Insatiable by Opal Carew

their problems, let alone try to work through them, and when she’d tried to discuss them, he’d called her a nag.
    He’d even suggested that her attraction to Brent had led to the eventual breakup of their marriage. But that couldn’t be. She’d never acted on that attraction. She’d never even known Gary had noticed it. But obviously she’d been wrong about that.
    Now she found herself in the same situation, even though she’d done everything she could to avoid it. But, damn it, it wasn’t her fault. She hadn’t done anything wrong.
    Except that she’d kissed Evan—passionately—and less than an hour before she was to walk down the aisle. She drew her shoulders back. But it was Brent who’d walked away.
    “Crystal, that’s not fair.”
    “Really? Why not?”
    Brent stared back at her but said nothing. Her heart thundered in her chest as the silence hung between them.
    “Crystal, I love you. And I still want to marry you. The fact that I’m here should tell you that I am willing to fight for our relationship. That’s why I flew across a continent to find you.” He walked toward her, then stood in front of her, gazing into her eyes. “Do you still love me?”
    “I…” Her chest tightened. “Of course I do.”
    “Then tell me you’ll marry me.”
    She shook her head. “I … can’t. You just waltz back here and tell me I should forget everything that’s happened since Saturday—since … our wedding day—and expect me to just marry you, despite the fact that you left me at the altar?”
    “But if you still love me…”
    She shook her head, then stood up and started pacing again. “I need time.” Her hands clenched at her sides. “I need to think.”
    She strode down the hall and went into the bedroom, then closed the door behind her. Thoughts and emotions collided within her as she walked to the window and gazed out over the ocean, then took a deep breath.
    *   *   *
    Evan watched Crystal stride away, then turned his gaze back to Brent to find himself staring into the piercing brown eyes of his friend. Or rather ex-friend, from the look on Brent’s face.
    “How the hell could you do this to me? I thought you were my friend.”
    Evan felt as though he’d been kicked in the gut. “I am.”
    Brent’s fists clenched. “You have a fucking lousy way of showing it.”
    “I’m sorry about the way this worked out. I really am.”
    “Why don’t I believe you? You stole Crystal from me right before our wedding. Now she’s here with you on the honeymoon. It seems to have worked out pretty well for you.”
    “She’s only here with me because you didn’t show up for the wedding,” Evan shot back.
    Brent took a step toward Evan, his eyes blazing. “I didn’t show up for the wedding because I believed she’d already decided to run off with you .”
    Evan sucked in a deep breath, realizing this was only making things worse. He took a step back and held up his hands. “Brent, look, we both made some mistakes.”
    “So you admit you made a mistake?”
    “Only in waiting so long to tell Crystal how I felt about her.”
    Brent glared at him. “Some fucking friend you are.”
    “Just hear me out.” Evan leaned against the back of the couch. “I’ve had feelings for Crystal for a long time, but I suppressed them. She was your woman.”
    “Damn right. So why the hell did you change your mind?”
    “Mainly because those initial feelings of attraction turned into something deeper, until I finally realized I was in love with her.” He wiped his clammy hands on his shorts. “If you two got married, I knew I could never keep being friends with you, feeling about her the way I do. It would be too difficult. I also started wondering if maybe she had feelings for me. I thought I’d sensed something between us.”
    “Fuck, did you hit on Crystal before?”
    Evan shook his head. “No, nothing like that, but occasionally I’d see her looking at me and … I don’t know, it just