by Barb Han
This was the first time he realized how much he missed having someone to talk to when he walked in the door at night. Having the twins was amazing but one-year-olds weren’t exactly known for their conversation skills.
Colton took the interruption from the hip pain as a sign he was headed down the wrong path. Granted, it didn’t feel misguided, and nothing inside him wanted to stop, but doing anything to cause her more pain was out of the question.
A voice in the back of his mind picked that time to remind him of the fact he’d struck her with his vehicle. He was the reason she was in pain in the first place.
The idea that she’d been adamant about not filing a report crept into his thoughts. As much as she’d insisted not doing so was for his benefit, he’d quickly ascertained that she didn’t want her name attached to a report. Colton had already put two and two together and guessed she was hiding out from her ex. But living in a random trailer and hiding her name meant her situation was more complicated than he’d first realized. No matter what else, this was a good time to take a break and regroup.
“I’m sorry. That whole kissing thing was my fault. I don’t know what came over me.” Makena’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment and that only poured gasoline onto the fire of attraction burning in him.
“Last I checked, I was a pretty willing participant.” He winked and she smiled. He hadn’t meant to make her feel bad by regrouping. In fact, the last thing he wanted to do was add to her stress. Based on what she’d shared so far, her marriage had done very little to lift her up and inspire confidence.
Was it wrong that he wanted to be the person who did that for her?
Chapter Six
Embarrassment didn’t begin to cover the emotion Makena should be feeling after practically throwing herself at Colton. It was impossible to regret her actions, though. She hadn’t been so thoroughly kissed by any man in her entire life. That was a sad statement considering she’d been married, but wow, Colton could kiss. He brought parts of her to life that had been dormant for so long she’d forgotten they existed.
She wanted to chalk up the thrill of the kiss to the fact that it had been more than a decade in the making, but that would sell it short. He’d barely dipped the tip of his tongue in her mouth and yet it was the most erotic kiss she’d ever experienced. She could only imagine what it would feel like to take the next step with him.
And since those thoughts were about as productive as spending all her paycheck on a pair of shoes, she shelved them. For now, at least.
Makena blew out an awkward breath. Yes, dwelling on their attraction was off the table, because not only was it futile, but there was no way she could compete with a ghost. Colton had said so himself. He’d married his best friend. His beloved wife had died shortly after giving birth to their twins and making a family.
Despite the fact that he hadn’t described his relationship with his wife as anything other than a deep friendship, it would be impossible to stack up to that level of love.
Colton’s gaze darted to his coffee cup. “Mine’s empty. How are you on a refill?”
“I’m good. I think I’ve had enough.” She bit back a yawn. “If it’s okay, I’d like to just curl up here and rest my eyes for a few minutes.”
“Make yourself at home.” Colton stood. The couch felt immediately cold to her, after his warmth from a few moments ago. He scooped up his coffee mug and headed toward the kitchen. She could’ve sworn she heard him mumble phrases like “another time and place and things might be different,” and “bad timing.” She couldn’t be certain. It might’ve just been wishful thinking on her part to believe there was something real going on between them.
An awkward laugh escaped. She’d never been the type to latch onto someone, but then this wasn’t just anyone. Was she seriously that lonely?
This was Colton O’Connor and they shared history. And based on the enthusiasm in his kiss, an attraction that hadn’t completely run its course.
Makena counted herself lucky that embarrassment couldn’t kill a person. Actually, maybe it wasn’t embarrassment she felt. Maybe it was that strong attraction that caused her cheeks to heat. When she really thought about it, she hadn’t done anything to be embarrassed about.
The past six months, being alone, had done a number on her mindset. That was certain. But it hadn’t knocked her out. And it wouldn’t. She would get through this, rebound and pick her life up again. A life that seemed a little bit colder now that she’d been around warmth again.
Makena figured it was too much to hope that she’d find her feet rooted in the real world again. And real world started with a few basics. “Hey, Colton. Any chance you have a spare toothbrush and a washcloth I could use?”
Her clothes were in the dryer, so she might as well go all in wishing for a real shower rather than a bowl of warm soapy water by the river like she’d done the past few days at the RV.
“Like I said, make yourself at home.” He tilted his head toward the hallway where he’d disappeared earlier to bring her the robe. “You’ll find a full bathroom in there. Spare toothbrushes are still in the wrappers in the cabinet.”
With some effort, Makena was able to stand. Colton turned around and a look of shock stamped his features.
“Hold on there. I can help you get to the bathroom.”
“It still hurts, I’m not going to lie. But it’s not as bad as it was an hour ago. I’d like to see if I can make it myself.” She wasn’t exactly fast and couldn’t outrun an ant, but she was proud of the fact that she made it to the bathroom on her own. She closed the toilet seat, folded a towel and paused a moment to catch her breath. It was progress and she’d take it.
