The Summit by Kat Martin Page A

sent a shot of pure lust into his groin. She chewed her bottom lip, which was rosy and full and made him want to run his tongue across it.
    Under different circumstances—
    Ben cut off the thought. “To tell you the truth, the evening will probably be a whole lot more interesting with you instead of someone who doesn’t really want to be there in the first place. Now eat your salad and let’s enjoy our meal. We can talk about climbing, if you want. That shouldn’t be too personal.”
    Autumn’s small shoulders relaxed and she gave him another smile. It made her seem completely sincere and utterly without guile. He reminded himself he couldn’t risk trusting her—not yet. He had to think of Katie and Joanne, his parents and the rest of his family. He refused to see them suffer again.
    Time was what he needed. Time to know if Autumn Sommers was telling the truth. And if she was, time to discover whether or not—as impossible as it sounded—her dreams might lead him to Molly.
    But how much time did he have?
    Ben prayed that his need for caution wouldn’t come at Molly’s expense.

Nine
    A utumn was tired when she got back home. The evening with Ben had been taxing. She knew it was the sexual attraction she felt for him that she didn’t want to feel. She tried to tell herself it was only natural with a man as handsome and charming as Ben, but the truth was that Ben seemed to affect her in a different way than other men.
    Usually, she had a knack for keeping the opposite sex at arm’s length. She let men know early on that she enjoyed their friendship but she wasn’t interested in anything more. Most of them accepted it, some were maybe even a little relieved.
    Ben was different. There was a look in his eyes that said he saw her as a woman, an object of desire that had nothing at all to do with friendship. It surprised and flattered her. The man dated the most beautiful women in the world. That he would show the slightest interest in her was amazing.
    Of course she could be wrong. She could be seeing something that wasn’t really there. Or perhaps he was just that way with women in general, seeing each of them as an object to be conquered.
    Ronnie Hillson had been that way—charming her, pretending an interest in her that lasted through the month they had dated, then disappearing the day after he took her to bed. At first she believed she must be a really bad lover, but eventually she decided that more likely it was the conquest that had interested Ronnie and she was just too naive to see.
    Autumn yawned as she headed for the bedroom, stripping off her sweater along the way. She had called Josh on her cell on the way home from the restaurant to apologize for breaking off their climbing date again.
    â€œThings happen,” he’d said. “It’s no big deal. Mike Logan’s been bugging me to go. I’ll ring him up, see if he can get his shit together by tomorrow morning.”
    â€œMike’s not ready for Castle Rock.”
    â€œYeah, I know. We’ll go somewhere else.” She could almost see Josh grin. “Which is good because I wouldn’t want to tackle Castle Rock with anyone but you.”
    â€œI’m really sorry, Josh.”
    There was a pause on the end of the line. “You…uh…seem kind of pre-occupied lately. You’d tell me, wouldn’t you, if something was wrong?”
    â€œI’m fine. I’ve been having a little trouble sleeping is all. I’m sure it will pass. I’ll talk to you next week.” She’d hung up the phone and found Ben watching her.
    â€œSounds like your friend, Josh, is worried about you.”
    â€œHe’s a very caring guy.”
    â€œYou sure it isn’t more than that?”
    Her head had come up at the odd note in his voice. “Actually, Josh is in love with my best friend, Terri Markham. Unfortunately for Josh, Terri doesn’t know he