She and Ethan had too much at stake in this new life of theirs to be taking the kind of chances she’d taken with Paul last night. It had to stop, and it had to stop now, before emotions were engaged and someone got hurt. If things went bad between them, and things always went bad, it would be a disaster for everyone involved.

As much as she liked him and enjoyed being with him, not to mention the powerful attraction they shared, it couldn’t continue. They had to go back to being just friends and cordial colleagues. She emerged from the shower with new resolve. It wasn’t just about her and what she wanted. Ethan had been through too much to subject him to another potentially messy situation. If she remained friendly with Paul but not romantically involved, there was no chance of Ethan being hurt when the whole thing went south.

He was the most important person in her life, and this was the right decision for him, even if it sucked for her.

While she got dressed and ate some cold cereal, Hope tried not to think about how amazing it had felt to be held and kissed and touched by Paul. She tried not to think about the best orgasm she’d had in years or the way he’d felt hard and hot and thick in her hand. Her mouth watered as she imagined how he would feel inside her—

“No! Stop. It’s not going to happen, so stop thinking about it.” She gathered her damp hair into a ponytail, her movements jerky. Thinking about what might’ve been didn’t do a thing to quell her desire for more of him. It’d been so long—years—since she’d done anything like what’d happened last night with Paul that she’d forgotten how much she had enjoyed sex before her life blew up in her face like a nuclear bomb.

Now sex was the least of her concerns. Keeping a roof over her head and Ethan’s was what mattered most, and if that meant having to ignore her own needs, well, so be it. She’d been doing that for years, and would continue to do whatever it took to ensure her son’s safety and security. Never again did she want to be in the boat she’d been in after her marriage imploded, when she’d been left in debt up to her eyeballs and mired in the kind of scandal that stuck to people forever.

If Paul had any idea who he’d been rolling around in bed with last night, he’d never come near her again, a thought that profoundly depressed her because she hadn’t done anything other than marry the wrong man. Unfortunately, she hadn’t known he was the wrong man until permanent damage had been done to her and Ethan.