Chloe's Secret

by Shelley K. Wall

  “Seems to me, you can’t not let whatever happens happen.”

  He slipped fingers under the silk of my shirt and stroked them lightly against the skin above my pants, sending another surge of heat straight to places that I wanted to keep calm. Something in the back of my tequila-soaked brain egged me on. Go For It.

  When he pressed me into the back of a couch my knees buckled and I went down with him on top. For some reason, that became funny to me, and I giggled again. I pushed against his chest and we rolled over onto the floor.

  “You losing that precious control of yours, lucky bird?” His voice tingled against my ear, then he took a quick nibble of the lobe before concentrating on my neck. Mmmm. Losing it, as in another wild girl tumble in the hay? If he kept doing that, yes, most likely.

  Just like before, his touch electrified—drew me to do things that I normally wouldn’t. Or maybe it was just the tequila. Whatever it was, I had to fight it. I sat up and the simple action put our two very hot and needy parts together, which had been a mistake the first time around.

  “We can’t,” I murmured, then pressed a hand to my temple. “Too much tequila.” The room spun out of control and I reached for something to hold me still. I squealed when the only thing I found that was solid and not spinning was him. I thunked my head to his chest to keep it from rolling and heaving.

  “It’s okay, Tess, we’ll just lay here a while. You’ll be fine.”

  Only I really wouldn’t. I knew it when he pulled me against him tighter and tucked my head up against his shoulder. His big warm arms encircled me and I was cocooned in the delicious male smell of him. I started to kiss that neck with a slight flick of my tongue. I couldn’t help it, he was just so—yummy.

  He pressed a palm against the back of my head, silencing me by forcing my face to his chest. “Be still. Your control may be in good shape, but mine isn’t.” He put his mouth against my forehead and I promptly passed out.

  Colton’s head felt like he’d been in a boxing match. A pounding pain pulsed at his temple and was worsened by the blinding light that shone in his face through the window. He scrubbed over his eyes with his left hand. His right arm was pinned down by something. He squinted down. A woman.

  Not a woman, Tess. And she was sprawled over him like a blanket, her flaming hair tickling at his chin. She was out cold. And naked.

  His darker skin against her creamy pink. Her heart beating against his chest, making him want to wake her.

  The first time she’d started kissing on him, he had managed to slow things down. Mainly because she passed out, and so did he. But a couple hours later she was licking his chest and then rolling on top of him and putting her mouth to his.

  Had he been half sober and sane, he would have taken her home then. But his hormones kicked in and things got out of hand. What was he supposed to do when she had that tongue stuck down his throat and that hellacious body grinding into him? The first time had been her fault. She had wanted to keep some semblance of control, and she did. Right up until she pulled him upright and held his head to her breasts as she came.

  The second and third time had been at his nudging, mainly because he couldn’t seem to get enough. And he had lain with his back on the floor and carpet threads squeezed between his butt cheeks for the past hour so she could sleep.

  But it was daylight, which meant if he didn’t get over to the clinic pretty soon his assistant would come knocking on the door. Or worse.

  Too late.

  A shadow appeared in the window with hands up as if to peer in the glass. He heard a muttered exclamation and it disappeared. A few minutes later, his cell phone beeped. And Tess finally moved.

  “Ohhh no. Oh no. Not again.” She sat up and peered accusingly down. “What the hell is wrong with me? I don’t do this.”

  Colton palmed her shoulder and reached to put a hand on her waist, but she pulled to her knees, evading him. “Tess.”

  “Oh, no you don’t.” She tugged her panties from under the sofa and squirmed into them, then found her shirt and bra and worked those on as well, covering the silky skin he’d stroked earlier. “We can’t keep—this is sooo messed up.”

  “Tess, wait.” She yanked the fabric of her skirt from under his legs. He sat up as she stepped into it. His cell beeped again.

  “It’s late, you need to get to work. I need to get to work.” She looked down at the crumpled clothes that she had worn the day before and cursed. “This is sooo messed up.”

