Colton (Found by You Book 7)

by Victoria H. Smith

  Ripples expanded into large liquid circles in my Olympic-sized pool, but soon enough, a head popped out of them. A body followed, shimmering and wet as it broke the surface.

  Cami swam the length of the pool, her head rising and falling out of the water as she did some kind of stroke, and Jesse and I watched her. She did two entire full laps before pulling herself out of the water by the handrails.

  Wide hips surfaced then, swaying with every step she took out of the pool. Two polished fingernails pushed into the bottoms of her bikini, sliding along the hem to adjust around two of the roundest globes.

  Jesse sucked in a breath through his teeth. “That ain’t Madison or Skylar,” he said, watching Cami’s ass move. Her back to us, she pushed her hands down a dark, wavy braid on her shoulder. Jesse squeezed my shoulder. “They’re the only two you let stay the night. I still don’t get how you juggle all these females.”

  I cringed at the statement, but even still, I couldn’t take my eyes off Cami, moving in to get beside Jesse. She grabbed a towel now, dipping down…

  I blinked. “We’re not exclusive,” I told him, referencing the two women he referred to, but he was right about one thing: they were the only women I let stay over. They were the only two who never made a thing of it and didn’t go bragging to the press they were screwing a basketball player. For all intents and purposes, I was technically dating Madison and Skylar, dating and they both knew about each other so it wasn’t a thing.

  “And they both know that,” I reminded him. “I’m not a pig.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Whatever,” he said, waving me off. He hadn’t blinked yet and surely wouldn’t as Cami finished her towel’s rotation over shapely legs, her skin toned and a rich copper brown. I never asked her, but assumed she was a mixture of races, and whatever they were left her more honeyed and golden than the best tan.

  “Who is she?” Jesse continued, and it was like a switch went off. She was Cami.

  She was Cami—my assistant.

  “Christ,” I breathed, grabbing his arm. “Get the fuck out of the window.”

  Jesse’s eyes widened as I pulled at his t-shirt. “What the hell, Colt? What—”

  But it was too late, as a set of deep brown eyes connected with ours, and even from this distance, how shocked they were was evident. Cami’s mouth opening, I assumed a gasp fell from her lips that couldn’t be heard because I was up here and she was down there. She shoved that towel against her front, fleeing the scene, and a fist went to Jesse’s lips.

  A bark of a laugh seeped out. “Holy shit! That was Cami? Colton, that was Cami? Holy shit!”

  Holy shit was right, and the conversation she and I just had after I escorted her here from her apartment brewed to the surface.

  “I’ll keep out of your way,” she’d said, being her ridiculous self. “But would it be too much trouble if I used your pool in the mornings? I usually swim at the YWCA.”

  I cut her off after that, knowing I paid her way too much money for her to be working out at the damn Y. I had chuckled then, telling her no problem, but even still, she wanted to work out a schedule for when she swam. In the end, she settled on 6:00 AM.

  It must have been 6:00 AM.

  *

  Cami

  Yeah, this wasn’t going to work, not at all, and the fact I currently didn’t know the whereabouts of my purse made this whole thing just damn golden.

  Find it. Find it, get your stuff, and get out.

  But the thoughts proved to be a feat in themselves. I had at least five boxes of stuff, and the fact that the purse was missing in action made the concept of leaving even less of an option. I tore my room up, a beautiful one really. Colton put me up in one that overlooked the basketball and tennis courts. A luxurious garden view surrounded it.

  Too bad it was all short-lived.

  I ripped apart the bedroom, tossing sheets and throw pillows before thinking I might have left my purse in the closet. I’d been in there practically all night, organizing and unpacking the empty boxes, and that made me feel even more of a fool. One would think I was nesting with him or something when this arrangement was supposed to be temporary.

  That had been your first mistake, saying yes.

  There had been no reason to agree to all this. Yes, I needed a place to stay, and yes, he offered space at his home to me at no cost, but those had all been reasons to say no. Not only would I be staying here in this house, but I’d be staying with Colton—my boss Colton. He was my employer who I’d found in this very place, choking half naked in his own vomit. The images still burned and were a direct contrast to how he came at me yesterday. He’d been himself and seemingly normal, but he couldn’t be, not after that.

