September Storm by Brenda Jernigan Page B

Adrian stood staring out across the sound.  He seemed not to have moved at all, but Dani could sense the barely controlled power coiled in his body, as if he were wrestling with a decision.
    "I'm ready."
    Adrian’s head jerked up and he stared at her as if he hadn’t expected to hear her.  "The ferry will be here in a minute," he finally said, pointing to a white and yellow boat headed their way.
    "I guess this is where I say goodbye."
    "Not yet." Slipping his arm around her waist, he added, "I'll ride the ferry with you."
    Dani laid her head on his shoulder and neither said a word while they waited.
    When the boat docked, Dani saw the homeowners who had come to check on their property.  A couple waved at Adrian as they left the boat.  Then she and Adrian boarded.
    "It's good to see you survived." The captain greeted her as they found a seat.  "I see you found the young man you were looking for."
    Dani didn't bother to correct him.  She merely smiled.  She knew if she opened her mouth she'd cry.  She wanted to be strong and show Adrian it didn't matter that she was leaving.
    Even if her heart was breaking.
    The bluish-green waterway barely rippled. How calm it seemed compared to the last few days.  Nothing compared to the hellish weekend they'd been through.  The ferry chugged along at a steady pace toward the mainland.
    Danielle wrapped her sweater tighter around her.  She felt an odd sort of cold as she sat on the bench next to Adrian. As if her insides were shaking.
    They stared out across the waves in silence lost in their own thoughts.  Adrian shifted, then took her hand in his.  The warmth of his skin enfolded her icy fingers.  She wondered if he felt as miserable as she did. He had barely said a word since they’d left the dock.
    Was he hoping the ferry would never make it to the mainland?  Back to the real world.  Back to a life that didn't include each other.
    It had started off as a simple weekend with someone she loved – or, at least, someone she'd thought she loved.  It had ended with her finding the man of her dreams – in a complete stranger.
    But she couldn't call Adrian a stranger anymore, Dani thought wryly.  They'd faced death together.  They’d made love.  And when she'd been hurt, he'd cared for her.
    Only a fool would think that anything could come of their relationship.  Yet something had developed between them.  She'd never felt like this before:  happy one minute, sad the next.  It was very confusing.
    Why couldn’t anything be simple?
    Adrian had told her right up front that he wasn't the marrying kind.  Now where did that thought come from?  There was no way she could marry a man she'd known so briefly, one who would probably chase any woman that walked by . . . another Steven. What was it about her taste in men?
    She could see the dock.  Their minutes grew shorter.  In less than an hour, it would be as if nothing had ever happened--much like hurricane Felix, when he had come and gone, leaving destruction in his wake.  Only no one wouldn't be able to see the destruction this weekend had caused her.
    She'd never see Adrian again.
     
     
    Adrian got up then moved to the side of the ship.  He clutched the rail so tightly his knuckles turned white.
    How had this happened?  How had he let himself get emotionally involved with a blond haired, blue-eyed woman who could make his knees buckle with her smile?
    And he was going to let her walk out of his life.  She'd go back to that son of bitch, Steven, and they'd get married and have children. Adrian tightened his grip on the rail.
    And he would continue working and, of course, dating different women, women whose names he wouldn’t even remember the next week.  Then he'd forget about Danielle Kapur just like the rest of them.  It had been nothing more than a weekend fling, he told himself over and over again.  He sighed and ran his hand through his hair.  Then why did he want to hear her utter those words she'd