Colton (Found by You Book 7)

by Victoria H. Smith

  Which she could get with me, which she always could get from me because she had me. The woman had me readily available in her back pocket, at her knees if she wanted to…

  And I fucking hated it.

  I hated how she made me so wild like this, out of my head and completely without control. The whole thing made me feel powerless. Like I was slipping back to a place I didn’t want to be, and reaching into my pocket, I sought my cellphone again. I needed to call her or something.

  “She probably just doesn’t want to be blackballed by another guy like you,” Tommy said, frowning as he lowered his head. The words had been said under his breath, but as I was no longer on my phone and currently looking at him, his dark head of hair shot up.

  “Mr. Chandler, I didn’t mean—”

  “What did you mean, Tommy?” Because if he had something to say about me… about Cami and me, I needed to know.

  A deer in headlights, Tommy really didn’t mean to say what he had. Clearly, he meant his words not to be heard, and biting his lip, his jaw moved. “Please don’t fire me. I need this job.”

  Goddammit.

  “Tommy, this is important, and you won’t be fired. I know your boss. I can make sure that doesn’t happen. Just tell me what you meant.”

  He breathed heavily. “It’s not for me to tell. I only know anything because I saw you, her, and that guy. Her ex-boyfriend when we stopped in New York.”

  “What about the guy?” I asked, curious. I mean, he may have seemed like an uppity little priss, but he didn’t immediately scream douchebag. I understood Cami’s body language when he came around and she had asked me to play her boyfriend in front of him. I guess I did know something else about him.

  He hadn’t pleased her. I knew that because I had pleased her. He hadn’t been able to give her what she needed, and that meant something was either wrong with him, the situation she was in when she’d been with him, or a combination of the two.

  Why didn’t I see that sooner?

  My heart suddenly drumming with a new need to find her, I eyed her assistant. “Tommy?”

  He cringed. “She’s going to kill me. I did a little research after I asked her about that guy. She told me his name, admitted he was her ex, but a Google search told me the rest.”

  “The rest?”

  He nodded. “He ruined her life.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Cami

  “Colton?”

  I didn’t want to use his room key, but I would if I needed to get in there and talk to him. My boss had a habit of sleeping at odd hours, and pounding on his guest suite again, I attempted to rattle his door down.

  Where are you?

  I pounded again. “Colton, if you’re in there, I need you to open the door. Jesse took the rental car for some reason.”

  Which was hella inconvenient considering I needed the car. We booked it for any of us to use while we were in town, but what the hell? The concierge downstairs said a one Jesse Michaels checked it out. He apparently acquired the keys and took off with them, and I didn’t know why. I could only gather he was joy riding as I always rented cars to Colton’s liking. In this case, I’d gotten us a newly released Audi, and that alone should have sent off warning bells we wouldn’t be the only ones driving it. Unfortunately for me, it was the wrong time for him to do that, definitely not now when I had a deadline I was trying to meet. I needed to be at the printers so I could overnight those designs to Roxie tonight.

  I pounded again before reaching into my purse for Colton’s room key. I didn’t know what I’d see when I got in there. He could very well be between not one but two women. I’d found him that way before.

  But not as of late.

  Because he stopped all that right after that night he’d been with me. I knew because, despite myself, I mentally kept tabs on him and everything he was doing. He may have gone out, socialized on this tour when the occasion arose, but I figured mostly for something to do. He never brazenly brought girls around me, and really, at the shoot today had been the first time I’d even noticed him touching one.

  Stop it, Cami.

  I needed to stop it because not everything he did was my business, and putting the key in Colton’s door, I pulled it up quickly. The lights flashed on, and I would have gone in if not for Tommy coming out of his own room on the other side of the hall. I had one nearby as well, actually right next door to Colton’s.

  “What’s going on, Cam?” he asked me, his head poking out. “You looking for Mr. Chandler?”

  “Yeah, Tommy. Exactly that. He let Jesse take the damn car for some reason. I told him I was taking time tonight, that I needed it.”

  Not that he ever listened to me, but I had and I did instruct Tommy to keep eyes on him.

  Tommy merely bit his lip. “Uh, did you check the bar downstairs?”

  Lord knew that Colton had no flippin’ reason to be going and doing that. He fortunately hadn’t had any incidents lately. Maybe because drinking when you’re on a promotional tour to restore your image was the last thing he should have been doing. His hardest drinks were club soda, and I even made sure of that in his personal wet bars in the staterooms or suites he stayed in.

  “Good idea,” I said, pocketing the key. “If I can’t find him, I’ll have to get an Uber or something.”

  “Hopefully, it won’t come to that,” Tommy said, coming out. “It’ll all turn out all right. Just keep calm. I know it will. Like I said, you deserve it.”

  I really didn’t know why it took me so long to realize my assistant had become a friend sometime along my journey working for a sports star. I smiled at him before making my way downstairs to the lower levels of our hotel. In the heart of downtown, San Francisco had a nice nightlife, and the hotel we stayed in contributed to that. Wave had a cool aquatic feel to it the moment I set foot in it, people either dancing or relaxing, and fighting through the crowd, I realized finding Colton would be a feat in itself. He enjoyed environments like these, blended into places like this when I was the complete opposite. I stuck out with my modest dress when others sported crop-tops and stiletto heels.

