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  He gently pulled her arms down. “Damn, those are perfect.”

  He pressed her breasts together with his long fingers and leaned toward her. He breathed lightly on her nipples, causing them to ache. He tickled her left nipple with the very tip of his tongue, and she heard herself groan.

  “Come here,” he said, pulling her onto the bed beside him.

  She lay down beside him and delighted in the masculine hardness of his body next to hers, made more erotic because they were both partially dressed.

  Clark kissed her deeply, moving his tongue with hers in a complicated dance. He broke the kiss then ran his tongue along her neck and between her breasts. There was nothing in the world but the heat of him.

  A wave of exhilaration flooded her and made her dizzy.

  When he took one of her nipples in his mouth, she cried out. He ran his tongue in lazy circles around her nipple while his hand massaged the other breast.

  He made his way down her body, licking, nipping, kissing, all the way to her belly button. He ran his tongue along the top of her garter belt. The desire was so intense it set her teeth on edge.

  “I want you naked. Except for the heels.” He unsnapped the garters and slid her stockings off. Then he unsnapped the belt, leaving only the tiny triangle of black lace of her thong. He licked her through the fabric.

  “Oh, Clark,” she moaned. She was so hot she was turning into liquid. Molten lava.

  He raised her hips and helped her slide the panties down and off then onto the floor. He ran his eyes over every inch of her body. “Exquisite,” he whispered.

  “I want your skin next to mine,” she said.

  “Your wish is my command.” He shucked off his plaid boxers and tossed them to the side.

  His skin was warm against hers. She moved her body in a sensual S, loving the feel of his body next to hers.

  Clark crawled on top of her. She loved the solid weight of him balanced against her hips. He lowered his head to hers and claimed her lips. The kiss made her burn with an intensity she’d never known. She was completely consumed with the soft feel of his lips against hers, and when he deepened the kiss, she thought she might unravel.

  He teased her, tracing the outline of her lips with his tongue. She nipped his bottom lip, causing him to pull away with a throaty laugh. “Mmm, I like it when you play dirty.”

  He worked his way back to her neck…kissing, nibbling, and tasting.

  He trailed his finger between her legs, tracing it along the slickness of her, his touch light as a butterfly’s wing.

  “Inside,” she whispered.

  He obeyed, and she arched her back. He moved his finger in and out in of her slowly at first. Frustrated and wanting more of his touch, she writhed against him, urging him to increase his rhythm. Harder. She wanted more and more of him—all of him. When he sped up the rhythm and tugged at one of her aching nipples, she lost all control. Her body bucked against the ministrations of his finger and she moaned, voicing her exquisite passion. She was floating high above the clouds, in the outer reaches of space. When she finally returned to earth, Clark was propped on an elbow, beside her, looking deeply into her eyes.

  “God, that outfit. I’m pretty sure it’s illegal in North Carolina.”

  “Are you making a citizen’s arrest?” she teased.

  “Not until I make you come again.”

  “I think I’m done.”

  “I say otherwise.” After putting on a condom, he slid inside her and filled her completely.

  Anna locked her hands at the small of his back and arched her hips upward. She wanted all of him. Again and again.

  Clark swiveled slowly at first, rolling his hips from side to side. He gradually increased the rhythm until Anna was on the edge again.

  Her release came shortly after his.

  Afterward, he pulled her into his arms. Both of them were sated and out of breath.

  “I want to do that every night. I love every inch of you,” Clark said.

  Love. Anna’s eyes flew open.

  That wasn’t part of the equation.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The next morning, Clark was already awake when Anna opened her eyes. He stared at the ceiling.

  “Are you okay?” Anna asked, placing her hand on his cheek.

  “Jake is pissed I set up that job interview.”

  “Um,” she mumbled. Her eyes were closed, and a small smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

  “Why are you smiling?”

  “Because you can’t help yourself. You can’t stop meddling.”

  “I was helping.”

  Anna opened her eyes and looked into his. “Sometimes it can be the same thing.”

  “What is he going to accomplish by sitting in his apartment being depressed?”

  “That’s not the point,” Anna answered.

  “What is the point?” He was becoming more frustrated by the second. No one seemed to understand he was only trying to make things better for the people he loved. He was trying to be a responsible man that others looked to as a good advisor, a solid, reliable person.

  “Jake may be in a wheelchair, but he’s still a man who wants to make his own decisions.”

  “You think I don’t know he’s a man?”

  Anna pulled the sheet up to cover her breasts and scooted to the edge of the bed. She sat up and leaned against the headboard. “I think you always think your solutions are best, and while they might look that way to you, they don’t look that way to other people.”

  “I would never steer him wrong.”

  “I know that. So does Jake. But he wants to be the captain of his own ship.”

  Clark looked up at the ceiling. “That job was exactly what he needed.”

  “That’s for him to decide.”

  …

  Clark wasn’t getting it, and Anna was getting frustrated. With Louie at his dad’s, she’d hoped for a little morning session. Since he’d already ruined the mood, she decided to tell him about George dropping the custody motion. “I talked to George yesterday when I dropped off Louie. He’s dropping the custody motion.”

