Sanctuary(111)

He didn't speak for a moment. He couldn't be sure of his moves, or his words. After tugging on his 'cans he studied her silhouette in the dark. "It only took seeing you again, Jo Ellen. That's all it took. It knocked the wind out of me, and I still don't have my breath back."

"I'm a mess, Nathan." she swallowed hard and was grateful for the dark so he couldn't see her face. The longing that had geysered inside of her had to show. "I don't know what I think or feel about anything. Anyone. You'd be better off shaking loose."

"I've taken the easy way a few times. It usually ends up being dull. So far you've been anything but dull."

"Nathan-"

"You're really wasting your time arguing with me while you're sitting naked on my bed."

she dragged a hand through her hair. "Good point. We'll argue later."

"Fine. I'll just go dump more charcoal on the grill." And since he planned to have her naked and on his bed again before the evening was over, he didn't think they'd have much time to argue.

Nathan wrapped his arms around Jo's waist, nuzzled the back of her neck. Her hair was still damp from the shower they'd shared.

Smelling his soap on lier skin aroused him yet again. "I'll fix you breakfast in the morning."

she hooked her arm around Is cek. It amazed her how easy it was to be this close. "You don't have anything to fix."

"Bread. I have bread." He spun her around so he could feast on that wonderful curve of neck and shoulder. "I'm terrific at toast. I'm famous for my toast."

"As incredibly appetizing as that sounds . . . Nathan." With a sound caught between a laugh and a moan, she tried to wiggle away from his roving hands. "We really will kill each other, and I have to get back."

"It's barely midnight."

"It's after one."

"Well, then, it's practically morning, you might as well stay."

she wanted to. As his mouth found hers, persuasively, she badly wanted to. "I have things to straighten out at home. And I have to make it up to Brian for ]caving him in such a mess tonight."

she put her hands to his face, liking the way it felt under her fingers. Cheekbones, jaw, the scrape of beard. Had she ever explored a man's face this way? Or wanted to?

"And I have to think." Firmly, she drew away. "I'm a thinker, Nathan. A planner. This is new territory for me."

He rubbed a thumb over the tine that formed between her brows. "You'll just compel me to keep changing directions on you."

Fresh nerves skidded over her skin. "Then I'll have to stay a step ahead. But now, I have to go home."

He could see her mind was made up, and so he forced himself to readjust the pleasant image of waking beside her in the morning. "I'll drive you."

"You don't have to-"

"Jo." He put his hands on her shoulders, and his voice was quiet and final. "You're not going out alone in the dark."

"I'm not afraid. I'm not going to be afraid anymore."

"Good for you. I'm still driving you. Or we can argue about it, I can maneuver you back into the bedroom, and drive you home in the morning. Does your father have a gun?"

she laughed, pushed at her bangs. "It's very unlikely he'd shoot you for sleeping with me."

"If he does, I'm counting on you to nurse me back to health."

He took his keys from the counter.

"I'm a southern woman," she said as they started out the door. "I'll even find a petticoat to tear into bandages."

"It would almost be worth getting shot for that."

As she climbed into his jeep, she asked, "Ever been shot?"

"No." He slid in beside her and started the engine. "But I had my tonsils out. How much worse could it be?"

"Considerably, I'd imagine."

she stretched out her legs, leaned back, and shut her eyes. she was tired, but deliciously so. Her muscles were loose, her mind pleasantly fogged. The air felt silky on her skin.

"The nights are best on the island," she murmured, "when the quiet just rings in your ears and no one else is awake. You can smell the trees and the water. The sea's a whisper in the background, like a pulse beating."

"You can be alone and not be lonely."

"Mmm. AMien I was a little girl I used to imagine what it would be like if I were all along, had the island all to myself just for a few days. It would all be mine, everywhere I walked, everywhere I looked. I thought I would like that. But then I dreamed it, and I was afraid. In the dream I kept running and running, through the house, out into the forest, over the beach. I wanted to find someone, anyone, to be there with me. But I was all alone. And I woke up crying for Daddy."