Colton

by KB Winters

  “I’ll be patient, Karena, but I gotta tell you, you’re not making it easy,” I drawled, smiling back at her as she lowered back into her chair. My eyes started drifting again. “Let’s go cool off at the lake. You got a suit? If not…you did mention skinny-dipping…”

  She laughed. “You’re gonna be trouble, huh?”

  “I’m kinda hoping so.”

  Karena hopped up out of her seat and headed back to the side door like she didn’t trust herself to stay and keep flirting. She paused at the door and smiled back at me, her eyes full off mischief. “I’ll go get changed.”

  * * * *

  “I can’t believe we’re still awake,” Karena commented, pushing off the couch. “I never stay up this late.”

  I clicked a series of buttons on the remote in my hand and all the lights on the media center turned off. After spending some time floating around the lake, watching the sun set from a couple of innertubes, we’d gone back to the house and settled onto the couch, a popcorn bowl between us, and watched a thriller that Karena claimed to have never heard of. I was all over it, loving the way she scooted in close when the music changed to a menacing, haunting pace. By the time the credits rolled, she was practically sitting in my lap, nestled under one of my arms. My hand rested on her waist and it took most of my concentration to keep from slipping my fingertips under the edge of the thin tee she’d changed into. I was dying to get my hands back on her silky skin. It was pure torture seeing it on display at the lake in her itty-bitty bikini top and short shorts.

  “Well, you’re still on Pacific time,” I pointed out, following her lead and getting up from our places on my sectional style couch.

  Karena wandered the living room, stopping to look at the bookshelf. She cocked her head and studied the titles. “That’s true,” she replied, her voice distracted. When she reached the end of the row and turned to face me again, sliding her hands into the back pockets of the denim shorts she’d changed into before we’d trekked down to the lake. “What’s your excuse then?”

  I smiled. “There’s this gorgeous woman in my living room, and I can’t stop thinking about her long enough to get tired.”

  “Is that so?” Karena smiled and shifted nervously in place.

  Throughout the afternoon, I’d been trying to figure her out. At times, she could dispense biting sarcastic comments that gave our conversations a playful energy, but there had also been a few moments in between jokes, where her sense of humor had fallen aside long enough for me to catch glimpses of a deeper, more complicated version of Karena than I’d met before. In our virtual communication, we’d tackled serious conversations, but it usually didn’t take long for her to bring it back to a lighter tone. In person, it wasn’t as easy for her to bob and weave and the result left her jittery and awkward.

  “Karena, you are a very beautiful woman,” I said, locking my eyes with her when she dared to look up from the floor. I took a few, calculated, steps towards her. I wanted to close the space between us, to take her into my arms, and get back to that comfortable ease that we’d shared earlier, out on the deck, or on the couch while the movie had played.

  She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and nodded slightly. “Thank you.”

  “Is everything all right?” I forced my hands to stay at my sides and left a few steps between us.

  Karena’s eyes bounced back to mine from whatever she’d been looking at over my shoulder. “Everything’s fine. I think I’m just finally feeling the travel catch up to me.”

  I could see it in her eyes that it was an excuse. There was something she was holding back from me. I smiled and pocketed my hands. “That makes sense. Long day for us both. We probably should turn in.”

  Karena stared up at me for a long moment, and I was about to ask what was on her mind, when she turned and started down the short hallway that led to the bedrooms. I followed behind after turning out the living room lights. She was paused at the door of the guest room. “Thanks for today. It was a lot of fun. And hey, hard part’s over now, right?”

  I chuckled. “Right.”

  She raised a hand, but just as quickly, dropped it back to her side. “Goodnight, Colton.”

  “Night, Karena.” She smiled shyly as she opened her door and slipped inside. “If you need anything in the night, don’t hesitate to wake me.”

  Karena nodded and pushed the door closed softly as I went into my neighboring room. I got ready for bed in slow motion, my mind distracted with reflections on the day, and when I finally slid between the sheets, found it impossible to sleep, knowing that the gorgeous woman in the room next to mine could potentially be my wife.

  Chapter Sixteen: Karena

  “What’s the plan for the weekend?” I asked, as we were lingering over two extra foam lattes, at the coffee house on Friday morning.

  Colton and I took a few days to get into a rhythm of spending all our time together. By the end of the first week, we had it figured out, more or less. We woke up around the same time, shared breakfast at the house or went to the local coffee house, after that, we’d gone to the lake every day and trekked around the shore until we got hungry for lunch. The afternoons had been different each day. The day after my arrival, Colton had taken me on a tour of the base, the following afternoon we’d gone out to a fancy dinner and spent the rest of the evening out on the town, browsing upscale art galleries, window shopping at a high-end shopping center, and wrapped up the night at an old-fashioned ice cream parlor. The night after that we’d stayed in and ordered take-out and watched a basketball game.

  Colton had obviously prepared the schedule meticulously in order to make sure that I was getting a full sampling of what life in Georgia would be like. I appreciated all the thought and effort he’d taken to map everything out, and by the end of the week, it was even easier to see how I could slip into place in his life. Every conversation with Colton was easy and lighthearted, and it was obvious that we both enjoyed each other’s company. We discovered more similarities each day, as well as some differences, but overall, everything clicked into place quite nicely.

