It was past nine that evening when Olivia stepped out of the suite she shared with Julie who had conked out while reading a spa magazine. She could have watched TV in the other room but she was too restless. So after removing the magazine from Julie's face and setting it aside, Olivia decided to step out of the suite to stretch her legs.

There was also a full moon that bathed the resort in such ethereal light that she had to sit somewhere and admire it. And then there was the heart labyrinth that Josh had built a year earlier, some of its rocks glowing in the moonlight. After assuring the staff that she didn't need anything, Olivia found an empty table in the dining room that faced the window and sat down to admire the view.

During the day, the Rosemary Inn was a beautiful retreat with walking paths lit up by a hundreds of solar lights at night. Although the main building featured private suites and rooms, there were also little cottages like Josh's casita that dotted the property. Some of them could house up to six to eight guests with circular beds that hung from the ceiling and other quirky features. It was a favorite destination for yoga and meditation retreats as well as fans of the local flora and fauna. In the morning, she and Julie were going on a hike with an expert on local plants and herbs. It was an activity that Olivia always looked forward to because it reminded her of her late parents who helped invest in the Rosemary Inn when Helen and Craig took over.

As Olivia's gaze spanned across the landscape in front of her, she couldn't help but stare at the grouping of rocks in the distance. Josh's Heart was how one of the guests called it and she couldn't help but smile.

Was Erik pulling her leg when he told her that Josh had built it for her? And Sam said the same thing even though they both claimed that Josh never said anything to them.

Why would a man build a labyrinth in the shape of a heart, of all things, Livvy? Sam had asked her one night. Men usually build them in squares, rectangles and circles. But, no, Josh had to choose a heart. Why do you think that is? Do you think it's for somebody?

She'd laughed it off then, even though deep inside she did hope it was true. But Josh had never said anything to her that would have told her exactly how he felt. For as long as she'd known him, he was always the ladies' man, ever popular in the South Bay with his revolving door of women. Sure, they'd been close when they were younger and he was the only one who was a fan of her button cookies even then. But Olivia had always liked him. She had even asked him to the prom but he said no even though she knew he hadn't asked anyone at the time. Then she wondered if it was a best friend thing. Maybe there was a code she didn't know about that had Josh ignoring her because he was best friends with her twin brother.

But it wasn't as if she moped the whole time, Olivia thought as she kept her gaze on the labyrinth in the distance. In the middle of her surgical residency in New York, her parents died in a car accident. In her grief, she married the first guy she met a month later, Sebastian Firelli, a charismatic Italian race car driver who swept her off her feet at a party. Who knew that she'd abandon her medical career and move all the way to Italy to be with him, only to end up becoming a widow just weeks after their daughter, Bella, was born? Even with Sebastian's family surrounding her, Olivia could barely remember one day from the next. It took Erik flying to Italy to bring her and Bella back home with him to Manhattan Beach. And he'd been there for her ever since. As was Josh.

Olivia pulled out her phone and tapped his number, her call going to voicemail after a few rings. She slipped her phone back into her jeans pocket, wondering what he was doing now. They used to talk almost every day whenever he wasn't working undercover but that stopped the night he got shot. He rarely answered her text messages and it baffled her. She understood the stress he must have been going through and she wanted to be there for him. But Josh wanted nothing to do with her; he'd made it clear to her the day he called her those awful names and she fled in shame.

Something moving in front of the labyrinth caught Olivia's attention and she got up from her chair. At first, she thought it was some kind of animal but it was too tall. When it neared the side of the main building, she realized she was looking at a man holding something like a cane. Or a crowbar. And whoever he was, he was in a hurry.

Olivia hurried out to the quiet lobby, walking past a group of women sitting on the sofas gazing at their phones while the night manager waved at her from behind the counter. Craig and Helen had had to install new security cameras after Josh's shooting because of the press, and she wondered if the cameras would have caught whoever was in a hurry. But it could also be one of the groundskeepers, she thought. Ojai was a quiet town north of Los Angeles and nothing really happened out here.

She heard the sound of a car driving away as soon as she ran outside, its brake lights disappearing as it made a right turn to the main road. As she pulled out her phone and tapped Josh's number again, she recognized his Jeep Cherokee parked right next to his father's Escalade. His phone rang four times before going into voicemail again.

"Josh, it's Livvy," she said as she continued down the same path that the man had taken. "Call me, okay? Wait! You know what? I'm heading down to the casita."

Maybe it was intuition but something didn't feel right. Or was she simply looking for a reason to see him again? Olivia called him again, hoping the third time would be the. But then, he could be asleep.

But Josh wasn't asleep for he finally answered but it wasn't exactly an answer. Olivia heard a groan.

"Josh?" She brought the phone to her ear. "Josh, it's me, Livvy. Are you okay?"

