He just stared at her. Normally he was impervious to guilt, but not this time. He hated feeling like he owed anybody anything, but he did owe her. And he had to pay her back somehow.
But running a salon?
“You used to work there until you went to college,” she said, taking advantage of his momentary weakness. “Ain’t much changed since then.”
“What do you suggest I do about King’s Customs? It doesn’t run itself.”
She rolled her eyes. “Stop acting like you don’t have a bunch of minions running around living just to please you. Plus you can call in from here. What do they call it? Working remotely? You can be bossy remotely.”
Cedric could take over the day-to-day stuff while he was gone. But a month? He had never been away from King’s Customs for more than a week.
“Colt, I need you to do this. You boys and my salon are the only things that ever meant anything to me.”
He couldn’t help but think she was laying it on a little thick. Those words were not Lolly and if he couldn’t see her big hair and overly made-up face right before his eyes, he would think he was talking to somebody else. Still, suspicious as he was, he couldn’t deny her request. He owed her. They all did.
“I’m taking your silence as a yes.” Lolly patted his hand. “I only have one stipulation. You must live in the house with your brothers the whole time.”
“No.” He shook his head. “I’m the one doing something for you. I’m the one who’s supposed to be giving stipulations.”
“So smart.” She nodded. “That’s why you’re so good at business. But you aren’t going to deny an old sick lady, are you? Good,” she said before he could respond.
“You have a tenant,” he pointed out.
“I know. You’ll stay in my room. Zanna comes with the house.”
*
Normally Duke King would be the kind of man Zanna would lose her panties for, she thought as she studied him at the breakfast table that morning. He was big and tatted up. He wore a scowl on his face and kick-ass leather boots on his feet. He looked like he ate steel wool for breakfast and busted heads for lunch. In other words, he was a big hunk of man. Her type was bad boy, and Duke had bad boy written all over him. But instead of him sending her hormones into overdrive, she kept thinking about his younger brother Colt.
King of the Assholes, she nicknamed him, and for whatever reason she’d thought of him a lot in the ten hours since their infamous run-in. She got mad as hell every time she thought about how he pinned her against the wall and slid his hand up her naked back, about how he pushed his thigh between her legs, and about how his lips hovered dangerously close to her mouth as he warned her away from his aunt. And she got really pissed when she thought about how he disarmed her. Son of a bitch managed to do what no man had done in a long time: best her. She couldn’t wait until this visit was over. Then she could get him out of her hair and out of her thoughts.
“You’re not from around here, are you?” the oldest King brother asked her as he wrote in a little black journal.
He hadn’t said much more to her than hello since she’d walked into the kitchen ten minutes earlier. She didn’t know how to process their presence here. It had just been her and Lolly until Lolly went into the hospital a few days ago. She wasn’t used to having men in her space anymore, and she wasn’t sure she liked it.
“What makes you say that?” she asked uneasily. She missed Lolly. The woman had done way more for her in nine months than her own mother had in a lifetime.
“Your accent,” he said, still not looking at her. “Oklahoma. Right near Keystone Lake.”
Zanna sat up straight. “How the hell did you know that? I thought Colt would be the first one to run a background check on me. You beat him to it.”
“I’m the last person who’d run a background check on anyone. I went to prison with a guy who was from there. You’ve got Native blood running through your veins, don’t you?”
She nodded. “My grandfather lived on the reservation his whole life. What’d you go to prison for?”
“Killed a man just to watch him die.” He took a long sip of his coffee.
She laughed. “Did you fall into a burning ring of fire after that?”
One side of his mouth curled. “You’re all right, Zanna Jacobs.”
“You are, too, Duke King.”
“You must not have been here long. Everybody around here knows why I went away.”
“They don’t talk about it much. They only refer to you all as Lolly’s boys. The new thing is that the pastor of New Hope was caught having an affair with the principal of the elementary school and got her pregnant. He broke down in front of the whole congregation to confess his sins. Whatever you did must have been forgiven.”
Duke finally looked fully at her. “It may be old news, but I don’t think anybody here has forgiven me for what I’ve done.”
She couldn’t help but take note of his eyes. They were soulful. “Are you sorry?”
He shook his head. “Not for what I did, but for what it did to the people I cared about.”
“Where’s Levi?” Colt walked into the kitchen, interrupting the most interesting conversation she’d had in weeks.
She turned around to look at him. He was such a stark contrast with his older brother in looks. Clean-cut where his brother was rough-looking. Cool-blooded where his older brother seemed to be made only of hot stuff. Despite their differing looks, one wasn’t more manly than the other. They both seemed like they could do some damage if they wanted to, but right now she was more concerned about Colt. Her skin went all tingly as soon as the understated scent he wore hit her nose.
“I haven’t seen him yet today.” Duke went back to writing in his notebook, not bothering to even look at his brother. “It’s not my turn to watch him.”
“Excuse me. I had mistaken you for his nanny. You look just like Mary Poppins.”
Duke left his chair and stood toe-to-toe with his little brother. “What the hell does that mean? You taking a shot at me?”
