“This sounds like a really bad cable movie.” Colt interrupted. “He had no son, Talon. And he didn’t treat me like one. I don’t know how I ended up here. He never told me, and my memory is scrambled from before that time, but I can tell you, no one’s coming back.”
Her eyes met his, and he felt that look flash burn his knee jerk response and expose him like an upended bug in a collection.
“You must wonder why I stayed on after he passed.”
He shifted restlessly. Grabbed another slice of the corn bread and avoided meeting her eyes.
“I was hoping that when Mr. Meizner’s son…when you came that we could strike a deal.”
He looked up startled.
“Parker and I could rent the cabin that’s been refurbished, where we first lived before Mr. Meizner needed more help. Or stay at the house as caretakers until he, you, sold the ranch or moved back or leased it.”
He put down his fork, appetite gone. She wanted to stay. Here.
“Your plans have nothing to do with me.”
“But they do.” She ran her fingers through her hair and he found himself watching the graceful motion, the way her curls sprang back from her face. “You are his only heir, or so I think from Mia Zabrinsky, the attorney he went to. Obviously she didn’t tell me that, but Mr. Meizner said…”
Colt stood up so quickly his chair tipped back, and he caught it, righted it.
“Town’s easier to live in,” he said gruffly. “With a kid.”
She looked around the room, her eyes lingering on things, the open shelves instead of cabinets, painted red and an earthy kind of green, the art work on the fridge. Totally different from when he’d lived here with his uncle. His stomach twisted. He so was not good at this. At any of it. The messiness of life.
“Colt, I know it’s late and you’ve traveled a long way. But I can’t get us all packed out in a night.”
“Why the hell would you do that? I’m not staying.”
“But this is your…”
“Don’t even say that word.” He held out his hand. “I’d rather cut off my balls with a broken beer bottle than sleep in this house again.”
“But it’s yours.”
“I wouldn’t want it if you gift wrapped it. I gotta get out of here.” He quickly rinsed his cup and bowl and put them in the sink.
Talon hovered, but he refused to meet her worried look. He’d cave for sure. He didn’t know what it was with this woman. She unbalanced him from the tight rope he walked. Each day. One foot in front of the other. Colt bolted out the front door.
Chapter Six
“Colt, wait. Stop.”
He was out the door, and she’d long ago kicked off her cowboy boots after two waitressing shifts and then chasing those with a special event at Grey’s Saloon. Whatever. She rolled her eyes. Barefoot, she ran out.
“Wait! Ouch! Ow!”
Halfway to his truck he paused and looked at her, incredulous.
“What are you doing?” He demanded, in the same tone many men and, in a spirit of full disclosure, many women had asked her during much of her life.
“Just hold on a sec. Ouch.” She bit back a more colorful word that since she had inadvertently become a mom she tried never to use, but it was hard tonight because pain shot from her foot all the way to her thigh.
“Eeeewakedywak!”
And he was there, his hands on her shoulders. “Stay still,” he murmured. “You have no shoes on.”
“Oh, is that it?”
And she thought she saw a hint of a smile and her stomach spun and flipped as spectacularly as pizza dough in the hands of a show-offy pizza chef. She didn’t know him, but she was starting to like him. His tenseness. His stillness. And then the hint of warmth as if he couldn’t quite help himself. It made her feel special.
“You are crazy,” he said conversationally as he tucked one arm under her knees and the other around her shoulders and lifted.
She stifled a scream and tried not to clutch at him. “And you are crazy strong. You’ll hurt yourself.”
He laughed. Not a full on laugh, but a definite quick musical “ha” or “huh” for all her efforts. “Do you have any idea how much gear I lug around daily?”
“Prince Charming. My heart is pounding. It’s every woman’s dream to be lugged and compared to gear.”
He shouldered back through the partially opened door and into the house and carried her to the kitchen, settling her on the counter and swinging her feet into the sink.
“I’m bleeding,” she said, surprised.
“Let me look.”
She bit back another ouch as he carefully rinsed her foot.
“First aid kit?”
“It’s not that big of a deal.”
“It’s a foot and very dirty. When was your last tetanus shot?”
“I’m a terrible patient,” she said. “Which is awkward because I’m going to be a vet.”
“Well, unless you have a lot of hair I can’t see or howl at a full moon, I think you should stick to getting the shot from a doctor.”
His hands were gentle as he washed her foot, examined it, dabbed it with an antibacterial wipe, and then put on a gauze pad with tea tree oil and then wrapped it with tape.
“I’ll drive you to the doctor tomorrow. Or a clinic since it will be Sunday.”
She stared at the top of his head. She’d thought his hair was just dark brown, but it was so many shades of gold with some red and then several shades of brown from chestnut to coffee. And the tight crop couldn’t quite hide definite waves. If he were hers, she’d want him to grow out his hair so she could run her fingers through it. What would it be like to be able to do that? To make him smile? Make his eyes light up. She’d never made anyone’s eyes light up. Thinking thoughts like that made it hard to breathe, and she stuffed them back in the drawer in her brain where she tried to keep all her longing so she didn’t scare anyone, especially herself.
