Spring rain, p.5
Spring Rain,
p.5
She rolled her lower lip in her teeth and nodded.
He trailed one hand along her upper arm, exposing her to more tactile experience. He could happily touch her all the time, her skin felt so smooth and supple beneath his fingers. “The night I lost my wife I had gone into work instead of staying home with her and Ian. She was an amazing woman, a wonderful mom, and a saint to put up with me.”
She stiffened and it was like he could read her mind. This wasn’t easy for her to hear.
“I’m not telling you this to make you feel bad, Caitlyn. Trust me. She had to be a saint. I was military then came home and went to become a cop. Dangerous job, we had a child and I just wasn’t around.”
“It’s nothing you have to apologize for, Rip. You’re a warrior, it’s what you do.”
How did she manage to make him feel like a king? “I was also a husband and a father. And a shit one at that.”
“I’m sure she knew you loved her. Even now, I can hear it in your voice. And I know Ian knows.”
This woman is amazing, even now she’s trying to offer me comfort.
He tightened his grip on her upper arm desperate for her to understand how serious he was about the words coming out of his mouth. “He does, now, because of you. I wasn’t a man enough to make sure my son is aware of that.” He cleared his throat. “I saw her on the pavement with a bloody sheet over her, that moment I lost whatever remaining bit of basically anything good.”
Even now, he could feel that moment when it seeped from his body to join the blood from his wife on the cold asphalt. A new wave of icy pain moved over him but for the first time, after that, came a warm touch on his soul that were he a man who believed in this kind of thing, that it was his wife giving her approval.
He tipped his head and stared at the rainbow hued strands sliding through the fingers of one hand. Bringing some of the hair to his nose, he inhaled deeply of that earthy scent around her. “I locked away anything good and focused on the job because if I was turning all my attention to solving other people’s problems and issues, mine no longer existed.”
She shifted.
In response, he tightened his hold on her, scared she was going to move away.
Caitlyn didn’t fight him on it; she just readjusted, actually sitting closer.
Rip talked about how difficult it had been for him to move on.
She listened, didn’t ask questions, but allowed him to talk. In fact, she got so quiet he was worried she’d fallen asleep.
“Caitlyn?”
“You have to learn to forgive yourself, Rip.”
“I don’t know if I can. This is my fault that Ian doesn’t have his mother anymore.”
She smacked him in the chest and leaned back. No, it didn’t hurt but it did shock him. Why is she hitting me?
“She was her own person and damn you for making me do this.”
He shook his head, not following. “Do what?” The tears in her eyes tore at him and he cursed himself, the last thing he wanted was to make her cry.
“Make me out to be this horrible person.” She looked away.
He’d lost the direction of this conversation in a heartbeat. Not a horrible person baby, so not a horrible person.
He tipped her head back so she could no longer avoid his questioning gaze. “What are you talking about? You’re far from being a horrible person.”
She gripped his wrist and tried to move his hand from her chin, but he refused to allow her that win.
“Yes I am. I’m a bitch for being happy a woman is dead. Which I don’t want to be, but I am, damn you, I am.”
“You’re glad my wife is dead?”
“Yes, and god damn it, I hate myself for it.” She lurched away from him and ran to the far side of the room.
Like that was going to work. She walked away from him in the mountains, and that shit wasn’t happening again. He pushed to his feet and strode over to stand behind her. He knew before he got there, she was crying. Her sobs couldn’t be ignored, and her shoulders shook.
“Look at me, Caitlyn. Please.”
“I lied, Rip. I can’t hear you out. Leave.” Her wounded tone ripped at him like a wild animal into a carcass.
He closed his eyes ever so briefly. “Okay.”
She visibly stiffened.
“After you tell me why you feel that way.”
“You have to hate me for even allowing those words to fall from my mouth.”
“You’re wrong, Caitlyn. I love you but I do want to know why you feel that way.”
She angled her head to the right. No, she hadn’t faced him but he at least could see part of her face now. “Because if she were alive, nothing that we shared would have happened. You wouldn’t be in my life.”
His heart swelled. “Why is that important to you?”
Tears lingered on the tips of her thick curved lashes. “Because I love you,” she whispered.
Her answer had been so quiet that he almost didn’t hear her. Almost. “Say that again.” He didn’t raise his voice in fact it was as low as hers, barely over a murmur.
She shook her head.
This time, he didn’t give her a choice and forced her to turn toward him. Eyes imploring her to say those words again, he held her gaze. “Caitlyn,” the word was ripped up from his gut. He understood why she felt her anger at herself, but he didn’t have any towards her. She’d been honest with herself and him. And while he wasn’t happy that his wife had passed, he was happy to have this woman in his life now.
“Because I love you, too.” It wasn’t spoken any louder than the first time, but Caitlyn held his gaze as she said the words.
Dipping his head, Rip kissed her.
