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Cate didn’t let herself think about the future. It hurt too much.
“I’m sorry I made us wait,” she whispered. “I was afraid.”
He pulled back. “Afraid?”
She was glad he couldn’t see her face in the dark. “I didn’t want to feel this way. I didn’t want to care about you, Harry.”
Gently, he rearranged their bodies, still connected, until Cate was beneath him. “Don’t be afraid, Catie-girl.” He kissed her lips gently, as if the storm had passed. But this was only the eye of the hurricane.
Slowly, he moved in her. Claiming. Possessing. All the while he murmured to her. Soft, nonsensical words crooned in his low, sexy voice.
Her body climbed slowly now. As if fearful of the fall on the other side. She didn’t want to feel. She didn’t want to yearn. She didn’t want to love.
Love hurt. She knew that well.
But Harry wouldn’t allow her to keep even a piece of herself. He took her as if she was his to take. He made her cry out his name again and again as she wrapped her legs around his waist.
Then his control snapped, and he thrust like a madman. Hard and fast and wild. Stealing her heart, her body, her will.
Gasping for breath, Cate clung to him in the end, unwilling to admit what she knew deep in her gut.
If she didn’t say the words, even to herself, she might survive.
When it was over, neither of them stirred. The scent of ripe peaches hung in the air. That distinct aroma would forever remind her of this moment, whether she coveted the memory or ran from it.
She stroked Harry’s shoulders and slid her fingers through his hair. He hadn’t said a word since he...finished. What was he thinking?
The night was dark, the shadows deep. While they stayed in this orchard, everything was okay. Just the two of them. Alone together.
His body on hers was a welcome weight. It told her this moment was real. No matter what happened in the days and weeks ahead, this experience, this connection was real.
But nothing lasts forever, whether good or bad.
Harry rolled to one side and wiped his hands over his face. “What did you do to me, Catie-girl? When I get within ten feet of you, I feel as desperate as I did when I was eighteen.”
Cate didn’t know how to answer that. So she didn’t. Besides, the question was rhetorical. It was meant as a compliment...probably.
She reached for her top and pulled it over her head. As she did, her fingers brushed the chain with the flower. Once she and Harry were no longer together, she wouldn’t be able to wear it again.
To remember this day—this night—would be too painful.
Harry located his shirt and her shoes. Cate didn’t even remember kicking them off, but she must have.
She was glad of the dark. She felt raw and uncertain.
These moments with Harry had rocked her world. What a silly cliché. But now she understood what it meant.
Whether he felt anything more than physical release was a moot point.
Prescott Harrington didn’t want a woman in his life.
By the light of the flashlight on his phone, they made their way back to the car. When Cate’s stomach growled audibly, Harry chuckled. “You want drive-through Peach-ariaon the way home?”
“Yes, please.” Though it felt like the middle of the night, her watch said it was not even eleven. The pizza place stayed open until midnight on the weekends. They always had single servings of cheese or pepperoni available at the window. Cate asked for two slices of plain. Harry ordered three of the other along with a couple of Cokes.
They sat in the parking lot to eat the greasy food. A security light provided enough illumination that it might as well have been daytime.
When he finished his meal—second dinner as he called it—Harry sighed. “We’re sleeping apart tonight, aren’t we?”