  Colton smirked at me over the edge of the newspaper he’d been perusing. “What if I said I was giving you the reigns for the weekend?”

  “Intriguing,” I replied, smiling back at him. “Kegger at Hawk’s!”

  Colton chuckled and shook his head at me, his eyes sparkling with amusement, as though he wasn’t quite sure where I’d come from. “You and I both know that’s not gonna happen.”

  “Such a buzz kill.” I laughed and tapped out a tune with my short, square shaped nails on the table top while I tried to come up with an actual plan for the weekend. “I do think a party could be fun though. What about the BBQ’s you were telling me about? We could put something like that together, right?”

  Colton hesitated, dropping his eyes to his paper for a moment.

  “What?”

  He folded the paper and set it aside. “I’m just not sure I’m ready to do the whole, meet the friends thing.”

  My brow creased at his bizarre explanation. “Not ready? In what way? Are you afraid I’m not going to give a good impression or something?”

  “No! Not at all. Why would you even think that?” Colton reached for my hands but I pulled away before he could grab them. He was distracting enough to sit across from, and although I’d become comfortable with him, I didn’t want his fingers tangled with mine, as it would only throw me out of the conversation we were having. “My friends, Lucas and Miles, they know what we’re doing, as far as the whole trial run thing, but Miles isn’t super crazy about the idea and I wouldn’t want him to say something stupid to you.”

  I shook my head, still not understanding. “Like what?”

  Colton leaned back and pulled his hands back to his side of the table. “I don’t know. He can be a bit…unfiltered.”

  “That won’t bother me. If you hadn’t noticed, I’m not exactly the most filtered person either,” I replied, smiling again.

&nb
sp; Colton considered me for a long moment. “This is what you really want?”

  “Yes,” I said, with a swell of determination. “I think it will be fun.”

  “All right. I’ll call the guys once we get back to the house and we can go out for groceries later tonight.”

  “Thank you.”

  * * * *

  The grill was fired up, the assortment of hamburger patties was arranged on a platter, waiting for Colton’s friends to arrive and get tossed onto the flame. A cooler full of ice and beer was already on the deck. And the table was overflowing with bowls of snacks.

  Everything was perfect.

  Despite Colton’s assurance that it would be a casual affair, I’d opted to dress up a little, wanting to make a good impression on his friends. After a video chat with Becca for an emergency consultation, I’d decided to wear my plum shift dress. It was a strapless number, that was the perfect combination of sexy and sophisticated. I wore my hair loose, helping my natural wave with my trusty set of hot rollers, and applied a smoky eye and nude lip.

  When I stepped out of the cloud of hair spray from my final coat, and into the hallway, I nearly collided with Colton as he was heading out of his own room. He did a double take as he straightened to avoid knocking me over. “Wow, Karena, you look gorgeous! I’m gonna have to keep a close eye on my buddies to make sure none of them try to steal you before the night’s over.”

  I rolled my eyes. “No worries there.”

  “Is that so?” He stepped in closer, his eyes dark as they dropped to the low neckline of my dress. I’d been thinking about him while putting it on, wondering what kind of thoughts it would put in his head. As he stepped closer, his hands reaching for me, I knew it was exactly what I’d anticipated. He wanted me. Badly.

  And the feeling was completely mutual. It’d been a slow torture keeping myself away from him all week but I didn’t want to back off my stance and throw myself at him. I didn’t want him to think of me as one of the wishy-washy women who played games. That was the complete opposite of who I was.

  Over the course of the week, we’d had little displays of affection each day. We held hands while walking around the lake and Colton often kept an arm wrapped around me when we sat on the couch together, but we had backed off of kissing each other and had never gone farther than we had on the day I’d arrived. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to, but I was afraid of letting that part of our relationship get out of control and complicate things when it came time to make the decision that was looming ahead of us.

  But it’d been a whole week. That was long enough. Wasn’t it? I could give into my desires now. Couldn’t I?

  And his…?

  “You know, gorgeous isn’t really the word here,” he said, reaching out to run his hand over the side of my face. His eyes dropped to my lips and I flicked my tongue out to moisten them. “Tempting more comes to mind…”

  “Tempting, huh?” I smiled up at him through my dark lashes. My hands walked up his chest, toying with the buttons on his shirt. “Tempting you to break the rules?”

  He gave a slight nod, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed hard, his gaze moving from my eyes to my lips and then lower, to explore my cleavage.

  My breath hitched in the back of my throat. “What if I said I wanted you to break the rules? Shatter them into a million pieces so they can never be put back together again?”

  The words unleashed him. In a flurry, his hands went to my hips and he backed me against the wall between our two doors.

  Colton leaned in, his eyes locked on my lips. I arched against the wall, bringing our bodies together, and the hallway faded as my eyes fluttered closed. Waiting. Colton’s lips met mine and the coil of anticipation that had wound into a tight ball in my stomach, sprang apart, sending jolts of electricity over every inch of my body as he wrapped me in his arms. His tongue was soft as he parted my lips and ran along the fullness of my bottom lip. A purring moan bubbled from the back of my throat as the kiss deepened. At the erotic sound, Colton’s fingers slid down the small of my back and cupped my ass with a firm, possessive grip, as he tugged my hips against him. His kiss became harder, more frantic and hungry, and when his lips trailed from my mouth to explore the side of my neck, I knew I was too far gone.

