The Pacific Ocean at sunset.
It was beautiful. Expansive. Tinged with so much color that one's soul sang. Even souls trapped in immortal bodies.
As I drove north along the Pacific Coast Highway toward Malibu, I realized that today was the first day that Kingsley had not tried to call me or text me. I had always kept Kingsley at arm's length. I had done so for a number of reasons, and one of them was because I suspected he would do something like this. The man was an infamous womanizer.
Maybe I had been too cautious with him. Maybe I had shut him out of my heart for too long. Maybe I had made it easy for him to be with another woman.
To fuck another woman.
I was pressing hard on the gas again, too hard. I was whipping past other cars at an alarming rate. I eased up and unclenched my grip on the steering wheel.
According to Kingsley, he had been ready for a relationship. He had been ready to settle down, to explore something serious. I hadn't been. I was dealing with a lot of hurt and had no business starting anything new with Kingsley. But he had been persistent, and sexy as hell...and unlike anything I had seen before.
But a tiger didn't change his stripes.