I couldn’t handle it if he didn’t play his best because his head was filled with the knowledge people were giving him shit for who he was basically tricked into marrying.

“No, I’m good.” He yawned and covered it with his fist, hanging up his keys on the wall by the kitchen counter. “Some water, and then I’m going to hang out in the sauna before I head to bed. You doing okay?”

“I will be.”

He glanced around his dark living room, lit up only by two lamps by the couch. “House feels weird with everyone gone.”

“Your parents are good people.”

“The best. I’m sorry you didn’t grow up with that.”

“I had my grandparents. They made up for it.”

“Then I’m sorry you lost them so soon, that they put you in this position.”

The sincerity made my chest squeeze. Because of course he’d truly care. About me. About a loss that occurred years before we ended up in this predicament.

I’d experienced enough range of wild emotions lately. I didn’t need to handle any more tonight.

“Well, there are worse men to be married to,” I teased, and then realized what I said.

That he’d been a shitty husband to Ava—or at least believed he’d been, and that I’d truly almost married a worse man. “Shit. I’m sorry. That sounded funnier in my head. Forget it.”

“I’d like to apologize to you, again, for that kiss.”

“What?”

It came out of nowhere.

“That kiss before our wedding. I shouldn’t have done that. It was just…” His voice trailed off, and I was left wondering. A mistake? A curiosity? Some deep-seated attraction to me he didn’t want to admit to?

“I’m struggling with the fact I want to do it again, too, and that I promised you I wouldn’t until you asked for it.”

“Kane…” This time I was the one who lost their words.

“I know. I get it. It’d be a dumb thing.”

“Not dumb. Nothing you do would be dumb, but it might be… dangerous?”

“Dangerous?” His eyes widened with surprise.

“I don’t know if I’d want to stop at kissing,” I admitted. “And knowing how you feel, I don’t know if I’d walk away unscathed at the end of this, if that’s all it was.”

He sighed and looked away from me, staring at the dark kitchen cabinets while his jaw tightened. “I said things could get complicated if we did this.”

“You did.”

“Looks like I was right.”

He turned, hurried up the stairs, and I stood with my feet glued to the kitchen floor.

Complicated was right.

Twenty

Kane

“John. Thanks for meeting with us so early.” I shook my attorney’s hand and introduced him to Emmersyn.

“Mr. Banks. I can’t thank you enough.”

He shook her hand and stepped back, inviting us into his office with his arm outstretched. “Not a problem at all. I figured it’d be best to meet as soon as we could, so I could let you know what I’ve learned this last week.”