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flanked the small stone bench. Daisies. The pungent scent tickled my nose, and my mind flashed an image of a clawfoot bathtub filled with them. His Granny’s backyard.
    We’d lain under stars—on an old sleeping bag, and I’d pointed out the three constellations I knew. He’d kissed my belly button ’til it got sore. “Crew,” I whispered.
    His gaze jerked to mine, making me wonder how long we’d been standing there, hand in hand, silent. But he didn’t correct me. Crew.
    “How long do I get?” I asked.
    He searched my eyes a long moment. So long that I thought he would never answer. Not that it mattered. I’d gone beyond good sense. The longer he took, the less I wanted to know his answer, though.
“I don’t know how long I have,” Crew said at last. His deep, smooth voice cracked.
All the little wings fell still. He really was Crew. I wouldn’t ask. I didn’t need to. He didn’t know how long he had.
How long we had.
    I closed the space between us and pulled at his shirt. The words wouldn’t come. All I had was the feelings pushing and pulling inside of me. All I ever wanted was this. And all the things I swore I would say, I couldn’t fit into my mouth.
“God, Sara. Do you have any idea what you do to me, looking like that?”
My breath hitched. “Tell me.”
“You really don’t know?” His mouth met mine, hard and sweet.
    My belly flip-flopped. I melded my body against his, wanting to disappear into the flurry of attraction no other man ever triggered in me. I smooched his lips and squeezed my eyes, winding my fingers into his hair. I didn’t even care about tongue. I wanted nose to nose. The soft feel of ear lobes and the nudge of his hip bones at mine.
    “Look at me,” he whispered, pulling back.
    I obeyed, ready to do anything he asked. His gaze grew hot and hard. It thrilled me and scared me all at once. Like before. He was the everything I knew I wanted. He was here again. And would be gone again.
But not yet.
“I don’t get a lot of words,” he said and drew his brows together. He sat down on the bench.
Like it took energy if he spoke? Like he didn’t know what to say? “Okay.”
    I sat down on the grass in front of the bench. Coldness—maybe wetness—seeped in my jeans. If he couldn’t speak, I wouldn’t force him. “I have about a million questions.” I took one of his hands. I just need to touch them. The long, tapered fingers. His wide palm. The hill of each fingertip. A million questions. I couldn’t think of one. No. That was a lie. I could think of plenty. Why did you have to go? Why does it still hurt so damned much?
    Did you ever really love me?
    He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “Do you see me, Sara?”
    I nodded fast, and rose to wind my arms around his neck. His put arms around me, his hands flat on my back grounded me, and yet I could drown in the want welling inside of me. Skin on skin. Mouth on mouth. Please, Crew.
    “No, are you really looking, Sara?” Stubble and jaw. He smelled clean. “Can you see what you mean to me?”
    My mind focused on his words, on his face as he cupped mine. This really was Crew. Every pore, every cell of me knew it to be true. Even the logical part of me that at first refused it. The words I held onto for so many years poured out. “Crew, I know you. I miss you like a part of me is gone. Like I’m not whole without you.” A sob clogged my throat. “I will love you ’til the day I die.”
    He grinned. I laughed. My deepest wish had come true. My Crew.
    I wiped my eyes. “Now, tell me how to make you stay.”
     
     
    ~~~
     
     
    Chapter Six
     
     
    Crew sat me down on the grass and pulled me onto his lap. He buried his face in my hair and inhaled. He gave a frustrated groan, but when he looked up, he was grinning.
“Feed me,” he said, his breath warm on my belly.
“What do you mean, feed you?”
He peered up at me with a boyish grin.
    “Guess I’ll have to settle for silence, huh?” I ruffled his hair.