Something to Prove

by Shannyn Schroeder

  “Oh, Colin, oh. Don’t. Stop.” Her words were gasps, and she tightened around his cock.

  He loved the sound of his name in her mouth. He buried his face in her hair, breathing in her scent, riding her orgasm. Everything about her felt so damn good. He didn’t want to finish, not yet, but the aftershocks of her orgasm caused trembling in her body that pulled him deeper.

  A few more thrusts and he came with hard spurts that emptied his balls and made him weak. He held her close, afraid to move.

  Afraid to look into her face.

  Afraid that he’d see regret.

  She stroked his bare shoulders as their breathing returned to normal. “I think I left marks. Sorry about that.”

  He pulled back and turned his head to look at her hands. Sure enough, crescent shapes marked his skin from her nails. “We’re even, then. I think my whiskers did at least as much to you.”

  He ran a finger across her chest where he’d burned her skin with his kisses.

  “It’s getting late. Mike is going to wonder where we are.”

  He sighed. Elizabeth the businesswoman had returned. He pulled out of her and went to dispose of the condom.

  She cleared her throat. “Can I use your bathroom to freshen up?”

  “Sure. Down the hall on the left.”

  She picked up her clothes that he’d tossed carelessly on the floor and her skirt that lay neatly on the counter. He liked that she didn’t seem shy about walking through his apartment naked. He’d always found it odd that he could do all sorts of things to a woman’s body, but then she’d want to cover it up to go into another room. As if he hadn’t seen, touched, and tasted it all.

  Tasted. He hadn’t tasted nearly enough of Elizabeth. He shouldn’t have listened to her. Going fast had a time and a place, but this shouldn’t have been it.

  A fully clothed Elizabeth emerged from the bathroom, every hair tucked back, not a wrinkle to show what they’d done.

  “I’m heading back to the bar. When do you think you’ll be in?”

  “I’ll get dressed now.”

  “Okay. I’ll see you there.” She turned to pick up her keys.

  He circled her waist and pulled her into him, planting a kiss on her that she wouldn’t likely forget. “This isn’t over.”

  She sighed. “We can’t do this. We’re business partners. Getting romantically involved will cause problems.”

  “Only if we let it.”

  “I need to stay focused on the bar. I have a huge mess on my hands and I need to fix it.” She stroked his jaw. “This was a fabulous release. I had a really good time here, but it can’t happen again.”

  “The bar is in good shape. It’s not a mess. I understand that you live in Florida and you’re going back. I’m just saying that we’re both too busy to start a relationship, so why not enjoy each other? Have fun while you’re here.”

  She sighed and melted into him a little.

  “Besides, you haven’t even had me at my best.”

  She belted out a laugh, full and obnoxious, like she did that night at the club. Laugh didn’t really describe the sound. He’d have to look up a new word that would fit. Her hand immediately flew to cover her mouth.

  He peeled her fingers away. “Don’t. I like it when you laugh like that. It’s real.”

  A soft smile crossed her face and she looked like a different woman. “It really is getting late. I don’t think we should leave the employees alone on the second night of being open.”

  “Isn’t that the point of having employees? So you don’t have to do it all?”

  “Yes, but that place was left unsupervised for far too long.” She moved out of his embrace and turned toward the door.

  “I’ll be at the bar soon and then you can fill me in on the problems.”

  She nodded and left. Colin ran his hands through his hair. He couldn’t believe it. He’d just had sex with Legs. It was every bit as good as he’d thought it would be. And he’d managed to escape bodily injury. His crappy day had finally taken a turn for the better. He whistled as he went to his bedroom to get dressed. Things were definitely looking up.

  CHAPTER 9

  Elizabeth walked to her car in a daze. What the hell did she just do? Not only did she throw herself at Colin to get a great orgasm, but by not disagreeing with him, it could happen again. It would happen again.

  Her mind knew it was a mistake. The rest of her body, however, was humming with pleasure and the anticipation of it getting better. She couldn’t stop smiling. The muscles that had been bunched in tight knots since she’d left Keith were now loose and limber. She drove back to the bar and prayed that Mike wouldn’t question her absence.

