Page 54 of Take Me Back
Ahhh. There’s my wife.
“Not everyone thinks like you, babe. You work your ass off, but for other people it might be easier to go another route. That’s the way the world works.”
Kat’s stomach growls again.
“How about I go get us dinner while you take a shower?”
She nods. “I’m not a hundred percent sure I want to sober up, though. This is kinda fun.”
I know what she means, and I agree. Sometimes letting go of inhibitions results in the best outcome.
“You want more lobster or something else?”
Kat shakes her head. “I think after all that rum, maybe not. Maybe chicken? You pick. I trust you.”
Her wordsI trust youhit me hard.
I have to tell her everything. It’s time.
As soon as I get back.
Chapter 23
Kat
Dane shuts the door, and for the first time since he dropped the bomb on me yesterday, I feel like we’re going to be okay.
Despite burying myself in work rather than facing the grief I’ve kept bottled up, I haven’t screwed this up beyond repair. I’m full of hope, and it’s not from just the pleasant hum of alcohol in my veins. I figure I’ve got at least a half hour before he’ll be back, so I laze in bed for a few more minutes, thankful that he managed to pull my head out of my ass before it was too late.
I can only imagine what the alternative would have been. Me coming home from a work trip on a Thursday night to find Dane’s stuff missing like my dad’s was ...
My stomach twists, and not because of the rum. That could have been my reality too. I would have slid to the floor, tears streaming down my face as I realized that I’d chased away the best thing that ever happened to me.
But Dane didn’t do that, and now it’s time to woman up and get things back on track.
I tug at the hair tie in my tangled blond ponytail, trying to get it free. By the time I step into the bathroom, I’ve created an unholy mess on my head.
Reaching into the shower, I flip on the hot water before hanging a towel on the hook just to the left of the door.
After I strip off my clothes, I toss them onto the bamboo stool tucked next to the tub and step into the steam filling the glass enclosure. I let the water soak my hair before massaging in shampoo to remove the salt. The heat feels decadent against my skin as I lose myself in thoughts of how the rest of the night is going to go.
Dane’s going to come back with dinner, and by that time, it’ll already be pitch black outside. We’ll eat on our bed, be lazy, and hopefully have round two of the hottest sex of my life.
One round of shampoo barely touches the stickiness of the salt in my hair, and I’m lathering up again when I hear a noise.
Dane can’t be back already.
Can he?
“Babe? Is that you?”
With shampoo suds running down my face, I turn into the water to rinse when there’s no answer.
Maybe it’s the wind. Or the waves. Or a bird.It’s a tropical freaking island, so there’s guaranteed to be some sounds a girl from Texas isn’t used to.
My eyes pop open when I hear a thump, and I hiss at the sting when the suds hit them.
“Dane?”
