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Micah rolled his eyes, likely at the wordlittle. “Did you bring hot dogs?”

“And marshmallows,” Sam assured. “We’ll be out of cell range, but I’ll have the Mile High walkie on me.”

Cora smiled at Sam, grateful for his assurances. “Thanks.”

“You could come with?” Hayley offered with a grin.

“Yeah, hard pass,” Cora returned. She gave Micah a squeeze before he could escape. “You guys have fun.”

“We’ll be back by four tomorrow. Keep him at Mile High till you pick him up.”

Cora nodded at the plan. “Thanks, guys.”

Sam and Hayley turned toward the Jeep, and Micah followed, but he looked back at her over his shoulder, gripping his backpack strap. He retraced his steps, standing at the bottom of the stoop looking up at Cora.

“You really won’t tell him everything?” Micah insisted.

Cora stepped down so she could pull him into a hug. “I really won’t,” she assured, kissing his temple. “Be good and careful.”

He nodded and pulled away, then bounded off toward Sam and Hayley,finallya little hint of happiness and enjoyment in him.

Cora waved and smiled as Sam drove his Jeep away. She tried to get over the weird, sick feeling in her gut as she took a step inside. Micah was safe and having fun. She was going to have her own kind of fun. Nothing had changed except she had even more reason to stay the course she’d already decided on.

It was okay. She was doing the right thing. For her. For Micah. Hell, even for Shane. Because they could build a foundation on the present instead of on some horrible past. It made sense.

All the sense in the world.

* * *

Shane pulled his car up to the address Cora had texted him. She had a pretty green house in the old mining housing section of town, a narrow structure way too close to her neighbor, at least in Shane’s estimation.

Still, he supposed the house suited her, though she’d clearly forgotten to water the pot of colorful blooms on her porch that were wilting and browning at the edges. He stepped out of his truck and ignored the worming thing in his gut.

Nerves were silly. Cora was Cora. He wasn’t a teenager or even a man unsure of his feelings or hers. Truth of the matter was, they’d had plenty of buildup and assurances before they’d gotten to this point.

And kisses. The kind that kept a man up at night, and distracted in the middle of the day, and a little bit bow-legged in the morning and—

“Okay, enough of that,” he muttered to himself, stepping onto the first stair.

“Stay,” a voice called out from across the yard.

He glanced over at where a woman was standing on her porch, clearly having yelled the “stay” command to her German shepherd sitting in the middle of the yard between the houses.

Yes, the neighbors were definitely too close.

“Ma’am,” Shane offered when the woman stared suspiciously at him, tipping his hat politely. Some of that suspicion on her face relaxed into something closer to shock.

A man stepped out onto the porch with her, and they exchanged muttered words, gesturing toward him as he took the rest of the steps up to Cora’s door. When he snuck a glance their way as he lifted his hand to knock, they were both just standing there. Staring.

“Damn neighbors,” Shane muttered.

The door swung open, and Shane forgot about neighbors, close or otherwise.

She made his heart kick on a good day, but this was something else altogether. Skin, for starters. Miles of it, creamy pale, a delicacy he wanted to spend the rest of the day tasting. Her hair was down, some riot of golden waves around her shoulders, and subtle touches of makeup that suddenly made a man have impure thoughts. As if he needed any help in that department.

“Hi,” she offered, bright pink lips curving into a smile made for hot nights and rainy days. “Am I overdressed?” she asked, swinging her hips slightly so the flowy dark green fabric fluttered around her thighs.

He tried to bring his gaze back up to her face and failed. “No, you’ll do just fine.”