Back To Us (Dare With Me #4) - J.H. Croix Page 0,4

laughter, her sweet lips against mine—but the grip she had on my heart hadn’t loosened, not one increment.

“I’m sorry,” I said finally, my words coming out raw and hoarse.

She blinked, and I saw the pain flash in her eyes. She shuttered it quickly, lifting her chin. “For what?” She threw that question at me like a dart.

“For telling you I didn’t want more. For saying I could never commit.”

My heart was pounding so hard, I could feel the hammering echo down to my bones. She stared back at me.

Because my body was always ahead of my brain and my heart when it came to Nora, I dipped my head, brushing my lips over hers. When I realized what I’d done, I braced myself, thinking she was going to shove me away and maybe even slap me.

She didn’t. I felt the little whimper in her throat like a jolt of lightning through my entire system. And then, I was folding her in my arms, breathing in her scent—earthy with a hint of something sweet and overlaid with the crisp smell of the ocean breeze.

She still didn’t shove me away, and I cataloged the feel of her pressed against me. She was already imprinted on every cell in my body—the sweet curve of her breasts against my chest and the dip of her waist where my palm landed. Her ragged breathing followed the rhythm of mine.

She let me hold her just long enough that hope unfurled in my heart like a banner across the sky with her name emblazoned on it. Then she stiffened. “I can’t.”

I forced myself to step back. The effort ran against every instinct clamoring in my body. Finally having Nora in my arms for the first time in months reminded me of just exactly how right it felt when we were together.

When I looked down, her brown eyes stared back at me. I thought I saw a teardrop glittering in her eyelashes, but a punishing gust of wind struck us, and her hair blew wild. By the time she brushed it away, the teardrop was gone.

“You know we’re probably gonna have to stay here tonight, right?”

“What are you talking about?” Pink crested on her cheeks.

I waved vaguely in the air. “It’s windy as hell.” I gestured toward the wind sock on a pole mounted above the shed. As if to demonstrate, another brutal gust of wind lashed the poor wind sock, sending it into a furious spin before it held straight as the wind blew steadily.

“Unless the wind dies down real quick, we’re not gonna have time to get back across the bay before it’s too late.”

Nora blinked at me before looking away, her chin set in a stubborn line. I knew she was grinding her teeth because I saw the muscle tightening at the back of her cheek. I wanted to pull her into my arms again and tell her I knew how much I’d screwed up. I didn’t.

She slipped between me and the door, rounding to the other side of the plane and opening the small compartment in the plane’s belly. A moment later, she closed it, slipping her arms into the bright purple windbreaker she’d pulled out.

“How long should we wait?” She stopped beside me, surprising me with her question.

Nora had been giving me the silent treatment for months now. It was crazy to realize how much I could miss her when she was right there. Every day. We worked together and lived at the resort together.

“Let’s radio over to the other side of the bay and see how things look there.”

I was surprised, yet again, when Nora followed me over to my plane. We climbed in the front. A moment later, Skylar Bridges, who ran one of the other flight businesses in Diamond Creek, answered, “Yep, what’s up?”

I wasn’t using the official channels for this call. I wanted a quick, preferably blunt answer. “How’s the wind looking over there?”

“It’s windy as hell,” she replied.

Nora wrinkled her nose, her mouth twisting to the side. I chuckled. “Okay, so it sounds as bad over there as it is here at the supply station.”

“It’s probably worse over there because it’s at a higher elevation. All of our planes are on the ground now. If you’re smart, you’ll sit tight. You set to stay for the night?”

I risked another glance at Nora. She was staring out the window to the side, but I could see the tension in her shoulders. My eyes shifted down to land on her