“Why did you come after me?” he asked.
“I wanted you to stay,” she said.
He straightened up like she’d poked him. His pupils dilated and this close up, his irises were the most beautiful shade of honey. She’d shocked him. Definitely. She hadn’t meant it that way, as a sexual invitation, but deep down she knew it was. Or would be. No. No. No, she told herself. She couldn’t go there. He was so temporary in town he hadn’t even booked a room or made plans to stay with friends.
“There’s a cabin on the property,” she said quickly. “You could stay there. It’s on the septic system.”
He took a step back; his lips pressed tightly together, his eyes glittering.
“You seemed to have no place to go.” She interjected into his silence. “And it is yours.”
“And it’s on the septic.”
“Are you laughing at me?”
“A little.”
She relaxed. “I’ll show you.”
She hopped down from the counter even though he didn’t seem to approve and fetched a thick pair of socks from the laundry room, she quickly put them on as well as her boots and grabbed a flashlight.
He stilled her hand.
“I know where it is,” he said softly and then took a step back from her.
She wished he hadn’t taken his hand away. Why did she want to keep him here? It was insane. She didn’t know him, but she felt like she did. He was alone like she was. Only she had Parker now and he had no one. No family. He was here with her instead of with his friends. And what did that say about his life? Something inside of her wanted to reach out and grab hold of him.
Not let him go. She swallowed hard.
It was dangerous, she knew. She’d start to care. Notice things like the way his hair grew in a whorl on top, and his widow’s peak that made his intense stare that much sexier, and also the curl of his dark lashes, or the way her hand tingled from when he’d touched it. She was lonely. She could admit that because she’d been lonely almost all her life and had tried to stave it off in the
usual way by making lots of friends. Letting boys chase and catch her. She still felt lonely down to her bones, when she let herself stop and think and be quiet and to feel and maybe it was that. She could tell that he too was lonely to his bones. He too might be able to fathom the deep, empty ache she felt.
“It may have septic, but it was falling down ten years ago.”
She smiled and held out her hand.
For a moment, she thought he’d refuse, but he took her hand, looked at in in his much larger one and Talon felt enveloped. Safe in a way she’d never felt before. Then he followed her out into the night. He had strong hands. Warm. Rough. With long fingers and squared off fingers with short clipped, very clean nails.
“You have nice hands,” she said, unable to bite back the compliment. “They look like hands that build things.”
“You’re wrong about that.” His voice was flat in the night as she clicked on the flashlight and hurried down the trail.
“Foot okay.”
“Yeah. I’m sorry if I’ve made coming back here awkward.”
They walked past the barn and along a trail that led to a couple of empty bunkhouses and a larger cabin. She wondered what the ranch had been like when it had been full scale. Busy.
“You haven’t made it awkward.” He finally said. “You’ve made it bearable.”
At the door of the cabin, she stopped short, shifted her weight back and forth nervously. “I have something I think is yours,” she said. “Parker and I found it when we refinished the floors. We saved it, knowing someday you’d come. Only we didn’t know it would be you.”
She fished around in her parka and pulled out a small wood cube that had a metal inlay with a fused glass heart in the center. “It’s beautiful. And unique. I think it’s a puzzle cube.” She held it out to him. “Is it yours? We found it under a floor board in the in the bedroom where I put Parker after we moved to the main house in the last months of Mr. Meizner’s life.”
*
Even in the dark, moon hidden by the tree branches, he recognized it. His hand closed over the cube. It was one piece of his past he had wanted to take with him, but he’d been unable to retrieve the cube his last morning at the house. And rather than risk running into his uncle again, who in his mind had grown into an almost invincible monster, he climbed in the army recruiter’s van. Never looked back. Until today.
He slid the cube in the pocket of his jacket.
“Parker thought there was a treasure inside the heart of the cube.”
The way she breathed the word heart made his ache a bit, like it was too deprived of blood to pump properly.
“Parker has a good imagination.”
Talon unlocked the cabin and handed him the key.
“Welcome home, Colt.”
The words made him flinch. But it was just a building. Wood, nails, sheetrock, wiring. It held no power. The past wasn’t going to trip him up. Always move forward. He’d made that promise to himself the day he’d climbed into his recruiter’s van.
He made no move to open the door. Instead his entire focus was on Talon. He wanted her. Craved to kiss her until she quivered and moaned in his arms and begged him. He burned to bury himself in the heaven of her body all night to try to get some of the dark and the sadness out that he’d managed to hold off for years now. She’d made him remember, and now he wanted her to make him forget.
With her long, slender, and graceful body, she could drive all the demons away until they were both sated. He wove his fingers in her hair, imagining how she would look with her curls bouncing on her shoulders, tickling her bare breasts while she rode him.
“Colt?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t you want to go inside?”
“No.”
Her breath came in little puffs that he wanted to catch with his mouth, feed with his breath as he devoured her.
“Then what do you want to do?” she whispered.
“You know.”
“Yes.” Just a broken thread of sound, and he leaned in closer to her, and the little sound of excitement that escaped shot straight to his groin.
