Broderick shrugs. “We’re friends. I value that more than anything. I might have been fucking things up since we got back to Sabine Valley, but she’s too important to me to mess things up with sex.” His expression clouds. “It doesn’t matter what I want. She’s obviously not on the same page. I don’t want to make her uncomfortable.”

That draws a laugh from me before I can stifle the sound. “Broderick, she was coming all over your fingers a few hours ago. She might pretend that it was me causing that, but we both know the truth.”

“Do we?”

The vulnerability in his tone is a pressure point I should leap to exploit. Shiloh has always been Broderick’s weakness; it’s why I zeroed in on her from the beginning. My mother might not have tasked me with destabilizing the Paine brothers in whatever way I can safely manage, but it’s the smart thing to do. Broderick is Abel’s second-in-command. He’s softer than some of his brothers, but that doesn’t make him less formidable. If not for Shiloh, I doubt I’d have gotten to him so quickly.

But a selfish part of me wants what we had last night. I want more of it. I want the high of us working together and putting both our formidable wills toward one goal.

Not to mention…I’m hesitant to do anything that might hurt Shiloh or put her in harm’s way.

Destabilizing the Paine brothers—and the Raider faction, by extension—would potentially hurt Shiloh. Not just if something happens to Broderick. I’ve seen her fight. If it comes to a conflict, she’ll be on the front lines. She might be good, but she’s no Amazon. If our factions go to war, she’ll be harmed or even killed.

I really am a fool, because I smile at my temporary husband and speak the truth that seals my fate. Seals all our fates together into one braided knot. “She wouldn’t be so skittish if she didn’t want you. She wouldn’t have been fucking herself with her fingers and pretending it was your cock, and she wouldn’t have nearly come on the spot when you kissed me after I ate her out. So, yeah, Broderick, it’s safe to say she wants you.”

He narrows his eyes, but he’s not a good enough liar to hide the hope my words bring to life. “You’re sure.”

Gods, how can this man be so clever in some ways and also so determined to ignore the truth right in front of his face? “I’d bet my life on it.”

He weighs that for a long moment. “You have a point.”