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up a minute. She was engaged? Is the fiancé
still in the picture?”
    Liam hoped not. “I don’t think so. She said
they broke up a while ago.”
    “How long is a while?”
    “How the hell should I know? Like I said, I
just met the girl a few hours ago.” He was getting tired of playing twenty
questions with his kid brother. “We’re going out for dinner in a bit. That’ll
give me a chance to get to know her better, and I’ll find out what the deal is
with the ex before we… take it any further.”
    “I just don’t want you to be her rebound
guy. You know that never ends well.”
    The thought of Alisa using him to get over
some other man made him sick. When he made love to her, he wanted her undivided
attention. The image of her making love to him and fantasizing about someone
else…
    “She must’ve freaked when she found out who
you were, huh?”
    “She doesn’t know.”
    “What? Why the hell haven’t you told her?”
    “I don’t know. I just haven’t.” His brother
would never understand. He had married his high school sweetheart the year
after they graduated college. He had no idea what it was like to swim in waters
infested with sharks on the hunt for the green lining his pockets. “I want to
get to know her better first, try and figure out what her deal is.”
    “You know you could be making a big
mistake, keeping it from her.”
    “Listen, the chances of me seeing her again
are slim. She may never find out.”
    “Is that what you want?” Matt asked
quietly. “Just another meaningless affair?”
    “No.” He ran his fingers through his hair,
something he only did on the rare occasions he was agitated. “Hell, I don’t
know.”
    “Man, listen to me. You’re not getting any
younger.”
    “Thanks for the reminder.”
    “I’m serious. You really want to be alone
forever? Doesn’t it get old, going home to that big, empty house every night?”
    “My house isn’t empty. Abby’s there.”
    “Okay, fine. Doesn’t it get lonely going
home to an empty bed every night?”
    He would never admit that it was getting
harder with every year that slipped past. “You know how busy I am with work. I
don’t have time for a relationship…” Liam’s mouth dropped open when the
adjoining door between their suites opened and Alisa appeared, still damp and
wearing only a towel. “Jesus,” he whispered, looking her up and down as he
began to salivate.
    “What? What is it?” Matt asked.
    “I gotta go. Talk to you later.” He let the
phone fall to the bed, and he noticed a flash of annoyance cross her face.
That’s when he realized she’d overheard the tail end of his conversation with
his brother. “I was just talking to—”
    She held her hand up as she walked past
him. “You don’t owe me an explanation. I left my purse out here; there’s
something in it that I needed. I didn’t mean to interrupt your conversation.”
    “I wasn’t talking to another woman, if
that’s what you think.”
    She bent at the knees to retrieve her purse
from the floor. “It’s none of my business who you were talking to.”
    He got up off the bed and went to her.
Cupping her shoulders in his hands, he held her captive, forcing her to look at
him. “Listen, I was being honest with you earlier. There’s no wife, no
girlfriend, no lover waiting for me at home. I swear.”
    She looked at the hand on her shoulder.
“There’s no tan line, but that doesn’t mean anything. Maybe you don’t wear a
ring because you engage in these… affairs… all the time.”
    “Damn it, Alisa…” His frustration mounted
as he thrust his hands into her wet hair and tipped her head back. “Trust me,
you’re the only woman I want right now.” He wasn’t going to let her get away
because of a misunderstanding, not when there was so much left to explore.
    He finally took the kiss he had craved ever
since his eyes landed on those full, glossy pink lips the first time. As soon
as his tongue broke the seal of her lips,