The Fight for Us by Elizabeth Finn

me questions if you want.”
    “I don’t want.” It was a biting sarcasm, driven by his own fear, and he instantly regretted it.
    Her face dropped, and she glanced away.
    He exhaled a deep breath before trying again. “I do want. And there’s nothing wrong with you asking.” He watched her eyes, waiting for her face to relax again, and when her shoulders dropped their tension, he reached for her chin. She pulled back reflexively for a moment, and he paused with his hand in mid-air. He studied her again, waiting for some sign it was okay to move, and when she released a calming breath, he continued to reach for her. “How did you get this scar?”
    His fingers ran over the gnarled tissue that interrupted the smoothness of her skin on her chin. It was light pink against her pale skin, and he wasn’t beyond noticing that her skin was just as corn silk smooth as he’d imagined it might be. The pad of his thumb brushed gently over the scar, and she watched him with her lips parted. She was holding her breath, and when she reached up, fumbling with his fingers as she touched the same spot, he pushed her fingers out of the way as he studied her eyes. He was forcing his way past her barriers. He knew a thing or two about those, and while his own were an immovable force at the moment, he still wasn’t willing to accept hers.
    “Fell into the corner of a countertop a couple years ago. Ended up with a nasty gash.” Her eyes focused on him, and she stared, forcing herself to hold her ground. It was a lie. While her eyes remained firmly fixed on his, her diaphragm had stopped moving again. She was doing her best to convince him of the lie, but he knew a thing or two about the telltale signs of deception.
    “I see.” He very intentionally shifted his knee toward her until he could feel her leg. She sucked in a hissing breath as the shock of his sudden touch knocked her off her ground, and she finally looked away. Of course, the feel of her trembling leg against his had a definite effect on him too.
    Her lips trembled for a moment as she opened her mouth to say something more, but then a rush of air left her instead. He let his fingers drop from her chin to the table in front of them, and she took a shuttering breath as he licked his lips. “Take a walk with me?”
    She nodded in answer to his question but said nothing else. He helped her back into the coat she’d hung on the back of the kitchen chair, and as he grabbed his own coat from the wall rack in the entryway, he hollered into the living room, “We’re going for a walk. There’s frozen pizza in the freezer if you get hungry.”
    The response was a not-meant-for-them piece of conversation.
    “They’re totally going to make out.” Harper’s small little voice trailed out to them as Joss’s eyes bulged in mortification.
    “I know. It’s disgusting. They’re so old,” came his daughter’s voice.
    The most Isaiah could manage was muttering, “I’m not that old,” as he passed through the door to the cool afternoon air.
    Joss was dressed for the walk, thank God, because he couldn’t sit in that damn small house of his for one more second before he mauled her on top of the kitchen table. At least if it was cold, he wouldn’t be quite so inclined to pull her clothes off her.
    She’d worn hiking boots and jeans, and her fleece pullover under her parka would keep her warm enough. He’d noticed she was something of a klutz before, and within five minutes of traipsing through the woods toward the shoreline, her knees were wet, and she’d said, “Oops,” at least seven times. He looked back and laughed each and every time, and after it was quite clear she could likely injure herself before they made it to the beach, he took her hand and led the way.
    There was a downed log that sat twenty feet or so back from the rocky shoreline, and he stepped over the wide trunk before he sat. She shimmied her way over and joined him. He’d been walking to this particular