Now her gaze dropped, caressing his bare shoulders and chest, before dipping even lower. “Nope.”

“You said you wanted—”

“You. I said I wanted you.” Standing up, she came toward him. She stroked a finger over his collarbone, his shoulder, then his pec, right over his nipple.

An involuntary hiss escaped him as she slid her wet body up against his. “Red. God—”

“Remember the other night?” She pressed her mouth to his neck. “When you touched me? When you—”

“I remember,” he said tightly, his knees wobbling at the feel of her mouth on his flesh.

“It was the first time since I’d been home that I felt like I could breathe.” She glanced at him from beneath her long lashes. “That was because of you. I want to breathe again, Joe.”

“You just want the release.”

“Oh, yeah, I do.”

He had no idea how he found the strength to put his hands on her shoulders and back away, putting some air between him and her glorious curves. “We’re going running, damn it.”

Her eyes were dark, and filled with what she wanted, and it wasn’t a little jog. “Stop looking at me like that,” he demanded, fisting his hands at his sides to keep from reaching for her. “I told you. I can’t do this and keep it light with you, I just can’t. Don’t ask me to.”

She stared at him for a long time, disappointment, regret, and something else crossing her face. She slid the towel off her neck and reached for her dress, which she had lying on the back of a chair. “Don’t worry, Joe. I won’t. I won’t ask you to do anything.” And she headed toward the stairs.

Damn it. “Red—”

She kept walking.

And he let her go. He had to.

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Summer drove in the wild June storm, her emotions as battered as the roads. Only for her it had nothing to do with the wind and rain and everything to do with the storm raging inside her.

Yes, she’d wanted the quick, fast, hard release that she knew damn well Joe could have given her. Yes, she’d gone there for it. Was it such a crime that she found him so deeply, unfailingly attractive? That with him, it felt more right than it had with anyone else in a very long time? That with him maybe it was much more but she didn’t yet know how to deal with that?

She gripped the wheel tight.

This sort of a thing needed to be obsessed over, thought about, given its space. She hadn’t given it enough space. It was still too deep and terrifying, and far too real.

Really, Joe just needed to follow her lead and make do with what they had for now, because it was far better than most ever got to experience anyway.