He placed a searing kiss at her hipbone, then the soft skin just above the cropped dark curls of her sex. Natalie gripped Colin’s shoulders for support as his fingers slid between her thighs. She gasped softly as he stroked the wet heat that ached for him.
With his mouth still trailing across her thigh, Colin gently parted her with his fingers. His tongue immediately sought out her sensitive core, wrenching a desperate cry from Natalie’s throat. He braced her hips with his hands as her knees threatened to give out beneath her.
She wasn’t sure how much of this she could take. Standing up added a level of tension she hadn’t expected. “Colin,” she gasped, amazed by how her cries were growing more desperate with every second that passed.
She was on the edge, and it was clear that he intended to push her over it. Gripping her hip with one hand, he used the other to dip a finger inside her. The combination was explosive and Natalie couldn’t hold back any longer. She threw her head back and cried out, her body thrashing against him with the power of her orgasm.
When it was over, Natalie slid to her knees in front of him. She lay her head on his shoulder, gasping and clinging to his biceps with both hands. She was so out of it, it took her a moment to realize Colin had picked her up. He helped her stand, then carried her to the bed only a few feet away.
“That,” she panted as reason came back to her, “was one hell of a kiss.”
“And that wasn’t even the winning kiss,” Colin said as he covered her body with his own.
“I can’t even imagine it, then. It seems odd that your prize would be more a reward for me than for you.”
He slipped inside her, making her overstimulated nerves spark with new sensation. “I assure you I enjoyed every second of it now, and I’ll enjoy every second of it when I’ve won.”
For that, Natalie had no response. She could only lift her hips to meet his forward advance. Clinging to him, she buried her face in his neck. His movements were slow, but forceful, a slow burn that would eventually consume everything it touched. She didn’t resist the fire; she gave in to it.
She was tired of fighting. She had spent her whole life trying to protect herself from the pain and disappointment of love. She’d fought her urges for companionship, suppressed her jealousy as each of her friends found a great love she was certain she would never have.
And yet, here she was. Despite all the fighting and worrying, she had simply been overpowered. Gretchen was right. Natalie was in love.
“Oh Natalie,” Colin groaned in her ear.
She loved that sound. She wanted to hear it again and again. Her name on his lips was better than a symphony orchestra.
Placing her hand against his cheek, she guided his mouth back to hers. That connection seemed to light a fire in him. Their lips still touching, he moved harder and faster than before, sweeping them both up in a massive wave of pleasure. Natalie didn’t fight the currents, she just held on to the man in her arms, knowing she was safe there.
She never wanted to let go. But could she dare to hold on?
Ten
“I can’t believe we’re almost done with the house,” Natalie said. “You’ve worked wonders on it.”
Colin smiled. “I’m pretty pleased with the results.”
“Seems a shame you can’t keep it after all the work you’ve put in. You don’t appear to care much for your own house. This place suits you more.”
That was probably true, but he didn’t need this place. “I can always buy another house. I’d like to see Lily and Frankie raise their family here.”
“What is left for us to do?” Natalie asked as she looked around.
“I have to clean out my parents’ office. I left that for last because there’s so much paperwork to go through. I need to figure out what should be kept. I’m hoping we can shred most of it, but I really have no idea what they had stored away in all those drawers.”
“Let’s do it, then.”
They walked up the stairs together and Colin opened the door to the small, dusty room he’d avoided the longest. Turning on the overhead light illuminated the big old oak desk on the far wall. It had two large file drawers, one on each side, housing any number of documents and files they’d thought were important to keep. It took up most of the space like a large man in a small dressing room.
Colin had lots of memories of his dad going over invoices at this desk long before Russell Landscaping could afford their own offices, much less their own office building in the city. This was where his mother wrote checks to pay the bills and managed correspondence. She hadn’t been a big fan of email, always penning handwritten letters to friends and family.
There was also a large bookshelf on one wall with all his father’s books. His dad had always been a big reader. He loved to curl up in his chair by the fireplace and read in the evenings. Volumes of books lined the shelves, and Colin dreaded going through them. As much as he felt the urge, he didn’t need to keep them all, just a couple of his father’s favorites.
“I’ll take the shelves if you want to start on the drawers,” Colin suggested. “We can throw out all the office supplies.”
They each started their tasks. Natalie filled a wastebin with dried-up pens, markers and old, brittle rubber bands. After that, she started sorting through the file drawers.
Colin easily found his father’s favorite book—Treasure Island. His father had read, and reread, that book twenty times. It was his favorite, as evidenced by the worn binding and fraying edges. He set that book aside. It would go on Colin’s shelf until he passed it on to his children. Other volumes weren’t quite as important.
Colin quickly built up a stack of books to keep, then another to donate. He scooped up a handful for charity and turned, noticing Natalie sitting stone still in the office chair. The expression on her face was one of utter devastation.
“Natalie?” he asked. “What is it?”
