Six
KATRINA
TEN MONTHS LATER
I woke to an arm draped over my side, a warm body tucked behind me, and something hard pressed against my ass.
A soft moan slipped out of me before I could stop it as pieces of the night before rushed back.
Dane’s hand slid over my stomach, warm and possessive, before cupping my breast and squeezing slowly.
His fingers pinched my nipple, sending a sharp little spark through me.
I pressed my butt against the hard length between us and felt him twitch, followed by a low, muffled growl against my neck.
But when I rolled over and saw Dane’s burning eyes locked on mine, I shrieked, my eyes flew open, and I shot straight up in bed.
It was Easter weekend, and for the last two nights, I’d been having hot dreams about the man I hadn’t seen or spoken to in ten months.
When I drove away from the bar that night, it took everything inside me not to turn around, follow Dane home, and climb into his bed, surrendering everything I had to him.
But what would giving in have made me? No different from the cheating husband I was married to.
Still, I had thought about Dane from time to time.
I had wanted to reach out, text him, and find out what he was doing with his life.
I had hoped to run into him every time I went to the store or pulled into a gas station.
We lived close enough to one another that I had assumed anything was possible.
Had he found someone? Was he dating her?
Maybe he’d married again. I had no idea what the man was up to, but lately my dreams had been consumed by him.
I could feel him beside me. The other night, I felt him inside me, bringing me to an orgasm so intense it left me shaking.
Something I’d never felt before. When I woke up, my body was still trembling, my clit aching, and when I ran my hand down my body chasing the lingering aftershock, I came.
This time it was real, not make-believe.
“Mama,” Gabby called, pushing open my bedroom door before running inside and launching herself onto my bed.
She landed beside my frazzled body like a tiny tornado, all wild hair and morning energy.
I quickly pulled myself together and tried to look like I hadn’t just been startled out of a dream that had no business happening before breakfast.
“What’s up, pumpkin?” It was the same nickname my parents had called me, and somehow, without meaning to, I’d passed it on to my daughter.
“Easter Bunny,” she said with the kind of excitement only a toddler could have first thing in the morning.
Which meant it was time for me to forget about the tall, sexy beast taking up way too much space in my mind.
I poured Gabby a bowl of cereal and sat her at the little Tikes table in the living room, right in front of the television.
After turning on cartoons, I kissed the top of her head.
“Don’t make a mess, pumpkin. I’m going to take a quick shower, okay? ”
A spoonful of Cheerios made its way toward my daughter’s mouth.
Several made it in before the rest tumbled off the spoon as she twisted it around, trying to figure out the proper angle.
I knew I had about ten minutes before she finished her cereal and got bored with whatever cartoon was on, which meant I really had about eight minutes to get in the shower, wash myself as fast as humanly possible, and prepare for the day.
Today was the Dolly Hernandez Annual Easter Egg Hunt at the baseball fields.
Gabby was finally at an age where she could appreciate the fun of collecting eggs and all the chaos that came with it.
When they called the two-to-four-year-old age group, I walked onto the grass with her and let go of her hand.
Gabby took off, running side to side, then straight to the end before circling back toward me.
She tossed a few eggs into her basket, but every time she bent over to grab another one, some fell right back out.
By the time she finally made her way to my side, I looked down and saw four eggs.
I knew she had picked up at least twenty, but only four had survived Gabby’s tiny reign of terror.
My little mini-me jumped up and down beside me.
“Eggs, Mama.” She swung her basket back and forth, and another egg fell out.
I bent down, picked it up, and placed it back inside before she noticed.
Then she took my hand, and we walked back to the check-in area.
Once we surrendered our eggs and collected the little bag of treats and toys, we made our way to the crafts table.
Spread across it were egg-shaped cutouts, decorations, and little containers of glue paste.
I helped Gabby stick the designs she wanted onto her egg while watching the boy across from us dip his fingers into the paste and then put them in his mouth.
His mother didn’t notice a thing. She was too busy talking on her phone.
“Excuse me,” I said politely to the little boy’s mother.
“Your son keeps eating paste. I’m not sure how healthy that is for him.
” She pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head, revealing last night’s mascara smudged dark beneath her eyes.
The expression she gave me could have peeled paint off a wall.
Message received. I needed to mind my own business.
Without saying a word, she lowered her glasses again, grabbed her son by the arm, and tugged him toward the bathroom.
