And how he’d seduced her with his lips and his tongue, how he’d drawn out her desire until it had become an orgasm more powerful than she’d ever felt before. A dull ache settled inside her, a longing that would have to go unsatisfied.

Though she had multiple regrets about past lovers, she only had one with Marcus-they hadn’t had sex. They’d done everything but. It would have been nice to experience that one last thing with him, to have that memory to tuck away with the others.

No doubt there’d be other men in her life. But Eden couldn’t imagine wanting a man more than she had wanted Marcus. For the entire time she’d been on board Victorious, she’d found herself in a perpetual state of anticipation. He’d barely have to look at her and her mind would wander off into strange fantasies involving the two of them, naked and aroused.

“Ma’am? You’ll have to remove your merchandise from the basket before I can check you out.”

Eden glanced up and found the checker staring at her expectantly. “Right,” she said.

She set the hair dye and the scissors on the conveyor belt, then grabbed the latest issues of The National Inquisitor, Gossip Weekly and WOW! The checker glanced at the magazines, then looked up at her. Eden held her breath, hoping the baseball cap and dark glasses were enough to hide her identity.

Eden set the clothes and shoes on the belt. “Can you believe that Eden Ross?” she said to the checker. “What was that girl thinking?”

“Girls with her kind of money don’t need to think,” the checker said.

“No, probably not.”

“That’ll be thirty-six forty-seven.”

“That’s all?” Eden pulled two twenties out of her wallet and handed them to the cashier. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d walked out of a store for less than a thousand dollars!

The checker slipped the magazines into a plastic bag, then counted out Eden’s change. “You know, you look a lot like her.”

Eden forced a smile. If she didn’t play it completely cool, she’d be found out in a matter of seconds. “I know. I asked my hairdresser to do my hair just like hers. But after seeing this, I’ve decided to go back to my natural color. What girl would ever want to be like her?”

“I wouldn’t mind the money,” the checker said. “She’s got it made.”

“Maybe,” Eden replied. “Or maybe it just seems that way.” She grabbed her bags and hurried to the door. When she reached the parking lot, she breathed a long sigh of relief. Leading a regular life might not be as difficult as she thought.

It would be a way to prove to her father that she wasn’t just some useless party girl. She could find a job, rent an apartment, make a life for herself away from polo players and society parties and friends she couldn’t trust. Away from the tabloid press.

Eden steered the car toward the Newport Bridge and headed west toward Jamestown. She was a smart girl. Once she established herself, she would go to her father, apologize for all the trouble she’d caused and ask him to give her a second chance. After a time, he’d have to forgive her. The sun was beginning to set, and she flipped down the visor and turned on the radio.

As she drove, her thoughts returned to the last words she’d said to Marcus. It really hadn’t been fair to walk away from him as she had. It wasn’t his fault she’d made a mess of her life, and she hadn’t meant to blame him for anything. But Marcus’s opinion was the one that truly mattered to her, and when he’d turned on her, her defenses had automatically risen.

The thought of Marcus selling her out had caused a brief panic. Assuming that he’d choose the money over her hadn’t been fair. But Eden had been looking for an excuse to push him away and she’d found it. It was far better than allowing herself to get swept up into fantasies about their future together. Though she and Marcus were great together sexually, there was nothing that made her believe they’d ever share any more than just uncontrollable lust.

Marcus was a bright man. Sooner or later he’d discover that even though Eden appeared exotic and exciting on the surface, the novelty of screwing a celebrity would soon wear off. He’d see her for what she really was-a woman filled with fears and regrets and carrying baggage no sane man would want to drag around for the rest of his life.

After crossing the bridge, Eden turned onto Highway 1 and headed south along Narragansett Bay. She’d drive until she found an inexpensive place to stay. Almost immediately she passed a small motel across the road from the water, then slowed the Mercedes and made a U-turn.

She pulled into the parking lot and drove up to the neon sign that indicated the office. Eden frowned. It wasn’t glamorous and it probably didn’t have room service or a masseuse on staff, but it was a start. She’d get a room, cut and dye her hair and make a plan. And tomorrow morning she’d begin her life all over again.

MARCUS GRABBED A BEER from the refrigerator in Ian’s kitchen, then leaned out the screen door. “You guys need another?”

Ian and Dec stood next to the grill, staring at the hamburgers that Ian was cooking for their dinner. “We’re good,” Ian shouted.

Marcus glanced at his watch again, wondering why it was taking so damn long to cook a few lousy hamburgers. He’d stopped by Ian’s simply to check in and waste an hour before heading back to Newport. But from the moment he’d arrived, he’d been preoccupied with thoughts of Eden. He wondered what Eden was doing, how she was feeling, whether she’d come to her senses and seen the truth of the situation or whether she was still angry at him.

He imagined how he’d make things right with her. There was a certain simplicity in taking her into his arms and kissing her until she surrendered. But he was also prepared to apologize for his harsh words and seduce her slowly. However it went, he was determined to get back to the place they’d been, that wonderful state of constant arousal and anticipation.

Marcus glanced over at his brothers, grateful they couldn’t read his thoughts. For now, what he shared with her was a tantalizing secret, something that defied description and analysis. He’d have to find a way come clean. But there was no way he could tell his brothers the truth of his life right now.

