7 Dirty Lies: a Tease Novel

by Alexis Anne

I used that six weeks to their fullest. I helped Ted and Charley get settled at home with Angie—who I was convinced was the cutest baby who ever lived. I visited my parents. I spoke with my lawyer, Edita, about any future problems I might have headed my way because of said parents, and we strategized a way to move my name as far away from them as possible.

  And then I flew across the ocean to be with my sister for a while.

  “Tea?” Adam asked from the kitchen.

  “Nope. But thank you.”

  “Biscuit?”

  “Always.”

  Elizabeth was settled beside me and we’d been talking for hours.

  “I’m going to work on the car,” Adam said as he handed us each a plate. “I’ll be back to make dinner. Enjoy your time together.” He leaned over and kissed his wife with a long lingering kiss, then patted my head on his way out the door.

  She locked her eyes on me. “I still can’t believe you’ve fallen in love. Where do you think this will go?”

  I shrugged. “Forever. It will just go on forever.”

  She smiled. “I like to hear that. I think Grandma would love it.”

  I felt a flush race over my skin. “I thought of her the day we met.”

  “I like to think she’s been looking down on both of us, making sure we found men like Grandpa.”

  “You think Adam and Colt are like him?”

  She nodded and snuggled deeper into her fuzzy blanket. “I do. You don’t remember him, do you?”

  He died a couple of years after Grandma in a car accident. Some said he was too heartbroken to live without her. I tried not to think about it. “No. Just flashes from time to time.”

  “Well, he was awesome. He adored Grandma. He was fiercely protective of her and their privacy, which as we both well know is important.”

  Crap. I hadn’t even thought of how Colt was going to react to red carpets and paparazzi. I could only imagine it wouldn’t be easy.

  “Was he into cars like Adam?”

  “No but he was a wonderful cook.” Adam’s mother was a famous chef and had taught him. I always loved visiting because we ate well. “Grandpa loved technology. He was really big into computers.”

  I loved that there were still things to learn. “Colt loves his ranch. I swear they’re one and the same.”

  “When do I get to meet him?”

  “I was thinking maybe after you do Christmas with Adam’s family you could fly out to the ranch?”

  While Colt had very reluctantly agreed to our physical separation, he’d been very adamant that our online relationship stay active. We emailed constantly. It was his idea to bring my sister out.

  “I think that can be arranged.”

  “And how are you and Adam?”

  “I’m going to pretend that wasn’t a totally obvious change of subject.” She sipped her tea. “We’re wonderful. We’re spending his off season enjoying being home together.”

  They were nearly done with a massive restoration of a historic cottage.

  And by cottage I clearly meant estate. With a barn for Adam’s cars, a massive library, and plenty of acreage to wander for hours.

  “It must be nice to get to travel the world for a reason.” I’d hopped a plane several times to go to one of Adam’s races. They were always in such far-flung and interesting places that it was hard to ignore an opportunity to explore with my sister. “Colt’s less of a traveler, but he enjoys a bit of it.”

  “It is nice to travel but I really enjoy these weeks we get here at home.” She stoked the fire and rearranged the fuzzy blanket. “Any word on the screenplay?” She knew how much it meant to me to finally have one in contention to become a movie.

  “Two bits of news, actually.”

  She waited patiently for me to explain.

  I made her wait a bit more.

  Because that’s what little sisters do.

  “Well for one, I finally gave it to Colt to read. Two days ago.”

  She threw a pillow at me. “I told you to send him the first draft.”

  “Yeah, well. It’s so personal. What if he didn’t like it?”

  “Wait. Does that mean?”

  I grinned. “They bought it and they’ve slated it to begin production next year.”

  Elizabeth squealed. “So you had to tell him.”

  “Pretty much.” I shrugged. “And now to find out if he’s okay with what I wrote.”

  * * *

  IN MY LAST email from Elizabeth’s house in Brackley I didn’t ask Colt if he’d read the script or what he thought of it. If he didn’t bring it up it had to mean he either hated it or was too busy.

  Plus I was way too nervous to ask.

  But as I sat down on the lounge chair where I’d first seen him a year ago, the sun blazing down, the warm Caribbean breeze washing over my skin, I really wished I’d asked.

  It would be nice to worry about one less thing. Because even though I knew I loved Colt, I was nervous something had happened in our six weeks apart to make him change his mind.

  Those nerves skyrocketed as the sun began to wane and he still wasn’t there.

  Oh god. What if he did change his mind?

  What if Louisa had shown up again and done some sort of sexual Kung Fu on him to make him realize that while what we had was special, it was also super complicated.

  And complicated was bad.

  And simple arrangements were good.

  Yeah, I needed to stop. I called Ted.

  “Hello, Princess. How’s paradise?” Evangeline cooed in the background.

  “Lonely.”

  The line was silent. “I’m sure he’s just late.”

  “That’s why I’m calling. I need someone to talk me down off the ledge.”

  “He’s crazy about you, Lil. He’ll be there.”

