"I'm a big girl," she said. "I know this ranch like the back of my hand. There's nothing to fear out there in the dark. I can see myself out."
Yep. Nothing to fear in the dark, because everything that scared her to the bone was right here in this room.
He wasn't going to romanticize it. They'd had sex. Very hot, very great sex, yes. But it was just sex.
Hell, Kaia had made that abundantly clear.
And yet, there was a small part of him that held out hope for more, a secret part that melted at Kaia's endearing smile and dared to think, what if?
She was a lot of fun, and it had been a long time since he'd allowed himself to fully play. There was another feeling inside him, a deeper, darker feeling that he did not want to label. She made him want things. Things he never thought he wanted-like a wife, and a family of his own.
Whoa-ho, he went there.
He wasn't the kind of guy who did well with family commitments. He'd had no role models for how to make a marriage work. No clue how it was done. People said love was enough. That love would get you through anything.
But Ridge wasn't stupid. He knew that wasn't true. He'd loved his mother more than anything, but she'd had no qualms about checking out on him. Hell, if he couldn't keep his mother interested enough to stick around how could he expect anyone else to?
Love was a gamble. Apparently some people got lucky at the game, found someone they truly cared about, made a life together, stuck it out through thick and thin. Kaia's parents were like that.
But not Ridge. Not his family. On either his father's or his mother's side. Not a single Lockhart male in the past six generations had been able to make marriage stick.
Sure, many of the Lockhart ancestors had been widowed during the settling of the West, but there had been just as many divorces, or just as many wives taking off, disappearing without warning. What made him believe he could make love work when none of his ancestors had before him?
Besides, his home was in Calgary. Hers was in Cupid. No way was he moving back to the town that held nothing but painful memories and his father. The Trans-Pecos wasn't big enough for the two of them.
A longer relationship between them did not make sense on any level. Tonight was the apex. He'd had fun. It was the best sex he'd ever had in his life, but it had been just sex. No wedding bells. No heavenly angels singing. No with-this-ring-I-do-thee-wed happy ending.
But he couldn't help chasing after her.
He paused just long enough to jam himself into his jeans and boots, but he didn't even bother with a shirt, just went running after her.
The party was still going on in the barn, although a lot of cars had already left, giving her room to get out. She was unlocking the door of the Tundra, looking sexy and mussed in the coffee-stained bridesmaid dress.
"Kaia," he called softly.
She stopped, raised her head. "What is it?"
He caught up to her, feeling a little breathless. "Before you go," he said, "I've got to know."
She paused, shifted her weight from foot to foot on the high heels she'd worn to the wedding. "What is it?"
"Why did you get mad when I kissed your scar?"
Her hand went to her right hip, as her mouth turned down. "It doesn't matter."
"Then what does it hurt to tell me?" He stepped closer. Saw the vein at her throat pulsing hard. It was all he could do not to pull her into his arms and whisper, shh, shh, shh, everything will be okay, until the pulsing slowed.
Kaia cast a nervous glance over her shoulder at the barn, where music was still spilling out. "If I tell you will you go away?"
He nodded, when all he wanted to do was throw her over his shoulder like a caveman and haul her back to his bed.
She leaned her back against the door of the truck, her keys clutched in her palm, closed her eyes, cleared her throat, opened her eyes again, let out a steadying breath. "It's hard for me to talk about."
He couldn't resist coming closer, but she held up a stop-sign palm, warning him off.
"Please don't," she said, the crack in her voice letting him know that while she longed to touch him again, she couldn't stand it if she did.
Respecting her wishes, he took a step back, even though everything inside him wanted to rush to her and draw her close.
"Listen," he said. "Forget I asked."
"No. It's okay. Maybe it's time I talked about it. But not out here where everyone can see."
He glanced over his shoulder at his house.
"The chapel. It's safer," she said, but didn't explain what she meant by that.
Nodding, he went into the darkened chapel ahead of her and took a seat in the last pew. A minute passed, he turned to watch the door, wondering if she'd decided to take off and leave him in the lurch. But he didn't hear the Tundra start.