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Her gaze locked on his heavy-lidded eyes as she reached for the button of his strained jeans. Her hand trembled against him ever so slightly. Her fingers fumbled. Heat flooded her cheeks and spread through her entire body. Finally, she succeeded in releasing the damn button.
After the slightest of hesitations, and an internal admonishment, she slid the zipper down along his hard length, and dropped her gaze to see what she’d uncovered.
The shrill ring of the phone damn near made her jump out of her skin. Colton swore under his breath and lifted his head to glare at the intrusion. “Who would be calling now?”
The clock next to the phone read eleven forty-eight. When he made a move to answer it, Kendra placed a panicked hand against his chest. “Don’t.”
He frowned at her. “It could be an emergency.”
Brushing aside her hand, he maneuvered out from under her and across the bed to reach for the receiver. Vaguely aware he’d answered with a terse, “Hello,” Kendra twisted around to locate her shirt. She snatched it off the edge of the bed and dragged it on.
The phone had brought reality crashing back in. Robert was out there, searching for her and Noah, and the numerous hang-ups lately made her fear he’d found them. She couldn’t believe she’d forgotten about everything for even for a moment, much less the past twenty minutes.
Colton hung up and faced her across the bed just as she realized she’d put her shirt on inside out. She thought about leaving the room, or even just rising to her feet so she didn’t feel so small as he studied her, but it was doubtful her knees would cooperate at this moment.
“W-who was it?” she asked, even though she already knew. He hadn’t spoken a word after answering, and she knew with sickening certainty that all he’d heard on the opposite end had been ominous silence before a distinct click.
“Same as before,” he confirmed. Standing next to the bed, his gaze dropped to her shirt, then rose back to her face. “What’s the matter?”
The desire to tell him everything and let him protect her—and Noah—almost overwhelmed her. But she couldn’t trust him with the full, ugly, dangerous truth. He’d want to go to the police, same as Joel. Their lives depended on not trusting the cops, here and definitely not in New York. After what Jeremy had done to her that night…she forced the ugly memories away.
No. Never again would she trust them.
Looking away from Colton’s bare chest and sexy, unfastened jeans, she said softly, “This was a mistake.”
The bed creaked as the mattress dipped with his weight. He advanced on hands and knees, and she scrambled back against the headboard. He didn’t stop until he was positioned over her, hands braced on either side of her hips. Her heart leapt. Was he going to kiss her again? Did she want him to?
Heaven help her, yes.
“Who keeps calling here?”
She gulped down the lump in her throat. “I d-don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
“I swear, I don’t.” Suspected, but didn’t really know for sure. Didn’t want to know.
“I can help,” he said softly.
She shook her head, unable to look away as she fought tears of despair. When he moved forward, she caught her breath and let her lashes drift shut. He’d offered to help, but what she really wanted was protection. She wanted to be cherished in a way she’d never been before.
The touch of his lips was soft and gentle, compassionate and undemanding. Security embraced her once more. This was it. This was what she wanted. He was what she wanted. She leaned into him, opened her mouth beneath his and reached for his shoulders.
His right hand came up to grip her forearm and he eased her back as he broke the kiss. “We can’t do this,” he said in a gruff voice.
Confusion warred with overwhelming disappointment. “Why?”
His green eyes met hers and in that instant, time stopped.
“Because I’ve just realized something…there’s absolutely nothing casual about you, Kendra.”
His low statement made her heart pound, even as he pushed off the bed and walked out of the room.
****
Nervousness assailed Kendra when she entered the barn the next morning. Colton smiled, said good morning, and kept working. Her frown was immediately banished. She began feeding the horses and told herself she didn’t care. So what, right? Who cared if he said she wasn’t casual, but then turned around and acted like she was. She’d made it through the long, sleepless night, she could handle this, too.
She played it his way all day; distantly polite despite the unreasonable hurt that left an ache in her chest. It got a little easier the following morning when Joel and Britt and the boys returned from their camping trip, but by Sunday night, lying in bed, she was miserable and lonely. The only positive was there hadn’t been a single hang-up for two days. And her nightmare hadn’t surfaced in almost a week. She prayed the first had in fact been wrong numbers, and didn’t even try to analyze the second. At least she’d been getting some sleep for once—until Colton rejected her.
