He went straight to the kitchen and sat, eyeing her with very cautious care.

“So.” She looked him over just as cautiously, her heart melting at his skinny frame, at the fur that needed some serious care. She wanted to wrap him up in a blanket and warm him up, but he’d never let her get that close. So she moved to the refrigerator, got out the milk, and poured a little into a sauce pan.

Chuck didn’t move. Neither did she. And when the milk was warm, she dumped it into a bowl and set it on the floor. “Try it,” she said softly. “You might like it.”

When he just looked at her warily, she rolled her eyes at herself. When would she learn to give up? She bent to lift the bowl away, but at the last minute, he lunged forward and stuck his head in it.

And started lapping.

Katie stood stock-still, her heart feeling too full for her chest. The only sound in the room was Chuck’s tongue lapping at the milk. And then suddenly a rough rumble sounded, then stopped, then started again, like an old diesel engine cranking over for the first time in years.

He was purring.

Swallowing past the lump in her throat, she stayed still so as not to spook him. “So I finally won you over.” She sighed. “And I’m leaving in a few days.”

Chuck kept lapping up the milk.

Yeah. Her throat burned now, but fact was fact. She might have got Chuck to trust her, and even to some degree, Cam, but not enough to claim either of them as her own.

The job had been temporary. She’d gone in singing the praises of that, promising Cam just how temporary she saw it. But just between her and Chuck, she’d fallen for this place. For Wishful. For the people in it. For the character and charm, and so much more.

Chuck finished the milk. Still purring, he lifted a paw and began to clean his face.

“It’s not all bad, my leaving,” she told him. “After all, I got over myself here. I had adventure.”

Chuck switched paws and went to work behind his ears. Either this whole cleaning himself thing was new for him, or he was completely ineffective, because he didn’t look any cleaner.

“I had really, really great sex too,” she told him. “Do you think that’s odd? It took leaving my comfort zone to get the best sex of my life?”

Chuck lifted a leg and went to work on his private parts.

Katie nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. It’s odd. But most of all, I really did fit in. Or at least I think I did.”

“You did.”

She turned and faced Cam, standing in her doorway with the wild storm all around him, which matched the sudden wild storm in her gut. He wore a thick jacket with the hood up. He shoved it back now and unzipped the jacket, revealing a dark fisherman’s cable sweater and jeans.

“You left your door unlocked.” He shut it while she attempted to control the fierce leap of her pulse. “That’s not like you, Goldilocks.”

Yeah. Apparently on top of everything else, she felt safe here. She’d faced her demons and had gotten comfortable. Hell of an attractive combination. And a small part of her wished she never had to leave, because this world with scrawny cats and gorgeous men, with new friends and wide-open spaces, no traffic, and some pretty amazing adventures left to be had, felt good.

Too good.

“Chuck’s in here,” Cam said in some surprise. His gaze met hers, his soft and questing. “You conquered him.”

Her throat tightened. “It took a while. At first he didn’t feel like he could be friends with me. He didn’t think that he deserved it, what with being a wanderlust renegade and all.”

Cam’s eyes never left hers. “I suppose even wanderlust renegades deserve a bowl of milk and a sweet woman every once in a while.”

“Even wanderlust renegades who’ve gone their whole life thinking that maybe love isn’t for them because it’s never worked out. But Chuck understands now, he gets that there’s always a first time.”

Cam let out a low breath and finally looked away, the only response to what she’d just said being a muscle ticking in his jaw.

“Still, it’s not a complete success,” she said. “He hasn’t let me touch him.”

He slid his hands into his pockets. “He might never let you.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“Ever the optimist.”

“Apparently even the mountains can’t beat that out of me.”

“Speaking of that. How are you feeling? Your head-”

“Still on.”

“Your shoulder-”

“I’m fine, Cam.”

He nodded, looking through the living room to her bedroom. Her suitcase was on the bed. She’d been thinking about getting some things packed.

“There’s a big storm coming in,” he said, still looking at her suitcase.

“It’s already here.”

“No, a bigger one’s going to hit the morning. It’s going to hit hard and heavy, maybe sock us in for a few days.”

That wouldn’t be so bad, getting to see one last storm. It could match the one in her heart.

“I wanted to make sure you’re stocked with candles and batteries and everything.”

