Toby was at the far end of the drive with the dog. Mike stood on the top step, a lock of light brown hair drifting across his forehead. Even in worn jeans and a white T-shirt advertising JAKE’S DIVE SHOP, he was an arresting figure, tall and imposing, his strong profile illuminated by the porch light.

The hinges squeaked. She walked toward him. Across the porch … To the step … “Come with me,” she whispered over the crazy thudding of her heart.

He opened his mouth. Started to refuse?

“No,” she said. “No words.” She caught his arm, drew him away from the house, out of sight of the boy and the dog, into the trees. She was fueled by panic, by exhaustion, by the fear that everything she’d built would slip from her grasp.

Her height had made her accustomed to meeting people eye to eye, but she stopped in a small depression that made her look up at him. Even in the dim moonlight that filtered through the leaves, she could see the resistance in his eyes.

“Bree …”

She slid her arms around his neck, pulled his head down, and silenced him with her mouth.

This, her kiss said, is to remind you of what you’ve always wanted and never had.

But as his lips covered her own, she was reminded instead of what she’d never had. Fidelity. Honor. Kindness. And something far less noble. An exhilarating, sensual pleasure free of the shame she’d experienced during her marriage.

Hot blood rushed through her veins, and all her senses caught fire. His kiss was the kiss of a man who loved to give pleasure. A kiss as unselfish as it was erotic.

He was hard, and she relished his arousal, relished knowing the hands splayed over her hips didn’t carry the memory of countless other women’s bodies. His mouth moved to one cheek then the other, kissing the afternoon’s honey from her skin. He reclaimed her lips, and she pressed herself against him.

He pulled back without warning. Only a few inches, but enough.

“Bree, you don’t have to do this.” He unwrapped her arms from around his neck. “I’ll watch out for you and for Toby. I don’t need to be bribed this way.”

She was humiliated, furious that he would think such a thing of her, even though he had every reason to. The only argument she could muster in her defense was the truth. “It wasn’t a bribe.”

“Bree, don’t do this to yourself.” He sounded tired, a little impatient. “It’s not necessary.”

She’d started this, which made it unconscionable to take her pain out on him, but the words spilled from her in a dark torrent. “You listen to me, Mike Moody. I spent years begging for a man’s love, and I’ll never ever do that again. Do you understand?”