I pull a little more out of grogginess and realize that Bobby is talking on the phone. I open my eyes. The bedroom is dark, it’s night, and the light is on in the adjoining bathroom. I check the clock: 2 a.m.

I pick up my panties and his shirt from the floor, pull them on, and am just about to go into the bathroom to see what’s up with that middle of the night call when Bobby steps into the bedroom.

My eyes widen. The call has ended and he’s dressed. OK, what’s up with that? He crosses to me and plants a fast but fevered kiss on my lips.

He smiles. “I’m sorry that I woke you. I need to go out for a while. I shouldn’t be long.”

I sit down on the bed as Bobby sinks into a chair and begins to pull on a pair of hiking boots.

I frown. “Where are you going?”

He doesn’t look up and continues to lace. “It’s no big deal. Just something I’ve got to do.”

I tense. Why isn’t he just telling me? He’s purposely not being specific and I don’t like that, not one bit. Bobby never withheld anything when we were together before.

“You’re not going to tell me where you’re going?” I ask, beating off the rising temper and suspicion hopefully to a point where he can’t hear it in my voice.

“No, not telling you.” He stands up and reaches into the closet for a jacket. He pulls it on, then turns to lock his gorgeous green eyes on me. “You either trust me or you don’t, Kaley. That part of us I’m not doing again.”

My face heats with a burn. “I hardly think wanting to know why you are leaving me at 2 a.m. is a trust issue between us.”

“It’s not. I’ve always trusted you. It’s your issue, Kaley.”

The heat on my cheeks grows more intense. He goes to the dresser for his keys and wallet.

“What the heck is that supposed to mean?”

His eyes lock on mine, direct and unwavering. “Every problem we had before comes from you having difficulty trusting. Even Graham Carson.”

Oh shit, not now. Not that part of our history when I’m not prepared or expecting it.

I bite my lower lip and struggle for words. “That was a mistake caused by too much alcohol and too much fighting. It was never about trust or not loving you.”

The pleasant lines of his face relax into an expression of patience. “I know it wasn’t about not loving me, but it was about lack of trust. You don’t trust me. You don’t trust anyone completely. You need to control everything because you don’t trust.”

My entire body grows cold. This observation is something Bobby has never said to me before and I don’t know how to handle it, let alone analyze it to figure out why he’d say that to me now.

I turn my face so I’m no longer looking at him directly. I feel a displacement of air and know he’s moving toward me. He crouches down in front of me, his hands on my thighs, the heat of his gaze hitting my face and making me look back to him.

His hands lift and his fingers spread on my jaw, lightly caressing it.

“I understand, Kaley,” he whispers. “I’ve always known what the real issue between us is. It’s not me. And it isn’t you, not the inner you, the you I love. Your dad did a terrible thing not being there for you as a child or wanting to know the truth that you were his daughter. But that’s your parents’ shit and they’re happy and married. You’ve come to terms with your dad, now let what your dad did stop hurting you and stop hurting me. I love you. Trust that and we’ll be OK.”

A light trickle of tears spills down my cheeks and I brush at them furiously. How did we fall so quickly from the glorious heights of loving each other into this: my messed up childhood and our bits of unhappy history?

I want nothing more than to sink into his chest and have him hold me. For some reason, I can’t make myself do it.

We sit together like this, neither of us saying anything, for a couple of moments and then Bobby eases back.

“So that’s it? You’re leaving?” I ask.

He smiles, a sort of tender and tolerant twisting of lips, and continues toward the door.

“I love you. I’ll be back in a few hours. Sleep. I want you here. You are the only girl I want or ever will want.”

I make a face. “I’d have an easier time believing that if you weren’t leaving.”

He shakes his head and chuckles. At the door, he stops to wink. “If you don’t believe it after last night, there isn’t anything that’s going to convince you.”

Hunger drags me from sleep and I wake alone. The most perfect night of my life ended with me alone in Bobby’s bed and waking up without him. I don’t even know why he left me.

I climb from the blankets and get my phone from my purse. I power it on. Shit, the screen fills with notifications. A half dozen from work, four missed calls and messages, but nothing from Bobby. Not a call or a text.

Now I’m not just hungry, I’m pissed and feeling wretchedly suspicious again. I don’t want to be jealous. I don’t want bad thoughts but, hell, what do I really know about how Bobby spent the last two years? There could be someone else, maybe not serious, but maybe not over either.

He’s too cute a guy, too wonderful and hot, not to have some girl somewhere interested in him. He also has a more than healthy appetite for sex. Sex was never one of our issues. He couldn’t have passed his nights alone here with the dogs living like a monk. No matter how much the thought of that pleases me, I don’t really wish for that to have been and I’m not really angry if it wasn’t.

Maybe I’m just irritated because I can’t stand not knowing the details of things, and definitely not of something that took my guy away from me.

I smile. My guy. I hope wherever he is, he is that.

Listening to my phone messages, I start to make my way down the hall toward the kitchen. In the living room, I find Tiki sitting obediently in her cage looking as if she’s waiting to be released.

I crouch down in front of her, checking to see if there is food and water. Those soulful dog eyes fix on me. I smile but I’m not about to release her.

“Sorry, girl,” I whisper, slowly slipping my fingers through the cage to lightly scratch her ear. “You’re going to have to wait for your dad to come home. I’m not ready to trust you yet.”

As if she understands my human rambles, a look flashes in her eyes as if to say I’m not ready to trust you either.

I laugh. Leave it to Bobby to find a dog like me. My humor leaves me. Is she like me? Is that part of what Bobby said true?

Shaking my head, I stand back up and continue into the kitchen. I open the fridge and hang on the door trying to figure out if there is anything to eat here. Nope, Bobby was right. There is definitely nothing worth cooking in the fridge.

I slam the door shut and find instant coffee on the counter. I rummage through the cabinets, find a cup, fill it with water and put it in the microwave to heat.

I hit call back for the office, then the speaker button.

“KKK Productions,” Veronica says pleasantly.

“Good morning, Veronica. Got your urgent messages. What’s up?”

I take the cup from the microwave and stir in the instant coffee.

“Are you all right?” she asks anxiously.

“I’m great. Why?”

“You missed your afternoon meetings, and when I left work last night your car was still in the parking lot. Justin said he hadn’t heard from you. That’s when I started worrying.”

I scrunch up my face. “Family emergency. Nothing is wrong. Just everything got so hectic I forgot to call.”

“Are you coming in today?”

“I’ll be there in about two hours.” I look in the pantry. Not even bread. “Justin wanted to meet at ten. Tell him that works for me.”

I click off my cell and take my coffee back to Bobby’s bedroom. I stare at the bed, wishing he was here to spoon with all day, and feel a prick of unkind emotion that I don’t want as I wonder why he’s not here. I toss my phone onto the bed and go into the bathroom.