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There’s no way either of us would sleep.

At some point he’d kiss me, or I’d kiss him. I’d take my shirt off. Maybe I’d slide a hand into the top of his waistband to see if he was hard. He would be. His hands would slide too. Down between my legs, fingers searching. He’d pull my pants down—

I had to shake myself out of it. Going over there was not within the realm of practical things today. But God I really wanted to.

I really, really wanted to.

And the weird thing was, I didn’t want to go over there for the same reason I usually met a man late at night. I mean yes, I wanted that too. But I wanted to see him. Talk to him. Just be around him, even if all we did was sleep.

I had never felt like that before.

Something about it scared me. Gave me the urge to pull back, like a hand jerking away from a hot stove. Something told me I should think more on that. Try to figure out why liking him made me nervous, made me feel like something was wrong. Maybe because I knew liking him was pointless? But for now I put it in the same place I put Mom. I’d think about it later.

I cleared my throat. “Where’s the dog?” I asked, changing the subject.

He sat up and reached for something off-screen. Then Brad’s frown took up the camera.

I grinned. “Hi, Brad.”

The dog scowled into the phone.

Justin set him back off to the side and stayed propped against the headboard. “Did you eat your lunch?”

“Yes, it was amazing. Huge, but amazing.”

“You work twelve hours. I wanted to make sure you had enough snacks so you don’t get crabby.”

“Ha. The Go-Gurt was a nice touch.”

“I’ll send you a lunch survey next time so you can pick your sides.” He put a muscular arm behind his head and smiled into the camera. “I want to be clear on your lunch expectations.”

“I like clear expectations,” I said, distractedly, also liking the view.

“Are mine clear?” he asked. “That I want you to come over?”

I laughed. “Yes, you’ve been very clear about that.”

“Good.” He paused. “You are the only thing in my life making me happy right now. And I’m not the least bit afraid to tell you that.”

I gazed at him through the phone.

“You know what?” I said. “I will go over there.”

His face broke into a grin. “Tonight?”

I was already getting up. “Yeah. I’ll have to be back in the morning, but—” Thunder cracked overhead and I froze.

“Was that thunder?” he asked. But before I could answer, another rumbling shook the house and the rain started.

I opened the curtain to my window and looked out. “Ugh. It’s pouring.” The lake would be choppy and dark, docking would be a nightmare to do alone. “I can’t take the boat in this.” I was instantly disappointed. God, I hated this island.

“It’s okay,” he said. “It would have been nice, but…”

“But what?” I flopped back onto the bed.

“Well, the bed’s a little crowded anyway.” He panned over, and Chelsea was sleeping next to him on top of his comforter, curled up in her Frozen blanket. I laughed and he brought the camera back to him.

“Just know that I wish you were here,” he said.