Colt smiled. Zanna could tell that it was a struggle, that he didn’t want to, but he couldn’t help himself and that was one of the reasons she couldn’t stay away from him. She wanted to unlock more of that man inside him. “You always talked too damn much.”
He shrugged. “It’s part of my charm. I’m going to go get some sleep, but I want to take Shelly to see Crimson Rock tonight. You guys should come with us. It’ll be a good time.”
“What’s going on between you and Shelly? I saw the way you looked at her in the salon.”
“What’s going on between you and Zanna?” Levi countered. “I saw all the clothes you left on the kitchen floor.”
Colt didn’t say anything, but it was a good question, one Zanna wanted to know the answer to herself.
She didn’t want to be one of those women who analyzed things to death, but she did want to know what he’d been thinking about last night.
She wasn’t expecting love from him, or anything serious for that matter; she just wanted to know if last night was something out of ordinary for him, or if lovemaking like that was commonplace.
“You want to go with them, Zanna?” Colt asked her, breaking her from her thoughts.
“Yeah. Sounds like fun.”
“We’ll go to dinner at Nino’s. The place we could never afford when we used to live here.”
“You don’t own it, do you?” Zanna asked him, teasing.
“Not yet. We’ll see how the evening goes.”
“Good-bye you two.” Levi waved at them. “Clean up after yourselves next time.”
Zanna started picking up her clothes as soon as he left, but Colt stopped her and pulled her into his arms. “What did he whisper in your ear?”
He was jealous. It was stupid and lovely at the same time. She looped her arms around his neck and pressed herself against him. “He said that you might like to wear my panties sometimes and that I shouldn’t be alarmed and to go with it.”
“Liar.” He kissed behind her ear.
“How do you feel about thongs? You’ve got a good ass. I think you could really pull one off.”
“Zanna,” he grumbled.
“He’s your brother. You know he wasn’t hitting on me.”
“In theory I know that. I just don’t like anyone touching anything that belongs to me.”
“Are you this possessive with every girl you sleep with or is it just me?”
“Only the girls who point guns at me.”
She looked up at him, fingering his uneven hair. “I’ve got to finish this haircut.”
He ran his lips across hers. “Do it at the salon. You know what happened the last time we attempted.”
“That was your fault. I think you planned it.”
“I would do it again. I am going to do it again.”
“So last night wasn’t just one night?”
He shook his head. “No, but I’m only here for another week.”
“And then you go back to your routine and I go back to mine.”
“King’s Customs isn’t just my business, it’s my life. I need to get back to my life.”
She nodded, understanding that. Colt worked. Nonstop. It was who he was. And this was just a little fling. Colt wasn’t the kind of man she needed anyway. Poor girls who were born on reservations didn’t end up with millionaire CFOs.
“We have a week.” He kissed her slowly. “I intend to make it a good one.”
*
Crimson Rock Canyon was about twenty miles outside Destiny. With huge cliffs and peaks that soared over eight thousand feet, it was a rock climber’s paradise. It was also the perfect place to bring a girl if you wanted to be alone with her. Colt had come here a couple of times when he was a teenager. But tonight he had Zanna by his side and she was wearing a dress. A light-blue dress the color of the morning sky. Her legs were bare and looked so inviting peeking out beneath the hem. All he had to do was slide his hands up her legs and push her underwear aside before he could sink into her. But that was going to be impossible tonight because they weren’t alone. Not really anyway. Levi had rented three souped-up off-roading jeeps. One for Duke and Grace. One for Levi and Shelly, and one for him and Zanna.
This used to be a make-out spot for them, but it felt entirely different being here with his family. It wasn’t a bad feeling. He watched Duke watch his son scramble up a rock. He couldn’t see the expression on his brother’s face, but he could tell by the way he held himself that he was going through something.
“It’s weird for you to have a nephew, isn’t it?” Zanna asked as she slipped her fingers between his.
Holding hands was weird for him. It was different and he realized that it was something he liked, feeling her smaller hand locked with his. It wasn’t something he had done with other women; it wasn’t something they’d even attempted with him. But Zanna was different. She held his hand. She pushed his buttons. She touched him without thought.
There wasn’t another woman out there like her. “It’s not weirder for me than it is for Duke. I’d still be trying to nail Grace’s ass to the wall. I can’t imagine what it must feel like not to know that there was a little piece of you walking around leaving an imprint on the world.”
“Maybe Grace was afraid that Duke wouldn’t have wanted him.”
“He would have wanted his son.”
“I’m sure Grace had her reasons for not telling him.”
“And maybe she’ll let us in on them one day, but right now it’s their business.”
“I think they’re going to get back together.”
“You sound so sure of yourself.” He looked over at her as she gazed out at the quickly darkening sky.
“She’s in love with him.”
“How do you know?”
“I know when a woman is in love with a man, Colt,” she said softly. He knew better than to read into her words. He was horrified when a woman he was casually seeing told him she was in love with him. But he didn’t think he would be horrified if Zanna told him. In fact he thought he might like it. To be loved by her didn’t seem so bad at all.
