She risked a glance over her shoulder.

He smiled at her. The slow, toe-curling smile that flashed the hard slash in his cheek. “Now I know exactly what I’ve been missing all these years.”

And she knew exactly what she’d been missing out on, too.

“Piper.” A warning edge entered his voice as his smile faded. “I won’t be making the same mistake again.”

“Mistake?”

“No more hands-off. No more staying back. You want me? You got me.”

***

Eric opened the door for his brother, and Ben barreled inside, all tension and fury and questions.

“How is Piper? God, did she sleep at all last night? Her gallery. Her fucking gallery. Do the cops know when the creep broke into the building? Did your team learn anything? Tell me that we’ve got some camera footage of this asshole—”

Eric held up his hand. He’d dragged on a t-shirt to go with his jeans before he’d hauled ass downstairs. He hadn’t bothered with shoes or socks, and he knew stubble coated his jaw. “Slow down, man. I haven’t even had coffee yet.”

Ben’s blue eyes blazed. “Screw coffee. I need to know about Piper. How is she?”

Eric shut the front door. Locked it. How was Piper? Better than every single dream I had. “She’s showering. Getting dressed. She’ll be down here soon.” He should get some coffee for her. The woman loved her morning brew. He turned and headed for the kitchen, with Ben following behind him.

“I should have come over last night. I feel like a total ass for not being with her.”

“I told you not to come.” Because he’d thought Piper was exhausted. That she just wanted to crash.

She’d wanted other things. So had he.

“This is so bad.” Ben sat at the bar. “I know how much the gallery means to her. This bastard—torching her home, destroying her art. It’s personal. So freaking personal, and it scares the hell out of me.” He glanced over his shoulder, as if to make sure Piper wasn’t there. “You need to know more about Grady. I know I told you a bit about him yesterday, but there’s more.”

Grady. His team was already checking on the guy.

“He’s…come sniffing around some since they broke up. He, fuck, he came after me a few times.”

Eric’s hands flattened on the bar. “What?”

Ben winced. “That’s the thing, see…the guys that she blows off, they think it’s because—because she’s involved with someone else. And the guy who is always in her life?”

“You.” Hell.