  Every moment of longing, stolen glances, and suggestive flirtation culminated in that breathless collision and I was finally ready—more than ready—to let my own fear go.

  Colton worked his hands down the back of my thighs and with a smooth lift, swept me from my feet, leaving me with no choice but to lock my legs around his hips. “Now we’re talking,” he drawled, pausing to flash me a crooked, bad boy smile that had the power to melt my dress right off my body.

  I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him as he spun us around and started to his bedroom. My heart slammed against my ribs with each step he took, and when he kicked the door open wider, I squirmed against him, ready to be in his bed, under him, on top of him, tangled up with him in every way we could dream up. He set me on the edge of the tall bed, and stayed between my thighs. I reached for the buttons on his long sleeve shirt and tugged them loose with trembling fingers. Colton’s hands were off on their own journey, exploring my front side, now that it wasn’t crushed up against his chest. He watched me unbuttoning his shirt, and grinned when my eyes went wide the second his fingertips circled my hard nipples that were no match for the thin bandeau top that I was wearing under my dress, in lieu of a proper strapless bra.

  “God, Karena, you’re so sexy. You have no idea how much I’ve been waiting for this moment,” Colton said, before leaning over to add a growl into my ear. “I want to see every inch of you.”

  I sucked in a sharp breath and pressed my eyes closed again. Colton palmed my breasts through my dress and I dropped my head back. The warmth of anticipation between my thighs was threatening to burst into flame as his fingers started to slide south, down the sides of my body.

  Colton kissed me again, this time slower, but left me even more breathless than before. His hands found the edge of my dress and pushed the fabric up my thighs, before he started up the inside of my thighs with a featherlight touch. My nails dug into the tight muscles of his shoulders as he got closer and closer to my pulsing center.

  A doorbell rang and Colton’s hands froze against my skin. He dragged his lips away from mine and flashed an irritated glance at the still open bedroom door. “Son of a bitch…”

  “Shit!” Everything had faded from my mind and I’d completely forgotten that we were expecting company. My hands flying to untangle any knots from my hair and fluff it all back into place. I glanced down, silently praying that my hard nipples had been shocked back into hiding. I didn’t need the headlights on when I first met all of his friends…

  The doorbell rang again, followed by a series of knocks. “Seriously? Leave it to them to be on time this one fucking time.” Colton growled. He pushed up from the bed and stepped into the hall and called out, “Be right there!”

  I joined him in the hallway and he wrapped an arm around my waist. He smiled down at me. “You want me to get rid of them?”

  “No.” I laughed and shook my head. “We have all night for the rest of this.”

  “All night, huh?”

  I dropped a meaningful glance down at him. “I’m up for it if you are.”

  “Be careful what you wish for, baby.” Colton grinned and pressed another kiss to my lips, lingering towards the end, before tearing away. “That’s not helping…”

  I laughed again and hopped from the bed, taking a moment to straighten my dress back into place. “Go answer the door before they knock it in,” I said, making a shooing gesture at him. “Oh, and you might wanna grab a throw pillow from the couch…”

  Colton’s eyes dropped to the noticeable bulge through his jeans and cursed to himself as he made a beeline down the hall and to the front door.

  * * * *

  “All right, everyone else is gone now, so time to tell
the truth,” Lucas, Colton’s best friend, started, grinning over at Miles conspiratorially before rounding his gaze back to me. “What do you see in that guy?”

  I followed his nod to Colton, who was scrubbing the grill down with a wire brush. He looked to be in his own world, but at Lucas’ question, he replied, “Sprigg, you stay out of it, or Warren’s getting the best man title.”

  Miles pumped his fist and Lucas rolled his eyes. “Which would be an excellent choice, if you’re looking for trashy hookers at the bachelor party and lost tux rentals. Oh, and he’d probably plaster your getaway car with condom balloon animals.”

  My eyes darted to Miles. “You know how to make balloon animals out of condoms?”

  He shrugged. “You get bored in the desert.”

  I laughed. “Wow.”

  Colton dropped the brush into a basket beside the grill and came back to the table, wiping his hands on a towel. “You two done with your questions?” He asked, looking across at Lucas and Miles, the only two remaining guests. In total, we’d had nearly a dozen people show up for the BBQ. Colton had introduced me around as his new girlfriend, and when anyone asked, we simply told them we met online, leaving them to draw their own conclusion on the seriousness of our relationship. Lucas and Miles were the only ones who knew the truth about my visit, and Colton had warned me before the party, that he was expecting them to ask questions.

  Lucas grinned. “You act like we’ve been interrogating her for hours. Relax, man.”

  Colton sighed as he wrapped an arm around me. I smiled over at him. “It’s okay, really. I don’t mind talking about it. In some ways, it’s fun. No one back home knows what I’m really doing here. So, it’s nice to get some outsider perspective on our little experiment.”