  Looking like I was actually going to a job interview instead of a bar, I attempted to make this visit quick. I scanned through the room for an obvious subject. Colton would have at least a foot over any man in this place, and considering most of the patrons I saw were female, I figured he’d stand out.

  The women he’d been with today definitely did.

  I spotted the cheerleaders from the shoot immediately, two of them in a pair. The other girls from the shoot weren’t there, and these ladies must have decided to get some drinks. I honestly figured that’s where they’d all be tonight, Colton with them.

  I mean, he had signed their breasts.

  I really didn’t want to go over to them, but I figured they were my best bet regarding the whereabouts of my employer. If they didn’t know where Colton was at I’d do one more rotation before calling that Uber.

  Preparing for that, I got my phone out, approaching the women. The girls were surrounded by other men, their long legs and miniskirts I was sure helping. I waved, gaining their attention, and funny enough, as soon as they saw me, they sprinted over.

  “You girls seen Colton?” I asked them, charging my voice above the bar’s energy. As people danced, I got bumped a little bit during my question.

  The ladies crowded in. “You haven’t seen Colton, have you?” one asked me, clearly not hearing my question over the music. The girl grinned with the reddest lips. “We asked him to come with us, but he said he was busy. That he had other plans.”

  “Other plans?” I didn’t think I had him on the schedule for anything. But then again, other plans could mean personal ones.

  The girl who spoke nodded. “Yeah, and he looked in a big hurry. Had Jesse get his car keys and everything.”

  Car keys…?

  “It was such a bummer,” the girl stated, frowning. “We were supposed to have fun tonight.”

 
I didn’t really care what that “fun” entailed, and clearly, I wasn’t getting anywhere with these two. I quickly thanked them for their time before bowing out of the conversation. They let me leave only after I told them I’d mention their location to Colton or Jesse if I saw them. After being in this business for a bit now, I knew girls like this. They just wanted to be around these guys. Men like Colton and Jesse were a dime a dozen just as they were, two sets of people operating in the same world. Coming here, I planned to use some of that to my advantage after being shut out of NYC. My intention had been to build some connections and maybe work my way into the correct industry once people saw me for me versus who Taylor ended up making me out to be. A bug in people’s ears, he spread his lies to whoever wanted to hear them.

  “She’s difficult to work with” or “she’s very combative” came to mind, amongst some of the things I had to hear about my own self from other people. It’d actually been an old colleague to slip me the truth, to let me know what was going on in that world, and that I could no longer be a part of it. She wanted to give me a tip so I’d stop wasting my time.

  The hurt of that day only resurfaced upon seeing Taylor, someone so arrogant to actually hug me the day he saw me. Getting angry all over again, I bumped into a person behind me.

  “Tommy told me you came down here to look for me?”

  It was amazing how it all worked. How thoughts of frustration and anger could melt away within moments of him being here. It honestly scared me how easily he’d been able to do it.

  He gained in proximity behind me, and before I could turn completely, he let me see him.

  Intense, blue eyes stared down at me, lean muscle pressed hard into the seams of his silk shirt and tan dress pants. He normally wore athletic shorts and muscular tees, but not today.

  He put his hand out. “Want to dance with me, Cami?”

  Why would he ask when there were others around? People could see us, but he didn’t seem to care.

  Dance with him. You want to…

  “I’m working on that project for Roxie,” I told him, fighting my urges. I backed away and hit another patron in the crowded bar. “I have to deliver the mock-ups tonight—”

  “Already done,” he admitted, then immediately slid his hands into mine.

  I didn’t resist anymore as he tugged me to him, pulling me into a dance.

  He leaned in. “Dance with me.”

  He took the initiative, but didn’t make me dance. I simply fell into it.

  I couldn’t fight it even if I wanted to do so.

  We moved for a little while, slow before his voice fought its way into my head.

  “I got your design to the printers,” he said, squeezing my side. “Mailed them myself personally.”

  His words caused me to wake up out of the dreamlike state I’d been in. He’d brought me there so easily.

  My lips parted. “You… You what? Why?”

  I mean, how?

  He did it himself…

  It wasn’t like him to go the extra mile, help me out. At least not as of late. I’d given him plenty of reasons to keep his distance from me, but for some reason he wasn’t any longer.

  Adjusting his firm hands around my waist, Colton caused my tummy to dance.

  “Because it means a lot to you,” he said, his expression serious. Bringing his head down, he brushed his cheek against my hair. “It means a lot to you.”

  He kept saying that a couple more times, and I got lost in the depth, his baritone voice that took me away. The pair of us had been so hot and cold with one another lately, moments like these so rare. Things only got hotter as his solid body pressed against my curves, my breasts stimulated by only a subtle brush of his solid chest. And then there was his smell, so inherently male he nearly inebriated me. I was drunk off him and the chill vibes of the bar.

  I lay my head down against his chest with no power, complete submission to him. I was happy for this peace. I felt I’d lost him in these passing weeks.

