Adam rewarded her with a big smile. “Now we’re getting somewhere.” The ferry passed the buoy that marked the island’s northern coast, but the mist was so thick he could barely make out the bluffs. “So you really think you can have sex with strangers?”

The question clearly caught her off guard. “Of course I can.”

“I don’t think you can. You’re not that kind of girl.”

“How do you know what kind of girl I am?” she asked, indignant.

“Um, you dated my brother for ten years. I think I have a slight idea.”

“You don’t know me at all. He never knew me either. No one does.”

“Abby… Come on, that’s not true. You and Grant were the real deal for a long time.”

She shook her head. “No, we weren’t. I thought we were—I thought Cal and I were, too, but I’ve never had the real deal.” Turning her big eyes up at him, she said, “Have you?”

The question hit him like an arrow to the heart. “I thought so until recently, but no, I haven’t either.”

“What happened to you?”

Adam smiled and shook his head. “Not worth talking about.”

“I told you all my bad stuff,” she said between persistent hiccups. “It seems only fair that you tell me yours.”

Adam hadn’t intended to tell anyone at home about what’d happened in New York. He’d planned to see his brothers, make sure they were okay, check on his parents and get back to the city to resurrect his career before the damage became irreparable. But here was Abby looking up at him with her liquid brown eyes, and suddenly the whole sordid tale was pouring out of him. When he was done, she stared at him, openmouthed, until a hiccup lurched her out of the trance.

“That’s… It’s… It’s horrible.”

He tilted his head, urging her silently to try again.

“Seriously fucked up.” This was said with no hint of whisper or blush, which made Adam want to cheer. “How long had you been seeing her outside of work?”

“Seeing her for three years, living with her for two of them.”

“And no one at work knew?”

“Nope. My own company policy of no fraternizing at work had come back to bite me in the ass, so we went way out of our way to keep it quiet. From what I can gather, one of the employees saw us somewhere, and we were…we were kissing…and reported us to the board. The funniest part, if you can consider any of this funny, is that it all came down to a dentist appointment.”

“How do you mean?”