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Josh pressed his lips together and a ripple of tension moved down his arms. The muscles in his forearms looked ready to jump into action.
“It makes me want to hit something too,” she said. “But you’re right. Looking back won’t help me get my life back on track. If he had been sitting around drunk and feeling sorry for himself in the middle of the morning, that wouldn’t have erased the past.”
“Nothing will,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t look ahead and try to rebuild your life.”
“And if I can’t?” she whispered, hating the hollow sound of fear in her soft words.
He reached over and took her hand. “I wonder that same thing all the time. I survived a week in a coma and lived. I lost my memory and got it back. Life gave me another shot. What if it amounts to nothing? What if I waste it?”
“You have a plan,” she pointed out. “The big house on a nice piece of land.”
“I do. And it’s a good one.” He reached over and took her hand, interlacing his fingers with hers. “But if I had to choose between eating cold fries out here on the beach with you and the vision of domestic bliss I’ve mapped out in my imagination, I’d stay right here.”
“Josh,” she murmured.
He offered her a smile. “I’d rather have another date with you.”
I believe you and your cocky, too-charming grin. I’m halfway in love with it. . .
If she let herself walk into the future and claim Josh Summers, she just might fall for him completely.
But loving Josh didn’t cancel out her past. And it wouldn’t change the fact that she was still being hunted. Not by Dustin. No, today had made that crystal clear. Dustin wasn’t biding his time until he could seek his revenge.
She was being hounded by her own choices—to run, to hide, and to live in fear of taking another shot at a life. It was time to make better decisions. And it was time to listen to her heart instead of giving her fear free rein.
He gave her hand a squeeze. “This doesn’t have to be date. We could swap foot rubs on the beach instead of back massages and then go to our separate rooms.”
“Is that what you want?” she asked. If she pushed past her reservations, if she listened to her desire, she wanted a fourth date. But maybe today—and seeing the man who’d raped her—had shaken him. What had happened in Afghanistan had always been very real to her. Maybe today had shifted her past from a word or concept into a tangible thing for him too. “You would rather have me rub your feet instead of—”
“No,” he said firmly. But he pulled his hand free from hers. He ran his fingers through his red curls. “That’s not it, Caroline. There isn’t a part of my body that I don’t want you to touch.”
She leaned back and rested her palms on the sand. “If you think I won’t take you up on that offer,” she said in a no-nonsense tone, “then I’m afraid I’m going to insist on another date.”
His smile faded, but he kept his gaze fixed on her, his expression open and sincere. “Caroline, I need you to go to bed with me because you want me. If tonight, after our adventure today, you’re looking for a way to move on, then we’ll wait.”
Relief rushed in. She tipped her chin to her chest and grinned. Josh held tight to what he needed. No guessing. No games. Now it was her turn.
“When I was touching you last night, the feel of your shoulder blades turned me on.” She looked up at him. “You sat in a hospital for month, yet now every inch of you is perfect. And don’t tell me it’s from baking.”
“I spend most days holding a chainsaw, not a spatula,” he pointed out, a hint of his smile returning.
“I felt the strength in your muscles and I wasn’t afraid you would overpower me—”
“Never,” he said firmly.
“I know.” She sat up, pulling her hands free from the sand. And she reached for him. Her fingers brushed the coarse stubble on his cheeks. He hadn’t bothered to shave this morning. Now he looked a little rough and so sexy she wondered for a moment why he’d stayed. He’d waited a long time for her. And he was willing to keep their relationship out of the bedroom a while longer.
She searched for the right words. “You feel good. All of you. Your shoulders, your lower back, your kisses . . .” She leaned close and pressed her lips to his. Fighting the urge to linger and explore, she drew back. “And your company. You feel right and good. And I’m not saying this to seduce you—”
“Just to boost my ego?” he said.
“Just take me at my word,” she murmured. “You feel like an impending orgasm.”
CAROLINE HAD NEVER lied to him. Not even that first night when he’d found her camped out. Sure, she’d withheld details. But that just proved she wasn’t stupid. No one shared their life story, their personal tragedies, or even their last name, with a stranger they met in the woods.
So if she said touching him, hell, even sharing the same section of beach with him, pushed her close to the big O,
he believed her.
