“No. But I saw the movie.” Dare shrugged. “Curiosity.”

Adam’s lips compressed. “Whatever. That’s not what I’m talking about. You’re going to hurt Ashley when you walk away. But I guess you’ve never cared before, so why start now?”

“Look, Adam, what happened between you and me—”

“I said I don’t want to talk about that,” Adam said through gritted teeth.

“Fine.” Dare sighed. “The point is, I don’t intend to walk away from Ashley.”

“Then what about me and my feelings?” Adam leaned forward. “I’m in love with her.”

“And how does she feel about you?”

“She says she loves me, too.”

Dare’s eyes narrowed. “If she told you that, and she’s not here breaking up with me, then I bet she also confessed she’s in love with me, too.”

Adam frowned. “The decent thing for you to do would be to walk away right now.”

“And hurt Ash exactly the way you’ve been accusing me of?”

“She’ll get over it.”

“You mean, she’ll get over you when she chooses me.”

Adam arched a brow. “You’re very sure of yourself.”

“Of course. And that’s exactly why she’ll pick me over you. I know you’ve told her you can dominate her just as well as me, but we both know that’s not true.”

Adam couldn’t deny that. The man had six years on him and ran a huge corporation. He was used to making multimillion-dollar decisions that could make or break whole companies and people’s lives. He also had a lot more practice being a Dom. If it came down to sheer ability to dominate, Dare would win hands-down.

“Maybe. But Ash and I have friendship. And a deep caring for each other. We could build a long and happy life together.”

Dare raised an eyebrow. “You’re talking marriage? It’s a little soon to be thinking about that, isn’t it?”

“Not for me. I know that’s where it’s headed for Ash and me. I know we’ll be able to make it work. Can you say the same?”

Pain flashed across Dare’s eyes before he could pull down his mask of indifference. Guilt washed through Adam. He knew how sensitive Dare was about his failed marriage. About leaving Helen with that uncaring bitch of a mother. He’d stayed in the marriage longer than he should have, trying to make it work, until Ann had finally pulled the plug. And through it all, Dare had never abandoned Helen, even though she could be a huge pain in the ass, doing almost everything she could to drive him away. To prove that he was just like every other man who had been in her life.

His expression totally closed, Dare simply stared at Adam with his icy blue eyes.

“We’ll just have to let Ash decide which of us she wants.”

*   *   *