Read Knowing Vera (Romantic Suspense, Family Drama) (Chance for Love) for Free Online

be overseas.”
    He’s trembling, or at least his leg is, as I lighten my touch and tickle his inner thigh. I shouldn’t tease him, but a part of me needs to know he’s still attracted to me. His breathing is heavier, and the outline of his cock strains against his shorts.
    I kiss his knee, a little longer than a simple peck, and pull myself onto the sofa next to him. “It’s something I’ve been wanting to do.”
    “I’m going to miss you.” His voice deepens, and he slides his palm across my cheek. “I know I don’t have the right to ask you to stay.”
    Would I stay if he asked? His touch is driving me crazy, filling me with inappropriate visions of wedding cakes and growing old together.
    He presses his nose behind my ear, his lips gently kissing the lobe. My insides are melting like warm honey, and my emotions rumble like a subterranean explosion. I shudder, every cell wanting, demanding more, but fear zaps through my arteries, radiating from my chest to my limbs.
    I need to say what I came to say, so I twist around and take a deep breath, fixing my gaze on his clear blue eyes. “It’s not you, or your leg. I can’t get close to anyone.”
    He mouths the ‘it’s not you’ line and whispers, “I know it’s not my leg. You didn’t want to get close before my accident.”
    “Neither did you. You were too busy.” Between his triathlon training, traveling and active social life, he wasn’t exactly a guy who spent much time with me.
    He tangles his fingers in my hair and brings it away from my face. “I’m no longer the same man you had an agreement with. I don’t want the same things. It’s been like a born-again experience.”
    “What are you saying?”
    “I don’t blame you for being confused.” His forehead creases. “When I lost my leg, all I thought about was what I did wrong. Whether I was being punished for all the hearts I’ve broken—the partying and messing around.”
    “No, Zach. You didn’t deserve it. I don’t know why it happened, but it wasn’t because of something you did.” Strange how I had wondered the same thing about my family earlier.
    “How can you be sure?” He leans away from me, his shoulders stooped. “There has to be a reason for everything that happens. I’ve lost everything—my hopes, my dreams, my future.”
    I press my face against the side of his head, hugging him. “You have me.” The words slip out so I keep going. “You’re brave and caring. And you’re still sexy. A man any woman would want.”
    He squeezes me tight, and then releases me. “You don’t have to say anything. I’m okay with it. When I was a famous athlete, people would mob me just to touch me, get my autograph, have me smile at them. I ate it up. Loved it. But now I’m only a guy to feel sorry for.”
    “That is so not true.” I stroke the side of his face, unable to keep the lump from blocking my throat. We stare at each other, almost unblinking. Who was Zach Spencer? And who is he now?
    Finally he whispers, “What is the truth?”
    “You’re a hero and a good friend. Lucas says he’ll always remember the moment you said, ‘I’m coming with you.’ That’s when he knew you were his friend, not just a training partner.”
    “Fat bit of good I did. I had to be rescued while Lucas pulled Maryanne out of the water.”
    I place a finger over his lips. No use talking. I’ll comfort him the only way I know. Unbuttoning his shirt, I kiss a trail up and down his chest, savoring his scent, a mixture of soap and a sporty musk that is uniquely Zach.
    He relaxes into my embrace, lightly stroking my back. It’s all I can do not to undress and straddle him. His touch sends currents around my waist, and his smile, definitely panty incinerating. But he doesn’t wiggle his eyebrows and he doesn’t pull me in to crush my lips. Nor does he probe my nipples and squeeze my ass.
    “What do you want?” he asks.
    A bevy of flip remarks spin through my mind. What did we usually do