Page 116 of Leah

I cleared my throat, burying my face in the pasta. I swallowed back the lump in my throat, delighted when he demolished his bowl and went for another serving.

When we finished, I had to shoo him out of the kitchen. “I can handle the clean-up,” I assured him. “You go do something productive with your one good arm.”

I heard his faint chuckle as he left the kitchen, and I bit my lip to stop from laughing. The clean up took a little longer because there was no dishwasher, so I washed it all by hand and wiped it dry. I had to find my way around the tiny kitchen, figuring out where everything went. I was just about done when I heard the faint strum of a guitar.

I quietly followed the sound to the living room, stilling at the threshold. Carter was on the armchair, an old guitar he’d packed in his lap. He wasn’t strumming seriously. It was a faint melody, and he had to pause every so often because I think he felt pain in his broken arm.

Still.

He strummed it, gaze directed out the window, but I knew he wasn’t looking out. Not really. He was back inside his head, lost to the thoughts that swirled around him.

“Regret’s a life sentence, isn’t it?” he whispered just then, knowing I was there watching him.

“Yeah,” I whispered back, blinking back tears.

He exhaled. “We got any beer in that pantry?”

We did.

I returned a minute later and gave him a bottle while I nursed mine on the armchair adjacent to him. I watched him strum away at the guitar in the dimly lit room as the darkness fell outside. He sang softly, and I shut my eyes, savouring his voice, unable to resist the goosebumps that prickled my skin.

God, his voice…

When I opened my eyes, he was staring right at me.

His expression was heavy, loaded with emotion. My body tightened as we watched each other in silence. It was like…we were trying to find each other again. Trying to remember what it was like when it was just the two of us.

Carter broke away first, returning to his guitar, singing a song I’d never heard before.

The bed was clean and ready by the time we fell into it that night. I’d showered and changed into a nightgown before sliding under the covers. Carter disappeared into the bathroom for his shower, and when he came out, he crashed into bed next to me. We lay there for a while in the dark before my hand wandered the mattress, searching for his.

When he felt my touch, he turned his palm around and let me hold his hand.

Good.

This was…good.

Just before I fell asleep, I thought about him singing on that chair this evening.

“That guitar,” I whispered sleepily, on the verge of passing out. “It’s the one you played with when we were kids, wasn’t it?”

His voice was small. “It is.”

*

When I woke up the next morning, Carter was gone.

I didn’t know when he’d gotten up, but by the time I’d left the bedroom to make myself coffee, he’d just entered the cottage, shirtless and sweaty, his chest heaving up and down. His shorts were flattering on him, his ass looked solid, his legs thick and corded with muscle.

I spun around to look him over, feeling like such a woman because…wow. “You went for a run?”

He smirked when he caught my trapped gaze on his broad chest. “I needed to relieve some steam.”

I’ll relieve your steam,I thought, and when I heard his light chuckle, I realized my thoughts must have been written all over my face. My cheeks flushed as I smiled shyly at him.Me, shy, again!What was happening to me?

“Now you won’t be up for another walk after,” I protested.

“Fuck that, we’ll go for another walk.”

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