Chapter 5 Kingston #2
He followed right after, groaning my name into the curve of my neck. And then we lay there, our limbs tangled and our hearts exposed, the storm outside no match for the one that had finally passed between us.
I didn’t know what would happen when morning came. But right now, in this quiet moment wrapped in his arms, I believed we still had a chance. Love wasn’t finished with us yet.
His mouth was on my shoulder, his breath hot against my skin, while his hands moved in slow reverence over my waist, down the curve of my back, across the swell of my hip. He touched me like he’d never get to do it again. Like he still loved me.
I hadn’t expected it to be like this. I’d told myself I wouldn’t feel anything.
I was getting it out of my system… the old memories and heat and need.
But Kingston didn’t make love like a man trying to forget.
He did it like a man who never stopped remembering.
And so help me, I remembered everything too.
He rolled us over, so I was on top of him, his hands guiding my hips as we moved together again. Slower this time. Deeper. Our eyes locked as I rode him, my breath catching with every stroke.
“I’ve missed you so much, baby,” he said.
I cupped his jaw, let my fingers brush over the scar that had changed his face but not the man underneath.
“I hated not knowing,” I whispered.
“I hated not being able to tell you.”
“You could’ve.”
“I didn’t know how,” he said, voice raw. “I was ashamed. Of where I was. Of what I’d done.”
“You took the fall for your brother.”
“I still went to prison, Scarlett. I still got beat so bad I couldn’t see straight for two weeks. I still came out a shell of the man you knew back then, the man you loved.”
I stilled over him, my palm pressed to his chest where his heart pounded like it wanted to break through skin. “You aren’t a shell. You’re just hurt.”
He closed his eyes like he didn’t want me to see the way that truth cut. I leaned down and kissed his chest. Then his throat. Then his mouth again.
“I see you,” I said, right against his lips.
When he opened his eyes, they were shiny with tears he wouldn’t let fall.
We didn’t say a word after that. There was no need.
Our bodies did the talking. Our rhythm slowed to a sweet and aching pace, like we were both trying to make it last forever.
When we finally collapsed again, tangled together in a sweaty, breathless heap, his fingers laced with mine.
Outside, the wind had calmed. The storm was losing its edge. And inside this cabin, we were finally still.
He traced circles on the back of my hand. “I don’t want this to be a mistake.”
I turned to face him, propping my chin on my hand. “It’s not.”
“But in the morning, when reality comes back in…”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said, before I could talk myself out of it.
He closed his eyes and exhaled, like he’d been holding his breath for years.
I watched him fall asleep like that, with me curled against his chest and his arm wrapped around my back like a shield.
I couldn’t erase the years we’d spent apart, but I could start to forgive him for trying to protect me even though it had only caused more pain.
He deserved that much and more after everything he’d been through.
I woke to the sound of knocking. A heavy fist pounded against the front door, then silence. I sat up and pulled the blanket over my chest. The storm outside had gone still, and dim light filtered through the bedroom curtains. It was morning.
The knock came again. I looked to my left, expecting to see Kingston still asleep, but the bed was empty. Still warm, but empty.
The door opened. Kingston exchanged muffled greetings with someone else. Slade Kincaid. I’d recognize that drawl anywhere.
I stood, the blanket still clutched to my chest, my heart suddenly hammering.
Slade ran the Iron Spur Ranch with his brother and sister and had partnered with Cullen on the new barbecue restaurant in town.
The one Ruby had coordinated with her investor friend.
If Ruby hadn’t told the entire town already, word was spreading about Kingston.
I pulled his sweatshirt off the floor and slipped it on, then crept closer to the door, cracking it a sliver so I could listen in.
“I didn’t think you’d be up here,” Slade said. “Figured you’d be halfway to Denver by now, knowing how much you hate attention.”
“I wasn’t planning on staying,” Kingston replied. “Plans changed.”
“You and me both. The storm shut down the road out of town. I’ve been plowing nearby and when I heard you were up here, I figured I’d check in.”
There was a pause. Then a sound that could have been a coffee cup settling hard on a table.
“Are you okay, man? You look… wrecked,” Slade said.
“I didn’t sleep much.”
“You must have heard about what happened at Friendsgiving,” Slade said. “Ruby told everyone you’re the one behind the secret investments. I figure you’re also the reason the Iron Spur has a deal with the new barbecue restaurant.”
Kingston sounded uncomfortable at the acknowledgment. “It’s not a big deal.”
“Maybe not to you, but it is to me. What you’ve done… it’s made a huge difference, and I wanted to say thank you. If I can ever repay the favor, anything you need, all you have to do is ask.”
“You don’t have to thank me and you sure as hell don’t owe me anything,” Kingston said. He was going to have to get used to it, though. Now that everyone knew he was responsible for so much, they were going to want to recognize him.
“The least I can do is plow your drive while I’m out this way. I saw you’ve got an SUV in a snowbank at the end. Won’t take me any time at all to pull it out with the winch I’ve got on my truck.”
My pulse jumped. That was my SUV he was talking about. He’d probably recognize it as soon as he pulled it out of the snow. I wasn’t ready for people to know I was here or that Kingston and I had reconnected. Not when I hadn’t made sense of it myself.
“That’s not necessary.” Footsteps moved toward the door. “I’m headed out in a bit and can do it myself.”
“Sure looks a lot like Scarlett Monroe’s vehicle,” Slade said.
“She came up here to confront me after Ruby outed me.”
Slade grunted. “You two used to be close. People remember.”
Kingston must have nodded or something, because Slade continued.
“You sure this is a good idea? Reopening that door?”
Kingston didn’t answer right away. I waited, my heart pounding so hard it rattled my ribs. “No,” he said finally. “It’s probably not a good idea.”
A sharp, stupid pain sliced through me.
“But,” he added, “it’s the only one I’ve got.”
I left the door cracked open retreated back to the bed, my emotions tangled and raw.
What did that mean? That he didn’t think we could make it, but he wanted to try?
That he knew the risks and didn’t care? Part of me wanted to throw the door open and demand answers.
The other part of me wanted to wait. To see if he’d come back in and tell me everything without me having to ask.
The problem was, I didn’t know which version of Kingston Raines would walk through that door… the man who pushed me away, or the one who made love to me like I was the only thing anchoring him to this world.
The storm had passed. But something bigger was just beginning. If we weren’t careful, we were going to get caught in it all over again.