Lakeshore Legend: The McAdams Series (By The Lake Series Book 2)

by Leah, Shannyn

  He leaned into her long neck and the smell of bath bombs they’d been up early that morning making. He should be exhausted. But all he could think about was her. He inhaled what he thought to be shea butter as his lips kissed her collarbone and traced his intentions to her ears. He planted slow, teasing, and soft kisses up her neck, intended to ignite that little fire of desire in the pit of her stomach.

  “Colt?” He ignored the sudden questioning change in her tone and followed her jaw line with his mouth.

  “Uh-huh.” He captured any reply with his mouth. She was startled at first, and more tense then he’d expected. It only took a second of teasing her lips with his tongue before she kissed him back twisting her body toward him just like he’d hoped she would. They could talk in the morning. Right now he wanted to kiss her, touch her, and take her up to the hotel shower after they finished in here.

  He grabbed her legs and scooped them up onto the seat and underneath him lying them both down and he settled between her legs. Her hands gripped the front of his jacket during the transition pulling him further down against her. Her mouth was hungry for him, but he could feel reluctance in her.

  He left her mouth to taste her neck again but his lips had other intentions in mind of where they were heading.

  She started talking in his ear. “Colt?” He would rather hear her calling his name filled with desire rather than the questioning tone it carried.

  “Yeah.” His tongue traced down the deep dip in the front of her dress that he’d been ordering his eyes away from all night.

  “Do you want a family?” she asked.

  He paused. A family? Where had that come from? What in their entire day had led her thoughts down this path? He needed to get her back with him and his thoughts that involved her being naked. “I want you.” He ran one hand down the outside of her leg.

  “I’m serious.”

  “So am I.” Slowly he ran his hand back up the inner side of her thigh until...she caught his hand.

  “Colt, answer me.”

  He moved his head back up to hers so he could look at her. She was so distracted in her own thoughts. He didn’t even see a hint of lust behind those eyes and he’d given her plenty to be lustful about. “I want you. I wasn’t looking for a family, but neither are you. That’s why we work.” He kissed her nose to try and lighten the serious mood she was creating. It didn’t work.

  “You like me because I don’t want a family?’

  First of all he hadn’t said anything about liking her. He loved her. He wasn’t attracted to her because she didn’t want a family. He was attracted to her because of her. “That’s not what I said.” He sat back. “What’s going on?”

  “Do you want kids?”

  He rubbed his hands across his face. What a buzz kill. “Why?”

  She propped herself up on her arms. “At the hospital you were very upset.” The hospital? He didn’t want to talk about the hospital. Why was she bringing up the hospital? Now? She should focus on the theater, and how distracted he had been, staring at her, wanting her. That he’d barely followed the play.

  “Your family was important to you and I didn’t know that and then there you were with this longing in your eyes.”

  “Peyton.” He raised the tone of his voice. This conversation was getting frustrating. “What do you want from me?”

  “They’re easy questions Colt. Do you want a family? Do you want children?”

  “Yes.” He was afraid the admission would scare her away. She had only let him into her heart and he was afraid if she knew he wanted a family it would scare her away.

  Maybe families were overrated. His mom and dad hadn’t done so well. He hadn’t done so well. And though he was scared to let another person in he wasn’t scared of Peyton. If she didn’t want a family, he didn’t want a family.

  “But not right now,” he said. “Right now I just want you.” He moved across the too large distance between them and kissed her lips.

  “I’m pregnant Colt.” The revelation blew the lust right out of the limo.

  He leaned back again. “What?” he asked, thinking he’d misheard her.

  “It’s yours.”

  Pregnant? How in the hell was she pregnant? He knew how she was pregnant...but how?

  “Are you sure?”

  She bit her bottom lip and nodded. Normally, if she hadn’t dropped this bombshell on him, he wouldn’t be able to resist kissing that lip.

  “How do you know?”

  “I did a test today with your mom.”

  “My mom knows?”

  She nodded again. Why the hell did his mom know before him? Was this Elaine’s idea behind getting the two of them out and on a date together? She’d been pushing to find out if he loved her. In an instant he was furious with his mother for suggesting this plan when she knew about Peyton.

  “How far along are you?” It came out a harsh angry question with an accusing tone.

  “I’m guessing almost eight weeks.”

  “You’re guessing?” It was either eight weeks ago and her body would have told her or it was this week. So she’d known the whole time he’d been back in town? She’d known at the beach, at his mom’s place, at the dance, every single moment they had shared together she had been holding this secret from him. She had been lying to him. The word he had never thought would combine in the same sentence as Peyton slammed into all his thoughts: Betrayal.

  He climbed off her and hit the driver’s window telling him to pull over.

  “Colt...I...” He held his hand up to stop her. He needed fresh air.

  When the limo stopped he climbed out and slammed the door shut. Timothy was climbing out with him. Colt waved a hand at him. “I’m fine Timothy. Everything is fine. I just need a moment.” Knowing what that meant, Timothy climbed back into the driver’s side. They’d had these moments the last year, but he could arguably say they weren’t nearly as bad at the time as he felt now. And they’d been pretty damn bad.

