LITMIR.BIZ

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she thought she finally had a glimpse of the real man.

      “What’s going on with you and your career?” she asked. “You said there was a medical issue.”

      “It’s complicated.”

      “Which means you don’t think I will understand it or you don’t want to talk about it.”

      “You’re one of the smartest women I’ve ever known,” he said.

      She smiled. “That’s because I whipped your butt at AP calculus back in the day.”

      “I’m a little better at it now,” he admitted.

      “And I never have to use it. Ironic, isn’t it?”

      “Life is complicated,” he said. “Way more so than we ever could have guessed in high school.”

      “True. So you don’t want to talk about your health and I can respect that, but I need to know if you are in danger. We’re a good forty-five minutes from the nearest hospital.”

      “I’m okay,” he said. “It’s not anything that’s going to kill me while I’m here.”

      Health concerns.

      He’d said it like that because he didn’t want to talk about it and make it seem more real. Giving it a name would mean he was fighting something serious. Instead of, say, a cold or a muscle strain. Those were things anyone could beat. This? He wasn’t sure. But being purposely vague would just make it seem more mysterious to her and he doubted she’d leave it alone.

      “I have some symptoms of spaceflight osteopenia.”

      “I don’t know what that is,” Molly said. “But it sounds like osteoporosis. Does it have something to do with your bones?”

      “Yes. In microgravity, astronauts don’t put weight on our back or leg muscles, and the longer we’re up there the more they start to weaken and get smaller.”

      “Have you lost height?” she asked.

      He shrugged. “When I first returned to Earth I was a bit taller, but now I’m back to normal. They are more concerned with my raised calcium levels and loss of bone density.”

      “What can you do?” she asked.

      “I’m doing it—or I will be, at least. Working on the ranch, lifting, putting my body to good use, all of these things are going to help,” he said with more than a bit of hope and bravado. “I’m supposed to be tested again in three months. I did an advanced regimen during my time on the ISS and if Doctor Tomlin’s theories are correct I should improve more quickly than others have in the past. Part of my mission on the ISS was for her to test the effects of prolonged exposure to space. She has me trying different exercises and a special diet to decrease my recovery time.”

      Molly nodded. He’d shared his medical information but hadn’t really told her what that meant to him.

      “How long are you going to stay?” she asked. She needed to know. She needed to make plans. That was what she should be doing instead of walking in the moonlight with Jason McCoy. But here she was.

      “It’s three months to my reevaluation. That should give us some time to figure out what to do with the ranch.”

      “I don’t want to sell it,” she said. “And I can’t buy you out. Not now.”

      “Oh. I was really hoping to sell my half to you. My life isn’t here at the Bar T.”

      “Dad borrowed some money from you, so you must know the ranch isn’t as profitable as it once was,” she said.

      “I could just sign over my half to you. NASA pays me well enough, and by rights the ranch should be yours.”

      That idea didn’t sit right with her. After all, he’d already put money into the ranch and never got a cent back. “No. Thank you for the offer, but Dad wanted you to have this for a reason. He wouldn’t have felt right not paying you back, at least. And even though I don’t understand or appreciate why he made us full partners in this ranch, I won’t go against his wishes. Maybe you will find that you like the ranching life.” Every once in a while the breeze blew in the right direction and the scent of his aftershave wafted on the wind.

      “I don’t think I will.” He stared up at the stars again, looking as if he would fly up to them now if he could and leave everything earthbound behind.

      “There’s a lot more to you than I remember,” he said. “Though, to be fair, I don’t remember much except that you could outride me.”

      “Fair enough,” she said. “All I remember was that I really wanted to kiss you and you were determined not to get involved with me.”

      He laughed.

      She watched him a second and then smiled. It was the first time since her dad’s death that she’d felt...happy.

      He noticed her watching him and raised one eyebrow at her.

      “You made me smile.”

      “I’m glad,” he said. “I like your smile.”

      “You do?”

      “Yes, ma’am.”

      She shook her head. “How many women have fallen for your ‘aw shucks’ routine?”

      “A fair few,” he admitted with a sheepish smile. “Not everyone is impressed with my being an astronaut and having stayed on the ISS.”

      “Really?” she asked. It gave her the shivers to think of the things he’d done and seen. “I am.”

      “You are?”

      “I’ve only left the state of Texas once and that was just to go to Louisiana to pick up a bull Dad had purchased. So you having left the planet is a big deal,” she said, wondering who would disagree.

      He stopped walking and turned to look at her. His features weren’t clear in the darkness, but she felt his attention on her.

      She licked her lips and tried to step back because she was a hot mess, as she’d said earlier. And Jason was feeling uncertain and worried about his future. This was the worst possible time to be kissing him. And more—she wanted more.

      She knew that.

      She’d been alone for too long. It had been over eighteen months since she’d ended her last relationship and most of the time she was just fine getting her romance fix on television or in books. But tonight, standing out here in the moonlight with him, she craved...something more.

      She never gave in to impulses. That was a lie—she had tonight. She’d left her room, gone into the hallway. He’d kissed her. And when their lips had met...she’d changed.

      Something fundamental had shifted inside of her and she was honest enough to admit she didn’t know how to react to it. She should never have kissed Jason. She should have left him in the past, in those teenage-girl dreams.

      But he was here and that kiss was fresh in her mind. Her lips tingled and she realized that being this close to him stirred something inside of her that she usually did a good job of ignoring. Stirred the passion and the desire that she preferred to think she was the master of. That she had been able to control until Jason.

      “Jason...”

      “Yes?”

      “Why did you stop walking?” she asked.

      “Because I wanted to show you this,” he said. He drew her into his arms and she started to lift her face to his, her eyes slowly closing. But he turned her so that he stood behind her and put his hand under her chin, tipping her head back toward the sky.

      She was on fire with need. But he treated her like a friend.

      They were friends.

      Just friends.

      She

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