Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 83368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Quietly, she said, “Is that why you told me this could never be anything serious? Because you’d be afraid to leave someone you loved behind?”
He nodded solemnly. He hoped that she would know now that it wasn’t about not wanting her permanently in his life. It was that he didn’t feel he could have anyone permanently in his life.
She looked sad and a little baffled too. “But there are all kinds of people who have dangerous jobs in this world. They get married and have families. Cops, firefighters, anybody in the armed forces. Hersch, life is risk. You could have the most boring job in the world—I don’t know, an accountant in a shoe factory—and somebody could fall asleep at the wheel and run you over.”
“You’re right. I know you’re right. But I don’t think I could do it. I think if I had a wife and family that I loved very much, I might have to give up my job.”
She looked stunned. “Why does that have to be your choice?”
“What do you mean?”
“Doesn’t the woman who loves you get a choice in whether she’s willing to take on those risks too?”
He’d never looked at it that way. Could he maybe have a relationship with Mila because she’d lived with risk every day of her professional life as a surfer? She might be one of the few people on the planet who could handle his career.
“How about you?” he asked. “You’re beautiful, funny, an excellent Realtor, great in bed—which maybe I should have said first—and you’re single. What’s your story?”
She pushed her plate away and sipped champagne to give herself a moment. “The truth is, I haven’t truly trusted a man since Travis.”
Herschel reached out and touched her hand, feeling like the biggest klutz in the world. He’d known that Travis had left her after her accident. Of course she felt she couldn’t trust men. “Some men can be trusted. Just saying.”
Her eyes flickered up. “I know. I have a feeling I can trust you, can’t I?”
As always, he tried to give an honest answer. “You can trust me to treat you right and do the right thing, but you can’t trust me not to go off on a dangerous mission and die. I’m sorry to be so blunt, but there it is.”
She bridled a little and retaliated by saying, “And you can trust me to be faithful as long as we’re together, always up for a good time, and if either of us decides it’s time to move on, there won’t be any recriminations or tears. But you cannot stop me from going out on my surfboard whenever I feel like it, no matter how big those waves are, and maybe one day I won’t come back. I like risk. I love that feeling of being in control, but only just, and of always knowing that I can ride the waves, but I can never control them, and they can turn on me at any second and swallow me.”
“Okay,” he said. “We have a deal.”
“We do? What deal?”
“We’ll enjoy each other until one of us can’t do it anymore. How does that sound?”
There was something in her face he couldn’t read, like maybe this should have been the perfect deal, what she always wanted from her lovers, not to feel tied down or constricted in any way, to enjoy each other until one or both of them was done. But now that he was offering it to her, she didn’t want it anymore.
But if that was what she was thinking, she didn’t admit it. She stood instead. “I agree. We have a deal.”
Herschel tried not to laugh as Mila formally held out her hand and shook his while the too-big bathrobe slipped open, exposing the delicious slopes of her breasts. “Deal,” he replied. Then he had no words left. He hiked her into his arms and carried her to bed.
After the initial start of surprise, she laughed and threw her arms around his neck. “I am no featherweight,” she said.
And she wasn’t—she was all muscle, which he loved about her. His reply was to remind her that he worked out. A lot. And then she settled back in his arms and nibbled his earlobe and whispered things in his ear that made him half crazy with desire. By the time he had her back in his bed, it was even wilder than the first few times.
As though there was only limited time, and they had to squeeze every drop of pleasure from every moment.
Chapter Twenty-One
Mila woke with the unfamiliar sensation of warmth at her back. For a second, she hazily thought she was looking after Erin’s dog, Boswell, who, no matter how sternly she told him he had to sleep on the floor, always ended up in her bed when she looked after him. But as her eyes opened, and she came fully awake, she realized that not only was she not sleeping with Boswell, she wasn’t even in her own bed.