She looked at him. “So you’re…”

“Leaving in the morning, before the big one hits. Nick and I are flying a group of six hardcore snow hikers out to Desolation Wilderness. From there we’re snow hiking to the peak. It’s a four-day trek round-trip.”

“In the storm?”

“They want it that way. They want to sleep in the blizzard inside a snow cave under the Sierra stars.”

She managed a laugh. “Sometimes I’m very glad I don’t have your job.” She watched the amusement transform his face, turning it from pensive and edgy to open and so attractive he took her breath. “It’s not racing, but you’re into it,” she murmured, happy for him.

“I didn’t think I would be, but yeah. If I can’t be going balls out down a mountain, then this fits too.” His smile faded. “I just wanted to check on you.”

“I’ll be fine while you’re gone.”

“And when I’m back, you’ll be gone.”

She stared at him as the truth sank in. He appeared relaxed enough, but just beneath the surface she took in his tension. It was there in his eyes, his mouth. “You came to say good-bye,” she realized. “Tonight. Now.”

He let out a breath. “I want you to know that I get that I tend to keep myself emotionally distanced from everything and everyone. But you…” He shook his head as if a little overwhelmed. “I’m not emotionally distanced from you, Katie. I never was.”

Her throat tightened. She moved around the counter to come to stand before him. “The day the bridge collapsed, I was tired.”

“Katie.” He reached for her hand, his eyes soft. “You don’t have to-”

“I want to. I want to tell you what I wouldn’t before. I was really tired of my life. My boss was cheating on his wife with the copy clerk and expected me to keep his secret. My last date didn’t call for a second one. Things felt…sucky. I looked at the bridge and thought-” She shook her head. “I thought if I drove right off the edge, no one would even notice.”

His gaze held a raw compassion. “Oh, Katie.”

“It was just a fleeting thought. Stupid and pathetic, and gone before I could blink. I looked around in the traffic and saw all the other people around me.” She drew a shaky breath. “Living their lives, talking, singing to the radio…and I thought, you know what? Life is what you make of it. I needed to make more of mine. And then in the next minute, it happened. A truck cut me off, I got mad, and then I was skidding toward the edge. Only one thing went through my mind.” She looked into his warm, grieving eyes. “I didn’t want to die.”

He closed his eyes briefly and let out a breath. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am that you didn’t.”

“Everyone else did,” she whispered.

“I know.” He hugged her in close, hard. “I know.”

“That’s why I dreamed. You were right. It’s what I was running from.” She looked up into his face. “I had planned to keep running until I knew the answer to that.”

His smile faded, his eyes filled with all sorts of things that, frankly, took her breath. “I want you to know I’m okay with it all now,” she told him. “I think I finally have my head on straight. I lived. And now it’s up to me to do something with the second chance. Something more than what I was doing before, which was nothing.”

“I feel the same, Katie. Because of you.”

She smiled. “I guess there’s only one thing to do then.” She lifted a hand and touched him, sinking her fingers into his hair, tugging his head down so that their lips were only a breath away. “Have our good-bye.”

“Katie,” he murmured, his lips brushing hers. “I don’t think-”

“Perfect,” she whispered, mirroring his long-ago words back at him, backing him to the throw rug in front of the fireplace where she pulled off her sweater, shucked out of her jeans. “Don’t think…”

And she tugged him down to the floor.

“God. Be sure.” From flat on his back, he cupped her face and pierced her with those green eyes, gently stroking a finger over the bandage on her brow. “I don’t want you to regret-”

“No regrets, remember?” She straddled him then, her knees digging into the thick throw rug. “No looking back…” She reached for her bra, which he immediately lent a helping hand to, skimming it off her as she wriggled out of her panties, which had him letting out a heartfelt groan of approval.

“Nothing but us,” she whispered. “This.” Getting his jeans down wasn’t a problem, they were baggy and already so low on his hips as to be almost indecent. “Just good-bye…”

His hands were as rough as her own, and the second he was freed, she wrapped her fingers around him and guided him home, wrenching another low groan from him.

“Wait.” His voice sounded like gravel. “I’m not-You’re not-”

Caring only that this was it, the end, the big finale, the last chance she would ever have to feel him inside her, she began to move, and letting her set the pace, he rocked upward to meet her. She bent over him, pressing her mouth to his shoulder as they moved, more wild than the storm raging outside. She needed to get there, to the big bang, to the explosion, to the mindless place where there was only sensation, glorious sensation-