by Cole, Audra
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 ended 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.
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 amazing! 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, backing me against the wall between our two doors.
I licked my lips with the tip of my tongue and pressed them together, all at once, finding myself both out of breath and out of words. 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.
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, and left 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 h
e 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 the frantic session in the hallway. 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…”
“The BBQ,” I said, 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.
The doorbell rang again, followed by a series of knocks. “Be right there!” Colton hollered down the hall. He looked back at me and ran a finger down the side of my face. “You want me to get rid of them?”
“No.” I laughed and shook my head. “We have all night for the rest of this.”
Colton grinned and pressed another kiss to my lips, lingering towards the end, before tearing away. “All right, 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.”
Lucas nodded understandingly, but I could see the gears rolling behind his eyes as he looked between Colton and me. Miles, on the other hand, was content to kick back with his beer. I found it odd that it was such a reversal of what Colton had told me to expect. He’d confessed that he was more worried about Miles making negative comments than Lucas, and while neither of them had been negative, Lucas was the one with more questions.
“So, this is legit then? You two are really getting hitched?” He asked, fixing his stare on Colton.
Mile’s glanced up from his beer, waiting on the answer.
Colton started to nod, but then cut a quick glance at me. “Well, I mean, it’s only been a week. This is the halfway mark.”
“So, what? Are you halfway decided then?”
Colton’s eyes narrowed at his oldest friend and I wanted to push away from the table and go busy myself inside with clean up, but Colton’s hand tightened around the upper part of my arm. “I thought you were gonna be cool about this. Where is all of this coming from?”
Lucas crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “I am being cool. I didn’t realize that meant I couldn’t ask questions.”
I rested a hand on Colton’s leg under the table. “I know how it sounds, Lucas. Trust me. I almost didn’t get on the plane!” At my confession, I looked over at Colton to gage his reaction. If he was upset or surprised, he didn’t show it. “This isn’t something we’re rushing into. We’re having a lot of honest, raw conversations about how this would all work. In some ways, it’s the types of conversations that all other couples go through before deciding to get engaged or married, we’re just having them a lot sooner in the relationship.”
Lucas absorbed what I’d said and then raised his hands. “All right. Well, listen, Karena, I meant no offense by any of my questions. I think you’re a wonderful woman, and if you make Hawk happy, then I’m happy. He’s got my glowing recommendation as one of the best men I’ve ever met, and had the pleasure of serving beside for the past six years.”
Miles held up his beer bottle. “Seconded.”
“Thanks, guys.”
I squeezed Colton’s knee and gazed up at him with eyes full of adoration. I’d already deduced that he was an amazing, honorable man, but an even stronger surge of my appreciation of his character swept over me at their sentiments. I wasn’t sure how I’d managed to steal Colton’s attention, but I was realizing more and more every day how lucky I was to have it.
Chapter Seventeen: Karena
“Damn, I thought they’d never leave,” I purred, as Colton finally kicked Lucas and Miles out the door.
Colton smirked as he turned back to me. “Oh yeah? Any particular reason for your impatience?” He took slow, purposeful strides back to where I’d been starting the cleanup process as he’d said goodbye to his friends.
I shrugged, but couldn’t stop myself from smiling like a giddy high schooler at her first formal dance.
Colton reached for my waist and his touch sent a shower of sparks over me, my body picking up right where it had left off hours before in the bedroom. “You don’t know, huh?”
I smirked up at him, liking the way it felt to play innocent with him.
“I think I can remember,” he continued, dropping his lips to the side of my neck. I purred and clenched my fingers into the back of his t-shirt. “Mmmm. Yeah, pretty sure it started like that…” he drawled.
He scooped his hands under my ass and lifted me back up against him and I squealed. My legs locked around him as he backed me against
the closest wall. His lips found mine, hot and searching. I arched against the wall, desperate to touch as much of him as possible as our tongues tangled together.
All traces of my previous inhibition evaporated in the heat between us and my heart, mind, and body all aligned with desire for Colton.
“Good Lord, Karena, you’re intoxicating,” Colton mumbled against my neck as his lips made their way back up the side, pausing when his tongue ran over a spot that sent shivers down my spine. I squeezed my thighs tighter around his hips, the heat between my legs becoming unbearable. I wanted so much more of him.
And I wanted it now.
While his lips and tongue explored the side of my neck and the tender skin behind my ear, I went back to work on the buttons I’d already unfastened once before. My hands shook with anticipation and nerves as I worked. The three top buttons were loose and I slipped a hand against the smooth, warm skin on his chest. The muscles were solid and firm under my touch. I tweaked his nipple and he groaned into my ear, his breath hot and thick.
“You like that, huh?”
Colton pulled back and grinned at me. “You’re a very naughty girl.”
“You have no idea.”
The smile in his eyes darkened, making his eyes nearly obsidian with the size of his pupils. “Is that so?”
He pulled me away from the wall and took me down the hall. I smiled as he lowered me down to the bed. He didn’t waste a fraction of a second before his hands were running up the outside of my thighs. I rolled my hips as his fingertips pushed under the edge of my dress and up to the waist of my thin, seamless panties. He grinned down at me as I squirmed, silently begging him to peel them from my molten hot skin. His thumb found the center or my panties and slid down. I shuddered at his soft touch and a hint of a moan escaped my lips.
“You’re so wet.” Colton lowered himself to the bed, kneeling in between my splayed out knees, his hand still under my dress, toying with the edge of my panties.