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Maybe she’d misunderstood why he didn’t drink.

“I don’t buy into the alcohol lie anymore,” he said. “That I’ll feel better if I take the drink. Hell no. I personally know I’ll end up feeling a whole lot worse.”

“Okay.” But she promised herself not to order anything alcoholic.

He was staring at her, and there was something cold and hard behind those blue eyes of his.

“Did you come up with a safe word?” she asked.

“You didn’t like it.”

“It’s fine. I’ll use it. Snowy plover it is.” She took a breath. “So... Snowy plover.”

“What?”

“I can’t tell if you want to yell at me or...”

“I don’t want to yell at you,” he said, his face still set in stone.

“You look a little bit like maybe you want to cancel the evening.”

“I don’t want that, either.”

“Then you’re looking a little bit too serious.”

She watched as he made a concerted effort to relax the muscles in his face.

“Is that better?”

“It’s going to have to do. I accept that as an effort.”

“Well, thank you. And when you’re acting out of pocket, I’m going to saytermite.”

She scowled. “Why termite?”

He looked at her with that same inscrutable expression. “I don’t know. I think it’s funny.”

“Youthink that’s funny.”

“I do. Both are funny.”

She couldn’t help it. She laughed. Helplessly, even though it was ridiculous. He was so taciturn and he just radiated fury all the time, and yet he thought animals as safe words were hilarious.

Even if he couldn’t quite express it.

“I don’t like it,” she said. “What lady wants to be a termite?”

“You’re too hard to please.”

“I... I’m too hard to please. Ah. Well. That’sridiculous. I’m not the one that wanders around being grumpy all the time.”

“I’m not grumpy all the time. That’s the problem. Well, I am grumpy a lot, and often don’t know how to...dig back out of it.”

“Okay. I’m sorry. Termite and snowy plover, because theyamuse you, because we need to court your amusement tonight.”

“Court my amusement.” His eyes moved over her, and there was something frank and open about his assessment of her body. She had never in her life experienced anything like it. At least not that she’d been conscious of.

She wasn’t supposed to dream about him. Not the man he’d been. Not the man he was now. Both were off-limits. One, because he always had been and he didn’t seem to exist anymore.