“You think?” Monroe drops onto the bed and stretches her long, bare legs out. I notice the most absurd thing. Her toes are painted purple. She wiggles them at me. “See something you like?”

“No, of course not,” I lie. “Just my pain in the ass of a Bride.”

Monroe just grins, though the expression fades slowly. “If you stopped seeing Shiloh as some damsel in distress, she’d stop being unhappy with you.”

The words seem simple enough, but that doesn’t explain why she’s offering them. “Aren’t you invested in driving the wedge between us deeper? Why try to mend it?” Surely this is some sort of trap, but I can’t divine the dimensions of it.

“I don’t like seeing Shiloh unhappy any more than you like making her unhappy.” She fiddles with the hem of the shirt, lifting it an inch. For the first time since we met, I don’t think she’s trying to provoke me. “It was fun to prod at your relationship at first, but she’s really upset at you and I know her well enough now to recognize that ruining your friendship further will hurt her. That doesn’t work for me, no matter how irritating I find you.”

I really need to stop staring at that bared inch of her hip. Right now. I swallow hard. “You can’t really expect me to believe you care about her.”

“I don’t really give a shit what you believe.” She frowns. “Broderick.”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t freak out, but I do believe we’re having something resembling a civil conversation.”

My skin goes hot, and I have to look away. “I won’t tell if you won’t.” I really have been an unforgivable ass to both Monroe and Shiloh. Monroe might delight in provoking me, but she hasn’t forced me to do any of the things I feel so fucking tormented about. She just dangled the bait and prodded me, and I went after her like a bull charging a red flag.

I clear my throat. “I don’t want to ruin my friendship with Shiloh further, either.” I also don’t want to lean on Monroe in regards to this. She’s just as likely to harm me as she is to help me. But I’m starting to believe her when she says she cares about Shiloh.

We have that in common.

What a strange thought; one that puts us on the same side for the first time since I met this woman.

“I have a few ideas if you’re willing to listen.”

Shiloh chooses that moment to save me from having to come up with an answer. She stops short when she sees me. “What are you doing here?”