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breast. His own breath caught as his fingers hovered over her. His eyes met hers, and she could feel the energy snap as they stared at each other.
    “Comfortable enough?” he whispered hoarsely.
    She nodded and relaxed back into his pillow as he moved toward the table where he had set his camera. He stared at her, lying in his bed as if she had just woken from a dream in the moonlight. He swallowed visibly and began to work.
    Sam lay frozen in place, her body utterly still as her mind raced. She was surrounded by his scent as she lay swathed in the sheets—soap, the faint scent of the aftershave he sometimes wore, and a trace of developer fluid. Her eyes followed him as he murmured instructions to her and moved around the room, completely focused on her body and the light. He reached over occasionally, adjusting an arm, a piece of hair, or the drape of the sheet. Every time Reed’s fingers brushed her, they raised goosebumps. She was utterly aware of every small movement he made and each click of the camera as he captured her in the quickly shifting light. His eyes were so focused, Sam felt as if she could burst into flames at any moment.
    He was hypnotic.
    After what was probably an hour, Reed began to slow, and it was as if the energy drained from the room. He came and knelt beside her, setting his camera on the floor by his feet. His hand reached over, pulling the sheet to cover her more securely.
    Sam stared at him in the dim light, her chest heaving as if from physical exertion, though he was the one who had been darting around the room. He reached toward her hair, and she captured his hand with her own, finally breaking her stillness as she wove her fingers with his.
    He let out a ragged breath. “Sam…”
    She didn’t speak, but pulled him toward her, sitting up slightly as she drew his head closer. The sheet fell away until they were pressed against each other. His chest was cool against her burning skin, and she lifted her face to his.
    Unlike their rushed kiss at the door, when Sam kissed Reed she drew him to her slowly, as if afraid he might bolt across the room at any moment. Her soft lips touched his, tentative after the previous hour, unsure of which steps to take and what lines to cross. As she continued stroking his lips with her own, the tension drained from his shoulders and he relaxed into her mouth. His arms encircled her, and his fingers pressed into her bare shoulders. He slipped into the small bed and lay behind her, still wearing his jeans.
    His chest lay against the burning skin of her back, and Reed reached down to pull the sheet up, covering her as his arm draped over her naked body. His head lay next to hers on the pillow, and she felt him run his swollen lips along the nape of her neck as he nosed the hair away, inhaling deeply. His exhaustion creeped over her, and within a few minutes, they were fast asleep, lying next to each other in the fading moonlight.
     

 
     
     
     
    CHAPTER SEVEN
     
     
     
    Laguna Beach, California
    March 2010
     
     
    K ate used the key he had given her, opening the shop door later that night after hours of waiting to surprise him at his house. Moving silently through the front room, she hesitated, her heart fracturing a little more with each step and each familiar groan, as she approached the back room.
    They were pressed against the back wall. The girl’s legs were wrapped around his hips as she sat on the edge of the unfinished surfboard he had been working on. Beer bottles lay scattered, and a whiff of pot smoke lingered in the air.
    They didn’t see her for a few minutes, and her heart broke as Kate watched the man she thought she loved screw a nameless girl in the back of the shop his parents bought him.
    She must have choked. Maybe she cried. But the girl’s eyes lifted toward hers, and Cody’s shoulders began to turn.
    He only caught a glimpse of her wild hair as she disappeared into the night.
    “Kate!”
     

 
     
     
     
    Part Four: The