A Few Good Men. Tori Carrington

have a breath on which it could exit.

      She pulled slightly away, searching his face in the dim light. “I have so much to thank you for. For being patient. For making me feel alive again when I’d felt like I’d died right along with Andy. For…well, for making me look to the future again with curiosity rather than dread.”

      “Then come to Texas with me, Sara. Take that step into the future.”

      She looked down and slowly shook her head. “I understand that you have your timetable, Eric. What you must understand is that I also have one. And it has yet to adjust to all the changes you’ve wrought in my life in the past week.” She blinked up again and caressed the side of his face much as he’d done to her moments before. “I can’t move at your pace. Too many people will get hurt if I do.” She smiled a ghost of a smile. “Including me.”

      “I’d never hurt you.”

      “No, you wouldn’t. At least not purposely.”

      He opened his mouth to protest and she rested her hand against his lips.

      “Shhh. I’m not done yet.”

      He forced himself to shut up and listen.

      “I need you to promise me something.”

      He wanted to say he’d do anything she wanted. Then he realized that this particular promise was going to be something he didn’t like.

      “I want you to promise that when you leave here tomorrow morning, that you do so without looking back.” Her voice caught and she appeared to have trouble keeping her breathing even. “I want…no, need you to promise me that you won’t try to contact me. Not by phone. Not by e-mail. Not by IM. Not by any means.”

      “Sara—”

      “Promise me, Eric.”

      He drew her close again and she rested her cheek against his shoulder, holding him just as tightly.

      It was all so confusing.

      If she was admitting that she wanted him, with both her words and her body, then why was she still pushing him away?

      “I can’t,” he whispered fiercely into her hair, holding a fist full of it gently. “I can’t imagine not being able to see you, Sara. Not being able to talk to you.”

      She made a small sound as she kissed his arm. “Who said you wouldn’t be doing either?”

      “But how…”

      He stopped.

      “If this is going to happen, I have to be in control. If you force me into it, I may end up regretting it later. Regretting you. And I don’t want to do that.”

      He didn’t want that to happen, either.

      But he couldn’t stand the idea that he would have no sway over her. Didn’t trust that the moment he walked out of her front door that she wouldn’t go back to being Andy’s widow and lock herself out from the world all over again.