The sun was down when Chloe woke up feeling dizzy and disoriented. She stretched, feeling hard muscle against her back and warm breath on her neck.

"Brady?" she said, into the darkness.

"Yeah?"

She was taken aback that he was not only awake, but that he still had his arms around her, holding her close. "What time is it?"

"It's late. You fell asleep," he stated.

"Oh." Her stomached growled.

"Hungry?" Brady disentangled himself from around her body and stood.

"A little."

"I'll go make dinner and then we have to talk."

She eyed him sceptically. "Talk? About what?"

Brady took a deep breath and scratched his head. "About a lot of things."

She sat up, concerned. "Did something happen?"

"We'll talk later."

She nodded, for lack of anything else to do. "Oh...okay. I'm going to have a shower."

"Come down when you're done and we'll eat."

He seemed distant somehow, she couldn't quite place the change.

She got off the bed still trying to get her bearings. She rummaged through some drawers before finding an outfit she liked and then took off into the bathroom.
----

Brady had grilled Salmon steaks and burned them beyond recognition while he daydreamed. He searched the cupboards for something edible and wrinkled his nose when he discovered their flood supply was not as plentiful as he had thought.

Hearing Chloe behind him, he didn't bother to turn when he spoke."We have a problem."

"What?"

"I burned dinner." He guessed his face was probably red. It was funny how silly and immature he could feel when he was around Chloe, like he was still twenty again.

Chloe sat down heavily on the couch, pulling her damp hair back with an elastic. "That's okay, I'm not that hungry anyway. You have my stomach tied up in knots."

Brady finally managed to turn in her direction. "Fine, we'll skip dinner. Let's talk about Philip."

"I don't want to talk about Philip."

"Well, that may be the case, but we're going to talk about him." His eyes were hidden behind his dark lashes, making it hard to read him.

She took a deep breath, crossed her arms under her breasts. "Why? Why can't we just pretend there is no Philip and the past ten years have been one long nightmare."

"Because we'd be lying to ourselves. The truth is you chose Philip and here we are." Brady came across the room and crouched down in front of her, dropping his hands on her thighs, an unconscious action. "Now, are you sure there is nothing else that you can tell me about why Philip would have left?"

She snapped to attention, meeting him squarely in the eye. "What do you mean left? You make it seem like he just packed up his things and walked out. He was kidnapped, Brady."

Brady shook his head, pursed his lips. "No, he wasn't."

"What?"

He stood then, putting distance between them. "Don't play innocent. He left and you know why."

"Why would I know?" The rain began outside. The tropical storm was in the beginning stages.

"You're really going to make me do this? You stay here?" Brady stalked over to his office and rummaged through his drawers until he found the papers he was looking for. Walking back into the living room, he slammed the papers down onto the coffee table. "Maybe you know something about these."

"What is it?" she asked and then slowly picked them up. Her face paled when she read what they were.

"What does it look like?" His voice betrayed nothing. Not anger. Not hurt. Nothing.

Chloe took a deep breath, threw the papers back on the table as if they burned. "Where did you get this?"

"Come on now, you didn't think we'd go through your things?" Brady sat on the coffee table, his knees just brushing her bare ones. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what, that I was planning on divorcing my husband!?" She jolted upright, moved away form him and looked out the tiny window that wasn't boarded up wood. The sky was pitch black except for silver streaks of lightening that occasionally swirled about.

"Yes!"

"It's not that simple."

He came behind her, touching her shoulder. "Then explain it to me."

"I couldn't take it anymore. I needed Philip to be someone he wasn't..." Chloe faced him, his hand still on her shoulder. "I needed him to be you." Her eyes were open, full of hope.

"Why? Why would you want him to be anything like me? I'm the one you walked out on, remember?" He touched her cheek, her soft, peaches and cream skin yielding to his fingers. He stepped back, realizing his actions and again put the space of the room between them.

"I've told you I was scared. You were always who I wanted." There was a long moment of silence. "Brady, the truth is...when I woke up and found him gone, the main thing I felt was...relief." She covered her face with her long delicate fingers and brushed away the shiny tears making her skin not quite matte. "You must think I'm awful."

Brady was silent. From across the room, she could barely see his eyes, but she could feel him watching her. And when the lightning flashed violently through the window behind him, his blue eyes were brought to life and were directed at her.

"Your silence speaks volumes," she announced, shakily trying to reign in her emotions.

"Does it?"

"Well, doesn't it?"

"Oh I see, we're playing the pick apart Chloe game, are we? Okay, so let me make sure I'm keeping score right, you just went," he counted on his index finger. "Hmm so I guess that makes it my turn." His voice was light and teasing to start with but quickly turned deep and sexy. "I used to love to play this, in fact I've been playing it since the night you came to me for help, but the problem now is, I'm tired and hungry and so goddamn horny I think I might take you right here on the living room floor," His lips twitched when her mouth dropped open. She looked as if she would speak, but no words came. Her gaze dropped to his jeans and through the dark she strained to see if he was telling the truth. Brady cleared his throat and wiped the smile from his lips. "And so to prevent that, I think you should go to bed." The words rumbled from his chest sending spikes of desire into her belly. "Come on, we've had a long day. In the morning we can talk some more if you want."

"But I'm not-"

"You've been yawning since came down, and that's probably what resulted in our little heart to heart here, so stop lying. Now go on into the bedroom and go to sleep."

"What about you?"

"I'll be fine."

"Are you sure, because the bed's big enough for the tw-"

Brady shook his head, a playful smirk on his lips. "Chloe, did you not just hear what I said?"

"Going."

"Good."

"There's just-"

"Chloe." He warned.

"Okay, I'll go to bed, but I'm just saying if that couch gets uncomfortable at any point during the night, my offer stands."

"I'll keep that in mind." He laughed.

_______

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to write more. Is anyone still reading? lol