It was possible. He hadn’t treated her well. But she’d seemed to understand him and want him anyway.

Maybe she still did.

Ralph seemed to sense his excitement and was running in exuberant circles.

Caleb felt like a fool, but he couldn’t seem to help it.

Because he was watching for her, he saw Kelly five minutes later when she appeared at the entrance of the park.

She was wearing one of her pretty hippie outfits, and she looked lovely and golden in the sunlight.

She was searching the park, looking for the client she was supposed to meet here.

He was the client, but she didn’t know that yet.

He called for Ralph and started walking toward her, drawn by a kind of yearning in his heart he’d never experienced before.

It felt different than it had before—like it was partly unreal, like it was a dream come true, like it was happening to someone other than him.

This was him. Caleb Marshall. And she was Kelly Watson, daughter of a research scientist who had been murdered to save a pharmaceutical company.

And they had both done what they’d done. But maybe it didn’t mean there was nothing left.

Maybe there was another choice.

Maybe there was something worthwhile to salvage in the wake of the destruction.

He saw the moment her eyes landed on his approaching figure. She seemed to freeze, even though he was still too far away to see her expression.

Ralph evidently recognized her and rushed over to greet her with panting joy.

She leaned down to pet the dog, but her eyes never left Caleb.

Soon he was close enough to see that she was pale and shocked and bewildered. But there was something small and hopeful underlying it on her face.

When he reached her, she stood up so she was facing him. “I was…I was supposed to meet a new client.”

“I’m your new client,” he admitted, having to hold himself back from reaching out to her.

She was exactly who he’d loved before—strong and vulnerable, loving and broken, golden with dark shadows underneath.

Deeply human, with a heart so much like his own.

She was panting visibly, and she wrapped her arms around her belly protectively. “You are?”

“I thought it would be a good idea to get a portrait done of Ralph, if you think you’re up for the job.”

Her eyes slipped down to the happy dog, who was bouncing slightly in a sitting position, but they darted back up to Caleb’s face. “I would love to paint him.”

“If you have room in your schedule.”

“I have plenty of room.” She took a shuddering breath. “Caleb, what is…what is going on? Is this…is this what I’m thinking?”

She looked so hopeful and fragile and confused that he could hardly resist pulling her into his arms. She was so close now. He almost had her now.

He just had to get through the last steps.

“You were right,” he said, his voice cracking strangely. He was too emotional. It wasn’t like him. “There is always more than one choice to make. So I’m making a different choice.”

The realization burst out like sunlight on her face. She wasn’t smiling but she was still radiating joy. “Really?”

He nodded, feeling a matching joy and an awkwardness at the same time. “Yes.”

“And all the rest of it, I mean, you’ll be okay with…” She could barely speak. She was hugging herself like she needed to hold the feelings inside.

“It wasn’t okay. I mean, we can’t just erase the past. So the choice I had to make was…was big.” He pulled out from his pocket a folded piece of paper he’d printed earlier. He opened it and handed it to her. “I’m submitting this to the board tomorrow morning.”

She took the paper with a shaky hand and stared down at the printed words.

She stared down at them for a really long time. So long that Caleb was suddenly nervous.

Finally, she lifted her eyes. “You’re…” She could barely speak. “You’re resigning?”

He nodded.

“Oh, God, Caleb.” Her hand was shaking so much he was worried, so he took the paper and folded it back in his pocket. “I never would have wanted you to do something like that. I never would have expected…You don’t have to…”

“I do. I do have to.” He couldn’t stand the distance between them anymore, so he reached out to cup her cheek with one hand. “Because you were right about what you said before. We’re not living in a Greek tragedy, but I’m still Claudius in this. And his problem was always that he refused to give up what he’d gained through his sins. I don’t want to live with that guilt around my neck my whole life. I got this job in part because your father was murdered—whether or not I was directly responsible—and I just don’t want it anymore.”

“You’re sure?” She’d raised a hand to cover the one he still had on her face. “Caleb, are you sure? I don’t want you to have to sacrifice something you love.”

“I was sacrificing what I loved before. I was sacrificing you. And you’re who I’m not willing to give up anymore. This is my choice. This is my different choice.”

She gave a little sob and threw herself on his chest, and he was finally able to wrap her in a tight embrace.

She was all feeling, all emotion, all depth and generosity and intelligence and courage and beauty.

And she was all his. He could feel it. He knew it for sure.

When she finally pulled away, tears were streaming down her face. “So what are you going to do?”

He gave her a little smile. “I thought maybe we could take a walk with Ralph.”

She sniffed and wiped her cheeks with the back of her hands. “I mean for a job.”

He’d known what she meant. “I don’t know, blossom. I really don’t know.”

—

They walked in the park, and then they drove back to Caleb’s house. Breah made them dinner, and then they were both so exhausted that they went to bed early.

Caleb wasn’t sure whether Kelly would want to have sex, since she seemed so incredibly tired, but she scooted over to kiss him as soon as he got under the covers.

They kissed deeply for a few minutes. Kelly’s lips were clinging and tender, and her embrace was passionate, almost desperate. Caleb wasn’t surprised to feel his arousal building with depth, with force.

When he finally tore his mouth away from her in order to start getting rid of some unnecessary clothing, Kelly asked him, “So do you think we need to talk about some of the stuff that happened between us?”

It might have been temporary, it might have been from the bliss of finally making the right decision and of having everything he wanted, or it might have been the distracting compulsion of his hard cock, but Caleb didn’t even care about any of that at the moment. “Not now. Maybe later. Unless you want to.”

Kelly’s smile was beautiful and blinding. She rubbed deliciously against him, quickly finding the bulge of his erection. “Not now,” she repeated, rhythmically rocking up into him. “Maybe later.”

Caleb captured her lips again and plunged his tongue into her mouth, stroking it erotically against hers.

While they kissed, Kelly’s hands fumbled to yank her nightgown off over her head.

Moaning deep in his throat, Caleb lifted off of her just long enough to pull off the T-shirt he was wearing, so that he could feel her naked breasts moving against his skin. “Kelly,” he murmured, his teeth grazing her throat. “Kelly, I love you.”

Her voice sounded almost like a sob, and her body was rocking like a wave beneath him. “Caleb, I love you too.”

Then he felt her hands—eager and seeking—beneath the waistband of his shorts. When he felt her warm little fingers on the sensitive length of his cock, he groaned helplessly.

Her responding moan mirrored his. She was already trying to generate some friction by pushing her pelvis up into his, but one of her hands was still struggling frantically with his shorts, trying to push them off.

“Caleb,” she said in frustration, trying to undress him, massage his cock, and grind against him simultaneously. “Help me get them off.”