“Mother made me promise to keep my distance, if it would help Bobby Joe win you back. So I did my best. I didn’t think I was that convincing.”

“No. You weren’t. But I couldn’t figure you out.”

He pressed his lips together. “Sorry. You don’t know how sorry I am.”

“That’s not enough. You and I hardly know each other, even now.”

“Then we can start over.”

She shook her head. “Not without good reason. I want someone who isn’t going to run away.”

He took her hand and held it. “That will be me. Forever. I never said that word before.”

“Why not?” She edged away, expecting him to take her in his arms and melt her resistance.

His smile was heartbreakingly tender when he finally turned to face her. “Because I was waiting for you my whole life long. I never knew it until I saw your sweet face.”

“But—”

“Here you are. Be mine, Mary Beth. All mine.”

“I can’t say yes, Parr. I just can’t.”

The intensity of his dark gaze got stronger. “You have, though. Just not in so many words.”

“What are you talking about?” She tried to move away but found she couldn’t. Not without jumping out of the truck. She couldn’t walk back to Sheila’s from the lake.

“You’re not faking anything when I hold you. What we feel for each other is real, Mary Beth.”

The truth of that statement unsettled Mary Beth. But she felt compelled to argue against it. “Wanting someone isn’t the same as loving someone.”

“It’s a start,” he said dryly. “I know for a fact that Bobby Joe never made you feel like a woman.”

“Oh?” She barely suppressed her rising anger.

“Simmer down. He didn’t say a word on the subject. I’m talking about the fire in your beautiful green eyes. You look at me like a woman in love for the first time.”

She didn’t know what to say.

“I doubt my brother would even know what I mean,” Parr added. “But I can tell you right now that he’s not man enough for you. And he’s sure as hell not good enough.”

“That doesn’t mean—”

Parr silenced her with a kiss that left no doubt as to his intentions. Mary Beth yielded to it, craving the sensation, desiring him only, so aware of how much she needed him and he needed her that it hurt.

When she couldn’t stand it another second, she pushed him away.

“No. We shouldn’t.”

Parr withdrew and sat for some moments in silence, not looking at her. His arousal was plain to see and she blamed herself. But someone had to stop this and it had to be her.

Breaking up was hard to do. The old song got it right. It was going to be even harder with two brothers in the mix.