Light in Mourning (Mourning, #2) (22 page)

“I’m afraid you won’t be here when I get back.” His eyes peered back at me. The pain that radiated across the kitchen held me stock-still, gazing back at him. I swallowed the lump that had lodged in my throat.
 

“I’ll be here.” I stepped up to him, running a hand along his cheek, feeling the stubble along his jaw line. “I’ll be here,” I murmured. His green eyes assessed me with a vulnerability I’d never seen before. It terrified me and broke my heart all in the same breath. I had the ability to destroy him if I left, and I’d never felt that before. He’d said that months ago and I'd believed him, but now I was seeing the concern etched across his face.
 

He didn’t trust me not to leave.
 

“I love you.” He snagged my hand, pulled my wrist up to his lips, and placed a soft kiss on my skin. “Every day, I love you.” He turned my hand over and placed a kiss on the glittering diamond I wore on my ring finger.

“I know.” I nodded and leaned into him. He enveloped me in his arms and rubbed my back. “I love you too,” I choked out as tears finally fell down my cheeks. I held him against me, letting the worry and anxiety seep out of my system. I was so ready for our path to be steady and straight, not rocky, with bumps in the road and obstacles meant to throw us off. I didn't know how much more we could take.

We stood there for an untold amount of minutes, holding each other, taking comfort because neither of us knew the path that lay ahead.

I stepped out onto the deck a few mornings later to find Georgia in the sweetest little short fucking cut-offs, her creamy skin revealed nearly up to there, so indecent all I could think about was twisting one fist in her wild fucking hair and running the other up her leg until I reached her pussy. Tingles raced across the base of my spine and my dick twitched in my shorts. I would never get enough of her; she had my blood set to a constant boil, ready to take her, make her mine at any given moment, regardless if I’d just been buried deep inside her.
 

She stood on the beach barefoot, her hair dancing on the wind, staring into the distance. With coffee cup in hand, I headed down the steps, ready to make my way to her when she turned a fraction and I saw the phone at her ear. Who could she possibly be talking to this early? I frowned and glanced at my watch. Before nine a.m.
 

I stood, content to watch her beautiful form on the beach, waiting for her to get off the phone. Charlie sauntered around in the sand, dipping his big paws into the water and sniffing around the dune grass. This was my life and it was beyond fucking perfect. My beautiful dark-haired girl had made my life perfect, and the guilt I felt for throwing her into my mess burned in my stomach. I’d thrown her such a load of shit lately. I cast my eyes down to the sand, watching the wind scatter it across the weathered wood of the deck.
 

If Trevor was mine, I had to be there for him. I had to be a dad, there wasn’t any other option. I just prayed with everything I had in me that Georgia wouldn’t leave me.
 

But who could blame her if she did?

I hadn’t known she would come. That a beautiful dark-haired woman would consume me, make me drop to my knees, make me want to give up everything I thought I wanted just for a taste, a glimpse of her smile, a touch of her skin. If she left me, I’d be torn apart. I’d have my son, but I’d be a hollow fucking shell and my heart would cease to beat. I took a long swallow of my coffee and tried to shift my focus away from what-ifs. There was nothing I could do anyway. I didn’t have any other options ahead of me.
 

Finally, she turned and caught my eyes. Her brows furrowed for a moment and her bottom lip snagged between her teeth before she glanced away. Odd reaction to seeing me. I knew we were going through some stuff and we hadn’t really spoken about Trevor and Lexi, but she looked like she was trying to hide something, which wasn’t at all like her. I waited for her on the deck, sipping my coffee, my brain running wild with the possibilities of who she could be talking to.
 

Finally, she turned back to me and shoved the phone in her pocket. She took slow steps and when she finally reached me, I sat my coffee cup on the railing and pulled her into my arms.
 

“Hey, there,” I mumbled, my lips pressed into the soft hair on the top of her head.
 

“Hey.” She locked her hands around my waist.
 

“On the phone so early?” I fingered the silky strands of her hair between my fingers.

“Mhmm.” She nuzzled her nose into my neck and I heard her inhale deeply. She took comfort from my scent as much as I did hers. I could feel it. She always tucked her nose in my neck and inhaled. The day she stopped doing that, I would worry. It brought me comfort after the way my mind had run away with me a few minutes ago. The truth was, I was terrified she’d run back to her first love, even if he hadn’t treated her well.
 

“Who was it?” I muttered as fear clenched my heart, suddenly afraid it had been Kyle.
 

“No one.” She held me tighter to her lean body.
 

“No one so early in the morning?”
 

“No one that matters,” she mumbled and dipped her fingertips inside the waistband of my jeans.

“Stop trying to distract me.” I grinned, thrusting my hips into her so she could see just how distracted I was.
 

