Free Caught in the Current (Pacific Shores Book 2) by Lynnette Bonner Page A

who cares for you more.” He studied her features, his eyes soft and tempting.
    She held her breath. Every thought she clutched for was only a blank screen.
    His focus leisurely skimmed from her hairline to her brows, brushed her lids, swept across both cheeks, and finally paused at her lips. He took half a step closer, one side of his bottom lip caught between his teeth.
    Her stomach lurched as surely as it would have if she’d been free-falling on a roller coaster. Mouth dry, she slowly stepped back from him. She wouldn’t do this to Dan. She wouldn’t let Reece do this to himself. No matter how tempted she was.
    If there was one thing she knew and understood, it was men’s desires. She knew the expression on his face. He was falling for her. Only this time she hadn’t worked hard, thrown herself at him, or used her body to solicit his attention. And maybe that, more than anything, terrified her.
    She’d promised God she wouldn’t be that way anymore. Consigned herself to settling for a man she didn’t feel much for, because she never wanted to be that lost girl so hungry for just a little touch of love she would give her body to see it. And Reece could so easily make her lose her fragile control.
    God’s love was enough, she reasoned. She’d just have to do her penance for all those years of promiscuity. Do her part to protect Reece from himself.
    Thankfully Reece didn’t step after her, but he hooked his thumbs into his Levi’s and stood in such a way that he blocked her route of escape down the hall. “I can see just by looking at the two of you you’re not in love, so why would Alyssa say you’re considering marriage to him?”
    Marie lifted her chin and fiddled with the plastic bag. “Not all love looks the same. And I suppose she said so because I am.”
    He slid nearer and tipped his head. “And if another guy came into your life? One who”—he cleared his throat and bobbed his gaze to the floor and then back to her—“wanted to take care of you and get to know you better? One you might be interested in because you were interested in him once before…would such a guy have a chance?”
    Marie’s eyes widened, and she willed down the panic rising in her chest. Her mouth was drier than the top layer of beach sand on a sunny summer day. She shook her head, backing up till her shoulder blades pressed into the wall behind her. “No, because that guy would realize a woman like Dakota is much more his type and he’d be much better off with her.”
    “Marie…” There was a hint of chastisement in his tone, and he reached for her hand.
    She jerked away and clenched her jaw. “Reece!” She fumbled for words. “No. There would be no hope.” The lie tasted bitter on her tongue. She held out one finger. “Dan and I might not have the most conventional of relationships, but we’re doing the best we can. And—” She cut off before she could blurt out it was her due to live in a loveless relationship for the rest of her life.
    A glimmer of something hard touched his eyes. “And what?”
    “Nothing.”
    “Nothing?”
    “Reece, please. I need to go check on Alyssa.” It was an excuse, and she could see by the expression on his face he knew it.
    But he stepped out of her way and stretched a hand down the hall. As she brushed past him, he took the plastic bag from her.
    “I’ll take this out to the truck. Then I’d like to show you those cabins and get your thoughts.”
    “Sure. I’ll meet you at the table?”
    “Be there in just a minute.”
    She left him as quickly as she could without making it look like she was running from him. Which she was. The man made her pinky finger feel more than her entire body felt around Dan, and that wasn’t good. Not good at all

Chapter 7
    When she got back to the table, Dakota was there with Alyssa, but Dan was nowhere to be seen. A surge of anger curled through her. Where was he? She’d asked him to watch Alyssa. And he’d never given her an answer