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"Too bad the cameraperson didn’t take a few more" Mina yawned then "Miss Walker wasn’t even fully undressed, but she was definitely getting ready to have a good time"

His jaw bunched The innocent Miss Walker had pissed off the wrong people, and Zeke felt responsible for that Hell, this was just what he needed He had steered clear of her for the express purpose of eted for any reason because of hiet because of his son instead

She had caught the attention of two of the toorst inhabitants A brother and sister who delighted in destroying anyone they could She had caught their attention by defending his son at school

He felt responsible It was his son, and despite his knowledge that she had been set up, he still hadn’t ed to find a way to punish those who had hurt her or to ta interest in a wo knot of anger, a hint of territorial possessiveness where the teacher was concerned and squelched it i, too innocent She wasn’t a woman that would accept a sex-only relationship, nor was she a woman Zeke would be able to hide the darker core of his sexuality with, as he did other women Women such as Mina Women who touched only his body, never his heart

Miss Walker had the potential to touch the inner ive her the chance

He’d failed to protect one woain

"She’s Calvin Walker’s daughter, you know," Mina continued "Hell, I thought he was dead What’s he doing with a daughter? Damned Walkers have never been worth crap, so it shouldn’t be surprising"

Zeke rose to his feet and turned back to her "I’ out, Mina Take care"

This relationship was over He could barely e civility now Mina had always seemed like a kindhearted woentle face And a mean streak a mile wide He’d learned that over the past few er woht want at the ti back" Her expression lost its amusement now "Did you think I didn’t know your attention aning, Zeke?"

"We had an understanding, Mina" He’d an

She sat up in the bed, unashamedly naked, her short brown hair mussed attractively around her face

"Your attention hasn’t been worth shit since you h theof her when you’re fucking me"

His brow lifted "Jealousy doesn’t become you, Mina, and it’s not a part of e had

In this case, you’re wrong There’s nothing between me and Miss Walker"

And there never could be She was too young, too tender Zeke didn’t mess omen whose innocence lit their eyes like stars in the sky Caitlyn Walker was the forever kind, and Zeke siive her Forever required the truth, it required parts of hie that the truth wasn’t always acceptable

"There’s nothing between the two of you because you’re a closeive so , Zeke, can’t anyone on you were eles partying with all the gay boys?"

Zeke stared back at her silently Prejudice in the ; he’d known that before he came home

"Good-bye, Mina"

He turned and left the roouainst him at any time in the future

Zeke had a lot friends that still lived in LA, and yeah, a few of theay He and his past wife, Elaina, hadn’t felt that sense of prejudice that thrived here He didn’t give a damn what a man or woman’s sexual preference was He hadn’t cared then, and he didn’t care now

As he left Mina’s little house outside town, he reminded himself that he was here to do a job, not to make friends or to find another wife He’d been born and bred in these mountains; he knew every cliff and hollow, every breath of breeze and sigh of the wind

And he’d missed it like hell when he’d been forced to leave Not that he’d had a choice at the time It was leave with his mother or face the further destruction of his soul

At fourteen, his life had changed forever One moment in ti to LA with his ed it further At seventeen he’d becoh the years he had learned the hard way that he couldn’t run from his past It had found him, and his wife had died because of it

He was back in Kentucky because of it Because he was tired of running, tired of fighting to forget what couldn’t be forgotten

Daht as he started his truck and pulled out of Mina’s back drive The sun was rising over the peaks of pine, oak, and el hills There was a mist in the air that drifted off the nearby lake, and the scent of suue--he just couldn’t see her as Caitlyn--filled his head, no matter how hard he tried to push it back He was thirty-two years old, a grown man next to her tender twenty-one She was so dath and so da the one to teach her how to sin

Soht, if so just as far away from that land mine as possible She would be the one woman that would tempt hi her, he’d never be able to give her only a part of himself And because of that, he could never have her There wasn’t enough left of hih he had never completely found himself and never would until the dele" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>