* * *
At age seven, Eve had been riding her bike down a sidewalk on a hill when she’d lost control and slammed into a tree. The impact had knocked all the breath from her lungs.
She remembered that horrible feeling. She felt that same way now. Fighting to breathe past the shock, she forced a calm she didn’t feel. “What did you say?”
Anson stepped back, not meeting her gaze. “It’s the best thing. For both of us.”
Hurt warred with anger. Somehow Eve managed to keep those emotions under tight control. “How can you say that?”
Moving to a large window that overlooked the lights of Denver, Anson spoke without turning. “You should go now.”
Eve crossed her arms and lifted her chin. “I’m not going anywhere.”
He whirled. “I’m not asking, Eve, I’m telling.”
She had three brothers. If he thought ordering her around was going to work, it was time for a wake-up call. “No.”
A startled look crossed Anson’s face. “No?”
“No.” She gave no justification. No explanation. It was how she’d responded to a guy on the last flight she’d taken who’d wanted to switch seats with her.
A muscle in Anson’s jaw jumped. “I don’t want you here.”
If Eve had thought for a nanosecond that he really didn’t want her, that he didn’t need her, that he didn’t love her, she’d have been out the door in a flash.
But Anson wasn’t saying he didn’t love her, though she didn’t doubt he’d say something like that to make her go. Instead, she had the feeling he thought he was looking out for her in some crazy, self-sacrificing way.
“I’m not going until you tell me what’s going on.” She stepped to him. “I love you, Anson.”
She hadn’t meant to say the words at this moment, but now they were out there.
“I love you, too.” Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her tight against him for several wonderful seconds. He rested his cheek against the top of her head. “It’s why you can’t be with me.”
Somewhere in his troubled soul, that kind of logic made sense. Which was why Eve didn’t argue. In time, he would tell her all his fears.
At this moment, Anson didn’t need words. He needed comfort. He needed to know she was in his corner. “Forget about all of that now.”
“I can’t forget—”
“You need to relax. I can help you do that, right here in the privacy of your own home.”
Confusion clouded his eyes until she trailed a finger up his arm, then kissed his neck. “When I’m with you, the world outside simply ceases to exist.”
Heat flared in his green eyes, but he shook his head. “I don’t want to use you—”
“How can it be using me if I want it, too?” She met his eyes with a steady gaze. “The only thing I want at this moment is to be with you, to kiss you and touch you and hold you close.”
And never let go.
Though the thought remained unspoken, it was the truth.
If he thought he could push her out of his life for her own good, well, he didn’t know her as well as he thought he did.
* * *
Anson woke the next morning, naked with one arm wrapped around Eve. Her silky dark hair spilled over his arm, and long lashes fanned her cheeks.
He didn’t want to push her away. He simply wanted her to be with the kind of man she deserved. An honorable man who looked out for others and did the right thing.