"Never."

"Sneaking around. Hidden texts. That's not who you are, and honestly, that's not who I am anymore, either." He sat up. "Just tell her."

Danica turned away so he wouldn't see her blush. She'd never been the one sneaking around before, and she had to admit that it did heighten the intrigue. The clock read 6:15. "s.h.i.t. You gotta go." She pushed him off of the bed and jumped to her feet. Danica grabbed his jeans from the floor and tossed them to him. "Here. Put these on. She'll be here in fifteen minutes, and you can't be here."

"Okay, okay. Sheesh. Use me and toss me away." He stuck out his lower lip in a supreme pout.

"Shut up," she said with a grin. "Just hurry up. The last thing we need is to have a big blowup tonight." Or end up back in bed before she gets here. "I'll tell her when you're not here."

He c.o.c.ked his head and furrowed his dark eyebrows.

"I promise, okay?"

Blake wrapped her in his arms and kissed her hungrily. Danica's mind headed for the clouds. She no longer felt like Danica, Proper Therapist, but rather like a happier version of herself. Danica, Lovesick Woman and Therapist. She would tell Kaylie. There was no way she would mess up their relationship, or whatever it was.

When he finally released her, she was breathless and full of desire.

"Can I come back after she leaves, or do you have a hot date?" he asked.

A knock at the front door pulled Danica from her musing over the possibilities of what later might hold.

"s.h.i.t. She's early." She frantically gathered his shoes and socks and shoved them in his hands. "Take these. Go out the back. Please."

Blake sat on the bed, calm as a lily soaking up sun, a wide grin spread across his stubble-ridden cheeks. "This could be interesting."

"You wish." She grabbed his arm and yanked him to his feet. He came up slowly to his full height, his chest a millimeter from her face. He placed his hands on either side of her face and kissed her again-hard. Then, he planted gentle kisses on her cheeks, forehead, and neck. Danica closed her eyes, taking in the scent of him and the feel of his palms on her face, and relishing in the warmth that spread through her body.

"I'll be back," he whispered.

She snagged a piece of licorice from the bedside table and gnawed on it while watching him walk out onto the balcony. He blew her a kiss and then disappeared down the back steps. Living in a town house has its advantages.

"Danica!" Kaylie pounded on the front door.

Having a sister has its disadvantages.

Danica pulled the door open, and Kaylie breezed by in a skintight, black dress that hugged her curves from the spaghetti straps on her narrow shoulders to the lacy hem that landed mid-thigh.

"What the h.e.l.l, Dan? I was freezing out there." She crossed her arms, fuming at Danica. Her mask of anger fell away and her eyes grew big.

Danica felt her chest and neck flush with heat.

"Oh. My. G.o.d," she said, her arms falling to her sides. "Licorice?" She headed for the stairs.

"Wait, Kaylie!" Danica took the stairs two at a time behind her as Kaylie sprinted toward her bedroom.

"h.e.l.lo?" Kaylie called out in a singsong voice.

Danica caught up to her at her bedroom door, which she had thankfully closed.

Kaylie mouthed, "Who's in there?" and pointed to the door.

"No one." Danica pushed the last bit of licorice into her mouth, chewing too fast to savor the cherry flavor.

"Uh-huh. You only eat licorice after s.e.x. What did you used to call it? The perfect little after-party for your mouth?"

They both laughed. Danica hadn't called it that since she was in college, though she still believed it to be true. Kaylie pushed open the door and they both stood there, waiting for someone to appear. Kaylie stared with wonder as the door moved in slow motion to expose an unmade bed and Danica's bra on the floor. Danica closed her eyes and held her breath.

Kaylie walked into the bedroom. "Well, well, well, which of the three bears was in here?" She spun around to face Danica with a snicker on her lips.

"No one. It's the middle of the afternoon." Danica pulled at her sheets, nervously making the bed. "I just didn't have time to clean up before you came over."

"You can't fool me, sis. I see it in that hazy look in your eyes. s.h.i.t, I can smell s.e.x in this room. Open a window, for G.o.d's sake."

Danica's jaw dropped open.

Kaylie's finger wagged in her face. "Aha! Got ya!" Kaylie roared with laughter. "Who was it? Jonathan? Or, that really hot bartender? Or..."

