Refusing to Fall (Dennison Series Book 3)

by Ferraro, W

  “See you tonight?”

  “Yeah, I’ll be there. It is my night to bring the beer,” Reed answered, reluctant to pull his mind to anything further than how to get Colby to talk to him.

  The brothers said good-bye, and Colby handed Gage Dustin’s to-go bag when he almost reached the door. He accepted it and left.

  Reed wondered when she didn’t return to the table if it was coincidental or by design. After fifteen minutes, he decided not to push it any further. Noticing Colby was nowhere to be seen, he rose from his seat, put his charcoal gray peacoat on over his black cashmere sweater, and headed to the counter where Molly stood.

  “Hey good looking, how are you?” Reed asked his longtime friend.

  With a smile he knew well, Molly quickly stepped around the counter, stood on tiptoes, and kissed him on the cheek.

  “I thought that was you over there, sweetie, but I assumed for sure my eyes were playing tricks on me.”

  “It is me, the one and only,” Reed responded easily to their usual banter. “However, don’t get used to it. Tomorrow, it is back to the office for me.”

  Reed watched as Colby came out of the kitchen. She looked quickly at the booth he just left, and with a smile, headed to the far side of the restaurant, taking care of a table over there. Making sure as not to be too obvious in his watching, he noticed how charismatic she was with the customers and how she freely gave away her beautiful smile.

  He suddenly felt like there was a rock in his stomach.

  Focusing his attention back on Molly, he watched as she spoke. “Well, now that I have some extra help around here, we may just be able to deliver lunch to you at that office of yours. Oh, speaking of which, did you meet Colby yet?”

  Unable to keep the smirk off his face, he responded unashamed. “Yes. Looks like you found a winner in that one. She’s lovely; amazing service.”

  Chuckling, he realized his perfectly benign and complimentary response had a completely different underlying meaning to him.

  Placing a kiss on Molly’s cheek, Reed headed to the door, all the while using his peripheral vision to see a certain petite waitress watch his departure.

  When he was outside in the cold where light snow was falling, he let out a deep breath and thought, Find your balance now, Colby, because you and I will be alone eventually. And when that time comes, I will get all the answers I want. Laughing as his mind continued, If everything goes as planned, I may even get those answers while both of us are naked.

  Colby somehow got through the rest of her shift without incident. Every time the restaurant door’s bell rang, she looked at it waiting for him to reappear, but he did not. Walking the six blocks back to her apartment, she hoped she would have time to obtain a little clarity about her sudden situation. No answer came to her, so she decided she was going to go home, open a bottle of wine, and take it right into the bathroom with her where she would enjoy a long hot soak in her tub.

  Reaching the building, she took the elevator up, unlatched the cage, and was just about to unlock her door when a tap on her shoulder caused her to jump in a shriek.

  Whipping around, she looked up into the devastatingly handsome face of Mason standing there with a shit-eating grin on his face.

  “Hey there, Colby. I didn’t frighten you, did I?” he purred, all the while his bookend dimpled smirk widened.

  With her hand to her chest, she tried to get her breathing under control; she somehow had enough energy to sass back. “No, not at all. I generally scream when I greet someone.”

  Winking, Mason stated not so subtly, “So you’re a screamer, huh?”

  Rolling her eyes, she leaned against her still closed door and waited for her neighbor to get to his point.

  Mimicking her position on the opposite wall, he acted as if he had all the time in the world. He even examined his nails to drive home the effect.

  Raising her shoulders to prompt him, she waited another thirty seconds before she turned back around and unlocked her door.

  When she slid the door open and was just about to step inside, Mason gently grabbed her shoulder and halted her progress.

  Still laughing, he said, “Okay sorry, I’m just giving you a hard time. Paige is at our place and had me come down to meet you to bring you back. We have beer and wings, not to mention the Bruins game. Come on, I’m sure after a day at the restaurant you just want to kick back. Why not do it with us?”

