Long Way Home by Helenkay Dimon Page A

circle. She came to town for a reason. “We need to talk. There are things I need to tell you.”
    “Forget talking.”
    Before she could blink, his palms covered her cheeks and his mouth covered hers. Hot and deep, he kissed her. His mouth slanted over hers and the force of his will pounded into her. She could feel the desperation and anger, the loneliness and the last bits of those pent-up feelings he claimed not to have for her.
    This was no subtle peck. This amounted to a claiming, a reminder of what they once were. Long and lingering, he kissed her until she forgot all the bad times and a giddy lightness filled her head. When he finally pulled back, she felt dizzy, like she could put her head on his shoulder and stay there forever.
    But she had to tell him. So much of how everything soured between them came from her holding back and trying to figure out the right time to drop news. “You need to know—”
    He backed her into the door and his body covered hers. His hands traveled from her face to her back. “Do you want me to stop?”
    She grabbed on to the back of his shirt, dragging the material until it balled in her fists. “No, but we have to—”
    “Later.” His lips brushed over her cheek to the top of her ear.
    The smell and taste of him . . . the man went to her head. Common sense pushed out and her brain short-circuited until she had to fight to hold on to a simple thought. And when he licked
there
, right behind her ear, her insides went wild.
    “Last chance.” He kissed his way down her neck to her collarbone. “Tell me no.”
    “Never.” She didn’t have the willpower. With him, her mind melted into mush.
    She could feel him shift around. A hand left her and he patted his back pocket. The swearing came next.
    Half out of breath and in between kisses, he whispered in her ear. “I don’t have anything with me.”
    “Right.” The comment splashed over her like a bucket of ice-cold water. Her hands went to his chest. She caressed him even as she tried to give her brain a second to reboot. “It’s okay.”
    “I didn’t bring a condom. Stupidly thought that would keep me out of your bed.”
    Birth control. Yeah, this was her moment to blurt it all out.
    Her fingers skimmed over his shoulders and she tried to hold on. Anything to keep him from running again when he heard the news. “Maybe we should stop and talk.”
    “Are you still on the pill?”
    Looked like their communication was as off-kilter as ever. She fell back on a half-answer. “We don’t need a condom.”
    His fingers went to her shirt, and the first button popped open. He kissed every inch he uncovered.
    This has to stop now.
She put her hands on his cheeks again and forced him to look at her. “Okay, wait.”
    His gaze searched her face. With every second that ticked by some of the cloudiness left his vision, and he straightened up. “Right. This is fucked-up.”
    “It’s not that.” She could feel his erection pressing against her and his heartbeat hammering under her hand.
    He stilled. “Do you see why you need to leave town?”
    “I want this. I want you.” She tried to tighten her grip, but he was already moving.
    “I did.” He dropped his hands then. Let go and stepped back as if stopping and walking away were the easiest things in the world to him.
    “Callen?”
    “I don’t anymore. This is runaway train bullshit, wild and crazy and so damn dangerous neither one of us will survive.”
    The first sentence stuck with her. The words sliced through her but she refused to flinch. Not after the last few minutes when a tiny flicker of hope had taken hold in her belly. “It sure felt like you wanted me a minute ago.”
    With a gentle touch, he moved her to the side, and she was too stunned and confused to stop him.
    The sadness moved back into his eyes. “Go home, Grace.”
    Before she could tell him she
was
home, he was gone.

Chapter Five
    Declan stood in the doorway to one of the house’s extra bedrooms