“Any questions?” their commander asked. Colt had maintained a stoic look on his face, but some of the younger SEALs couldn’t help but gawk at the gorgeous blonde. Kate Foster was indeed a weapon and for some strange reason that pissed him off.
“Can’t wait to start training,” someone quipped.
Most of the men grinned or laughed, but the twins hardly reacted.
As the meeting adjourned, the Fosters left with their commander. Eric sidled up to him and clapped a hand on Colt’s shoulder.
“Man, forget what I said about not babysitting,” his brother whispered in his ear. “I think I’m in love.”
“You and half the room,” Colt muttered and resigned himself that his brother had expressed interest first. They never fought over the same woman.
So he stood back and admired Kate from afar. He watched his brother and most of his team try to engage her outside of the training environment, but she firmly rebuffed them. She and Matt kept to themselves. Over the course of the training, it became harder and harder for Colt to ignore her and he decided when the mission was over, when her focus wasn’t on rescuing her siblings, he might just have to break the bro-code.
That time never came. Three months later, Eric and Kate were killed.
They lost a total of five SEALs that day. Colt’s jaw clenched at the memory. Matt, who’d been on the opposite side of the jungle lab, had completely lost his shit when he returned to base and found out his twin didn’t make it. It took several men to hold him down and he had to be shot with six tranquilizers. No one got the memo that ES metabolized drugs like placebo despite their reduced strength.
It was also around that time that Colt met Admiral Porter, the silent operator behind most of the joint CIA-SpecOps missions.
Colt, still reeling from Eric’s death, wanted to do everything to make sure his brother’s sacrifice had not been in vain, so he jumped at the chance when Porter offered him guardianship of the Reed twins—Cassie and Lucas. If they’d been normal teenagers, they were of legal age to go anywhere, but the stipulation for the rescue of these Enhanced Soldiers that Matt and Kate agreed upon with the CIA was that the twins were to be shielded from the outside world until they reached the age of twenty-four when they wouldn’t be an unpredictable hazard to society.
The agency secured two hundred acres of land in Buckland County and Montgomery Ranch was born. There were grazing pastures, equine trails with a variety of native plants and trees, and granite rock outcroppings. A spring-fed creek ran along the line of the property into a lake. Through the years, a twenty-four-stall barn, a bunkhouse, various paddocks, an indoor and outdoor training arena were added to support a small breeding operation of four stallions and six mares.
The ranch house was the main residence, but there was a structure behind the house referred to as the Annex that supported the real purpose of the ranch today—providing injured CIA operatives a safe haven for recovery. The Annex had six bedrooms, a kitchen that was rarely used, a clinic equipped with a few diagnostic machines, and a gym that doubled as a rehabilitation center.
Wanting to stay close to the twins, Matt opened a garage not too far away. That started the steady influx of burned CIA operatives and the area evolved into the town of Misty Grove.
Initially, Cassie had been hard to control. With the loss of Kate, there was no mother-figure and Matt was of no help since he was spiraling in his own hell after losing his twin.
Thank God for Millie.
Shit, Colt got jolted out of his thoughts. He needed to pick up lunch from Millie’s Diner. He started the vehicle and left the parking lot.
4
Colt
“Smothered pork chops, mashed potatoes, and kale. And a half-pound angus burger. I put some plastic silverware in there, so you don’t have to do any dishes.”
“Thanks, Millie. Appreciate it,” Colt replied.
Millie Cross was considered the matriarch of Misty Grove. Her silver-blond hair was kept in a severe bun and, coupled with her reading glasses, she gave the air of a school librarian. In her early fifties, she wasn’t the oldest resident, but was certainly one of its earliest. In Millie’s case though, it wasn’t tenure that brought her respect; more that no one dared challenge the legendary assassin, Black Viper.
“How’s Kate doing?” They were at the diner office.
Colt sighed. “Dog bit her arm in her last job—”
“An attack dog?”
