I so wasn’t sure this was a good idea, but I was already here.

Michelle and I had spent the afternoon together, dropping into stores as we talked, and she shopped. After she asked where I worked, we dropped by my boutique, and inside, she hadn’t been like a demon with a credit card. She’d been like a kid in a candy store…with a credit card.

I was in awe.

Or at least I had been.

Now I was feeling a little sick as I stood behind her, holding the few bags I’d talked her into letting me carry.

She shot me a grin as she opened the door. “Relax. It’s better this way. Get it all over with in one shot, okay?”

“And what if he doesn’t want to meet me?” I asked in a hurried whisper.

“If I thought that was the case, you wouldn’t be here.”

“But…how well do you know him?” I demanded. Then it dawned on me that she was unlocking the door – not knocking on it. “You live here. Are we going to his place next?”

“This…is his place,” she admitted softly. She made a face and chewed her bottom lip for a second. “I wasn’t sure how to cop to that part. We’re…uh…the two of us have been living together for the past six months or so.”

My mouth fell open in surprise, but I managed to snap it shut just as she pushed open the door. “Hey, Jake…we’re here!”

Jake…?

A tall, lean blond appeared in the door, a smile curling his lips as he looked at Michelle. That smile lit up his entire face, and I fell a little in love just looking at it.

I wanted somebody in my life who looked at me like that.

Movement behind him caught my eyes, and I glanced past him. Although I’d successfully managed to shut my mouth a few seconds ago, I found my jaw hanging open all over again.

It was the big guy who’d saved me on New Year’s Eve.

The guy who’d then kissed me.

The guy who I’d been daydreaming about ever since.

Oh…and the guy I’d slapped.

Oh, shit – what if he was Matthew? Talk about awkward! Maybe I’d misunderstood Michelle. If that guy was my brother…my belly twisted violently at the thought, but as the blond stepped forward, Michelle reached back and took my hand. “Come on,” she whispered.

She tugged on my hand persistently, pulling me forward and I went, still holding three shopping bags in my right hand. She’d dropped hers near the door, freeing her hands to hustle me deeper into the apartment.

“Jake, there’s somebody I want you to meet,” Michelle was saying.

Heat suffused my entire face, and I uneasily looked at the blond in front of me before shooting another look at the tall, dark stranger looming in the background.

“Raye, this is Matthew – MJ – Jakes. He goes by Jake now.” Michelle winced, and I looked from her to Jake and saw that his mouth had gone tight. “Don’t look at me like that, baby. I’ve got a reason for telling her. She’s…” Michelle looked at me. “Do you want to tell him, or should I?”

Matthew…

I stared at the tall blond in front of me, stared into his blue eyes. Eyes a lot like mine, I realized. And the shape of his nose. Even the shape of his chin. He was Matthew, not the other guy. My knees might have melted in relief, except everything in me had gone rigid the moment he shifted those blue eyes my way.

I couldn’t speak.

Michelle was waiting for me to answer, and I couldn’t speak.

“I guess I’ll tell him,” Michelle said lightly. She squeezed my hand in support, then looked back at Matthew. No. Jake. She said he went by Jake now. “Honey, Raye…Raye tracked me down because she wanted to talk to you. She thinks she’s your sister. And…”

Michelle pulled out her phone. She’d had me text her the picture my mom sent me, and I guess that was what she was showing him.

His mouth parted as he stared at the screen.

“Where did you get that picture?” he asked, his voice rough.

“Raye’s mama sent it to her. She said it was her father.”

Jake looked at me, shaking his head. “I don’t understand.”

To my horror, tears flooded my eyes, and all I could do was stare at him. Again. “I…um…” I finally squeaked out a few words after Michelle looked at me, waiting. This part had to come from me, I realized. I understood the reason, and it made sense, but I couldn’t tell him yet. “Can I get some water?” I asked desperately. “Please?”

* * *

Michelle poured me a glass of wine instead. I would have refused. I hated most wines unless I cut them with Sprite or something. They always made me feel like I’d shoved a handful of crackers into my mouth. But I was desperate for something to loosen my throat, and wine would probably do a better job than water would. Taking a gulp of it, I braced myself for the chore of swallowing – and hating it – only to be surprised by the sweet, fruity taste of the pale golden liquid.

“Wow,” I said, the band around my throat loosened either by surprise or by the booze. “That’s good.”

Michelle laughed. “I don’t do dry wines. You looked like you were preparing to eat a mouthful of sour grapes.”