  A long wooded and dimly lit parking lot encircled them while the misting rain persisted against his face. Colt walked around the limo, his shoes hitting the pebbled ground.

  What had Peyton been up to? He was furious and curious why she had been lying to him this entire time? She should have told him that night in his bedroom. Or at the dance...when she wasn’t drinking. He threw his hands in the air. What a fool he was!

  “Colt?” He heard the limo door shut. She should have let him walk this out a little longer because he wasn’t ready to face her yet.

  He spun around. “What was that?” he demanded.

  She looked stunned by either his abrupt question or by the bit of anger he’d forced into the question. “What was what?”

  “That game in the limo. Do you want a family? Do you want kids?” He mimicked her girl voice furious as the realization that she had been playing him hit him.

  “I-I didn’t know whether to tell you...”

  “So I passed the test and you dished out the truth.”

  “No. It’s not like that. I just...I didn’t know what I was going to do.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Her voice was so quiet, confused and scared sounding. It wasn’t at all like the Peyton he knew.

  “With the baby.” She looked away as if embarrassed.

  He didn’t care how embarrassed she was. “You’re thinking of not having it?”

  She looked back up with a face full of confusion. “I was before you came back and then I wasn’t...I don’t know.”

  “How do you not know?”

  “Because I didn’t plan this,” she yelled at him. “I wasn’t even sure I was pregnant and I wasn’t ready to take a test. I just wanted to get passed the grand opening without more stress. And then you showed up after getting arrested, charged and divorced, retired and your reputation all in the last couple of years was an explosion of disaster. I didn’t know what to think about you.”

  “You knew exactly what you thought about me.” He
accused pointing harshly at her. “You didn’t know what other people would think about us.” She was always so worried about other people’s opinions. “And then out comes the truth, your store’s reputation was really a decoy for the baby’s reputation. Would you have even told me if I didn’t show up?”

  Her guilty eyes said the thought had crossed her mind. “I don’t know.” But she did.

  “Why the hell did you tell me if you don’t know anything?”

  “Stop yelling at me.”

  He stopped and took a step back. He couldn’t believe that only minutes ago she’d had him wrapped around her little finger. No doubt her plan all along. He could hardly look at her.

  “I didn’t want this,” she said softly. “And I certainly didn’t plan it...and when you showed up I didn’t know what to do or how to tell you or if I was even going to tell you.”

  “So you played me. You manipulated me into wanting to settle down with you? Be your husband, start a family, have children because you were already knocked up. And then what Peyton? Have a loveless life together and end up leaving me and fighting me for my assets? Guess what. I’ve been down this road before and it doesn’t end pretty for either party.”

  “It wasn’t like that at all. This has nothing to do with your money or trying to hook you into anything.”

  “You lied to me!” That was one betrayal he couldn’t live with.

  “I didn’t know for sure that I was pregnant and then this morning I was sick and I knew,” she tried to defend herself. Her words fell on deaf ears.

  “But you suspected and you lied just like everyone else does.” All the people around him lied with their fake smiles and conversations. He thought she was different. “And you used me just like everyone else. You let me fall in love with you when you were trying to figure out what to do with me.”

  She opened her mouth to speak, then snapped it shut.

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “So am I.” He stormed by her toward the limo.

  “Colt, please...” She grabbed the sleeve of his shirt as he walked by and he could have kept going and dragged her down but she was pregnant...with his child. “Don’t walk away mad, please. Talk to me.”

  He stopped, turned and took his shirt out of her grasp, leaving her standing there quivering alone in the damp wet coldness, looking small and scared. He had the urge to pull her back into his arms and soothe her pain away but how could he when she lied to him?

  “There’s nothing left to talk about. You lied to me,” he paused, taking a breath. “Get in the limo Peyton,” he told her in his straight hard tone. “Game over.”

  Chapter Thirty

  Colt felt a slap across his shoulder to break the sleep he’d finally succumbed to.

  “Why are you home?” his mother demanded.

  He was exhausted. Couldn’t this wait until he was more awake? He was sure he hadn’t had one solid hour of sleep all night. After they had arrived back in Willow Valley, well into the morning hours, he’d been so betrayed and furious the entire ride home he hadn’t closed his eyes for a second. He was feeling that morning exhaustion right now.

  When he didn’t answer her right away the paper she was holding slapped his body multiple times.

  “Colton Patterson you answer me this very second.”

  “I’m sleeping.” He stated the obvious.

  “Where is Peyton?”

  “At her dad’s.”

  “What is she doing there?”

  “Sleeping.”

  An unhappy string of words came from his mother’s lips and he knew he better sit up before she yanked the blanket away and discovered he slept in the nude.

  He rolled onto his back and slid up the headboard in a partial sitting position while running his hands over his face.

  “Why is she over there? Why are you here? Why aren’t the two of you in the city staying at your place? Together? Celebrating. Answers out with them.”

  “Because I didn’t handle her announcement very well.” Colt glared at her mother. “You knew she was pregnant before I did and you knew before arranging our little date.”

  She stared at him, not the least bit guilty after his accusation. “What do you mean you didn’t handle it well?”