As she sat in the bathroom waiting for the pain in her hip to subside, she couldn’t help but inhale a deep breath, filling her senses with Colton’s scent. The bathrobe she wore smelled like him, all campfire and outdoors and spice. It was masculine and everything she’d remembered about sitting next to him in biology lab. His scent was all over the robe.
She needed to get her head on straight and refocus. Thinking much more about Colton and how amazing and masculine he smelled wasn’t going to help her come up with a plan of what to do next.
It would probably be best for all concerned if she could put Colton out of her head altogether. She appreciated his help, though.
Taking another deep breath, Makena reached over and turned on the water. Using the one-step-at-a-time method, she peeled off the bathrobe and then took baby steps until she was standing in the massive shower. She had no idea what materials actually were used, but the entire shower enclosure looked like it was made of white marble. There were two showerheads. The place was obviously meant for a couple to be able to shower together. However, a half dozen people would fit inside there at the very least.
Now that really made Makena laugh. Images of single father and town sheriff Colton in a wild shower party with a half dozen people didn’t really fit well together.
They tickled her anyway.
And maybe she was just that giddy. Exhaustion started wearing her thin, and her nerves, nerves that had been fried for a solid year and really longer than that if she thought back, eased with being around Colton.
The soap might smell clean and a little spicy, but it was the warm water that got her. Amazing didn’t begin to cover it. She showered as quickly as possible, though, not wanting to keep too much pressure on that hip. Her left side bit back with pain any time she put pressure on it.
After toweling off and slipping back into the robe, she brushed her teeth. She had a toothbrush at the RV, in the small bag of shower supplies she kept with her at all times while on the move. But this was a luxury. It was crazy how the simple things felt so good after being deprived. Simple things like a real shower and a real bathroom.
Speaking of which, the cup of coffee that she’d had a little while ago had been in a league of its
own.
Makena reminded herself not to get too comfortable here. It was dangerous to let her guard down or stick around longer than absolutely necessary. Being in one place for too long was a hazard, made more so by the fact her identity could be so easily revealed by Colton.
She tightened the tie on the bathrobe before exiting the bathroom and making her way back into the living room. She might move slow, but this was progress. If she could rest that hip for a couple of hours and let the worst of the storm pass, she could get back to the RV and then...go where?
Thinking about her next step was her new priority. She’d been so focused on surviving one hour at a time that she’d forgotten there was a big picture—an end game that had her collecting evidence against her ex. Time had run out for her in Katy Gulch.
Inside the living room, Colton was in mission control mode. He was so deep in thought with what was going on and talking into his radio that he didn’t even seem to hear her when she walked into the room.
Rather than disturb him, she moved as stealthily as possible, reclaiming her spot opposite him on the couch. He glanced up and another shot of warmth rocketed through her body, settling low in her stomach. Colton’s deep, masculine voice spoke in hushed tones as she curled up on her side on the sofa. He almost immediately shifted the laptop off his lap and grabbed the blanket draped on the back of the sofa.
He walked over and placed it over her before offering her an extra throw pillow. She took it, laid her head on it and closed her eyes.
With all the stress that had been building the six months and especially in the past couple of days since she thought she’d seen River’s associates, there was no way she could sleep.
Resting her eyes felt good. That was the last thought she had before she must’ve passed out.
Makena woke with a start. She immediately pushed up to sit and glanced around, trying to get her bearings. Her left hip screamed at her with movement, so she eased pressure from it, shifting to the right side instead.
Daylight streamed through the large windows in the loft-style apartment. She rubbed blurry eyes and yawned.
Looking around, she searched for any signs of Colton as the memory of last night became more focused. She strained to listen for him and was pretty sure she heard the shower going in the other room. The image of a naked, muscled Colton standing in the same shower she’d showered in just a few hours ago probably wasn’t the best start to her morning. Or it was. Depending on how she looked at it. Makena chuckled nervously.
The events from the past twelve hours or so came back to her, bringing down her mood. She opened up the robe to examine her hip on the left side. Sure enough, a bruise the size of a bowling ball stared back at her. Pain had reminded her it was there before she’d even looked.
Movement hurt. She sucked in a breath and pushed past the soreness and pain as she closed her robe and stood. Then she remembered that Colton had some of the best coffee she’d ever tasted. Since he’d instructed her to make herself at home, she figured he wouldn’t mind if she made a cup.
Her stomach growled despite the sandwich, apple and soup he’d given her. She glanced at the clock. That had been a solid ten hours ago. How had she slept so long?
Makena hadn’t had that much sleep at one time in the past year. Of that she was certain. She cautioned herself against getting too comfortable around Colton. She’d already let way too much slip about her personal life, not that it hadn’t felt good to finally open up to someone she trusted and talk about her mother and other parts of her life. It had. But it was also dangerous.
A part of her wanted to resurface just to see if River had let his anger toward her go by now. If he’d let her go by now. Being on the run, hiding out, had always made her feel like she’d done something wrong, not the other way around.
