Page 44 of No Apologies
“No. It wasn’t.”
“Damn it! Don’t do this.”
“Don’t try to make it more than it was. It was a kiss.” His stoic stance faltered, “That’s all it can be.”
She’d already opened her mouth to yell at him some more but she stopped short when he flinched. Pain. It was there in the quiet undertones of his voice. In the dark recesses of his eyes. Colt was hurting and instead of fighting with him, all she wanted was to comfort him, even if she had no idea what was going on.
“What do you mean? Why can’t it be more than a kiss?”
“Sky…”
“Why can’t it be more than a kiss, Colt?”
“You should go now…”
“Why?” She raised her voice to cut him off and he surprised her by kicking his cart in response, sending his expensive tools flying and making her leap back out of the way.
“Because it’s all I can give you!” He yelled right back at her, “Whatever it is you want from me, I can’t give it to you. I’m not that guy. I’m not Cash and I don’t get a happy ending. You won’t either if you choose me so just go. The only way I can protect you is if you go. Now.”
Her world spun again and she shook her head, “No, I…”
“Damn it Skylar! Go!” He growled, knocking over more bottles with a swipe of his arm, “Get out of here! I can’t have you here right now. It’s not safe. Go!”
He was falling apart. She watched in horror as he destroyed his shop in front of her very eyes. Everything he loved and held dear was crashing down around him. He was hurting and he was wreaking destruction on his shop instead of taking it out on her.
Tortured Colt wasn’t new to her but she’d never seen him so out of sorts. All she wanted was to reach out and touch him. Hold him. Try to figure out a way to make it okay. Whatever reason he had for pushing her away, it wasn’t her boyfriend, she realized. That had been her barrier but he had plenty of others and they were bigger and would be much harder to scale because she didn’t know what they were.
But now wasn’t the time for that.
He only needed one thing from her right now. He needed her to leave. He needed her to give him some time. So as much as she hated it… that was what she had to do.
She pushed out of the chair and forced her legs not to move towards him, “Okay. I’m going but you should know I’m not going far. I’m not giving up on this or you.”
He didn’t turn back around. He didn’t look at her. He didn’t even acknowledge her and she bit her lip to keep from saying more. To keep from saying things he wasn’t ready to hear.
She tried to keep her own emotions under control as she turned to leave. She grabbed her purse from where she’d dropped it and looped it over her shoulder. She’d almost made it to the door when his dark voice stopped her.
“Damn it, put a bandage on your leg before you go.” He barked, “You know better than to go walking out of here with a new tattoo uncovered.”
She might have laughed at his sudden demand in another situation, “You’re the professional. If you’re so worried about it, you do it.”
“Bad idea Sky. I’m not touching you again.” He growled as he ripped a clean bandage off the counter and brought it over to her, “Not ever again.”
“Told you that you were a liar.” She jerked the bandage out of his hand.
“Cover up the damn tattoo and get your ass out of here before I change my mind and do something we’ll both regret.”
“Promise you’ll finish the tattoo and I’ll go.”
He sighed heavily but nodded, “I’ll finish it but not today. Nobody inks you but me.”
She fought a smile at his possessiveness, “I thought you said you weren’t going to touch me ever again?”
“Nobody inks you but me, angel. Nobody. You let anyone else near you with a needle and I’ll remove their fuckin’ hands.” He stepped towards her, back into her personal space and met her gaze with a hard stare, “You hear me?”
As far as reassurances went, it wasn’t much. Still, it meant the world to her. He might be pushing her away but he still couldn’t handle the thought of another man putting ink on her body. It was his canvas. She was his even if he refused to claim her.
“Nobody but you.” She nodded her agreement.
