybe it was time she loosened up on her “no men” policy. Her new job would give her more free time, Ryan didn’t need her quite as much as he used to, and she had to face it—she was lonely. The kiss with Marco was the first intimate contact she’d had in years.

And anyway, it was a done deal. She wasn’t going to cancel on Marco. She’d reevaluate after this date. She wished she could move forward without having to overthink everything, but her carelessness in that way had cost her a great deal—almost her life—and she wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice. Bad things happened when she let her guard down.

“Yo, Earth to Kat.”

Kat cleared her throat, keeping her back turned as she lathered the slices of bread with butter. “Actually, I do have a date tomorrow.”

Her brother waited a beat, as if he was expecting her to call out “Just kidding!” That irked her and she stood up straighter, her mouth set in a firm line. But really, what did she expect? She hadn’t been on a date since she moved home.

Since Leo had nearly killed her.

“Seriously?” he finally asked in a disbelieving tone.

“Yes, seriously.”

“Where’d you meet the guy?”

Kat whirled around to see Ryan with his chest puffed up and his eyes narrowed. “Oh, no. You don’t get to pull this big brother crap on me. Not after you’ve been telling me I need to get out.”

“You do need to get out. I’m just surprised, that’s all.”

She’d grant him that. Outside of work, she didn’t have much of a life these days, dating or no dating. It had gotten a little better in the past year since she and Natalie became friends, but they were both so damn busy it was hard to find the time for a girls’ night.

“He’s the brother of a friend.” She’d leave it at that. Ryan didn’t know Tony. And he certainly didn’t need to know that she’d only learned Marco’s relationship to Tony after the fact—after she’d already met him on the side of the road. Considering how pissed she’d been when she found out, it was funny she was using it as justification now.

“Good. I hope you have fun.”

Fun wasn’t exactly how Kat would describe her time with Marco. The word somehow wasn’t intense enough.

She’d had faulty judgment where men were concerned in the past. Life-altering, barely - escaped - with - her - life faulty judgment. But Marco was a good man. She was certain of it.

As she flipped the sandwiches on the stove, she couldn’t stop the small smile that crept onto her face.

Finally things were starting to go her way.