“I was.” I made a face at her, then took a second, smaller sip. After that, I put the glass down and made myself look at Matthew – Jake – standing across the island from me.

“This is awkward,” I said softly. “I’m sorry.”

“Just tell me,” he responded. It wasn’t said in a rude voice, just a…direct one.

I got the feeling I was dealing with a blunt, no-nonsense sort of guy. I could appreciate that. Typically, that was how I preferred to face things. Just then, I could use a bush to beat around.

“My mom had an affair,” I blurted out, just to get the worst of it over with. “It was with a married man. He…he traveled some because of his work. He lived in Texas, but he met my mom on a business trip when he was in Illinois. His name was Leland.”

Jake’s mouth tightened slightly, but he didn’t say anything, gave no other reaction.

“I didn’t find out about that until I was a teenager. Whenever I’d ask about my dad before that, I’d just get these vague answers.” I didn’t offer any of them because it didn’t matter just then. But I could remember the hurt I’d often felt on days when parents could come to field trips or to school parties, and nobody had been there. Mom always had to work, and…there was no father. “Finally, she told me about this guy she was with. She didn’t find out about me until a few weeks after it ended, and when she told him…well...”

I hesitated for a moment, uncertain, but Jake pressed. “Well, what?”

“He told her he didn’t want anything to do with us. I guess he had one family. He didn’t want a second.”

“That doesn’t sound like my dad,” Jake said, shaking his head. “He and Mom always wanted another kid.”

“But that was your mom, baby,” Michelle said gently.

“It doesn’t matter,” Jake snapped, then softened his tone. “He’s not the kind of guy who’d brush off his responsibility like that.”

“And how about how he treated you?” Michelle stared at him.

I sensed a world of unspoken words between them and felt more out of place in that moment than I’d felt all day.

Finally, Jake shook his head. “I’ll figure all of that out later.” His gaze came back to mine, speculation lurking there. “You’re sure this guy your mom was with…it was my dad?”

“That’s what my mother says,” I answered weakly. I gestured toward the phone he still held. “She called me the other day, said she’d found a picture of him. She texted it to me and told me that on the back, his name was written down…” I looked away for a second, gripping the stem of the wine glass in my hand. Finally, I looked back at him and added, “And yours. MJ.”

At the name, he flinched slightly and shook his head. “That’s not me anymore. That kid died a long time ago.”

“But it was you,” I said, clinging to his words.

“It was,” he allowed.

I was dimly aware that the big guy was still watching us and part of me wanted to turn on him, tell him to go away. Why was he here? Listening to this private conversation? But this wasn’t my home. Jake and Michelle lived here, and if they didn’t care, I had no right to say anything.

Yet I had the feeling that Jake had forgotten about him.

He continued to eye me narrowly for the longest time, then finally lifted the phone with the picture still on display so he could study it. “My mom kept a copy of this picture on her dresser for most of my childhood. It was taken when I was in first grade,” he said softly. “Bring Your Dad to School Day. We were supposed to bring our dads in and…well, show them off. And I did. We had matching suits and Mom spent about ten minutes trying to make my hair stay down. You can tell it didn’t last.”

“Yeah.”

He shot me a look, a faint smile on his face.

“So, I’ve got a sister.”

“I think so.” I bit my lip, reluctant to let myself do much of anything just yet. Did this mean he believed me?

“And Dad doesn’t know,” he said slowly.

I shook my head.

In the next moment, I was caught up in a tight hug. A watery laugh escaped me.

Jake was hugging me. My brother was hugging me.

I didn’t even know how to process that.

I still clutched my wine glass, and if I didn’t think it would make me look like a lush, I might have tried to drink a little more of it, just to steady myself. Instead, I wrapped my free arm around his neck. Over his shoulder, I saw the other guy watching us and making no attempt to disguise it.

“This is unbelievable,” Jake said, lowering me back to the floor and taking a step back.

I managed a watery smile. “I know.”

He glanced around, then frowned as he caught sight of the other guy. “Man, Kane, I’m sorry. I totally…anyway. Raye…it is Raye, right?”

I nodded at him.

“Raye, this is my friend, Kane Jonson.”

Kane. As the big guy nodded at me, I tucked that name away in my heart like a secret.

Kane continued to stare at me.

“Kane, as you heard…this is Raye.” Jake was grinning at me, looking like he’d won the lottery. “Raye’s my sister.”

“So, I heard,” came a deep, rumbling reply.

The sound of his voice sent a shiver down my spine.

Now that I was no longer caught up in a bear hug, I lifted the wine to my lips and emptied the glass.