Looking up at him, she bit at her lip. “It’s...um.” She stopped, shuffling through the papers. “I started going through the filing drawers. It looks like your mother actually filed for divorce.”
Colin’s breath caught in his lungs. He set the books down on the desk before he dropped them. “What? You must be reading it wrong.”
Natalie handed over the folder. “I don’t think so. It looks like your mother filed two years before their accident.”
Colin flipped through the paperwork, coming to the same conclusion despite how much it pained him. His parents didn’t divorce. What was this about? Leaning back onto the desk, he tried to make sense of it all.
“It looks like she started the process, but they didn’t go through with it.” Somehow that still didn’t make him feel much better.
“I’m sorry to hear they were in a bad place,” Natalie said. “I never noticed anything wrong as a kid, but in my experience, there’s no perfect marriage. Everyone has problems, despite how they might look from the outside.”
Colin set down the pages and frowned. “Of course there’s no perfect marriage. Just because I want to marry and have a family someday doesn’t mean I think it’s going to be a walk in the park. You have to work at it every day because love is a choice. But it’s a choice worth making. And judging by this paperwork, it’s worth fighting to keep it.”
“How do you get that? I always thought your parents had a good relationship. If even they filed for divorce at one point, I don’t see that as a positive sign.”
“What’s positive is the fact that they didn’t get a divorce. Things got ugly, but they decided not to give up. That makes me hopeful, not disappointed. If my mother could go as far as filing for divorce and they managed to put the pieces back together, that means there’s hope for any marriage.”
Judging by the look on Natalie’s face, he could tell she wasn’t convinced. She was so jaded by other pe
ople’s relationship failures that she couldn’t fathom two people actually loving each other enough to fight through the tough times.
That worried him. Despite what he’d overheard at Amelia’s Christmas party, he didn’t feel that confident that Natalie would stay in his life. She might love him, but she was still a flight risk. When this wedding was over, the two of them might be over, too. That was the thought that kept his feelings in check when they were together.
“You know what?” he said. “Let’s just put all these files in a box and I’ll go through them later. I think clearing the room out is time better spent.”
Natalie just nodded and started unloading files from the desk drawer into the file boxes he’d bought. They worked silently together until the room was empty of personal items, and then they hauled the boxes downstairs and into his truck.
The mood for the night had been spoiled and he hated that. His parents’ near-divorce was hanging over his head, opening his eyes to things he’d never considered. It seemed strange to drink some wine and go on like he didn’t know the truth.
And yet, it made him feel emboldened, too. He’d gone into this whole situation with Natalie consciously holding back. It was defensive, to keep himself from getting in too deep and getting hurt, but it also occurred to him that it might be a self-fulfilling prophecy. If he didn’t give all of himself to Natalie, she wouldn’t ever do the same.
If he wanted to keep Natalie in his life, he had to fight for her and be bold. His parents fought to stay together, and he was willing to do the same. But what would give her the confidence to believe in him and their relationship? She was so determined to think of marriage as a mistake that most people struggled to get out of. How could he convince her that he was in this for the long haul and she shouldn’t be afraid to love him with all she had?
There was only one thing he could think of, and it was a major risk. But, as his father told him once, no risk, no reward. That philosophy had helped him build the family landscaping business into a multimillion-dollar operation across the Southeast. He had no doubt it would succeed. If he could pull it off, there was no way Natalie could turn her nose up at it.
Just like his Christmas bet, he intended to get everything that he wanted and make it into something Natalie wanted, too. He knew exactly what he needed to do. The timing couldn’t be more perfect.
“What are you doing Wednesday night?” he asked.
* * *
Natalie looked out the window at the twinkling Christmas lights up ahead and knew exactly where they were. “Are you taking me to the Opryland Hotel?” Natalie asked.
“Actually, no, we’re going someplace else.”
Sitting back in her seat, she watched as Colin slowed and pulled into the parking area for the Grand Ole Opry. At that moment, she perked up, her mind spinning as she tried to figure out what day it was. It was the sixteenth. Blake Wright’s concert was here tonight. But it was sold out...
“Colin?” she asked.
“Yes?”
“Did you...? Are we...?” She was so excited she couldn’t even form the words. Why else would they be here if he hadn’t managed to get tickets to the show?
“Yes, I did and yes, we are,” he answered, pulling into a parking space.
She almost couldn’t believe it. “There were no tickets left. They sold out in ten minutes. I know—I called.”
Colin nodded as he turned off the car and faced her. “You’re absolutely right. There were no seats left.”
Natalie narrowed her gaze at him. “So, what? We’re just going to lurk by the back door to see if we can get a glimpse of him?” She was willing to do that, of course, but it didn’t seem like Colin’s style.
“Something like that. Come on.”
They got out of the car and he took her hand, leading her away from the crowd at the entrance and around the building toward the back. The door they were headed for said Private Entry in big red letters, and a very large man in a tight T-shirt stood watch. Colin didn’t seem to care. He marched right up to him and pulled two tickets out of his jacket.
