“What?” She pushed herself up. Was he actually leaving? “I said yes, Armie. It’s fine. You don’t have to sleep out there.”

“Yes, I do, because if I don’t we’re going to make a hell of a mistake tonight.”

She didn’t see it that way. “We’re consenting adults. It’s not a mistake. It’s sex.”

“Yes, that would be the mistake. It’s too soon. It would be sex for you, and I don’t particularly want sex. I want something more. I’ve had plenty of sex.”

“Good for you. I haven’t had any in a long time.” A thought struck her like a slap to the face. She’d felt something. That didn’t mean he had, and didn’t that hurt way more than she’d imagined it could? “Oh. It didn’t really work for you, did it?”

“Hey, you want to take a look at this thing and tell me I don’t want you? It’s painful and it’s taking everything I have not to hop into bed with you, but I don’t think you’ll feel the same way I do in the morning. I think you’ll slap my pretty ass and send me on my way.”

Sure enough those PJ pants of his had tented admirably. Frustration welled through her. He wanted her but he wasn’t going to take her? He thought she would use him for sex?

She wasn’t going to do that. Probably not. She wouldn’t have been terribly embarrassed in the morning and kicked him out and not talked to him for days, avoiding him as much as possible.

Damn it. He was right. She wasn’t ready.

“Good night, Lila.” He stood in the doorway, his big frame in shadows.

She wished she could honestly reach out to him, but she simply turned over and tried not to think about the fact that once she’d thought she was indestructible.

Life had taught her otherwise. Life had brought her low and showed her how much of a coward she could be.

Still, when she closed her eyes and sleep claimed her, she dreamed of him, and that was worth all the trouble.

chapter six

Armie was rethinking the entire night as he maneuvered the flat-bottom boat toward Petrie Island. That was what the locals called it, but it was really a series of small islands that were high enough that they didn’t regularly flood. The Petrie family had lived on those islands for the last century. They made their living as shrimpers, and it made sense to Armie that they would move closer to the marina where their boats docked, but anytime he asked, he was told Petries lived on the island. Always had. Always would.