He nodded and gave her the deets. “I’m more pissed she chooses to live in that shithole apartment rather than stay at the ranch. I have plenty of room.”
“I offered my place as well,” Millie said.
“Her neighborhood isn’t safe.” At the diner owner’s raised brow, Colt huffed. “I know she can protect herself, all right? But you can’t blame me for worrying about her.”
“Maybe you should let her be,” she said gently.
“Not happening.” He grabbed the paper bag of food off the desk. Everyone was telling him to let Kate go. Fuck that.
“Colt.” Millie rested a hand on his forearm. “You’re losing yourself in her. That can’t be good for you either.”
“She’s hurting,” he said gruffly. “I know Piper’s death is slowly killing her. We can’t abandon her now or let her push us away.”
“And we’re not,” the older woman said. “I’m here. I talked to her three days ago.”
Colt lowered the paper bag and faced her squarely. “She hasn’t returned Cassie’s calls or texts.”
“Think about why, Montgomery.”
“You have no past with her.”
“Exactly. She can talk to me and she doesn’t have to relive the pain of her past.”
“She can’t deny what happened or run away from it either.”
“She came back, Colt,” Millie said. “Isn’t that enough for now? A lot of choices were taken away from her when she was forced to become a lab rat to keep Piper safe. Outwardly, she looks fine, but inside there’s a broken girl—”
“She’s not—”
“You can’t fix her,” his friend said.
“I’m not trying to,” Colt growled. “Because there’s nothing to fix. Kate thinks I want the illusion of her perfection. I don’t. I made that mistake before. I was trapped in the notion of her legend after we thought she’d been killed—the gorgeous, kickass Enhanced Soldier who gave her life for her siblings. Kate is as mortal as you and me. Capable of making mistakes, capable of getting hurt, but she has proven that she has a great capacity for love. She’s just scared out of her mind to get close to anyone again.”
“So your answer is to be in her face all the time?” Millie asked.
“I’m all in,” Colt admitted with conviction. “I’ve waited long enough for Kate Foster to be mine. If the answer is for me to be in her space until she snaps out of her pigheadedness, then so be it. I’m not stopping until she realizes I’ve always been the man for her.”
Millie mock-fanned herself. “Ooh, wow … could it be our gentleman Montgomery is finally going all alpha male on one Kate Foster? I don’t think there’s gonna be enough water in the county to put out that inferno.”
Colt shook his head and chuckled, grabbing the paper bag again. “Food’s getting cold. Gonna head back, feed Kate, and make sure she gets enough rest.”
“Are you going to stand guard over her while she sleeps as well?” Millie asked dryly.
Hell yeah, if it didn’t make him sound psycho. “Of course not. I’m not that weird.”
The diner owner raised a brow. “Huh … weird is relative. Apparently, for men of Matt and Trent’s ilk—the protectiveness can go into overdrive. Speaking of which, Trent’s at the sheriff’s office, aren’t you supposed to be at TAC?”
“Lucas and Cassie are pulling overtime.”
Millie’s brows rose higher. “So the twins are in on your get-Kate-at-all-costs scheme?”
Colt barked a laugh and opened the door. “See you around, Millie.”
* * *
Colt let himself into Kate’s apartment. He should feel guilty that he duplicated the key Cassie gave him, but he didn’t. He was done being Mr. Nice Guy. Nice didn’t work with Kate. She was too willful, had too much personality that required he be forceful without being overt about it. Misty Grove started as his town; people looked to him to lead them. Diplomacy played a key role in the way he dealt with the many personalities of the town’s residents, but he didn’t think that would work with Kate.
He’d lie. Cheat. Steal.
Okay, maybe he wouldn’t. But he could be ruthless.
The apartment was quiet. It was stuffy when it was cold outside and the stench of mold permeated the air. It made him more determined to get her out of here.
“Kate?”
He waited a few seconds. No answer.