  As she entered the bar, she took note of the small crowd. Not as big as the night before, but not bad for before-dinner customers. She waved at Mike as she headed to her office. Heat crept up her neck and embarrassment swamped her. She felt like everyone knew what she’d been doing less than a half hour ago.

  Back at her desk, she thought about the bowling alley next door. She knew nothing about bowling alleys. She hadn’t stepped foot in one in at least twenty-five years. Not since Dad had made it big in construction and Mom decided that ballet and opera were more appropriate than bowling and having fun.

  Her eyes fluttered closed and her mind wandered back to the birthday party she’d gone to when she was eight. It was the first time she’d gone to a bowling alley and she’d been completely overwhelmed. The cracking of ball against pin, people cheering, and the powdery smell of chalk dust shocked her, but within minutes, she was in love.

  Some bowlers were superstitious in their routines and in how they approached the lanes. Others just ran straight ahead with little or no forethought. Everyone jumped and yelled and danced when they got a strike. So many people were wild and uninhibited.

  Then, during the party, they switched to cosmic bowling and turned on black lights. She and her friends had so much fun playing. It was magical.

  “I hope I’m the reason for that smile.”

  Startled at the sound of Colin’s voice, Elizabeth jolted in her chair. She blinked rapidly to clear her vision and her brain. How long had he been standing in the doorway? “Hi.”

  “I checked with Mike and he has everything under control, so I thought I’d come back here and see why you think we have a huge mess. We have customers. How bad can it be?” He closed the door and leaned against it.

  She studied his casual stance and tried not to drool. He was so damn sexy she wanted to get naked with him again. Now. She cleared her throat. “I should’ve listened to you when you tried to tell me about the basement.”

  He pushed away from the door and took the rickety seat in front of her desk. “Why?”

  “My brother stopped by today. As it turns out, the other half of this building is also part of the business. With our success last night, we’ve only scratched the surface.”

  “Expanding into the other half of the building shouldn’t be too difficult. Add a dance floor, a pool table, more TVs.”

  Her brain suddenly weighed too much. “It’s not more bar space.”

  “What is it then?”

  Her stomach began to burn again. She reached into her desk drawer and grabbed her bottle of antacids. Damn. She’d forgotten to buy more. Dumping two green ones into her hand, she stood. “It’s better if I just show you.”

  He pointed at the bottle. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes. Just an upset stomach.” Although she was back to chomping antacids almost constantly, she wanted to believe that. She wanted to trust that the added stress wouldn’t get any worse than what the small tablets could fix.

  The chalky lime-tasting powder clung to the tops of her molars, and she grabbed the keys Keith had left. “Let’s go out back and I’ll show you.”

  She took Colin to the back door of the bowling alley. Shoving aside pretty memories of a birthday party, she focused on reality. She knew nothing about how to run a bowling alley. She knew even less ab
out that than she did about running a bar. Part of her believed Keith had done this on purpose, like he’d known she’d come here and be completely overwhelmed. Logic told her otherwise, but the sibling rivalry always reared its ugly little head.

  Inside the building, she flipped on lights. “Here it is. A bowling alley.”

  Colin said nothing in response. He turned in a circle and then walked down the length of the room.

  His silence unnerved her all over again. “See, a mess.”

  “If it’s been closed down this long, why not just leave it? We have a good thing going with the bar. Why not sell this half as is?”

  “No—” She stopped herself from saying that it would be cheating. He knew nothing about her battle with Keith for the company. “I need to have the whole thing turned around.”

  He scrubbed his hands over his face. He was going to leave. She could see it. He’d bail, and she’d be back to square one. Well, not square one, because the bar was looking pretty good. “I know you didn’t sign on for this. If you want out, that’s fine.”

  He put his fists on his hips and narrowed his eyes. “I don’t scare that easily. And you’re not getting out of our contract. If I don’t get my bonus until the whole thing sells, then we’ll get the whole thing ready to sell. You’re not cutting me out now.”