“You don’t need my help with that; he’s got a mind of his own.” She leaned back and a beautiful grin split across her face.
 

“You’re so fucking beautiful in the morning.” I ducked my head and caught her lips with mine. I pulled away and stroked her eyebrow with the pad of my thumb. “You’d tell me if things weren’t okay, right?”
 

“Of course.” She pulled away from me.

“Because despite everything, I . . . I’m afraid . . .”

“Afraid of what?” Her beautiful browns were locked on my own. I was suddenly uncomfortable and squirming.
 

“I’m just afraid that everything with Trevor and Lexi, it could be too much,” I finished as I diverted my gaze over her head and out to the frothing waves at the shore. Charlie had found a stick and was chewing it between both his paws. I made a mental note to ask the vet about splinters in his gut or intestines or some shit. That couldn’t be good for anybody.
 

“I would tell you if it was.”

“Okay.” I wrapped my arms around her body and held her tightly to me, too afraid to let her go at this moment. I needed to feel her. Needed her scent to surround me, to comfort me.
 

“Babe, it’s that unknown number again.” I ignored the call on Georgia’s phone and the recent calls list popped up. I frowned as I looked at all the times the unknown number had called. My eyes zeroed in on the call she’d taken this morning when I’d been watching her on the beach.
 

Unknown.
 

She’d been talking to whoever it was. I scrolled through quickly and saw that the only time she’d spoken to the caller was this morning. That gave me some relief. I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth and looked up from her phone, wanting to snoop, feeling like a douche for wanting to snoop, but she’d been evasive with me this morning, and after all the upheaval lately . . .

I went to her recent text messages and found her phone blasted with messages from the unknown number.
 

“What the fuck?” I mumbled as I flipped through them quickly.
 

Talk to me.
 

Pick up.
 

I need to talk to you.

I’m sorry.

I miss you.
 

What. The. Fuck.
 

It had to be Kyle. I knew it with every hyper-alert nerve in my body. He’d been blowing up her phone for weeks now and she’d finally answered him this morning, just a few days after Lexi had shown up on my doorstep. This wasn’t fucking good. Not fucking good at all. My heart leaped into my throat. I slammed her phone down on the kitchen counter and ran a hand over my face and through my hair. I gave an angry tug as I debated what to do.
 

It wasn’t my business to be scrolling through her phone, but why the fuck had she lied? Was she still seeing him? Was she leaving me for him? Had more happened than she’d let on back in DC? I knew I had to be smart, play this stealth, beat around the bush, look for clues, but my anger surged and I knew I didn’t have the patience to be smart about anything in that moment.
 

In the past, with any other fucking girl, I would have cut my losses and walked away. In fact, I wouldn’t have allowed any other girl to get this close at all and this was exactly the reason why.
 

Jesus Christ, everything my dad said had been true. True love is fleeting. Women bore easily and leave quickly.
 

“Fuck,” I growled as I slammed my palm on the countertop again.
 

“What’s wrong?” Her singsong voice, the one that had my heart skipping beats, floated through the room as she walked in the kitchen, fresh from the shower. She was towel drying her wet ringlets, wearing a thin tank top, obviously without a bra. Wetness from her hair dampened the fabric and made the outline of her perfect pink nipples stand out. She wore a pair of baby pink lace trimmed underwear and that was it. A growl escaped my throat as my eyes darted up her body. A crooked smile lit her lips and lust burned in her eyes once she realized where my thoughts had gone. She arched a playful eyebrow and licked her lips seductively.
 

“Something got your attention?” she breathed as she stepped closer. I clenched my eyes shut tightly, her citrus soap invading my senses. Fuck, I wanted to grill her for answers and plow into her, make her mine, mark her all in the same instant.
 

“Who the fuck were you talking to this morning?” I whispered, anger vibrating off my body. She sucked in a sharp breath and I opened my eyes. Her gorgeous browns flickered down to the counter to her phone. Suddenly, tension filled her frame and her spine straightened. She held the towel in one hand, crossing her arms defensively. Her defensive stance would have worked too, if it wouldn’t have pushed her tits together, the fabric tightening across her nipples and making my semi-hard cock rise to full attention.
 

“Clearly you’ve got an issue, so why don’t you tell me who you think it was?”

“Kyle.” I ground the word out, hatred more than clear in my voice. She narrowed her eyes at me, but refused to answer. “Was it that fucking prick?”
 

Her head tipped to the side, wet ringlets falling over her shoulder, her chocolate eyes blazing with anger. “Yes.”
 

“What the fuck, Georgia?”
 

“What?”

“What do you mean
what
? Why didn’t you tell me he’s the one that’s been blowing up your phone, who you were talking to this morning?”

“I said it was no one that mattered. That’s true.” An angry flush had settled high on her cheekbones. The same rosy shade that colored her breasts when she was aroused.