BOOK 2

“I thought we could start at the beginning. Get to know each other again. We’d go real slow, have a good time. Enjoy ourselves.”

“How?” she asked suspiciously.

He laughed. “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten how to have fun. Never mind, I’ll have to show you.”

She was intrigued, then nervous. “About what you said to me. You know. How you . . .”

“You mean how much I love you?”

She nodded, swallowing. “You’ll be wanting me to return that sentiment.”

“Love is a gift, Jussie,” he said with such dignity, she felt like a monster. As if incredibly weary, he turned away, leaned over her desk, and dropped his head between his shoulders.

She swallowed again, because her mouth had suddenly gone dry as cotton. She watched him stretch his shoulders as if they were kinked. “I know it’s a gift.”

“Do you?” he wondered. “Because you make it sound like an obligation.”

“Well, maybe I don’t feel obligated,” she whispered, butterflies attacking her stomach with what she did feel. “Maybe I feel it back. A litt