“I put them on you so you wouldn’t kill me when you woke up.”

“A sports bra. I’m impressed.”

“Yeah, well, who knew how hard those things are to get on,” he said with a low laugh.

She laughed because okay, so he was a good guy. A really good guy. “And your clothes?”

“You got me down to my skivvies before I could control you.”

There was a little quiver in some of her good parts. Or all of them. And she wasn’t the only one. He was . . . awake too, and she lifted the covers to take another peek.

“See anything that interests you?”

Yes. “Drunk Maze is losing her touch if you’ve still got a stitch of clothing on.”

He laughed. “No, she’s not. You were a lot of fun last night. You always are.”

“Maybe we should forget about last night.”

“Too late.” He leaned back against the headboard, hands behind his head, the sheets pooled in his lap. “I’ve already filed it with my other favorite Maze memories.”

He sat there in her bed looking so delectable she was nearly rendered stupid enough to forget why they weren’t friends with benefits. Nearly. The truth was she needed a time-out, and fast. Reaching over the side of the mattress, she grabbed up his shirt from the floor. Pulling it on, she instantly realized her mistake. It smelled like him, which was to say delicious. She nearly pressed it to her face to inhale it, but he was still watching, so she flopped onto her back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. “Are Heather and Caitlin okay?”

“Jace took care of Heather, but because Sammie was sleeping, he took her to my room, and when he didn’t open the door again, I took it as man code to go away. So then I got Caitlin to her bed—”

“Where was Dillon?”

“He didn’t wake up.”

Asshole.

“Yeah,” Walker said, watching her face. “I’m with you there. But we can’t step in, Maze. This is her life, her choices.”

“But what if she’s basing her choices on things she believed to be true that might not be?”

“Such as?”

“A year ago she had a nervous breakdown.” She waited for his reaction and didn’t get one. “You knew?”

“Not until long after,” he admitted.

“And you didn’t tell me or Heather?”

“It was her story to tell.”

She hated that but knew he was right. Knew also that if she’d been checking in with Cat as she should have, Cat would have told her herself. “Dillon was the only one there for her.” That Maze hadn’t been was something she’d have to live with. “And I think she feels a lot of gratitude to him for that. But she was also under the impression he wanted kids as much as she does.”

“Again,” Walker said softly, “her life, her choices. She’s free to walk away, Maze. People do it all the time.”

She ignored the dig, intended or not. “She’s getting married tomorrow.”

“Have faith in her.”

She nodded. Sighed. Stared up at the ceiling some more, extremely aware that their bodies, side by side, were touching, and that his was big and warm and corded with muscles that she wouldn’t mind tracing with her tongue. “Why aren’t you out running, or doing something equally insane?”

“Because we have unfinished business.”

“We always have unfinished business.”

“Not that,” he said with a laugh. “Not entirely, anyway.”

“What then?”

He turned to face her. “I’m having a hard time piecing together exactly why you’ve been so mad at me.”

She looked at him in surprise. “I’m not,” she said. “I’m actually trying to remember why I said we weren’t going to sleep together anymore.”

His eyes darkened. “Hold that thought. Talk first. Can we start with Vegas?”

She nodded reluctantly.

His serious gaze held hers. “You left me there. You got on a plane and vanished. And please don’t say it was because I said it was a mistake. That’s a bullshit excuse and you know it. You’re not shy, Maze. If that was all that tripped you up, you’d have said something to me right then. In fact, you would’ve gotten right in my face about it, and then I’d have said you misunderstood and explained myself, and we’d be fine.”

Her heart was pounding in her ears. “This isn’t something that can be fixed with a conversation, Walker.”

“No shit. It’s because you’re scared and won’t admit it.”

She felt her spine snap ramrod straight. “No, you don’t get to turn this on me. You made it clear that I was a problem that had to be handled, and I felt . . . stupid.” And humiliated and heartbroken. Fix that with a damn conversation, she thought bitterly.

But Walker’s face softened. “It wasn’t like that, Maze. You weren’t the problem, I was. I was going to be shipping out. I couldn’t—”

“I understood that part. I was proud of you.” She felt choked up. “So proud. But . . .” Her throat decided to close too tight to finish that sentence how she wanted, which was, When you didn’t even try to come after me, I knew the truth—you didn’t love me enough to make it work . . .

But she wouldn’t beg for love, not ever again.

God, they were both so screwed up.

He studied her face and then closed his eyes, as if looking at her pain was too much for him to take. “That morning when I woke up with you, I felt . . . sheer joy.” He shook his head. “I’d never experienced anything like it. Do you know how many people have walked away from me, Maze?”

She felt her heart squeeze.

“Just about everyone,” he said. “But then you hitched yourself to me and promised forever, and . . .” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “We were so far gone that night. When you said you didn’t even remember it . . .” He grimaced. “That’s when I realized that I’d taken advantage of you. I hated myself for that.”

Stunned, she shook her head. Because she remembered so much more than he thought. “Maybe I took advantage of you,” she whispered.

He gave a head shake. “That’s not how it works.”

“You mean because you have the penis, therefore you get to decide what I think?”

His eyes flashed. “You know damn well that’s not what I’m saying. You’ve got the sharpest mind of anyone I know. I was trying to make it easy on you. We made a mistake rushing things. We were too young. I knew we’d get there someday, but I also knew I was committing to a job that would take me away for long months at a time. The last thing I wanted was for you to be married to someone who wasn’t even home. You’ve had enough family members disappearing on you.”

“What I’m hearing is what I’ve always known,” she said. “You regretted what we did.”

“No.” He stopped. “Okay, so I regret Elvis. But I could never regret anything with you.”

She stared at him, a little surprised by how genuine he sounded. And more than that, how the words made her feel. A minute ago she’d been enjoying the view of him in nothing but those boxers, and maybe she’d also been thinking what could another hour in bed with him possibly hurt?