  Wanting so badly to refuse, but knowing if Paige was there and Mason returned without Colby, she would just come down and fetch her herself, Colby resigned herself to not putting up a fight.

  It did strike her as odd that Paige would send Mason in the first place, but after today, nothing really should shock her too much more.

  “Come on . . .” Mason pleaded.

  Acknowledging that if she did remain home, she would just drive herself crazy trying to figure out what all this meant, so why not choose to be around people who would, hopefully, help to keep her mind off such things.

  A moment later, Colby realized all this reasoning with herself was for not. With a firm hand lightly on her waist, Mason pulled her back out into the hall, stripped her of her bag, and threw it inside to land God only knows where. He slid the heavy door closed, locking it, and then handed her back her keys. Not removing his hold on her, he steered her down the hall saying, “Oh, come on, you know you want to,” and emphasizing it with a wink.

  Colby couldn’t help but let out an exasperated laugh as she gently shook her head back and forth.

  Thirty seconds later, Mason released his hold on her for a moment as they stepped through the open door at the end of the hall. Once inside, he returned his hand to her slight waist and led her into a room that had her stopping in her tracks. Black, leather, glass, and granite furnished the spacious room; each element fought to dominate the space, which remained very much still industrial-like. The sealed and polished concrete floors were unchanged yet worked well in the space.

  Colby was very much aware of the numerous people scattered around the luxurious room as many sets of eyes took in the newest arrival. Casey and Jamie offered small waves and brilliant smiles that Colby knew for sure were apologetic.

  Colby easily picked out her boss’s husband, whom she had met a few days ago, as well as the town sheriff and his green-eyed deputy.

  Dustin seemed very happy to see her, almost as happy as Mason. However, neither could compare in retrospect to the look of sheer intensity coming from the person currently sitting and seeming-to-appear-casually on the corner of the couch watching her with seeking blue eyes.

  The others seemed to take her presence in stride as they went back to watching what had to be the hockey game on the biggest television she had ever seen.

  Suddenly, Colby became aware that Paige was nowhere in the room.

  Mason never relinquished his hold, continuing to guide her farther into the space, and she found herself complying.

  “What would you like to drink?” Mason asked.

  Leaving the question unanswered, Colby felt confident that she now knew what a fish felt like when they were out of water gasping for air.

  Finding herself in the kitchen portion of the apartment with a granite counter to her right, Mason finally removed his hand, took the few steps away from her, and opened the door to the large stainless steel refrigerator.

  “Hey, Colby, when Casey mentioned the other day that you two were neighbors, I didn’t realize he meant literally.”

  Colby’s attention turned toward the tall and handsome deputy who came to greet her.

  Making sure she was averting her eyes from the ones she could feel slicing into her back, she hoped her voice held an ounce of calm. “Uh, yeah. Hey.”

  When Mason presented her with two bottles, she never even read the labels, just chose one, ripped off the cap, brought it to her parched lips, and downed half of it.

  With his eyes on her, Dustin joked, “Whoa, easy there, killer. Given your size, you will be trashe
d by the time you reach the bottom of that bottle.”

  “I can handle my liquor!” she barked, instantly feeling bad when Dustin’s smile disappeared, and his eyes went wide.

  Great!

  Mason joined the two with a bottle of his own and responded with his eyes focused on Colby. “You tell him, girl.” With his attention now turned to the red-faced deputy, Mason clapped him on the shoulder and said, “Already insulting the lady, Poirier. Jesus, that must be a record for you.”

  Not falling for his obvious charm, Colby unleashed on her dark-haired neighbor. “Where’s Paige? You told me she would be here.”

  “I did?” Mason responded, placing his index finger on his chin and tapping it there several times. Before dropping his arm, winking, and going over to the sofa to take a seat.

  Colby wanted to scream with frustration. Taking a more appropriate sized sip, she silently counted to ten to calm down.

