Dream Of You

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

  I was not a coward.

  He grabbed ahold of my shoulder and pulled me away from the wall. With one well-place shove in the center of my back, he guided me through the living room. Someone was yelling at the front door again, but it wasn’t Colton.

  “Keep quiet,” he urged, and when I didn’t move quickly, he shoved me again.

  I stumbled into the small dining room table. The impact knocked over the heavy ceramic vase, spilling plastic flowers across the surface. The vase rolled toward me.

  “Get moving,” he ordered.

  My gaze zeroed in on the vase. It was within grasp. Right there. My heart rate seemed to slow. Everything slowed down actually.

  “Goddammit.” He balled his fist in my hair and yanked my head back sharply. Pain tore down my neck, shooting into my back. “Get your fat ass fu—”

  My brain clicked off as I grabbed the vase and spun around. The man cursed and he leveled the gun again, but I was fast when it counted. The gun went off just as I slammed the bottom of the vase into the side of his head. There was a sickening crunch and something warm and wet sprayed into the air and across my face. The gun went off again, just as wood splintered on the back door. It flew open just as the shooter crumbled to the floor.

  Colton barreled in, dressed as he was at the bar, in jeans and a worn shirt. He had a gun aimed and his bright blue gaze took in the situation. Behind him, uniformed cops streamed in.

  He took a step forward, keeping his gun on the shooter. “Abby?”

  I was still holding the bloodied vase as I croaked out, “I’m not a coward.”

  Chapter 13

  “You’re becoming a repeat customer,” Lenny, the repairman who’d previously replaced my broken window, said with a wry grin. He’d just finished fixing the broken back door, which ended up being an entirely new back door. Placing the bill on the TV, he started past me with his toolbox in hand. “I’m glad to see you’re okay, though. I heard about it on the late evening news last night. This town is getting crazy. All the violence coming in from the city.”

  I smiled faintly as I followed him to the front door. “Thank you for coming out on such short notice. I really appreciate it.”

  “No problem,” he replied, stepping outside. “If you need anything else, you know to call me.”

  “Thanks.” I closed the door, sighing.

  Turning around, I eyed the freshly plastered wall behind the dining room table. Lenny had also covered the two bullet holes. All I needed to do was match up the paint and then it would be like nothing had ever happened.

  Last night felt like forever ago.

  I’d spent the bulk of the night sitting in the ER, getting checked out and then answering a thousand and one police questions. Come to find out, the shooter had a name—Charles Bakerton. Didn’t sound like a homicidal maniac’s name, but Charles was still alive. I hadn’t killed him with the well-placed vase of death swing. I was relieved to hear that. I didn’t want to know what it felt like to kill someone.

  Through the endless hours that had crept into early morning, Colton had remained beside me, mostly silent and very pissed-off looking. Those blue eyes were practically on fire. We didn’t get a chance to talk, nothing other than the basics before he was called out. Surprisingly, Roxy and Reece had showed up at the hospital and had driven me home. That was…weird.

  I was so lucky. Everyone kept telling me that. I had looked a lot worse than I was. Not even a concussion, and the crack upside the head hadn’t even required stitches. A fistful of ibuprofen had taken care of that ache and the rest of the minor pains.

  I could’ve died last night, so yeah, I was really lucky.

  Moving to the couch, I started to pick up the remote when there was a knock on my front door. My stomach dropped. Placing the remote down, I went to the front window first. Totally learned my lesson last night. I peered out the front window.

  It was Colton.

  “Oh my, wow,” I murmured, settling back on my bare feet. I didn’t let me head race into fantasy land. Him showing up after what went down last night wasn’t a surprise. In a daze, I slowly walked to the door and opened it.

  His hands were planted on each side of the doorframe and he was leaning in. Blue eyes met mine. “Abby.”

  Somehow I plastered a smile on my face, and I had a feeling it was a crazy looking smile. “Hi, Colton!” The enthusiasm was a bit much, but I couldn’t tone it down. “How are you—?”