  “You think I could get dressed? Have a coffee and wake up before we get into this?”

  She arched an eyebrow, moved her weight onto one leg and planted her hands on her hips. A big no.

  “I mean I got mad at her.”

  Her head tilted and sent him the biggest disapproving look he’d ever received in his life. “You got mad at her?” she asked, the words barely able to make it past her angery lips.

  He nodded.

  She tilted her head the other direction and sucked in a deep breath. “You got mad at her...” They’d already cleared that up. “Because you knocked her up?” When she said it like that it sounded awful.

  “No, I got mad at her because she hid it from me.” Lied. Betrayed.

  Elaine took another deep breath and let out a long Ooo. Then glared at him. “I raised a damn fool. What did you go and say to her? I mean seriously, I had so much faith in you I sent that sad girl with all her fears to you so you would help her overcome them, soothe her and comfort her because I thought I raised a fine man and then you go get mad at her? What did you say Colt? What were your exact words son?” She was pissed.

  He winced as the words came out of her mouth and he winced as the two words came out of his mouth. He knew his mother was going to let him have it. “Game over.”

  Another slap with the paper. Then another slap.

  A loud groan.

  “Game over? Game over!” she yelled at him. “I have been sitting back while the two of you played this backwards game of cat and mouse, each of you trying to overcome a fear neither of you understand and just when I thought maybe you two could seal the deal on your own, you go and say ‘game over!’”

  He wasn’t in the mood to be yelled at. “I’m tired.” He was about to roll back over.

  “Oh boo-hoo.”

  Surprised, he looked back up at his mother.

  “Yeah you heard me. Oh, boo-hoo on you. She kept the pregnancy to herself. What do you expect when you have sex with her and don’t call? What was she supposed to think with a blonde draped over your arm? Not only that, but on top of it, she was dealing with her own fear. She didn’t plan on having a baby so she was scared. Guess what? She’s allowed to be scared. She’s allowed to try and register it on her own. It’s her damn right boy.”

  He remembered promising Peyton the night before last that he would never hurt her and the hurt in her eyes when he said game over pained him as much as her betrayal. A betrayal his mother was now chipping away at.

  “She’s not Lauren.”

  His eyes widened. His mother had never given an opinion about Lauren.

  “You were only kidding yourself with that woman.”

  “Mother,” he warned.

  “Don’t ‘mother’ me. You’re in my house and you will listen to what I have to say.” He could fix his location mighty quick.

  “You put Lauren on a pedestal and all she did was take advantage of you and your money. You were the only fool who didn’t see it. You didn’t want to see it back then, thinking you were in love with her when she used you like a trophy and you let her. You lost your knee in that accident, but I lost my son.” He watched tears sting her eyes as she brought up the accident she couldn’t discuss without crying. “I didn’t see him until Peyton McAdams waltzed into his life and made you remember what life was and then I saw something else between you two. Do you know what I saw?”

  Colt shrugged but he knew. He saw it, he felt it.

  “Love.”

  “Mom, she lied to me. She betrayed me like Lauren. Just like dad did to you.” He’d meant for the words to come out forceful and put an end to her lecture, but instead they came out sad and low.

  Elaine’s eyes softened. She sat on the edge of his be
d and touched his arm. “Peyton didn’t betray you like Lauren or your father. Their betrayal was selfish. Peyton wasn’t being selfish when she didn’t tell you about the baby. She was being cautious. She was protecting your baby and her heart, from you, you damn fool. And look what happened when she let you in. Game over. Game over.” She repeated his words and shook her head.

  Colt felt his words stinging.

  “She told you when she knew for sure and when she trusted you.” He felt shame rising through his body like scalding water.

  He’d shut her out. He’d yelled at her...game over.

  “I love her,” he said. “When she told me I felt like I gave her my heart and, the second she got it, she betrayed me.” Then all those feelings of Lauren came rushing back.

  “Tell her that.”

  “She won’t want to talk to me. She has a store to open this week.”

  “She’s next door all day long. By herself. Go over to her.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Sitting on the edge of the bathtub, Peyton stared at the pregnancy test she’d taken again and it was positive again. What did she think? It was going to tell her she wasn’t pregnant? Then what? Was that going to make everything better? No, it wasn’t.

  Peyton closed her eyes and crossed her legs, grateful her dad wasn’t home, but wishing her sister were. She needed someone to talk to. She needed someone to listen. She needed someone who wasn’t going to hurt her...like Colt had. After he promised her that he wouldn’t, he’d shut her out.

  Game over? Game over! Was he kidding? Hello there was still his baby growing inside her.

  Dammit!

  She threw the test across the bathroom and it hit the edge of the door and slid down in front of a pair of feet she hadn’t noticed in the hallway.

  Colt bent down and picked up the test, staring at it harder than she had.

  “I peed on that stick,” she told him.

  It didn’t even faze him like she’d intended.

  He looked up at her as though he hadn’t heard her words. “I used the spare key.”

  She crossed her arms in front of her, protecting her from the man who only hours ago had promised her everything and then had ripped it all away tearing her heart in the process.