  He couldn’t possibly be after… after…

  I fell to the closet floor, chewing my lip. I needed to get out of here, but my purse clearly wasn’t in the room. Odds were I left it on his kitchen counter or something. I did that at home all the time, but going downstairs wasn’t an option. Not with him and Jesse Staring-All-Up-In-My-Business Michaels downstairs. Deciding to wait it out, I repacked up the closet, filling those boxes that should have never been emptied. That killed an hour or so before I decided to handle some other Colton business. Joe, his agent, had emailed me his list of events just this morning, and I hadn’t gotten to that yet.

  Mostly because the lack of planned events was disheartening. I assumed his schedule would go right back to what it had been after being cleared for thirty days. He lost so much because of what happened and probably hadn’t even been told that. That was Joe’s job I guess. Not mine.

  After a couple hours, my gaze flickered to the elapsed time, and I groaned, snapping the laptop shut. This was dumb. I was going downstairs, getting my purse, and then would be telling Colton I’d find other arrangements. He’d understand. I stressed privacy and clearly didn’t have that even after requesting I have access to the pool at a designated time. I had been more than reasonable about that too since it had been so early.

  I got dressed after my shower and ended up choosing Capri khakis and low-heeled pumps before opening the bedroom door and slipping out of it. Sneaking down the marble-tiled hallway, I quickly realized the heels had been a lapse in judgment and slid them off. Colton didn’t stay on this side of the house, but still. I wasn’t trying to make a big deal of me leaving.

  I found the kitchen easily, grateful Irene wasn’t there and even more that Colton and Jesse were absent. Dear God, Jesse Michaels. I was sure I’d hear about the little “incident” at the pool soon enough from him. He loved giving me a hard time.

  God, this was such a bad idea. And the frustrations loomed at a bare countertop. I gripped it, tapping my nails for a moment while I thought about the other places my purse could be.

  A crash shot my back up.

  My chin dipped at the sounds again, pots and pans, and I lowered, cracking open the counter doors. A pair of the chubbiest light brown cheeks shined rosy my way, dark eyes and a flourish of short amber curls above it all. The child who owned them gave a toothy grin with only a few teeth, giggling as he held… my missing handbag. He had its contents spilled out and, judging by the back of the counter door, had also been using my lipstick as a crayon. He’d scribbled illegible letters in red, the tube of MAC lipstick still balled up within his tiny fist.

  I frowned. “There’s a little person in here.”

  A baritone snort came from behind me as well as a body that went on for miles when I turned.

  “Nice observation, Cami,” Colton said, traipsing into the kitchen in a pair of black sneakers and shorts, and really, that’s all he wore. His chest bare, he had a t-shirt in hand, beads of an undefinable liquid dotting a body bronzed in color. A fragrance lingering in the air, which was thick and only male, told me he’d come from the shower. His flushed cheeks and the slight rose tint to his skin only gave it away more.

  I rose, silent, as he came around me, shrugging on that shirt to cover his wide body. With a grin, he dipped and th
e child was in his arms. He tossed the boy over his shoulder and his little legs kicked, the most delightful sounds bursting out of him in gleeful wisps.

  “You were supposed to be watching TV with Ms. Irene until I got out of the shower.” Colton laughed, spinning with him.

  “Irene! Irene!” He giggled, reaching, and Irene came into the kitchen, her hand on her chest.

  “Little cutie pie, there you are,” she said, pinching his cheeks. He slid over to her from Colton’s arm and she swung him. “We were playing hide-and-seek,” she cooed. “But this little one hides too well.”

  Colton fell back to the counter. “I could have told you that was a bad idea. The big guy is good at getting away when he doesn’t want to be found,” he said, grabbing him back. He blew one of those air bubbles people do on the boy’s stomach before setting him down on his, what looked to be, tiny Air Jordan’s. “As well as faking right and faking left,” Colton continued, getting low with the child.

