Page 75 of Protective Heroes

She’d seemed to enjoy my light touches and holding her hand, but there was a tentativeness about her. Almost as if she questioned herself with each move she made. Not when it came to her business. Hearing her talk about her plans for the wedding, I’d loved her decisive and organized thought process.

When the conversation turned to anything more personal, she became almost shy. I could almost see her testing her words before she spoke.

And I couldn’t blame her. I hurt her and now I’ll have to work twice as hard for her to understand I am not going anywhere.

My younger self was an idiot to think I needed to prove myself a man before I could be with a woman.

I wished I could go back and kick my own ass. I resigned myself to never seeing her again after I left the Navy.

Until yesterday.

It was akin to having fate slap me in the face when I saw Kami in Mrs. Morgan’s lodge dining room.

Parts of my soul rumbled and growled all morning, pushing me to go to her all night. When I arrived at the lodge to pick her up, I’d had to take a moment to get myself under control. I’d been waiting for her for so long, part of me was afraid that I’d toss her over my shoulder and carry her away into the woods. I still didn’t know how I’d had the power to leave her the night before.

My nerves calmed the moment I had her alone in the truck. I reveled in the peace she brought me.

Wild how finally, finally having Kami here with me stirred my need to protect back to the surface. There was no way I was going to do anything to scare her away. I’d found myself treating her a bit like a captured wild animal all morning. I’d move in closer when she gave me the opening and pull back a little when her wariness came through.

But in that clearing, with her sky-blue eyes staring up at me in wonder, all thoughts of being careful with her flew out the window. I had no choice. I had to taste her and to claim her, at least in that small way.

Now sitting with her in my truck, I realized I’d made a tactical error. Not that I thought I’d pushed her too far. If anything, she seemed more comfortable after we shared that kiss.

No, my error had been in thinking that one taste of her would help calm me. The opposite was true. The thought of dropping her at the lodge and walking away again made me almost crazy.

“I might have to kidnap Mrs. Morgan and take her back to New York with me,” Kami said with a sigh as she dug into the roasted chicken sandwich the older woman had packed for lunch.

The reminder that not only would I have to leave her at the lodge at the end of the day, but that in just a few short days she’d be flying far away from me, almost shoved me over the edge of sanity. I clamped my teeth together before blurting out that she should stay and forget going back east.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Kami’s sweet, concerned voice calmed me.

“I was having too much fun watching you eat,” I told her.

She laughed. “I never eat like this. It must be something about the Alaskan air. It’s a good thing we walked all over God’s creation today or I’d be five pounds heavier at least when I return home.”

I kept a tight rein on my emotions and managed to ask her, “When do you go back to New York?” I bit into my sandwich and tried to act like her answer didn’t mean everything to me.

A slightly wistful, almost sad expression passed over her face, there and gone so fast, if I wasn’t watching so closely I might have missed it.

“I’m supposed to fly back on Friday.”

Four days. The thought that I could have her here now only to lose her again in four short days made the bite of sandwich in my mouth taste like sand.

No. There’s no way I was going to lose her. If I had to track her back to New York, that’s what I’d do.

“I’d like to spend those days with you,” I told her.

She raised startled blue eyes to meet mine. “I had hoped…”

I take her hand and kiss the ridges of her knuckles. “You have to feel what’s between us, Kami. It never went anywhere. And to have you here now, I don’t…”

“Do you think we might...”

“...Have a second chance,” I finished for her.

She nodded and sank her teeth into her bottom lip. She dropped her head so her hair slid forward and hid her eyes from me.

“Kami? Please don’t hide.”

---