A Home By The Sea
Excerpt 1:
She had to go. She had to walk out of Noah's house and start being calm and sensible again. She was going to clear her head and stop acting like a woman opening her heart, too long in shadows.
It was the right thing to do. But like most of the right things you did in life, this one was going to hurt badly.
* * *
HE CAUGHT HER at the front door, while she tugged on her coat. "Hey. I'm just about to cut you a slice of that bread my mother's been fussing over for the last hour." His eyes narrowed when Grace didn't answer him. "What's wrong?"
“Where do I start? That—the thing that just happened upstairs was wrong," she breathed. "And next time it might not stop. You’re worth more than that, Noah. We both are.”
His eyes never left her face. "Don't run away, Grace. You're smarter and tougher than that."
"Am I?" She rubbed the painful knot burning over her heart. "If I were as smart as you think, things would never have gotten this complicated. You confuse me, Noah. You awe me, too. The way you make me feel...it’s too much. I have a lot of okay in my life, not reckless and wonderful."
She couldn’t back away from what was right. They’d both regret it later.
He cupped her cheeks gently. "I'm not letting you vanish. Not until we know exactly what we have here." His arms slid around her waist. "And I'm not going to make it easy for you to forget me."
He kissed her, slow and thorough with aching tenderness. Grace felt her heart dive straight to the bottom of her chest. "You don't give an inch, do you?"
"So I'm told. The way I see it, life is about being strong enough—or stubborn enough—to open a door and take a gift when it's offered. Too often you don’t get a second chance,” he said fiercely.
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