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“I understand. I’m—” She turned to glare at me, and I shut my mouth. My apology could wait. Dad always said an apology given to someone who was still hurt and angry could sometimes be seen as self-serving and he was right. I’d hurt her, and she was entitled to her feelings.
“One of my brothers will get my Jeep when the weather clears.” She shoved her door open, grabbed her purse and stepped out, shutting the door with a hard slam.
I watched her dig through her purse for her keys as she made her way to her front door. Her walkway was slippery, and she was wearing high heeled boots, terrible for walking in the snow.
“Damn it!” She slipped backward, landing on her ass in a pile of snow. I stepped out of my vehicle to help but she waved me off. “Just leave me alone, Caden. I’ll live, okay?” She batted my outstretched hand away and struggled to her feet. She slipped over the slick stone walkway, softly cursing as she shuffled toward her front deck.
“Your landlord should be ashamed of himself. McMillon, right? Why doesn’t he hire a service to shovel and apply deicer to the walkway? This is treacherous even for me, and I’m in snow boots. And I know about the garage. Would you like me to talk to him for you?” I took her arm before she pitched forward into the snow. “This is dangerous, Charlotte. If you parked in the garage, you could use the inside door.”
“Hmph. Yeah, McMillon, he’s a real frickin’ peach and I can handle him myself, thanks. I’m a grown up. I’ll text him in the morning and take care of it, okay?”
I didn’t answer. I knew this attitude. She was upset and trying not to cry by covering it with anger. I had always found it endearing and sweet, and it made me want to protect her.
My own anger had burned out and I felt like an asshole. All I wanted to do now was make her feel okay again.
We made it up the stairs to her front porch, which was even slicker than the path. It was covered by an overhang, so no snow had reached it, but it was dotted with patches of moss and soaking wet. We skidded across the wood together and came to rest up against the door. I held the frame for balance while she unlocked it.
“Don’t say a word,” she grumbled. “I know. This porch sucks.”
Fighting a smile, I looked away, but my eyes caught on a glimmer hanging around her neck. All traces of amusement disappeared when I recognized what it was.
“You’re wearing my ring around your neck, Charlotte. Did you explain to your husband what it was? Or did you take it off before you took him to bed with you?”
Chapter10
Charlotte
“Inever took it off.” I glared at him as he reached out, touching the gold band dangling between my breasts with a fingertip. It slipped over his index finger and he smiled faintly but there was no light in his eyes, only hurt.
“You kept a piece of me with you,” he whispered, letting that trace of a smile drift away as his eyes darted from mine.
“Like I said, I never took it off. I like it where it is.” My voice shook. The anger that had kept me going during the drive home had blended with nostalgia and doubt, leaving me vulnerable. I didn’t want to feel this way. I wanted to go inside and hide from the pain in his eyes.
His chest heaved. He was angry again, but I was too. This entire situation pissed me off. I added stubborn and demanding and bossy to the list of his qualities that I had forgotten about over the years.
I slipped my fingers between the buttons of his Henley, popped them open, and tugged it down. “What did you tell your girlfriends about this?” I let my other hand slap against his tattoo—my tattoo.My name, in script, right over his heart.
His jaw ticked in frustration. “I didn’t have to tell them anything. I stayed in Sweetbriar, remember? Everyone in town knows what it did to me when you left.”
“Don’t be a jerk. Everyone also knows it was way more complicated than that.”
He stepped back and the chain broke, the ring still caught on his finger.
“Give me back my ring.” I reached out to swipe it, but he held it away from me.
“I bought it. I gave it to you. I was the one who put it on your finger. Maybe I should keep it.”
“Give it to me, Cade.”
He stuffed the chain in his pocket then pressed the ring against my lips, using it to draw it a line down my chin and neck and stopping between my breasts. “Tell me what you told him Charlotte. He had to see it, hanging right here. Were there others?”
“No. It wasn’t like that, we—"
“Shh. I changed my mind.” His head shook side to side as his eyes bored into mine. “I don’t want to know. It’s none of my business what you did while we were apart.” He drew the ring back up, pressing it against my lips again and bowing forward until his mouth was inches from mine. “Tell me to leave you alone.” The pained growl in his voice made me shiver.
“No. I won’t tell you that.” My breath caught in my throat. Leaving me alone was the last thing I wanted him to do.
He moved in closer, pressing a hard kiss to my mouth before burying his face in my neck and wrapping me up in his arms. “Tell me to stop.” His words were a deep groan against my skin.
