From Glowing Embers by Emilie Richards Page A

turned again, and the road narrowed, coming out on the highway after another mile. As she pieced together what he had said Julie Ann settled back and let him drive the rest of the way in silence. It was apparent that he and his father had had a fight that night, and Gray was still angry. She could guess who the fight had been about.
    At the beach house Gray came around to open Julie Ann’s door, but she was out before he got there.
    “I wanted to be somewhere quiet. I haven’t heard myself think since I got home,” he said.
    Julie Ann could tell that whatever thoughts he had managed to hear, he hadn’t liked. “But you didn’t want to be alone. You came to get me.”
    “Yeah.” With masculine grace Gray swung himself up to sit on the hood of his car, and Julie Ann joined him.
    “I’ve missed you,” she said when they were settled.
    “I hoped you wouldn’t.”
    “Did you miss me? “
    “Yeah.” He didn’t touch her, but they were both suddenly tense.
    “Suppose you’re telling the truth,” she said finally. “Why didn’t you write me or something?”
    “I’m beginning to think my father’s not right about much, but he is right about one thing. I need to forget you, and you need to forget me.”
    “Your father’s been talking about me.” It wasn’t a question.
    “It doesn’t matter.”
    Julie Ann could just imagine what Judge Sheridan had said. “Why’d you come to see me then?”
    “I wanted to see how you were.”
    She slipped down from the hood and stood in front of him with her hands on her hips. “You don’t have to worry about me. Go ahead and forget me. See if I care.”
    “How do I do it?” He leaned forward and caught her arms, pulling her closer. “Ole Miss’s got women everywhere I look. I think I’ve gone out with half of them since school started. I can’t talk to any of them.”
    “Don’t tell me you go out with women just to talk!” Julie Ann was numb with jealousy. She pictured his arms filled with perfect little blondes with centerfold bodies. She wondered what he had done to them that he had never done to her.
    “What’s the matter, Julie Ann? Jealous?”
    She guessed he was angry with himself for seeking her out and angry that he cared about her. He was trying to pick a fight, and she was just in the mood to give him one. “Jealous?” she asked with a snort. “Come on, Gray. You keep telling me I’m just a funny kid. What’s a funny kid got to be jealous of? I get what I want from you, don’t I? We have great conversations.” She said the last word like a curse.
    Holding her arms, he slid down the hood to stand in front of her. “This one’s not so great.”
    “It’s enlightening.”
    He tugged her closer. “I wrote you once, but I tore it up.”
    “Easy to say.”
    He just stared into her eyes, and she felt small for doubting him.
    “What did you say in the letter?” she asked at last.
    “I told you I missed you, that I was thinking about you.”
    “And you tore it up?”
    “It didn’t say enough.”
    Her heart beat faster. “What didn’t it say?”
    “It couldn’t say this.” His arms surrounded her, and she felt his lips on hers.
    Julie Ann knew where the kiss might lead. She sensed a desperation in Gray, a recklessness she hadn’t seen before. She tasted beer as he kissed her, and she wondered how much of his desire was real and how much was the result of the alcohol he’d consumed.
    Strangely enough, she didn’t care. She had spent six weeks without him, and she hadn’t believed they would ever be together again. Now they were, and whatever the reason, she didn’t want to leave.
    She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back. She shivered once, then again.
    Gray pulled away. “Are you cold?”
    She was, but she’d been warming up nicely in his arms. “I’m okay.”
    “Let’s go up to the house.”
    “When was the last time anybody was here?” Julie Ann asked as they climbed the stairs, arms around each other’s