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Strong

And she knew froo experience that he would be warm to the touch And oh how she wanted to touch She wanted that more than she wanted her next breath of fresh air--and that scared her to death

But Adaood because she didn’t think she could resist him

The wind kicked up and the tee ahead, and she nodded Hopefully, they’d find her dad there and be on their way houst hit the why they were stopped, wasting valuable daylight "The road ends here?"

"Only if you don’t knohere you’re going" He gestured with his chin to what appeared to be a wall of woods "You can pick it up about a hundred yards north"

She was going to have to take his word on that He got out of the vehicle and ot back behind the wheel and turned to her "So, tell ain why you’ve pretended to be married this whole ti?"

"Nothing, actually Answer the question"

She sighed "I didn’t pretend Everyone just…assumed"

"And by everyone," he said, "youto talk about this "Neither of theuy is," Adam pointed out "But what does emotion have to do with it? You say, ‘Hey, Dad, Grif, my husband left me--’"

"I never said Derek leftout, Adalasses She really wanted to do the same to hi to look into his see-all gaze She blinked a few tier raining It was too cold to rain

Adam waited patiently

So did Milo, head cocked as if he was intently following this conversation Well, probably intently was too strong a word since he appeared to be s

"No Derek didn’t leave an to drift down Lazy Slow Fluttering through the air like forgotten hopes and dreae was no good" She pushed her quickly frizzing hair back froreat" She reached up to try and contain her hair No luck

Ada a tendril of ard hair behind her ear His fingers lingered, stroking gently over her te her jaw "He hurt you, Holly?"

A rich question, especially coer proble at his touch Much too attracted to hier zone

Actually, she’d have to be on the other side of the planet to leave the danger zone that was Ada do "Not in the way you think"

His eyes never left hers "What happened?"

Oh no Not going there Not with hi so Chatty Cathy," she said, "let’s talk about you You never answered ht--why did you come back to Sunshine?"

"I live here," he said simply "My brothers are here My friends and business--"

"Are all here Yeah, yeah," she finished for hi her best to keep the hurt out of her voice "But you said you weren’t going to co back to us"

A direct hit, and she did her best not to fall out of the Ranger because that would have been eh "I see," she riet us there, please?" She turned away froht of his stare, but then he finally put the ATV in gear and drove straight into the woods

Adale-minded purpose so he wouldn’t think about the wo production out of staring into the quickly thickening forest around theeous a confusion and hurt

His fault, of course "Holly"

She pretended not to hear hi his hat, and she looked adorable Adorably hot…

Not going there, Connelly

Shaking his head, he drove on, clearing his thoughts He’d been taught how to do this in counseling for the ti shit he didn’t want to replay but couldn’t stop The technique was to start low, in the toes He wriggled thehts to the arch of his foot Then his heel He went on to purposely and carefully categorize his entire body and, in doing so, prevented his brain frohts

He was at his own dick when he caught sight of Holly’s expression Pale Solemn

Unhappy

It orry, he assured himself Worry for Donald

And it was also because he was an asshole

He argued with hier "Holly"

She was still pretending he didn’t exist, and doing a fine job of it, too, so he cupped her jaw and turned her to face him

Her eyes flashed at that Yeah, she was pissed off, too, and suddenly, the interior of the Ranger felt a little tight Especially since Milo was leaning forward, blowing doggy breath on the for Adaed, but he lay down

"Holly, look at aze and he was immediately slammed by her beautiful blue eyes

"It wasn’t you," he said, voice soft "It was ood-bye It wasn’t you, it washt now?" She leaned away fros at him "Should I feed you your next line, or do you know it?"

He scowled "It wasn’t a line"

"Oh yes, it was And not a very good one Line Nu term relationship’"

Adam couldn’t believe he’d been drawn into this conversation, or that he was even here "I wasn’t ready for a long-term relationship"

"Oh my God" She turned away