Another groan.

Olivia didn't wait. She ran past the parking lot to the back of the main building toward Josh's casita. There were no other buildings beyond that point but his house, Olivia thought as she hurried down the slope, her steps more mindful as she held onto the railing for dear life.

It wasn't too bad in the daytime but at night, the slope was hard to maneuver unless one was familiar with it. Why Josh preferred this over the other cottages in the 6-acre property Olivia could only guess. But maybe he really did want to get away from everyone else, she thought, knowing that such a wish didn't keep people away.

Take me, for example, she thought to herself.

When she made her way down the slope, the casita was dark but the door was wide open.

"Josh!" She cried out as she ran inside. "Josh, are you in here? Answer me!"

She flipped on the light switch but nothing came on. Olivia cursed out loud as she tried one light switch after another, none of them working. She was tripping over things, stepping over cushions and papers. This was no power failure, she thought, for even down in the valley, lights blinked from the houses below. Someone must have turned off the circuit breaker.

Olivia's mind was racing at the possibilities. Josh must have come home to a dark house, walked in and was attacked. And she'd seen the man run away. She called for him again, her heart pounding. She heard a groan somewhere in the living room. Wait! Or was it the kitchen?

"Josh, answer me, damn it!" She called out angrily, cursing even more. It seemed to help steady herself, for some reason, cursing like this. It was either that or she'd probably end up whimpering and sobbing, her imagination running wild with all the possibilities of what had happened to Josh. The cursing, at least, helped her keep going.

Just then, her feet encountered something hard and she tripped forward. She cursed some more, landing on top of what she hoped was a live Josh.

"Does Erik know you've got a mouth worse than a sailor?" 

"Shut up." Olivia moved her hands along his face, checking to make sure he had everything in place. Eyes, nose, mouth... everything was there. Her hands moved lower to his shoulder and he hissed in pain. Her fingers encountered something warm and wet and her breath hitched. 

Blood. 

"Ow!" he yelped but Olivia ignored him. 

"You're hurt," she whispered as she kept her hands moving, inspecting him in the dark, feeling for open cuts. Her fingers traveled along his face, moving to the back of his head as he yelped in pain and pulled away.

"Turn on a light or something before your hand wanders where it shouldn't. I would love it, but the timing's not exactly right at the moment," he grumbled.

Olivia got up. "Where is it?"

"It's on the right side of the house, if you're walking out the door. There should be a flashlight by the coat rack."

Olivia got up to her feet, found the flashlight and went outside, searching for the breaker. Sure enough, it had been switched off. She used her shirt to cover her fingers, in case whoever switched it off left fingerprints. This was what she got for watching too many detective shows with Sam on nights when Erik worked late at his clinic.

When she returned, Josh had pulled himself up from the floor and was leaning against the counter, clutching the back of his head. She surveyed the damage around them. The house was a disaster zone. Whoever was in here had been looking for something. They had started in the living room, tossing the cushions from the couch onto the floor, even slashing them and pulling the stuffing out. The kitchen cabinets had been flung open, pots and pans pulled out and set aside. Only the bedroom and the bathroom had been left untouched. Josh must have arrived by then, she thought, and caught the intruder by surprise.

"Let's get you to sit down," Olivia said, pulling Josh to the couch first but there was no place to sit. Not unless they didn't mind sitting on top of stuffing. She pulled him to the bedroom and sat him on the bed, this time peering at the bump on the back of his head, checking for any cuts. But he hadn't suffered a cut there. The blood was from his shoulder.

"Do you know what did this?" she asked.

"A crowbar."

Then it was the same man she saw. "You'll need a tetanus shot then." Olivia pulled off his t-shirt and tossed it to the side. "And maybe some stitches."

"No more hospitals," Josh grunted. "I'll duct tape it myself if I have to. Or maybe you can sew it... if you still got it in you."

"Suture it, you mean? Was that just a challenge I heard? Just because I gave up medicine to play housewife for five years doesn't mean I gave up my brain, too."

They glared at each other for a while, before Josh groaned and lay down on the bed. "I'm sorry. That was mean. But I've got a hell of a headache."

"We should call the police."

"No police," Josh said. "Not tonight. I don't want to freak out the guests or my mom. Just give me something for the pain."

"Did you see who did this?"

"No, he was waiting for me when I got home tonight. I'd gone to see my psychologist and then hung out at a bar for a while. I'm out of beer," he replied as Olivia disappeared into the bathroom searching for a first-aid kit. She found it underneath the sink, then returned to the bedroom and sat cross-legged on the bed facing his injured shoulder.

"Looks like you put a hell of a fight."

"He was waiting for me behind the door. Tried to hit me when I first walked in, but I managed to get a few punches in before he got me with a crowbar. That must be how he got into the house–ouch! That hurts!"

