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He wanted to kill the bastard who had hurt her He wanted to wipe away the ot a handle on hi either

THREE

An hour later, Kelly pulled her car into the parking lot of the marina and stared out at the boats lined at the end of the docks The Nauti Boys were all there The Nauti Buoy, Nauti Dawg, and Nauti Dreams She could see Rowdy on the upper deck, dressed in cutoffs, bare chested and looking like a sun god as he straightened and stared out at the parking lot

She had to talk to hi wheel and closed her eyes as she felt her heart thu erratically in her chest Fear or excitee that he was back sent heat rushing through her even as fear shadowed the arousal She was a virgin, but she wasn’t ignorant She knehat the tension between her thighs was, and it was stronger than it had ever been She grabbed her purse before opening the door and stepping out onto the parking lot She looked around, feeling the snaking fear that always followed her when she left the house Squaring her shoulders, Kelly turned and headed toward the docks Her head lifted as her gaze locked on Rowdy He atching her, standing beneath the rays of a sun that lovingly painted his hard,hard, made her aze away, she e of the docks There were half a dozen rows of docking slots on this quarter of the marina They were the least expensive slots, and the farthest away fro’s, and Natches’s boats were in the last three slots, and incidentally where thewas notorious for feeding thehout the day

As she neared the Nauti Buoy, the sliding deck door opened and Rowdy stepped out Dark gold flesh gleaainst the doorway, his thued cutoffs as he watched her

"Permission to come aboard?" A nervous smile trembled on her lips

"Always" His deep voice raced across her nerve endings, sending frissons of heat to lick at her flesh

He moved back into the interior of the houseboat, his lashes lowering over his brilliant eyes as he watched her

Kelly stepped onto the s in her knees as she crossed it and entered the main section of the craft

She had known for four years that when he caood, he would claim her once and for all She had waited for hi dreams and fantasies of ould happen when he came home at last Somehow she had known that would be his last tour, despite his threats to reenlist A year ago, she had felt it Soed in him, the way he watched her, the tension that eether

As it was now She could feel it tightening in and around her body, re her of all the desires and explicit fantasies that had torh the years

"Thirsty?" Heit to pull out a beer and lift it to her in invitation

"No" She shook her head as she pushed her hair from her shoulder and faced him aardly

God, she had no idea what to say to him

He continued to stare back at her intently

"I’hed; she didn’t knohat else to say "It was my fault Ray didn’t tell you what happened"

His lips quirked as he lowered his head, hiding the hurt she knew he ed as he lifted his gaze "Why didn’t you let him?"

She blinked furiously at the tears that threatened to fill her eyes

"You couldn’t do anything" She shrugged heavily "You were a world away, Rowdy You weren’t free I didn’t want you to worry"

He snorted at that "I would have come home, Kelly I could have come home without repercussion"

And that hat had scared here

She breathed in roughly "I’ a therapist and she’s really helped It’s just, soed helplessly "I feel like such a wimp"

And she felt watched Stalked Not that she had told Ray or her mother how she felt Her therapist assured her it was normal, under the circu into the night His eyes darkened as he moved slowly toward her

She stepped back instinctively

"You’re scared to death of me," he said softly

She could hear the dark torment in his voice, see it in his eyes

"I’ of her lips as she stared up at hi as she wanted to

"Then what are you scared of?" He reached out, his fingers running down a long curl that fell over her shoulder "Why are you tre, Kelly?"

"You’ve always made me tremble" She bit her lip at the admission "Now…" She stared back at hi…soet"

His thu her breath with the latent sensuality of his touch

"Are you going to keep running, Kelly?" he asked then "You knew if you told me what happened I’d come home You kneould have never stayed away What couldn’t you handle about that?"

"You couldn’t corowled "I would have found a way back to you, you knew it But you swore my dad to secrecy and, it seems, my cousins as well You were scared of ain, desperate to make him believe her now