“But we did keep in touch.” She stood, lifted her chin, and stared down her little nose at me, even though she was easily a good foot shorter than me. “At least, I did.”

Something in my chest twisted. It was on the tip of my tongue to apologize for never answering her letters, for never letting her know I got them, but I swallowed the words. She didn’t need an apology for this, and I didn’t need to give her one. What was done was done. There was no changing it.

I’d done worse things in my life than not write back to a girl.

To her, even. Like that kiss.

What she really deserved an apology for wasn’t the whole letters thing. It was the fact that she’d poured her heart out to me, admitted she loved me, and I never wrote her back. I had done it to set her free, sure, but still. It had been dickish. Even though I’d never say those words back to her, even though I couldn’t, she should know she wasn’t just a way to get free. She should know…

That I had cared about her. Still did.

But it couldn’t be in a romantic way. We couldn’t be together. She still deserved better. Was still made for bigger things than me. And now she wanted me to live with her? That was a horrible idea. Terrible. But as I tried to talk myself out of it, I heard Doc’s voice in my head, encouraging me to spend time with her. To let her show me when she was ready, and how much she wanted. To let her lead the way.

Well, she had. She’d told me what she wanted.

And now I had to decide whether I was comfortable giving it to her or not. If I was willing to give back to the girl who always gave so much to me. “Us living together is a bad idea. Nothing good can come of it. It won’t work.”

She crossed her arms. “Give me one reason why not.”

I couldn’t tell her that it was because the last thing I saw when I looked at her was a damn sister. Or that I wanted to kiss her again, only for real this time. With no hidden agendas. But she couldn’t know that, because I couldn’t. Wouldn’t. That road wouldn’t lead us anywhere worth going, and I wouldn’t hurt her again. “I already did. We don’t know each other.”

“Not enough.” Scowling, she shook her head. “Try again. I’ll wait.”

I fought the urge to roll my eyes and racked my brain for another good reason. A conversation thread from two nights ago came to mind, and I hoped to hell it wasn’t a figment of my imagination. “What would your fiancé think?”

She cringed. “He’s not my fiancé. No matter what Daddy or Mr. Thornton says, or even Derek. I’m not wearing a ring. But he already knows. I—”

“Wait. You told him before you even asked me?”

She flushed. “Yes, but don’t worry. I stressed to him that you just came home from war, and weren’t ready to be back in polite company again. He swore to keep our secret.” She hesitated. “He’s good at keeping those. Trust me.”

“He might say he’s okay with me living with you now.” I snorted. “But trust me, he doesn’t mean it.”

“That’s for me to worry about, not you.” She came around the table and stopped directly in front of me. If she stepped any closer, she’d learn the real reason that we couldn’t live together, up close and personal. “You’re right about one thing. We never got to live together. This is the perfect chance for us to get to know one another. For us to be like…family.”

Family, my ass. She wasn’t, and never would be, my family. I curled my thumb under my fingers. “I doubt we’d get along now. Or we’d get along too well.”

“Oh. Oh.” Her cheeks flushed. “You’re worried I won’t be able to control myself around you. That’s the problem here, right?”

I wasn’t sure what to say to that, since it was the opposite.

So I said nothing. Just stared at the peeling, faded blue-and-white wallpaper.

“Is this about that stupid kiss?” She let out a little laugh and lifted her arms before letting them fall to her sides. “Because the way I remember it, you started it. You asked me if I wanted to kiss you, and I did.”

I crossed my arms and forced a cocky grin. Anything to hide the fact that right now, in this crappy motel room, I still wanted to kiss her very, very much. That I always had, and that was the real problem. “Ah, but you’re the one who actually did it. Who kissed me. So technically…”

“Something tells me I’ll be able to control myself around you now. Contrary to what you seem to think, I’m not dying with desire for you.” She watched me, calling for honesty. Honesty I wasn’t ready or willing to give. “Or are you more worried about yourself?”

Hell, yeah, I was. But I couldn’t tell her that. “Oh, I’m not worried about myself at all.”

She let out a small laugh. “Wow. Okay, then. Thanks for being brutally honest and letting a girl down easy.”

I didn’t say anything at first. If she thought I had no desire to touch her, then it would only help me in the long run. “A guy’s gotta be honest, right?”

She stared at me, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Despite my desire to scare her off, a stronger desire caused me to glance down, and nothing short of a force of nature would stop me from admiring the generous cleavage she’d put on display.

As if she sensed my thoughts, she stepped back, crossing her arms. “You know, I thought you changed. Yesterday, when you…I thought you changed.”

“Sorry to disappoint you.”

“Oh, really?” She pushed my shoulders. I stumbled backward, because she’d caught me off guard…as had the feel of her fingers on my bare skin. Jesus Christ, she was pure fire and electricity. “Oops. My arm slipped. I totally didn’t mean to push you. I’m so very sorry.”

I raised a brow. “Sure you are. I can totally see the sadness in your eyes.”

“You’re mistaking my anger for sadness. I don’t do sad. Blue doesn’t look good on me. Never has.”

A surprised laugh choked me, because this tiny woman did what no one else dared to do. She provoked me. Pushed me. Showed no fear. It made me want to shake her or kiss her. I wasn’t sure which urge was stronger. “Funny. Here I thought you always were pretty in blue…little girl.”

She growled deep in her throat and lifted her hands as if she would strike again. I wished she would. It would give me an excuse to show her what happened when you pushed a guy like me too hard. To show her what happened when you flirted with a guy like me with no plan or the freedom to follow through. And, damn it, I needed an excuse to do that. But instead of hitting me, she dropped her hands and took a deep breath.

“You know what?” She picked up her hat and jammed it on her head. “Enjoy your donut. I hope you choke on it.”

I choked again, but it wasn’t on the donut.

It was her words, and the laugh she’d caused.

The brat had made me laugh again. I bit it back almost instantly, but she must’ve heard it. And maybe it made her realize how foolish we sounded, poking at one another as if we were still fifteen and eighteen years old, because she laughed, too.

She covered her mouth, her eyes wide. “Oh, my God.”

“I heard you,” I teased, grinning. A strand of hair had fallen in front of her nose when she’d put her hat on, so I tucked it back. “It’s too late to take it back.”

She swallowed hard. “I heard you, too.”

We eyed one another quietly, as if we’d shared something filthy, instead of a laugh. And somehow it felt as if we had. The tension between us—the tension that was way too damn thick to be one-sided—urged me closer. Before I’d fully thought it through, I took a step toward her. Slowly, she moved her foot forward, too.

For a second, a dirty-as-hell second, I thought about it.

Thought about following through and kissing her again.

Damn, I wanted to close the distance between us so badly. I wanted to taste her lips and see if she still tasted as sweet as she smelled, because I was one hundred percent certain she would. Wanted to see if her pure-and-shiny soul could brighten my blemished one with a simple kiss, even though I knew it wouldn’t. Couldn’t.