Page 30 of Secrets Within Us

“Mouthwatering,” I answered back and his eyes snapped up from my lips to my eyes as he groaned.

“Where do you live?” He asked.

I finished chewing and took a sip of my coffee. “New York City was where I lived before coming here, but I was on my way to Florida when I got… sidetracked.”

“Sidetracked.” He repeated and then took another bite, not offering anything else.

“Why do you live out here alone like this?” I asked, watching him as he considered his answer.

“Because I like a hard days work to keep my body and mind from running wild.”

I contemplated that as he reached forward with a piece of garlic bread and I took a bite, savoring the buttery garlic flavor as it exploded on my tongue.

God, I was an excellent cook.

“Why were you going to Florida?” He asked.

“Fresh start I guess. I was lonely in New York and believe it or not, I hate the cold.”

He smirked at me and then shook his head. “Hell of a place to end up here, then.”

“You’re telling me,” I said with a small smile of my own. I washed down the bread with my spiked coffee and then set down my cup, ready to ask some of the harder questions. “Are you married?”

His entire body went rigid as he watched me. “Why would you ask me that?”

I shook my head, standing firm in my position. “Answer me first.” His rigid body was screaming at me to end this game, to protect myself from the pain I knew it would cause me, but I couldn’t live here anymore without some further knowledge about him.

“I- I can’t.” He said, dropping my gaze and fisting his hands at the side of his plate.

“Why?” I felt my eyebrows drop over my eyes as fear coursed through my body.

“Because it will hurt you.” He replied, looking up at me under his dark lashes quickly before dropping my gaze once again.

“How?” I shook softly in my chair, unable to come up with a single answer to that question that didn’t threatened to destroy us before we even had a real chance to begin with. My chest ached, and my stomach rolled, my skin prickled, and my eyes burned as I sat there watching him as the silence stretched on.

“I can’t.” He repeated, shaking his head. “I can’t cause you pain Hadley, don’t ask that of me. Please.” He whispered.

“This hurts me,” I said, waving my hand back and forth between us. “Falling for a man that may be unavailable in more than one way Kip, that hurts. Not knowing if I’m the other woman here hurts. Reading her name on your body when you’re doing such sweet and tender things to me.” I gasped. “That hurts.” My voice broke as tears pooled in my eyes.

His own eyes misted up as he looked at me, I was ripping open my heart and laying it on the floor at his feet and he was still silent.

“I can’t.” He said again, and I closed my eyes, feeling the tears crest over the lashes and running down my cheeks.

“Then I guess this is over,” I said, leaving out exactly what I meant by this. I took my still-empty plate over to the cupboard and put it away, standing at the sink and looking out over the eerie snow-covered forest outside his home. “I think it’s time I get a ride into town.” Tears continued to fall down my cheeks.

Happiness had been so close; I had tasted it. I had felt it caress my skin and warm my heart from the inside out.

But all I felt now was cold.

Icy coldness gripped my soul and shattered my already broken heart.

I had been so close.

Chapter 10 – Kip

Decision Time

She stood at the sink in silence after telling me she wanted to get away from me and go back to her life. Pain erupted in my chest where my heart used to beat as I imagined taking her away from my home and watching her walk away from me for good.

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