“I should’ve never made the mess in the first place.”
“The important thing is you’re okay,” I said.
“I don’t think I am.”
“Then the important thing is you’re gonna be okay.”
She snuggled closer to me, and I tightened my grasp. Visions of her eighteenth birthday flashed through my mind. The first and last time I’d ever held this woman the way I wanted to. The first and last time I’d ever felt her body this close. I knew she was recuperating, and I knew she was vulnerable, but I wanted to kiss her. To tilt her head up toward mine and warm her with my tongue.
But I knew better. She needed space to grieve and cope and plan her next steps.
“Thanks,” Katie said.
“Anytime, doll. You know this.”
She looked up at me with her sparkling brown eyes and her pin-straight hair. She was flattening out her curls, and I found that I missed them. Her hair sat on her shoulders and fluttered around her cheeks, but all I could see were those bouncing curls hanging down her back.
She had changed so much, and it only served to stoke my anger for Michael’s part in all this.
He’d done this to her. Changed her. I knew he had.
“I’m going to go get some breakfast,” Katie said. “You want anything?”
“Already ate, doll. You go enjoy yourself. And your room’s rented out as long as you need it. “
“You didn’t have to do that,” she said with a grin.
I watched a flush taint her cheeks. She was so sexy it hurt to look at her.
Fuck, I wanted to kiss her.
“It’s there for you to use. I’m serious. Whatever you need, all you gotta do is pick up that phone and ask,” I said.
She wrapped her arms around me one last time before she headed to the dining hall. I had no idea what had come over me. It was like my body had picked up where it left off all those years ago. I wanted to follow her and have breakfast with her. I wanted her to sit and get off her feet while I fixed her a plate. I wanted to do all the things for her I knew that asshole Michael hadn’t been doing for her because she deserved that and so much more.
I watched her until she turned the corner, and she chanced a glance back at me. Her eyes sparkled with her smile as I waved, trying to find something for my brain to do other than fantasize about her naked.
She waved at me before she disappeared, and I drew in a deep breath, trying to clear my mind of all the impure thoughts.
Down boy.
CHAPTER 3
CALEB
I was boarded up in my office working on some logistics for a new resort we were opening in South Carolina. It was our first resort out on the East Coast, and so much needed to go right.
When it came to expansion, I was a beast.
Dominate the market.
Leave them wanting more and more.
It was our code.
That’s why we were so damn good at what we did.
I needed to agree on a layout for the building and figure out how many people we’d need to hire. I needed to figure out how much of a workload it would add to everyone and what kinds of animals we’d have on the resort property. I had to plan out amenities and figure out what was going to set this resort apart from all the other ones.