Page 48 of Dreaming About Forever

“Just heard a noise. I checked things out.”

Alicia rubbed a hand up and down her arm. The house was warm, but she had more skin showing than covered. “Thank you. Sorry you had to get up so early.”

“Not a problem.”

It wasn’t. He could sleep when he was dead. His time with Alicia was limited, and he didn’t want to miss it.

He cleared his throat. “You can go back to bed. I’ll stop staring at your door.”

He turned to go back into his room and lock himself inside where he wouldn’t be tempted to think about Alicia on the other side of the hall.

“Wait.”

He stopped with his hand on the doorknob. He shouldn’t turn around. He should walk away.

But he couldn’t. Not when Alicia called.

He couldn’t deny her anything.

“Yeah.”

“Do you want to have some coffee with me? I won’t be able to go back to sleep.”

Say no. Say no. Tell her to stop tempting you.

Instead of taking his own advice, he turned and said, “Okay.”

He was a glutton for punishment–as stupid as a deer standing in the headlights, waiting for the crash.

“Let me change, and I’ll be right down.”

With that, Alicia closed the door, giving him some small relief. Jordan pushed his hands into his hair and pulled at the roots. What was he doing?

Back in his room, he stored the gun and changed into jeans. Creeping back into the hallway, Alicia’s door was still closed, and the first dim light of morning filtered through the window. He snuck down the stairs and turned on the kitchen lights.

He’d just started a pot of coffee when Alicia walked in. Her torture outfit was gone, replaced with dark jeans and the thick, oversized sweater she’d worn when they decorated the house.

She looked just as good covered from head to toe as she did in silky pajamas. It really wasn’t fair.

“Coffee?” he asked.

“Yes, please.” She stepped up beside him as he poured the cup. “I found what you told me about last night.”

Great. They were going to start at the bottom today. “And?”

He hadn’t wanted her to know about his lost limb, but he didn’t want to keep it from her either. Her life was an open book, whether she liked it or not. He could give her the same access to his history, even if it was at the expense of his reputation and pride.

“And Purple Heart looks good on you.”

Jordan glanced at her, grateful she hadn’t started with a pity apology for something she hadn’t done. “A Purple Heart doesn’t look good on anyone.”

She crossed her arms and leaned one hip against the counter beside him. “I hate that you were injured, and I hate that you can’t be a part of the Marine Corps anymore because of it.”

Alicia reached out and rested a hand on his arm. A tingling spread its way up to his shoulder and dispersed over his entire body.

When he couldn’t ignore the burning of her touch anymore, he looked up at her. There wasn’t pity or sympathy in her expression. Was that a grin?

“I don’t know if you’re still recovering physically, but it sounds like you still haven’t wrapped your head around the changes in your life. That’s understandable. But I knew you were a great man and fully capable of protecting me before I knew about what happened to you. My mind hasn’t changed.”

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