“It’s not fair. She doesn’t even want... and I...”
The words were caught between choking sobs, but Colt could fill in the blanks. Travis’s girlfriend waspregnant with a baby she didn’t want, while Kate wanted nothing more and couldn’t conceive.
He cursed himself for not realizing how difficult that meeting at the hospital must have been for her. He should have guessed how she would be feeling. But Kate kept her thoughts so well hidden behind that patrician blond ice-queen exterior that it was hard to remember how deeply she felt.
He was an insensitive bastard.
“And Scott, too,” she cried.
Now he was confused. “What?”
“The spy is p-r-regnant.” She could barely get the word out before bursting into a fresh wave of tears.
Christ. Well, that explained Taylor’s uncharacteristic deviation from the officer playbook.
Poor Kate. It must have seemed like a double whammy. First the news of her brother’s unexpected—and presumably unwanted—impending fatherhood, and then the pregnant Joelle, who clearly had no interest in motherhood right now. Both must have seemed like horrible injustices to someone who wanted a child so desperately.
The world wasn’t fair—they all knew that—but some injustices were crueler than others.
Colt didn’t know what to say. He’d never been much good with words—not in saying how he felt. But he was good with action.
He opened his arms. Before he had a chance to draw her in, she walked right into them as if it was the most natural thing in the world for her to look to him for comfort. As if three years of separation and an ugly divorce were not standing between them.
The feel of her collapsing against him, melting into his chest and arms, letting him support her... it was overwhelming. It was the kind of trust that he’d never thought to have from her again. He felt a rush of fierceand intense emotion that made him want to take on the universe for her.
He’d do anything to make her pain go away and make her happy again.
Anything.
He held her in his arms, keeping her upright as she sobbed against him. He murmured soothing words against the warm, baby-soft silk of her hair, telling her that it was all right. That he was here. That he was sorry. So fucking sorry.
He stroked her hair. Her back. The slender curve of her hip. All the while savoring the feeling of her weight in his arms, her face buried into his chest, and her hands gripping him as if he were her only lifeline in a torrential storm.
She needed him, and the physical manifestation of just how much gave him more pleasure than it probably should.
It might be primitive, but he was a man. Men liked to feel needed, and Kate had always seemed so strong and self-possessed; the confident, independent woman who would be fine on her own.
Shehadbeen fine on her own. He’d left her alone enough to know. Sometimes he thought she got so used to him being deployed that it was harder on her when he came home.
It probably had been, given his propensity for dark moods and shutting down. He cursed himself again, wondering that she’d put up with him for as long as she had. She should have kicked his ass to the curb well before five years.
“I’m so sorry,” he said again, apologizing for all of it. For all the things he couldn’t take back but vowed to change if she gave him the chance he didn’t deserve.
The sobs had ceased enough for her to look up at him.Maybe it was something in his voice, but her eyes scanned his face as if looking for confirmation that he meant it.
He did. If only she would let him show her how much.
Suddenly he was aware of the heat flaring between them. Not just the heat of two bodies pressed together, but the heat of two bodies that knew each other intimately pressed together. He was hard, and she was achingly soft, and together... God, it was good. It had always been good.
The best.
He reached down and gently swept away a strand of hair that had been caught in the dampness of her lashes. How anyone with such blond hair could have lashes that dark and thick, he didn’t know. They looked fake, but they weren’t.
“Let me make you feel better, Katie.” His voice was thick and husky, as his finger skimmed the velvety soft pillow of her plump bottom lip. Her mouth had always driven him crazy. It was the only trashy-looking thing about her. He could feel the catch of her breath, and it egged him on. His eyes dropped to her mouth as his hand skimmed lower.
Her nipple was already taut when the pad of his thumb slid over it. He sucked in his breath and swore. His cock jerked a little harder.
But this wasn’t about him. It was all about her. He was going to make her feel good and show her exactly how he felt.
