Dancing in the Moonlight - Harlequin.com

RAEANNE THAYNE
215
shadow but she didn’t need light to make them out. She
knew the curve of his lips, knew the tiny lines at the
corners of his eyes and the straight plane of his nose.
One of his strong hands was tangled in her hair; the
other held her close at the small of her back as if he
couldn’t bear to let her go. She didn’t mind, she
realized. She loved it here. She closed her eyes again
and let her cheek settle against his shirt, careful not to
wake him.
He must have been so tired after enduring such a traumatic
day. The death of a patient was never easy. She knew
that sense of defeat, of failure, all too well. On those kinds
of days she used to want to go home, shut the door, turn
on loud, raucous music and hide away from the world.
Yet Jake had come to take her to a party, then stayed
to make sure she survived it.
She sighed, snuggling closer. Oh, this was a dangerous
pleasure. She wanted to stay here forever, wrapped
in his arms. It would be so easy to forget the world
existed outside their little haven. But it did. She could
hear the water rushing over rocks in the creek, smell the
sage and pine in the cool spring air.
A strange and frightening tenderness seemed to take
root inside her as she listened to his heart beat a comforting
rhythm.
How had Jake Dalton managed to become so important
to her in such a short time? So very dear. It seemed
like only a moment ago she had been fixing her flat tire
on a deserted stretch of road, annoyed with him for
stopping to help.
A brief moment, yet a lifetime.