This was more than Claire wanted to hear. She looked away, knowing she too was guilty.

“Look at me.”

Slowly, she turned.

“Tony, stop. I’m not innocent.”

“Nor am I. We’ve moved beyond all of this. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want to have this conversation, for no other reason than when it comes to that man my feelings are irrational.”

Giving up her pretense of anger, Claire reached for his cheeks. The warmth of his face as well as the abrasiveness of his five o’clock shadow electrified her hands, sending shockwaves through her body. “I’m sorry. I admit that I thought it was cute that you were jealous. I shouldn’t have baited you. I haven’t thought about Harry in years. That may make me a terrible person, but I haven’t. I’m too happy and satisfied with everything that I have right here to spend my time thinking about the past.” her eyes filled with tears. “I’ve lost too much time in the past. I want the now.”

AS TONY CARESSED Claire’s cheek her eyes closed causing a tear to fall. Shit, this wasn’t what he wanted. When would he learn to keep his mouth shut? Without thinking, Tony leaned nearer and kissed away the salty moisture.

“We both have. I’m sorry.”

“Stop apologizing. I should’ve answered you. I knew you’d want to know.”

Tony looked down into the sea of emerald green. “How? How did you know?”

A slight grin materialized on his wife’s face. “I saw it when you opened the door.”

“Am I that easy to read?”

Her hands on his cheeks pulled his lips toward hers. “You are to me,” she answered. “You have been for as long as I can remember.”

As their lips united, their bodies molded together. They were like pieces of a puzzle: one made especially to fit the other. They moved in sync, their caressing hands sending warmth and energy from one to the other. Their tongues danced, creating a waltz of give and take. Within minutes Claire’s nightgown was gone, lost to the abyss of the carpet below only to quickly be accompanied by Tony’s shorts. Tucked safely behind the security of their locked door, it was only the two of them moving as one.

Claire’s back arched as they united, inviting him not only to enter her warmth but also to tease her taut nipples. Each time he sucked or taunted her hard nubs, moans of desire filled the suite. Their rhythm increased as the room around them disappeared.

She had been right. Too much time had been lost in the past. Their eyes were rightfully set on the present, and as they settled into one another’s arms and the night air stilled, Tony’s mind was not in their history, but filled with what he had in the here and now: his family, his wife in his arms as well as his children sleeping soundly in their rooms.

Though many may question the choices they’d made, as Tony and Claire neared sleep they both knew that every second of their past had been worth it. They wouldn’t spend their lives rehashing it, but they also wouldn’t regret it. For without their past, they wouldn’t have their present, including the two young Rawlingses who would change the legacy of the Nichols-Rawls families forever, because tomorrow held the possibility for only the best of consequences.

Theirs was a long, complicated story with a monster and a knight. What made their story unique was that these two players were the same person.

—Aleatha Romig, CONVICTED