He was going with her. Avery was no longer alone. He was her penguin. He had to be, with the way he made her feel.
And then he surprised her by rising and pulling her up into his arms. She giggled. “Where are we going?”
“Inside, where I plan to ravish you the rest of the night.”
“But the meteor shower?”
“Doesn’t hold a candle to having you in my arms. Unless you really want to stay out here.” He gave her the option of backing out, of staying outside and watching the display.
“I have cameras recording everything. We can watch it later.”
“That’s my girl,” he said, and carried her inside, where he did exactly as he promised. Twice.
13
On Monday morning, Colt slipped from Avery’s bed and dressed quietly in the dark. He’d kept her up late, and wanted to let her sleep. For a minute, he watched her. Her hair was spread out over the pillow, a dark slash against the pale blue. She was naked beneath the covers, and he wished he could stay. But if he had any hope of working out a way to head off to Bermuda with her, he had to go put some time in today, start rearranging things so he could go with her.
Tenderly, he brushed the strand of hair lying innocuously across her face, and lightly kissed her forehead.
Then, as silently as possible, he grabbed his bag, his rifle—that he’d remembered to bring in last night only after loving her boneless—shoved his Stetson on his head, and left the cabin. It had been their sanctuary over the last few days, and he was sorry to see it come to an end. But time, ever the fickle bitch, had marched ahead.
Colt arrived home just as the sun was cresting the horizon and bathing the world in golden light. He entered through the kitchen and was drawn up short.
Amber stood at the counter in workout gear, with a cup of coffee in her hand. The moment her gaze, so similar to his, landed on him, she smiled like the Cheshire cat.
“Well, look what the cat dragged in. How was your weekend?” She quirked a dark brow.
“Good. How did everything go around here?”
“Smooth. Didn’t even have to call the sheriff.”
Colt poured a cup of coffee for himself and said, “So I’m not going to get reports from other departments about issues this weekend?”
“I didn’t say that. I handled it. You know as well as I do that in the world of hospitality, something always, always goes wrong. What I will do to assuage your curiosity is make sure you have the report I typed up last night on your desk as soon as I get into the office.” She shook her head and strode past him toward the stairs.
He sighed. This wasn’t how he wanted things between them. “Amber, wait.”
She swiveled around and shot him a drop-dead glare.
“Thank you for covering for me this weekend. I really needed the time away. And if its not too much trouble, in about a week, if I can get the schedule under control for you to take the reins, I’d like to take two weeks off.”
“You what? You, take that much time off? Are you serious?” she asked, her eyes wide with shock.
“Yeah,” he said with a self-deprecating laugh, because he knew he was a stick in the mud, but he was all for changing that, starting now.
“Hello, what have you done with my brother? Is this an invasion of the body snatchers type of deal? Did you get a lobotomy? What brought about this change?”
Avery, he thought. It was all Avery. “Does it matter?”
“It’s the woman you’ve been seeing, isn’t it? She’s the reason behind the change in you. I’ve got to say, Colt, that it’s about damn time.”
“Brat.” He rolled his eyes at her.
“Jerk,” she teased. She waltzed over and hugged him. “I love you, you know. And if this woman makes you happy, then go for it. This place will run just fine without you.”
“Love you too, Amber.” He hugged her back. “I’m going to change my clothes and head into the office.”
“I’ll be there after I’ve had a chance to shower. And we can sit down, go over the schedule, and work some magic so you can take that vacation.” Amber kissed his cheek and let him go.
“See you there,” he replied, heading to his bedroom.
Colt felt lighter now that he had cleared the biggest hurdle. His friends would tease him over it, but he didn’t care. Not when it meant he got to spend two uninterrupted weeks with Avery. It would be two more weeks of getting to know each other, and he figured by the end of his stay with her in Bermuda, he’d have a keener insight into her feelings. That was when he would inform her that he owned the ranch.
And then they would see; he would gauge her response to the news before asking for a deeper commitment. Because he believed, deep down, that Avery could be it for him. The excitement, the passion, the life she had breathed into his days had to mean something. The connection was too deep, too vivid, for it to be a mere passing fling. He rubbed his chest; she did something to him with her smile and her nature.
He could even see how it could be. They would make the ranch their home base. He would travel with her when she was going to be away for extended periods. They could make it work. Avery certainly seemed like she wanted a chance with him. And she couldn’t know just how much the way she looked at him with no dollar signs present meant to him, did for his soul, even.
On his way into the ranch, as he stared at the land, and the cattle, the stables beyond the main building, Colt realized that as much as he loved this place, it was just a place. It didn’t hold a candle to what Avery made him feel.
From the moment he arrived in his office, he was bombarded with calls, and issues that needed to be dealt with immediately. So much for having time to schedule a vacation today, he thought, as he walked from one problem in housekeeping to an issue in the kitchens.
But in the back of his mind, as the day wore on, and he and his sister kept missing each other because of how busy they were, he believed that they would make it work. It might just take a day or two to get everything ironed out.
When Avery rose that morning, she almost tap danced out of bed. Colt had promised to come with her to Bermuda. Over coffee and the last bagel, she emailed Gary and Fred, the pilots for the Lear jet, the slight change to the itinerary for her trip to Bermuda. They would have to fly her from Houston up here to Winter Park to pick Colt up, and then they could head from Winter Park to Bermuda. She added a caveat that she was waiting on firm dates for the return to Winter Park, but would provide them with those as soon as she had them.
She had every confidence in the pilots to file the proper flight plans and take care of all the necessary work on that end.
Mid-morning, Avery received a text message that her courier had landed in Winter Park and was on the way to the cabin. Pleased with all her progress, she dressed for the day in her last clean pair of jeans and panties and made the decision to get a load of laundry started. She just had to remind herself to switch the load over to the dryer once it was done in the washer. With her propensity to forget what she was doing, she could end up forgetting it altogether and leave the clothes in there until the following day.
While the washing machine was working away and she was waiting for the courier, she checked her emails. She responded to one from Brody at NASA. There was one from her grandmother asking her where she would be for the holidays this year because she would very much like to have Christmas with Avery. She pressed a palm to her belly. With any luck, she hoped that she would be spending it with Colt, right here in Colorado.