Anxiety gripped his chest. She couldn’t have left, could she? Her SUV was parked outside so that was unlikely. He lowered the food onto the dining table and put the groceries he picked up from the general store on the counter. He made his way to the bedroom and found the door ajar. He pushed it open.
Kate was on top of the bed, asleep. Her right arm was bent at the elbow, hand resting beside her face. Her injured arm lay across her body. She was wearing a short robe that hit mid-thigh, and it fell open to reveal the vast expanse of long tanned limbs.
His cock stirred to life. Fuck.
He didn’t need an erection now while Kate was half-dead from fatigue. Neither did he need to find out whether she was wearing panties or a bra underneath that flimsy robe. He closed the door slightly, took a few minutes to calm the heat in his blood and rapped on the bedroom door.
“Kate?”
He heard rustling of sheets and a muttered “Oh, shit.”
Colt smiled.
“I’ll be right out.” Her voice was raspy from sleep.
“Food’s gonna get cold. Don’t take too long.”
“Okay.”
Colt walked back to the kitchen and unpacked the groceries. He opened the fridge and put in the milk, eggs, cheese, lunch meat, and breakfast items. When he checked the refrigerator contents earlier, all he found was half a liter of Coke. He knew the last thing Kate wanted was someone to look after her, but he couldn’t help himself, so she’d just have to deal with it.
“Oh, wow,” Kate said as she entered the kitchen. “I didn’t know I had a housekeeper.”
There was a hint of sarcasm in her tone. He’d be cranky, too, if his nap was interrupted.
“You can’t survive on soda alone,” he informed her. She’d changed into jeans and, thankfully, a sweatshirt, but it was one of those wide neck ones so when she moved, the collar fell off her shoulder revealing a pink strap and plenty of smooth skin. Colt wanted to press a kiss on that shoulder.
“Go eat.” He nodded to the food in front of the galley kitchen. “Got you smothered pork chops.”
“Smells great,” she breathed. “Extra gravy on the potatoes?”
“You got it.”
The smile Kate flashed him made the muscles in his chest contract. Her megawatt smiles were rare and, if it took her favorite food to bring them out, Colt would endeavor to bring her smothered pork chops any time she craved them.
Her next words deflated his high.
“You’re going to make some woman a good husband,” she said, not looking at him, and giving her full attention to the Styrofoam containers.
“Yeah?” he countered. He walked around the kitchen and stopped in front of her. “I’m looking at that woman right now.”
“You’re a laugh a minute, Montgomery,” she mumbled.
“Am I laughing?” His brows rose.
Kate scowled. “You know what I mean.”
“I know what you’re doing, babe.” He crossed his arms and stared at her.
“Oh?” she challenged. “Please enlighten me.”
“You’re hoping by deflecting all my wooing, yes—this is what it is”—he said, grinning when she rolled her eyes at his choice of word—“that I’ll get pissed and give up. What you don’t get is I’ve wanted you for a long time. Almost thirteen years—”
“I can’t believe you still don’t get it either.” Kate shook her head as she flipped open the lid of the container and plopped on the chair. “I’m an illusion, Colt. I was made to turn the heads of men, so I can deceive and kill them if I have to.”
Colt reached out and slid the sleeve of her sweatshirt up to reveal her swollen arm. “You don’t look like an illusion to me. You bruise, you’ve got bags under your eyes and you look as if you need a vacation. You’re flesh and blood.” He sat on the remaining chair around the table. “Not an illusion.” And you will be mine.
“You’re so bullheaded,” Kate muttered before spooning a healthy serving of mashed potatoes into her mouth.
“Interesting,” Colt drawled. “I can say the same about you.”
Kate’s lips twitched as a small smile broke her lips and instead of answering, she seemed very intent on slicing her pork chop.
