hair was rumpled over his brow and she walked forward, her fingers itching to push it off his forehead.
She gazed down at him. His relaxed hands were linked over his belly, and his chest rose and fell in a slow rhythm. He was asleep, and she knew that didn’t come easy to him.
But she had something to get off her chest. She should shake him awake, stare straight into his amazing, laser-blue eyes and tell him that leaving her wouldn’t be right. Perhaps she’d even tell him why.
But he would end up leaving anyway, she thought, resignation a heavy weight on her shoulders. Because that’s who he was, who he’d always been: an adventurer, a risk taker. He’d been clear on that from the very beginning. He lived for the adrenaline rush, and only one thing would prevent him from seeking out the next thrill.
If you love somebody enough, you won’t chance putting them through that.
If he was going back, it was because he didn’t love anybody enough to stop him.
Including her.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
DREAMS HAD COME TO GAGE in the dark, hellish pit where he’d been held captive for two weeks. That was no surprise; it was the fact that he’d fallen asleep in the first place that had amazed him. You’d think when you suspected your life was being measured in minutes, you’d want to stay awake for each and every one of them.
But the mind was a powerful instrument, and while his body had been imprisoned eight thousand miles away, in his dreams he’d traveled to California. The cove had looked much as he’d remembered, the beach houses, the blue sky, the scarlet and salmon bougainvillea winding up the scaled trunks of palm trees. Skye had been there, too, but not skipping on the sand or splashing in the shallows as she had done when she was small. Instead, she’d grown into a lovely mermaid, and he’d seen her from a distance, flipping her tail and tumbling in the water with the grace of a seal.
In his dreams, he’d smiled at her playful antics and longed to reach her. But despite how far out he swam, how long he stayed in the water, he never managed to get close enough to touch. Each and every time, the tide would eventually catch him up and drag him back to shore, leaving him sprawled on the sand.
Now, like then, his limbs felt heavy, his eyes reluctant to open. The end of those prisoner dreams meant remembering he was still underground. Who wouldn’t put off that ugly jolt of reality as long as possible?
But something compelled him to lift his lids. Twinkling stars. A pale half-moon, glowing. Relief washed through him and he felt almost drunk on the fresh air.
A movement caught his eye. He rolled his head, and there was Skye, out of her tail and standing on two human legs.
Another high-octane shot of relief poured through his bloodstream. He held out his hand, found her wrist, pulled her nearer. “You’re here,” he said, his voice still hoarse and sluggish with sleep. “Where you’re supposed to be.”
“Is that right?” She sounded doubtful.
He frowned, and then recent events caught up with him. “You’re still mad at me.”
Hesitating, she looked down, hiding the mysterious depths of her eyes. “Oh, Gage. I’m so conflicted about...about what we’re doing. Whether I should be with you right now.”
Without letting go of her, he scooted on the cushions, and drew her down, so she sat beside his still-reclining body. “What if I told you I had a method to clarify your thinking?”
“What if I told you I’m sure you think you do, arrogant man?”
He laughed. “I’m not such a bad guy.”
“No.” She shook her head. “That’s one of the problems. You’re not a bad guy at all.”
“C’mere, then,” he said, “and let me tell you about how we resolve your concerns.” Picking up the edge of the blanket covering his bottom half, he held it open in invitation. He didn’t dare let his satisfaction show as she slid in beside him.
They lay side by side, staring up at the sky. “So...” she said, after a few moments of silence, “I’m waiting.”
“Impatient girl.”
“We don’t have forever.”
He turned his head to study her profile, the curl of her lashes, the straight edge of her nose, the full curves of her mouth. “That’s where you’re wrong. If we frame this moment just right, it will remain how we want it until the very end of time.”
She glanced over. “Is that