"Stop crying and let me clean this up before it gets infected," She said as Josh looked away the moment she began dabbing his cut with hydrogen peroxide. "Do you know what he was looking for? Looks like he was sure you had something hidden in here... like drugs, maybe. Or money."

"If you're implying that I was working with Ray, you're wrong. Why would I do that? I would never do such a thing, Liv. Not to my parents," Josh said, peering at her. "You do believe me, right?"

"Hold still. The cut is not large enough to need stitches but I'll need to bandage it up pretty good till tomorrow. Then I'll take you to the hospital–"

"I said, no hospital, Liv," Josh said. He sat up and grabbed a Band-Aid from the first-aid kit, ripping the wrapper with his teeth and then applying it over the cut. Or half the cut; it looked pathetic. "There! That should do it. Guess I don't need your services anymore..." He exhaled and laid down, this time, rubbing the back of his head. "God, that hurts."

"Then lie still so I can dress this properly and then check your head," Olivia said, ripping off the Band-Aid from his skin. "You can't get rid of me that easily, Josh Morin. I need to stay with you awhile and observe you. You may have suffered a concussion. That's why I want to take you to the–"

"One more word about taking me to the hospital and I'm definitely kicking you out," he grumbled as Olivia became quiet, focusing only on dressing his wound properly. It wasn't a large cut but it was deep and she wanted to make sure that it was clean of any debris. There was still the question of the tetanus shot but this time she wasn't going to insist on it. She'd have to deal with it tomorrow, even if she'd have to enlist Helen's help.

Five minutes later, the wound looked clean and securely covered with a transparent dressing that Olivia found at the bottom of his first-aid kit. She abandoned all the other gauze bandages, settling for a special type of bandage that locked the surface of the wound like a plastic seal.

"I need to make sure you don't have a concussion but I'm not going to insist on taking your to the hospital, alright?" Olivia said, her hands touching his head gently. "I feel a bump right here and I hope that's all it is. A little bump on the head. Nothing major."

"You're the doctor–"

"My brother is the doctor, Josh. Not me,"

Olivia expected Josh to say something back, but he didn't. Instead, they both became quiet, listening to the crickets outside the window. She suddenly felt exhausted, the fear of seeing him hurt or worse, dead, catching up with her emotions. She wanted to cry but she knew it would only make matters worse. So she sighed and let go of his head, before lying down next to him. They were lying side by side, with their knees bent at the edge of the bed, their feet touching the floor. Above them, the ceiling fan whirred softly.

She should really get off the bed and start cleaning up the place, but it was the last thing she wanted to do. It was as if something between them broke, the tension brought on by the attack on Josh dissipating into a certain calm that settled over them. He was alright, she told herself. She'd dressed his cut and checked his head, and he was fine.

"You'd still be a doctor if you hadn't given it all up. For him," Josh said, his voice gentle. "You barely knew him, Livvy."

Olivia didn't say anything for a few minutes and she was grateful that Josh didn't add anything to that statement, apologize, or take it back. He was right, of course. She had given it all up for Sebastian.

"That's because I was lonely," she whispered, feeling Josh's hand cover hers. "Mom and dad had just died and I thought work could help me deal with the loss. But it only made it worse." And you didn't come when I asked you, too, she wanted to add. Instead, you went deep-sea fishing with my brother to help with his grief when I needed you, too.

Shit. He remembered her call that night, asking him to fly to New York and keep her company a month after her parents died. But they were Erik's parents, too, and Josh had promised to take Erik deep-sea fishing that weekend. It was a guy thing and one he couldn't get out of, not even for Olivia. Erik had needed him, too. When they got back with their catch, he learned that Olivia had met someone at a party. Sebastian.

"And are you still lonely?" he asked.

When Olivia didn't answer right away, Josh turned to his side to face her. He winced as he adjusted his position to ease the pressure on his wounded shoulder.

She turned to look at him, relieved to see that color had returned to his face. Her voice began to break, her eyes brimming with tears. "I'm here, aren't I?"

Josh touched her cheek, the feel of his fingers on her skin making Olivia sigh. "I don't want you to ever feel lonely again, Liv. And I don't want you to leave me tonight," he whispered. "I want you to stay here with me. Forever."

Olivia sighed, loving how his hands cupped her face, feeling the bed shift as he drew closer. "I can't promise you forever, Josh. One day at a time, but not forever. We can start tonight."

Josh smiled, his thumb stroking her cheek, his fingers caught in her red hair. Olivia caught the masculine scent of him, that combination of sun and sweat, of dry California brush with a faint whiff of orange blossom. He leaned even closer, their noses touching.

"Then I'll take whatever I can get," he murmured, his lips brushing against hers. "Even if it's just a kiss."