Page 6 of Dreaming of Us

“How did you know where I live?” I blurted out when it hit me like a freight train that Colton Hammond was in my apartment.

He raised an eyebrow, and the corner of his mouth tipped up in a little smirk. He held up a folder that had been in his lap. “It was on your statement. Name, address… phone number.”

I ducked my head, staring into the hot, creamy bean juice in my hands, hoping for a miracle in the form of my couch just swallowing me into the abyss. “Oh. Right.” I cleared my throat. “So, you came to have me sign my statement.”

Colton’s tone was soft as he called my name. “Braylin.”

I tore my eyes away from my cup to look into his face and immediately felt myself being pulled under his spell as his bright blue eyes searched my own. “Yes?” My voice was breathy, something I wouldn’t have been able to stop if I tried.

“I came because I wanted to see you.”

My mind froze at his words, and I blurted out the first word that popped into my head. “Why?”

He shifted his position next to me until he was facing me. Then I watched in shocked silence as he took the cup from my trembling fingers and set it down on the small coffee table in front of us. My eyes tracked his every movement as he reached for my hands and gripped them lightly in his. He gave them a little squeeze when they spasmed in his hold, and I jerked my eyes from our hands back up to his face to see him smiling down at me, a soft look I couldn’t decipher on his handsome face.

“The moment I laid eyes on you in that coffee shop, I wanted to find out who you were. I was planning on hunting you down until we got the call that there was a bank robbery in progress. When I saw that you were involved, it felt like fate. In a fucked up sort of way. I hate that you were in that kind of situation andthat you had gotten hurt. But I can’t deny that I’m glad I got to see you again.”

I shook my head. “I don’t understand.” My numb brain was trying to catch up to what he was saying, but nothing made sense. Why would he want to see me again? Didn’t he have a woman?

“All I can say is that I liked what I saw. I want to explore this immediate attraction that we have.” He tightened his hold on my hands. “You can’t deny that you are attracted to me, too.”

At his words, I yanked my hands out of his hold and crossed my arms over my chest in an attempt to protect myself. “What I don’t understand is why you would come here today, bring me food, tell me that you are attracted to me, all while you have a girlfriend.”

His eyebrows drew together as he frowned down at me, taking in my defensive posture. “Girlfriend?”

I lifted my chin and huffed. “Fine. Wife? I wasn’t sure if you and Katy had gotten married yet since you aren’t wearing a ring.”

Colton closed his eyes and shook his head. I watched as his chin dropped to his chest as he took a couple of deep breaths. I heard him mutter under his breath before he brought his head back up to stare right into my eyes, not allowing me to look away from him.

“Braylin, Katy and I broke up about three years ago. I haven’t seen her in all that time. I haven’t even been with another woman since I left her.” I searched his face for any signs of deceit. Or maybe I was looking for lingering pain or regret. All I saw was determination.

“Oh,” I whispered. “I’m sorry. I thought you two were…” I trailed off, not knowing how to say that I thought they were in love and would be together forever. He huffed out a laugh that sounded faintly bitter.

“You and everyone else in this town.”

I winced and apologized again for lack of anything better to say. “I’m sorry.”

He shook his head and looked away toward the window that was letting in the morning light. I wanted him to take my hands again, to pick up where he had left off while he was telling me how much he wanted to get to know me. Instead, his hands were clenched into fists in his lap, and his jaw was tight as if he were grinding his teeth. Tears filled my eyes when I realized that I had lost the very thing I had wanted most in the world for more than six years. I had ruined it before I even had it. Deep sorrow and grief filled me so completely that it felt as if my chest was going to cave in on itself.

I covered my mouth to hold in the sob that wanted to escape and turned away, suddenly wanting him to leave as quickly as possible.

Chapter Six

BRAYLIN

Iblinked rapidly, hoping to hold back my tears, and breathed through my tingling nose. Once I felt I could speak without breaking down, I turned back to him to ask for the statement. I just wanted to sign it and get it over with so he would leave.

I kept my head down, not daring to look back up into his gorgeous blue eyes. “I can sign the statement so you can get back to work.” My voice was soft, and even though I had tried to hide it, I could still hear the pain.

Instead of handing the folder to me, Colton tossed it onto the table next to my rapidly cooling coffee. My eyes widened, and my head jerked up without conscious thought. When I caught sight of Colton’s face set in hard lines of determination, I sucked in a breath.

“Braylin, I don’t know where you went in your head just now. But I’m going to tell you this—I thought I knew what it was to be in love. But after everything ended, I realized that what I felt for Katy was nothing more than a simple crush. I’m the type of man who commits to what I believe is right. At the time, I thought that since we had been together for so long, it was right, and weshould build a future together. After it was all over, I learned that I loved her, but that love was for a good friend.”

“Why are you telling me this?” I whispered as a fragile tendril of hope began to spark in my chest, sealing the edges of that chasm of despair that had opened up.

“Because I had never felt, in all those years that I had been with Katy, the spark I felt when I first saw you. Or the longing I felt when you were gone. Or the excitement I felt when I saw you again. Or the hope I felt when I thought we might have a chance to flame that spark to life.”

“Oh, god.” A sob broke free from my chest, unable to keep it contained at his words. I had to be dreaming. I must have been hit in the head harder than I thought. “Are you for real?” I whispered behind the hand that was covering my mouth. “This can’t be real. Please don’t play with me, Colton.”

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