Page 25 of The Cold Ride

“You gave her my name?” My daughter had my name.

“Yes. Because she’s yours.”

On autopilot, riding high on my emotions, I kissed her. I kissed her just like I had back then—the night we made Amelia.

The moment our lips touched, everything, and I meant every single fucking thing about that night, all my thoughts and feelings came rushing back. Our kiss transported me. Suddenly, I was back on the beach, holding a woman in my arms that I saw a future with. That I ached to have a future with. And it rocked the foundation of my world for the second time in my life.

Because I knew with a single fucking kiss that Rory was the only woman on this planet who would ever make me feel this way.

I broke the kiss. I had to. Otherwise, I’d take her up against the counter and damn the consequences.

But we couldn’t go there again. I couldn’t. Anger and desire mingled into a potent connection. I didn’t hate her. I could never truly hate her. But I was still pissed. And it was best if we didn’t cross these lines again.

She pressed her fingers to her lips and backed away. “If you’d like to take those up to your room, you’re welcome to.”

I opened my mouth and then shut it. Any excuse for why I kissed her sounded feeble, even to my ears. Instead, I conceded with a nod and scooped the first few up. “I’ll look at the rest tomorrow.”

Her smile was tight. “That’s fine. And thanks for all the gifts. You didn’t need to do that, but you made Amelia’s day. Hell, her whole month.”

“It wasn’t a big deal.”

“James, for your first day of fatherhood, you passed with flying colors. Enjoy the rest of your night.”

Warmth spread through me at the unexpected compliment. With a final nod, I headed back to the main part of the inn.

I went upstairs, eager to get to my room and go through the books. I wanted to see everything. Aiden’s door stood open, and my buddies were in his room, drinking beer.

“How’d it go?” Wyatt asked as I passed the room.

“Fine.” I shoved the door open, juggling the photo albums.

“Come, have a beer with us,” Lucas hollered, already well on his way to being drunk.

“Can’t tonight. See you in the morning.” And I shut the door and locked it. I was too invested in the photo albums to care about having a beer with my friends. I didn’t care that we were all being reassigned and that Wyatt would be out for good in a few months. Over the years, I’d had hundreds of beers with them.

But this was the first time I would see what my daughter looked like after she was born. And I sat on the bed with Amelia’s baby book and cried.

12

At the blare of the alarm, I silenced it and stared at my ceiling. How had we gotten here? The path to getting to this point was so complicated.

James kissed me last night. I pressed my fingers against my mouth at the memory of his lips on mine. Because he’d really kissed me. The moment he did, his kiss swept me back ten years. It felt like there were no hard words between us. And I couldn’t avoid the truth no matter how inconvenient.

James was the only man for me.

I tried dating and doing all the things to move on once Amelia was old enough. But in the back of my mind, I compared everyone to James.

Last night proved why. Because no one kissed me like James. He kissed me and the world around me dissolved until he was all that was left.

And I couldn’t help the errant thought. What if this was our chance? What if he could forgive me?

I knew it was a long shot. But I saw the way he looked at Amelia, the wonder in his eyes. The shock on his face when she hugged him.

He had family in Tennessee who loved him. Although they rarely visited, if my memory serves.

He was a hard man who had seen the worst of people. But maybe if I showed him how good it could be with us, he’d stay. Granted, I knew he had to report back to finish up his twenty years to get his retirement. We could be his home base. The place he came whenever he was on leave.

Amelia and I had everything we could want: a great place to live and the job of my dreams. She went to a great school and had loads of friends. We had it all. Everything except James. He was the missing piece of our puzzle. And now there was nothing but our past and my failures standing in the way.

---