“Yes. If I didn’t get married, Robert retained custody. I tried to explain that morning, but you were so angry.”
God. He’d really screwed things up, hadn’t he? “I thought it was all for the money.” With a half turn and a jerk of his hand, he gestured toward the apartment behind him. “For this.”
Kendra shook her head with another wobbly smile. “Even after everything he did, I would’ve gladly given Robert the money, but never Noah. And if it’d only been the money, and you’d said no, I wouldn’t have gotten married at all.”
A slight frown creased his brow. “Really? You’d have given it all up? Just like that?”
“Money isn’t everything.”
“Easy to say when you have it.”
She tilted her head and crossed her arms. “I happen to know you haven’t cashed your check.”
He reached into the back pocket of his jeans and then handed her the folded, worn envelope.
After a glance inside, she looked up at him, dumbfounded. “Colton, this is like cash in your pocket! What if you lost it?”
He took a deep breath. He was still scared as hell, but it was time to quit running.
“I didn’t marry you for the money, either.”
Attention focused solely on her mouth, he lifted his hand, slid a knuckle along her jaw, then threaded his fingers through her hair to the nape of her neck. Finally, he gathered enough courage to raise his gaze to hers. The unmasked love in her eyes made him catch his breath, and his heart beat double-time.
“To answer your original question, I came because I missed you…and yes, because I love you.”
He bent his head, took her mouth with his, and did his damndest to prove the depth of his love. She threw her arms around his neck and did a little proving of her own. With the hot seduction of her lips and tongue, and the emotion he now recognized in her kiss, he was amazed his heart didn’t burst from his chest.
She pulled back a few minutes later. Winded, flushed, and absolutely beautiful. He would never let her go again.
“I love you, Colton.”
He smiled against her soft lips, and kissed her again while digging into his front jeans pocket. When he yanked to free his hand, she pulled back and laughed through a frown.
“What the heck are you doing?”
At last, he held her wedding ring up between his thumb and forefinger. Her eyes widened, then instantly filled with more tears. “My ring! I looked for it all over the guest house living room. I thought I’d never see it again.”
“I had your necklace fixed, too, but this—uh, uh.” He lifted the ring out of her reach but enjoyed her attempt to retrieve it. “This I want to put back where it belongs.”
She gave up with a breathless smile. “Like yours?”
“Damn straight.” Giving up the macho image, he took her left hand and admitted, “I wore gloves at work for three weeks, just couldn’t bring myself to take it off.”
He slowly slid the ring on before leaning over to brush her lips with his. Tears filled her shining eyes once more before she hugged him as if she’d never let go. Fine with him. He ran his hands down her back to rest them on her hips. His fingers edged under the back waistband of her jeans and she leaned back with a sexy smile. The flare of desire in her eyes heated his blood, making him wish it was night instead of morning.
And with the anticipation of evening came another thought. Still holding her close, he lifted one hand to cup her face. “There’s a conversation we agreed to have almost a month ago.”
She leaned into his touch, her expression now completely serious. “I would’ve called you.”
Disappointment struck deep in his chest. He worked to keep his voice even. “We didn’t use anything last night, either…something to do with you driving me absolutely crazy.”
r /> Her head turned just enough for her to nip the pad of his thumb. His low growl brought her grin back.
“I think, subconsciously, you have ulterior motives.”
“Would you mind?” he asked hopefully, surprised to discover he was nervous for her answer.
With a radiant smile, she shook her head again, and he expelled his breath from tight lungs. When he leaned in for another kiss, a low groan sounded from behind his back.