“You’re going to think this is crazy, but I know what I want to be when I grow up,” she’d said, her mortarboard in hand. Jack had just completed his service with the army, and after his time stationed in Europe, he was Stateside again. Eager for the “what’s next in his life,” he’d jumped on the chance to build a business from the ground up. His sister brought her natural passion; he brought his business mind. And, of course, an avid appreciation for the female body and all the ways that women could experience pleasure. He’d been a lucky man—lucky with the ladies, and lucky in business.

Until Aubrey, when luck ran out, and everything unraveled by his simple inability to tell her the truth.

The way things ended was a stone in his chest, heavy and unyielding.

“How did your appointment go today?”

Jack blinked, returning to the here and now, and the question Casey had asked.

“The one with Dr. Milo?” Casey said, rolling her hands, as if to jog his memory.

“It was fine, but I don’t want to get into the details.”

She parked her hands on her hips. “You’re so closed off sometimes, Jack.”

“Yes,” he said, pointedly. “I know. It’s called privacy. You should try it sometime.”

“That did not compute. You must be speaking a foreign language.”

He laughed and shook his head. His sister was relentless. She was also an open book. She always wanted to talk about things, to discuss them, to have them out in the open. The polar opposite of their parents. But he wasn’t going to open up to her about the reason why Michelle wasn’t his shrink.

“So, how was Dr. Milo? Was she as amazing as they say?”

“Yes,” he said, keeping the smirk to himself as he gave the barest of answers, and yet one that was completely truthful. She was amazing, but in a different way than Casey was asking. Not only was Michelle clever and sharp, she was stunning. The woman was primed for passion, bathed in sensuality. She knew her way around her own body, clearly. She knew what brought her pleasure, and she was willing to give herself to him and let him take her there too.

No inhibitions, only openness. The things he could do with her.

“Well, I hope you and she start to dig into what’s weighing you down up here,” she said, tapping her skull as she stood. “And here too,” she said, lowering her voice as she touched her heart. “I want you to be happy.”

“I am happy,” he said insistently.

“No. You’re not happy. You’re busy. Don’t confuse the two,” she said, then dropped a chaste kiss on his cheek, and sauntered out.

She was right, of course. She was always right. He was a man who filled his nights and days. If he didn’t, the past would try to chain him up.

With Michelle, he hadn’t felt chained. He hadn’t felt guilty. He’d simply felt like one mistake didn’t have to define him.