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"So do you live nearby?" he asked nonchalantly

"Um…" She didn’t real y want to share personal infor , by the way"

"If you’d rather go--"

"I didn’t say that"

He set the soap aside, wrapped his arainst hers "Quiet is nice sometimes"

She supposed his life would be consistently loud So he wanted to talk quietly and cuddle She shouldn’t complain She could wait a of couplespecial?" She trailed a finger down his hard-muscled arm and the intricate, colorful artwork there

"Some of them" He lifted his left arm out of the water and showed her an elaborate display of bloody roses around the name Kara on the inside of his forearm

"Old girlfriend?" she asked, tracing the letter K with her fingertip

"My little sister She died in a car accident when she was sixteen"

Myrna glanced up at hi the raw pain on his face "I’m sorry, Brian That’s horrible"

"It happened alo You’d think I’d be able to bury it by now"

"She was your little sister You thought you could always protect her"

He sed, not wanting to slip back into psychology professor er sisters Both pains in my ass"

"Kara was a pain in the ass, too" He chuckled "I stil miss her"

Did he alear his heart on his sleeve? He o," he said, "where are you from?"

"Missouri"

"Saint Louis?"

"Does itto know me, do you?"

She’d promised Trey she wouldn’t hurt him She just wished it were harder to do She knew this relationship could never resenificant He was a rock star on tour She was a professor with a deinal y I went to col ege in Columbia, Missouri Grad school in Saint Louis I’m in Kansas City now"

"So you’re not too far frorinned "Cliché"

"They warned you that I was a rolance up at hishel s, Myr If I’h to fal in love with you in twelve hours, I deserve to have my heart broken"

"I don’t intend to break anyone’s heart"