  Turning to Dustin, who remained unmoved at her side, she reached out a hand and touched him on his forearm. “Look, Dustin, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. It’s just been an interesting day.”

  His acceptance came in the form of a smile and a slight shoulder raise.

  As she finished, she saw movement out of the corner of her eyes. Following the motion with her head, she noticed the opposite corner of the huge couch was now empty. Before she had time to process its meaning, she heard a loud slam of a door somewhere within the apartment.

  “They’re not even losing that badly. What’s got his skin so itchy? Thought those ridiculously expensive sweaters of his were supposed to be soft,” Mason said to the room at large.

  Now, what do I do? Stay? Go? What would it look like if I just left? I technically have no good reason not to stay and enjoy a beer or two.

  “Looking for a reason to escape?” Dustin whispered.

  Colby tucked her head down and smiled realizing she had been caught.

  “No worries, your secret is safe with me.”

  “Again, I’m sorry; it has just been a long day. I was planning on a relaxing bath and a bottle of wine before I was ambushed,” she remarked, saying the last part loud enough that Mason winked again.

  Dustin let out a little chuckle before proposing, “You can make up to me by smiling.”

  “I can do that.” Unable to stop herself, she did just as he asked looking up at his friendly face. At the same time, she heard a door squeak open, and someone’s soft footfalls on the floor. Out of the corner of her eyes, she followed Reed as he retook his seat while covertly shooting her long glances.

  Feeling that dry sensation in her mouth again, Colby raised her beer bottle and took a leisurely sip.

  “So what do you think of the first family?” Dustin whispered, leaning his head down closer to hers.

  “I’m sorry?” Colby questioned, not understanding what he meant.

  Indicating with the hand that held his beer bottle, Dustin pointed at the room. “The first family of Clearwater Falls, the Dennisons.”

  He can’t mean . . .

  “You’re looking at them. Well, minus Bree, the only one worth looking at twice.”

  All of them?

  “I don’t know if Bree is the only one worth looking at more than once, but the rest of what Poirier here is saying is true.”

  Colby looked at Casey as he walked toward them.

  Still trying to grasp this new knowledge, she asked, “You are all related?” She was astonished at such a notion.

  “Yes, sirree. Gage is the oldest, followed by Hunter. The pompous, pretentious one over there in the corner is Reed, then me and Mason, followed by our younger sister, the aforementioned Bree.”

  Hunter spoke up from where he sat on the couch. “Don’t forget blondie over here. Jamie is our brother from another mother.”

  Holy shit, she really did move to the Dennison breeding field.

  Colby found herself looking in the direction of the described pompous and pretentious one and found those blue eyes that she knew so well staring at her. She couldn’t interpret what he was thinking, but suddenly, she knew she needed to leave. Her head was just spinning with all the events of the day.

  Swallowing all in which she learned along with the remaining beer in her bottle, Colby placed the now empty bottle on the counter and said to whoever chose to listen that she would be going.

  Dustin gently grabbed her elbow, halting her forward momentum. When she turned back to look at him, she noticed the faint blush across his cheeks.

  “I’m not sure what your schedule is, but I have the next couple of days off. I’d be happy to show you around town. Maybe we could include either lunch or dinner in there somewhere?”

  Colby thought it was a very sweet offer, but she felt herself not wanting to agree for some reason. Well, that is just ridiculous. Why not? Going against what a part of her was screaming, she found herself saying, “Uh, sure. I’ll let you know when.”

  Dustin agreed that would be fine and said good night offering to walk her back to her place. When she insisted that was unnecessary, he smiled once again and told her he would be seeing her soon.

  Unable to focus on the intention of such a promise, she made her way to the door and was just about to pass through when a larger, firmer hand took hold of her wrist.

  She was momentarily startled at the potential of whose hand it could be.

  “Why are you running off?” Mason asked softly.

  She couldn’t help the flood of disappointment she felt.

  “Long day and since my cousin isn’t here,” she raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow while continuing with an accusing yet friendly voice, “I think I should go make a phone call.”

