Free The Way Back by Stephanie Doyle Page A

full rationale. “You want to know the real reason I’m kicking you out?”
    “Yes. No.”
    “Because if you stay here for another minute I swear I’m going to have you naked and underneath me.”

CHAPTER FIVE
    G ABBY HUDDLED IN the backseat of the rental listening to the sound of rain hitting the roof. Heavy rain drops falling at a rapid pace. The word deluge would not be an inappropriate descriptor. It wasn’t helping the headache she was nursing as the effects of the alcohol wore off and the hangover took hold.
    Shifting, she glanced between the two front seats to see the clock on the dashboard. Barely after midnight. So much for being tough. Not much of that to be seen in the midst of the cold and fear.
    And loneliness.
    Great plan, Gabby. Come to Maine. Meet the legendary Jamison Hunter. Get him to write a book. No, even better, write the book yourself. Then maybe everyone will love you again.
    What a joke. Instead she’d done nothing more than annoy him for a couple of days, get herself kicked out of a respectable bed and breakfast and his home. Not that it had been anything she’d done, she told herself.
    Naked and underneath me.
    The words had naturally stunned her. And frightened her. And turned her on. Jamison Hunter wanted her. What the hell was up with that?
    A flash of white surrounded the car and two seconds later a crack of thunder sounded in the night sky. If it was possible, the rain fell harder.
    Images of the rain turning into a river and the car floating off the island out to sea started to flicker through her mind. Those thoughts were slightly less terrifying than trying to imagine what being naked with Jamison would be like.
    It would be awful. Not him. She was sure he’d be incredible. A man like him exuded sexual confidence and fierce physicality. No doubt his body was hard and rippled with muscles if the way he looked in his jogging clothes was any indication.
    She could see it now, them together in his bedroom, stripping off each other’s clothes, really into each other. Then it would take only a flash of her bare skin to remind her of everything she hated about her body. Her breasts were too big, her hips too wide, her butt…
    Well, let’s face it. A big reason she was huddled in a car on an island off Maine waiting to be swept out to sea by a deluge of rain was the size of her butt. She wondered what her replacement for Wake Up, Philadelphia was doing right now. Probably curled in some nice warm soft bed dreaming about how secure and happy her life was. Not even conscious of the day when it would all be ripped away.
    Another flash of lightning flickered and Gabby huddled tight waiting for the thunder. It rattled. Then it stopped and she heard a pounding on the car window. Startled, she screamed and watched as the lightning flashed again and illuminated a large figure outside the car.
    “Gabby, it’s me. Open the door.”
    It took a moment for the words to penetrate through the adrenaline haze. Jamison was trying to open the driver’s door and so she leaned between the seats and lifted the lock.
    The door opened and a spray of rain followed him inside. He was wearing a rain coat but even from here she could see the walk down the driveway had soaked him. She’d moved the car away from the house so as not to be tempted to knock on his door late at night. But she hadn’t gone any farther than the bottom of the lane in case there did happen to be a murderer lurking about the island looking for defenseless women sleeping in their cars…during a thunderstorm.
    “You scared the crap out of me.”
    “Sorry. Give me the key. I’ll pull up to the house. I didn’t realize there was going to be thunder when—”
    “You kicked me out?”
    “Key, Gabby.”
    She reached into her pocket and handed him the key, but pulled it back at the last second. “Does this mean I’m going to have to have sex with you?”
    Jamison was quiet for a moment. “Do you want to have sex with me?”
    She