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“Your editor gave you a thirty-day extension?” Liam asks while he sits next to me. He’s on his iPad while I’m on my laptop. We’re outside in the backyard, a space I haven’t been able to use because Harper claimed it as hers. But she’s been back with Heath for the past three weeks, so I unstacked the patio furniture and brought out the cushions.

Tonight, you can hear the slight roaring of the jets as they do their night flights. Off to the right of my condo, the dark sky brightens slightly with the lights of the base. The air is crisp with a hint of fire from the neighboring units’ fireplaces. I love the smell of a fire burning. I’m envious of the few condos that have real wood burning fireplaces instead of the electric one that I have.

“Yes. She wasn’t happy about it, but since I had one book done and to her, she gave it to me.” He tries to look at my screen, but I pull it back, almost closing it.

“What are you working on now?”

“You’re not reading it.”

He laughs. “Do you really think I haven’t read your books?”

I purse my lips. “Well, I was hoping.”

“Well, you’d be wrong.” He gives me a wink.

Placing my laptop on the table, I lean back. “Well, what did you think?”

“To be honest, they’re not my normal cup of tea. I’m more of a military read type of guy, but they were entertaining.”

I rotate so I’m facing him. “What do you mean entertaining?”

“Nothing bad, but there are some things I feel aren’t accurate, especially when it comes to the male anatomy.”

“I don’t understand?”

“Our dicks don’t stir. They aren’t straws. They especially don’t twitch.”

“It’s an expression.”

“But it’s not accurate, that’s all I’m saying.”

“What do your dicks do?”

“Other than fill with blood to become hard when the moment is right, nothing really. Just about everything you describe that happens in a man’s pants really happens in his mind.”

I adjust myself on the cushion. “Interesting.”

“When we see a woman, the first thoughts are usually how she may look naked. Remember, we’re visual creatures.” He taps the temple of his head. “We want to know what her body looks like. How deep the curve of her waist goes until it meets her hips.” His voice goes deep, sensual and it’s totally messing with my head. “And we wonder if her breasts look just as good out of the bra as they do in the bra. Are your” he clears his throat, “sorry–I mean are her nipples large, small, are they dark pink, or a dusty rose?”

“All right.”

He scoots closer to me, his eyes on my lips, making my stomach dip. “And her lips…” His voice becomes hoarse. “No matter if they’re plump, or thin, we always, always want to know what they feel like against ours. If our fingers can sink into the flesh of her hips as we lose ourselves–”

He slams his lips to mine, and my eyes widen in shock. His lips move against mine, but I totally freeze and my body becomes stiff. As fast as Liam’s lips touch mine, he pulls away.

He squeezes his eyes tight. “Shit,” he grits. “I’m sorry, Whitney.” He scoots away from me. “I–I don’t know what came over me.” He stands up, pacing as he wipes his thumb and forefinger over his lips. “I can’t believe I did that.” He plops back down in the seat next to me. “That was a total rookie move.”

I clear my throat, finally finding my voice. “Yeah, it was.”

“Did you at least feel something?” When I finally bring myself to face him, he’s biting his lip. He’s nervous. “Like nothing?” He gets up and starts to pace.

“Liam, I’m sorry. It’s never been like that. You had to have known that, right? I mean we’ve talked, you’ve listened to everything I’ve been going through. I thought you understood.”

“No. I understand. I’ve totally been placed in the friend zone.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I’m not sure if you ever left the friend zone.”

He places his hands over his heart. “You’re killing me.”

“I’m sorry. Really I didn’t–” I’m cut off by my phone ringing. Looking at the screen, I see that it’s Alice, Heath’s secretary calling. “Hey, Alice,” I answer as I stand, walking away from Liam.

“Whitney,” she sounds upset. “I had to call 911.” I hear a sob.

The world starts to dip, my heart races. “What?”

“He collapsed in his office. Heath, I mean. I don’t know what happened. I heard a crash. H-He was on the floor. I called 911. We’re at Memorial. You need to hurry.” The line goes dead.

Before I know it, Liam’s beside me, and I’m gripping onto him. My knees go weak, and my body starts to shake. “It’s Heath,” I choke as tears fall from my eyes. “He collapsed. I–I need to get to the hospital.”