“You probably know what you’re doing.” Her hand swooped up to cover her mouth. “I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”

Adam studied her, trying to decide whether he dared to pursue it. His better judgment told him to let it go. Curiosity, however, won out over better judgment. “Do you mean in bed?”

Her complexion went from pleasingly peachy to blazing in the fraction of an instant as she looked away from him and nodded.

Adam’s mind raced as he pondered the implications of what she was saying. Had she been with men who didn’t know their way around in bed? Including his brother? He scrubbed that thought from his brain as soon as he had it. Not going there…

“I shouldn’t have said that,” she whispered.

“Tell me what you mean.”

She shook her head.

“Abby…”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.”

Moaning, she placed her hands over her face. “This is why I shouldn’t drink. Ever. My mouth gets ahead of my brain, and I say things that should never be uttered out loud.”

Adam was still stuck on the idea of her mouth getting ahead of her brain. It put some seriously salacious ideas in his head. With her hands over her eyes, he took advantage of the opportunity to stare at that sexy mouth without her knowing he was staring. “Come on… No judgment. I promise.”

“I can’t believe we’re having this conversation.”

“It’s the new you.”

That drew a reluctant smile from her even as she kept her hands over her eyes. “I…I have trouble, you know…”

“Coming?”

“Cripes,” she sputtered. “Put it right out there, why don’t you?”

“We’re both adults, aren’t we?”

“If you say so.”

Adam laughed and pulled one of her hands clear of her face. Without releasing her hand, he said, “Why do you suppose that’s a problem for you?”

“I have my theories.”

“You have my full attention.”

She dropped her other hand and turned her head to look at him, her expression arrestingly lovely. “That’s it. That’s the issue. I never had their full attention. And without it…”

“It can’t happen for you.”

“Yes.” She got a faraway look in her eyes as she fixated on something over his shoulder. “Even when things were good with Cal, he was always getting called away or waiting for a baby to be born or dealing with a crisis at the clinic. In Texas, he was working and tending to his mother. We had to hurry and take advantage of whatever time we had, and hurrying doesn’t work for me.”

“Did they know?” Adam told himself not to think about the fact that one of the men she was talking about was his brother.

She shook her head. “I got very good at faking it.”

“Aw, shit, Abby.”