Page 46 of Married at Midnight

“This coming from a healer who tries not to get emotionally attached to her patients,” Ellie grumbled. “Aren’t you fighting your true nature, too?”

Jordan smiled. “Perhaps you’re right. You and I would both be happier if we stopped trying to hide what we truly are.”

Ellie returned her friend’s smile. “Now that is something about which we can both agree.”

Connor cursed himself for a fool with every step he took away from the downtown park and Ellie. He should have kissed her.

No, he’d done the right thing. Kissing her would have been a mistake, because with her, one kiss was never enough. He could feel himself growing closer to Ellie every day they spent together. Since they’d come back to Seattle, his thoughts had been shifting away from his job at the lab to the woman he wanted in his bed. And his work was suffering. He had to do something to help shift his focus back to his car.

Even as he walked away from the park, he couldn’t resist looking back. Ellie stared after him with concern in her bright-brown eyes. His stomach tightened; then he turned a corner, and she disappeared from view. Immediately he felt the loss.

Connor walked faster. He and Ellie had been married only a week, and yet in one week’s time, she’d turned his whole life upside down. He hated needing her so much. Hated the way she made him want to be a better man.

He’d given up on love and relationships long ago, preferring to live in a cocoon of safety where he could do his research until dawn if needed, never having to take another person’s emotions into consideration, never having to risk being hurt again.

Connor opened the door of the rental truck and slid into the cab. Instead of starting the truck, he clenched the steering wheel in his hands. Closing his eyes, he pictured Ellie lying in his bed, coiled in the sheet, staring up at him with satisfaction. He could still feel her in his arms.

Fire pounded through his blood. He wanted more of the same. He wanted to make love to her every night. To have her touch him, hold him.

But that wasn’t part of their plan.

His heart heavy, he started the truck. The engine zoomed to life. Putting it in gear, he drove away from the park, from Ellie, from a life he would never have.

He’d been working on his prototype for the past nine years. The only way to be a success was to be the first to market. He could achieve that goal if he just stayed the original course he’d established between himself and Ellie. To make certain that happened, he’d arranged for a lawyer to meet him at the lab.

Connor had told Ellie in Las Vegas he’d take care of the divorce. It was time to start preparations for that eventual parting. The paperwork would take time to draw up; then they’d have to wait ninety days for the courts to finalize the divorce. If they started the process now, they’d be free of each other that much sooner and could return to their separate lives.

Ellie started awake and glanced at the clock beside Connor’s bed. Twelve thirty in the morning, and he still hadn’t come home.

Home.She forced back a groan. Jordan was right. She’d been thinking of Grayson House as her and Connor’s home. Restless, she got out of bed and wandered through the big, empty house. She weaved in and out of the rooms. In the family room, she found Zanzibar perched on the rounded crown of an antique chair, watching something outside.

She heard an odd sound—a strange whoosh, followed by a snap. Investigating, she made her way to the back door, opened it, and stepped outside.

There was no light from the new moon, but the stars were so bright she could see a shadowy figure on the back patio. Instead of fear, relief washed over her as she recognized Connor. Even in the half-light, she knew the contours of his face, his body.

He took the basketball in his hands and sent it flying toward the basket. It whooshed through the net. He twirled to catch it and froze at the sight of her. “What are you doing out here? Do you need something?”

I need you to come to bed and kiss me.

She swallowed. “I didn’t know you were home.”

“I couldn’t sleep,” he said, his tone guarded, distant as he turned back to his game, shooting the ball at the net once more.

He was pushing her away. “You’re going to stay up until you go fishing with my dad at four o’clock then?”

He retrieved the ball, then froze. “That’s today?”

“You committed to fishing, and I promised Viola I’d stop by and see her. It’s not surprising neither of us can sleep.”

Connor let out a slow breath. “That’s less than four hours from now.”

“You could cancel.”

“No, I promised. If it’s important to your father, it should be important to me.” Connor swung around to face her, his features shuttered. “We should both get what little sleep we can.”

“Or we could talk, because I know I won’t sleep until we do. Will you?”

He hesitated a moment, then nodded his head. “Let’s sit.” He headed toward two wrought iron chairs that overlooked a rose garden. The late fall blooms glowed white beneath the light of the stars, and a pale, sweet scent twined through the night air.