AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I remember telling her there was no going back. That from here on out it was her and me. Letting out a deep breath, I run both my hands over my face, rubbing away my grogginess.
“Shit,” I say softly, running through the events from yesterday again. Maybe I came on too strong. I know it had been only a day, but Katrina and I had a rich history. A day reunited felt like a decade. I knew her, wanted her with a ferocity that burned through my chest.
I loved her. But with everything she was working through, it may have been too much to admit that.
Wait. That negative thought gives me pause.
No, fuck that. I wasn’t going to doubt myself. There was no way that Katrina didn’t feel what I was feeling. She gave herself to me last night—her body, heart and soul. I wasn’t going to second-guess that.
I needed to find her. Tell her everything and hope to God she would tell me everything too.
I determined she’d been tasked with retrieving the USB, so that’s where I was going to look first. My secret control room wasn’t a secret to her. She’d seen me exit the panel and if she knew the general location, then she’d be able to find the entrance key.
She had unique skills like that.
I grab my jeans off the floor and rush to get them on. Hopping to the other end of the room I throw open my closet and swipe a T-shirt. Not wanting to waste a second more, I march to the hallway, a man on a mission.
My heart plummets when I find the control room empty. The USB key missing.
“No.” The word is torn from my throat, desperate and unbelieving. She has to be here. Flicking through all the cameras in the cabin and throughout the property, I find each screen empty. “Where the fuck did she go?”
Not able to stand inactive another second, I burst through the panel doors and begin hunting myself.
Guest room—empty.
Living room—empty.
Kitchen—empty.
The cabin wasn’t that big; she couldn’t hide in many places. Panic begins to pump through my chest. The storm has stopped but the roads on the mountain will still be treacherous to maneuver down. If she left in the night, she could be stuck somewhere. Scared. Or worse, hurt.
I jog to the front door, look out the side window and see my truck still in the lane. There’s no way she would have walked—
Then it hits me. The smell of coffee.
Slowly, I retrace my steps back to the kitchen and spy the brewed pot of coffee. The red burner light was still on. Meaning that she couldn’t be far.
She made coffee. That wasn’t the action of someone who was trying to leave. Or had left. She was still somewhere here. A flash of movement through the back window grabs my attention. I move to the sliding glass door that leads onto the deck and open it with a flourish.
At the end of the deck, tucked in an Adirondack chair with a blanket draped over her lap, sits Katrina. A mug of coffee is cradled in both hands. My dramatic presence on the deck startles her, but a laugh erupts from her lips, floating to me from across the way.
I don’t fight my urge to grab her. I’m across the deck in a blink of an eye, scooping her up and placing her in my lap as I sit in the large chair.
“Ah! Watch the coffee,” she giggles as I balance her. “Jeez, good morning to you too.”
I squeeze her close, the ball of tension in my chest dissipating at the touch of her body against mine.
“I thought—” I can’t even get the words out.
“Sorry,” she says, turning to me and placing a hand on my cheek. “I should have come back to bed but I’m too amped up. There’s so much I have to tell you.”
“After,” I grunt, capturing her lips in a long, deep kiss. This is the way I want to begin every day. With her close to me and a soul-satisfying kiss. “Better.”
“Mmm” is all she replies with.
I reach for her mug of coffee and take a large sip. Katrina shakes her head at me, but the smile hasn’t left her face. She likes this playful and coffee-addicted side of me.
“So, what do you need to tell me?”