They had a start, a foundation. They could build from there. And he was looking forward to every step of what was to come.
The End
There are four books in this series, the next, Summer Thunder, will be out in June of 2020. Below is the blurb for that one.
Fear can either be the force that tears us apart or the one to bring us together.
Kassie Sutton is waylaid by a storm as she’s heading through the Ozark Mountains to take over at her grandfather’s veterinarian clinic. Pierce Boman is intrigued by the woman he meets. Fragile on the outside, she is a warrior even if she doesn’t believe it. All he needs is a bit of help from his dog and she will realize what he does, the summer thunder can lead to amazing things.
About the Author:
Aliyah Burke is an avid reader and is never far from pen and paper (or the computer). She loves to hear from her readers and can be reached here. She can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.
She is married to a career military man. They are owned by three Borzoi. She spends her days sharing time between work, writing, and dog training.
I hope you enjoyed reading, Spring Rain. If you could help others to find and enjoy this book as well, I would appreciate that act of kindness. You can do this by recommending it to your friends and/or reader’s groups. Also by reviewing it to let others know you liked it—and why, even if it’s nothing more than a line or two. Every bit helps, makes all the difference and is absolutely appreciated.
Thank you so much for your support!!
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Additional books by Aliyah Burke:
Sensual Romance Publishing
A Knight’s Vow
His Purrfect Mate
Holiday Surprise: Unwrapped
If You Dare
Lion of Midnight
Raw Exposure
Add A Little Mistletoe
Faith’s Tears
Honest Deception
A Little White Lie
Megalodon Team
Kincade’s Rose
Harrier’s Healer
Connelly’s Flame
Greeley’s Spyce
Vittano’s Willow
Dimitri’s Moon
O’Shea’s Love
Chayton’s Tempest
Forgotten Shadow (A MT Christmas Novella)
Haikon
A Love for Lera
Rakes & Rogues
What the Earl Desires
Her Reluctant Viscount
Her Pirate Rogue
Cottonwood Falls
Relentless
Fracture
Ravish
Spark
Savor
Intensity
Inferno
Snake’s Salvation
Tryst with the CEO
Brodie’s Wish
Operation Ball N’ Chain
Springwood
The Wedding Snafu
The Billionaire’s Code
Delay of Game
Daring the Hard Man
Icy Dare
Born to Fly
Landing in Love
You Save Me
Wild As The Wind
Zulu Spectre
Hearth, Holly, & Honor (3 in 1)
It Could Happen Again
Tungsten Protective Services
Down Range
All In
His Rysk to Take
His Pryze to Claim
Tatra Pack
Say You’re Mine
Whispered Loyalties
Red Willows
Holiday Liaison
Watching You
Interwoven
Fire Devil
Seasons
Autumn Frost
Winter Flame
Spring Rain
Summer Thunder (Coming Jun 2020)
Trapper Lakes Series—Cozy Mysteries
Look Who Tuna’d Up Dead
Totally Bound
Preconception
Seducing Damian
Through the Fire
Heart’s Compass
The Princess & the Marquess
Serial
Keeper of the Stars Pt. 1
Keeper of the Stars Pt. 2
Keeper of the Stars Pt. 3
Keeper of the Stars Pt. 4
Keeper of the Stars Pt. 5
Astral Guardians
Chasing the Storm
Highlands at Dawn
Fields of Thunder
Branded by Frost
Driven by Night
Moon of Fire
Boxset part 1 (Books 1-3)
Boxset part 2 (Books 4-6)
Interludes
Temporary Home
Alone with You
Till We Ain’t Strangers Anymore
The Complete Boxset 1-3
This Ain’t No Love Story (novella linked to the Interludes series)
In Aeternum
Casanova in Training
Harbour of Refuge
Protected by Shadows
Polar Opposites
The Complete Boxset
Code of Honour
A Marriage of Convenience
The Lieutenant’s Ex-Wife
A Man Like No Other
When Stars Collide
The Complete Boxset
Theta Corps
Retaliation
Contrition
Vindication
The Complete Boxset
The Edge
Called Home to The Edge
Straying to The Edge
Returning Home to The Edge
Cuffed at The Edge
The Monroe Sisters
Need You Now
Let Me Go
I Won’t Say Goodbye
Entangled
Code Name: Papa
Standalone
Dutch & Lobo (in In the Trenches collection)
Love Under the Endless African Sky
Co-written with Taige Crenshaw
Unbreakable Bonds
Kemet Uncovered:
Talios
Devi
Linc
Saffron
Taber
Ashia
Boxset Pt 1: (Books 1-3)
Boxset Pt 2: (Books 4-6)
Co-written with McKenna Jeffries
Wicked Burn
McKingley:
All the Wright Moves
The Best Thing Yet
Risky Pleasures
Pure Harmony
Irresistible Forces
Seductions Dance
Aliyah Burke, Spring Rain