  “You said that already.” Colton snagged his briefs from under the couch and pulled them on, then his jeans.

  She got down on her knees and searched under the sofa, then crawled around behind it in a panic.

  “What are you looking for?”

  “My shoes. I had them in my hand when we came in.”

  He rose and walked to the door, where she had dropped one when they started kissing. “Here’s one. I think the other’s over there.” He pointed to the wall where she had flung it when he had backed her over the couch.

  Tess put a palm to her forehead and massaged the crease between her eyebrows. “Look. I don’t know exactly what this is all about, but I’m not really like this.”

  “I know. You said that over and over last night.”

  “Well, I’m not.”

  “Okay, I get it.”

  “Crap, the people at the diner will see me.”

  “What?”

  “They’ll see me—getting into my car in the same clothes from last night.” She was visibly in pain.

  “You really think they remember what you wore yesterday?”

  “This is soooo—” Her bottom lip quivered and he realized she was a step away from tears.

  He strode across the carpet and put a finger under her chin to lift it. “No, it’s not Tess. It’s not messed up and it won’t be a big deal if you don’t make it one.” He ran his other hand through her hair to smooth it and dropped his mouth to kiss her. Lightly at first, but he couldn’t help but deepen it when he tasted the warmth and inhaled the citrusy scent of her skin. He hadn’t stopped until both of them were struggling for breath.

  She bolted through the door when his cell phone beeped again.

  Chapter 21

  I rushed home, showered and donned clean clothes. I should have felt cheap but admittedly, I didn’t. When I flung the door open to head for work, all I felt was the buzz my body didn’t want to give up. The tingle that had strung through me as he kissed and stroked away the tequila haze.

  He had wakened parts of me that had been all but dormant for months. No, years. It made me forget about my mom and pretty much everything else.

  Until I had to leave.

  I reminded myself on the way to work that I was an adult. There was no turning back. I had no hope of forgetting what had happened with Colton, and frankly I didn’t want to. But, being an adult meant that I also had to put it into perspective and realize that it meant nothing.

  To him.

  I strode into work almost two hours late and dropped my bag by the desk. The light on the desk phone beckoned me to listen to messages but I ignored it. There were several on my cell as well, all from my mother.

  I whipped my chair around and logged into my computer to start working. I didn’t even hear the rap at the door.

  Mr. Conner cleared his throat. “Tess, are you okay this morning?”

  I didn’t turn around but stayed buried in the screen. “Sure, fine. Did you need something?”

  Thankfully my phone rang, interrupting his response. My relief doubled when I heard the voice on the other end.

  Colton.

  I held out the phone for a second and stared, concerned that I was glad he called. Was he the lesser of two evils?

  “I just had an idea.” He didn’t even say hello.

  “No kidding, what was that?”

  My boss had taken a step back from my desk. I didn’t acknowledge him and had no intention of doing so.

  “Meet me for lunch.” />
  “That’s your idea?”

  “One of them. Can you?”

  Mr. Conner was behind me, rustling papers.

  “That sounds like a good plan, what time do you want to meet to discuss it?”

  There was a second or two of silence, then his deep sexy voice answered, “Your boss is in the room.”

  “Yes, that’s right.”

  “Give him to me.”

  “Uh, what?” I turned and looked at the man I had tried to ignore for the past couple of minutes.

  “Hand him the phone.”

  “No.”

  “Yes.”

  So, I held out the receiver. “He wants to talk to you.”

  Mr. Conner raised a brow. “Who is it?”

  I thrust the receiver into his hand and turned to my computer. My ears pricked to hear both ends of the conversation, but it was impossible. I jumped when the phone was thrust in front of me again, but whatever was said worked to get him out of my office. His footsteps diminished down the hall.

  “What did you say?”

  “Nothing important. So . . . meet me?”

  I caved. Easily actually because my entire body still tingled from his touch. “’Kay.”

  “Let’s meet outside your building at noon.”

