Free Only Forever by Linda Lael Miller

laying an index finger to Vanessa’s lips just as she was about to open her mouth to ask.
    He set her overnight case and garment bag on the bed and gestured toward the hall. “Come on, I’ll show you where my room is—just in case.”
    Vanessa laughed. “Just in case what?”
    Nick gave her a look. “Did I forget to tell you? The place is haunted. If you hear anything spooky, all you’ll have to do is climb in bed with me and you’ll be safe.”
    “I’ve heard some lines in my time, buddy,” Vanessa replied, preceding him out into the hall, “but that one beats them all.”
    His room was really more of a suite with a fireplace and six floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the sea. Vanessa glanced at the water bed and quickly shifted her eyes away.
    Nick shook his head and pushed up the sleeves of his bright turquoise sweater. A lookat the half-open door of the closet explained why he hadn’t brought spare clothes.
    “What we need is some exercise,” he said resolutely. “Let’s go out for a run before it gets dark.”
    The way he’d phrased the suggestion made Vanessa feel like an Irish setter, and she did not share Nick’s passion for running, but she wanted to be a good sport. She’d brought along an old set of sweats and some sneakers, and she went to put them on.
    When she descended, Nick was already downstairs, warming up.
    They followed the beach until Vanessa was near collapse, then started back. She knew Nick was adjusting his pace to hers, and she tried not to slow him down too much.
    Returning to the house was a vast relief. Vanessa threw herself onto the porch steps, gasping for breath, only to be hauled back to her feet again by Nick. She did seemingly endless cooling-down exercises before he was satisfied that he’d tortured her enough.
    “I’m not sure I have the stamina for a relationship with you,” she said when they were in the kitchen a few minutes later.
    “Why do you think I’m trying to build upyour endurance?” Nick got a bag of cookies down from a cupboard and took a carton of milk out of the refrigerator. Sniffing the milk, he made a face and tossed it into the trash.
    Vanessa grinned, shaking her head. “Your self-confidence overwhelms me.”
    Nick took two cookies from the bag and stuffed them into his mouth, one right after the other. “I was hoping it would be my charm and good looks,” he said. He was standing right in front of Vanessa before she realized that he’d been approaching her.
    She brushed a few chocolate crumbs from his lips. “That, too,” she conceded.
    Her back was to the counter—that was another fact that had sneaked up on her—and Nick had only to lean against her gently to imprison her. He did that without any apparent attack of conscience, and Vanessa ached in response to the hard grace of his body. He bent his head and kissed her, and his mouth tasted deliciously of chocolate cookies and controlled passion.
    Vanessa was dazed when he finally broke away, propelled her toward the back stairway and swatted her playfully on the bottom.
    “To the showers, team,” he said in a hoarse voice, and when Vanessa looked back over hershoulder, she saw him shove a hand through his hair in frustration.
    Since Gina’s room didn’t come with its own bath like its counterpart in the condominium, Vanessa took her shower in the main bathroom. She put on gray slacks and a kelly green blouse, along with a light touch of makeup.
    Nick was dropping an armload of wood onto the hearth in his bedroom when Vanessa finally gathered the nerve to creep to the doorway and look inside. He was wearing jeans and a plaid flannel shirt that he hadn’t bothered to button over his T-shirt.
    Vanessa cleared her throat to let him know she was there, and he gave her a sidelong grin that said he’d been aware of her presence from the first.
    “There’s a storm coming in from the north,” he said, laying a fire in the grate.
    Vanessa’s eyes widened, the lightning that had