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“Come on, Shan, I’ll take you to see a real movie. I have a feeling a sister does not need to be present for this one.”
    As soon as they had gone, Jaycee, Gray, and Cade were enveloped by blessed stillness. She didn’t let that lull her into a false confidence, though. The explosion was coming.
    Cade, Mr. Impatience, conceded first. “Why don’t we go somewhere a bit more private and talk?”
    “No,” Jaycee cried with more volume than she’d intended.
    “Aw, come on, darlin’,” Cade griped. “We don’t want to air our dirty laundry in front of a bunch of strangers.”
    Theatrically, Jaycee pretended to survey the empty bar with her eyes. When she was confident her point had gotten across, she arched an eyebrow at Cade. “What strangers?”
    Gray watched their byplay emotionlessly, not joining in but not speaking or moving, either. She wanted to grab the trough at the end of the bar and pour all of the ice over his head. Then he wouldn’t be so damn stoic.
    “Fuck me,” Cade thundered. “Do you have to make everything so damn difficult?”
    “No thanks, Cade,” Jaycee thanked him with sarcasm dripping from each word. “If you need to be fucked, Gray’s your man.” She patted Cade’s broad chest, attempting to ignore the feel of his muscles under her hand. “It was a nice offer, though.”
    Gray finally lost his patience. “Goddamn it, that is enough,” he shouted.
    Cade and Jaycee didn’t question him. They shut up and waited for his next words. When he said nothing, they all stood together awkwardly.
    After several moments of very intense, unnerving silence, Gray spoke. “Jaycee, we are going to talk. It may not be today, but it will happen. If you want to leave right now, go for it. But, you need to get one thing through your thick skull. Leaving isn’t going to change a fucking thing. It’s temporary, sweetheart.”
    Not giving him a chance to change his mind, she did what she did best. She ran.

Chapter 4

    Cade still seethed two hours later, sitting with Gray in the nicest motel in Paloma, Kansas, which wasn’t saying much. “Shit, this is a dump,” he complained, picking up the already-used plastic cup someone had left behind and tossing it into the trash can across the room.
    Gray glowered at him.
    Defensively, Cade threw his hands up in surrender. “Just saying.”
    “Stop bullshitting me, Cade. You’re pissed at me for letting her go.” Gray angled his body back and reclined against the headboard impatiently. He folded his arms across his chest in obvious annoyance. “Just get it off your chest.”
    Cade pounded his fist on the table. “What the fuck were you thinking?”
    “Don’t hold back anything,” Gray directed dispassionately.
    Cade ignored Gray’s sardonic tone. “Don’t be a bastard, Gray. You let her go, again. Have you lost your mind?”
    “Do go on, Cade,” Gray encouraged, persuasively, in his too-calm voice.
    Cade knew he was so spanked when he finished his tantrum. Gray would make sure of that, but at the moment, it felt too damn good to stop. Cade figured if he was going to get punished, he might as well earn every smack.
    “Goddamn it, Gray. We’ve been here before. Don’t you dare fuck it up! I can’t lose her a second time.”
    “I am not fucking up a damn thing, Cade. If you would calm down for a minute, you would see that.”
    Cade lost it. “Don’t be a prick. I am not calm, and I won’t be calm until she is lying in bed between us. Why do you have to act like you don’t care? I know you love her. I was there the day she walked out and never came back.” He ran his hand through his thick hair in frustration. “Can’t you admit it’s killing you like its killing me? This is never going to work if you don’t let the past go and start opening up to us.”
    “Don’t you think I know that? Damn it, Cade. I lost her once because I couldn’t give her all of me. I have no intention of doing it again. But, it isn’t easy.”
    For as