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"Courtney?"

She folded her arms to ward off the sudden chill and focused her attention back on Cat "Sorry, as the question?"

"Anything else about your sexual history that he should know?"

Sheher head "Nope Nothing"

Her friend looked at her like she’d spoken in tongues "Uhet you shared with et to O-ville? Surely that’s worth "

"It’s pretty personal…"

"As opposed to telling hiain--"pony play?"

She had her there "Well, that’s a specific question and has a specific answer Besides," Courtney added with a sniff, "it would put too much pressure on him to re-create the miracle I don’t want to ain when this is an issue I had long before hih to uess herself, but the idea of Rafe knowing that he was the first guy to ring her bell made her about break out in hives

"I’ood so far, then Oh! We forgot to fill out nus were on dog leashes again?"

Courtney groaned and slumped forward to rest her head on the cool Forh and called to the waitress

"Can you grab us two coffees? Andto be a while"

…

Nine days

Courtney blew the lock of hair obscuring her vision froing days without a single word fro, anticipating, planning…

She’d filled out the survey about hard lied iven him a key to her house once they’d put a system in place to let hiiven day All that, and then?

Nada

It was like Indecent Proposal without any of the indecency Granted, she’d balked at soeous stuff on the questionnaire, but there was plenty left on the table to ith, and he’d seemed more than satisfied at her sense of adventure Still, h for him…

Whatever She refused to let it shake her confidence He probably decided--ht about it--that this whole thing was a terrible idea and had opted out Fine But it would’ve been nice if he’d given her a call so she could stop thinking that he’d let hie her every tiht

Which reet her key back for her If things had been aard before, they’d be more so now that he’d stood her up Besides, Cat owed her one

She adjusted her seat belt and toyed with the radio, turning back on her Rosetta Stone practice CD It had been her lifelong dream to retire at fifty-five and travel the world, and she was hell-bent on speaking at least seven languages by that tih Spanish to eke by--especially if toilets or food were involved--and had just started on French No as she letting All Talk, No Action Rafe ruin her day or her retirement plans

After yet another hellish forty hours at work courtesy of her new supervisor, who clearly had decided thather life miserable was priority number one, she needed a break from the shit that had been her week It was a beautiful suht and she was exactly three e where she planned to spend a relaxing weekend by the lake She’d been thrilled when Cat hada little guilty for her part in this mess Who was she to snub the offer if it made her friend feel better?

She rolled the n and cranked up her French lesson, letting the war a crap

"La boulangerie," the disembodied voice blared froetting her Pepé Le Pew on, et that authentic sound working It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible

She’d just turned down the dark, winding road that also acted as the Tho how to order a coffee when a noise broke her concentration An ahts flashed in her rearview roaned Cops

"Sacre bleu!"

It was like she had the worst luck in the world in this town First a flat and now this She pulled to the side, glad that this tiet entirely off the road Then she turned off the radio and started digging in her glove co? Or ht blinded her, and she covered her eyes, squinting

"Jeez, , that thing’s pretty powerful What’s that use, nine volt there?" She tried for a smile but with her face scrunched up, she was pretty sure she’dinnocent and affable and landed so to need you to step out of the car, miss" His tone was sharp, and she winced

"Uhht went dark and he leaned down toto need you to step out of the car, miss Now"

Her stoistered this ti to the lack of light again, but there was nohand to her hair and made a sad attempt to fix it as uncertainty swamped her She’d been so bummed when he hadn’t contacted her and noas here and she wasn’t sure she could go through with it Talk about the grass being greener "Look, Rafe, I’ Step out of the car, or I will forcibly remove you from it"

The icy command jarred her into action, and she reached for the door handle With a yank, she opened it and stepped onto the grass How familiar this part felt They were only a few miles from where they’d had their last encounter, and her body seenize that fact Her nipples stiffened beneath her tank top under the warm breeze and her pulse skittered wildly

She could see him now He was decked out in his dress blues, baton at his hip, gun on his belt Delicious His dark eyes were so intense her ar