  The kid jumped up and down, and the two proceeded to play a game of imaginary basketball, trying to get around each other. Colton squeaked across the tiles of the kitchen like he wasn’t a massive guy in a tiny room, but yeah, the whole thing was kind of cute. Eventually, the little kid found an in, escaping Colton, but I didn’t think that had anything to do with Colton not being able to handle the kid. He let him go, and the boy ran to play around Irene’s legs.

  Colton stood with a smile, and I couldn’t help doing the same.

  “Who is, um,” I said, pointing in the general direction of the little boy. Last I checked, Colton had no kids I knew about.

  Colton found me when he turned. “My nephew. Jackson.” But then his head lowered, and he chewed the inside of his lip. “Sorry. I would have told you he was coming, but didn’t want to bother you. I figured you wouldn’t want me to.”

  After this morning… that had probably been a good call, but still. I would have liked to be prepared. I mean, this was his house, but…

  Yeah, this wasn’t working out. Irene took Jackson by his hand, promising Colton he’d stay put this time. They left the pair of us in the kitchen, and the room felt super crowded despite only the two of us being in it. I busied myself, dipping to gather my purse.

  “Damn,” came from above me. “Sorry about that.”

  Colton’s warm body was suddenly beside me. Reaching out, he slid the longest fingers around the smallest tube of lipstick. He handed it to me, and I grabbed it, pushing my hair behind my ear. “It’s cool.”

  He nodded. “He likes to get into stuff sometimes. Nothing’s ruined, right?”

  “No harm done,” I told him. Though, my tube of Ruby Woo might need refilled. I’d let it go, though. It wasn’t a big deal. “When did he get here?” I asked.

  Colton folded his hands. “Um, about an hour ago? Roxie dropped him off while Jesse and I were scrimmaging on the court. The two of us played with him for a bit before Jesse went home, and I hopped into the shower.”

  “Roxie?” I asked, my interest piquing. “Your sister-in-law?” I had seen her in passing. She and his brother Griffin, her husband, lived out in Miami so I didn’t see them often, but of course, I had heard about them. I’d heard about her and her consulting business.

  “Yeah,” Colton went on. “They flew in so she could meet with a client. I’m hanging out with the little guy until she gets done.”

  “Awesome,” I said, busying myself by shoving the rest of my stuff into my purse. With my haste, Colton shot his hands out to help, probably figuring he should, but his hands were so big he bumped me at every turn.

  His eyes creased with the smile on his lips. “Making this worse, aren’t I?”

  Rather stiffly, I shrugged him off. Things didn’t use to be this way between us, so weird and awkward. I think he noticed it too but wouldn’t say anything about it. He rose when I did and stood there as I pushed the purse’s strap over my arm.

  “Thanks for the help,” I told him before turning, but his hand came out, not on me, but on the counter. He used it to get closer to me, sliding in until he found my eyes.

  I looked up at him, and his smile had wiped away.

  He sighed. “About this morning, Cami—”

  “It’s cool.”

  “No, it’s not. You asked for something. You asked for time, and I forgot. I’m sorry.”

  It came time for me to sigh now, shifting. “I really appreciate the favor of letting me live here. I do, Colton, but…”

  “Good, so there’s no but then,” he said, standing tall.

  But there was a but, a massive one that filled this room to the brim, and I didn’t think it had anything to do with this morning. Some giggles sounded, Jackson in the other room with Irene, and I couldn’t help smiling. Colton did too, and I was reminded of how nice he looked when he did. His whole face lit up, those bright eyes.

  He turned. “Come to lunch with me. We’re meeting Roxie, Jackson and I. We can sit down and…” He lifted his shoulders, shrugging. “I don’t know talk before she gets there.”

  Talk. Talk…

  I couldn’t help but wonder what that meant, but then again, maybe I didn’t.

