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There isn’t any world where you can have her.
Claire couldn’t stop herself from reaching out and caressing
Haley’s hair again. She stirred almost immediately, in a lighter
sleep than Claire thought. Her cerulean eyes stared up at Claire
with so much tenderness, kindness, intimacy, and hope, that
Claire had to choke back a sob.
Haley reached for her, but Claire pulled back. Might as well
rip the bandage off now and start putting distance between
them. She never should have started this. She was older. She
was more experienced. She knew it wouldn’t work. She
shouldn’t have let herself think that just because she’d walked
through most of her life purposely asleep that she’d never
wake up and feel anything.
“Claire?” Haley sat up, hauling the sheets up against her
chest. She flushed as she did it, lowering her eyes down to her
hands, but more so because she was probably going through
every detail of their lovemaking in her mind. “Are you going
to kick me out of bed now
and tell me that we can’t do this
again? Because if you’re going to tell me that, then I don’t
want to hear it. You don’t mean it. You can’t mean it.”
The words were another series of blows, each one landing
and finding its brutal mark. Claire jerked back. She tensed,
gathering her courage, shoring up her armor to go to battle.
She slid out of bed. Naked, she walked over to the dresser and
pulled out a silk robe. She wrapped it around herself. It wasn’t
a very good shield, but at least she wasn’t naked anymore.
“I am going to tell you that, because you’re leaving.”
“Leaving?” Haley shot upright. “Leaving to go where?”
Claire turned her back. She was a coward. She couldn’t
