“What are we going to do with that and the furniture in the living room?”

“Oh, my sister is taking the couches and my other sister is taking the bed. And yet another sister is taking the kitchen table. All I have is my clothes and some sports equipment. Once I put out the word that I had free stuff up for grabs, the Fords descended faster than a hot knife through butter. It’s one of the pluses of a big family.”

“Oh, okay.” Shawn was worrying her bottom lip with her teeth, her arms across her breasts. “Aren’t you going to, uh, wish you had that stuff later?”

He liked the jeans she was wearing. They were snug, and her hip was jutting out to the right as she leaned on the door frame. Her breasts were pert beneath her fuzzy gray sweater, and she was wearing shiny lip gloss on her full lips. Abandoning his Allen wrench, Rhett decided he needed to kiss her. She just looked too juicy and irresistible. As he stood and moved toward her, he shook his head.

“It’s old and it was Nolan’s. I’m not particularly worried about it.”

For a second she looked like she wanted to bolt, obviously aware of his intent. But when he put his hand on the back of her head and gently massaged her scalp, urging her to him, she gave in with a sigh. The kiss had his eyes drifting closed, his body leaning in to Shawn. God, she tasted good. Felt good.

He didn’t want to argue with Shawn. He wanted her to smile at him, with that special smile she had where her mouth was wide and her eyes crinkled in amusement. He wanted to settle down into their relationship and just enjoy each other. So maybe he was like his mother in that regard, because he wanted what he wanted and he assumed he was going to get it.

“Thanks for coming to help,” he said, brushing his lips over her jaw. “Did you meet Jeannie and Mark?”

“Yes,” she said, her neck tilting back. “They’re very nice.”

“Jeannie wants to talk to you about the wedding party, or reception, or whatever we’re calling it.”

“Oh, Lord,” was Shawn’s opinion. “I’m sorry this has spun so out of control.”

“I don’t mind.” He didn’t. Because if he were honest with himself, and he always was, he wanted it to be real. He knew that he could be happy with Shawn, and he wanted this to be real. Wanted to work toward ensuring that it was. “But I understand how you’re feeling. It’s a lot to take in. Just let my sisters and mom handle the whole thing.”

“Oh, I intend to. I may be a control freak in some regards, but planning a party is not one of them. I don’t know squat about girly stuff like decorating and cakes, as you can tell from the state of my house.”

“I like your house. It’s comfortable, cozy.” Rhett lazily stroked her backside, nuzzled in her hair. He could touch her for hours and never get tired of the feel of her skin, her body.

“Are you moving or making out?” Eve asked from the hallway. “Get the lead out, Rhett, I want to go home before midnight.”

Rhett smiled and took a step back from Shawn. “And with that, Eve shatters the mood.” He glanced over Shawn’s shoulder at his sister-in-law. “Carry this mattress set out to the truck, Eve, and we’re all set. Show us your muscle.”

“You think I can’t?” Eve rolled her eyes. “I’ve got this.”

Rhett stepped aside, pulling Shawn with him, as Eve and Nolan came in and hauled the mattress back out, Eve swearing but not looking like she was overly strained.

“You did that on purpose,” Shawn said to him, clearly amused as she lifted one of the boxes off the floor. “You played Eve.”

“We’re all competitive. It’s not hard.” Rhett picked up the other box and grinned at Shawn. “We both know all I need to do is dare you to do something, and you fall for it every time.”

She laughed. “I can’t deny it. All I can do is hope you don’t abuse your power.”

“I’ll never dare you to do anything that matters, I promise.” He grew serious, wanting her to understand. “I’ll never dare you in bed, I hope you know that. That wouldn’t be fair.”

Her smile disappeared. “This is that trust thing again, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “I want to sleep in your bed tonight. Not to have sex, but just to be near you, to hold you. Do you trust me not to initiate sex?”

She stood, bulky box in her arms, and moistened her lips, her brown eyes darker than usual. “What if I want you to initiate sex?”

He felt a sharp kick of lust. “Do you?”

“Yes. I do.”

That was what he wanted to hear. He wanted her to be straightforward, honest with him. No game playing. “It would be my pleasure, then.”

Even with the dual boxes between them, he leaned over and kissed her. “I’m going to make you come harder than you’ve ever come,” he promised her, voice low, his desire intense.

“You’d better,” she told him. “I’m trusting you.”

That right there turned him on. It meant everything to him that she trusted him. “You’ve put your trust in the right man, Shawn.”

Shawn hoped so. She did trust Rhett, though she still had a niggling concern in the back of her mind that she was going to regret this marriage, their relationship, the sex. That when all was said and done, she was going to get hurt. But she couldn’t stop it. There was no way she could live in the same house with him, pretending to be his wife in public, and not want as much as she could have. His green eyes were so intense, so serious, so committed, that she knew she couldn’t spend night after night with him down the hall in the guest room while she yearned for another immersion into the pleasure he had shown her.

It wasn’t logical. Nor was it smart. But it was what she wanted.

“I know,” she told him, and it was true. She had asked him to enter into a marriage of convenience with her days after they had met. She could have found herself in a disastrous situation with a guy who would manipulate and use her need for secrecy to his advantage. She could have wound up with a slob or a mooch who expected her to be his housekeeper. She could have found herself having to ditch the whole insane idea, losing the track, and facing public humiliation.

So yes, she trusted Rhett.

It seemed stupidly obvious now to her.

Her fear of regrets didn’t stem from concern that he would in some way make things difficult for her, it was that he wouldn’t. Her fear was that she would fall for him, and that in the end, it would hurt to let him go. That if she allowed him to be a part of her life, it would be lonely when he left.

But it was too late to worry about any of that. She was in and, much like him, once in, she was all in.

