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forgotten who he was. Or maybe that was precisely why things had gotten so out of control. So intense. So devastating.
    They’d both been waiting for the other to turn, yet they’d been powerless to fight their mutual attraction.
    She hadn’t wanted to fight. She still didn’t. He’d given her pleasure she’d never imagined…touched her in ways she never should have allowed… And she wouldn’t have changed a moment of it.
    Yet that didn’t mean she trusted him.
    Something had happened between him and her grandparents—something that had been bad enough to make them move from their home of forty years. Imagining what it might have been had her distressed. She didn’t want to betray her family. Yet he made her feel… She didn’t know what he made her feel. She couldn’t describe it, not in words, but it was powerful. Powerful enough to make her want to bury her head in the sand when it came to this whole rift.
    Troubled, she leaned down and swept up his shirt. She put it on, and it hit her mid-thigh. She rolled up the sleeves, feeling sexy in his clothes and guilty for it. Hers were strewn around on his lawn for the whole world to see. Her cheeks heated. She needed to go get them, but she needed to check on her pet first.
    She left the bedroom and quietly closed the door behind her. “Thunder,” she whispered.
    Worried, she clicked her tongue. He was a good dog, and well trained, but he’d been trapped in the house with them for hours. She’d seen him come in with them, but then? He didn’t do well when bored. With no way to entertain himself, he could become inquisitive. He didn’t mean to be destructive, but he was bigger than the puppy he thought he still was. She didn’t know how Rafer would react if he’d caused a mess.
    When it came to her dog, her new lover seemed overly sensitive.
    She looked around uncertainly. She hadn’t paid much attention to her surroundings when she’d arrived. She’d been… otherwise occupied. Feeling as if she were intruding, she tiptoed her way down the hallway. Dim rays from the setting sun glinted off the stainless steel appliances in the kitchen. It was well-equipped and tidy.
    And empty.
    Curiosity began to overtake her as she wandered past another bedroom. Unlike the gaudiness of his brother’s back yard, Rafer’s tastes seemed understated. His furniture was expensive, but for its quality, not its showiness. Just like the paintings on the walls. The artists weren’t famous, but they were local. He’d chosen these paintings not as something to impress visitors, but because he liked them.
    The same went for the photographs.
    She paused when she turned into the living room. Family pictures were grouped on the walls. Others were propped up on the built-in bookshelf by the fireplace. The setting sun lit them up like a spotlight, and she trailed her fingers along the shelf edge as she inched past.
    The Longs didn’t look like monsters.
    There might be a few trolls in the bunch, but no monsters.
    She traced her toe up the back of her other calf as she stared at a picture of Rafer with Randy. His brother held a huge catfish just out of the reach of a happy spotted Dalmatian. The catch looked like a record one. Yet it was Rafer who caught her eye.
    Her heart squeezed.
    He was smiling. Happy and carefree. The wind was blowing through his hair, and there was a light in his eyes. She’d never seen him like that. He was always so serious. So solemn and almost hostile. She stepped away, trailing her finger once more over the frame. The contrast bothered her.
    “Thunder, where are you?”
    She heard the soft whine of response and the thump of a tail against the hardwood floor. She turned, but the setting sun momentarily blinded her. She lifted her hand to shield her eyes. When they came into focus, she had to blink again.
    Thunder was sitting contentedly on the floor…
    With a bowl of food, water and toys. Dog toys.
    Confused, Cassidy could only stare. Her Lab gave