No, wait. Natalie looked closer. They weren’t tickets. They were backstage passes. The security guard looked them over and checked the list on his clipboard.
“Welcome, Mr. Russell. So glad to have you joining us tonight.” The mountain of a man stepped aside and let Natalie and Colin go into the sacred backstage of the famous concert hall.
She waited until the door shut before she lost her cool. “Are you kidding me? Backstage? We’re going backstage at a Blake Wright concert? This is the Grand Ole Opry! Do you know how many amazing artists have walked where we are right now?”
Colin wasn’t left with much time to answer her questions, so he just smiled and let her freak out. Passes in hand, they walked through the preconcert chaos until they located the stage manager.
“Looks like our special guests are here,” the man said. “Welcome, folks. We’ve got two designated seats for you right over here.” He indicated two chairs just off the curtained stage area. They were going to be watching the show from the wings, literally sitting unseen on the stage itself.
Natalie was so excited, she could barely sit down. Colin had to hold her hand to keep her from popping right up out of her seat. “Please tell me how you managed this,” she said at last.
“Well, you know who does all the landscaping for Gaylord properties?”
She had no idea. “You?” she guessed.
“That is correct. Russell Landscaping has the contract to design and maintain all the outdoor spaces including the hotel and the concert venue. I called up a friend here and they set this up for me. Since there weren’t any seats left, we had to get a little creative.”
Natalie could hardly believe it. “This is amazing. I can’t believe you did all this. I mean, you already gave me my Christmas present. What is this for?”
Colin shrugged. “Because I could. You told me how your dad used to take you and how much you liked Blake, so I thought it would be a nice gesture.”
“Well, I’m glad I dressed appropriately,” she said, looking over her off-the-shoulder red silk top and skinny jeans with cowboy boots. “You just said we were going someplace to listen to country music. I was thinking maybe a bar downtown.”
“Well, I would’ve given away the surprise if I’d said anything else.”
Natalie could only shake her head. As the opening act brushed past them to go out onstage, she muffled her squeal of delight in Colin’s coat sleeve.
When Blake and his band finally took the stage, it took everything she had not to jump up and down. She tried to play it cool, since she was here because of Colin’s business connections, but it was very hard. Natalie could hold her composure during any kind of wedding crisis, but this was too much.
It was not just a great concert, but there were so many memories centered around this place. Her parents had been house poor, putting everything they had into a nice home for their family at the expense of everything else. They didn’t have the latest gadgets or the coolest clothes, but she went to a good school and had everything she truly needed.
But once a year, around her birthday, her dad always took her out for what he called a Daddy-Daughter date. She’d grown up listening to his favorite country music, and starting on her fifth birthday, he took her to a show at the Opry. It didn’t matter who it was or that they had the worst seats in the house. It was more about sharing something with her father.
That tradition had fallen to the wayside after the divorce, and it had broken Natalie’s heart. She hadn’t stepped foot back into this concert hall since the last time her daddy brought her here.
And now, here she was, backstage. She didn’t talk to her father very often, but she couldn’t wait to tell him about this. He’d be amazed. Maybe it would even inspire him to take another trip he
re with her for old times’ sake.
Glancing over at Colin, she realized he looked a little anxious and not at all like he was having a good time. He was stiff, clutching his knees and not so much as tapping his toes to the music. “You don’t like country music, do you?” she asked.
“Oh no,” he argued. “It’s fine. I’m just tired.”
Natalie didn’t worry too much about it, focusing on the amazing show. About halfway through, Blake started introducing the next song.
“The song I’m going to play next was one of my biggest hits,” he said. “It was my first real love song, written about my wife. I want to dedicate this song tonight to a very special lady. Natalie Sharpe, please come out onto the stage.”
Natalie’s heart stopped in her chest. Colin tried to pull her up out of her seat, but it took a moment for her to connect everything. “Me?” she asked, but he gave her a little shove and suddenly, she was onstage where everyone could see her.
“There she is,” Blake said. “Come on out here, sugar.”
Natalie walked stiffly over to where Blake was standing. Under her feet were the very boards of the original stage. The lights were shining on her, the crowd cheering. She thought she might pass out.
“Are you enjoying the show?” he asked.
“Absolutely. You’re awesome,” she said.
Blake laughed. “Well, thank you. Do you know who else is awesome? Colin Russell. Colin, why don’t you come on out here, too?”
Natalie turned and watched Colin walk out onstage. What the heck was going on? Her life had suddenly become very surreal. It was one thing for Colin to arrange for her to get to go out onstage with her idol. Both of them onstage changed everything.
Blake slapped Colin on the back. “Now, Colin tells me he has something he wants to ask you.”
The whole crowed started cheering louder. The blood rushed into Natalie’s ears, drowning out everything but her heart’s rapid thump. She barely had time to react, her body moving like it was caught in molasses. She looked over at Colin just in time to see him slip down onto one knee. Oh dear, sweet Jesus. He wasn’t. He couldn’t be. This was not happening.
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