  “You think he’s serious?”

  “I do,” she answered. “I appreciate all you’ve done for us, but I can’t risk losing Louie. If it goes to court, we might win, but then again, we might not. I have to take the sure bet. Calling off the private detective gives me better odds.”

  “George is a better bet?”

  He voiced her deepest anxieties. She had no real reason to trust George and every reason in the world to trust Clark, but her fear of her ex-husband was so strong, and her trust issues rushed to the surface. “I don’t know. The thought of leaving the decision up to Judge Rafferty scares me to death. He’s so prejudiced against me he might side with George regardless of what he told you.”

  Clark propped his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling fan.

  “You have no feelings at all for me? Tell me the truth.”

  Anna tried to look away, but Clark put his hand on the back of her neck and forced her to look into his eyes. “This isn’t the time, Clark, and even if it were, we agreed it would be platonic. That our marriage was nothing more than a way to keep my son.”

  “We’re about a hundred and eighty degrees from platonic, and judging from the way you came, not once but twice, you were totally into it.”

  “I don’t want to talk about this. Not now. I don’t want to ruin what little time we have left. You’re a nice person, and I’ve loved the time we’ve had together, but we both knew going in that it wasn’t a permanent arrangement.”

  “Can’t we change that?”

  She wanted to say yes, tell Clark how she felt about him and see what they could do to make their marriage real, but she couldn’t. She’d lived on the edge too long. Fear and worry had been her constant companions. She needed some time on her own. George had saved her from her parents, and Clark had saved her and Louie from George.

  And no matter how w
onderful the past few months had been, she was still the same Anna.

  Anna needed to save herself for once. “I’m sorry, Clark.”

  …

  A nice person? What the fuck?

  “Nice is the best you can do? Next you’ll be telling me we can still be friends.”

  Anna’s eyes burned with emotion. “I thought it was a compliment.”

  “Not after last night. Nice is helping an old lady cross the street. Nice is holding the door open for someone. Nice is not dressing up in that outfit, making love to me, and then pretending like it doesn’t matter.” His emotions, a mixture of anger and heartbreak, warred inside him. He wanted to punch a wall. But more, he wanted to take Anna into his arms and tell her his truest feelings. Again. But that would be the wrong thing to do. For both of them.

  You don’t deserve her. Or Louie.

  “You’re a wonderful, generous person. Is that better?”

  “No. Not at all. As a matter of fact, it’s even worse.” He’d lost steam, but it still hurt and he couldn’t give up the fight.

  “I’m not looking for long term. You knew that going in.”

  “Things change. People fall…” He stopped himself.

  “I haven’t changed, Clark.”

  “No matter what you may feel for me, you’re not going to let this be anything more than a fling?” He didn’t know why, but it felt better to put the blame on her.

  “I don’t feel anything for you,” she said. She looked everywhere but at him.

  “That’s a lie, and we both know it.”

  After putting on the robe and cinching it tightly at the waist, Anna said, “I’m sorry, Clark. I really am.” She walked out and closed the door.

  What the fuck have I been thinking?

  He’d been foolish to believe Anna was his chance at happiness. She had a way of making him feel like he was enough. That he didn’t have to make everything right all the time. When he was with her, sometimes he forgot the guilt, forgot the black cloud he’d been living under since the accident. Anna was like a drug.

  It wasn’t emotion. It was sex. Pure and simple. The bedroom action had taken his mind off his guilt. It was a distraction that kept him from worrying about Jake all the time. Since Anna and Louie had moved into the cabin, he’d spent very little time with Jake.

  Not only was he a fool, but he was also a shitty friend.

  Anna was right. A relationship between the two of them wasn’t what he needed.

  He needed to finish out the term of this fake marriage and focus on making things right with Jake.

  He’d fixed Anna’s problem. Now he needed to fix his best friend’s.

  …

  Anna was a liar.

  She did have feelings for Clark. Feelings so strong there weren’t words to describe them. Passion. Respect. Admiration. Heat. All mixed together until her whole body felt like a hundred and twenty pounds of raw emotion.

  Anna sank onto her bed and tugged her robe more tightly around her.

  Hurting Clark had never been in the plan. Even if he was meddlesome and a wee bit controlling, he’d done nothing but good things for her and her son. He’d saved Louie from George, given them a nice place to live. Rescued Chewy from the animal shelter. Loved her son.

  The months in the cabin had been the happiest of Anna’s life.

  And as soon as she could pack their things, it would all be over.

  How will I feel when I don’t see Clark on a daily basis? How cold will my bed on Florida Street be?

  She’d get over it. Anna had already faced a lot of really hard things in her life. This was just one more bump in the road. In just a few days, she and Louie would be back in their cozy rental house. Back on a normal schedule. Anna’s job was to raise her son. She didn’t have the luxury of falling in love. Trusting another man with her heart or Louie’s heart. Especially a man who didn’t always tell her everything.

