“They’re the twenty other brothers I never had.” He raked a hand through his hair and sighed. “And they’re good friends, which is why I knew we could trust them.”

“I’m glad you have that.”

We stopped at the top of his stairs. My bed was feet away, pulling me toward it, and yet, the way Kane looked at me, his dark brows furrowed, that intensity in his dark eyes prevented me from moving toward it.

“What is it?”

He opened his mouth. Closed it. “They’re yours now, too, you know.”

“Who?”

“My teammates. Their spouses and partners. Even when this is done, they’ll want to stay in touch.”

“Oh.” I was knocked back a step. I hadn’t been expecting that. Or why it looked like the admission cost him. “That’s… well… that’s sweet of them. They’re good people, too.”

“You are, too, you know.” His lips twitched. Just one twitch of his lips at the corner turned up. “Good people. And I hope, I hope when this is done, we can remain friends, too.”

A warmth shouldn’t have flooded my veins. Friends. It was all he’d offer me and I knew that, respected it. Yet every time Kane looked at me in that way he was looking at me now like he wanted something more but wouldn’t reach for it before he pulled back. I felt something entirely unfriendly about him.

“I suppose it’s good for a husband and wife to be friends, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. I suppose it is.”

Another yawn forced itself from my throat and before I could say anything, didn’t even know what to say, Kane squeezed my shoulder and passed by me. “I’ll let you nap. We’ll talk later.”

About what, who knew. What else needed to be said?

Still, I felt that brand of his hand on my body long after I stripped out of my flowery summer dress, slid into a tank top and shorts, and climbed into bed.

Stupid Emmersyn. Stupid.

I couldn’t be getting a crush on my soon-to-be husband.

It’d be the second worst mistake of my life.

“Oh. This one,” Gabby sighed happily, almost enviously, as I twirled on the small stage, a handful of mirrors fanning out in front of me. “You look incredible.”

The dress was mermaid-style, flaring out slightly south of my hips. It had a corset top, white lace overlay and a thin layer of satin. A modest V-neck that still showed ample cleavage because no V-neck hid my girls completely. Reinforced lace straps, thick enough I wouldn’t have to worry about them breaking. A completely open back meant I was thankful for the built-in bra and the sweeping train, only a few feet long to barely dust along behind me was all tulle and lace.

Amazingly enough, it fit almost perfectly, and after spending five hours trying on dresses that were either okay, or beautiful but would need way too many adjustments in a short time to fit properly, Gabby was absolutely right.