Carolina Moon

beside her, a grin splitting his face.
    “You’re doing it! Keep going, you’re doing it.”
    “I’m riding!” Under her the bike became a majestic steed. With her face lifted, she rode like the wind.
    Tory woke on the ground beside her car, her muscles trembling, her pulse pounding, with an ache of joy and loss in her heart.

16
    S he’d forgotten about dinner until minutes before Cade knocked. There’d barely been time to wash her face and repair the damage from the crying jag and what had followed it, and no time at all to think of an acceptable excuse to send him away.
    She couldn’t get her mind around it. The bout with tears had left her hollow, head and body. The swing back into Hope’s past brought both uneasiness and sorrow.
    And a thrill. That was the oddest part of it, she admitted. This lingering thrill of that first solo ride, the sheer delight of wobbling down that lovely, shade-dappled lane with Cade running beside her.
    The way his eyes, so blue, so bright, laughed into hers.
    The love she’d felt for him, the innocent love of a sister, still shimmered through her and mixed, dangerously, she knew, with her own emotions that were very adult and had nothing to do with kinship.
    The combination made her vulnerable, to herself and to him. Better, wiser, to be alone until it passed.
    She’d tell him she was exhausted, too tired to eat. That, at least, would be the truth.
    He was a reasonable man. Almost too reasonable, she told herself. He’d understand and let her be.
    When she opened the door he was standing there, holding a casserole dish. Neighbors, she thought, brought food for death. Well, she was dead on her feet so it seemed appropriate enough.
    “Lilah sent this.” He stepped in, handed it over. “She said anyone who worked as hard as you shouldn’t have to cook on top of it. You’re instructed to put this in the freezer and pull it out the next time you come home and just need to sit and put your feet up. Which,” he added, as he continued to study her face, “looks like tonight.”
    Yes, she thought, almost too reasonable. “I hadn’t realized how geared up I was about today. Now that it’s over, I’m limp.”
    “You’ve been crying.”
    “Delayed reaction. Relief.” She carried the dish into the kitchen to put it away, then wondered what to do next. “I’m sorry about tonight. It was a nice idea, going out to celebrate. Maybe in a couple of days, we could—” She turned, all but bumped into him, then backed hard against the counter.
    There was a rough-and-ready jolt of lust. From her, from him, she couldn’t be sure.
    “You had a lot to deal with today.” He didn’t give her room. He figured he’d already given her plenty. He simply laid his palms on the counter on either side of her. Caged her in. He saw her awareness of the move in her eyes. The wariness. “A lot of people, and the memories they bring along with them.”
    “Yes.” She started to shift, realized there wasn’t anywhere to go. It was her blood that was hot, she thought with some embarrassment. Running hot, fast, and greedy. “It seemed like memories were shooting out like pebbles from a slingshot.”
    And had ultimately taken her down.
    “All of them painful.”
    “No.” Oh God, don’t touch me. But even as she thought it his hands were on her shoulders, running down her arms. Everything inside her body began to pulse. “It was wonderful to see Lilah … and Will Hanson. He looks just like his father now. When I was a girl, Mr. Hanson—old Mr. Hanson used to give me Grape Nehi on credit if I was a few pennies short. I often was. Cade …”
    His name was almost a plea. She couldn’t have said for what.
    She was trembling. The little jumps under his palms were wonderfully arousing. “I liked the way you looked today. All tidy and crisp. All calm and cool on the outside. Always makes me wonder what’s going on under the surface.”
    “I was nervous.”
    “It didn’t show. Not the way it’s showing now. Defenses down, Tory. I want them down. I’m going to take advantage of it.”
    “Cade, I’ve got nothing in me.”
    “Then why are you trembling?” He tugged the band from her hair, heard the quick catch in her breathing. His eyes stayed on hers, watching the irises darken as he combed his spread fingers through her hair and unwound the neat braid. “Why aren’t you stopping me?”
    “I …” Was that her knees going weak? She’d forgotten that could be such a lovely