“Oh. Okay.” Relieved not to have to drive, she let him help her into the passenger side of his truck and tried to put on her seat belt. Her fingers were like a bunch of thumbs, refusing to behave, which was why she was still fumbling with the seat belt when he got in and clipped it for her.

He turned on the engine and cranked the heat. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Could you not do that? Could you not say it’s nothing when anyone who knows you even a little can see it’s something?”

Remember that thing about the way he saw her? Yeah. So…

“Have you changed your mind about this, Erin? If you have, all you’ve got to do is say so. I’ll be disappointed, but I’ll leave you alone if that’s what you want.”

Suddenly, that was the very last thing she wanted. “I don’t want you to leave me alone. But I also don’t want…”

“What?” His hand was warm upon her cheek as he caressed her face so tenderly it brought tears to her eyes.

“I don’t want you to hurt me. And you could. You could so easily.”

“Erin, sweetheart… God, that’s the last thing I’d ever want to do.” The seat belt he’d just clipped was released, and he lifted her right out of her seat onto his lap and into his arms.

“How’d you do that?” she asked, stunned by his strength and how quickly he’d reacted.

“I will not hurt you. I promise.”

Moved by the ferocity behind his words, she said, “You can’t promise that.”

“I can promise I’ll do everything I can to make you happy if you give me the chance. That’s all I’m asking for. A chance, and that’s more than I’ve wanted from anyone, if that tells you anything.”

“I’m afraid.”

“Why?”

“I don’t do things like this. Not anymore. It’s been so long, I… I may have forgotten how.”

“You’re doing fine so far.” He kissed her softly and sweetly, making her head spin with awareness and desire and a craving need for more that took her by surprise. How could she be trying to wiggle her way out one minute and craving more the next?

“We should probably talk before this goes any further,” she said.

“We probably should.” He kissed her again, drawing her bottom lip into his mouth and running his tongue over it.

Erin gasped and fisted handfuls of his coat, needing to hold on to something. “That’s not talking,” she said when he released her lip.

“It’s communication of a different sort.” Holding her close to him, he said, “We’ve done a lot of talking in the last few months, but we haven’t talked about what it is we’re doing here.”