  Colton had to double-take when he walked past the carriage stop. There was a line, but that wasn’t what caught his attention; lines weren’t uncommon this time of year. No, his surprise came from seeing the horse, standing tall and proud with bows on his bridle, and stomping impatiently. “Dad, what is Bullwhip doing here? You know how hard this is on him.”

  James turned away from the family in the back of the carriage. “Oh, well hello there,” he pointed, “my son, the vet. I didn’t really have a choice.”

  Colton walked up to the horse and ran a hand down his leg. He frowned. “Who’s in charge here? You or him?”

  The horse whinnied and stomped. “Obviously him. He guarded the gate and nipped at Goliad when I tried to take him from the corral. Then he jerked the rope free and ran right up in the trailer. I figured he’d be okay for one day.” He hopped down and helped the family to the ground, thanking them for their time.

  “What happens tomorrow when he tries it again?”

  “I was hoping he wouldn’t. I thought he’d be tired and need a rest.”

  Colton growled at the swollen bump on the horse’s leg that filled and heated his palm.

  “How’s the thing with your little redhead doing?”

  “There is no thing with the little redhead, Dad. And her name is Tess.”

  His dad scratched his head. “Tess. You sure about that?”

  “Dead sure, and why does it matter?”

  “I don’t know, I got a different vibe the other night when she came into the restaurant. You seemed pretty focused.”

  “There is no thing. She made that very clear.”

  He scratched his jaw. “Did she now. Well, be careful. Don’t let her talk you into something you don’t believe.”

  Colton groaned. “I’m taking advice from a man who got ditched after more than twenty years of marriage. What makes you think I want something else?”

  “I saw the way you went after her.”

  “I didn’t go after—”

  “Some things just happen. Maybe you should stop fighting and let it go.”

  “Sure, like you know what you’re talking about. You still pine for a woman who left you after twenty plus years of marriage.”

  His dad stared him down, and for some reason Colton felt as if he were still sixteen and caught sneaking out with the car. “I know what you think,” his dad said, “but it’s not true, and your mother didn’t leave me. I sent her away.”

  “What?”

  “Ah-hem,” Tess stood there, arms crossed and observing him rubbing the horse’s leg. He wondered how much of his dad’s ramblings he’d heard.

  “Oh, hey. You ready?” Colton dropped Bullwhip’s hoof and brushed his hands together before stepping to her. The wind carried her citrusy smell to him and he immediately had visions of her flesh curled against him on the carpet. As if she knew his thoughts, her cheeks turned an interesting shade of pink before she averted her gaze.

  Bullwhip stuck his blockhead to Colton’s back and shoved him—straight into her. Colton grabbed her waist to keep her from falling. “Stupid horse,” he muttered.

  “Or smart one,” Colton’s dad corrected. “Where are you two headed?”

  “None of—,” Colton started.

  “Lunch.” Tess smiled, her hair spread like spaghetti over his arm. She looked up at him questioning, “Somewhere.”

  “Amici’s.” He thought the Italian restaurant three blocks down would be close and cozy.

  “Well, good then.” Colton’s Dad lifted a hand to Tess and helped her step into the carriage. “I just happen to be going that way.”

  Tess laughed, a crystal sounding tinkle that warmed Colton’s insides. She patted the seat next to her and Colton could do nothing but join her, though he had no desire to spend the next few minutes listening to his Dad’s stories. About Mom.

  But there weren’t any stories. In fact, there was little conversation at all. His dad kept his attention on the horse, and Tess kept her attention everywhere but on him. She obviously was uncomfortable with the situation.

  Colton’s cell sprang into action, summoning him to answer. He answered the second time it chimed and gave his assistant answers to a load of questions before hanging up.

  “Sorry. The clinic is busy.”

  Bullwhip started the next time it rang and took a few quick paces into the street before his Dad reined him back. Then James’ cell rang and the horse jolted into a jog, causing the bells on the carriage to jingle and bang against the sides.

  “Hold him, Dad!” Colton yelled as his father braced against the front of the carriage, pulling hard on the lines. The horse was unaffected and began clip-clopping down the side street in a trot.

