“Come on, tell us who she is,” Duncan demanded.
“And where you met her,” Maverick added.
“And does she have a friend or a sister?” Lincoln asked, and watched Amber glare haughtily back at him. At least she wasn’t glaring daggers Colt’s way any longer.
He fed them a bone that still gave them nothing. “No one you know. I would appreciate it if we could get the matters at hand under control. I’m leaving, and won’t be back until Monday.”
If anything, those morons laughed it up harder. Colt figured, with this bunch, he would take off until Monday. It was an additional day off the job but at this point, he figured: fuck it. To Amber, he said, “I’m out. You want to run things so bad, have at it. You’re an Anderson, after all. You want to see if you can run this place all by your lonesome, now’s your chance.”
“Oh, don’t go away mad.” Maverick laughed when Colt stood up, ready to leave.
“Come on, Colt. Sit. We’ll quit,” Noah said, staring down the rest of the bunch. Then again, he was the most level-headed of the group, next to Colt. But it was because he had to be, with his boys.
“Is there a reason you don’t want us to know who she is?” Lincoln asked, rather perplexed.
“Yeah, are you ashamed of us or something?” Duncan asked.
“Probably worried one of us will try to steal her out from under him,” Maverick stated.
That was part of it, but not all of it, not by a long shot. The thing was, Colt wanted to continue being just a man with Avery, with no hint of his family fortune clouding the issue. Because the moment she discovered his wealth, she would look at him differently. Money changed things. It always did. Instead of looking at him with warmth and need in her eyes, she’d look at him and see dollar signs.
Before he made any introductions or admitted his omission, he had to understand precisely on what ground their relationship stood upon. He had to discover if—and it was a really big if—there was a chance of any type of future, of continuing the relationship past next Friday.
“I’m not going to tell you who she is or where she is at, so you may as well give up on asking about it. Yes, I am seeing someone. No, I’m not telling you who or making introductions anytime soon. I would ask that you respect my privacy on this. If I wanted to tell you about her, I would. But right now, I don’t, so drop it, or we’re done here.”
It was Emmett who nodded with understanding in his gaze and spoke first. “I get it, Colt. When my relationship with Grace first began, I wanted to keep her all to myself. Hell, away from the rest of the world even. That’s part of how you know it’s right.”
“We’ll back off.” Lincoln held up his hands in surrender.
“Tell us when you’re ready.” Noah shrugged like it was no big deal.
“All right, now, back to the business at hand. Amber, if you would.” Colt gestured to his sister, ready to get this meeting over with and head out. He was leaving tonight, tacking on an extra day, and would not return until Monday. His mind was already made up. His window of time with Avery was shrinking by the minute. And it made him feel like a caged, rabid bear.
He wanted to deny his friends’ comments. Refute that he was sunk where Avery was concerned.
Deep down, though, it concerned him greatly. She made him feel things, an entire gamut of emotions, from wanting to throttle her for her recklessness, to exasperation, to joy, to feeling like he would perish in flames if he didn’t take her to bed and have her this second.
He had feelings for her, for the absent-minded, free-spirited scientist with the killer body and gregarious smile. He just didn’t know what to do with them. In record time, she had infiltrated his world, and now he was having trouble imagining his life without her in it.
10
When Colt appeared on Avery’s doorstep that evening, armed with a duffel bag and more groceries, she couldn’t stop herself. The moment he set the shopping bags on the kitchen table, she flung herself into his arms and kissed him. She twined her arms around his neck and poured her newly discovered feelings into her kiss.
Then she lifted her mouth from his, and smiled. “Hi, I’m glad you made it back. And you picked up more groceries, I see.”
“Hi yourself. I could get used to being greeted this way. And yeah, I did. We were running low on a few things. It’s not a big deal,” he replied, his hands stroking up and down her back. It made her feel like a cat, and she wanted to purr at the delicious sensation. Nor had she missed that he had categorized them as a we—not you, not I, but we were running low.
“And you brought a big overnight bag. Looks like you’re moving in.” She was all for that, and tickled over it.
“Until Monday morning, I am, or is that a problem? I know you said the weekend, but I figured what’s one more day?” He released her and began taking the groceries out of the bags.
“Really?” she breathed. Her heart tripped over in her chest as she started helping him. This would give them three solid days together, and four whole nights. It was more than she had thought she would get. It was an unexpected gift, the extra slice of time with her cowboy.
“Yep. You might even get sick of me by the time Monday rolls around,” he teased as they unpacked groceries.
“Not possible, but… oh my gosh, you bought me chocolate cupcakes.”
“Those are only if you’re very good.” He tugged her back into his arms. She went willingly, amazed that he kept buying her baked goods. She’d told him they were the way to her heart. Was this his subtle way of stating he wanted to win her heart? Bright beams of hope filled her soul. “I’m always good.”
“Uh-huh, Miss I got stuck in a tree and trapped in the cabin by a mountain lion,” Colt teased her, playfully fingering a lock of her hair.
“Hey now, I cannot help it that situations like that just seem to happen to me.”
“I’ve never known anyone to attract dangerous situations like that, one right after another. And then there was knocking your boot into the stream and falling in.”
“You’re forgetting the positive benefits of each situation, and the amazing sex that happened after each of those incidents. And they happened to me because I’m one of a kind.”
“I’ve forgotten nothing, Avery. The way you looked in that stream in your white bra and panties after your dowsing will fuel my fantasies for years to come.”
Her heart stuttered in her chest at the intense way he gazed into her eyes. Drawn to him, she leaned up on her toes and brushed her mouth against his, enjoying his sexy stubble as it grazed her flesh and tingled on her lips. She broke the kiss and asked, “So, what do I have to do to get a cupcake?”
His gaze smoldered with wicked intent. She arched a brow.
“We’re going to try a bit of submissive training 101 this weekend.”
“We are, huh?” Her belly quivered at the thought.
“Yep. I intend to discover what your limits are before the weekend is up. Plan to have you bound and naked for my pleasure, where I will figure out how many times I can make you climax in a night.”
Her sex clenched and she had to clear her throat. “Well, then, I’m glad I have chicken marinating in the fridge that we can grill for dinner. I’m going to need the protein, apparently.”