Troping Through the Snow by Alexa Riley

“You and I both know that was not a one-night stand. You got my note. It was gone, so I know you saw it.”

“I did,” I admit. “And I was going to call you.”

“You were going to call me?” he repeats, but there is an accusatory tone in his voice.

“What are you, a parrot? Why are you repeating what I say?” I huff. I’m the one that gets to be angry here. “You can’t barge into my home. In fact, I think you should leave.” I point toward the door. “I’ll call the sheriff.” Tinsel can’t be far; she only left a few minutes ago.

“What’s she gonna do? Shoot me with a nerf gun? Does this town even have jail cells?”

“I think?” It might be a break room with vending machines, but Colden doesn’t need to know that.

He places his hands on either side of the counter, caging me in. “What am I going to do with you, Caroline?”

What the hell does that mean? I lift my hand to smack him, but he easily catches me by the wrist.

“You’ll hurt your hand,” he says right before he has the audacity to kiss the center of my palm.

Instead of smacking him, I do the next best thing I can think of. I try to knee him in the balls, but once again he’s too quick. Of course he is. You have to be one smooth operator to be hooking up with some random woman the night before your wedding then plan to hook up with her again after it’s over.

“What you’re going to do with me is leave me alone.” I raise my chin, trying to be strong. I don’t want him to know how much he affects me. If he knew, I’d be done for.

“You’ve been left alone for months, sweetheart. Time’s up.”

“Time’s up?”

“Now who's repeating whom?” I glare at him. “I wasn’t done with you.”

“Oh, you needed another couple of fucks?”

Colden releases his hold on my wrist and scowls. “We might have done our share of fucking, but I made love to you the first time. We both know it.” His voice softens, and my eyes start to water again. I drop my head as tears begin to stream down my face. He did make love to me, and I dream of that night so often. It was magical, but now the memory is awful.

“I can’t do this right now,” I whisper. Colden’s hand comes to my chin to make me look back up at him.

“Tell me you didn’t feel it between us and I’ll walk out that door, and you’ll never see me again.” I open my mouth to say exactly that, but he doesn’t give me a chance. “That’s a lie. I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to get you to see that you’re meant to be mine.”

“How can you say that?” I shout. I’m so mad at him even though he’s the reason I have this baby in my belly. Plus, he says the sweetest stuff, and I don’t understand any of it. I must have pregnancy brain, along with a giant dose of hormones.

“How can I not say that? You can call me crazy all you want, but I knew the second I saw you that you’d be mine. All that bullshit about love at first sight isn’t bullshit after all.” He mutters the last part. “I was done for, Caroline. A single glance, and I knew you would be my whole world.”

“But then you left,” I remind him. It would have been one thing if he had a change of heart and called his wedding off. It would have been terrible, but people can’t help who they fall in love with. But that’s not what happened. He walked out and went on to marry her.

“I was coming back. I had no choice. I had to go.”

“You had no choice,” I scoff. I try to push on his chest, needing to get away from him. The smell of him alone is reminding my body of that night we shared. Desire is pooling inside of me, and it’s messed up because he’s married. “I’m not going to be your mistress. Now move,” I say more forcefully.

He actually stumbles back a step, and I slip out from between him and the counter to try and make my escape. Where the hell am I going? It’s my own house, a small one at that, but I need to breathe for a second.

A second later, he follows me into the living room. “You think I’m married?” He holds up his hand that’s bare of a ring.

“Not having a ring on your finger proves nothing.”

“If you were my wife, that ring would never leave my finger, nor would mine leave yours.” His tone leaves no room for disagreement.

“You’re a crazy person, you know that?”

“If I’m crazy, you made me that way. I’ve been going insane since you left. My whole office hates me. No one can bear to be around me because I’ve turned into an insane zombie.”

“Maybe you're just an asshole.” I smirk.

“Don’t push it. I’m on edge, and I’m itching to take it out on that lush ass of yours.”

“Are you saying I’m fat?” I hiss.

“I’m not going to lie, sweetheart. I remember every inch of you. Right now, you look fuller, and I’m not complaining about it one bit.” He licks his lips like he’s thinking about getting his hands and mouth on me.

“That’s because I’m pregnant, you asshole.” I say it to be mean, but the jerk freaking smiles. A full-on giant smile that stretches wide and proud. “Maybe it’s not yours,” I try again, because I want to make him mad, and it’s not working.