“I somehow can’t picture that,” she told him as the boat docked at the base and she stood up.

“With the way I’m walking now, it’s easier than ever before to picture it,” he said with a laugh that didn’t have any merriment in it.

After a long bout of good-byes, they made it back to Chloe’s car. She was silent on the return trip to his house. The day had given her far more questions than answers, and she was even more confused than she’d been on the first day she’d arrived.

She feared it was only going to get more difficult the longer she was with this charismatic man.

CHAPTER TEN

After their trip to the Coast Guard base Nick had thought things might change with Chloe. He’d felt her opening up to him, but after their return, he’d watched her retreat again. Several days passed with him trying to speak intimately with her. She avoided conversation with him. That look in her eyes of concern and confusion seemed to grow day by day. He was determined to find out why.

The woman was incredibly good at avoiding his questions and his advances. Tonight, if she was able to resist his charm, he might be left with no choice but to throw in the towel and accept defeat.

The sun was several hours from setting. After their late-morning session, she’d told him to rest up for a walk they’d take later. He’d been too amped to rest, but at least it had given him time to get done what he’d wanted. With a favor called in to his brother Coop, he had a picnic waiting down on the dock. He was going to give the woman a night of romance.

Waiting by the back door with her jacket on his arm, he once again glanced at his watch. She was taking her time getting there, he thought, but she was well worth the anticipation of her arrival. He was sitting on the back of the couch because he needed to maintain all the energy he could in his weaker knee. He had much more pleasant activities planned for him and Chloe than a simple walk.

When the door to her room shut, the click sent a shot of adrenaline through him. It was showtime, and Nick planned on it being an all-night event. Chloe entered the room with her typical aloof smile in place, and Nick responded by grinning at her.

He was satisfied when her steps faltered for just a second before she approached.

“How’s the knee feeling? We worked it hard today,” she said. She kept her distance. He held out the coat, giving her no choice but to move closer. She did so with hesitation.

“It feels good enough for a walk,” he told her. She tried to grab the coat, but he held it open. She sighed and gave him a look, then turned around and let him slip it on her.

He caressed her shoulders for a moment too long to be appropriate and felt her stiffen beneath his touch. She was worried she’d cave in to him―that was why she went overboard on trying to maintain proper distance. Nick didn’t mind that at all. It just proved to him that she wanted him even if she didn’t like feeling that way.

“We’d better get going. I don’t want you moving too fast since this is the first trip outside. I want you to watch where you’re going and to take it easy. If you’re thinking about trying to impress me, the way to do it is by acknowledging the injury and doing what I ask.”

“I love when you talk to me in that doctor voice,” he told her, unable to tear his gaze from her face. She rolled her eyes. He wanted to grab her and haul her in for a kiss. He stopped himself, but just barely.

They walked outside, and he gripped the railing to step down the stairs. She kept her eyes on him, but maintained a couple feet of distance as they reached the path that would lead them on a trail to the dock. She tried to take him in another direction, but he moved where he wanted to go. It was about six or seven minutes to the dock moving at the slower pace he was forced to travel.

She kept silent the first couple of minutes, and Nick purposely stumbled, drawing her immediately to his side. Her arm came around him, and he had to fight the satisfied smile from appearing on his lips. Now he had her where he wanted her. She tried to pull away once he was steady, but he kept his arm around her and held on tight.

“I better hold onto you so I don’t trip,” he said, almost choking on the words. But to get her attention he had to seem vulnerable. He could do that if it meant her sidled up beside him. The feel of her pressed against his side was pure heaven.

The stiffness in her body slowly evaporated as the two of them continued moving down the trail. He was watching the ground carefully, something he’d never had to do before. But he didn’t want to ruin the night he had planned by stumbling over some root or rock on the ground. If he landed on his knee, pain would radiate through him and making love to her on the nicely set up dock would be the last thing he’d be thinking of. Okay, maybe not the last thing, but it would be knocked down several rungs on the ladder.

“I don’t want to push this too far, Nick,” she warned when he kept moving steadily foreword.

“I have a surprise for you. It’s not much farther,” he told her.

She stiffened again in his arms, and he could feel her looking up at him. He stopped and gazed into her eyes while giving her his most seductive grin.

“What sort of surprise?” she asked.

“You’ll have to keep walking to find out,” he told her, tugging to get them moving again.

She kept her feet planted. “I don’t want anything. I’m here to do a job, remember?” she said, her voice back to the stern schoolteacher one she preferred.

“Too bad. You call the shots all day long. It’s my turn,” he said.