“You’ve definitely not forgotten. You made me crazy, but I suspect that was your goal.”

“Turnabout is fair play.” She loved the way he held her. She loved the way he smelled of soap and clean sweat and salt water. She loved a lot of things about the way she felt when she was with him. Despite all this love she was feeling, she reminded herself what this was about—and what it wasn’t.

There was no reason that she could think of why a woman her age couldn’t have a hot summer affair that was all about sex. People did it all the time, right? Just because she’d never done it didn’t mean she couldn’t start now with something new and different. She’d certainly had enough of the status quo. Maybe a hot summer affair was just what she needed to shake things up before she moved on to a more significant relationship.

“I can almost hear you thinking,” he said as he ran his fingers through her hair, making her scalp tingle along with her lips. He tapped a finger on her forehead. “What goes on in there?”

“Nothing much. You’ve managed to fry most of my brain cells tonight.”

“You fried most of mine, too.”

As his chest hair tickled her nose, Jenny smiled. It was good to know they were equally affected by what had transpired between them.

“Could I ask you something?”

“Sure,” she said tentatively.

“You said it’s been a long time since you did this, which leads me to wonder why a gorgeous, sexy woman like yourself would choose to live alone in a lighthouse.”

Her brain was stuck on the words “gorgeous, sexy woman.”

“Living in this lighthouse, on this island, has been very good for me, believe it or not.”

“Have you ever been married?”

The question as well as his curiosity took her by surprise. “No. You?”

“Nope. Engaged?”

Jenny closed her eyes tight. “Once.”

“What happened?”

“It… He, um…”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me. We’ve all got stuff we’d rather not talk about.”

While she was relieved that he wasn’t going to push her for answers, she suddenly wanted to know what he’d rather not talk about. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to tell him about Toby, but she knew how that story changed things. It made people look at her differently, and she didn’t want Alex looking at her differently. Not yet anyway. If this continued, eventually he’d ask again and she’d have to tell him. But for now, she liked the fact that he didn’t know about her awful tragedy.

“Are you roasting with me on top of you?” she asked.

“Not too bad.”