As If You Never Left Me (Crimson Romance) Read Free Page A

sincere. “I want a second chance.”
    She shook her head, fighting the thickening that had begun in her throat. “I can’t go through that again, Rey.”
    He looked down into the amber of his beer. “I know. I know I have no right to ask. But I’m asking anyway.”
    Behind them, a waiter called Rey’s name, announcing the availability of a table for two. He picked up his beer and slid off the barstool.
    “I’d rather discuss this at the table, anyway,” he said. “It’ll be more private.”
    “Yes, I suppose it will.”
    She followed him, using the opportunity to compose her thoughts. The tears hadn’t quite gotten underway, but she blinked a few times to be sure they wouldn’t plague her. The last thing she needed right now was to break down.
    Exactly what kind of second chance was he after? That was the big question. If he thought she was going to pack up and head back to New York with him, he was sadly mistaken.
    The waiter settled them in a cozy corner booth that afforded more privacy than she’d expected. That was good. Whatever Rey had to say, they could hash it out here. She didn’t want the awkwardness of having him in her house, where it would be too intimate. The booth was discreet but kept him at arm’s length. If he managed to get any closer than that, she wasn’t sure what she would do. Just seeing him had put him too close to her heart. If he touched her in anything other than a casual manner, all the turbulent, painful emotion inside was likely to explode out of her. So far, she had remained calm. She needed to hold on to that with both hands.
    “So,” she said after they’d placed their order. “Exactly what are you proposing?”
    He leaned over the table, eyes dark with sincerity. Deep, storm-dark. The kind of dark that could drag her in, immobilize her. She swallowed.
    “I want a month. A month to be your husband again.”
    The statement startled her, but she maintained composure. Calmly, she said, “A month is a long time.”
    “It’s barely any time at all. We could have forever together, like we planned in the beginning. A month is nothing.”
    The tears were lurking again. She fought them and won. “You want me to come back to New York?”
    “No. I’ll stay here.”
    “You want to move in with me?” That sounded dangerous. The two of them in her tiny cabin, a chilly Colorado night … If he came to her, she wouldn’t be able to tell him no. Part of her heart lurched in anticipation, the other part shrank back in fear.
    “Yes,” he said simply.
    “Where are you going to sleep?”
    “I want to be your husband again, Joely.”
    It took her a moment to form words. This was too much for him to ask — far too much. “That’s a bit abrupt after all this time, don’t you think?”
    He trailed a finger across the back of her hand, over exactly the right spot. Her skin shivered under his touch. She drew a quick breath. The touch shot straight through her, firing every erogenous nerve in her body. No wonder it had been so hard to leave him. “Maybe,” he said.
    She stared at his hand, at the long, graceful fingers as they traced over her skin, and suddenly she remembered everything. The smell in the hollow where his shoulder met his neck. The tickle of his chest hair against her nose in the morning when she buried her head in his chest. The weight of his arms around her, the weight of his body on her. The firm, slim length of him sliding into her, deep, solid, so far inside her she felt like they had become one person.
    She jerked her hand away and tried to rub off the remaining sensation of his touch. She didn’t want this, didn’t want all this back. “This is a lot to spring on me all at once. I’ll have to think about it.”
    A look of sheepish disappointment rose on his face.
    “What?” she asked.
    “I don’t really have a place to stay tonight.”
    She shook her head, amazed. “You just thought you were going to ride into town and get me to agree to this