He started on his burger and resisted the urge to cut the meat for her. The weeks when Kate had been in her catatonic state, he took pleasure in taking care of her although he hated seeing her so helpless. He fed her, brushed her hair, and helped her move around. He hired a female nurse to bathe and dress her. He was no pervert and wouldn’t have taken advantage of her that way even if he knew her siblings would have kicked his ass if he had.
Minutes passed and Kate was steadily packing the pork chop away. If there was one thing about Enhanced Soldiers, they had a healthy appetite.
She suddenly put down her knife and fork, picked up a napkin, and wiped her mouth.
“You’re not done, are you?” he asked, eyeing the remainder of her food.
“Sex.”
“What?” Colt nearly choked on his burger. He grabbed the fountain soda, removed the lid, and took a healthy gulp.
“I’m attracted to you,” Kate explained. “I think the problem is we’ve never kissed or had sex.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “You didn’t kiss me when I was catatonic, did you?”
“What do you take me for?” Colt growled.
She raised a brow.
“I brushed my lips against your hair, your forehead,” he admitted grudgingly. “When I finally kiss you—and I mean really kiss you and not a damned peck—you can be damned sure you’ll know it’s me.”
“Sex only,” she repeated. “You get me out of your system and I’ll explore this attraction I have for you.”
Colt stared at the pink strap peeking from her neckline and then lifted his eyes to hers. “How long do you propose we be fuck-buddies?” His cock started swelling at the thought of being balls deep inside her. Jesus, this woman tested his resolve. He wanted to grab her and haul her into the bedroom and fuck some sense into her and then he’d kiss her slow and sweet, showing her sex was not all he wanted. It was a tempting avenue to take—sex first, work on her heart later, but he knew he would grow to resent that arrangement.
“I don’t know,” Kate mused as she resumed eating.
Colt watched her chew slowly and then swallow, that slender throat bobbing as he thought of how he wanted to plant a kiss on her pulse.
She shrugged. “A month?”
“Hmm.” He pretended to think about it. He picked up his burger and took a bite.
“Would that be too long?”
Colt tried not to chuckle around a mouthful of food. When he was able to speak he said, “Not even close.”
Her brows drew together. “Two?”
“Depends how many days a week we’d be fucking.”
“How often can you go?”
“In a day?” Colt asked innocently.
“I have to be out of town for three days a couple of weeks from now,” Kate said, ignoring his last jibe. “But three times a week?”
The conversation was getting ridiculous and was starting to piss him off. “Sorry, babe. That’s not going to work for me.” He finished h
is burger, wiped his mouth and tossed the napkin in the food container.
“Well, how many times—”
“This arrangement doesn’t work,” he clarified, leaning in and shooting her a piercing stare. “I want everything from you. I want the relationship that would become more. I want dates—movies, dinners, dancing—although I suck at dancing. I want you to be my plus one when we go to another wedding. I want your laughter, your smiles—God, I love your smile. I want to protect you from your fears. I want to come home to you. I. Want. You.”
“Colt …” Her eyes were sad, and there was almost pity on her face and it was fucking breaking him, but there was also that hint of regret which gave him a glimmer of hope.
“Babe,” he sighed. “Please tell me I’m getting through to you, because it’s getting so goddamned hard. There are so many things I want to do and I want to do them with you.”
She regarded him for a beat and then exhaled heavily. “Okay.”
“Okay, what?”
“Ask me for a date.”
“What? Are you sure?” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“Do you want to date me or not?” she groused.
Colt just stared at her. Disbelief tying his tongue in knots.
Kate’s cheeks reddened for every second he was silent. There was a telltale flinch and then she waved a careless hand and said, “You know what? For—”
“Kate, will you have dinner with me?” he blurted.
“Yes,” she replied instantly. “I can’t tomorrow. I’m meeting Cassie.”
Not exactly how he imagined asking her out like they were making an appointment, but he had to remember her background wasn’t anything like his. He had hammered some social graces into Cassie and Lucas.
“Friday night?”
“That works.”
Unexpected Vows Page 3
