Page 75 of Keeping Kaitlyn

Slamming the fridge closed, I turn to look at her, pinning her to the mattress with a razor-sharp glare.

“You’re not mywhat?” I say, my flat, careful tone fraying and tearing at its edges, showing the temper underneath. “You’re not my fuckingwhat?”

“Property.” Staring up at me, wide-eyed, Kait shakes her head. “I’m not your property.”

We both know what I thought she was going to say.

Wife.

I’m not your wife anymore.

Ignoring the stab of it, I give her a head nod on my way back to where she’s staring up at me. Hunkering down in front of her I hold out the bottle of water I pulled from the fridge. When all she does is glare back at me, I cock my head slightly. “Take the water, Kait.”

When I say her name, her jaw clenches like I slapped her but before I can say it for a second time or possibly threaten to hold her down and make her drink it if she doesn’t stop acting like a stubborn child and take the fucking bottle, she snatches it out of my hand on a temperamental huff. When she cracks the bottle open, I toss the pair of ibuprofens in my hand into her lap. “All of it,” I say, jerking my chin at the water bottle before I stand.

Back to her, I make my way to the kitchenette again. “I know you’re not my property. You’veneverbeen my property,”I tell her while I open the freezer. “But youweremy wife—and then you just fucking disappeared on me. No explanation. No goodbye. Justgone.” Slamming the freezer door closed, I cross the room to where she’s still sitting in my bed, rumpled sheets pooled around her and clutched to her chest like a shield. Hunkering down for a second time, I show her the ice pack and she blushes, the pink flush of it going straight to my cock. “So, I think I’m entitled to some answers, don’t you?”

Brow furrowed, she shakes her head. “Went?—”

“That’s a yes or no question,” I tell her, my tone making my expectations clear—I ask. She answers.

Her jawline clenches again before she gives me a brief, single head nod. “Yes.”

“Good.” Giving her a bland smile, I push the hand holding the icepack under the sheets and into the warm juncture of her thighs. As soon as my hand makes contact with her bare pussy, Kait sucks in a breath and her gaze drops to my mouth. “Since we both know you’re not walking out of here in your current condition, why don’t you give them to me while you wait for the meds and the ice to do their job.”

“Okay. Fine.” This time the nod she gives me is fast and tight. “What do you want to know?”

What do I want to know?

I want to know what happened.

Why you left.

If it was something I did.

If it was because you didn’t love me.

Instead of asking, I pull my hand from between her legs, leaving the ice pack behind. Standing, I take the few steps to my desk chair and dump myself into it. “Where’d you go?”

Looking down at her empty water bottle, Kait focuses her attention on screwing the lid back on. “Wyoming.”

So I was right. She didn’t go back to Barrett. Why does knowing that make it worse? “How’d you get there?”

Bottle capped, she looks at me and sighs. “You won’t like my answer.”

“How’d you get there?” I repeat the question, making it clear I expect an answer.

“I hitchhiked.” She says it in a matter-of-fact tone and she’s right. I don’t like it. Just thinking about her getting into cars with random strangers because the danger of it was preferable to staying with me is almost too much. Like she can see it on my face, Kait tries to explain herself. “I didn’t have much money and I didn’t want to waste it on?—”

“A safe mode of transportation?” Glaring down at her, I shake my head. “What was in Wyoming?”

Bottom lip caught between her teeth, she considers her answer before she gives it to me. “Ranches I could work on.”

I laugh when she says it, the sound of it devoid of humor. “You left me to go work on a ranch in Wyoming.”

“No.” Her head jerks back on her neck like I took a swing at her. “I left?—”

“What are you doing here?” I cut her off because it’s the one answer I want more than anything and the one answer I’m the most terrified to hear. “In Boston.”

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