He laced his fingers through mine and led me through the clubhouse, but not to the exit. Instead, he took me down the hallway toward his bedroom. “We’ll crash here tonight,” he explained.
I swallowed. “We?”
With his free hand, he reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, his thumb lingering on my jaw. “Yeah. We.”
“I don’t know if I’m ready, Colt. For all this. For you.”
His thumb moved to the center of my chin. “You’ve got the tiniest cleft.” He smiled slightly. “It was the first thing I noticed when you came to me at Dive Bar. Not your eyes, not your mouth. Not your gorgeous legs in those tight as fuck jeans. No. I noticed the cleft. And then you saw me in the alleyway, and instead of calling the cops, you let it be. I knew you were special.”
I tilted my head back to stare into his languid brown eyes.
“I thought this woman isn’t afraid of me and can handle my life. Even when I saw you on the steps of my garage, with your injured wrist and scratches on your face, you didn’t look beaten down. Is that woman truly scared of what a man can make her feel?”
“I’m not ready to be owned by feelings.”
“Mia.” He sighed. “You don’t think it’s a one-way street, do you?”
He dropped my hand and placed it on my waist as he pushed me against the door of his room. His lips came down on mine, hungry and dangerous. I no longer cared about anything except Colt.
Colt lifted his head. “You own me. I’m yours for the taking.”
My tongue darted out to sweep across my lips. I could taste him and it only made me greedy for all of him.
We had so much in common and it made us understand one another. When you were marred by grief and loss, touched by darkness, only another person who’d gone through the same thing could understand.
“I’m not gonna force you into anything. Just know that I want you.”
He stared at me and waited. I bit my lip, letting him see my indecision. Was I really going to turn away a man who made me feel alive? Who reminded me that I hadn’t died with Grammie? That life was more than just a shitty job at a bar and forgotten dreams?
I brushed past him and turned the knob of his bedroom door. We stepped into his room and Colt flipped on the light.
A naked woman rested in the middle of Colt’s bed, legs spread, all on display, her hand trailing down her body. I wondered if it was the same woman I’d overheard in the hallway.
“Colt,” she purred. “I’ve been waiting for you.” Her glassy eyes darted to me. “Wanna join us?”
I was about to bolt, but Colt’s grip on my arm stopped me. “Get out,” he snapped at her.
She closed her legs and managed to sit up, shiny brown locks trailing over a breast. She stood, not caring that she was nude. The woman bent over and shimmied into her tight skirt and low-cut tank. Sauntering past us in a wave of perfume, she gave Colt a lingering look before leaving. But the ghost of her presence remained.
“Let go of my arm,” I breathed.
He paused a moment and then released me.
“So that’s what you meant when you said these parties get wild?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“Were you planning to—with her, I mean?”
“Seriously,” he barked. “I just got done telling you you’re all I want. You really think I had a backup plan in mind if you told me no?”
Colt took a step toward me so he could reach out and haul my body to his. I felt how much he wanted me, and all my fears of inadequacy faded.
“I’m not going to be one of those women,” I said slowly.
“What are you talking about?”
“I won’t turn a blind eye when her man fucks around. I won’t have it, Colt.”
His smile was slow. “All right, babe. No fucking around. Promise.”
“And I’m not sleeping on those sheets.”
Colt leaned down to kiss me. “There’s a clean set in the bottom dresser drawer.” His hands dropped, and he took a step toward the door.
“Where are you going?”
He looked back at me, his eyes glittering. “To have words.”
I somehow managed to change the sheets even with my bum wrist and then went into Colt’s private bathroom to freshen up. I finger brushed my teeth and gargled with mouthwash. An hour passed and Colt still hadn’t returned. I got up off the bed and went to a dresser drawer to find one of his T-shirts to sleep in. I flipped on a bedside lamp and then turned out the main light. The sounds of the party were muted, but every now and then I could hear someone laugh.
I fell asleep, my face pressed into Colt’s pillow. Sometime in the middle of the night, I felt him slide into bed next to me. He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me against him. I turned my head and his lips captured mine. His tongue swept inside my mouth. I sighed, loving the hard feel of him at my back.
He brushed the hair off my neck and pressed a kiss to my nape before hugging me tighter.
Morning light filtered through the small window of the clubhouse bedroom. I was nestled against Colt, his large hand cupping my breast.
Warm lips grazed my collarbone that peeked out from Colt’s T-shirt. “Mornin’,” he whispered. His brown eyes were dark and clear, his stubble thick.
I rolled over so I could face him. There was something intimate about this morning. Maybe because we cleared the air last night and some of my concerns had been addressed. I didn’t know how any of this was going to go, but Colt had promised me fidelity.
“I don’t remember you coming to bed.”
“I was only gone an hour and a half,” he said in amusement. “You couldn’t even stay awake long enough to wait for me.”
“Adrenaline dump. I was wiped. What were you doing?” I asked.
“I was getting Bianca out of the clubhouse. And then I made an announcement that my room is now off limits. And I got pulled into club shit and had a few beers with the guys.”
My arms enveloped his neck and I slipped my leg between his, feeling his erection against me.
His hands wormed their way into the front of my underwear so he could stroke bare skin. “I like you in my shirt.”
Colt’s fingers splayed across my flesh, igniting my desire. I rolled into him, forcing him onto his back. He hauled me on top of him so I could straddle his waist. His chest was uncovered, and my eyes greedily drank in the artwork on him.
“You’re beautiful,” I said softly. I leaned down to press my lips against his left pectoral, my mouth covering the two sets of numbers over his heart.
I had a guess for what they meant—the dates of his parents’ deaths.
“I need to see you,” he whispered, his hands grabbing the bottom of the T-shirt and slowly pulling it up over my head.
I sat astride him, topless, in the morning sunlight. His brown eyes were hooded with desire and his hands reached out to caress my aching breasts.
“Christ,” he muttered, his fingers twisting my nipples into hard points. “I knew once I saw these I’d be done for.”
I laughed softly. “Are you a breast man? Or an ass man?”
One hand slid away from my breast to press against the small of my back while the other gently grabbed my hair to tug me toward his mouth.