  “Don’t do that,” he cut in, and I felt my creeper smile wobble and then fade. “After what happened yesterday, don’t pretend with me.”

  Well then.

  He lowered his hands. “We need to talk.”

  We did. I stepped aside, pressing my lips together. “Come in.”

  Colton closed the door behind him, but instead of walking to the couch, he stopped in front of me. My breath caught as he clasped the sides of my face in a gentle grasp. His intense gaze swept over me. “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m okay. Really.” I forced a less weird smile. “Thanks for asking.”

  The skin around his eyes tensed. “I wanted to get over here earlier.”

  It was then when I realized he was wearing the same clothes from last night. Needless to say, he probably had a lot of…cop things going on. “It’s okay. I—”

  “It’s not okay. It fucking killed me not to be over here. Fuck.” He dropped his hands and ran one through his hair as he stepped back. “Seeing you last night, with blood on your face—fuck,” he cursed again, looking away. “Damn, I said I would protect you. I didn’t.”

  “What?” I blinked. “You couldn’t have known that was going to happen. Even Detective Hart had said he figured the shooter would’ve run after his friend or whatever was found dead. That’s not your fault.”

  The look on his face said he wasn’t so sure of that. “He followed you to your house and he hit you with a gun. You could’ve died, Abby. I—”

  “Colton,” I tried again. “I’m serious. It wasn’t your fault. Okay? And you didn’t have to come over here to check on me. I’m okay. You’ve…you’ve done enough. You got your brother and Roxy to take me home and—”

  “I’ve done enough? Obviously, I haven’t done enough.” His gaze found its way back to mine. “I need to make a couple of things clear. When you left Mona’s last night, you were upset. I get that. You just saw me walk out with Nicole and you left before I could say a single thing to you. Don’t pretend like you didn’t see that.”

  “Okay. You, um, seemed busy.” I swallowed, taking a step back. “So that…that’s your ex-fiancée? She’s gorgeous.”

  “Yeah, she is.” His brows knitted as he stared down at me. “You know, I was hoping I would hear from you. I figured after Sunday, I was going to leave the ball in your court.”

  He had? Had he given that message through man code? I wasn’t good at reading man code.

  “Obviously, you need to work through some issues and I was hoping that you would let me help you with that,” he continued. “I’m impatient though. I was planning on calling you last night, but my brother does this thing every week at his place—game night. It’s stupid, but fun. I thought I’d swing by his place for about an hour and then call you.”

  I didn’t know what to say about any of that, but I wasn’t going to stand here like I was mute. I had a voice and I was going to use it. “But you were at Mona’s, with Nicole.”

  “I was,” he said, a muscle flexing along his jaw. “I met her there on the way to Reece’s. When we broke up, there was a watch that my grandfather had given me before he passed away. One night at her place, I had taken it off and I never found it after that. Nicole finally found it.” Lowering his one hand to the pocket of his denim jeans, he fished out a gold watch that looked like it cost a pretty penny. “She wanted to talk. That’s why we were in Jax’s office.”

  I stared at the watch and then watched him place it back in his pocket. Part of me felt like an idiot, but how would anyone really react in
this situation? “What did she want?”

  Colton didn’t lie. “She misses me. That’s what she wanted to talk about.”

  Sucking in a sharp breath, I schooled my expression blank. “Okay.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Is that all you have to say about that?”

  The frustration rose again, rushing over my skin like an army of fiery ants. If last night had taught me anything, it was that I wasn’t a coward. I was a survivor. I really found my voice then. “What do you want me to say, Colton? How do I respond to that? I’m not mad that she misses you. You probably miss her too. You were together for a long time, but…” My words started to fade, and while there was a part of me that just wanted to show him the door and retreat, I refused to do it. “But we just reconnected and I don’t know where our relationship is going. And you know what? Yes. I don’t have the greatest confidence in myself right now. I haven’t seriously dated anyone besides Kevin, and the last four years have been a really long dry spell. And I know that’s not the greatest issue to have, but whatever. I like you.”

