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forgiven himself for everything he’d done back then, and every time Olivia looked up at him with adoring eyes, he felt guilty. Same with Ashley Flitt, his high school girlfriend, who made no bones about the fact that she’d wanted him ever since he’d returned to Star Harbor. He’d been feeling too raw to engage with her, and last time he’d heard, she’d left town.
    But Julie was a different matter. He sensed from those intelligent hazel eyes that she could see beneath his façade, even in high school. Something had alerted her to keep her distance, just as something was keeping her at a distance now.
    Even to get her to look at him was a challenge. Yet he craved it. Needed it. And the fire he knew she had inside only made it more exciting. He wanted to find out how hot she could burn. For him.
    Just then, his cell phone rang, breaking his reverie. He pulled it from his jeans pocket and flipped it open.
    “Grayson,” he answered.
    “Hey Cole, it’s Val. Are you available for a meeting this week? We have some information we’d like to share, and we need to make an official game plan for our Star Harbor operation.” Speaking as brothers, he and Val could say whatever they wanted to each other, but when it came to work, they were consummate professionals.
    “Yes. When?”
    “The sooner the better. Thursday?”
    “You got it. Come on down at, say, thirteen hundred hours. You want my people there?”
    “Yes.”
    “Done. Anything else you need from us?”
    “No. But just a heads-up—those tests came back with the chemical breakdown of the drugs originating from the area. It’s just as we thought.”
    “Gotcha. Appreciate you letting me know in advance.”
    “Looking forward to seeing you on the job, bro.”
    “Ditto.”
    He clicked the phone off and checked the time. Lunch was over and he needed to get back to his office. Sighing, he went below deck to his cabin and pulled his uniform back on. Duty called. And for now, he needed to wipe his mind clean of Julie Kensington—her wide-eyed gaze and her soft, sweet heat. But later on, any and all thoughts were fair game.
    I am not a stalker, Julie told herself for the hundredth time that day. Not. A. Stalker . But she had only to stop thinking about work for a moment before an image of hunky, shirtless Cole flashed in her mind. In her daydreams, she ran her fingers over the tattoos on his skin and kissed the ink with her mouth. And when she closed her eyes, he would kiss her, his flesh melting into hers as she sank into his heat. She imagined the way his lips would slant over hers, and—
    “Snap out of it, Julie,” she said aloud. She glanced down at her watch. Eight-fifteen. Have I been zoned out this whole time? Just great. She’d been on autopilot the entire day. It worried her that she hadn’t been completely focused on her work. And it worried her more that Cole Grayson had been the cause. “Work!” she said into her empty office.
    But she couldn’t work any more tonight. Every time she started thinking about something she had to take care of, Cole would edge his way into her consciousness. At one point, she’d been contemplating her Taylor reflex hammer and somehow that had morphed into a daydream about Cole, up on her examination table as she tested his reflexes. All of them.
    She sighed and willed the heat from her cheeks for the umpteenth time that day. At least she’d done one thing she’d promised: getting Margo’s birth control prescription filled. Unfortunately, because she’d ordered a three-month supply, John Anson, the local pharmacist, hadn’t had enough in stock and had to do a special order. He’d told her the pills would be in by the end of the week. But given how nervous Margo was about Don finding out, she had no idea how she was going to get her the prescription.
    Shaking her head, Julie packed up her tote bag to leave. She was too tired to cook dinner, and the Kitchen was calling her.
    The LMK was moderately busy when Julie