CHAPTER 17
AT FIVE O’CLOCK on a Friday in early December, Kurt ended a conference call with a new client’s COO and sat back in his squeaky chair. Outside his office window, the lights of the monuments came alive as the sky turned dark.
Six weeks ago, he’d walked away from the never-ending summer of Barbados and the woman he loved. It already felt like an eternity. Unfortunately,he couldn’t remove the part of his heart that ached for her.
Work mostly kept his mind busy during the day, but at night… He worked himself half to death in the pool and the weight room just so he could sleep.
Running a hand through his hair, he sighed. Like with any healing, this would take time. At least that’s what his sister kept telling him. He should know better than anyone.
On the plusside, he was no longer afraid of flying. Small comfort.
Tara tapped lightly on his door, interrupting his maudlin musings. “Hey,” she said, leaning in from the hall.
“You taking off?”
“Yeah, but there’s a woman here who wants to talk to you about a bodyguard. Do you have a few minutes before you leave?”
“Sure.” They didn’t get many walk-in clients, but it happened on occasion. “I’ll closeup.”
“Okay, thanks.”
“Have a good weekend,” he said, rising from his chair to follow her to the lobby.
“You too.” She flashed him a huge smile and rushed down the hallway with her overstuffed blue purse on her arm. Maybe she had big plans for once.
By the time he reached the reception area, the heavy front door was already hissing closed behind her, the automatic, after-hours lock clickinginto place. Plastering a benign smile on his face, he rounded the Christmas tree Tara had placed next to the couch for the upcoming holiday.
And stopped breathing.
Caitlyn sat in the center of the long sofa, knees together, hands clasped in her lap. She wore a puffy blue parka and a green scarf that matched her eyes, her silky hair tucked under a knit hat.
He almost laughed. It wasn’tthatcold yet.
“Hi,” she said, wiping her palms on her jeans as she stood.
His heart lodged in his throat. “What are you doing here?” he asked, his words harsher than intended.
She bit her lip and nodded to herself, as if she’d expected an angry reception. “Rose and Shaylee decided to move to the States—to Boston—so they could get married before the baby comes. Barbados doesn’t allow same-sex marriage,and Shaylee found a job with a human trafficking prevention organization in Somerville. It’s fucking cold, but they seem happy.”
He stared, drinking her in, still not entirely sure if she was really here talking a mile a minute, or he was hallucinating. But Tara had seen her, right?
“Anyway, I decided to follow them,” she said.
He couldn’t stop watching her mouth, tracking that little freckleas her lips moved. “To Boston?”
“Oh, um, no. To the States.” She took a deep breath and blew it out. “To here, actually. Northern Virginia.”
“Why?” Was he thick in the head? Because she couldn’t possibly be hinting at what he hoped. “What about Barbados and its perfect weather, and your little house, and your charter business?” Her sunshine scent curled through him, warming his blood like afine whisky. Holy shit, she was really here. “And your dog?”
She laughed. “It was time for a change. I left the beautiful weather—which I may already be regretting—” she rubbed her arms and gave an exaggerated shiver “—and the house and the tourists behind, but I brought Rockley and my plane with me. I can run short-haul flights anywhere.”
He could only stare.
“God, I suck at this,” she saidon a sigh. She shook her head and inched around the coffee table until she was only an arm’s length away, close enough for him to see the streaks of gold in her eyes. “Because I missed you. Because even though I’m terrified I won’t be enough for you, or that you’ll realize I’m not worth the trouble and walk out on me, even though you couldhurtme like no one else, I desperately want to be withyou.”
That made two of them, but he didn’t move. None of those were the words he needed. “You didn’t want to call first? Maybe let me in on your plans?” Really, her expectation that he was just moping around waiting for her like some lovesick loser irked him. No matter that it was true. “Not a word from you for six weeks, and now you show up out of the blue and I’m supposed to…what? Let you walkback into my life and trample all over my heart again? I thought we were done, Caitlyn. What if I’ve moved on?”
Pink splotches appeared on her cheeks and she chewed on her lower lip. “Have you?” she asked in a hoarse, quiet voice.
