door open and looked up as he stepped in. As soon as he closed the door and started doffing his wet jacket and hat, she said, “I don’t need a babysitter, you know. You can go do whatever it is you ordinarily would be doing.”
He froze, his eyes widening a hair. Then he dropped his hat on the cabin’s one shelf and faced her straight on. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“You said yourself you don’t mind being out in this weather. You must have things to do. You don’t have to hang around here to keep me safe. I can do that myself.”
His lips parted a little, then closed. He glanced down a moment, then returned his gaze to her.
“I know you can take care of yourself.” He said it flatly. There was even an edge in the words, just a small one. “Are you trying to tell me to get lost?”
The question startled her, causing her to scramble around in her own thoughts. Was that what she was trying to do? Really? Or was it everything else she’d been mulling over?
“Sky?”
She didn’t answer as she began to feel embarrassed by her own illogical thinking. She was trying to read tea leaves, ping-ponging from one idea to another feeling, ascribing motivations to him when she didn’t know what they were, all the while dealing with the mess Hector had left in her heart and mind. Fear and yearning had mixed her up and now she was accusing him of things based on her own unsettling mental conversations—conversations that mostly made no real sense.
“Sky?” he repeated.
Her voiced was muffled when she answered. “Sorry. I don’t usually make accusations based on one side of a private mental conversation. Certainly not one as mixed-up as I’ve been having.”
She stared at her knees, hoping he didn’t probe.
She heard him move, heard his boots on the wood floor, but she was still surprised when he knelt before her and seized her hands. He held them snugly until finally she lifted her gaze to look at him.
“I think,” he said quietly, “that we need to talk.”
“Go ahead.” She certainly didn’t want to do any talking herself. Everything she might say would only make her sound juvenile or crazy.
“Okay,” he said after a few beats. “Me first. I am not babysitting you. I actually enjoy being with you. I like your company. I like your spirit. I was honestly glad to wake up this morning and realize I had a good excuse to stay here today. And there’s nothing I’m supposed to be doing, because I’m seriously overdue for a day off. If anyone needs me for something important, I have a radio. Has anyone bugged me?”
“No,” she said quietly, even as her heart lifted a bit. So he had really wanted to spend the day with her? That felt so good.
“However,” he continued, “I’m aware that you’re coming off a bad relationship. You told me just a little. So I’m tiptoeing because I understand that you’re on the rebound, you’re sore and hurt and I suspect you’re seeing a lot through the lens of what happened with your ex. That’s normal. We all do it. But I am not your ex.”
“I didn’t think you were!”
“Really? I get the feeling that sometimes you do. You may not realize it, but you’ve got yourself staked out with off-limits signs. Not every single moment, but they pop up. So I’m trying not to cross boundaries you don’t want crossed. Besides, you’re planning to return home. So why the hell would I want to get either of us into a mess that might hurt one or both of us?”
God, his thoughts had paralleled at least part of hers. But at least he didn’t say anything about her dissociation a few days ago. That would have wounded her.
“So you’re fragile because someone just hurt you. I know that and respect that. Unfortunately, I can’t help noticing how sexy and tempting you are. So I crossed the line a couple of times. I felt it.”
He felt it? Oh, God!
“I wish we could have a lot more days right here doing exactly what we’ve been doing today. I’m relaxing with you and enjoying it, and I’d like to do it again tomorrow, but I don’t think the weather will cooperate. So the sun will come out, my sense of duty will rear up and I’ll get back to work.”
She managed a nod as it began to penetrate that he’d said she