With a sigh, I let her go. She rubs her arm but doesn’t cover herself, and my gaze sweeps over her, taking in the dark, hard nipples and her shaved sex. I scrub the scruff on my jaw, which needs shaving, and try to look away.

“What time is it?” she asks, glancing at the clock. She yawns, appearing at home. She clearly isn’t having the same struggle I am.

I strip off my jacket and set it over the back of the chair, then unbutton my vest.

“Your brother paid me a visit tonight.”

Her forehead furrows. “He came here? I didn’t see him. Didn’t he want to see me?”

“Not here,” I lie, leaving out the part about him stopping by here first. “The office.” I busy myself taking off the vest, undoing the buttons of my shirt, then remove the links from my cuffs and set them on the tabletop before taking off my shirt.

“Oh.” I don’t have to see her to know she’s still hurt by the fact.

“He asked me about our kiss at the compound the night of the party.”

She clenches her jaw, raises her chin, ever stubborn. “What did you tell him?”

“That you did it to skew the conversation from something embarrassing for you to something that would make all your little girlfriends jealous.”

“They’re not my friends.”

“Not the point.”

“Was he angry?”

“He was concerned.”

“Well, he shouldn’t be. I’m an adult. He gets to have his own life on his terms, and I want my own.” She gets up out of the bed and comes to stand a few inches from me. “And I don’t deserve how you’re treating me. You’ve been punishing me for weeks because you’re angry with yourself, and it’s not fair.”

“Life isn’t fair.”

“You think I don’t know that. Me?”

I grit my jaw.

“You’re supposed to be different, Judge.”

“I’m a man, Mercedes. And you’re fucking hard to resist, but I need to do just that. For both our sakes.”

“No, you don’t. Not for my sake.”

She puts her hands on my chest, and I physically move her out of the way to walk into the bathroom, where I switch on the shower. Ice cold. I expect her to follow me in. She does but instead of coming into the stall, she just leans against the doorframe, watching me as I stand under the spray. When it’s clear she won’t go away, I switch off the water, step out, and dry off. She follows me into the bedroom, where I pull on a pair of pajama pants.

“What do you want out of this, Mercedes? You know I won’t marry.”

“Which is stupid.”

“You don’t know my reasons.”

“Then tell them to me. Trust me with your secret. I won’t hurt you with it.”