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They lay insilence for a while, both of them lost in their own thoughts. After a while, Loriturned her head to look at Ander beside her.

Tonight, shecouldn’t tell if he was posing or not. He lay on his back with his hands twinedbehind his head. His body was relaxed, but his position highlighted the musclesdevelopment in his arms and abs.

She let hereyes linger on his fine chest, his tight belly, and then his long legs and barefeet. When her eyes returned to his bald head, she felt a familiar questionprod her unmercifully.

As if he’dsomehow been able to tell the difference between her leisurely leer and herintense curiosity, he glanced over at her. “What is it?”

“I’m sure youget asked this all the time, but I’m dying to know.”

His mouth quirkedup slightly. “The no hair thing?”

She noddedsheepishly. “I can’t even tell if you shave it. I’ve never felt any bristles.”

“I don’t shaveit. I started going bald when I was seventeen. I was completely bald by thetime I was twenty-three. It’s a hereditary thing. Ran in my mother’s family.”

Lori wasuncharacteristically silent, watching his face, trying to figure out if it wasa sensitive subject for him.

Finally, sheasked, “Weren’t there any treatments or whatever you could have tried?” Helooked calm and natural, and so she hoped she wasn’t being unforgivably rude.

Not that itnecessarily would have stopped her.

“Yes. Therewere. Medical treatments or cosmetic remedies. I was…encouraged to try them.”The brief falter in his reply surprised her, as she’d never heard him stumbleover his words before.

“You didn’twant to try them?”

He hesitatedand met her eyes. And something in her expression must have encouraged him tocontinue, “No. My father wanted me to do something about it, and I wasn’tinclined to do what he said.”

“A teenagerebellion thing?”

Ander gave ahalf-shrug. “Maybe. There’s a long history, and it’s not a pretty one. Maybe itwas just a way to rebel, but my mother died when I was very young and the hairloss came from her family, so it seemed important that I…”

When he didn’tfinish, Lori said softly, “That you affirm her memory that way?”

“Yeah. Myfather wasn’t always kind to her.” He cut a quick glance over to her, as if hedidn’t intend to say as much as he had.

She didn’tspeak for a minute, not wanting to come off as too nosy and have him close up.Then, “Was he mad about it? About your not treating the hair loss like hewanted?”

“Yes,” Anderadmitted softly, his eyes shifting to stare up at the ceiling. “He was mad. Thatwas the turning point.”

There wassomething here. Something Lori desperately wanted to know. A story. A history.The shadows of Ander’s background. She was dying to ask him, to give him awhole inquisition—despite the guarded look in his eyes and the slight tension onhis face.

But she hadgrown up a lot since she was a child and blurted out any question on her mind.Now, occasionally, she could manage to keep her mouth shut.

So she didn’tpush him, realizing it might bother him or hurt his feelings. Instead, she justsaid, “I’m sure you know you’re absolutely gorgeous and the baldness just makesyou look more fascinating, so I think you made the right decision.”

Ander’sexpression relaxed and he turned back to her with a slight twitch of his lips.“I appreciate your affirmation, but where were you when I was seventeen yearsold and all the kids thought I was a freak?”

She laughedsoftly at his dry question and responded in kind. “I was probably still playingjump-rope, don’t you think? I’m twenty-six.”

His smiledwidened briefly. “Yeah. That’s about right. I probably wouldn’t have thoughtmuch of the admiration of a ten-year-old. Besides, when you were teenager, youwere probably crazy about some big, strapping jock with a full head of hair.”

To Lori’sabsolutely annoyance, she blushed.

Chuckling, Andersaid, “Thought so.”

She made a faceat him, but she answered willingly enough. “I was in love with my bestfriend—who was definitely jock material. He, of course, never thought about methat way. But I was in love with him all through high school and college.”

“That’s a longtime to be in love with someone who doesn’t love you back.”

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