Page 13 (1/2)

She honestly hadn’t believed anyone could understand what it had been like, but with a feords, he showed her that he got it

"Tell ently

She hesitated, then the words ca to the dressing roorabbed me I didn’t have time to scream They put tape on my mouth and tied my hands behind me, then threw me in the back of a van"

She didn’t want to talk about it, she told herself, but she couldn’t stop the words fro hi About the van and how dirty it was, how she’d tried to get to her panic button but couldn’t About the warehouse and being tied to the chair and scared, so scared, they were going to kill her

"I tried to get away," she said "But there was nowhere to go, and the chair didn’t s easy Then I tried to stay cal to throw up, and I didn’t want that Then the guy in charge showed up He looked at me and he said--"

She stopped in the middle of the path Suddenly it was too hard to hold on to her pencils and sketch pad They dropped to the ground She rubbed at her still-healing wrists and wished away the rest of the pain

"What?" Joe asked, his voice entle than she’d ever heard it before "What did he say?"

Oh, God Tears burned Weak, stupid tears She would not give in Not now

"I--He said that I wasn’t the one they wanted" She sulared at him "There Are you happy? He said not this one No one cares about this one I was a mistake Then they tookdock, and drove away"

Jesus Joe didn’t knohat to say to that What could anyone say? Darcy stared at hiry, but it was a thin veneer that could crack at any time, and he sure didn’t want to be around when it did

Before he could figure out how to respond, she started talking again

"I love"Lauren is my best friend She understandsis…the very worst thing is, sometimes I hate her" More tears filled Darcy’s eyes "I hate her because I’m weak and small and jealous And then I feel so horrible, because I want to be like her and I don’t kno and everyone loves her best I’m jealous of my own sister What does that say about me? What?"

The last word came on a sob Joe felt both trapped and deeply inadequate to the task What was it about a crying woman that reduced most men to cowards? He wanted to bolt, but he couldn’t, so he did the only thing that made sense to him He pulled her close and kissed her

The shock of Joe’s lips on hers was enough to stop Darcy’s tears One second she’d been in an uncontrolled free fall of self-loathing, and the next she was pressed against a man made entirely of rock, his arms around her body and his mouth very much on hers

She couldn’t think, couldn’t speak; she could only react, tilting her head slightly so he could kiss her ood

His lips were an i and firht a all the hard edges and drying her tears She raised her hands to his shoulders and allowed herself to be swept away by the soft pressure

He didn’t deepen the kiss, but she was okay with that It had been a long tiotten what it felt like to feel the first fluttering of desire low in her belly Her breasts went from simply a sticky-out part of her body to exquisitely sensitive, and her legs actually got weak

When he stepped back, she didn’t knohat to say Embarrassment battled with self-preservation When in doubt, be a bitch But before she could say anything to shatter thedark and powerful in his eyes

Need

He hadn’t just kissed her to stop her crying He’d kissed her because he’d wanted to The revelation kept herpossibilities

"Hell," he reement Talk about a complication

"I’m--" He shook his head, as if not sure what to say Then he turned on his heel and walked away

Darcy watched hirove of trees they’d been heading for in the first place, she picked up her sketch book and pencils and started for the house Around her, theup to the winery

What on earth had just happened? She’d spilled her guts to Joe, and then he’d kissed her Even , she’d felt it She couldn’t ree sexually The few physical relationships she’d had in her past had all ended badly It had seeain

But noith Joe, she found herself anticipating the next time she would see hiet over it Besides, she would have the thrill of knowing he’d wanted to kiss her Which ood day

Joe avoided the house for the next couple of hours, but he knew he couldn’t stay away forever What the hell had he been thinking? Talk about letting the little head run his life Darcy was supposed to be under his protection, not in his ar for ways to screw up his career ood way to do it

Angry with hi, and the world in general because he was stuck here, he stalked into the house and found Brenna sitting in the kitchen She had a plate of pasta in front of her and several slices of bread next to her glass of ," she said cheerfully when she saw hilanced at the clock It was barely ten-thirty

She followed his gaze "Hey, I’et coffee," she ordered when he started toward the pot

"What? If you can’t have any, no one else gets to?" he asked as he poured hireat, isn’t it?"

He took a long, slow drink "Not bad"