“You did try to talk me out of it,” she insisted. “You were obviously reluctant and I ignored that.”
“Did you hear what I just said?” he asked. “I just told you I wanted to make love to you, Paige. Hell, if the truth is known, I’ve wanted you since I first laid eyes on you walking down the hall at Royal High School.”
“You wanted me?” she asked, looking as if she couldn’t quite believe it.
Nodding, he gave up and put his arm around her shoulders. “You’re my late brother’s wife and the two of you would still be married if that tornado hadn’t come through six months ago and taken Craig’s life. I’ve disrespected Craig’s memory and your marriage and I’m truly sorry for that. But as contradictory as it sounds, I’ll be damned if I regret that it happened.”
“I don’t, either,” she said, surprising him. “I still feel like we wouldn’t have made love if I hadn’t pressed the matter, but what we shared was absolutely beautiful.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes as reality set in. “So where do we go from here?” he finally asked.
“I suppose we could go back to building a nice friendship,” Paige answered, sounding a little unsure.
He shook his head. “Sweetheart, I don’t think that’s possible.”
She looked disappointed. “Why not?”
“I know I shouldn’t and I’ve fought it with everything that’s in me because you’re my late brother’s wife, but I want to be a whole lot more to you than just your friend, Paige,” he said, lowering his head to capture her soft coral lips with his. “That’s why I don’t think a friendship between us would even be possible.”
Not wanting to start something he couldn’t finish, Cole made sure to keep the kiss simple and sweet. It was still unclear how things were going to progress between them or if they even wanted to try for something more. And there was no way he needed to add a boatload of frustration to the discomfort from his throbbing knee.
When he raised his head, he smiled. “You mentioned something about making breakfast?”
She looked as unsure about his declaration as he felt when she nodded. “What would you like to have?”
“It doesn’t matter to me.” He grinned. “I’m about as hungry as a bear waking up from hibernation. Even though it was really good, soup doesn’t stick with you for very long.”
Her smile was one of the prettiest sights he’d ever seen. “I’ll go see what I can whip up.”
As he watched her leave the room, Cole had no idea where things were going with them or how it would all turn out. Even though Craig would have had no problem making a move on Paige if the situation had been reversed and she had been his widow, Cole still couldn’t help but have some lingering guilt about his feelings for her. But he also knew that if he didn’t stick around and find out where their attraction led them, he would end up regretting it for the rest of his life.
Six
“Cole, I don’t think this is what the doctors had in mind when he said to take it easy and keep your leg elevated,” Paige observed as they walked toward the men working on her barn. His progress was slow, but Cole did seem to be getting the hang of using the crutches.
“I promise if my knee starts to hurt more than it does right now, I’ll have the guys help me back inside,” he said, giving her a smile that caused her pulse to race.
As soon as his men had called to tell him they were all fully recovered from the food poisoning and ready to go back to work, he decided one of them could set up a couple of lawn chairs under the live oak tree closest to the barn so that Cole could oversee their work. After trying to talk him out of it with no success, she finally gave in and carried the pillow for him to put under his leg when he propped it up on the other chair.
“What if it starts raining?” she asked as he lowered himself into the lawn chair and laid his crutches on the ground beside him. “You’re not supposed to get the bandage wet.”
“Do you worry this much over everything?” he asked, laughing.
“Your father used to call it fussing.” She smiled at the fond memory as she placed the pillow she had under her arm on the chair facing Cole. “He used to tell me I fussed over everything.”
“Well, I’m sure he loved having you around ‘fussing’ over him,” Cole commented. “Dad didn’t get much of that after Mom died.”