“I hear that.” Do it, Paul. Ask her. “Listen, I was wondering if you might want to meet for a drink later. If you’re not busy.”

In the long pause that followed, he tried to remember the last time he’d asked out a woman.

“Um, sure. That would be fun. Where do you want to meet?”

“The Beachcomber at eight?”

“Great. I’ll see you then.”

“See you then.” Relieved, he put the phone back in his pocket and went into the office to get back to the work he’d been about to do when Hope showed up. He’d been fine before her, and he’d be fine after. He wasn’t about to beg her or talk her into spending time with him. He’d tried and failed to get past whatever was stopping her from pursuing a relationship with him.

It was time to move on.

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Hope ran through the rain, past the house to her cabin, where she shed her clothes inside the door and headed for the shower. Her teeth were chattering and her heart was breaking. The warm shower would fix at least one of those things. The other one would take a while.

Standing under the warm water, she finally released the deep breath she’d been holding since she’d bolted from the store, leaving Paul bewildered by her behavior.

A sob escaped through her clenched jaw, and she slid down the shower wall to sit on the floor. This kind of pain reminded her far too much of how she’d felt after everything happened with Carl. At the time, she’d promised herself that she’d never again risk so much for any man. And here she was, on the verge of risking it all once more.

The stakes were too high. She couldn’t afford to gamble her sanity and Ethan’s well-being, no matter how great Paul was or how wonderful she’d felt in his arms. It didn’t matter that his kisses set her on fire or that she wanted so much more than the little bit they’d had. None of that mattered as much as Ethan did. Under no circumstances could she put him through another ordeal like the one they’d both suffered through at the hands of his father.

She wouldn’t survive another situation like that, and what would happen to Ethan if she fell apart? Hope liked to think of herself as a fairly pragmatic person. Life had taught her to put away girlish dreams of happily ever after and true love to focus on reality. And her reality right now was Ethan and providing a stable home for him. To do that, she had to keep her life free of drama. She had to avoid what one of her friends from home had referred to as “self-inflicted” wounds.