  I’d blurted those last three words out and then I couldn’t take them back. “I really like you, Colton. I’ve always liked you, but I’m going to be honest. I’m going to suck at this whole dating thing and I’m going to have moments when I doubt why you’re here. And it doesn’t help when your ex-fiancée looks like a Sports Illustrated model. I shouldn’t have run from the bar. That was stupid, but guess what, I’m probably going to do a lot of stupid things. That’s just the beginning.”

  His lips started to twitch.

  My eyes narrowed. “You think this is funny?”

  “No.” His eyes said he was lying. “Not at all.”

  “Uh-huh.” I folded my arms across my chest and parroted back what he’d said earlier. “Is that all you have to say about that?”

  “No. That’s not all.” His lips did curve up at the corners then. “I don’t think less of you because you don’t see what I see, what I know, when I look at you. That’s the issue I’m more than willing to work with. You get that?”

  I nodded as I pressed my lips together.

  “I like you, really like you,” he repeated, and that hope in my chest sparked into a wildfire. “I’ve always liked you, too. And yeah, Nicole is great looking, but she’s not the person I’m standing in front of and she’s not the person who gets me hard when I think of her. And she isn’t the person I almost lost last night. That’s you, sweetheart, all you.”

  Warmth invaded my cheeks. Oh…oh wow.

  “I can tell you where this relationship is going. Or at least where I hope it is. We’re going to spend more time together. We’re going to really get to know each other, and I’m going to chip away at that low confidence shit until you see what I see,” he said, and a shiver curled along the base of my spine in response to his steely determination.

  My breath caught as he took a step forward and lifted his hands, gently holding my cheeks once more. “I want this to work,” he said, his voice low. “Because like I said before, I believe in second chances and I don’t believe in coincidences. There was a reason why you and I reconnected, and I don’t want to pass that up. And we almost lost that last night, so really, we’re working on a third chance. I want this to work.”

  “I…I want this to work too.” My heart was thumping like a steel drum.

  “Then we are on the same page.”

  “We are,” I whispered.

  “Good.”

  Then he kissed me, and in the back of my head, I realized we were still standing just inside the foyer, but I didn’t care. His kiss started off sweet and tender, but I wanted more. So did he. My hands found their way to his chest, and I could feel his heart beating just as fast as mine.

  I broke the kiss, breathing heavily. “Do you want to stay?”

  “Hell yeah, but if I…if I do, I’m not leaving tonight.” His thumbs dragged over my cheeks. “And if I don’t leave tonight, I’m going to be upstairs and I’m going to want to be in that bed and in between those pretty thighs of yours. If you don’t want that or you’re not up to it because of last night, let me know now. I can wait, but either way, I’m not letting go of you tonight.”

  “I’m fine.” There wasn’t a moment of hesitation. “I want that.”

  Chapter 14

  Colton didn’t waste a single moment.

  He tilted my head back, lowering his mouth to mine in a deep, demanding kiss that brokered no room for denial. Not that I wanted to. That was the furthest thing from my mind as his tongue tangled with mine.

  Backing me up, he kept going until we reached the bottom of the stairs; only then did he lift his mouth from mine. Blue eyes met mine, and my throat dried at the intensity of the passion in them. I turned and made it up three steps before his arm came around me from behind, curling around my waist. A second later, his front pressed against my back and I could feel him long and hard against my rear.

  “I’m so damn impatient,” he said, placing a kiss against my neck. “That bedroom seems awful far right now.”

  My laugh was breathy. “It’s not that far.”

  “Fuck it ain’t.” The arm around my waist tightened, sealing our bodies together as he blazed a hot path of tiny kisses down my throat.

  Carefully tipping my head back and to the side, I let out a soft moan as his hand drifted up my stomach and cupped my breast through the dress. With unerring expertise, his fingers found the aching tip of my breast. Then I felt his hand between my legs, and the thin, delicate material was no barrier to his seeking hand on my heat.

