the base of the staircase, ignoring her question. That old anger from her leaving him for a flash-in-the-pan guy like Richard renewed.
She looked down and then shook her head.
He didn’t realize he’d been holding his breath until that moment. Forcing himself to exhale slowly, he also noticed that she wasn’t wearing her ring anymore and she looked completely wrung out. Had the two of them been in a fight?
Colin shouldn’t want to interfere with a married couple’s business, but part of him needed to know that she was okay. “Did he do anything to you? Hurt you in any way?”
“No,” she said quickly. He couldn’t help but notice how her body was trembling.
He made a move toward her and she flinched. Another sign he didn’t like.
“Why did you come to the ranch?” He pinned her with his stare, letting his anger show in his words. He couldn’t afford to let her get inside his head or his heart.
“I wanted to see you,” she said, looking like she’d had to force the words out. She didn’t budge or invite him in, and she kept glancing toward the door like she expected her husband to walk through at any minute.
“Why?” he asked.
“We’re moving out of the country and I guess I got nostalgic for the past.” The corner of her mouth twitched. She was lying.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
She flashed her eyes at him but didn’t speak. Her body trembled as she brought her hand to her chest, signs that she was in a panic.
Nostalgia? This seemed an over-the-top reaction to being a little homesick.
“Everything going okay between the two of you?” Colin asked, a piece of him hoping she would say it wasn’t. There was so much off about her, he noticed. From her reaction to him to the way she talked about her husband, Colin didn’t know where to start with questions.
She nodded that it was. And that should be enough for Colin. He should walk right out the door and never look back. She’d broken his heart once, and this little visit was reopening old wounds that he had no doubt were going to sting for a long while after she left. If his heart was a muscle, it was memory causing his body to have this reaction to seeing her again, the one where he felt like the world was going to tumble down around him as soon as he walked out that door.
None of those feelings were welcomed. He stared at her, trying to read her to see if he could figure out why she’d really shown up at the ranch earlier. There was a time when knowing what was on her mind would’ve been second nature. But she’d changed. Colin might not be able to tell what she was thinking but he knew fear when he saw it. And she was afraid of something. If not her husband, then who? Him?
“So, he’s treating you right?” he asked, unable to stop pushing for the answers he really wanted but his pride wouldn’t allow him to ask. Like why she’d really ditched him for Richard in the first place.
“I said he was,” she said, and her body language changed. She folded her arms and gritted her back teeth in the way that she did when she was shoring her strength.
“You’re the one who came to see me and now you act like you can’t stand to be in the same room,” he said.
“Time for you to go,” she shot back.
Was she there to torture him? To remind him of what he’d lost? Did she really hate him that much?
A piece of him had to know if she’d walked away because she’d really stopped loving him like she’d said. He stalked toward her and she walked backward until she was against the wall. The stairs were to the left and the hallway to the right would take him into the kitchen.
Melissa’s hands came up in defense and she turned her face away, shutting her eyes.
This close, her heart thumped at the base of her throat wildly. The air changed and electricity pinged between them.
Their sexual chemistry hadn’t dimmed. Were her feelings for him really dead?
“You’re not getting away so easy this time.” Colin used his thumb on her chin to guide her face toward him. His other hand wrapped around the base of her neck. Being this close took a toll on him, on his body. He took in a sharp breath and, by accident, breathed in her scent. At least one thing hadn’t changed about her. She still smelled like sunshine after the first spring rain. All flowers and fresh air. “Why’d you take off your ring?”
She kept her eyes shut.
“I’m not leaving until you look at me and give me an answer.” She’d never been able to do that and lie. A piece of him dared to hope she was done with her marriage, that she could admit it had been a mistake and that she’d never stopped loving him. Colin knew it was his bruised ego wishing for that. Because he had enough pride to realize that he would never love her in the same way again no matter what excuses she gave for walking out. That innocence had been shattered into a thousand tiny pieces along with his heart, and he doubted he could ever love anyone in that same way again, especially not her.
Melissa opened her eyes, slowly, and it was like the sun cresting on the horizon. Those violet streaks like rays, bathing darkness with light. His heart clenched and his muscles corded as her hands came up to his chest. He expected a jab or for her to push him away, but instead she double fisted his shirt and tugged him toward her.
All rationale flew out the window as Colin’s pulse kicked up a few notches. He shouldn’t want to dip down and claim her heart-shaped pink lips again. He shouldn’t want to pull her body flush with his. He shouldn’t want to get lost inside her.
And that’s where he stopped.
Because he could never trust her enough to close his eyes again.
He pulled back, a little stunned at how easy it was to get trapped in old habits. How many times had they been in a similar position? Eager to rip each other’s clothes off and let the feelings they had for each other consume them in a splendid, heated flame until they lay gasping for air, their arms and legs tangled. How easy it had been to talk to her, to laugh with her.
And look where that had gotten him. Rejected. Hurt.
Anger flooded him because she was messing with his mind and the future they would never have—a future he shouldn’t want.
All he needed was to regain his sanity because Melissa was bad for him, and he knew that even if his body said otherwise.
She seemed to quickly regain her composure, and then she ducked out of his grasp.
“How did you know where to find me?” she asked.
“You weren’t hard to follow speeding through town,” he said.
“I have somewhere to be,” she said. “You need to leave.”
Colin glanced at his watch. “At eleven forty at night?”
“Yes,” she said with too much conviction. She was either lying or hiding something.
“Seems late for an appointment,” he said.
“I’m meeting up with someone...with him.” Her face morphed for a split second like it did when she felt guilty.
“Why did you come back?” he asked.
“Doesn’t matter. I’m not staying,” she responded.
“Carolina said you wanted to talk to me,” he pressed.
“She’s mistaken.”
He shot her a look.
“I’m the one who made a mistake. I shouldn’t have gone to the ranch. Richard will be livid if he finds you here, so you need to go.”
“Fine.” Was she lying to protect Colin because he could see that she wasn’t being truthful? There was no way to shield him now. Not