  Someday, when Louie was an adult, she’d have time. Time to go to nursing school. Time to fall in love. It wasn’t that long. Only ten years. Ten long, miserable, cold years. Could she go without affection, sex for that long?

  Clark had opened some secret door deep inside her, turned her into an oversexed fool. She had itches that were going to need scratching. Why couldn’t their relationship just be hot sex? Purely physical?

  Because it wasn’t. In the few months she’d been living with him, she’d begun to have feelings for Clark. Deep ones that almost made her believe in love again.

  No way was she falling into that trap again. Not with him. Not only was love bullshit, plain and utter misery, but she also couldn’t stand the idea of Clark always controlling things behind her back and convincing himself he was doing the best thing for her. So far, it had worked in her favor, but if she did stay with him, eventually the tide would turn and there would be a situation that wouldn’t work to her advantage.

  She had to stand on her own two feet, build the confidence to change her life. She had to show Louie she could do it.

  She was sticking to the original plan. Paying her own bills and raising her son.

  Love was a complication she didn’t need.

  Anna fell back onto the mattress and stared at the lazy circle of the ceiling fan.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Anna and Clark spent the next few weeks barely speaking to each other. There was nothing left to say. She’d moved back into her bedroom, and they merely mumbled when they passed in the hallway or reached for the coffee pot at the same time.

  Clark spent most of his time at his office in town or in the backyard with Louie and Chewy. Her son had become a much better baseball player, and he’d decided to play with his friends in an afterschool league.

  In late September, her landlord called and assured her that all the mold had been cleaned and the interior of the rental house had been repainted. There was no reason to stay.

  The summer had ended, and with Louie back in school, it was easy to pack. Even though they’d been in the cabin for four months, they mainly had clothes, shoes, and toys. Anna found the boxes they’d used to move in and filled them with the things they wouldn’t need for the next several days.

  She planned to have everything moved back in to her rental house by the time she picked Louie up. It should be a moment of pure happiness, but there was anxiety mixed in and a truckload of disappointment.

  She’d made her choice. When Clark asked if they could choose to stay together, she’d shut him down. She tamped down the mixed feelings and focused on how she was going to explain everything to Louie.

  He was going to be upset. Not only were he and Clark closely bonded, he had no idea they’d be moving back to Florida Street so soon. Then there was the problem of Chewy.

  Shit.

  She’d fixed one problem and created two more.

  She took a break from packing and brewed a cup of coffee. Clark was at work. Anna planned on thinking everything through before he got home. She needed a plan. The best plan. The easiest plan.

  After rolling the problems over and over in her mind, she decided the Band-Aid approach was best. Move out as quickly as possible, put the marriage, the cabin, and Clark behind her as fast as possible.

  No time like the present.

  Anna grabbed a new box from Louie’s room and started packing his Matchbox cars. A couple of hours later, she was putting her clothes in a battered suitcase when Clark walked into the bedroom. “Going someplace?”

  She tucked her hands into the pockets of her shorts. “It’s been a while since George dropped the motion, and the landlord called to tell me the house is ready.”

  “It hasn’t been that long since George dropped the motion. It could still look suspicious. Don’t you think you should stay? At least through the end of the year?”

  Anna knew that if she stayed another month, or even another week, her resolve would weaken and she’d never leave. “I wish I could, but I need to be on my own. I need to prove myself to myself.”

&nb
sp; “What does that mean?”

  “When I was a teenager and I didn’t get accepted to nursing school, I ran from my parents and straight to George. When George threatened to take Louie, I ran straight to you. I’ve been living by the skin of my teeth for years, and I’m tired of it. I need to restructure my life so that I can believe in myself.”

  “If George files again, we can’t plan another fake marriage.”

  “I need to learn to face my life on my own, and that includes standing up to people on my own.”

  “You’re afraid I’ll always try to fix things, aren’t you?”

  She didn’t have the heart to answer him. “I’ll never be able to thank you. For everything.”

  He shook his head. “No thanks needed.”

  “I’ll be out first thing in the morning, and you can go back to your regular life.”

  “What about Louie?”

  “It’s probably easier if I just have everything done before he gets home.”

  Clark shook his head. “I’d like to see him before you go, let him spend one more night with Chewy. That’s all I ask.”

  She didn’t trust herself to stay in the cabin a moment longer than necessary. “I can bring him over for a visit.”

  “It’s not the same. Please. One more night here once Louie gets back, and then you can go.”

  For some reason, she couldn’t deny him. “Okay. I’m sure it will be nice for you to get back to peace and quiet.”

  “It hasn’t been so bad.”

  “No, it hasn’t,” she agreed.

  The air between them was supercharged, filled with attraction and regret. Loaded with things neither of them was willing to say.

  “Let me know if I can help. I’m going upstairs to get some work done,” he said from the doorway. “I want to be the one who tells Louie that Chewy is going to have to stay with me when the adventure’s over.”

  “Thank you.” Her voice cracked, and she didn’t trust herself to say another word.

  “My mess, my fix,” he said.

  Anna watched him go and tried to ignore the shattering of her heart into a million pieces.

  …