Free Bad Behavior by Jennifer Lane

years ago! David just had this suave, older-man thing going on—”
    “How old is he?”
    “Almost fifty, I think.”
    Grant’s jaw dropped. He didn’t want to ask his next question but knew he must. “Do you still like him?”
    “No!” She watched his expression carefully. “What are you thinking? Do you think I’m an awful person?”
    “No.” His response was just as emphatic. “I’m just trying to wrap my mind around how a woman as beautiful as you would be attracted to these losers.”
    His compliment made tears prickle at the back of her eyes, and she didn’t trust herself to speak.
    Hunter jumped in. “That’s exactly my question, Grant. Do you want to share the insights you’ve learned about your dating life, Sophie?”
    She nodded and took a deep breath. “Hunter and I talked about the losers I’ve dated—” she aimed a small smile at Grant “—well, except for you, of course, and we figured out that I chose bad boys and older men to try to get back at my father. He’s never approved of me, and I wanted to show him I didn’t need his approval by deliberately picking partners he would hate. It’s sick, really.” She shrugged her shoulders in defeat.
    “Hmm,” Hunter broke in. “Seems like both of your families have had a negative influence on your dating lives. Grant didn’t allow women to get close for fear they’d reject him because of his family, and Sophie intentionally chose partners so she could keep getting rejected by her family.”
    “Whoa.” Grant sat still, absorbing Hunter’s words. He gazed into Sophie’s luminous brown eyes and found a deeper connection than before, if that was possible. Maybe this therapy thing wasn’t so bad.
    After a few moments of silence, Grant pressed on. “So, um, if nothing happened with Dr. Alton, what about after him? Were you with other men?”
    Sophie suddenly seized up with fear. She’d been dreading this conversation for quite some time, and she had no idea how to begin answering his question. Her face felt hot, and she couldn’t look at Grant.
    “Hey,” he said gently, taking her hand in his and stroking her forearm soothingly. “What’s wrong, Sophie?”
    “Please,” she choked out, still gazing down. “Please don’t make me tell you about Logan.”
    Grant abruptly dropped her hand and flinched away from her. “Logan?” he rasped. Damn it! How had he forgotten Sophie kissed his brother? He shook his head, trying to get that image out of his mind.
    Sophie was shaking her head too, and tears threatened to erupt. “I can’t see what good can come of this,” she murmured, glancing at Hunter and stealing a peek at Grant. “I can’t see what good can come from telling you I slept with your brother.”
    Grant gasped. “You had sex with Logan?”
    Her head snapped up. “I thought you knew!” Her eyes widened as his face went pale. “I told you I behaved inappropriately with a client, remember?”
    “You said you kissed him!” Grant roared, scooting farther away from her on the sofa.
    Hunter felt his chest tighten as he watched the horrible scene unfold.
    “I said I kissed him, and I…I did some other things too,” she admitted, stinging tears now cascading down her face. She didn’t want to hurt Grant—God, she didn’t want to hurt him any more! His family had hurt him far enough.
    “I was so ashamed,” she cried. “I couldn’t tell you what we’d done, but I thought you’d figured it out.”
    Grant took his head in his hands, anguished. Unable to contain himself, he popped off the sofa and began pacing around the room, feeling restless energy and a building pressure in his head that threatened to overwhelm him. He’d buried Logan! And now his brother felt very much alive again; his brother was still here to ruin his life. Logan’s palpable presence in the room was immensely disturbing.
    Finally, standing by the aquarium set into the wall, his back turned to both psychologists, Grant whispered,