“Katrina.” A deep voice wrapped around my name, familiar enough to stop my heart and rough enough to make my stomach drop. I hadn’t heard his voice in ten months, but my body remembered it instantly and went straight into panic mode.
I knew I looked like a hot mess. My hair was half falling out of the messy bun I’d thrown together that morning, and my well-worn, baggy T-shirt was two sizes too big but comfortable enough to make shame pointless.
At least, I had refused to feel ashamed until Dane saw me in it.
To make matters worse, I didn’t have a stitch of makeup on.
Not even Mascara. God was clearly playing mean tricks on me as punishment for all the dirty thoughts I’d been having.
“Hi Dane,” I said, aiming for casual and probably landing somewhere closer to strangled.
How had I missed him sitting no more than four feet from me?
There he was with a little blonde girl beside him, her hair braided neatly down her back.
I couldn’t help wondering if he knew how to braid his daughter’s hair himself or if there was a special someone in his life who did it for her and would be coming back to join him any second.
Dane stood, unfolding himself from the little table like he had no business being that tall around preschool crafts. He moved closer, and the air between us felt too thin all of a sudden. “It’s good to see you,” he said. “How have you been?”
Did I answer by telling him I was doing good?
So good, in fact, he’d been filling my nighttime fantasies and taking up way too much space in my head all week?
I was positive the anniversary of my arrest, the court-ordered classes, and everything that had led him into my life had something to do with it.
“I’m great. You’re looking well,” I said instead, then immediately wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole.
Looking well? Who even talked like that anymore?
Before I could embarrass myself further, Dane said something shocking.
“I’m glad I ran into you,” Dane said, his voice low and rough.
“Truth is, I was hoping I might see you here. It was a long shot, but I figured Easter weekend, kids everywhere—maybe luck would do me a favor. I thought about calling, asking if you wanted to meet up, but I didn’t want to cross a line.
I didn’t know if you were seeing someone, or if there was a man in your life now. ”
A man in my life? Was he kidding? I caught the words before they popped out of my mouth, because the last thing I needed was to sound too eager to announce just how unattached I was these days.
I tucked a loose piece of hair behind my ear and tried for calm, like my pulse wasn’t suddenly doing jumping jacks in my throat.
“There’s no one in my life right now,” I said.
“You could have called.” There. That sounded pretty noncommittal and calm, right?
A slow smile tugged at Dane’s mouth, the kind of smile that said he liked my answer more than he was willing to admit out loud.
We spent the next few hours catching up while our girls ran themselves silly through bounce houses and inflatable obstacle courses that looked one strong breeze away from swallowing them whole.
By the time we took pictures with the Easter Bunny, both girls were flushed, sticky, and dragging their feet.
I hated that the day was ending. I wanted more time with Dane, more of his low voice and the easy way he looked at me like he actually saw me, but this wasn’t about me.
It was about the girls, and they were done.
“Well,” I started, forcing a smile even though disappointment sat heavy in my chest, but Dane cut me off.
“Katrina,” Dane said, his voice firm but quieter now, like he didn’t want the moment getting away from him.
“I don’t want to lose touch again. I’d like to call you.
Take you to dinner, if you’re comfortable with that.
And if dinner feels like too much, then we’ll start easy.
Let the girls get together again. No pressure.
I just don’t want to walk away today and pretend I’m okay with not seeing you. ”
How was I supposed to respond to that without sounding too eager? Or desperate. Or like I had already imagined dinner, dessert, and him kissing me senseless before saying goodnight before he even asked. I swallowed, reminded myself to be normal, and settled on a simple, “I’d like that.”
Dane leaned in and wrapped one strong arm around me, pulling me into a hug that was warm, solid, and over way too fast. His hand rested briefly against my back before he let go and stepped away.
“You’ll be hearing from me,” he said, and the confident look on his face made it seem like he’d just survived climbing Mount Everest and lived to tell the story.
I stood there watching him walk away, his broad shoulders moving through the crowd while his daughter skipped beside him.
Something warm and unfamiliar settled in my chest, and I didn’t know what to call it.
Hope, maybe. Trouble, probably. All I knew was I liked the feeling, and I didn’t want it to end.
TO BE CONTINUED…
**Message from the author: This is just a glimpse into Katrina’s story. If you’d like to find out more about what happens to Katrina, Gordon and Dane, you’ll want to pick up the full version of BECAUSE YOU LOVED ME which will be released in September of 2026.
Check out other books by K.L. Myers @