  Colton squeezed Tess’ hand. “Hold on.” He slipped up to join his father. He added his bulk to the lines and the horse reared up, but continued on. James’ cell phone chimed loud and clear, further adding to the confusion. “Either answer that, or silence it before Bullwhip turns us over!” Colton glared at his father.

  James glanced at the phone that had fallen into the floorboard of the carriage. While they jumbled on, he reached down and saw the screen. He answered. “Well, hello, dearie. You’ve caught us at a bad time—”

  Colton leaned back hard and finally pulled Bullwhip to a slower pace. The horse didn’t stop though and it angered him. The old fart was getting senile and should have been left to pasture. When he finally was able to render a little control over the massive giant, Colton turned to his father, who sat white as a ghost in the seat next to him.

  “We need to get to the hospital. Grams is hurt.”

  “What happened?”

  “I don’t know. She was outside and she fell, then she was able to get Goliad to drag her to the house. That’s all I know.”

  “That could mean anything.” Colton loosened the lines and gave them a flip, which pleased Bullwhip tremendously. Colton turned to Tess. “You okay?”

  She nodded, her knuckles white with tension as she held onto the seat. Colton wished they had made it to their lunch. “Fine,” she answered.

  “You want to go back? I can drop you off.”

  She shook her head. “No, just go. Besides, I doubt Bullwhip wants to stop right now.”

  Good point. The horse’s hooves clipped loudly on the pavement, his muscle-bound legs hefting almost to his chest as he trotted along. Years earlier when he was young, they’d entered him in a few pulling contests. He had loved the speed and competition. Colton was amazed that he could still strut in perfect form at such a speed.

  Ahead, a traffic light changed to red, signaling them to stop. Bullwhip clipped along, not willing to slow. While the colors may not have meant much, Bullwhip knew when they chang
ed and when they didn’t. It was a routine for him, one he followed consistently. He always listened for the command before proceeding. Not this time. The horse glanced at the street ahead, which was barren of cars and his ears laid flat.

  “Don’t do it, boy.” Colton once again pulled hard on the lines, calling to slow down. The horse clipped forward a few more steps then stopped abruptly. His haunches had started to lather and Colton worried that Bullwhip was overworking himself. “Slow down, boy. There’s no rush.”

  The horse ignored him and sped forward as soon as the traffic cleared. Ten minutes later, they clipped into the emergency parking at the hospital. A crowd of people at the entrance stared as they dismounted from the carriage, tied the horse to a streetlight, and headed inside.

  Tess shot a glance at the sheen on Bullwhip. “Is he okay?”

  “He’s fine, he knows what to do.”

  “No, I mean, no one would bother him, would they?”

  “Would you bother a two thousand pound horse that could break your foot just by stepping on it? He’ll be fine. Come on.” Colton grabbed her hand in his and followed his father through the sliding doors.

  Chapter 22

  My stomach knotted as we entered the long hallway to Mona’s room, our feet the only sound of movement sloshing on the vinyl tiles. As we passed open doors, there was a fair amount of beeping and wheezing, but the hall was silent.

  Mona was more frail than I had seen, even when she had been sick. Her arms were bandaged along with the side of her face.

  “It wasn’t Goliad’s fault, you hear me. Don’t you dare punish him. I tripped and fell, that’s all. He wanted to help.”

  Colton’s hand tensed around mine until I had to disengage it with my other hand to keep from being crushed. A look passed between us briefly and I almost missed it. Something soft, and warm. Then he cleared his throat.

  “Oh, you’re here, Colton. And look who you brought.” Mona reached her fingers toward me and I grasped them. “I’m so glad to see you, sweetie.”

  We spoke for a while, then she tired and drifted to sleep. I took a chair in the corner, out of the way, where I could observe. It still bothered me that Mona hadn’t told them about Chloe. She was so ill, so weak, so trampled—yet, the very strength in her heart that came from love was hidden from her entire family. They needed to know, if only to understand more about her, and perhaps what drove her.