She slowly shook her head as she looked into his eyes. “Why didn’t you call?”
He grabbed the bottle and she didn’t miss that his hand was shaking as he poured whiskey into his glass, filling it almost to the brim. Great. She wasn’t the only one who wanted to get drunk in order to make this whole thing easier to deal with. Now she was driving Knox to drink too.
He scrubbed a hand over his dark blond hair, mussing it, his muscles bunching beneath his tight T-shirt as he stopped with that hand against the back of his neck and heaved a sigh.
“I thought about calling you. I thought about it a lot. I had some things to work out… What happened between us… it… it…”
He was struggling, so Skye finished for him.
“It was nice, but it was just one night. I get it, Knox.” She looked anywhere but at him, cursing the fact she was stuck in this lodge with him as he stared at her, as she couldn’t hide how much that had hurt her.
Still hurt her.
“No,” he barked. She tensed and her gaze leaped back to collide with his. He clenched his jaw. Swigged his whiskey. Ran his hand over his hair and looked ready to tear it out as his expression hardened and then softened again in an instant. His brow furrowed. “You don’t get it. You can’t possibly get it. What we shared… it… I got spooked.”
“Spooked?” She frowned at him.
He downed his whiskey, poured another and drank that too. How the hell wasn’t he drunk and passed out on the floor? He wasn’t even slurring his words.
He sagged against the cupboard behind him on a long sigh, his gaze growing bleak, an edge of despair and hurt to it as he nursed his whiskey, holding it close to his chest. “I wasn’t expecting you. I walked into your bar that day and saw you… and… I kept coming back because of you. I shouldn’t have. We don’t belong together, even if the universe says we do.”
That was the whiskey talking.
Maybe he was more tipsy than she thought.
“Don’t I get a say in things?” She stepped up to the counter and set her glass down, narrowing the distance between them as she searched his eyes.
He said nothing.
Skye took the bottle and topped her glass up. She stared at it as she thought about him and about what had happened, her mood levelling out again, the anger falling away and taking the hurt with it this time, leaving her calm.
“I wasn’t expecting you either.” She lifted her head and met his gaze again. “That night… everything just felt so right, Knox. As if we were meant to be together… As if… we had been made for each other.”
He stared at her, looking as spooked as he had claimed to be that night as his blue eyes slowly widened.
She smiled down at her drink and let the past wash over her, recalled everything that had been good about it rather than focusing on the negatives. “I still can’t hear that song without thinking of you. Every time it comes on the jukebox, I end up thinking about that night… About how we danced.”
He blinked and then he was moving, setting his glass down and rounding the island to her side. He pulled something from his pocket. She frowned at it. A phone.
“I doubt you’ll get service this high up in the valley.” She tensed when he took her glass from her, his fingers brushing hers, and set that down on the black counter too.
He placed his phone down beside it.
She had wanted to ask him what he was doing, but as the first gentle strings of the song washed over her, she stilled and tingles swept down her arms and spine. The song they had danced to.
She stared at the screen of the phone and then at Knox. “You have this song on your cell?”
He glanced at it, a boyish edge to his expression that almost drew a smile from her. She had never seen Knox look awkward before, not like this.
He huffed and rubbed his neck, and wouldn’t look at her. “You wouldn’t believe how often I listen to it. You wouldn’t believe how much I thought about you these last two years.”
His gaze slid to lock with hers again, his eyes soft and warm, open to her.
She refused to tear up at that. That bitter part of her wanted to be angry with him again, but as he held his hand out to her, she couldn’t resist him.
She slipped her hand into his and stepped into his arms as he opened them to her, settled her head against his chest and bit back a sigh as he held her. Her eyes slipped shut as they slow danced, as his heart drummed unsteadily against her ear, betraying his nerves. This song had become one of her all-time favourites because of him. It spoke to her in a way no other song had, seemed tied to him.
To them.
He leaned back slightly and she knew he wanted her to look at him, lifted her head and stared into his eyes. He took her breath away. There was such softness in his eyes—affection she wanted to believe.
“I’m sorry I didn’t have the balls to call you.” He feathered his fingers down her cheek and shook his head slightly as he swayed with her. His arm tightened around her back, tugging her closer to him, until there wasn’t a molecule of air between them, and his gaze softened further as he angled his head towards her. His voice lowered, barely a whisper as he echoed the lyrics of the song. “You’re all I want, Skye. You’re all I need. I really mean that. You’re everything to me and I know that—”
She pressed her finger to his lips, silencing him. That finger shook along with the rest of her as she stared into his eyes, as a need raced through her, slowly stealing control of her. She shouldn’t do this. She knew that. She was only going to get her heart broken again.
Skye stepped back and broke free of his arms, her heart racing.
He sighed.
She went to the counter and grabbed her glass, swallowed the whiskey, needing the liquid courage.
And then she turned, walked right up to him, and stroked her hand down his broad chest.
His look went from one of defeat to one of uncertainty as his eyes darted between hers and he husked, “What are you doing?”
“This.”
She tiptoed to kiss him.
He leaned his head back, stopping her, that nervous edge to his eyes growing as he frowned down at her. He wanted this. She could see it in his eyes, beyond the fear she didn’t understand.
She wasn’t going to let him stop her. If he was trying to be noble, he didn’t need to be. If he was afraid of getting hurt, then he didn’t have to worry—she would never hurt him. This wasn’t about revenge. This was about putting their past behind them and picking up where they left off, because the feelings she had for Knox were too damn strong to be denied.
She loved him.
Skye lifted both of her hands to frame his face, her eyes darting between his now.
“I’ve been waiting two years for you, Knox… don’t make me wait any longer.”
He stared at her.
Growled like a beast just as she was contemplating making the first move.
And kissed the breath from her.
Chapter 15
Electric shivers danced down Skye’s spine as Knox tugged her against him, his mouth claiming hers in a passionate kiss that lit her up inside and made everything come flooding back. God, she had dreamed of this kiss, but over the years they had been apart, she had somehow forgotten just how intense kissing him was. She sank into it, savouring it as his tongue teased the seam of her mouth and she opened for him.