Summer sank beneath the water to wet her hair. She sat up, poured shampoo into her hand and worked on getting the smell of smoke out of her hair. She dunked again and stayed under a moment to let the shampoo rinse out.

Suddenly a hand snaked around her arm and hauled her up. Blinking water out of her eyes, she stared into Joe’s.

“What are you doing?” he demanded.

“Um, washing my hair?”

“Oh.” He let go of her. “Right.”

She stared at him, seeing the fierce angst on his face. “What did you think I was trying to—”

“I don’t know.”

“Jesus, Joe, I’m not that distraught over your second rejection.”

Looking taut enough to splinter into pieces, he dropped his chin to his chest. His genuine distress tore at her, and she touched his strong, square jaw. “I’m really okay, you know.”

“Yeah.” He slowly backed away.

“Is my touch that bad?”

“Try that good.” He stared into her eyes, his own glittering with all he felt. The unspoken promise was there. He’d catch her if she fell. He’d be there for whatever she needed, and it caught her defenseless and choked her up. Joe Walker was the real deal, as real as a man could get, and much too much for her to handle.

As if he could read her mind, he surged to his feet. “You might be able to be blasé about this,” he said, his gaze sweeping over her. “But I sure as hell can’t be.”

“Joe.”

“Your mom called. I told her I’d stay with you until dawn.”

Dawn. There were a lot of hours between now and then.

“Finish your bath. Then get into bed and try to sleep.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be in the living room if you need me.”

His message was clear. Don’t need me.

The scream shot through Joe like shredded shrapnel. He jerked out of sleep and right off the couch, landing face first on the floor.

With the last echoes of Summer’s terrified cry echoing in his head, he leapt to his feet in the pitch black living room of her cottage. “Red?”

Only a gasping breath answered him. He rushed toward the sound, tripped over what felt like a cement pipe against his shins, and once again landed flat on his face. Something tumbled down after him, smacking him on the back of the head, making him see stars.

A light flickered on.

He’d tripped over the end table, upending the lamp, which had hit him in the head. The pain spreading outward to every inch of his body, he flopped to his back and groaned. Summer stood in the doorway next to the light switch. Her face was pale, her eyes huge in her face as she held on to the doorjamb like a lifeline.

“You okay?” she asked.