He started toward the stairs but then turned back, wrapping his arm around her waist and drawing her into another deep, sensual kiss that started her motor running all over again. “I don’t want to be anywhere but right here.” And then he was gone, his footsteps echoing off the metal treads of the spiral staircase as he ran for the door.

Chapter 4

Erin watched his truck go up the lane that led to the main road, noting he was driving much faster than he normally did. She hoped that whatever was going on with Sydney was minor and that she and the baby she and Luke wanted so desperately would be all right.

Reaching under her sweater, Erin refastened the clasp on her bra, gasping when the fabric rubbed against her sensitive nipples.

With his electric presence gone, the lighthouse was strangely silent, and Erin was slightly bereft in the wake of his hasty departure. She who had no problem staying busy on her own found herself at loose ends, unable to decide what to do with the rest of the afternoon she’d expected to spend with him.

She was brewing another cup of tea when she heard a plane fly over the lighthouse. She went to the window to watch until it was out of sight. Though she knew he was an expert pilot with thousands of hours of experience, her heart still leapt into her throat at the thought of him in that tiny metal box hurtling through the sky.

The thought of flying made her feel physically ill. It hadn’t always. She used to love to travel and had spent time in Europe and Asia during the summer between college and law school. At one time, going to Australia and New Zealand had topped her to-do list. But after seeing those planes fly into the buildings where her beloved brother had worked…

Those images had haunted her for years. To this day, she avoided TV and the Internet in the weeks surrounding the anniversary out of fear of encountering them again. She’d gone so far as to delete her social media accounts because of the random way the photos and videos would show up out of nowhere, sending her spiraling for days. There was no way to prepare herself to experience the horror all over again, so she went out of her way to avoid it—and airplanes of any kind.

Which made for a cruel dilemma for her and the sexy pilot who had turned her comfortable existence on end since he came into her life, making her wish for things she’d given up hoping for a long time ago.

The phone rang, jarring her out of the pensive thoughts. Erin took the call from Jenny. “Hi there.”

“I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”

“You would’ve been about twenty minutes ago.”

“Really?” Jenny asked in a high-pitched squeal. “Do tell.”