Page 37 of Shoot Your Shot

Sometimes, he knows me like the back of his hand. He knows me better than even I know myself. He knows my moves before I even make them.

He cups my cheeks, his eyes dancing between mine. “I know you’re freaking out. But I need you to calm down and just breathe. Okay, baby?” He kisses my forehead and stares into my eyes. “I lied. I don’t give a fuck what the media says. You should know that by now.” He pauses. “I just wanted a few minutes with my wife. I wanted to kiss her and hold her in my arms.” He utters the words deeply. “I know that makes me a selfish son of a bitch, but I’m okay with that. Because I couldn’t stand the thought of our last kiss being when we kissed the morning you left me. I needed one more.” Sliding one hand into my hair, he presses his forehead against mine again. “But one more will never be enough, Paige.”

“I don’t know what you’re saying,” I whimper. “Why are you saying all of this?”

I guess we were so caught up in each other that we missed the boat docking. But I notice when people start rushing behind him, heading toward the exit.

Blinking a few times, I raise my shoulder and wipe my eyes against the cloth of my hoodie. “The boat’s docked. We should go.”

Giving him a long, hard look, I inhale sharply and duck out of his hold. As I make my way off the boat and toward the dock, I can still feel the shocks on my lips from his kiss.

I feel intoxicated—and not in a good way. More a feeling that nothing makes sense right now and it’s almost like I’m dreaming.

Kissing my husband isn’t a bad dream at all. It’s just that … all dreams come to an end when one wakes up.

As Kolt drives us closer to the house, I stare out the window, watching the trees pass by. There are a million things running through my head, and not one of them makes sense. My brain is spinning, and I can’t focus on one thought to try to get some logic out of it.

“You’re really not going to talk to me?” he snaps. “Because I kissed you, you’re going to shut me out. Really?”

Everything inside my brain is a jumbled mess, and I can picture it looking like tangled wires with signals being sent every which way with no rhyme or reason. Mixed signals, of course.

“Talk to me, Paige,” he barks, pulling up to the gate. He rolls his window down to punch in the code. Within seconds, it opens, and we roll through.

“I’m sorry if I took it too fucking far. But having you around—it’s been killing me to have you this close and not fucking kiss you.” He stops. “I want to do a lot more than that too. And today, I couldn’t stand it anymore. I fucking snapped. And you wanted it just as badly as I did. You’re my wife. I know your body and what your reactions mean, you know.”

When he pulls in front of the house and shifts the car into park, I waste no time pushing the door open. I need air. I need to get out of this car and away from this man before I do something even more rash than let my husband kiss me.

Judging by the throb between my legs … there’s much, much more I’d like him to do to me.

I round the car and head inside, and he’s right behind me, slamming the door shut.

“Goddammit, would you quit running?!” He catches my hand, spinning me to face him. “Stop running away from me. It’s fucking pissing me off.” His jaw tenses. “Listen for a fucking second, Paige.”

His hands move to my sides and slide down to my hips, and his fingertips dig into my flesh before he backs me up to the wall. “Give me ten days, Paige. Ten fucking days.”

I scowl up at him, shaking my head. “What are you even talking about? Ten days? What is in ten days?” I spew. “Have you lost your damn mind?”

“I have my next checkup in ten days.” His grip on my waist tightens, and his head hangs lower toward mine. “You’ve waited eighteen months to end this marriage. Can you spare ten more days so I can prove to you that it’s worth saving? I know I fucked up, but you’re no angel either. So, stay. And let’s figure out if we can fucking fix this because, Paige, all I want is my wife.” Heswallows so roughly that his Adam’s apple bobs. “I want to show you why you should stay.”

He’s saying all the things I wanted him to say eighteen months ago. But he didn’t come to realize all these things on his own. It took him getting hurt and needing me again to make him see that. Maybe it shouldn’t, but that hurts my heart and keeps my guard intact.

“Face it, Kolt. If you’d never taken that hit … if you’d never had a heart attack and needed me … you wouldn’t be saying these things right now.” My voice breaks, and I sob. “I’d be back in Boothbay, and you’d be here. Living your life.”

“I haven’t been living my life, Paige,” his deep voice rasps. “Youaremy fucking life.”

I don’t know what comes over me. Maybe my brain is jumbled, or perhaps I’m really desperate to be close to the one person who makes me feel something. Whatever it is, I launch my body at him, kissing him roughly and clawing at his shirt before the wiser side of me can stop myself.

His fingertips knead my waist as he lifts me slightly off the ground before pushing me against the wall. His erection grows, pressing into me and making me whimper in desperation.

His tongue dances with mine, and he nips my bottom lip before pulling back and unzipping my hoodie with one hand. Pushing my hoodie off of my shoulders, he yanks my tank top and bra down to unleash my breasts before attacking one with his mouth.

“My fucking God, baby. I missed your tits so much.” He growls the words against my flesh, dragging his tongue around my nipple, and I moan loudly. “So fucking perfect.”

“Kolt,” I whine through my tears, needing more of him.

I’m so on edge that I feel like I might explode. My brain spins, and every part of my body feels his touch. It’s almost as if I’dbeen on autopilot and he flipped the switch to bring me back to life.

Reaching between us, I undo his belt and unbutton his jeans. In the very back of my brain, there’s that voice of reason, telling me to stop. Reminding me that it took months and months not to crave him every second of every day. To actually be able to function in day-to-day life without being with him anymore. I worked on myself to get stronger, and here I am, throwing it away just to be close to my husband.

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