  “Cami?”

  He broke my euphoric state but only slightly, his voice soft like the night he kissed me. The moment those thoughts arose, my thighs squeezed together. He hadn’t kissed me on the lips. At least not the ones on my face.

  I pulled myself from my mind, staring up at him.

  “Why didn’t you tell me about your boss, Camille?” he asked, scanning my eyes, and my stomach plummeted. He frowned. “The guy at the airport. He was your boss, right? Tommy told me you used to work for him.”

  Why would he tell him that? Embarrass me like that?

  I started to pull away, but Colton braced my hand.

  “Before you get upset, I made him,” he said, his eyes serious. “But why didn’t you tell me? Why, Cami?”

  He brought me in before I could put anymore space between us. He wouldn’t let me go. He refused.

  And I was so grateful for that.

  His hand came up, and he brushed his thumb along my cheek, catching dampness I hadn’t known was there until he touched it.

  “Cami…”

  “I was afraid,” I admitted. “I was afraid of…”

  Him. I was afraid of him and being hurt again. Colton could be so much energy, fire, and warmth, and a girl could easily get lost in who he was. I’d seen many, and I couldn’t be one of them, not after what happened to me.

  My heart wasn’t ready for it.

  It wasn’t ready for him and all that could be, so I shut him out. It didn’t matter how I actually felt about him. It didn’t matter that I…

  A lengthy digit crooked beneath my chin, and when he stepped forward, he bent and pressed his mouth softly to mine.

  So much heat drifted into my lips, our kiss, when he parted my mouth and tasted my tongue. Warmth flourished in me completely at such a simple taste, the same from his hands when he brought them around my hips and pressed me against him.

  “I’d never do that to you, Camille,” he said, so softly as his lips pinched mine. He brushed my nose, his mouth fluttering along my lips. “You have to know that.”

  “I do,” I said, shuddering beneath his mouth, his taste. I closed my eyes. “I was just scared.”

  I opened my eyes the same time he opened his, his fingers dancing in my hair. I didn’t know what to make of his expression, his blond eyebrows drawing in.

  “Scared of me,” he said, swallowing. He turned away a little. “I’m a little scared of me too.”

  When his head lowered, I made him look at me, his mouth coming into my hand. I had no idea if anyone was looking at us. With the tightness of the bar, we could just be two more faces in the crowd or easily the object of a flash or shutter. For all I knew, we could show up on YouTube tomorrow.

  But for some reason, I didn’t care.

  He didn’t care either when he cuffed my wrists, letting me get closer.

  “You can tell me anything,” I told him. “About what you’re going through? I know you said it was addiction and you’re good, but…”

  He had so many secrets, and he’d be foolish to think I, or others around him, hadn’t picked up on that. The media had allowed him to let his struggles go and even Joe had for the sake of Colton’s career. With their distance, his family maybe even sat unaware of the events that have clearly been occurring in Colton’s life, but I was close. I was in the trenches, and if he needed someone, anyone… God help me, I would be there for him, this powerful man.

  This man who was now shaking in my hands.

  He kissed me hard suddenly, the rush of him pulsating through his lips. So intense, I felt those truths starting to form, that he was finally letting me in…

  And letting himself go.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Cami

  “Cami…”

  He’d spoken the words in my room, along my chest as he pressed me against the door. I think we came here because we couldn’t even make the extra feet to his suite.

  I slipped off my heels, dropping in height and making this man even mightie
r above me. His head bent, and mouthing my chest, Colton still stood more than a head taller than me. His wide frame caged me as I drew in a husky breath beneath his mouth. He pulled one of my dress straps as well as my bra away, tonguing the line where they’d both been.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he said to me, the words sounding achingly true with his drawl. Needy, he reached up and cupped my breast, the subtle squeeze enough for me to pop up on my toes and grip his shoulder blades.

  Planes of hard, muscled flesh simmered hot through his dress shirt. My hands danced down to his belt buckle, and he easily let me open it. A pair of toned legs revealed themselves the moment his dress pants fell down to his ankles, his bulge large and ready as it poked through his dark boxer briefs. After toeing out of his shoes, he removed his pants. He returned to me only in moments, and heading to the floor, he gripped beneath my dress.

  Warm, wet licks accompanied the softest kisses to my thighs, and each inch of my dress Colton lifted was like a grant of permission to his mouth. He kissed me warmly, hotly, and when he pressed his mouth between my legs, I held him there.

  “I want to do it again,” he’d once said to me, doing so when he removed my panties, then brought my leg over his shoulder. Holding my bottom, he rocked me against his mouth, his tongue making me wetter than I already was.

  I gripped his head. “Oh, God. Oh, God…”

  He could make me come so easily like this, right here before we even made it to the bedroom. Neither one of us said where we were headed after he kissed me downstairs. We just walked, hand in hand, until we made it here.

  Until we finally made it together.

  So much of that wait had been because of me, my lack of trust and faith in him. Tonight, he not only helped me complete my assignment with Roxie, but ensured it. He said because it meant a lot to me. He hadn’t meant enough to me, at least when it came to how I’d been treating him. He’d been nothing but kind to me.