“Do you know when a man is in love with a woman?”
“He’s in love with her and you’re going to be an uncle again. Mark my words, there’s going to be a whole new generation of King kids terrorizing people.”
He was comfortable with the idea. He had built King’s Customs for his family. To restore their name. It would only be fitting to have more than one generation enjoy it.
“Do you think you want kids, Colt?”
“I never thought about it. I work. I work too much to be there for them. My father wasn’t there for us, and I couldn’t do that to my son. Do you want kids?”
“I do.” Her voice sounded wistful. “I didn’t used to, because my mama was so shitty to me. I thought I might be like her, but I’m not and I would like to have something of my own to love and take care of and make happy.” She laughed at herself. “That sounds so corny and if you tell anybody I said that, I’ll shoot you for real.”
It wasn’t corny and he could see her as a mother. He could see her loving. She deserved that. She deserved to be happy. “You should have that one day.”
“Ryder, you put that down,” they heard Grace scream as she hid behind Duke.
“It’s just a little lizard, Grace.” Duke laughed and wrapped his arm around her as their son came at them dangling a lizard between his fingers. “Boy, if you put that lizard on me, you won’t live to see your next birthday.”
“Maybe I’ll get a cat instead,” Zanna said with a laugh. “Cats are good.”
*
Colt rested his head on Zanna’s chest. She could tell it was more than moving in his sleep. He was wide awake and had been for hours. He’d had been slightly restless last night, never seeming to find true comfort while he slept. He should have been exhausted after keeping her busy in bed all night. But before that they had a great evening, driving in the desert followed by a long dinner with his family. Ever
y time she was with all of them she found herself sitting back and just taking it all in. She had her girls at the salon, but it had been a long time since she’d been with a family. Bruno had always surrounded himself with friends, with people, but they had never felt like a family. She never sensed bonds among them like she did with the King boys. It was nice because even though she was an outsider, even though she knew that being with all of them like this was going to come to an end soon, she felt like part of the gang.
And it made her almost hollow. It was as if she missed it already and it hadn’t gone away yet.
She ran her fingers through his curls. She had cut his hair yesterday at the salon, but not as short as she should have and purely for selfish reasons. She liked his hair, liked how it felt between her fingers. Liked how his curls looked when they were damp from the shower. “You didn’t sleep well,” she said to him. “You were moving around a lot.”
“I’m sorry.” He kissed between her breasts. “Did I wake you?”
“No, but I am a little miffed at you.”
“Why?” He looked up at her with those probing blue eyes of his, the ones that never failed to make her stomach feel funny.
“I felt kind of boneless after we had sex last night. I obviously didn’t have the same effect on you.”
“I don’t do this.” He rested his hand on her thigh. “I don’t stay the night. I don’t sleep in beds that aren’t my own, but I’m here.”
“Oh.” She didn’t know what to say to that. All she knew was that it kind of stung. “You don’t have to be here if you don’t want to. I didn’t ask you to stay.”
“I want to be here. That’s my point. I want to spend my nights with you.” He paused. “It’s annoying.”
Oh hell, he was sweet. In his own grumpy sort of way, but he was sweet and it made her want him all the more. She stroked his cheek. “I think I might miss you when you go,” she admitted, knowing she shouldn’t have. Knowing that it was one step closer to admitting she had deeper feelings for him than she wanted to.
“We still have this week. You probably won’t miss me by the end of it.” He went to rest his head on her chest again, but she caught his face between her hands so that she could see into his eyes.
“Let me miss you, okay? Don’t try to make me mad and ruin it. I want to miss you.”
He sat up then, his brow furrowed as he looked at her. She had no clue what he was thinking, but she didn’t care because she wasn’t going to take back what she’d said. She wanted to miss him. She’d never wanted to miss a man before; she’d never had a reason to miss any of them before. They had always hurt her too much.
His cell phone rang. It was just before six AM, which was late for him. Before he’d started sleeping with her he was usually up and working at this hour. He looked at his phone and back at her, seeming unsure of whether he should pick up.
The fact that he hesitated a little made her feel good. “Go ahead.” She gave him permission. “It might be important.”
He grabbed his phone off the dresser. “What do you need, Cedric?”
“We need you to come back, sir.”
“I told you when I was expected back. I thought you could handle things while I was gone.”
“We’re running into building permit problems in California with our expansion projects, and the deal in Henderson will not go through without you. The owner wants a meeting with you before he agrees to sell.”
“We’ve been dealing with him for three months. Make it happen. I don’t care what you have to do, I want that shop.”
“I can’t make this one happen, sir. He wants to speak to you.”
Colt went quiet for a split second and Zanna could feel the dread filling her. It was dread more than sadness. She knew he was going home. She knew he had his life to return to, but she was planning on another week. She needed that week to prepare herself for his departure, because she was sure that once he left he was never coming back.
