Free Finish What We Started by Amylynn Bright Page A

She’d convinced herself that if he was taken her dirty dreams would stop.
    He stared at her for a moment, then shrugged without answering.
    She silenced a groan and shook her head. “Me neither. Between studying for the boards and time at the clinic...My hours are brutal. When it’s a call between clubbing and sleep, I gotta go with sleep.”
    “Have you been skipping meals again? You do that when you’re stressed and it always makes things worse. I told Mom I’d seen you. She’d love you to come by the house for dinner some Sunday.” He ran his fingers through his hair.
    Candace had adored his mother.
    He continued, “You can see Mark and his new wife. Sarah and Sidney will be there, too.”
    A pit settled in her stomach at the mention of his sister and nephew. She didn’t think seeing them was any better of an idea than asking Lee to come chat it up with her own brothers.
    The reasons she’d left when she did were valid and important ones, but she’d still left the entire Bennett family at the worst time imaginable. She’d been right to go, had needed to, but it had still been awful. As much as she had liked his family, seeing them now would only confuse the matter. She was having a hard enough time keeping her mind straight, especially when he remembered she was left-handed and that she often forgot to eat.
    She made a noncommittal noise and he took the hint. The end of their love affair had hurt so many people. With a hand on her car door, she said, “Well, it looks like you have everything under control here. I’ll let you get back to it.”
    They needed to quit talking about his family. It didn’t matter that he was sexy as sin
and
considerate. It didn’t matter that he was obviously trying to win her over. All that mattered was that she was never going down that path again.

Chapter Seven
    Four years and eight months ago
    “You know what you need?” Lee said, and nuzzled the sensitive place where Candace’s neck met her shoulder. He thought he had snuck up behind her while she was studying, but she could smell him as soon as he entered her room. Shampoo, aftershave and clean T-shirts were her favorite smells, and he could rock the hell out of a fresh T-shirt.
    “I need to finish this paper.” But she still tilted her head so he could nuzzle properly.
    Her earlobe disappeared into his mouth where he worried it with his teeth. He whispered, “Are you hungry?”
    She paused. “Hungry for what?” Oh, the options were endless.
    “Dinner. Ice cream. Me.” He found that same sensitive spot on her other side.
    She rolled her neck backward and he took the invitation to kiss her. He held her head in one large hand and took her mouth. Lee was always especially good at hello. Eventually he let her up for air. “Seems maybe you got those in the wrong order.”
    He leaned his perfect rump on her desk and gave her a stern look. “Did you eat today?”
    She had to think about it, hence the stern look. “I ate breakfast.”
    “Because I made it for you. What did you have for lunch?”
    Ah, lunch. Not so much. “I had some peanut butter pretzels.” She flashed him a coy grin to distract him. Hopefully the two day old ponytail and the sweat pants wouldn’t spoil the effect.
    He placed both hands on the arms of her desk chair and pushed her back until he could step between her and the desk. He leaned over her until she could only see his freshly shaved face. She tilted her face to invite another kiss.
    “Oh, no. You’re not plying me with your tricks, witchy woman.” But he still gave her a brief kiss before straightening again. “You’ve been here all day and you haven’t eaten. Don’t tell me you had protein in the peanut butter either. How much time do you need to finish this paper?”
    She closed her eyes and sighed. Bacteriophages were not the most scintillating topic but she’d powered through and she wasn’t that far off from finishing the first draft. “About an hour, I guess.”
    “You