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love?”
    “No. I was too focused on getting through high school and college without getting pregnant that I never really allowed myself to have more than a few heavy crushes. I’ve never been in love but I want to be.”
    Whoever she fell in love with would be one lucky bastard. I sighed, realizing how time was slipping away from us. “It’s getting late. You’d better get showered and dressed before Mark gets back.”
    As she sat up, the sheet I’d drawn over her slid down to her waist, leaving her beautiful breasts bare. She made no effort to cover herself and I couldn’t look away from her.
    “Mark will have to know about us sooner or later. I think sooner is better. Don’t you, darling?”
    The idea of telling Mark I’d slept with the woman he adored sent me into a panic. “No! And I am not your darling!”
    She stared up at me. “What?”
    I shrugged. “What don’t you understand? Sleeping with you was a mistake.”
    I had to avert my gaze because I couldn’t bear to see the wounded look in her dark eyes. Knowing I’d hurt her just made me angrier. I yanked at the sheet until it covered her pussy and breasts. “Now will you please get your ass up already?”
    “What?!”
    I met her gaze again and steeled myself against the pain I suspected I was inflicting on her. Right then all I cared about was getting her out of my bed before Mark showed up. If someone had to be hurt, better her than Mark.
    “What just happened between us didn’t mean anything to you. Did it, Paul? You just wanted a woman to have sex with. Now that you’ve had your fun, I get kicked out on my ass?”
    It hadn’t been like that, but I could see how she might feel that way. If I’d had the time, I would have tried to explain that I hadn’t just wanted sex, but I couldn’t risk Mark finding us together in my bedroom.
    When I didn’t answer, she wrapped the sheet around herself and pushed me.
    I stood up.
    She slipped off the bed and gave me a long, cool look before she walked into the bathroom. Over the sound of the water, I could hear her sobbing.
    Oh hell. I hadn’t wanted that. I longed to go comfort her and assure her it hadn’t been all about sex for me, but I didn’t dare. If I saw her nude again, my belated and renewed concern for my relationship with Mark wouldn’t be enough to keep me from taking her again and again.
    Unable to bear the sound of her distress, I left the bedroom and went down to the kitchen. I picked up her clothes and took them upstairs, laying them across the foot of the bed. Then I went down to the living room to pace the carpet.
    She walked into the living room fifteen minutes later. With her face bare of makeup and her hair in a careless braid, she still looked sexy enough to arouse me. “Do you still want me to go, Paul?”
    I sighed and nodded, feeling as if my heart were breaking.
    “I’m going but we need to talk.”
    I shook my head. “There’s nothing to say that I haven’t already said. Sleeping with you was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made.”
    She sucked in her breath and rushed from the room. A few moments later, I heard the kitchen door open and close.
    Filled with guilt and regrets, I walked through the kitchen to the refrigerator. I left the door open while I quickly drank two cans of beer. Then I took a third can back to the living room with me where I sat and drank it.
    I’d met the woman of my dreams, slept with her and then kicked her to the curb. And I’d risked losing my most prized possession—my relationship with Mark. I just could not allow him to find out how I’d betrayed him. I knew I’d hurt Marlena. Of the two of them, I reasoned she was better able to handle my betrayal than Mark would be. He still thought I was a decent man. Marlena now knew differently.
    Mark arrived just after nine that night. I was lying drunk and sleepless in bed, my face buried in the same pillow that Marlena had used, afraid that in hurting her, I’d made the biggest mistake of