Any mere mortal would have been crapping their pants standing face-to-face with an irritated Duke, but Zanna could see that Colt wasn’t affected by his brother at all. In fact he looked rather bored.
“If you’re going to get in my face every time I say something that displeases you, big brother, it’s going to be a very long thirty days.”
“She asked you to stay?”
“Judging by the way you’re acting like somebody shit in your cereal, I’m assuming she asked you too. I know the prospect of spending thirty days trapped in this house with me doesn’t appeal to you, but if we’re both going to make it out alive, I think we should attempt to be civil to each other.”
“You know I’m not the one that’s going to end up dead if we go at it.”
“Don’t be so sure of that. I fight dirty.” Colt stood a little taller, folding his arms over his chest. “You’ll never see me coming.”
Duke’s lips curled into a slight smile. “You’re a son of a bitch. Sometimes I like that about you.” He grabbed his notebook off the table and walked out.
“You two have an odd relationship,” Zanna said, wanting to fan herself. Seeing all that testosterone in one small room was causing her to heat up.
“You could say that. We run a business together. Even if we don’t see eye-to-eye, we need each other to succeed.”
He leaned against the counter, his arms still folded over his chest. He was wearing a dress shirt and slacks, and even through his uptight clothes she could see what good shape he was in. His muscles bulged slightly beneath his shirt; it made her wonder what he would look like with no clothes on. She shouldn’t be wondering about that. She didn’t even like him. “Did you all say that you’re going to be in my house for the next thirty days?”
“This isn’t your house,” he said, making the hairs on the back of her neck rise. “We’ve been over this already. You’re just a short-term guest.”
“I pay r
ent here. Those are my groceries in the refrigerator and my sheets on the bed and I’ve got a lease with my name on it.” She stood up, suddenly understanding why Duke wanted to punch him in the face. “You’re the one who’s a guest here.”
“I’ve been too busy to find out exactly who you are, but I spoke to Lolly this morning. I was hoping you were just some drifter I could toss out of here. But unfortunately she said you come with the house.”
“I come with the house? Sort of like an old sofa.”
“Yeah, and you don’t go with the decor.”
She wanted to smack him for that comment, but the thing that was really making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up was the way he was looking at her, scrutinizing her, studying every inch of her body like she was a specimen in a petri dish.
“My comment got to you.”
“No, it didn’t.”
“Your eyes flashed. You wear your heart on your sleeve and you’re easily baited. It’s probably caused you a lot of trouble with work, with men, with money.”
“You don’t know a damn thing about me,” she said hotly. He was right, though, and she hated that he was. She felt too much and too often; it was probably why she was in this trouble in the first place.
“I may not know more about you than your first name but you’d better believe I’m going to find out.”
“Why are you so distrustful, Colt? Something go wrong in your childhood? Didn’t get enough hugs? Your aunt vouched for me. That should be enough. I’m here. Get over it.”
“Call me crazy, but it’s not every day I walk into my childhood home and have a gun pointed at my head.”
She stepped a little closer to him, not knowing why. Her body was acting without her permission. “Oh, come on, Colt. You’re not going to let that affect our friendship, are you?”
“I could have let the death threats slide, but the attempt on my testicles kind of soured me on any future friendship with you.”
“What the hell was I supposed to do? You came into my house unannounced. I had to protect myself.”
“What are you protecting yourself from?” His eyes narrowed as he searched her face. “I don’t know many women who keep a shotgun handy and I sure as hell don’t know anybody who would come to this shithole of a town willingly.”
She stiffened slightly at those words. He was right: She hadn’t come to Destiny because she wanted to. “Maybe I was just looking for a change of scenery.”
“Maybe you’re running away from something.”
She stood still, only allowing herself to blink, not wanting to give any more away to this overly perceptive man.
“I don’t care what you’re running from, just make sure if doesn’t affect my aunt.”
“I would never do anything to hurt Lolly. She’s been good to me.”
He just looked at her for a long moment. She felt like he could see right through her. She felt almost as unclothed and vulnerable as she had last night even though she was fully dressed. She wore all black today, like she did on most days when she had to be at work. But today she wore a long-sleeved off-the-shoulder top and black skinny jeans. Nothing too revealing, but the way he looked at her … Goose bumps sprouted along her skin.
“Damn it! Stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you’ve got X-ray vision or something. It’s damn disconcerting, especially since you give no clue what you’re thinking about.”
“I don’t have X-ray vision. I don’t need it. I know what you look like beneath all this black. And if you want to know what I’m thinking, I’ll tell you. It’s very rare that I’ve seen a woman who looks as good in her clothes as out of them.”
“I don’t know if I should take that as a compliment or smack the taste out of your mouth.”
“Take it any way you want, Zanna. You’re a beautiful woman, but it sure as hell doesn’t mean I’m going to trust you.”
“Maybe you should find yourself someplace else to stay while you’re in town. This may have been your house growing up, but this is my home now and I’m not going anywhere.”
“I can’t. I promised Lolly I would stay.”
“Then this is going to be one hell of a long month.” She turned aside, needing air and space and time away from his piercing gaze.
