What’ll happen when the year ends? Why are you becoming emotionally invested in a temporary relationship?

And it had to be temporary. Muddled as her thoughts were, she hadn’t lost all sense of reason. She and Lucas were too different—more dissimilar than her mom and dad had been, and look how that had ended. She of all people knew the odds against opposites making a marriage work.

You have to stop. Now.

Somehow mustering the strength, she pushed at Lucas’s chest, separating them. Her chest heaved. She was beyond her target heart rate and she hadn’t moved. Judging from Lucas’s expression, he felt the same. A pink flush mottled his face. His eyes were glazed, his lips swollen. She was tempted to soothe them with her thumb.

Stop it! You have to stop before this gets out of hand. You’re too different.

They might be different, but heavens to Betsy, the chemistry was there in spades. She had to escape before she lost her resolve.

She reached for the doorknob and pulled.

“Running, Kate?” The dare emerged, raspy and breathless.

She ignored it, pulling the door shut behind her and dashing toward the shoreline. Yes, she was running. And too afraid to say anything for fear it might reveal too much.

As if her actions hadn’t already revealed far too much.

Eighteen

Eighteen

Honesty begins within yourself.

—Excerpt from Finding Mr. Right-for-You by Dr. Kate

Lucas slammed his fist on the counter. He hadn’t succeeded in opening Kate’s eyes; he’d only succeeded in pushing her away. As he watched her scramble across the sandy grass toward the beach, he feared he’d scared her away for good.

He punched the counter again, then shook his throbbing hand. Bo nudged his leg with his wet nose. “Not now, boy.”

Why had he moved so fast? He’d only meant to kiss her gently, to show her how he felt. But then her hand had wound into his hair, and she’d pressed herself against him.

His own hand now raked his hair. His timing couldn’t have been worse. Fresh from a phone call from Bryan, she was probably thinking of him. She wasn’t over Bryan; that much he knew.

It’s too soon to tell her how you feel.

But her response had been so—

She was thinking about Bryan. Wishing it was him she’d married.

Lucas left the kitchen and paced the length of the living room as if he could distance himself from the thought. But she wasn’t Bryan’s wife.

She was his wife . . . Yeah. Temporarily. In name only.

You agreed to those terms, Luc, so stop your whining.

Only he hadn’t known it would be so hard. Hadn’t known it would make him long for her more. Hadn’t known it would hurt so much.