“Fine. Set up a meeting. I’ll be back today.” He hung up and immediately called his assistant to arrange for a private plane to pick him up at the airstrip in the next town and a driver to meet him when he landed in Vegas. Colt was usually all business, but Zanna could hear the change in his voice. She could see his body go stiffer, see the way he held himself tighter. He was morphing back into Colt King, head of the King Empire. He wasn’t the man who spent the night in bed with his arms wrapped around her. He really was the boss and he was important to more than just her.
He put his phone down after a few more minutes of talking to his assistant. “I’ve got to go back.”
She sat up and nodded. Grabbing his face, she pulled him close and kissed him. But it wasn’t like their normal kisses, the ones that heated her up and made her want to pull him on top of her so she could feel him slide deep inside. It was just as deep, but it was softer, slower, and he didn’t kiss her back. He sat there and let himself be kissed with everything she had. She didn’t know why, but it was the right thing for him to do. It was like he knew she needed to get it out.
She hugged him close then, running her fingers through the messy curls that she had come to love.
“What are you doing?” Colt asked her.
“What do you think I’m doing, jackass? I’m saying good-bye.”
“I want the rest of my week.”
“But you’re leaving.” She lifted her chin off his shoulder and blinked at him.
“You’re coming with me.” He kissed that spot under her ear that made her lose all common sense.
“You mean to tell me you’re asking me to drop what I’m doing, cancel all my appointments, and follow you to Vegas for a week?”
“I’m not asking you to come.” He ran his fingers through her hair as he peppered kisses down the side of her neck. “I’m telling you that I’m not done with you yet. I’m telling you I want you with me.”
I’m not done with you yet. Yet. That word stuck in her head, because she knew he would be done with her soon. She was starting to fall in love with him and he would just be done with her one day. She’d known going in that whatever it was that they were doing was going to have an expiration date. She knew this was ending soon and it was going to hurt her when it did. She should say no. Get it over with. Break away before an extra week with him caused her to fall deeper. It would just be easier.
“So when you’re done with me, you’re just planning to throw me away like a snotty tissue.”
“I don’t want to talk about being done.” He slid his hand down to her breast, cupping it in his large warm hand. “I just want to be with you. Okay?”
“Okay,” she breathed and knew when the week was over, losing him was going to hurt like hell. But she didn’t care, because no man had ever made her feel like this. So wanted. So good.
“You’re being sweet to me,” he said just before he took her mouth. “I’m not sure I know how to take it.”
She pinched his side hard, causing him to yelp out in pain.
“Ouch, damn it.”
“Is that better? Don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”
He grinned at her and pinned her to the bed. “You’re going to pay for that.”
“Really?” She wrapped her legs around him. “I’m looking forward to it.”
*
“This doesn’t look like a plane, Colt.” Zanna grabbed his hand as they boarded his private jet. She stopped just beyond the door, nearly frozen in place as she stared at the plane’s interior. He had been in this jet so many times that he never paid much attention to his surroundings, but he realized that for somebody seeing it for the first time it was luxurious. A huge contrast from the tiny house they had just left and the small dusty town it was in.
“It is a plane. I promise you.” He tugged her hand, pulling her a little farther inside.
“It looks like a house. You’ve got a couch, recliners, and a flat-screen TV. I could live in here. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so clean.” She let go
of his hand and struggled to remove her shoe.
“What are you doing?”
“I don’t want to mess up the carpet. It’s cream-colored and looks brand new.”
“You don’t have to take off your shoes unless you’re doing it to be comfortable, and you don’t have to worry about messing up the carpet. I swear I won’t charge you a cleaning fee.”
“This is your personal plane.” She froze again, one shoe in her hand. “You didn’t rent it?”
“It belongs to King’s Customs. Sometimes Levi uses it when he has to make an appearance overseas. Duke won’t step foot in it. Says it’s a waste of money.”
“How much does a private jet run these days?”
“You don’t want to know, but it’s worth it to me and much easier than flying commercial.”
“I’ve only been on a plane once.” She slipped off her other shoe and walked away from him, dropping them so that she could run her hand over the leather seats. “It took me two hours to get through security and then I was stuck for five hours between a rather large man and a woman with a rambunctious two-year-old on her lap. If you don’t have to go through that every time you want to fly, I think whatever you have to pay is worth it.” She crossed to the other side and smoothed her hands over the couch. “Can I lie on this?”
“You can do whatever you want, Zanna.”
“Am I being a total goober?” She grinned bashfully at him. “You can tell me to shut up.”
He didn’t want her to shut up. He liked her chatter. He liked the excitement in her eyes when they’d first pulled up to the airstrip. She was so unlike any of the women he had dated, who were used to the best, were impressed by nothing, and expected everything. Zanna didn’t expect anything. In fact she seemed happy just being with him. He had never experienced that before. With anybody. He almost didn’t want to trust her, but he did.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been on anything so soft.” She lay down on the couch, rubbing her face against the velvety leather. He always found her beautiful, but right now in her bright-green sundress that bunched up around her thighs, her bare feet, with her thick hair spread out behind her, there was a sort of earthiness to her that he found more than beautiful. He couldn’t find the right words to describe what he was feeling in that moment. “Come here.” She opened her arms to him.
The Bad Boy CEO Page 15
