Stirring Attraction(5)

“And after that?” he asked. “I signed on to become a ranger if they’ll take me. And there are no guarantees I’ll be stationed on the West Coast.”

“We can make this work,” she insisted. “I’ll kiss you goodbye. But it’s not forever.”

He nodded, but she could see the doubt in his green eyes, and the stark acknowledgment that they might not have a future cut into her. But she pushed aside the pain. They could find a way.

“I’ll come back for you,” he confirmed. “And when I do, I’ll be more. I’m going to give you a future you can count on.”

I love you the way you are. I believe in you.

But she couldn’t tell him that now. He needed to do this for himself. Joining the army, becoming an elite special soldier, or whatever they called the rangers—­that was for him.

“OK,” she said.

“And I’ll take care of you, Lil. After everything you’ve done for your mom, your dad—­I’m going to come back for you and—­”

“Sweep me off my feet?”

“Yes.”

She reached out and touched his cheek. Her hand ran down his throat to his shoulder. She pressed her palm against the hard contours of his pecs, wishing to feel every inch of him.

How do you memorize a man’s muscles?

Her gaze drifted back to his lips and she leaned forward. She kept her eyes open until the last second, then she pressed her mouth to his. Her lips parted and she let him in. His tongue touched hers and he kissed her as if he wanted so much more . . .

But they couldn’t go any further. Not here. Not now.

“That will have to hold you over for a while,” she said, breaking away, her breath coming in sharp gasps. She reached behind her and felt around for the car door handle. “Finish basic training, and I promise I’ll kiss you again.”

“Lily,” he growled.

But she moved too fast, slipping out the passenger side door. She slammed it closed behind her, shutting out his words. And then she ran up the sidewalk, rushing toward the house that held her responsibilities—­the ­people who needed her here, in Forever. Away from the man she loved, the man who was leaving, who didn’t need her at his side to survive the day.

The man she wanted in life more than her next breath.

She paused on the front porch steps. Her hand rested on the banister covered in peeling white paint. And she stole one last glance at the truck still parked on the side of the quiet street.

Go. Fight. Be all you can be. And then, come back for me.





Chapter One



Six Years Later. . .

IF IT WASN’T for Taylor Swift and chocolate brownies, I would be at home wearing size six jeans and enjoying the first Monday of summer break.

Instead, the potent combination drove Lily to add an extra mile to her morning run. She turned up the volume on Swift’s not-­so-­country album and jogged down Forever’s familiar Main Street, trying to shake off the extra calories clinging to her thighs. If she kept going for another ten, maybe fifteen minutes, she’d end up in the park beyond the university. The well-­maintained paths weaving through a manicured forest might distract from the fact that she hated running.

But I ate three large brownies at the end-­of-­year celebration yesterday.

Because who could say no to a six-­year-­old student with a plate of homemade double-­fudge brownies? She might have followed her heart when she’d applied to teach kindergarten in her hometown when she graduated from college. But now, at the ripe old age of twenty-­nine, this career was hell on her thighs and waistline.

Not that the kids shouldered all the blame. She’d turned to chocolate for comfort so many times over the past few years that she’d started to wonder if she should follow her father into rehab.

But it hadn’t worked for him. He’d been arrested for driving under the influence. And this time the court had ordered him to rehab again. Not that he’d bothered to tell her. She’d received a call from his girlfriend of the moment with the news.

No, she doubted a twelve-­step program to abandon chocolate would work for her. Plus, there were some times when she loved her curves. On those days, she welcomed the sugar rush, always promising to run the next day.

And other times . . . well, after struggling to care for her mother toward the end, the handful of reunion  s with Dominic, followed by the breakups—­she’d kissed him goodbye more times than she wanted to count—­hadn’t she earned a treat? She’d rather have Dominic . . .

But he hadn’t returned to Forever. And she’d buried her hope that he ever would after he took two bullets to the chest and one through his hand. He’d almost died in a war-­torn country, then again in Germany while on the operating table. But it was the shot that had ripped apart his right hand that might bury him alive. He couldn’t go back to the army. The rangers had kicked him out of the only group he’d ever wanted to join.