Michael shook his head. “This is different.”

Sawyer’s confidence fell. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

Sure Dad…how about I just tell you I’m g*y? My marriage is a farce, and I may have just f**ked up my only real friend in my life.

“Not particularly.”

Sawyer removed himself from his chair. “You know where I am.”

Emotion clogged Michael’s throat. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d shared this many civil words with his father.

Before Sawyer walked up the stairs, he turned and delivered one more piece of advice. “There’s no shame in a little groveling.”

Michael smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

The dream took hold and didn’t let go.

“If I turned around right now I’d want to kiss you.” Please…kiss me. Take away the question of what you taste like from my mind and swallow me whole.

Zach’s hand clasped her shoulders as they stared over Beacon’s pond, and then…as if he couldn’t control himself, he turned her around, shoved a hand into her hair, and took her lips. She pressed into him, let his pine scent seep into her every pore. His desperate kisses were wet, indecent, and so filled with need Karen didn’t want them to ever end.

Zach backed her up against a tree, leaned into her.

On some level, Karen knew she was dreaming. Lingering thoughts of Michael drifted in her brain…made her heart ache. She shouldn’t be kissing his brother.

Or letting Zach touch her.

You’re dreaming, her mind screamed.

But I want this, her conscience reminded her.

Need quickened. Her breath lodged in her throat, and when Zach reached between her legs…

Karen shot up in bed, her heart pounded behind her rib cage.

A dream.

Damn!

She flopped back on the squeaky childhood bed once occupied by Michael, kicked off the hot covers, and tried to go back to sleep.

There was a back staircase to the Gardner family home, which gave Karen the perfect escape the next morning for her run.

She needed the peace as well as time alone to make a much-needed phone call to someone who knew the hell she was going through.

She slipped from the house wearing running shorts and plugged her ears into her music on her cell phone. With a brisk pace, she made her way to Beacon’s barn and went ahead and turned down the road to the abandoned home she’d passed the day before with Zach.

Once she was sure there wasn’t a soul for miles, she speed-dialed Gwen’s number and hoped she was up and ready for Karen to unload.

Gwen’s cheerful voice brought a smile to Karen’s face. “Karen? How are you?”

“I suck. That’s how I am. Oh, God, Gwen…”

“Oh, no. What happened?”

“Coming here was a mistake.” On so many levels.

“Is Michael’s family awful?”

Karen rubbed the back of her neck. “No. They’re actually really nice. His sister Judy and I really hit it off. Even his younger sister, Hannah, is crazy fun.”

“And his parents?”

She couldn’t even complain about them. “I thought at first his dad and I would fight the whole time but even he seems to have mellowed. And his mom, Janice, is the quintessential mother.”

Gwen cleared her throat. “And Zach?”

Karen groaned.

“Ah! So Zach is the problem.”

“I’m an awful person, Gwen. Tell me how horrible I am to be dreaming of the man.”

Gwen didn’t deliver the much-needed reprimand. “Sorry, my dear, but you won’t be getting that from me. I noticed him watching you at the party. I’m guessing he is still looking.”

“He’s looking. I’m looking.”

“I knew this would become sticky,” Gwen said. “Does Michael know you’re having horizontal dreams about his brother?”

“Who said I’m having sex dreams?”

Gwen laughed. “I don’t believe I said sex dreams. But thank you for clarifying.”

“Ah! No! Michael doesn’t know. Not that he deserves to, the asshat.” She went on to tell Gwen about the previous day and the line Michael had crossed.

“That doesn’t sound like our Michael at all.”

Karen plopped down on the edge of a rock as she talked into her phone. “No, it doesn’t. Which is the only reason I’m still here. I think he’s having his own identity crisis. Having his family and old friends around has been good for him. He hasn’t even asked if Tony has called.”

“I never have envied him. Seems his entire life is a farce.”

“Yeah, well, right now so is mine.” Maybe Karen was having an identity crisis of her own.

“How much longer will you stay in Hilton?” Gwen asked.

“A week. There’s a parade tomorrow and then we’re going up to the cabin for a couple of days. Even Sawyer is taking time off work, which apparently is a rarity.”

“You lost me at parade.”

Karen laughed. “Hilton celebrates its Founder’s Day with a parade and fireworks. Hannah and Judy have been putting together a float of some sort for Michael to ride in. Hilton’s claim to fame will be waving to the crowd.”

“Oh, that’s rich. Will you be on the float with him?”

“Hell no. He can have the spotlight all to himself. Besides, it’s not like I want this town to know me more than they do right now. I won’t be Mrs. Michael Wolfe or Gardner…or whatever next year at this time.”

“I suppose that’s for the best. Unless of course your sex dreams about Zach manifest into something more than a fantasy.”

Karen squeezed her eyes shut and ignored the heat that rushed to her face with the mention of intimacy with Zach. “You’re not helping, Gwen.”

She giggled and Karen imagined Gwen tossing her long hair over her shoulder. “I’d apologize but we both know I’m not sorry. Taboo sex is the best sex of all.”

“I haven’t had sex in so long I forgot the mechanics of it.”

They both laughed. “It’s like riding a bike and all that. One never forgets. Though the longer you go without the better it’s likely to be when you’re back in the game. And Michael’s brother is rather sexy.”

“Aren’t you married?”

Gwen couldn’t stop laughing. “And satisfied on more levels than is proper to say into a phone, but we both know your paper marriage has left you frustrated for over a year. And if I’m not mistaken you didn’t have even a one-night anything for months prior to slipping on Michael’s ring.”