"Maybe I don't owe you an explanation but I don't want you thinking what you're obviously thinking. I'm not your ex. I'm not going to lie to you."

Laurel wouldn't look at him. "It doesn't matter."

"It matters." Very gently, Cort slid his fingers under her chin and lifted her face to his. "I know you think this is the wrong way for me to go and maybe it is. But I'm trying to pull things together because of you. You threatened to go back home when we were fighting. I plan on helping you forget that threat."

"No, you can't - "

"Yes, I can. What I can't do is pretend any more that this is about being friends." He reached over and slid the confining band from her hair, letting the heavy mass slip over his fingers in a sensual caress. "I don't think you can either."

Panic flashed in her eyes and Cort cut off the denial he saw coming by pulling her into his arms and kissing her.

At first, her palms pressed flat against his chest, she didn't respond. Cursing himself for pushing her too far, too fast, Cort started to pull back. At the same moment Laurel yielded, leaning into him and kissing him back.

And then he stopped thinking.......




She was still unsure of him, unsure of herself, but Laurel wanted this, wanted Cort, like a craving she couldn't satisfy, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, drawing him closer. Cort took full advantage of her response, pulling her closer still, parting her lips under his, the intimate caress heating her blood, heightening her senses and crumbling to dust any rational thoughts.

He wanted this too, she knew from his low needy groan that found its echo in her, the hot urgency of his mouth on hers. Some tiny part of her brain protested her surrender when only moments before she'd been ready to walk away from him. But it didn't stand a chance against the sinful dark pleasure that Cort created with his hands and mouth. She'd never been daring when it came to lovemaking but being with him emboldened her, pushed her to forget all the reasons why she shouldn't be doing this.

At the same time, she didn't know how to deal with it. All her experience had been with Scott and his lovemaking had been unimaginative and undemanding, never overwhelming. Nothing had prepared her for Cort.

Despite all her doubts about him, against his sensual attraction, she was weak. He made her feel like a woman she didn't recognize, needy and demanding, her senses sharpened, her skin sensitized so that every touch made sparks.

His hand tangled in her hair, tipping her head back as he dragged his mouth from hers to kiss and taste her throat. "This is what I want back," he murmured hotly against her skin. "I want to go forward and not look back."

A touch of ice cut into the fire he'd started. "Some things you can't have back." She pressed her hand to his shoulder, as if she could feel the scars there, a reminder that the future for both of them would always be tainted by the past. "Isn't that why you're still angry about what happened?"

"Isn't that why you won't trust me?" His hold on her loosened and he moved back enough to look her in the eyes. "You're right, I was angry. Part of me still is. But it's not going to change anything. Any more than you can change what your ex did."

It was so much more than Scott and Laurel almost told him, wanted to tell him, to tell someone, so the burden of knowing wouldn't be hers alone any longer. Except she couldn't make herself say the words. Tears burned her eyes and she pulled out of his arms. "You're right, I can't change what happened. I'll never get my baby back."

Cort gently brushed away the tears on her face. "No, you won't, but that doesn't mean you have to push everyone out of your life. I can't make every bad thing that ever happened to you in the past go away. But if you give me a chance, maybe we can start something new."

From the book "What Makes a Family"
By Nicole Foster
Silhouette Special Edition
September 2007
Copyright © September 2007
by Danette Thompson and Annette Chartier
® and TM are trademarks of the publisher.
The edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S. A.
For more romance information surf to: http://www.eHarlequin.com

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