Page 15 of Solitary Man

I was confused and angry with myself. I didn’t know what to do.

My stomach rumbled. I’d barely eaten, and I was tired. I wanted her. I wanted to make things right between us. How did I do that?

My stomach rumbled again. It was getting late. The sun lower in the sky. Time to eat. You need to go inside. You’re making everything worse.

I couldn’t avoid her anymore. What kind of a man avoids his wife?

One with no self-control.

Somehow, I had to ignore the rough need I had for her. Not easy with her in my bed every night, curled up beside me, wrapping herself around me even in sleep.

Though, two of those nights, she’d woken with a scream, and as soon as I’d muttered what I hoped were soothing words, she’d curled into me and gone back to sleep.

I didn’t know what caused her distress, but I liked that I was there to comfort her.

It was the sweetest torture.

I adjusted the planks of wood on my shoulder and headed for the house, carrying them around the back, ready to use in the morning. I was hot, sweaty, hungry, and desperate to see Riley when I walked in. To try to make amends for the way I’d been behaving.

But when I stomped in, she wasn’t in the living room or the kitchen. I strode to the bedroom, then the bathroom.

She wasn’t there, either.

I stood there, looking around my small cottage like I expected her to appear out of nowhere.

Every muscle in my body locked tight. Has she left? Has she left me?

I ran out the door, searching the fields around the house—

A foot poked out from behind a tree.

My heart kicked into action, and I strode toward it—her—with what felt like a boulder in my throat, gut in knots. Of course, she hadn’t left.

She has no way to leave.

I shook that thought away.

She married you. She wants to be here.

Still, that moment of fear that she’d fled from me had me barking out her name, “Riley.”

Her foot jolted, then her head appeared around the side of the tree. “God, Cash, you startled me.”

I’d startled her? She’d scared the hell out of me. “What’re you doing out here?” I inwardly winced at the growl in my voice but couldn’t seem to stop myself.

She frowned and lifted the laptop on her lap. “I was writing.”

I dragged in a rough breath, feeling like an idiot, my heart still not calm, and there was no reining it in. “I’m hungry.”

What the hell is wrong with you?

Riley’s mouth opened. Closed. “Um, I’m sorry, I didn’t think…I…” She stood so quickly she nearly fell over. My hand shot out, steadying her, and just that tiny bit of contact with her warm, smooth skin against my palm and I was fighting not to snatch her up, shove down her pants, and take her against the tree she’d been hiding behind.

I pulled my hand back and shook my head. “I didn’t mean…”

“No, you’re right. You’ve been outside working all day. And I guess that was part of the deal, right? Me cooking the evening meals.”

The deal?