  At least, Mason had the decency to look somewhat apologetic, even if he didn’t say so.

  She said good night to the room, not wanting to come across as a bitch. She listened to a handful of returning sentiments as she passed the threshold and the door slid closed behind her.

  Quickly reaching her own door, she took the key from her pocket, unlocked the door, slid it open, and stepped inside before closing it behind her and locking it.

  Leaning back against the door, she let out a long deep breath, closed her eyes, and thought, well shit, now what am I supposed to do?

  The last thirty-five minutes had been nothing but sheer agony for Reed. He was sure he was close to snapping his jaw from the tension he felt as he ground his teeth together at least four times while Colby was there.

  Still reeling from seeing her today and being the recipient of her cold shoulder, Reed was still contemplating how to go about approaching her.

  When he arrived at the twins’ place, he quickly concluded that Colby must have moved into the recently vacated apartment on the same floor as the twins. He contemplated knocking on her door as he passed by, but then as he stepped into the elevator, Hunter caught up to him effectively terminating any plans of stopping by to talk to her.

  When they stepped out of the elevator’s cage, Reed could smell cinnamon in the air. As if the hallway and elevator shaft had already taken Colby’s signature scent into its pores to prove her existence. The closer he got to her door, the stronger the smell was; so strong that Hunter made an off-hand comment about smelling apple pie. When they reached their destination, Jamie greeted them, and Reed noticed that Gage and Dustin were already there. Usually, Reed didn’t mind Dustin’s company, but for some reason at this moment, he minded it very much so. Feeling a moderate amount of animosity toward the normally fun-loving guy, he made it a point to keep his distance tonight.

  Reed found himself listening to the ongoing conversations, trying to see if anyone would mention Colby, but no one did. That was until they heard the ding from the elevator—thanks to the inter-units heating ducts—and suddenly, Mason shot off the couch and was out the door in the next moment.

  Gage and Hunter questioned where he was going, but he just continued on his way.

  Casey answered for him. “He’s going to drag Col
by down here.” Stating it as simply as if he was picking up a delivery.

  “Why?” Dustin asked in a proprietary tone, which was not lost on Reed or the other males in the room.

  Jamie was the one to reassure the suddenly prickly deputy. “Calm down, Dustin. You know Mason always has to tweak the situation for his benefit, even if it is all in good fun.”

  Reed didn’t find this explanation comforting at all. He didn’t like the idea of Mason flirting with Colby, regardless of his intentions, and he certainly didn’t like the concept of Dustin’s obvious crush or the fact that his family was placating the man about Mason’s overly friendliness being strictly platonic.

  Knowing Mason, he wouldn’t allow her to decline his offer if he wanted her here, so it was inevitable that she would be walking through the door any moment.

  Reed felt his blood pound in his veins at the anticipation, and a million scenarios ran through his mind of how this interaction would go down.

  Out of everything that he thought of, what occurred wasn’t anywhere close.

  The moment she walked through the door, he could smell cinnamon. She looked exactly the same as she did today at the restaurant, but it was easy to see the signs of fatigue on her beautiful face. When their eyes connected for that brief moment, he felt an incredible need to call out to her, to go to her. It took more control to remain in his seat than he would have ever thought possible. Reed watched unhappily as Mason held her waist and guided her deeper into the room and farther away from him.

  To avoid being obvious, Reed could not watch her as he wanted. Having to rely on his peripheral vision to track her movements, he appreciated the view she made. God, that woman looks good from the back. The way her jeans hug her ass should be illegal. With this thought running through his mind, his fists clenched when Dustin rose to join her looking like a lovesick puppy.

  Cursing himself for sitting so far away, he couldn’t hear their interaction, but when she snapped at something Dustin had said, Reed felt slightly better. He strained his ears to pick up their quiet conversation, and judging by the smiles now on both of their faces, whatever disagreement occurred quickly was forgotten.