Lost in Her by Sandra Owens

his, sparkled with life. In the photo, Ryan was looking not at the camera but at his wife, and there was so much love in his eyes that Charlie felt as if she had been punched in the stomach.
    What was she doing in an apartment with the hottest guy she’d ever known, one who would never look at her with stars in his eyes? Backing away, she spun and carried the rabbit to the kitchen and set him down. Where had she dropped her purse? The front door opened at the same moment she located her purse on the floor in the living room.
    “Got them all,” Ryan said, walking past her with a handful of posters.
    Charlie swiveled and watched him dump the pages into a garbage pail. She didn’t know what to do. What reason could she give him for leaving? Hey, I snooped around while you were gone, and I’ve decided I don’t belong here. I think I’ll just go now and try to forget I ever met you?
    After he had disposed of the offending posters, he glanced at her, then stilled. “Charlie?”
    “What?”
    His eyes narrowed, and he stalked toward her, stopping so close that she could feel his warm breath on her cheeks. “Were you leaving?”
    Yes, that had been her intention, but she couldn’t bring herself to turn away from him and do just that. She also couldn’t bring herself to lie to him. “I think it would be best.”
    “Why?”
    “Because you loved her, and I think you still do,” she blurted, and as the words fell like an unmovable boulder between them, she would have given anything if she could take them back. His eyes glittered, and all she could think was that she had poked a dangerous lion.
    “I told you I was married, so of course I loved my wife. What brought this on, Charlene?”
    The way he said her name told her she had ventured into forbidden territory. “I think I should just go,” she said as she backed up.
    He put an arm over her shoulder and flattened his left hand against the door. “No.”
    Hadn’t she already decided he was a man she couldn’t possibly handle? So why did the totally alpha male breathing fire at her excite her? Well, she had always loved the thrill of living on the edge in her plane, so maybe he gave her the same kind of buzz. “No? You don’t get to say no to me, Ryan.” She was taunting him, and she knew it.
    “Then I’ll just have to change your mind, cherub,” he said right before his mouth covered hers.
    Oh yes, playing with fire was about as good as performing one of her death-defying tricks. His right arm flashed in her eyesight as he put that hand against the door on the other side of her face. She was blocked in, and she loved that he seemed to want her to stay.
    Then he backed away. “That was wrong of me. If you want to leave, I won’t stop you. Just know that . . .” His eyes focused on a spot somewhere over her shoulder. “Know that I want you to stay.”
    “Okay,” she said, apparently willing to jump into the fire feetfirst, or was it headfirst? There had been something in his expression that had tugged at her, like maybe he didn’t just want her to stay, but needed her to. At her agreement, a beautiful smile bloomed on his face, one that took her breath away.
    He grabbed her hand. “Come with me. I’m taking you to Ireland tonight. It’s a land of magic, and who knows, you might even see an enchanted bunny.” At the entrance to the kitchen, he stopped and focused his unique green eyes on her. “But you have to let your imagination soar, Charlene. Can you do that?”
    Charlie was a person who saw things in black and white. Not only that, but they had to be there in the first place for her to see. A part of her nature came from her training as a pilot where facts were crucial to one’s survival. It had begun, though, on the day her beloved father was killed. That was about as black and white as one could get, and his death had stolen any imagination she might have had.
    Yet, the man waiting for an answer made her want that lost imagination back. Not