  Without even thinking, my legs spread, giving him more access, and he took it, pushing the dress in as he cupped me. He pressed his palm in against the bundle of nerves. My hips jerked, and the sound he made in response sent a wave of little bumps over my skin. There was no control. I gripped his wrist with one hand and my other flew out, blindly seeking for the railing. I held on to both as I moved against his hand, grinding, seeking, right there, in the stairway. Pleasure built and swelled, pounding through me.

  “Damn,” he groaned, dropping his hand from my breast. “We aren’t going to make it to the bed if we keep this up.”

  “You started this,” I reminded him.

  “True.”

  Pressing one last kiss to my neck, he backed off. My knees were a little wobbly as I started back up the stairs. I was already dazed and breathless and we hadn’t even reached the bedroom.

  The hallway upstairs was lit from the nightstand lamp I’d left on in the bedroom, and when I turned to glance back at Colton, I found myself suddenly pressed against the wall just outside my bedroom, his long and lean body against mine.

  “I’m really fucking impatient,” he admitted.

  I looped my arms around his neck, giving in to the crazy sensations building in me. “Me too.”

  Colton kissed me and then pulled back. My arms fell to my sides as I dragged in air. Grabbing the collar of his shirt, he quickly pulled it up and over his head, letting it fall to the floor.

  I’d seen him shirtless before, but memory didn’t serve any justice. From his well-defined pecs to the way his stomach coiled tightly, he was an artwork of tone and lean muscles I wanted to touch and taste.

  I reached for him, my fingers finding the button on his jeans, easily flicking them open. I caught the zipper next, and as the material folded to the sides, my fingers brushed over the long, thick length straining against his boxers.

  “Fuck.” His hands clasped the sides of my face again and the kiss was so much fiercer. Our teeth knocked together. My lips felt bruised, but I reveled in the raw passion.

  Pressing me back against the wall, his hips pushed into mine in a slow, tantalizing roll that caused me to cry out. His hands slipped down my throat, over my arms. Pulling me away from the wall, he led me into the bedroom. Only then did he let go of my hands.

  “You sure about this?” he asked.

  I moved so I stood in front of my bed. “I’m sure. Are you?”
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  “Never been more sure about anything in my life.” Toeing off his shoes, he whipped off the socks in record time. “I want you.”

  My stomach constricted. “I want you.”

  Reaching around, he pulled out his wallet. A silver foil packet appeared between his fingers. I arched a brow as he tossed it on the bed behind me. “What?” His grin turned sheepish, almost boyish. “I always like to be prepared.”

  “I guess it’s a good thing that you are because I don’t have any.”

  Something about what I said had an effect on him. He groaned. “Then we need to make this one count, huh?”

  I watched as he walked toward me, his jeans inching down his hips. God, he was beautiful in a purely male way. I almost couldn’t believe that he was real, standing before me. That we were about to do this.

  “I want to see you.” He slipped his fingers under the cap sleeve of my dress, drawing it down my shoulder.

  As ready as I was, it occurred to me in that moment that I was going to have to get completely buck-ass naked to do this. I knew he wasn’t going to want to do this with clothes on. Oh no, he was a skin man. All the confidence pranced right out of the room on two twig legs. Twig legs with perky breasts, which were two things I didn’t have.

  I stepped back, drawing in a deep breath as I looked up at him. I hated the sudden insecurity, absolutely loathed it. It was my skin, my body, and it was a part of me, but in this moment, it felt like an itchy, uncomfortable sweater.

  Colton stepped closer, his hand lingering on my shoulder. “Are you okay?”

  Biting down on my lip, I nodded as I glanced at our bare feet. Next to his, mine actually appeared somewhat small. Still not feminine. Not these cave feet. Okay. My feet didn’t look like cave feet. I was being too hard on myself.

  “Then what’s going on? You’ve left this room. Probably even this house.” He paused. “Is this about Nic—”

  “No.” My gaze flew to his, and that wasn’t entirely a lie. I couldn’t help compare myself to her, because hell, I was human, but it was more than that. “I…It’s been so long since I’ve done this, Colton.”