by Angel Payne
And took a lot of pictures.
And he stood there…and let them.
In the full light of day. With a lot of flashing bulbs. Without a shadow to be seen.
Somehow, Tess stumbled into place next to Devyn. She had no idea how she’d moved from Point A to Point B. Her stare—and her heart and her gut and her soul—were tied into the man on the screen, standing at a podium that displayed the Colton Steel corporate logo. The same symbol was depicted in a massive steel and glass sculpture behind him, clearly an important showpiece in the building where he stood.
The building he didn’t just belong in.
The building he commanded. The scene he controlled, despite the deep tension at the corners of his lips…and the way he still moved as stiff as a damn GI Joe doll…
And the somber veneer he’d kept in place across his gaze.
Dan. What the hell are you doing?
The news channel began scrolling information along the bottom of the screen, but it was wrong. It had to be.
Surprise announcement from Colton Steel…Daniel Colton, CEO, speaks to reporters…
“Mother fucker,” Devyn repeated. A smile spread on her lips but Tess couldn’t tell if it meant she wanted to hug or murder her brother. “He’s really going to do it.”
“Do what?” She tugged at Devyn’s arm. The other woman just kept grinning. Not the answer she needed, which was reassurance that her brother wasn’t about to change his life in one of the most massive ways she could fathom. “Devyn, what the—”
“Good evening.”
Dan’s voice boomed out from the TV, silencing her—and the crowd on the screen with him. As he straightened his stance, lifted his head and smiled, all her nerve endings melted. All the goo from them collected in her stomach, making her suddenly yearn to cry or throw up—or both. She’d never had time for teen idol crushes when she was a kid. Now she understand why teen girls transformed into unthinking idiots when their favorite rock bands came to town.
Unthinking.
Idiot.
Yep. That about said it all.
“Thank you, everybody, for coming down at such short notice, to join me here at Colton Steel’s corporate headquarters. I know there are a lot of other things you’d rather be doing tonight in Atlanta.” Dan flashed a fast grin. “Since it looks ready to rain again outside, I wouldn’t mind a Scotch, a fire, and my favorite fuzzy socks right about now.”
The crowd warmed with a round of soft chuckles. Tess smiled, unable to resist his golden charm herself, until noticing a blonde, long-legged reporter who started eyeing Daniel as if imagining him in those fuzzy socks and nothing else. Don’t go any further with that, darling…
“I’ve called this gathering to make an official announcement to you all,” he went on, attempting formality now. “In a few short hours, it will be December first, the official beginning of Colton Steel’s next fiscal year. At that time, I am proud to say that I’ll be taking over the reins of the company from my father, Aaron Steel.”
As the room exploded with shouts and questions, he held up both hands, commanding them all back to silence. More of Tess’s body turned the texture of gruel.
“I’ll address the obvious first. Dad is in fine health. He’s simply been at this since he was a kid, and wants a break. I promise you and all of Colton Steel’s employees that he’ll be around plenty to drive us all up the walls—and probably across the ceilings, too.” He brought his hands down, still spread, to hold the outside edges of the podium. The movement alone made Tess’s heartbeat speed then stop. She held her breath, already sensing the importance of what he was about to say. Though she had no damn idea what he was about to say…
“On to the next elephant in the room,” Dan stated. “Many of you know me well—or at least think you do. You’ve followed the company since I was a goofy kid, then when I grew up into a goofier kid. Since you followed my pranks and antics through high school and college, you simply assumed I’d run off afterward to expand my ‘Steel Gone Wild’ video collection, tearing up a few ski slopes and nightclubs along the way. You probably think this impressive scenery is the product of a car stunt gone wrong, or a bikini girl jumping out of my birthday cake too soon.”
As he traced a finger along his scars, the room went abuzz again—though the reaction was more subdued this time. And uncomfortable. Tess could sense the uneasiness in the room even from where she stood.
