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“I don’t know what your life was like with men there,” he continued. “I don’t know what chances you had to figure out what you wanted or whether you had any chance at all. Christ, for all I know, you could be a virgin.”

For one long second, I simply looked at him.

“You’re worried I’m a virgin?” I huffed.

“I said I don’t know.”

“No, obviously you don’t. And instead of asking, you decided I was possibly too inexperienced and emotionally damaged for you to continue kissing.”

His brows drew together. “I didn’t say emotionally damaged.”

“You didn’t need to.”

“That isn’t what I meant.”

“It’s exactly what you meant.”

I snatched the backpack from the boulder and shoved my arms through the straps.

“Where are you going?”

“Down the mountain.”

“Isabella.”

I started walking.

My ankle protested immediately.

Lachlan caught up within seconds.

“Would you stop for a minute?”

“No.”

“Mouse.”

“Apparently, I need some distance from a dangerous man before my grief causes me to make an irrational sexual decision.”

“For fuck’s sake, that’s not what I said.”

“It certainly was what you implied.”

He came alongside me, matching my pace while I picked my way through the brush.

“I was trying to make sure I didn’t become another man who used the fact that you depend on him.”

I kept my eyes ahead.

“I kissed you,” I reminded him. “I pulled you closer. I practically climbed on top of you because I wanted you.” I kept picking my way downhill. “At what point did I appear confused?”

“You didn’t.”

“Yet you still decided I needed protecting from a choice I was making for myself.”

He went quiet beside me.

Good.