“Really? How is it different?”I opened my mouth to answer and realized I wasn’t sure it really was all that different.I rephrased. “Did you tell her that you still loved her?”The three seconds between my words and his response were heavy and long.Then, with his gaze pinned on mine, he answered. “Yes. I did.”When Amber had told me Reeve still loved her, I’d felt like I was falling. Now, I felt like I was fading. As if I were merely someone in a photograph left out too long in the sun, and although parts of my figure remained, I was no longer identifiable. I was no longer a person at all.It didn’t matter if there was more to his story or that he’d been honest with me when I’d asked or that he couldn’t really be blamed for loving a person that everyone loved, even me. All that mattered was that he’d said words to her that he still hadn’t officially said to me. I was the one who was supposed to belong to him. I was the one who deserved the sentiment, never mind my inability to say t

Parker scratched behind his neck, then turned his whole body toward Reeve. “It’s him, isn’t it?” He didn’t leave any chance for response, apparently confident in the him he guessed was responsible. “What do you think he means by ‘MINE’? The land? Is he trying to stake some claim to Kaya?”Reeve shook his head and I suspected it meant he didn’t know rather than a firm no. He was still studying the animal on the ground. “Have you turned the dog over?”“Right,” Joe agreed. “We need to see if there’s more.” He grabbed Jenkins’s front paws while Parker took his hind legs and together they flipped the dog to his other side.As Reeve must have guessed, there was painting on this side of his body, too – SHES.“Shes?” Parker pronounced the word with a short e vowel.“It’s missing the apostrophe,” Joe explained as he stood, wiping his hands on his pants.“She’s mine,” Reeve said quietly, putting the words together.Parker squinted up toward Reeve. “But who’s ‘she’?”Before anyone had a chance t

“I’m ready now.” Reeve didn’t even glance at me as he crossed to follow Brent down the stairs.In disbelief, I called after him. “Reeve?”“Yes?” His expression was impatient, and his brow arched in question.“Nothing,” I said, biting back any emotion that threatened to show. I turned my back toward him. “Joe, I need to get off the ranch for a little while. Can you take me to dinner?” Admittedly, though my invitation was sincere, half of the reason I’d extended it was to ruffle Reeve’s feathers. It was manipulative and defensive, but I couldn’t help myself.“Emily,” Reeve warned from behind me before Joe had a chance to respond.Feigning innocence, I peeked over my shoulder and imitated his recent address to me. “Yes?”He made a sound of incredulous amusement, a sort of harsh laugh that suggested he saw right through me.He probably did.Then he said definitively, “You’re not leaving Kaya.”I spun toward him. “What did you say?”“You heard me.” Though he’d left no room for argument, he

My breathing grew shallow and I jumped as the elevator announced our floor. Again Petros laughed then nudged me out the door, following close behind. My eyes darted back and forth as we walked down the hallway, hoping to find a route of escape or a hotel maid or a guest who could help me. But there was no one, and soon we had stopped in front of a pair of double doors.Petros raised his hand to knock, but I stopped him. “Joe is just downstairs. He’ll be worried when I don’t return. He’ll call Reeve and he won’t be happy if anything happens to me.”“I’m sure that’s true, Blondie. But, in case you haven’t figured this out, my father doesn’t give a flying fuck about anyone’s happiness but his own.” His words settled heavily over me as he rapped on the door in a peculiar little rhythm that I suspected was some sort of code. I also suspected it would be changed to something new the minute I left.After a few seconds, the doors opened, and a petite, Middle Eastern–looking woman in a simple

Had he left me vulnerable? Could Michelis really see what he claimed he saw?My hesitation gave too much away, and he slid into the opening I’d left him. “Seriously, tell me, Emily. I’m intrigued. How are things working out with the three of you?”Don’t answer. Don’t give anything away.“Are you girls sharing him equally? Or does he have a favorite?”I shook my head ever so slightly – not an answer, but a plea for him to stop hedging, stop closing me in.“It’s you, isn’t it? I bet that makes Amber crazy.”“Don’t talk about us like you understand anything.” But my breathing was heavy and my voice frail.“Ah, I see.” He grinned, as if he’d scored, and he had. “You don’t want to share at all.”There it was, my biggest secret of all. My most shameful wound. I could blame Amber all day long for the reasons we’d given up our threesomes and never be lying. She’d been the one who’d decided that those were over.But she wasn’t the only one who wanted a man of her own. I did too.And now all Mi