and rubbed her palm, trying to stop the ripple effect. It didn’t work. The damage was already done. She blinked, feeling sluggish, disoriented and sorely out of her element.
“Better?” he asked in a low rumbling voice that sent shivers down her spine.
Without thought, Lena nodded, and then realized Colt was no longer looking at her but up at Marcy.
“Uh-huh,” Marcy uttered before clearing her throat and jerking her gaze away. “Mikhail, we’ll try the candid shots tonight.”
Marcy flicked them one more calculating glance before melting away from their table. Lena thought she heard the other woman whisper, “Wine. Lots of wine,” to their sommelier as she passed, but she couldn’t be certain.
Lena looked across at Colt and for the first time in their friendship had no idea what to say. Luckily, the salad course arrived and saved her from having to come up with something.
Her mouth watered at the crisp greens, strawberries, candied nuts and light citrus dressing their waiter placed before her. She was grateful for something to occupy her hands … and her mouth.
But apparently Colt wasn’t as desperate for the distraction. He took a few bites and then set his fork down. Instead of eating, he watched her. Several times she picked up her napkin and blotted her lips for fear that the dressing was dribbling down her chin. She was already on edge and he wasn’t helping any. She was about to tell him to knock it off, but he spoke before her.
“Why did you want to marry Wyn?”
Surprised by his question, she sputtered for a few seconds, unsure what to say. They’d never really talked about her relationship with Wyn before. She didn’t know why, but there was some tacit agreement between them. He didn’t tell her about the women who flitted through his life and she rarely mentioned Wyn when they spoke.
It felt weird to be talking with Colt about him now, but he’d asked. She tried to remember exactly what it was about Wyn that had mattered. Her brain felt fuzzy and the only thing she could come up with was, “Because … he was good to me.”
“Not because you loved him.”
“Of course I loved him,” Lena protested.
Colt shook his head. “I don’t think there’s any ‘of course’ about it. You haven’t even cried.”
“I hate crying in front of people. You know that,” she scoffed, dismissing his statement without really even thinking about it.
“Maybe. But I watched you up on that altar. You were so pale I was worried you might faint. Right up until the minute your cousin objected and then color flooded your cheeks. You were shocked, possibly angry, but that was relief I saw all over your face.”
Lena looked at him, the pleasant buzz that had entered her blood lessening just a little. Was he right?
“You’re upset because things didn’t work out the way you wanted them to. Maybe you’re even embarrassed that it fell apart in front of so many people.” Colt paused. “But you aren’t heartbroken.”
He was wrong. Wasn’t he? “How is heartbroken supposed to look, Colt? Am I supposed to be inconsolable? Sobbing in my bed surrounded by spent tissues? Please. I’ve seen that scene before, more times than I care to count.”
Her tongue felt loose, unhinged. Even as she said the words, she realized she was sharing more with him than she meant to. More than she’d ever said before. To anyone. “Do you know how often I scraped together the pieces of my mother and tried to put them back together? How many times I had to beg and plead with her just to get out of bed? After every man—there were plenty and they all left—she’d spend days, weeks, sometimes months inconsolable and incapable of doing anything. Especially taking care of a child.”
She glared across at him, years of conviction radiating from her eyes. “I refuse to be like her. I will not let a relationship devastate or control me like that. So, yes, I’m upset. Wyn and I were supposed to have a life together. He betrayed me in the worst possible way. With my cousin. Excuse me if I’m not handling the situation the way you expected me to.”
Colt’s eyes were round with shock. His silence slammed down between them and the minute it did Lena regretted her words. It was obvious that he’d gotten way more than he’d bargained for.
Their food hadn’t even arrived, but that didn’t matter. Lena wasn’t hungry anymore. In fact, she needed to get out of there before she said even more. Lena scraped her chair against the stone floor and walked toward the exit.
Colt called her name. The photographer cursed.
She ignored them both.
4
COLT HEARD THE MAN CURSE, too, and couldn’t have agreed more. How was he to know his question would hit a sore spot? They were supposed to be friends, right?
Lena had seen him at his absolute worst. When he’d crashed his car, she’d been the one to sit by him in the hospital. He’d told her things about his life that he’d never shared with anyone else. She’d seen him cry, moan with pain and had supported him even when she thought he was making unwise decisions.
How could there be part of her life he knew nothing about? Why had she never told him how bad her mother had been?
Thinking back on those months she’d lived next door, he realized they’d rarely gone to her house. When he’d asked, she’d almost always had an excuse. Sure, he’d only been ten, but why hadn’t he picked up on that? And why, in all the times that they’d talked since then, had she not shared her pain? Heaven knew he’d dumped plenty of his own worries on her small, capable shoulders.
The table teetered, silverware, china and glass clinking ominously, as he bolted after her.
Tropical heat and guilt slapped him in the face as he pushed outside. Colt ripped at the buttons on his shirt, trying to release the noose that had apparently slipped around his throat.
He found her halfway across the resort, standing alone on the deserted beach. Moonlight streamed over her, making her look fragile. Her body curved in on itself, her arms hugging her waist. She shouldn’t be sad. Not here. Not because of him. This was a place for fun and adventure. For laughter and the excitement of discovering something new.
He touched her arm, and she turned around, looking up at him with sad eyes that glistened with unshed tears. Another shock of guilt kicked through his system.
He hadn’t meant to make her cry.
With a sigh, Colt gathered her into his arms and pulled her tight against him. Something deep inside him stirred at the press of her soft curves into his hard body. He ignored it.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered into the crown of her hair.
Her body was stiff, her muscles tight. After several minutes, she relaxed. The emotion that had been swirling within her subsided, he could feel it slip away.
Melting into him, Lena let him take the weight of her body. His own muscles relaxed, the tension that had whipped through him easing as he realized she wouldn’t hold his careless comments against him.
After
