Rescue My Heart by Jill Shalvis

begin to interpret. Gratitude? Relief? Sorrow? He was completely out of practice in translating women sounds. “More deep breathing,” he said, and set a hand on her stomach. “Let your belly go soft and relaxed, and breathe from your lower abs.”
    The wind picked up. She shivered again and he tightened his arm on her. Surprising him, she turned to face him and burrowed in.
    Well, hell. He opened his jacket and pulled her in even closer. They were silent for long moments, until finally, he felt her relax.
    “How did you learn that breathing thing?” she murmured.
    “The hard way.” He paused. “In therapy, after I got back.”
    “What else did you learn?”
    He let out a mirthless laugh. “Patience.”
    “Patience?” She gave him a wry grin. “I think I’m speechless.”
    His mouth quirked. “I know. Miracles never cease.”
    She stared into the fire and sighed, the sound filled with self-disgust. “I’m tougher than this.”
    He shook his head. “Somehow it doesn’t matter how tough you are. You can be tough as hell and still be leveled flat without warning.”
    She looked at him. “What do you do when you’re leveled flat?”
    “You make a plan, you move on that plan, and you keep breathing.”
    “I like the breathing part.” She drew in a couple of deep breaths. “Some sugar would be even better.”
    He pulled a candy bar from his pocket.
    She snatched it so fast he nearly lost his fingers.
    Taking two bites in quick succession, she moaned in sheer pleasure.
    Adam stared at her, knowing she had no idea how sensual the sound was or what it could do to a man.
    She glanced at him, then took a longer look and blushed. “Sorry. Guess I really needed a fix.”
    “I can see that,” he said, voice a little thick. “Good?”
    “Amazing,” she said, and licked her lips and then her fingers. When she caught him watching that with rapt attention, she stopped. Then the only sound, other than the crackling flames and whistling wind, was Holly swallowing hard.
    To give them both a badly needed moment, he ran a finger over the gold chain at her neck, lifting the small, dainty charm.
    “It’s the Chinese symbol for strength,” she said softly.
    “You don’t need a symbol for that. You’ve always been strong.”
    She shook her head. “Not always. It’s from Derek.”
    And she’d kept it. He absorbed the pang of…jealousy? That didn’t make much sense. Adam had left her. It was none of his business how much she’d loved someone else that she’d kept a piece of him around her neck.
    “He forgot my birthday,” she said. “My twenty-first. I guess I’d thought it would be a big deal…”
    It
should
have been a big fucking deal,
he thought.
    “That’s when I first started to know it wasn’t going to work, that I wasn’t important enough. But he tried to make it up to me, gave me money to buy myself a present. I’d seen the necklace in an upscale jewelry store…” She shrugged as if embarrassed. “I keep it because it’s a reminder of what my life once was,” she said softly, “and why I should be glad that I moved on.”
    Adam could see the fire reflected in her eyes, and much more, and wondered at how much this one woman could make him feel. Letting out a breath, he laced his fingers in hers, squeezing her hand. “I’m proud of you, Holly.”
    “For what?”
    “For moving on. For being strong. For becoming a pretty damn incredible woman.”
    Her eyes never left his. “Not so incredible, really.”
    “You do what you think is right, always. Not what’s easy, but what’s right. You came out here after your father when no one else would.”
    She looked at him for a long moment. “You never talk much about your father.”
    No, he didn’t. He tried not to think about him too much, either. “Not much to tell.”
    “There’s got to be something,” she insisted.
    “He was Texan, and his first love was football. Women were his second love. He lived big and loud and was by all