Dancing in the Dark by Cheryl St.John

Author:Cheryl St.John [St.John, Cheryl]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aspen Gold Books
Published: 2019-09-06T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

A tap on the door startled her. “Kendra?”

Dusty. “What?”

“I saw part of that. Are you all right?”

“What do you think?”

“Can I come in?”

She straightened, paused and moved to unlock the door.

Dusty entered and closed it behind him.

She ran her fingers across her lips. “I shouldn’t have come.”

“You didn’t want to disappoint Ian.”

“He wouldn’t have known if I was here or not.”

“Was it bad?”

“I said things I didn’t want to say.”

“Maybe you needed to.”

“I didn’t.”

“I think maybe you did.”

She hugged her arms around herself. “What’s wrong with me, Dusty?”

He took two steps forward and drew her against him. She unfolded her arms between them, pressed her palms against his back and her face into his chest. Her world had always stopped spinning and settled into place when he held her, and his embrace still had the same calming effect. He smelled like sunshine and maybe a little like a horse.

“I let you down,” he said. “We had a plan, and a future to look forward to, but I ruined that. You could have put her behind you if not for that. You would have.”

She leaned back enough to look up at him. “I’ve been rough on you.”

“I deserved it.”

“She doesn’t recognize her part. She thinks she’s has good reasons. She’s justified because we had a house and she had a job, and she doesn’t acknowledge what she did.”

“Would it make a difference if she said she was sorry? If she really had regret?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you want her to regret the way she was?”

“Yes.” His questions were as much about himself as about her mother. She untangled herself from his arms and took a step back. She was a freaking wreck. “You need to get back to Ian,”

He released her.

She held up her hair with one hand and turned to splash cold water on her face with the other. Dusty handed her a towel. “Give me your phone.”

She pulled it out of her back pocket.

He took it, then extended it for her to unlock. She did so, and he entered his phone number. “You can call or text me any time. I mean it.”

She nodded. “Okay.”

“You going to be okay now?”

She assured him with a nod. “I’m good.”

“Are you leaving?”

“Nope. I’m going to eat cake and watch Ian open his gifts.”

No one was braver or held their chin higher than Kendra Price. He was the only one in the world who knew her I-don’t-give-a-crap attitude was all bluster. She was incredible. He’d never loved her more than he loved her in that moment. He allowed himself to admire her dewy skin, the shape of her lips, and that intoxicating hair for only a moment, and then he backed away and opened the door.

In the kitchen his mother was loading a tray with paper plates and plastic forks. “Is she all right?”

“She’s okay.”

“We did see that coming, but there was nothing we could do. Will you carry this?”

Dusty uncovered the sheet cake decorated like a lake with a miniature plastic fisherman in a boat and carried it outdoors, the tiny fish on the man’s line swinging back and forth.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.