“Well, I’m here to tell you now: you did a great job,” Dan announced. He grinned wide as the press corps leaned in, subconsciously scenting the explosive scoop they were about to get. “You wrote exactly what I needed you to—and I’d like to thank you all for that.”
A ballsy guy in the middle of the crowd shouted the conclusion he’d led them to. “So you weren’t wrecking nightclubs?”
Dan’s answering smirk was a mix of enigmatic and charismatic. Tess was sorely tempted to pause her TV and fixate on the image for another minute—or ninety. “Not in the way that you think,” he replied.
“Which means…?”
“For the last six years, I’ve been an active field agent for the United States FBI.”
Tess could’ve concluded that the room exploded again, but the term wouldn’t do justice to the scene erupting on her TV screen. A few others did the job so much better, anyway.
Pandemonium.
Bedlam.
Turmoil.
Feeding frenzy.
Which led to her further amazement—when blondie-with-the-legs managed to beat everyone else to in shouting the next question. “So Daniel…does that mean you were a spy?”
He smiled at her. Though Tess saw through the expression as the fake politeness that it was, she still longed to climb at him through the TV screen—then drape herself across him as he answered the wench.
“That means I can’t talk about a lot of my work, Nina—so don’t ask.”
Blondie tossed her waterfall of hair over the opposite shoulder, determined to land her juicy soundbite. “Then tell us if that’s how you got so horribly disfigured.”
Devyn looked ready to punch the wall again. “Bitch did not just go there!”
Tess was certain she could put a hole in the drywall right next to Dev’s. The things she imagined doing to Nina the Brainless were even worse. But her mind didn’t seize any of them. She didn’t want to ruin this moment by dipping into useless anger—
When she knew that Dan clearly didn’t.
Perhaps it was the expression that took over his face, filled with the serene swagger she hadn’t seen in him for a year. Maybe it was the new lights that appeared in his eyes, piercing and brilliant and beautiful. She couldn’t peg exactly what she saw or how she knew…but right now, across the miles, she just…knew him.
And always would.
He could wear a thousand more masks. Alter his voice in a million different tones, timbers, or accents. Dress for her in leather or denim or freaking chiffon. She didn’t care. It didn’t matter now. It never would.
She’d know him. She’d know him.
She’d love him.
And loved him even deeper as he continued to stand at that podium, cocking his head higher, damn certain that everyone in that room—and the millions of people watching via live feed—saw every wrinkle, bump, and trail in the waxy skin along the right side of his face.
The most beautiful he’d ever been to her.
“I’m not disfigured, Nina. I’m scarred. And yes, I sustained these burns while chasing some nasty assholes in the woods last year.” He turned to the rest of the crowd with an apologetic shrug. “Oops. You all have your profanity delays turned on, yeah?”
“Who cares if we don’t,” a man yelled from the back of the crowd. “Keep going, Colton. This is awesome!”
The crowd sent up a cheer for that one. Dan grinned, basking in their support. As she watched him, Tess wrapped both arms around his sister.
“That fucker,” Devyn mumbled past tears. “I’m so damn proud of him.
”
“Okay, let me tell you what’s really awesome,” he said to the throng. “It’s—”
He stopped short, dropping his head. Tess held her breath again, aching for him. “Go ahead,” she rasped. “Say it, Sexy.”
He raised his head again. “Awesome isn’t what I did for the FBI, you guys. Awesome is what I learned. Sneaking around in costumes, playing with the techie gadgets, catching the bad guys…yeah, that’s all pretty dangerous and cool, but when you rely on the disguise to be your reality, you’ve lost the battle before you’ve begun. When you hide your truth in the shadows, then you’ve started the fall into weakness. That’s where I was headed, friends. I really liked those shadows, because they were easy. Because I didn’t think I was strong enough to look at all this,”—he ran a hand down his burns—“as a badge of honor instead of a mark of failure. But not anymore.”
The crowd was silent as he lowered his hand.
“Not anymore,” he repeated—while slipping that hand beneath the papers on the podium, and pulling out a long-stemmed, bright red rose.