Standing up to fight a Dallas police officer who ran in a circle just like him could wreak complete havoc on her life, so she had erred on the side of caution.
But should she start over now, after she’d found Colton again? There was something almost thrilling about seeing him, about finding a piece of herself that had been alive before she’d lost her mother...before River.
If Makena was being completely honest with herself, she could admit that part of her disappearing act had to do with wanting to shut out the world after losing her mother. She’d succumbed to grief and allowed fear to override rational thought.
But where to start over? Dallas was out. Houston was a couple hours’ drive away. Maybe she could make a life there? Get back to teaching music. It was worth a shot.
Living like she had been over the past few months, although necessary, wasn’t really being alive.
Makena saw a coffee machine sitting on a countertop. It was easy to spot in the neat kitchen. There were drawers next to it and so she went ahead and made the wild assumption that she’d find coffee in one of them.
She didn’t. But she did find some in the cupboard above. It was the pod kind. She helped herself to one that said Regular Coffee and placed it in the fancy-looking steel machine. She glanced to the side and saw a plastic carafe already filled with water.
There was only one button, so that was easy. The round metal button made the machine come to life. It was then that she realized she hadn’t put a coffee cup underneath the spout.
“Oh no. Where are you?” She opened a couple of cupboards until she found the one that housed the mugs. She grabbed one and placed it under the spout just in time for the first droplets of brown liquid to sputter out. “Good save.” She mumbled the words out loud and, for the second time since opening her eyes, chuckled.
Her lighter mood had everything to do with being around Colton again. The kiss they’d shared had left the memory of his taste on her lips. And even though their relationship couldn’t go anywhere, the attraction between them was a nice change of pace from what she usually felt around men. After being with River, she’d become uneasy interacting with the opposite sex.
Makena slowly made her way to the fridge. Quick movement hurt. Walking hurt. But she was doing it and was certain she could push through the pain.
In the fridge, she found cups of her favorite thing in the world, vanilla yogurt. She took one and managed to find a spoon. She polished it off before the coffee could stop dripping.
The carton of eggs was tempting, but she needed to take it easy on the hip. Standing in front of the stove was probably not the best idea. The yogurt would hold her over until she could rest enough to gather the energy to find something else to eat or cook.
Cup of coffee in hand, she slowly made her way to one of the chairs at the granite island. It would be too much to ask for sugar and cream at this hour, especially with the amount of pain she was in. She hadn’t asked for ibuprofen last night, not wanting to mask her injury. Today, however, she realized the injury was superficial and she would ask for a couple of pain relievers once Colton returned from the shower.
Speaking of which, she was pretty certain the water spigot had been turned off for a while now.
Nothing could have quite prepared her for the sight of Colton O’Connor when he waltzed into the room wearing nothing but a towel. The white cloth was wrapped around lean hips and tucked into one side.
“Good morning.” The low timbre of his voice traveled all over her body, bringing a ripple of awareness.
“Morning to you.” She diverted her gaze from the tiny droplets of water rolling down his muscled chest.
“I see you managed to find a cup of coffee. It’s good to see you up and around. How’s that hip today?” His smile—a show of perfectly straight, white teeth—made him devastatingly hot.
“It’s better. I managed the coffee minus the cream.” She decided it was best to redirect the conversation away from her injury. “This coffee is amazing straight out of the pot. Or whatever that thing is.” She motioned toward the stainless-steel appliance.<
br />
Colton’s eyebrow shot up and a small smile crossed his lips—lips she had no business staring at, but they were a distraction all the same.
“You want cream and sugar?”
“It’s really no big deal.” She’d barely finished her protest when Colton moved over to the fridge and came back with cream that he set on the counter in front of her. He located sugar next and tossed a few packets in her direction.
She thanked him.
“You seemed pretty busy last night. Is everyone okay?” she asked.
“The storm was all bark and no bite thankfully. Roads were messy, but folks respected Mother Nature and she backed off without any casualties.”
“That’s lucky,” she said.
“There were a few close calls with stranded vehicles. Nothing I could get to, but my deputies could.”
“That’s a relief.” She took a sip of coffee and groaned. “This is so good.”
He shot her a look before shaking his head. “That’s a nice sound. But not one I need in my head all day and especially not after...never mind.”
The words on the tip of his tongue had to be that kiss. She’d thought the same thing when she saw him half-naked in the kitchen.
“I can’t remember the last time I slept as well as I did last night.” She stretched her arms out.
“If you slept that well on the couch, imagine what it would be like in a real bed.” He seemed to hear those words as they came out and shot her a look that said he wanted to reel them back in.
The image that had popped into her thoughts was one of her in bed with him. Considering he still stood there in a towel, she needed to wipe all those thoughts from her head.
Seeing him again was making a difference in her mood and her outlook. Somewhere in the past six months after losing her mother, she’d given up a little bit on life. Looking back, she could see that so clearly now.
