MAXIE'S RANT

“Then why’d you leave the ship so fast?” Dave asked quietly.

“You know why.” Just the memory of the na**d redhead was enough to put a little steel back into her spine.

“I didn’t even know her,” he reminded her with just a touch of defensiveness in his voice.

“Doesn’t matter,” she said, lowering her voice quickly when Alan began to stir. She hadn’t meant to wake him up. Hadn’t wanted to get into any of this right now. But since it had happened anyway, there was no point in trying to avoid it. “Dave, don’t you see? The redhead was just a shining example of how different we are. She brought home to me how much out of my element I was on that ship. With you.”

He reached out, skimmed his fingertips along her cheek and pushed her hair back behind her right ear. Jenna shivered at the contact, but took a breath and steadied herself. Want wasn’t enough. A one-sided love wasn’t enough. She needed more. Deserved more.

“I don’t belong in the kind of life you lead, Dave. And neither do the boys.”