I don’t know if I will. The bruise on her chin made him want to cry. Cole walked over, slipped her over-sized T-shirt down, letting the neckline slide off her shoulder. Another bruise was revealed. He’d seen it in the E.R. It wasn’t any less faint. Neither was the one on her chin. They were very vivid, very dark swatches of purple and green. The thought of that man—of anyone—hitting her with such savagery…

She looked up. The fury in his eyes made her shake. And she knew it was not directed at her. She pushed herself from the wall, wrapped her arms around his waist, and hugged him.

“I’m okay,” she whispered.

“Well, I’m not,” he muttered. He didn’t know what hurt more: his feelings, for not somehow being able to prevent this when he was supposed to be a cop who took care of people, or his unrelieved libido, for the night he’d spent holding her in his arms.

She loved holding him. Even if it made him nervous. Even if he hadn’t instigated the action. His blue jeans were rough against her bare legs, his striped shirt soft against her cheek. He smelled good. All lemony and woodsy. And he felt even better. He was so big and so hard in so many interesting places and— Her hands ceased their movement beneath his jacket. She looked up and forgot what she’d been about to say.

“It’s my gun.”

She yanked her hands back from around him as if she’d just put them on a snake. It was the leather shoulder holster that she’d felt. And the look on his face told her that she’d done the wrong thing by being shocked.

Cole saw it. He’d been waiting for something like this for weeks. Ever since her arrival, he’d known that someday something was bound to happen that would prove to him that a relationship between them wouldn’t work. He’d been certain that his occupation would be abhorred, that his daily lifestyle would be a problem. He’d been waiting…and he was sick to his stomach that he’d been right.

“Well, I know that,” Debbie finally said. “I just wasn’t expecting it. After all, it’s not like I’ve ever seen you completely dressed that many times anyway.”

Her statement hadn’t been what he’d expected. As usual, she’d caught him off guard. And her reminder that last night he’d had little to nothing on as they slept the rest of the night away took him aback.