EXCERPT from "The Break":

At first he thought it was a moose or a wayward caribou. If Mia knew I had mistaken her for a moose The cabin door opened, letting in the cold air, and Luke breathed in her scentno caribou or wayward moosebut the bright, fresh smell of night and of Mia, shaking off the chill and putting down her pack.

"Luke?"

He rolled toward her, pulling the down comforter with him, but didn't answer. He listened to her shrugging off her coat and unzipping her boots in the dark. The wood stove burned low, giving off a little light, but not much. He waited until she came to the bed, sitting on the edge, before he spoke.

"It's not safe to cross."

He felt more than saw her shrug. "I made it."

"Do you have a death wish?"

Mia stood, pulling off her shirt and dropping it to the floor. "Probably." Her jeans followed, and she slid under the covers beside him naked. "But it's colder at nightI thought the ice would be a little more frozen."

"And no one to save you if you fell through." His hands found her in the dark, touching someone else's flesh for the first time in a year. His fingers sank into the softness of her hip, pulling her belly to belly with him.

The silence stretched long and Luke felt the weight of it before she finally spoke. "You know as well as I do the current would take me before anyone could reach me."

He pulled her close, wanting to melt the sudden chill. Mia softened against him, letting him hold her. Her skin was cold and he rubbed her to warm it. "I missed you," he admitted. It was always this way, every time he touched her. The constant rat wheel in his head stopped spinning the minute she slid her slender fingers over his chest. "I don't want anything to happen to you."

"I'm okay." She touched her forehead to his. Her breath smelled sweet, like carrots.

"No you're not."

She smiled against his mouth. "I know." Their first kiss in a yearit was like starting kindling under a log, slow to catch at first, but growing brighter the more they fed it. Her lips were soft and warm, but trembling, and she stiffened when he slid his thigh between hers, rolling her on top of him in the darkness. He wanted to keep herthat was his desperate, secret wish, one that he didn't want her to know and tried not to convey in the way he advanced