Tess stepped away from Devyn.
And fell to her knees.
Devyn slid down with her, sliding hands back into hers, thankfully sharing her brother’s strength for intuiting a situation. She sat silently, letting Tess stare at the screen, not saying a word as Tess’s heart ached, soul burst, and lips pleaded.
“Don’t let it go, Daniel. Please don’t let it go!”
On the screen, Daniel still clutched the rose.
Lowered it toward the podium.
“No. No. Don’t let me go!”
He leaned over once more, so the microphones could pick up his closing statement. “There’s nothing more at this time.”
He turned and walked away, still clutching the rose—
Before tucking it into his jacket. Next to his heart.
For many long minutes, Tess remained on the floor. Afraid to move. Afraid to think. What would happen if she did? Would she even be here, crouched next to Devyn? Or would she still be back in the kitchen, wondering whether to order cashew shrimp or chicken stir fry for dinner? Would she forget the last fifteen minutes had happened?
“Tess?”
Devyn’s whisper, husky with worry, sifted into her.
“Oh, my God. You’re white as the sand in your backyard. Tess? Are you okay?”
She finally felt a breath spill out. Another. Another. She heaved the air back in just as fast. Again. Again. The actions made it easier to battle the tears raging up her throat. But they never got close to her eyes. Instead, they wadded up and pushed back down into her belly, pushing her into a crazy nether between nausea and paranoia.
“I’m…okay.” She sat up. Then stood up. She peered into the woman’s eyes, so clear and blue—just like his. She laughed in relief at Devyn’s dimples, also just like his.
Also like her brother, she cocked a sardonic brow. “So you believe me now about how nuts that shithead is for you?”
Tess jabbed her chin up. “Only if you’ll help me get my ass on the next possible plane to Atlanta.”
Devyn threw her head back on a laugh. “Now you’re talking, bitch!”
Chapter Fifteen
‡
“Thank you so much for the feedback, Mr. Colton.”
Dan quirked a brow at Colton Steel’s newest HR and Training intern. She had huge, twinkling eyes and a smile that could power Times Square with its wattage, but that didn’t stop him from slicing a new glare at her.
“Well, you’re welcome for the feedback, Maxi—wasn’t much, since this new training program is already good stuff—but I swear if you call me ‘Mr. Colton’ one more time, I’m going to make you eat tuna fish sandwiches from the cafeteria every day next week.”
Maxi’s jaw popped open. “You wouldn’t dare.”
He grinned. “Try me.”
She closed her mouth. Stood and started stacking her papers back into neat little piles. “You’re having a lot of fun shaking shit up around here, aren’t you?”
He leaned back in his chair at the head of the conference room table, hiding his grimace due to the bandages still taped over part of his ass. “You could say that.”
She broke into an impish grin. “Well, Dan, I think it’s kind of fun. Keep surprising us, okay?”
“Ten-four, little lady.” He chuckled and waved as she hurried out. It was Friday afternoon. She probably had a hundred texts to send to as many friends, making plans on where they’d meet to kick off their weekend fun.
He wondered what Tess was doing tonight.
Then instantly fought the thought by punching a button embedded in what he’d come to call his “spaceship chair.” The blinds on the picture windows rolled up, exposing the panoramic view of the city, the waters of the Chattahoochee sparkling in the distance.
If he had to spend most of his days with his ass parked in an office, at least the view helped.
He vowed to get out of here early today. Unpack some moving boxes at his new place, a condo over in The Wakefield. Hit the BeltLine for a long run, no matter how much it set his ass on fire. Clear his head. Free his mind. Flush out his soul. Untangle the tension in his body.
Items one and two? No problem.
But three and four?
He didn’t delude himself. Running a fucking marathon wasn’t going to lift those weights from him. Nor would burying himself in work—been there and bought the T-shirt for the last seventy-two hours—or even jumping on the jet down to the Shadowlands.
He had to accept that only two things would.
Tess.
Or time.
