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“So, you’re truly happy here? Want to spend the rest of your life out here?” He couldn’t see her face well in the dark of the night, making it hard to decipher the intent behind her question.
He decided to go with the truth. “Yes. And no. Not sure I’d go so far as spending the rest of my life here. But who knows what the future holds? I guess at the moment, I have nothing to tie me down, no responsibilities, no mortgage, nowhere to be.” They’d touched on the subject of him being single already, that he hadn’t had a girlfriend in over two years, but she’d never really delved too deep into his past. He didn’t want her to think he was going to stay at Stormcloud as the leading hand for the rest of his life, grow old and gray and never achieve anything beyond that. That wasn’t what he meant.
“That’s not to say that I wouldn’t move on if there was the right inducement. But then again, I might also stay, if the…situation were right.” If the right woman came along. He couldn’t say that, because Kee definitely wasn’t the right woman. His tongue was getting tangled up with his thoughts. Perhaps the two glasses of wine had gone to his head more than he’d been aware.
Karri and Ava sprang to mind and before he knew it, he blurted out, “I want a family one day. Kids and a wife. I would’ve married Karri if she wanted me to.”
“What?” Kee turned completely onto her side to stare at him. “You were nearly married?”
“No. Not really.” Now look what had he gone and said. But she was looking at him so expectantly. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d spoken about Karri to anyone. He’d just let her death fester inside of him, like an open sore. What would she say if he told her? “Did anyone tell you about the girl who was murdered on the station?”
Kee hesitated fractionally. Then she said, “Oh,” as if the last piece of a puzzle were falling into place. “Yes, Julie mentioned it.”
Trust Julie to be the one to say something, she was an open book, bright and breezy, not letting anything get her down. She wouldn’t see the murder and the trouble Dale and Daisy had endured when they discovered who the murderer was as something that needed to be kept quiet—unlike Daniella, who liked to sweep everything under the carpet. Julie had always thought it was better to talk about things than to let them smolder under the surface.
Kee went on. “Julie didn’t say a lot. It was more about Daisy and Dale’s relationship than spilling sordid details of the murder,” Kee hurried to clarify. “She claimed she was so grateful for Daisy, so glad that she’d been there for Dale at one of the hardest times of his life, when one of your staff, a local indigenous girl, was murdered by another one of your staff. She went on to say it was a hard time for all of you. That sounds awful. It must’ve been a terrible time for you all.”
“Yes. It was a huge blow, everyone took it hard, me especially.” He took a deep breath and plunged on. “Not least of all, because Karri and I had been dating for a little while before she was…well, you know.”
“Oh, God, that’s terrible.” Kee reached out and took his hand, her touch soft and soothing. “I’m so sorry.” He clasped her fingers tightly in his, the physical connection helping him sort through his feelings.
“Yeah, so was I. Not least of all, because for a time, I was suspect number one.” He remembered that time as a swirl of mixed emotions, each one strong enough to carry him away on the torrent. Grief at the loss of Karri. Fear that there was a murderer hiding in their midst. Anger when he was wrongly accused and then arrested. Sheer relief when they let him go. More anger that anyone could possibly have believed he’d kill anyone, let alone Karri.
Kee gasped and covered her mouth with her other hand. “Oh, my, I didn’t know that. How horrible for you! How could they even think you’d do something like that?” she said, disbelief coloring her tone. “Anyone who’s known you for even a day would realize you aren’t capable of murder.”
“Thank you,” he said, touched that she’d jumped so eagerly to his defense. “I got over it, I guess. And no one at Stormcloud really believed I was guilty, anyway. Steve was the first to make sure I had proper legal representation.”
“I can see now why you haven’t had a girlfriend since then,” Kee continued quietly. “That must’ve been so hard to cope with.” Her hand tightened its hold on his and he became aware of just how soft her skin was against his work-roughened palm.
Wazza nodded thoughtfully. It was so nice to have someone who’d just listen to him, not pass judgment and not try and tell him he needed to harden up and move on. Funny, he’d meant to ask her more about her life married to Jakov, but instead he was spilling his guts to her about his own problems.
Could he tell her the last bit? So, she really had all the pieces to fit to the puzzle. Did he want her to know this much about him? Why not, asked a small voice?
“That wasn’t the worst part. It wasn’t until later that we discovered Karri had been pregnant. With my child.” It was this loss that’d stayed with him the longest, the one that still ate at him, even now.
“Oh.” Kee’s other hand came up to stroke his face. “You lost a child, as well? That’s unthinkable to me. I could never…I wouldn’t know how to cope…” Then she moved closer and enfolded him in her embrace.
His traitorous body immediately went into overdrive the moment she lay her chest against his side. Maybe it was this surge of feeling that prompted him to say, “I gave her a name. The baby. In my head. I called her Ava. I think I would’ve made a good dad.” He’d never told anyone else, these were his innermost thoughts, so why was he spouting them at Kee as if he’d known her all his life?
“Yes, you would have made a great father. Just look at how good you are with Benni, she loves you.”
“Mmhmm.” He was only half-listening to her now. Of its own accord, his hand slid up and underneath the nape of her neck, her long hair wonderfully soft against his palm. She looked up at him then, starlight reflected in the dark pools of her eyes. Gazing at him, he could just make out her lips curling into a small, knowing smile, something erotic replacing the compassion showing in her eye’s mere seconds ago, and his cock went hard in an instant. His other hand slid down to cup her ass, pull her into his body, so there was no space between them. He wanted to kiss her. Wanted to glide his hands all over her naked body. She was only in shorts and a T, but he still had on his jeans and shirt. Way too many clothes stood between them.
It was too much. His lips found hers and he kissed her. Hard. Claiming her mouth as his own. She was so sweet. Hot and sweet, like a drug that he couldn’t rid from his system. Her hands became busy with his buttons and suddenly his shirt was hanging open, her palms buzzing over his chest.
The tempo of her breathing became ragged. As ragged as his.
A sound pierced through the fog blanketing his brain. It took him a moment to realize it was only the bark of a night owl, but it was enough to bring him back to his senses. Brought him back to where they were and what they were doing. Reminded him that Kee’s daughter was sleeping not too far away. Slowly, he ended the kiss.
Kee gasped and withdrew. “What’s wrong?” she whispered.
Their chemistry was off the Richter scale, but he didn’t want to complicate her life. Shit, it was already way too complicated already.
“Nothing,” he replied. “And everything.”