Nolan and Eve reappeared for the box spring. “Seriously?” Eve complained. “You two are doing nothing but making moony eyes at each other. I’m starting to get pissed.”

“My wife is very romantic,” Nolan told them.

“Sorry,” Shawn muttered. “We were just making some plans.”

“That don’t include the two of you,” Rhett said. “So we would like to thank you very much for helping out, but I know you’re both busy, so you can head home now.”

Well, that was a little obvious. Shawn followed Rhett down the hallway, wondering if he was going to give that same speech to his sister and her husband. Though truth be told, there wasn’t really anything left in the apartment, aside from a lonely vacuum, which Jeannie was using on the worn carpet, and a random floor lamp.

“I should be offended, but I’m just grateful,” Eve said. “I want to get a run in before I collapse for the night.” But then she added, “Shawn, can I talk to you for a second before I leave?”

“Sure.” Shawn looked at her expectantly, no idea what Eve would want to say, but suspecting it wasn’t anything particularly positive.

“Alone,” Eve said bluntly.

Wonderful. “Sure,” she said, less enthusiastic. She turned and went down the hallway, figuring they could use the now-empty bedroom.

Once inside, she rounded on Eve, arms crossed, unable to prevent her defensiveness.

“Whoa, tiger, pull back your claws. I come in peace.” Eve held up her hands. “I just want to ask you if, you know, everything is okay. If you’re happy.” Then without waiting for a response, she winced. “God, that sounded so asinine. Sorry. I just want you to know that if you regret your impulsive decision to marry Rhett, we can get you out of it. This isn’t like the tattoos we had done when we were trying to best each other with our obnoxiousness. We don’t need laser removal, a physician, and a few grand to get you out of this. A hundred bucks on the Internet and we can have you divorced.”

Shawn almost laughed. Almost. Because she was still annoyed about the tattoo ten years after the fact, she didn’t. “It’s your fault we have such bad ink, you know. I’m never going to admit otherwise.”

“It’s your fault, too!” Eve protested. “You started it by egging me on about coming in last at the fair when I entered a shooting contest and slipped on a discarded onion ring and shot the light out.”

“Yeah, then you told me that the only way I was going to get a guy between my thighs was if I tattooed one there. And that Stoney White, who you know I had a massive crush on, had called me lanky and had mimicked a pelican walking. That was bullshit.”

“I did you a favor. Stoney White was a loser. His name was Stoney, for Chrissake. Plus I didn’t make you take that car bomb. Or the second. You were bound and determined to prove to Stoney that you could do a shot of whiskey in thirty seconds.”

Huh. Perhaps she hadn’t matured as much as she thought in the last decade. It seemed her seduction techniques had not improved. “Well, I could. It wasn’t just bragging. I still can, you know.”

“And I still have a tattoo on my inner thigh that says ‘Open 24 hours.’ ”

Shawn grinned. “That was a beautiful night, wasn’t it? We were such idiots, but damn, we always had fun.” She wondered why Rhett hadn’t said anything about her tattoo. He had certainly been down between her thighs, so he had to have seen it. Most men burst out laughing the first time they got a glimpse of it.

Eve laughed. “Maybe a little too much fun.”

“Nah. Truth is, we let too much fun slip away from us. We grew up and both became workaholics.”

“I’ve been working on a better balance myself. Nolan helps. How about you? Seriously, not to sound like your mother—or rather like anyone’s mother but yours—how is it going? You still haven’t answered that question.”

“It’s intense,” she admitted, much preferring to be as honest as she could without having to lie to her best friend. “It’s hot, it’s sexy, it’s new, it’s an adjustment. But it’s good. For real. No worrying about me.” She would worry about herself a shit ton, so no need for someone else to get in on the action and stress themselves out.

Eve studied her for a minute. “Okay. Cool. I won’t get in your business anymore. You know you can talk to me about anything, and it won’t matter that Rhett is Nolan’s brother. I’m a steel trap.”

“Unless we’re going head-to-head. Then you’ll spill every secret I have if it will throw me off my game.”

“That is not true,” Eve protested. Then she grinned. “Much. But you know I’ll only tell embarrassing secrets, not painful ones.”

“Thanks for the distinction. But I can’t exactly bitch you out, because I’m the same way. It’s ultimately why we get along.”

“Alright, let’s go get laid.” Eve fist-bumped her. “To the power of the V. And whiskey. And shitty tattoos.”

“To finishing first. And friendship. To the Brothers Ford.”

“Amen, sister.”

That was as warm and fuzzy as she and Eve were ever going to get. They were essentially guys with vaginas. But they had both come to terms with who they were years ago.

“I think this was our middle school fantasy, you know, to marry brothers,” Eve said with a laugh as she headed back down the hall.

Unfortunately, it was still a fantasy.

Shawn fought the urge to sigh.

“So I have to ask . . . is he kinky?” Eve said, looking both super curious and super horrified. “Does he have . . . contraptions?”

“I am not talking to you about that other than to say there are no contraptions.” Good Lord. She didn’t even want to consider what Eve was envisioning.

“So he’s kinky.” Her eyes sparkled and she gave a choking laugh. “Shawn, if only Stoney White had known you have a penchant for kink, he could have been all yours. In all his idiotic meathead glory.”

“Shut up, Eve,” was her opinion on that.

Eve just laughed harder.

* * *

“I can keep my clothes and stuff in the guest room,” Rhett said as he surveyed the space, or lack thereof, in Shawn’s bedroom. She wasn’t a housekeeper to his mother’s standards, that was for sure, and she had odd things propped in the corners of her bedroom, like a large stuffed gorilla and a hunting rifle, which didn’t contain bullets. He’d checked when she was in the bathroom.