Danica bit her lower lip and counted to three, mustering the courage to face her sister-and her confession. She gently touched Kaylie's forearm. "Kaylie," she said.

Kaylie silenced and stared at her expectantly.

Silent seconds stretched between them. Danica was about to break her sister's heart and maybe her trust. d.a.m.n, was she? What right did Kaylie have to place dibs on a man, anyway? She could have any guy she wanted. She'd be over Blake in a heartbeat.

"What?" Kaylie looked at the clock and headed for Danica's closet. "Oh s.h.i.t, forget it. I gotta get ready for my gig tonight. Where are those boots?" She crossed the bedroom, pa.s.sing the armchair with the olive-green throw tossed over the back, pa.s.sing the stack of books on the floor, and their grandmother's wooden wall mirror.

Danica gathered courage with every step her sister took. She watched Kaylie bend down to pick up the boots from the closet floor, her thong outlined by the slinky dress. She had to tell her. She couldn't take another minute of knowing her sister wanted her man, and more importantly, she couldn't watch Kaylie throw away someone who loved her for someone she'd never have.

"I'm sleeping with Blake." The words spilled from Danica's mouth.

Kaylie remained in that bent-over position as if she hadn't heard her. Her fingers hovered over the heels she'd been searching for.

"Kay?" Danica waited for her to throw herself at her, yell at her about how she had dibs or some other utterly ridiculous claim she a.s.sumed was viable. Kaylie didn't move. "Kaylie, I'm sorry. I didn't plan it. In fact, I tried not to let it happen." Okay, maybe that wasn't exactly true, but I thought about not letting it happen.

She watched Kaylie's shoulders sag. Danica imagined her closing her eyes, willing away the tears, and it broke her heart. Why did her happiness have to be with someone Kaylie had set her sights on?

Kaylie turned around slowly, leaving the heels on the closet floor. "You slept with Blake?" There was no hurt in her eyes, no cold, hard stare, only the question that came softly from her lips.

"Mm-hmm." s.h.i.t.

"You and Blake?" She walked toward Danica. "s.e.xy, dark-haired, muscular, turned-me-down Blake?" She raised her eyebrows, planting herself inches from Danica.

Danica took a step backward. Kaylie was typically upbeat or angry-but never dead calm. Dead calm rattled Danica's nerves. She grasped at finding the right words. "He...we...it just happ-"

"Just happened. I get it." Kaylie walked around Danica and sat on the edge of the bed. "Well, things happen."

Who are you? "Kaylie? Aren't you mad at me?"

Kaylie shook her head.

"Thank G.o.d." She sat next to her sister. "Because I think I'm really falling for him."

Kaylie turned a thin smile toward her sister. "I'm happy for you."

"Then why are you acting like you're catatonic?"

Tears slipped down Kaylie's cheeks. "Because I'm pregnant."

Danica's jaw dropped. "Pregnant?"

Kaylie nodded.

"But how? Who? Yesterday you were saying that you wanted to hook up with Blake." What the h.e.l.l?

"It's Chaz's." Kaylie stood and paced. "I'm scared, Danica. I don't know what to do. I have been trying to ignore it-hoping it would go away."

"Oh, Kay." Danica went to her and hugged her close. Feeling her sister's sobs against her shoulder brought tears to her eyes. "What are you gonna do?"

Kaylie pushed away and shook her head. "I keep telling myself I need to abort the baby. I can't be a mom. I can't be Mom."

Danica's therapist senses went into overdrive. As she felt that familiar rush of adrenaline, she realized that very soon she'd no longer be playing the role of therapist, and that thought comforted her. "Can't be a mother, or can't be our mother?"

Kaylie sat back down on the bed, covering her face with her hands. "I don't know. I'm scared to death. What if Chaz leaves me like Dad left Mom?"

d.a.m.n it, Dad! "Okay, let's take this apart and figure it out. Do you love him?"

"I do. I really do. I'm just scared to death."

"Okay, that's good." She patted Kaylie's leg. "Wait. Does he know?"

Kaylie nodded. "He asked me to marry him."

"Kaylie, I want you to really think about this, because this is not some game. This is not a decision to take lightly. Whatever you do will impact far too many people to make the wrong choice." Danica breathed in deeply and let it out fast. "Do you love him enough to be with only him...forever?"