  “But how do you know?” I really hated when people said things they couldn’t back up. “Everything will be fine.” When your dog is dying. No, actually, everything will not be fine and you saying so doesn’t change that! “I’m sure things will get better.” How? Exactly. If you know so much perhaps you could tell me how to make things better. People liked to say soothing things that actually just made you feel worse.

  “Because I saw him yesterday.”

  Oh.

  “And we had a very frank discussion.”

  “About what?” I blurted out with really no finesse whatsoever.

  “About you and me.”

  Well that brought me up short. “Us?”

  “Yes.” I waited while he shushed Evangeline and gave her a bottle. “Colt wanted a chance to clear the air once and for all. I know he’s a jealous man but I had no idea. I really had to set him straight.”

  I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. “How did you set him straight, exactly?”

  “He came in here all huffy about boundaries and needing it to be clear that friends meant friends, so I told him exactly what our relationship is.”

  I wanted to be upset Colt was still hung up on my friendship with Ted but considering I still wanted the name and number of his former fuck buddy, Louisa, I really didn’t have room to talk.

  “And what is it exactly?”

  “You and I are brother and sister, Lily Pad. We had shitty parents and absent childhoods. We’ve saved each other and lived together. I love you exactly like a sister. I know that without a shadow of a doubt because the love I feel for you is just as intense but completely different than the love I have for either Angie or Charley.”

  “That’s sweet.”

  “And furthermore,” he continued in true dramatic Ted fashion, “I let him know that I understood why he was there because I would do the same. Charley and Angie are my life. They’re my whole life. I will do whatever it takes to keep them safe and give them the life they deserve. It’s my job and any man who I deem even the slightest threat to that will get the same treatment.” He paused. “Colt really liked that part.”

  “So you left him on good terms?”

 
“Very good terms. He fed Angie, kissed Charley goodbye, and asked for Adam and Elizabeth’s number.”

  “What?”

  “I should really be going. Angie needs to burp.”

  And then the bastard hung up on me.

  I stared at my phone for several moments in shock. Why did Colt want my sister’s number? And why did he ask Ted for it instead of me?

  My thumb hovered over Elizabeth’s icon when a shadow fell over me. “Did you order a shrimp cocktail?”

  I looked up at the shadow to find blue eyes that matched the sky staring down at me. I leapt off the chair. “Colt!”

  He grabbed me with one arm because he really was holding a shrimp cocktail in the other. “Hey beautiful.” He set down the crystal glass and kissed me until my toes curled.

  “You came.” I was off the ground now.

  “Of course I came. I’ve been trying to get back here since the moment you left.”

  “I told we should have stayed.”

  “In our billion-dollar hut by the waterfall?”

  I kissed him. “Yes.”

  He set me down. “Nope. I’m still glad we left. I have hated every single moment away from you but I’m glad we’ve been out there in the real world. I know I love you.”

  I sank into him. “And I love you. But don’t you think it would be better to stay this time?”

  His hand ran up my spine to the back of my neck where I loved it so much. “No. I’d much rather have you home.”

  I swallowed. Home.

  “You read it?”

  His hand tightened. “I love it, Lily. I’m so proud of you.”

  A massive weight lifted off my shoulders with those two sentences. I leaned back so I could look at him. “You’re not mad I wrote about us?”

  “I got to see what you see. Feel what you feel. How could I be mad about that? It’s pretty much the greatest thing ever.”

  “But I’ll be sharing us with the world.”

  He brushed my hair back, his fingers trailing my cheeks. “Only one part. An amazing part. I get the rest.”

  “Yes you do.” I rose up on my toes and pressed my lips against his. “You liked the ending?”

  He grinned, his eyes flashing. “You mean the part where we’re holding hands in the fields as the sun sets? Or the part right before it where Annie says ‘this is home’?”

  My heart thudded up against my ribs. “The home part.” As I rewrote the ending Ted didn’t like, in my giant Maureen O’Hara bed, it struck me that I felt like I belonged in that giant house. That if I left right then I’d be sad because it would feel like I’d left the place I belonged to. And ever since I did actually leave, I’d had this ache in my chest, a yearning to be back. Not just to be with Colt—because that part’s just a given—but to see Grayson wandering the halls, to make a midnight snack in the giant kitchen, take meals in the family dining room with the giant window, and, most importantly, wander the fields.

  I wanted to spend the rest of my life there.

  So I wrote it that way.

  “You really feel like the ranch is home?” He searched my eyes with a hopeful smile on his lips. “The way you described it,” he took a breath and shook his head in wonder, “it was like a love poem.”

  That’s exactly what it was. “I hope I described it in a way that would connect with you.”

  “And at night when the house is silent, and calm has settled the laughter, I’ll dream of dawn, and rolling fields, as I bite the fruit of our labor.” He kissed me and pressed our foreheads together, his hands still on my face and his eyes screwed shut. “I’m framing that and putting it over our bed.”

  Then he opened his eyes and gazed lovingly into mine. “That is, if you’ll come home with me.”

  “There’s never been a question.”