And since even his grand, flowery, stupid gesture at the press conference had failed to generate even a phone call from Ms. Lesange, he was going to have to make Time his new best friend.
This was going to suck.
Time wasn’t a fun date. Time complained about everything. He never got it right with Time. He was either indulging it or cheating on it. And Time didn’t laugh at his dumb jokes…or moan for him in the sweet little tone that drilled right to the center of his cock…or fall asleep in his arms, looking like an angel sent from heaven just for him…
He turned back around and growled at the empty room.
Okay, sure; he knew the platitudes about all of this. Had even tried a few on to see how they felt. He should’ve been proud of himself for stepping from the shadows, even without Tess waiting in the sun. The light was a good place to be, all by itself. The light was its own reward. He was living without shame or disguises, with a much easier haircut as a bonus. The light was right, even if he was in it alone…
Hell.
He glanced between his legs to make sure his balls were still there.
Just before his newly hired assistant, Mara, ducked her head in the doorway.
“Ah,” he called out. “Mara, Mara, Mara. My second new best friend.”
The woman struck him as a person born into the wrong century. With her classic, dark features and hair, he wouldn’t be surprised if a past life regression turned up someone like Catherine of Aragon or Queen Isabella. She carried herself with equal regality, even when crumpling a confused frown at his greeting.
“Forget it.” He waved a hand, bidding her to come closer. “Not important. What is still left that’s important?”
“Just these three new shipping contracts to sign, with the revisions per your meetings this morning.” Mara arranged the documents in front of him.
“Outstanding.” He began scrawling his name near the fifty plastic flags she’d attached to each page. “Annnnd, I’m clear on the day pass after this, right?” When she didn’t confirm that right away, he looked up and instantly scolded, “Maaarrraaa.”
She twisted a little frown. “I’m sorry. She insisted.”
“She?” For a second, hope fire-crackered through his chest. “She who?”
“Your sister.”
He smiled anyway. The next-best thing to a visit from Tess was a visit from Dev
yn. “Did you let her wait in my office?”
“Of course.” Mara’s smile grew a little, too. “I like her, Dan. Her hair is so…fiery.”
“Fiery?” Well, this was going to be interesting. Dev was always too preoccupied with being a bad-ass to ever think much about her hair. On the other hand, she’d developed a real accessory obsession lately. She’d also been with Tess nonstop for ten days. Lucky wench.
He entered his corner office, still decorated in Dad’s old-school style of Tara-meets-Hogwarts, and frowned. “Yo, little shit?” he called. “You hiding out somewhere?”
A hand shot up from the big leather chair behind the desk, which was faced toward the window, letting in the lazy afternoon sun. The thing was a little less ostentatious than the Captain Kirk model back in the boardroom, but only a little.
The hand curled one finger at him, beckoning.
“Christ,” he grumbled. “Really? Just because you colored your—”
His breath caught in his throat.
His tongue caught in his throat.
Devyn wasn’t the one waiting for him.
Tess was.
A glorious, luminous, sun-drenched, sexy…
very naked…
“Therese.”
He said it with reverence and gratitude, with awe and amazement, as a prayer of thanks and a plea for confirmation—
Then again. Because he could. Because he needed to hear it for himself, if only to help drive in the certainty—the miracle—of her.
“Therese Odette Lesange.”
It snarled out of him as he plummeted to his knees, hardly daring to touch her for fear she would vanish in a puff of his imagination. Instead, she snuck teeth out over her bottom lip, hardening him at once with her sweet little pout, before she twisted a hand around his tie and yanked his mouth to her sweet strawberry lips.
At once, he was inside out. Upside down. Ripped apart then put back together again. He drove his tongue inside her, unable to get enough of her taste, her scent, her softness, her passion.
“Fuck,” he finally rasped, letting her drag his tie all the way off. “You’re here.” He gazed down, betraying his wonderment in no uncertain terms. And his joy. And his bursting, brilliant, amazement. “Yeah…you’re…here.”