With Eden, he didn’t try to make sense of it. What had happened with her was a complete break from everything he’d known about desire. It was as if a giant wave had come and swept him out to sea, caught him in a current that was impossible to escape. He’d fought it at first, but then Marcus had realized that the only course was to surrender. To just let himself drown.

He sat down on the picnic table and bent forward, bracing his hands on his knees and staring at his beer bottle. When he touched her, it was pure pleasure. When she touched him, it was exquisite torment. When release finally came, it was a sensation that was unmatched in his lifetime.

He remembered his first experience with losing control at a girl’s touch. The world had seemed to shift on its axis, and from that moment on Marcus had known that sex was something he didn’t want to do without. But now, with Eden, he realized it was something he couldn’t live without.

There was only one partner he wanted, one person who could provide the kind of pleasure he sought. Eden had become his drug of choice, her body so addictive that he found himself barely existing between fixes. Marcus shook his head. How was it possible that he felt this way and they still hadn’t had sex yet?

“Hey! Are you planning to speak anytime soon?”

Marcus glanced up, pulled from his thoughts by Dec’s voice. He blinked. “What?”

“What’s wrong with you?” Dec asked.

“Nothing,” Marcus replied. “I’ve just…got some things on my mind.”

“Here’s a question,” Ian said. “Should a guy ever be completely honest with a woman? Or is it always better just to tell her what she wants to hear?”

“Always be honest,” Marcus said at the very same time Dec said, “Tell her what she wants to hear.” They glanced at each other.

“If you’re not honest, it’ll come back and bite you in the ass.”

“Have you been watching Dr. Phil again?” Ian asked.

“So you’d tell her that her hair looks like crap and her butt does look huge in those pants and that you’d rather drink varnish than have dinner with her parents?” Dec asked. “Hell, Marcus, you’d get kicked to the curb with the rest of the garbage. No wonder you can’t keep a woman.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Marcus murmured. Hell, he didn’t know what he was talking about. All he knew was that he’d been honest with Eden and it had led to a relationship more intense than any he’d ever experienced. By stripping away all pretense, they’d had a chance to know each other in a very intimate way.

“I think there are very specific things you should never tell a woman,” Ian ventured. “Guy secrets. You know, those universal truths that all guys know but we need to keep to ourselves to preserve the future of the male species.”

“Like what?” Dec asked, clearly curious.

“Like when we look at other women, we really are looking at other women,” Ian said. “And thinking about what they’d look like naked.”

“And that no matter how many times a woman wants to have sex with you, it’s never gonna be enough,” Dec added. “And that no guy likes to cuddle after sex.”

Ian nodded. “And that we really do read Playboy for the pictures and not the stories. Universal truths.”

“Be honest. Have you ever been with a woman when you’ve been completely satisfied with the quality and frequency of the sex?” Ian asked.

Yes, Marcus mused. With Eden, even though they hadn’t actually had sex, he’d been completely satisfied. There was a certain excitement that came from the anticipation, waiting to share that final intimacy, thinking about having sex, even avoiding sex, that made the need more acute.

“I rest my case,” Ian said after weighing Marcus’s silence.

Marcus took a long sip of his beer, then shrugged. “Maybe none of us has found the right woman.” He glanced over at his brothers as they stared at him. “Yet.”

Ian groaned, rubbing his forehead with his fingertips. “Jaysus, Marky, this is what comes from being stuck on that boat all alone. You’re not making any sense. What’s wrong with you? You’re sounding like a bleedin’ romantic.”

“So that’s not what you want out of life?” Marcus asked.

“First off, you can’t talk to women, so how can you be honest with them? They have no capacity for logical reasoning. They’re driven by emotions. Let me tell you, getting into a real conversation with a woman is like stepping on a land mine. One stupid move, one offhand comment or misplaced adjective and-boom-you’re dead.”

“And you can’t depend upon women,” Declan continued. “They may have your back now, but the minute you don’t agree with them they’ll cut your legs out from under you. You want someone who’ll have your back? That’s what brothers are for.”

Marcus took another sip of his beer. In truth, he’d been thinking the same thing about Eden just a few hours ago. But that had been at the end of a brutally honest conversation, the kind of conversation that had exposed some pretty raw emotions. It may not have been a pretty argument or a fair fight, but at least it had been honest.

“Women are not the enemy,” Marcus said.

Ian stared at Marcus for a long moment. “Did you break the pact?”

“No!” he lied. “I’ve just figured out a few things for myself.”

But hadn’t the pact contained a fatal flaw? He and his brothers had assumed that the only way to figure out women was to stay away from them, to make a vow of celibacy and stick with it. But Marcus had learned more about women in the week he’d spent seducing Eden Ross than he’d learned in his previous twenty-seven years. She was a complicated, perplexing pain in the ass, but he knew her better than he’d ever known any other woman in his life.

“So are you planning to share with us?” Declan asked.

Marcus shook his head. “Not at the moment.”

A long silence descended on the group as Ian and Dec stood at the grill and stared into the fire. Marcus fought the urge to tell them everything, to explain it all in the hopes that they would be able to offer some explanation. To confess that he’d been the first to break their pact and succumb to the pleasures of the flesh.

But what had gone on between him and Eden defied description. Hell, he’d been trying to put words to it for days with no luck. “Any luck on finding that girl you were looking for, Dec?” he asked, anxious to shift the topic.

“Eden Ross?” Dec sat down on the picnic table next to Marcus. “Nothing yet.”