  CHAPTER 24

  If I thought my first two days with Colt were the best days of my life, I was proven wrong by the four days we spent as a couple at The Westerly. Those first two days were a magical beginning, but they were only a beginning.

  A year had given us perspective, but more than that, it gave us knowledge. Our connection was immediate but it takes time to understand why you connect with someone. What those quirks are and how they came to be. For both of us it came from a passion for our work. It drove us to work hard but it also drove us to work too hard.

  But now we had each other.

  “This way,” he called over his shoulder. My fingers were threaded through his as I followed him up a dirt path. I noticed the elevation change and based on my knowledge of the island, we had to be getting close to the beach.

  The island wasn’t that big.

  We’d spent the first two days together in my old bungalow. We barely left the bed. Why would we? We finally had each other, someone to deliver food night and day, and the perfect scenery. A giant white bed with open windows and billowing white curtains? It was paradise.

  But Colt had a surprise.

  And because I loved Colt and surprises, I followed without question.

  “Here we are.” He paused at the top of the rise and sighed.

  I scrambled up beside him and the sight before me made my jaw drop. “What is this?”

  “It’s ours until we fly home.”

  A private house on a cliff overlooking a beach? If our bungalow was paradise, then this was heaven. “But . . . how?”

  He looked at me like he was amused by my lack of understanding. “I rented it.”

  “But . . . this has to cost a fortune.” The bungalow was a fortune so this had to be . . . more than a fortune.

  “Well for one, the staff at The Westerly was delighted to learn about our story and hopes we will return every year.”

  “I’m sure they do,” I snorted.

  He shook his head and sighed. “They wanted us to have this.” Then he leaned down to whisper in my ear. “And you don’t have to worry about me or the ranch any longer.” He placed a soft kiss where my shoulder met my neck. “Everything went smoothly. The deal is done and Landry Ranch is now safely back in the black.”

  “You waited two days to tell me!” I punched him in the arm, which he took in stride.

  “I was waiting for the money to clear.” He rubbed his arm. “But thanks for the congratulations.”

  I threw my arms around his neck, my sundress fluttering around us as the wind caught it. “Congratulations, Cowboy. You did it.”

  Not that I ever had any doubts. I liked to think everyone who worked as hard as Colt worked, believed in his company the way he did, would eventually make it work.

  “We should be set for a long time to come. This distribution deal is the one I’ve been waiting for.” Then he swept me up in his arms. “No more work. Only play for the next two days.”

  And play we did.

  Dirty, kinky, sweet, slow. We did it all.

  I was walking the beach in nothing but my sarong when he called me up to the house. It was a gorgeous day. The sun shining, the wind strong, the salt heavy in the air. I’d felt called to walk the beach and enjoy as much of it as I could. When else would I ever have a completely private beach to enjoy?

  When I walked inside I was greeted to two things. A large black case on the kitchen counter and Colt grinning. “I have a surprise.”

  My eyes flicked back to the case. “In there?”

  He nodded like a kid on Christmas morning. “But first, a letter from my mother.” He held out a sealed white envelope.

  “What is it?” I would probably hold a little bit of a wall up between us for a while even though I understood her protective instincts. They were what I loved so much in Colt and he’d clearly inherited them from her.

  “An apology. She’s pretty mortified by what she did.” He stepped closer and his warmth and scent immediately surrounded me. “She gets so caught up in things. I think she was blinded by her emotions.”

  I took the envelope. “I can understand that. I’ve been a bit overwhelmed for a solid year.” I bounced my ey
ebrows at the source of my emotional overload and threw the envelope over my shoulder. “I’ll read her mea culpa later.”

  “But you’ll read it? I want you two to work this out.” He stood there pleading with his big blue eyes, knowing I was incapable of saying no.

  “If she’s on board, I’m on board.”

  “Good. Now the real surprise.” The envelope was forgotten as he took me in his arms. “This is a three step process okay?” He was vibrating. It was so adorable. “Step one.” He handed me a folded up piece of paper.

  I eyed him suspiciously as I unfolded it. On it was his handwriting.

  The past is a feeling we cannot shake

  Our loved ones a part of us even as they fade

  * * *

  The future with you is all I can see

  Today is all I need

  * * *

  My love for you will always grow brighter

  Shining down on the generations that follow

  * * *

  What started as a new beginning

  Will live on as happily ever after

  * * *

  -Colt

  I smiled. “You actually signed this one.” Then I frowned. “Crap. Now I have to fix your Christmas present.” I’d taken all those poems I’d made into art and created a book for us to keep on a shelf.

  It really wasn’t complete now.

  “Well, let’s worry about that present after you open mine. Merry Christmas.”

  “It’s not Christmas yet. What’s with the funny business, Mister?”

  He ignored me completely. “Open it and find out.”

  “Shouldn’t we wait until Christmas?” When my present would be ready.

  “No we should not. When I called Adam and told him my idea he was very excited and a little pissed he hadn’t thought of it himself. Elizabeth is getting one just like it, but from a different year.”

  Because that wasn’t confusing at all. “What’s in the black case?”