She was like a skittish horse—eyes wide and staring at the mug of tea as if it was filled with acid.

“I need to leave,” she said, stepping around me as though we hadn’t just shared the most intense sexual experience of my entire life.

“Do what makes you feel comfortable,” I said. “And I’ll drive you if you want. But Josie… it’s horrendous out there. Dangerous to be out on the freeway. There was just a landslide not two hours ago. You don’t need to… we don’t need to do anything. But if you want to stay here where it’s safe, maybe even talk about what’s happening between us, well… that’s why I made you this.” I held the mug out to her sheepishly. “Chamomile with honey.”

Her eyes narrowed, glancing outside. On cue, another bout of thunder shook the foundations of The Bar, and she felt it, glancing down at her feet as the vibrations rolled through the floorboards.

“I’m sorry,” she said, settling on the armchair across from the bed. But she took the mug, so that was a start.

“I don’t, um… stay,” she said. But then something in her shifted. “I always leave,” she said, firmly. Confidently. “I was prepared to do that, and then when you told me we were trapped…”

She took a long sip, avoiding my eyes.

“So what’s going on? Just talk to me. It’s not like we can go anywhere.” I meant it as a joke, but her face hardened.

I was beginning to come to terms with the fact that Josie truly did not want to see me again. That we could be trapped in Big Sur for weeks and she’d go out of her way to avoid me.

“Things changed for me two years ago,” she said. “I don’t like talking about it, and I’m not going to talk about it, but it does mean that I live my life differently now. I told you,” she looked up at me. “I’m a one-night-stand girl. I haven’t slept concurrently with a person in a long time.”

“Well,” I said, smiling, “I also have not slept concurrently with a person in a long time. With some exceptions. I’ve dated casually, off and on. But nothing since my last serious relationship…” Shit, it was depressing to do the math. “Ten years ago.”

Her face brightened in understanding. “So you get it, right?”

“Kind of…?” I trailed off. “Still leads me back to you, freaking out in my bathroom.”

She rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t… okay, fuck, I wasn’t freaking out in your bathroom. I thought, maybe, and now I will be embarrassed if this isn’t the case, but I thought, with the slide, and us being stuck here, and what we just did was so… you know intense and fucking amazing actually—” she shook her head, but I was stuck on fucking amazing. “—that you would want to keep seeing me.”

A pause, and our eyes locked. Josie was captivating, wrapped in my shirt and drinking that tea like it was the best thing she’d ever tasted.

Of course I wanted to see her again.

“Because I don’t,” she said, and my hope popped like a balloon. “And I just think it’s going to be awkward now, us seeing each other. Which maybe we won’t. And maybe you didn’t even want to, so now I’ve just embarrassed myself multiple times for nothing.”

She tilted her head, rubbing her fingers against her collarbone. Those slender fingers were inked with tiny dots. A sun. A moon.

“I was just going to leave,” she repeated. “As soon as the sun came up. Which it will any minute now. And, what we did was intense, and I’m so happy for it. Really.”

Her gaze was so sincere it broke my heart.

“I meant what I said. It’s been a… well, a rough couple years. Tonight put a few pieces into place for me. Of my puzzle. Is that weird?” she said.

God, I liked this girl, weird and all. “The Josie Puzzle,” I said, nodding thoughtfully. “I know what you mean. Something was missing. Tonight, you found it. Right?”

“Yes,” she said.

She started to get up, but I leaned forward, and something in my expression stilled her.

“Can I tell you what my intentions are?” I asked. “Or… were?”

Josie sighed, but then sat back down. “Okay,” she said.

I didn’t know what the fuck had happened to her two years ago. But someone did it to her, and I itched to know where that person lived.

“Well, since we can’t really go anywhere, I was going to make you some delicious coffee, heaping with sugar and cream,” I said and was granted a tiny smile. “Then cook chocolate pancakes for you and eat them in bed.” Josie’s entire body was softening toward mine. “And then…”

Her eyes flared with lust. Fuck, she wanted this.

“And then I’d see how many more times I can make you come.”

Just like that, the delicious tension that had existed between us since our first meeting snapped back. Josie uncrossed her bare legs, and for a brief, heady moment I thought she was going to command me back to my knees.

“Then what?”

She re-crossed her legs.

I swallowed a groan. “Keep seeing you for as long as you’re here. Explore what this is,” I said, pointing to her. Pointing to the bed. “This connection that we have. I think it means something, don’t you?”

She looked away, standing up to pull on her clothes. About to leave. I debated brutal honesty. Debated telling her that she was the first woman since Sasha where I actually felt a spark. More than a spark—Josie was a fucking wildfire.

Every member of my family was in a beautiful, committed relationship—except me, the one person everyone swore would marry his high school sweetheart and build a funky Big Sur life with her in a cute cabin in the woods.

But I hadn’t. And I hated it. And now I was hurtling toward my forties with no partner in sight. It made me want to throw caution to the wind. Live in the present. Grab hold of a relationship that had the potential to be real.

“Don’t you think that means something?” I asked again.

Josie shook her head. “No.”

The last shred of my hope crumbled into nothing.

“I really don’t,” she continued. “Listen, as long as my car isn’t like swept away out there, I’m going to drive myself home now. I’m—”

There was a war going on inside of her; it was evident in the bite of her lip, the shifting of her feet.

“Josie,” I said, trying to pull it out of her.

Something seemed to break open for a second, and she walked towards me. Took my face in her hands and kissed me, long and deep. Then she pulled away before I could get my arms around her.

“Josie,” I said again, not afraid to beg. I’d done it tied to the bed. I’d do it again.

“Last night was really important to me,” she said, looking me straight in the eye. “But please don’t read more into this than it was: a hot, intense fuck I’ll always remember. With a sexy and sweet bartender who’s going to make someone a wonderful husband someday,” she said.

Then she kissed my cheek one more time and walked out the door.

I heard the sharp sound of her combat boots down the stairs, then the front door of The Bar slamming closed.

I fell back onto the bed. “Goddammit,” I said to no one in particular.

The landline rang again, so I walked downstairs to the bar, staring at the mess I hadn’t cleaned up last night.

“Big Sur Channel,” I sighed. I knew who it would be.

“Gabe, it’s Gladys. Did you know the Satanist is leaving your bar right now?”

“Yes,” I said tiredly. “Very much aware.” I sat up. “Also, I’m assuming you and Gloria are alive?”

A pfft sound. “Please. Gonna take a lot more than a rock slide to take us out.”

A shuffling, then I heard Gloria come on. “If you need to come by the post office and drown your sorrows, I’ve got Hennessey beneath the desk right now.”

I barked out a laugh, grateful for the temporary distraction. “Sounds good. I’ve got some gossip for you later, so I’ll be in soon.” I hung up the phone before they could ask more questions. But then it rang again.

“Big Sur Channel,” I said, more irritated than I meant to be.

“Um… Gabe?”

“Calvin. My man,” I said, smiling despite the terrible morning and the no sleep. “What’s good?”

“Listen, I know it’s… shit, not even nine in the morning, but do you want a beer?”

I sighed, thinking about the day that awaited me. The mess of the storm. And a heart that was slightly bruised.

“Yes,” I said. “Yes, I do.”