He was so afraid to hurt her by driving in hard the way he wanted to.

Her hands moved down his back to cup his ass, pulling him toward her.

Groaning, he began to move in her while keeping his lips close to her ear. “Hope… You feel so good. This feels so good. Stay with me. Be with me.” He kissed away the moisture that leaked from her eyes. “We’ll figure it out together. Don’t leave me.”

A sob escaped from her lips as she continued to move with him.

“Do you feel how great it is, too?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “God, yes.”

“I can’t let you go.” He pressed into her, looking for the spot that had set her off before and knowing he’d found it when he felt the telltale tightening of her internal muscles. “Yes, sweetheart, come for me. Let me feel you.”

Her release led to his, and he came down on top of her, gathering her in close to him. “Don’t go, Hope. We’ll make it work.”

She shook her head. “I have to get another job.”

“I’ll take care of you and Ethan. You’ll have everything you need.”

“You’re wonderful and sweet to want to do that, but I can’t.”

He wanted to scream with frustration. “What we have here doesn’t come around every day.”

“I certainly know that.”

“We can’t give up without a fight.”

“We’re not doing that. We’re acknowledging that it can’t go anywhere.”

“What if I came with you?”

“You can’t do that, Paul. Your life and your business are here.”

“I don’t want to be here if you and Ethan aren’t here with me.”

She caressed his face with both hands. “I wish things were different. You have no idea how much I wish that.”

“I bet I do.” He forced a smile for her benefit and withdrew from her. Lying on his back, he stared up at the ceiling as if he might find the answers there.

“I should go,” she said after a long period of silence.

“Not yet.” Paul turned on his side and put his arm around her. “Spend the night with me.”

“It won’t make anything better.”

“Maybe not, but it’ll make tonight better.”

She turned into his embrace, her hand resting on his chest over his heart. “You have to know if I could have anything I wanted, it would be you.”

“You can have me. We can have it all.”

“I can’t have you and a job, too. There’re no jobs here for nurses. I have to go where the work is.”

“There’re other jobs here. Maybe you could find something else.”

“I’m still digging out of the hole Carl put me in. I can’t afford to take a pay cut.”

Paul took hold of her hand. “I hate that it seems so hopeless.”