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inside.”
    “If we go inside together,” Lucy said, “I’m only going to feel
things for you that I shouldn’t feel.”
    The rain turned to needles, lancing Caleb’s skin. “What are you
talking about?”
    “Do you think it’s easy for me to see you after all these
years?” Her voice shook. “Every second I’m with you, I remember those feelings I
had when we were young. They all come flooding back. Only now you’re here, and
I’ve touched you and kissed you, and now I can’t forget how those things felt.
Don’t you think it’s hard for me to feel a connection to someone who is
hell-bent on pulling away?”
    “Pulling away?” Caleb palmed the stone on either side of Lucy’s
shoulders, pinning her in place. “I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.”
    “But you are. You may be here in the physical sense, touching
me, kissing me—” her breath hitched “―but just like in the chamber at the
cavern, you’re going to pull away.”
    “You’re the one who asked me to kiss you , remember?”
    “Wonderful.” She huffed, slapping her hands against her sides.
“Throw a moment of weakness in my face.”
    “Lucy, I didn’t mean—”
    “I’m not taking one step into this castle and risk getting even
closer to you, until I know what your intentions are.”
    “My intentions?” He froze. “Shit, Lucy, you want to do this
now?”
    How could she not see what was happening between them? Their
chemistry was electric, sparking on the air, defying the strength of the
storm.
    “Beyond the kiss, did what happen between us happen because I
asked for it, or because you wanted it?”
    “I never do anything that I don’t want to do.” Caleb lowered
his head to hers. Fat drops of rain slid down Lucy’s tank top, dripping between
her breasts. Her porcelain-pale skin was drizzled with rain, a thin sheen of
sweat mixed with it, giving Caleb fantasies of licking the cocktail off her
skin. “How can you not see what’s happening between us?”
    As Lucy’s gaze trailed down his body to his erection, her eyes
widened with insatiable hunger. He was rock hard, swelling with the need to
finish what they’d started in the chamber. The sight of Lucy sprawled on the
bed, the taste of her most sensitive flesh, succulent and honey-sweet...simply
thinking about it again made Caleb’s muscles clench into torturous knots.
    “There’s something beneath the surface. Something that’s
holding you back from me.” Lucy lifted her chin and arched her back, bending
into him. “If you want to keep our relationship on a platonic level the way it
was before, you can tell me. But I need to hear it before I get too deep so that
I can set boundaries for myself. Can you understand that?”
    “There’s no denying that I think of you as one of my best
friends, Lucy. What you don’t understand is that I’ve thought of nothing but
carrying you to bed for three long years. I’ve dreamed of your muscles squeezing
around me as you shatter apart. I’ve made myself crazy with thoughts of things I
want to do to you.” Caleb was drawn so incredibly tight, it was a wonder Lucy
wasn’t beneath him already. “But I don’t want to wreck what we’ve got for a few
hot and heavy moments under the covers.”
    “Caleb, I’m already past all that, but I can’t risk getting
closer to you until I know what you’re in for.”
    “What I’m in for? Damn it, Luce.” Did she want a ring or a
promise of forever? He’d just returned after three years of being away to find
Tristan still missing. Already she wanted promises he didn’t know if he could
keep. He’d been right all along. Sex complicated things. Except they hadn’t even
gotten that far yet. “Lucy, I’m here because you said we should come here.
Because you said there might be something here that’ll lead us to finding
Tristan and bringing him home. What more do you want from me?”
    “And that’s it? That’s all you have to say?”
    “I think the best thing for us