Debra Webb - In His Touch Box Set (Here To Stay, Up Close, Tempting Trace, Basic Instincts) by Debra Webb Page A

own up to it. Since James will be back tomorrow, it’s a dead issue.”
    “I’m glad James is better.” Paige would never admit it to Nathan, but her aching muscles rejoiced at the idea of having James back. “I really do have to go.”
    “Paige, I’m sorry about yesterday, last night and this morning. I never meant to hurt you.”
    He looked so sincere, and she desperately wished she could believe him. But he’d let her down before. The image of how he had looked that morning, nude and sprawled across the unmade bed flitted through her mind. Her eyes had reveled in rippling muscle and glistening skin. The memory made her knees weak. She would never forget the way all that hair looked spread across his pillow. No man should look that good. Especially not this man.
    “Why don’t we forget the whole thing happened?” she offered. She had to get him out of here. Besides, why should she be angry that he had a beautiful woman spend the night with him? He was single, unattached. She fought back the gigantic wave of hot, green jealousy that rose instantly at the thought of the redhead.
    He shifted and raked a hand through his hair. “That’s a little too easy, don’t you think?”
    “Honestly, Nathan, I don’t know what I think,” she said finally. One minute they were screaming at each other and the next she wanted... she wanted... never mind. “I just know that we can’t go on like this.”
    Nathan nodded. “I agree. Now, how do we fix it?”
    “Let’s think on it for a while and we can get together later and discuss it. How’s that?” She smiled, a little stiffly.
    “All right. You’ll be back in Trinity tonight?”
    “Ye-es,” she answered slowly.
    “I’ll call you tonight then.”
    “Fine.” Paige took his arm and ushered him from the deserted courtroom. Her nerves jangled as much from touching him as from the mounting anxiety.
    “One more thing,” he said, pulling her to a stop.
    Oh, Lord. “Yes?”
    “About Celine—”
    “Really, Nathan, you don’t have to explain. It’s none of my business. You have every right to date whomever you choose. It doesn’t matter to me what you do.” Liar , her subconscious chided.
    “Nothing happened,” he said flatly.
    “What do you mean nothing happened?” Paige forgot all about convincing herself that she didn’t care. She wanted to hear this. She really wanted to hear this. “That was Celine’s necklace.”
    “It could have happened. She wanted... I asked her to leave,” he admitted hesitantly.
    “Why did you do that?” Paige held her breath. Every particle of her being wanted to believe that it had something to do with her.
    “I don’t know. It just didn’t feel right. I couldn’t stop thinking about the way you’d looked at me last night and what you must have thought,” he said softly.
    He looked vulnerable, needy. Paige’s nurturing instinct surged. A lifelong bond, though deeply buried, still made her want to protect his feelings. She could see the confused little boy in his dark eyes. The one she had grown to love so very much.
    “I really have to go,” she urged, afraid to say anything else or linger a moment longer for fear she would truly gather him into her arms to comfort the hurt. She didn’t want to feel the strange sensation she felt in the vicinity of her heart right now. “I’ll see you later, okay?”
    Nathan nodded and followed her out into the corridor. “I’ll call you tonight,” he told her before walking away.
    Paige watched Nathan disappear around the corner toward the stairwell. Why did just being near the man make her ache with need?

Chapter Five
    Paige stretched one last time and then dragged herself out of bed. She had turned off the telephone last night to avoid Nathan’s call. She had to think some more before they talked. Lucky for her he hadn’t come pounding on the door in the middle of the night.
    Today she needed to be far away from everything and everyone. To think long and hard about the