“Stay out of my way and I’ll stay out of yours, Zanna.”
“Gladly,” she said as she left the room, but even as she spoke the word she knew it was going to be hard. Colt King wasn’t the type of man one could just ignore.
Chapter 4
“Is that your Mercedes in front?” Levi asked Colt as he groggily walked into the kitchen the next day.
“Yes.” He looked up from his computer at his younger brother, whom he had seen only for a few minutes yesterday when he gave him the car keys.
“I know we’re going to be here for a little while,” Levi said, sticking his head in the refrigerator, “but you could at least try to fit in.”
“It’s a black car. How much more discreet can you get than that? Duke is driving around here with flames on his doors.”
“Duke’s another story. But you’re driving around in a fifty-thousand-dollar German black car. In the land of Fords and Chevys your car sticks out like a sore thumb.”
“It’s better to stick out than be overlooked.”
“And I thought I was the arrogant one.” Levi grinned at him. “You’ve got your car, your computer, more clothes. You’ve been busy. Or maybe I should say your people have been busy. Did you have all your stuff overnighted?”
“I told my assistant what I wanted and she got to work right away.”
“Did you threaten to have her family chained up somewhere if she didn’t deliver?” Levi flashed him a quick smile as he sat across from him with a giant glass of milk.
He shrugged. “Maybe. I want the transition here to run as smooth as possible. I’ve been looking over Lolly’s business returns so I can get acquainted with her finances. From there I need to see her expenses and compare that with her profits. If she makes any. We are probably going to need to do some restructuring.”
“You’re making my head spin. You know this is a little beauty parlor that specializes in giving old lady roller sets? The Head Shed is not one of your conquests.”
“The Head Shed is a horrible name for a salon. It sounds like a place you would go to pick up spare body parts. We’ll need to think about rebranding.”
“We’re not thinking about shit. Don’t go overboard with this, Colt. She just wants to get a few more people in the door. Offer some coupons. Don’t act like you’re about to invade the beaches of Normandy.”
“I make money. That’s what I do. That’s what she asked me do. I don’t do anything half-assed.”
“I know, but maybe you should. Life would be more fun.”
Colt stood up, ignoring his younger brother’s comment. Levi was all fun. His job was fun, his life was fun. Being the youngest King brother, Levi missed most of what he and Duke had gone through in this town. Most of the time Colt was grateful for that, but sometimes he wished Levi understood why he and Duke worked so hard.
“I’m going to be at Lolly’s shop meeting with her head stylist. If you need something, let me know. I can have my assistant send it.”
“I’ll be all right. I’m going to see what kind of trouble I can get in here.”
“Lolly didn’t give you a job to do?”
“She did. It was to keep you and Duke from killing each other.”
“Good luck,” he said, walking out the door and heading to his car. He knew Duke wasn’t going to be his problem while he was here—in fact, he hadn’t seen him at all this morning. He hoped Duke wasn’t getting into any trouble.
It seemed like this town always had it out for him. But Duke was a grown man and Colt had his own trouble to stay out of.
Zanna.
He hardened just thinking about her. When he’d walked into the kitchen yesterday and seen her sitti
ng with Duke, all her thick dark hair running down her back, something had clicked on inside him.
There was no reason he should want her. Since he had left Destiny the only women he’d dated were so elegant and put-together, he wondered if they could see he was just two steps away from being trash. He had stayed away from women like Zanna. She was unrefined. She had a kind of wild beauty that made his body tense up with awareness. She looked like a woman who could get him in serious trouble. She looked like the type of woman who would be fun to get in serious trouble with.
Which meant he had to stay away from her.
All his life he had to prove himself. Prove that even though he was the town drunk’s kid, it didn’t mean he wasn’t as smart as the rest of them. Prove that just because he was piss-poor, it didn’t mean he didn’t belong in his Ivy League college. And now he was trying to prove that he could take a custom car shop and turn it into one of the biggest companies in the world—that he belonged in the same places as those men with old money and family ties.
He pulled up to The Head Shed to find that it looked like an older version of the place he had known as a boy. The sign had faded, the awning on the front needed to be replaced, and the whole place just looked tired. Colt mentally calculated how much the outside repair would cost. That was the first rule he had learned as a business owner: If it’s not enticing, nobody will want it.
He did his research last night. The casino was just eleven miles outside of town. Now that the mine wasn’t the only attraction, they could pull in more tourists. But this place had to be less of a hair salon and more of an experience. Just like with King’s Customs. Duke thought he just fixed up cars, but he actually created art. Colt made it possible for the world to see that, and he could do that again with The Head Shed. He was going to have to bring in new streams of revenue. Possibly bring in a consultant from one of the high-end Vegas casinos. There was actually a lot he could do with the town of Destiny to make it profitable, he thought as he looked at the dusty street the beauty parlor was located on. It could be lined with trendy cafés and higher-end boutiques. He could turn the old factory into a family-friendly attraction. He could buy the motel and make it something special. There was so much that could be done with this little dying town. All it would take was somebody with money, imagination, and the skills to do it. He could be that man.
The Bad Boy CEO Page 3