“Yes is my favorite word,” he said, trying to gauge her mood.
What he really wanted to do was cup her ass and lift her up so that those long legs of hers could wrap around his body like he’d been picturing all night, but he didn’t want to scare the hell out of her, and she seemed sweeter than that. Not like the women he’d been with. He should say good night and get the hell out of here, but she held him somehow.
He feathered his fingers under her jawbone, tilting her face up to his. Her skin was so soft. And her mouth. He gave her plenty of time to say no. But she didn’t, and the pierce of joy he felt when her fingers twisted in the front of his shirt at the same time her lips parted, was like a brand on his chest. Heat radiated, almost painful in its instant intensity.
His mouth slanted over hers, devouring her sweetness and her passion.
“Oh, god, yes.” She moaned against his mouth and the vibration of her words sang through his body.
His hands were in her loose hair, on her back, her hips. He couldn’t get close enough.
“Colt, please,” she begged, her hands already sliding under his shirt burning a trail across his abs, his chest, and when her fingers traced circles over his nipples, he thought he’d combust on the spot.
How could something so sweet burn so hot?
He gripped her butt and lifted her up, angling her against the door frame so he could get the perfect angle.
“You can’t lift me.” She panted. “I weigh a ton.”
“Can.” God, she felt fantastic. “Wrap your legs around me.” He commanded, barely able to squeeze out the words through his desperation.
“Oh.” He caught her little gasp in his mouth as her core came into contact with his erection. He didn’t try to hide his desire from her, and she definitely didn’t mind as she moved against him.
With one hand he pulled open the buttons on her shirt, and while they parted with a satisfying snap, she was wearing a pale pink thin tank underneath her shirt. But she was braless.
“I hate tanks,” he said, sucking one of her small, perfect breasts into his mouth through the cotton. She arched against him and cried out. Her fingers dug into his shoulders.
“Colt, stop. It’s too intense.”
He leaned his forehead against hers, their ragged breaths mingled.
“Sorry. I…”
“It’s okay.” He managed, pressing his finger against her lips. “I went too fast.”
Not like he hadn’t done that every time before, but usually it was the woman who was equally aggressive. He’d practically mauled Talon, he was so desperate to connect to her. He tried to smooth her hair. Rebuttoned her shirt.
“I felt so incredible,” she said in a small voice. “But out of control like I was going to fly apart and become all scattered like the stars.”
He stilled, not sure what to do with her honesty, but impressed as hell by it.
“I guess that’s what all the fuss is about.” She looked up at him, totally without guile.
He sucked in a breath. Dread filled him. Jesus.
“You’ve been with men before, right?”
“Oh. Ah. Yeah. Well, not men, exactly. More like boys. You know. In high school.”
He stared at her flaming cheeks.
“And my first year at community college, but by then Jenna had had Parker, and we were sharing an apartment. I was going to school and working, and so was she, and we were trying to make our schedules opposite so one of us could be with Parker so there wasn’t really time.”
He felt like the biggest jerk around, practically throwing her up against the door frame and taking her. She’d put her life on hold to help a friend and a little boy. Was doing her best to manage being a mom and a student and an employee and all he’d wanted was a moment of quick pleasure so he could lock up his darkness one more night.
He ran his hand through his ha
ir. It was longer than it had been in years.
“I’ve never been kissed like that,” she said after a while.
Another nail hammered in his heart.
“You are an amazing kisser.”
“Talon, stop.”
He couldn’t stand it. She deserved so much more, and all she had was his sorry ass looking for a quickie before he blew out of town for good this time. She’d find a decent guy, he told himself. A man who would make love to her properly. Make sure the gutters were cleaned out on the house. Not leave for months on end.
Shit. Again hand through his hair. Wiping down his face. Like he’d find the words he needed there.
“I’ll walk you back to the house.”
“Did I do something wrong?” she asked as she paced beside him. “Are you mad because we didn’t…”
“Of course not.” He stopped. “No. I went too fast. I…” How did he put himself, his life into words. “I don’t have a normal life,” he said in the biggest understatement of the year. “I am away a lot.”
What the hell he thought that would explain he had no idea, but Talon seemed to be thinking about it.
“I just got back from an assignment.” He tried again. “I don’t always adjust right away.”
And there was understatement number two.
“You can’t blame yourself,” she said. “What you do is so challenging and heroic, and I think I was putting out some pretty ‘come here, baby’ vibes.”
They started to walk again. He inhaled deeply. He’d forgotten how crisp the air was in April at night. The smell of the grass and the dirt and the evergreens.
“I think you are really a special person, Colt.” She said as the lights from the porch came into view from the trees. “I hope that you stay in Marietta during part of your leave. I’d like to see you again.”
Obviously, she’d see him again. She still hadn’t had her date or whatever she wanted him to do. He had a feeling mutual orgasms were off the table. As they should be, he kicked his libido hard, which still hadn’t completely recovered from that cabin kiss.
“Maybe I could make you dinner again. You could tell Parker something about being a soldier.”
Seducing the Bachelor (The Bachelor Auction Returns Book 3) Page 5