"I didn't think I could. That's why I was thinking about seducing Blake. If I'm gonna blow it, might as well blow it with the hottest guy around."

Danica cringed.

"But I realized, as I was getting dressed today and thinking about singing tonight, that-oh yeah, did I tell you Chaz and I are fighting? He won't be at my gig tonight. He wants to get married, but I told him I had to think about it. Anyway, I realized that I don't want to do the gig if he's not there. I don't want to go to bars and pick up guys, but I'm not sure I can be loyal. What if I'm like Dad? What if that's why I've been...like I've been for so long?"

Danica had to be careful. She knew Kaylie was vulnerable enough to follow any direction that Danica pointed her in. Instead, she'd give her the facts and let her sister make the most important, and probably the most painful, decision of her life.

"Kaylie, you're like you are because of Dad, not because you're like Dad."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. You're afraid of commitment, but not incapable of commitment. You're afraid of being blindsided, like Mom was. That's why you try to do it first."

"Oh G.o.d, really? I do that? That's awful."

"No, it's not. It's called self-preservation." She knelt in front of Kaylie, placed her hands on her knees, and looked into her confused and sad eyes. "What does your heart tell you to do? And, Kaylie, you don't have to make a decision today."

"I'm eight weeks pregnant. I have to make a decision soon." She burst into tears and fell sideways on the bed, burying her face in the pillow.

"You have weeks to decide, not seconds. Remember when you were little and you couldn't decide between chocolate and vanilla?" She lay down next to Kaylie, her hand on her back. "Dad told you that you had to choose, and you said-"

"That my heart would choose, but my brain didn't have to," Kaylie said into the pillow. "Follow my heart?"

"Right. What does your heart say?"

"Every time I think about not having this baby, I fall apart. But I'm afraid to love Chaz. I don't think I can stand being hurt like Mom was."

"But do you think you love him?"

Kaylie turned her red-rimmed eyes toward Danica. "I know I love him."

"Yeah?"

Kaylie nodded, swiping at the tears that stained Danica's pillow. "You really don't think I'm like Dad? You don't think I'll wake up one day and not want my family anymore, or find some other guy too attractive to turn down?"

Danica lay on her back and stared up at the ceiling, taking Kaylie's hand in her own. "Have you ever met a man and thought that you couldn't live without bedding him? Or do you bed them because they're there and you're bored, or because you want to bed them before some other girl in the bar does?"

"You sound like a therapist again."

"I know," Danica said quietly. "This time I have to. I want you to think about your answers, and you don't have to tell me. You only have to be honest with yourself." Warmth spread through Danica. She'd watched Kaylie standing at the edge of a precipice for so many years, and now she was finally able to help-if only a little. Now it was all up to Kaylie. She could have her happily ever after if she so desired, and if not, Danica would be there to help her pick up the pieces-like always.

Kaylie put her head on Danica's shoulder.

"No matter what you decide, I'll support your decision."

Chapter Twenty-Eight.

Danica leaned over the kitchen counter, watching Blake eat breakfast. She couldn't believe how much her life had changed and how freeing it was to allow herself to live outside the shadow of her profession. So what if people talked? Who would know he was her client, anyway? As she mulled it over, she realized that she'd already made her decision. What she felt was love-thick, unavoidable, spectacular love. She was going to relinquish her therapy license and find a way to open the youth center she'd always dreamed of. It was time to stop living how other people wanted her to, and, instead, live the life that would make her the happiest. Looking at Blake, she knew she'd made the right decision.

"Aren't you gonna eat anything?" Blake stood and went to her. He wrapped his arms around her and whispered in Danica's ear. "Dr. Snow, I think I might need a private session."

She placed her hand on his unshaven cheek. "I'm not going to be Dr. Snow for much longer. I've decided to open the youth center I've always dreamed of."

"And leave the safety net you've spent so many years constructing?" Blake asked.

"Look at you, all attune to someone else's issues. You must have had a very good therapist." Danica pressed her hips in to his. "It's not just the right thing to do. It's what I want to do. I've just never had the courage to let myself move in that direction before." She kissed his cheek. "See, you've helped me grow as much as I've helped you. Oh gosh. I have to go meet Mich.e.l.le."