  Chapter Five

  Colton

  I watched Cami carefully from across the restaurant table, her hair all up and a set of white pearls in her ears. I asked her to a casual lunch, and she dressed up like we were at the Four Seasons instead of this old dive. I mean, my nephew gauged his time between playing with my sunglasses and the broken pieces of crayon in the red cup on the table, so this place being casual went without saying. That was Cami, though. Always professional. She even had the gumption to pull out a notebook from her purse, tapping the pad under her nails as if to say: “Just in case.”

  She sat back in our corner booth, bobbing her head to her own internal beat. She’d probably gaze out the window to busy herself if she could, but we’d been moved to a section without windows.

  Paparazzi. They’d been the reason and currently clustered outside. They spotted my Beamer a couple blocks down the road and followed us the rest of the way to the restaurant immediately. Normally, I didn’t pay them any attention, but I wouldn’t have them getting Jackson on camera, and I… also wanted to talk to Cami—in private and without shutters around us.

  It seemed she wanted to talk first.

  “So I have my organizer,” she said, reaching into her handbag. She pulled her iPad out, flipping the cover open. “Joe sent me your schedule, and we can go over the highlights before you meet with him.”

  That sounded as much fun as doing my taxes. “This isn’t a business meeting, Cami. It’s just lunch, and you’re not on the clock.” She knew that too, but I imagine she couldn’t help herself. Socially, we never hung out in any type of capacity outside of functions for me so this was… new.

  “Right,” she said, putting her device away. The waitress came, and Cami’s lips blew a breath out like she’d been holding it.

  “What can I get you dears?” she asked, giving me a way-too-wide grin and the eye-over to go with it. I’d be flattered if she wasn’t pushing my gram’s age.

  I sat back, giving her my best smile anyway. “This little guy will have chicken,” I said, putting my hand on Jackson’s curly head. He moved on to chewing the crayons now, and I fished them out of his mouth. “Nuggets or tenders; whatever you got will be fine with a side of fries. And for me, I’ll have whatever the lady ends up ordering.”

  Camille’s eyes widened, her fingers falling down her menu. “What if you don’t like what I get?”

  After I got the crayon from Jackson, I smiled at her. “But what if I do?”

  “But what if you don’t? I don’t need that kind of pressure.”

  I rolled my eyes at her, moving to slide the waitress another smile as I passed her my and Jackson’s menus. “Whatever she is having, please.” I faced Cami’s frown. “And you know I eat everything.”

  Her lips went thin. She righted her menu and eventually found something to her lik
ing. “Burger and fries,” she said. “Hold the condiments. I’ll add my own.”

  The woman took the menu, leaving us after waving at my nephew, and Cami dropped her hands on the table.

  “See, that wasn’t so bad,” I told her, picking up a crayon to help Jackson shade in a tree on his coloring placemat. My gaze lifted to Cami, but her eyes were on anything but me.

  She folded her arms over her chest. “I hate when you make me do that. Put me on the spot like that.”

  Because I guess I had a time or two, now that I thought about it, so she had been right about that, I supposed. I’d done it at business lunches or other social appearances for the job, but usually someone else was with us. Joe, Jesse, or sometimes a lady friend. In those situations, I just went along with what they ordered, opting to put my order in last.

  Camille’s cheeks filled with color after what she said, and she chose to stare at the wall instead of me. I really felt bad at the unintentional tension. I’d been feeling bad about that for a while now on what I used to consider an easygoing relationship.

  You can fix that, though.

  She spoke before I did. “When’s Roxie joining us?”

  “Um, should be any minute now,” I told her, shrugging down in the booth for my phone from my pocket. Before we left the house, I had texted Roxie to let her know what place we’d settled on, and she confirmed she’d meet us while we were on the road. Thing was, I wouldn’t let Cami use my sister-in-law as a crutch to avoid conversation with me.

  Which was no doubt why she’d asked about her.

  I put my phone down. “But like I said at the house, I wanted to talk to you first. Before she gets here?”

  Deep brown eyes slid over. “You said that. About what?”

  About everything. About what you saw…

  I settled for something less heavy. “I wanted to thank you.” I had her attention now. “For that night? I wanted to thank you for all you did. For saving my life.”