her. Took her aback.
They hadn’t gone swimming. Not yet. Or had they? Why couldn’t she remember?
She caressed his smooth jaw.
Smooth.
Her fingers stilled.
Then she noticed something else that wasn’t right. Something thick and heavy separated them.
A blanket. No. Blankets.
And the automated sound of beeping machines filled her ears, not the ocean, the salted air now smelling of antiseptic soap and disinfectant.
The dream or memory or whatever it was dissolved and vanished, like a reflection on water. Nolee’s thoughts sharpened, and she willed herself to open her heavy eyes.
She was in a small white box of a room lying on an uncomfortable mattress.
A hospital.
Not on the beach.
Not on her boat, either, because...
A strangled noise escaped her and she shoved Dylan in the chest, forceful enough to make him stumble back, hard realizations knocking through her.
...Because in this reality, Dylan no longer loved her.
* * *
“YOU!”
Dylan shoved his hands into the pockets of his olive-green flight suit and stared wordlessly at a furious Nolee. Sporadic bursts of noise filtered in from the corridor of Dutch Harbor’s medical clinic. A squeaky wheel, and the aroma of roast chicken, heralded the delivery of the evening meal to the small unit’s patients. Stale air hung as still and heavy as a tomb.
Why the hell had he just kissed her? He shouldn’t have angled in so close when she’d called his name. Tempted himself.
And had she meant it when she’d said she wanted him? Granted she wasn’t fully conscious...but she’d said always.
Not that he cared.
Shit. He cared.
He wanted her. The driving need to haul her back into his arms, feel the press of her lush curves through her thin hospital gown, thrummed inside. Made his stomach clench.
He drew in a ragged breath. Raked a hand over his hair. “I’ll get the doctor.”
“No!”
He halted at the door. Turned.
She leveraged herself up on her elbows and then sat up. The pallor of her skin alarmed him, and snapped him back to the bed where he gathered her small, rough hands in his.
“What are you doing here, kissing me? Why am I here?” In the room’s quiet, her soft voice, always at odds with her tough words, slid around him like a caress.
Good questions, both. At least he had an answer for the second one. As for why he’d kissed her, frustratingly, he’d been as unable to resist her as ever. He should’ve left with his flight crew after dropping her here and enjoyed his upcoming time off after a long shift. But he hadn’t been able to leave until he was assured of her recovery.
“You don’t remember the boat?”
Beneath the flicker of humming fluorescent lights, her dark eyes sparked. “I fixed the leak...” Her words trailed off like the last air from a deflating balloon and confusion crossed her face. “Right?”
He shook his head. “You were too late.”
She snatched her hands back. “No, I wasn’t.”
“You fainted. Hypothermia.” He gestured to the thermal heating blankets that concealed her gorgeous shape, the feel of her body imprinted on his muscle memory as clearly as the last time they’d made love on Summer Bay beach, nine years ago.
Her teeth appeared on her bottom lip. Worried it. Black brows slanted toward the small proud nose he’d always found sexy. “So the boat...” She swallowed the last of her words. Hard.
“Gone.”
She dropped her head in her hands. Moaned. It took everything in him not to gather her close and hold her as he had moments ago. Suddenly her lashes, thick and black, rose. She peered up at him. “My crew. Are they...?”
“Safe. Still pains in the ass, though. They’re in the waiting room and refuse to leave until they hear you’re okay.” He bit back a rueful smile as he recalled the ongoing battle between the boisterous fishermen and the nurses threatening to toss them out. If not for his military credentials, and his persistence, he might not have been allowed back here, either.
“They’re assholes. But they’re my assholes,” she said affectionately. She rolled her eyes at him, and in an instant their old connection slammed into him. He pictured the gritty young woman he’d worked alongside on his Uncle Bill’s crab-fishing boat. They’d gone from friendly rivals to friends, and then much more.
What were they now?
He wouldn’t stick around long enough to find out.
Her amused expression faded slightly, and she seemed to give herself a small shake. “Thank you for saving them.”
He rested his hip on the narrow bed and fiddled with the green plastic hospital tag around her wrist, turning it over and over, unable to resist skimming his thumb along the satin flesh there. Her pulse jumped against his fingertip. “Not you?”
“I told you to leave me be.” Her words escaped her in a breathy rush.
He caught and held her eye. “Not easy to do, Nolee.”
Her nostrils flared, and the small diamond stud he’d given her when they’d graduated high school glinted. “That wasn’t the case nine years ago.”
“You think that was easy?” He strode out of the way of a food service worker bearing a dinner tray and breathed in the aroma of fresh-brewed coffee and chicken broth. Braced himself.
Get it together, man.
If you weren’t in Kodiak, you wouldn’t give her another thought.
Liar. If that were true, how the hell did he explain his nonstop thoughts of her over the years? The memories that refused to let him go, no matter how many miles he put between them. How hard he worked. The risks he took.
The squeak of the staff member’s sneakers grew muffled and then disappeared. Dylan crossed his arms over his chest, willing himself to follow the cafeteria worker out and away from the tempting woman who messed with his hard-won peace of mind.
“Why are you here, Dylan?”
“Transfer.” He turned to face her again. Knocked the emotion out of his voice. The hunger. Kept his tone crisp. “But it’s temporary. I’m shipping stateside as soon as my out-of-rotation-year assignment request is approved.”
“Of course you are.”
