Red skies in the morning, sailor’s warning.
The last time that saying had echoed in his mind, he’d been naked then, too.
He slipped from the bed, letting his gaze linger on Kendra’s sleeping form. How fitting that this time she was naked along with him.
Quietly moving to the bathroom, he showered, shaved and dressed. Then he returned to the bedroom to sit with his back to the window, ignoring the splendid view of the rose-tinted sunlight illuminating the newly cleansed city below. He only had eyes for the sleeping beauty in her bed.
Last night he’d almost told her he loved her. That’s why he followed her; he hadn’t lied about wanting to talk. But the moment he’d entered the room, he’d been distracted by the sight of her standing in front of the bed. That and the courage robbing thought…what if he was reading the whole situation wrong? So he’d taken the easy way out and given in to his desire to hold her in his arms.
It’d been amazing. And immediately afterward, he regretted not talking to her first. Once more, he gathered the nerve to lay his heart on the line. But the moment he spoke her name, she’d looked at him with that dismayed expression, then begged him not to say anything.
Colton shifted restlessly in the chair and looked outside. There was no doubt she expected him to head back to the ranch this morning. So what if they were great in bed together and she’d simply sought comfort during the storm? Maybe to her that’s all this was—maybe he’d simply been therapy, and the thought of him reading more into it horrified her.
So, what did he say to her now? Did he really need to hang around for her to spell it out for him? The red sky mocked him and his father’s favorite saying repeated in his head as if on an endless gol’ damned loop.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Kendra woke with a smile. Stretching her arms overhead as she rolled onto her back, she couldn’t hold back a soft, satisfied purr of pure bliss. She hadn’t slept so well since…the unfamiliar slide of cool cotton sheets against her naked skin registered at the same time as the end of her thought.
…since the last time Colton made love to me.
Memories from the night before washed over her, and she turned to his side of the bed with a shy smile. It faded in a rush of disappointment. The only evidence that he’d shared her bed was the faint scent of him on the sheet and a dent in the pillow.
Raising her head to scan the room, her gaze caught the time displayed by her unused alarm clock on the dresser next to the bathroom door. Eight thirty-seven. Her eyes widened. She honestly couldn’t remember a time she’d ever slept this late. Even as a child without the insomnia, she’d been an early riser.
Looking around once more, she saw all his clothes were gone. The implication made her heart skip and propelled her from the bed. In the bathroom, a wet towel hung over the shower door. She’d slept through him showering?
After a fast shower, her towel joined his before she dressed, combed her damp hair and applied a quick swipe of lip-gloss. In the hall, she laid a hand on her stomach to ease her nerves, took a deep breath as she shook back her curls, and stepped into the kitchen with a carefree smile.
Two steps into the empty room, her determination to be casual evaporated as fast as her smile. He hadn’t even made coffee. The band around her heart tightened. He always had coffee in the morning. In the living room, the first thing she noticed was the empty space where his duffel ba
g had been.
He’d left. Just like that. No explanation, no kiss goodbye after the amazing connection they’d shared, not even a casual, ‘It’s been fun, take care now.’
Her legs felt unsteady as she made her way over to the window and braced her hands on the sill. She drew in a lungful of air, counted, and released it. Repeating the process, she wondered why it was so much worse this time. He’d left before. She’d get through it again. Right?
The ragged ache in her chest cast a long, dark shadow of doubt, but she didn’t really have a choice, especially since Noah would be up soon. She closed her eyes against the pain. Thank God for Noah; she had to take care of him.
Mechanically, she returned to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. When it was done, she carried a cup out to the living room to wait for Noah to wake up. Prayed it’d be soon—she didn’t relish a single extra second of alone time with thoughts of Colton.
Halfway to the couch, she heard the apartment door handle rattle and stopped in alarm as the door swung open.
And there he was. All six feet three inches of him dressed in a slightly wrinkled white shirt and faded jeans with a frayed hole worn in one knee. Tears sprang to her eyes.
He didn’t leave.
Beneath the rugged tumble of his hair their gazes collided…but he wasn’t smiling. Her hands shook. Coffee sloshed over the rim of her cup and scalded her fingers. She gasped at the pain, hand jerking in reaction, and the cup slipped from her grasp to bounce on the Persian rug beneath her bare feet.
“Careful!” Colton warned, at her side in a second. He seized her wrist and lifted her hand for inspection while he simultaneously towed her toward the kitchen. “You okay?”
Mortified by her emotional response to just the sight of him, all she could manage was a mute nod.
Once at the sink, he yanked the faucet handle up, spun it to cold, and thrust her red, throbbing fingers under the cooling stream with his right hand. “Better?”
With his hand cradling hers and the tall, strong length of him pressed against her side, and the fact that he was here and not gone, she was swept right back into the maelstrom of emotion from last night. Her watery gaze locked on his left hand where it rested on the edge of the sink.
For a moment, the only sound was the rush of water and the wild thumping of her heart. She blinked. A few more times faster, and the glimmer of gold on his ring finger came into sharp focus. Completely wrapped up in his unexpected presence, this was the first she’d noticed the evidence of their marriage—had he worn it all along?