  A pain shot through her chest. “I wasn’t trying to cheat you out of anything. I meant that we would figure out a decent split.”

  Although his face remained hard, his shoulders relaxed a fraction. “Well, I’m not going anywhere.”

  A deep breath worked its way from her lungs. Relief swamped her in a way she hadn’t expected. She didn’t want him to go. She enjoyed working with him. They made a good team. “Okay.”

  They stood staring at each other for another long moment. Finally, she cleared her throat. “What do you know about bowling?”

  Not a fucking thing. That’s what he knew about bowling. The muscles in his jaw were so tight he thought they’d crack. “Not much.”

  “That’s what I was afraid of.”

  She looked defeated. Not quite as bad as her near breakdown in his apartment, but pretty bad. How did she handle working when she took everything so personally? Like this was a personal failure? “We’ll figure it out. All we need is to find someone who’s willing to teach us. There are plenty of bowling alleys in the city.”

  “And?”

  “I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but we’ll do some research. I’m thinking if we can sway one good manager to join us, we’ll be golden.”

  She crossed her arms. “Have someone in mind?”

  “No, but I was just thinking that Ryan has his manager, Mary, trained so well that she could run the bar without him, so it would probably work the same way with a bowling alley.” For someone who thought on the fly, he sounded pretty good, even to himself, and he knew he was full of shit.

  “Okay. I’ll go back to my office and start the search again. Will you be able to check some out tomorrow with me?”

  He did his best to hide his grimace. He needed to put in time at O’Leary’s, especially with Ryan being gone for Quinn and the baby. “Probably.” He’d have to figure out how to squeeze a few more hours into the day.

  Following Elizabeth back to the bar, he couldn’t help but stare at the sway of her hips. Had they really had sex just hours ago? She showed no sign of afterglow, but he knew she’d enjoyed herself.

  He shook his head again. He needed to keep thoughts of her naked body out of his head. The business needed his full focus. There was no way he’d be able to afford to buy both businesses from her. If he couldn’t talk her into separating the bar from the alley, he’d at least have the bonus he’d get from selling. It should be more than enough to buy something else.

  Especially if he helped her figure out the bowling alley.

  Back at the bar, Elizabeth disappeared into her office, and Colin checked on the front. A decent-sized crowd had filtered in while he and Elizabeth were at the bowling alley. Mike didn’t need his help. Colin didn’t know why Elizabeth had been so worried. If Mike kept this up, they would have plenty of time to investigate other alleys and begin work on this one without feeling too much of a strain.

  Maybe Elizabeth was worried about money. Ryan had said that her family had deep pockets, but what if her budget couldn’t accommodate the bowling alley? Maybe that’s why she took it all so personally.

  He needed to stop worrying about the whys of it all. None of it mattered. He and Elizabeth had a contract that stipulated she was the money end and he was the experience. If he was going to continue to hold up his end, he needed to learn about running a bowling alley. How hard could it be?

  His brother Michael used to bowl on a league with the other firefighters. He’d give him a call and find out where they’d bowled. It was a starting place. He checked his watch. He needed to go back to O’Leary’s and make sure everything was okay there.

  Ryan was counting on him. He’d let Ryan down enough over the years that he didn’t want to add to the stress of new parenthood by not keeping up with everything. Ryan’s hands had always been full with work and now he had Quinn and Patrick.

  Thinking the name of his nephew was difficult. He had no right to be jealous. He knew that, but he couldn’t prevent the feeling. He knocked on Elizabeth’s office door, but didn’t wait for an answer. He swung the door open and saw her glaring at her computer screen.

  “Hey, I’m going to step out for a bit. Mike has everything under control. I’ll be back before closing.”

  She tore her gaze from the screen to face him. “Okay. Is everything all right?”

  “Yeah. I just want to check in at O’Leary’s. I’ll be back. Then maybe we can go over to the bowling alley and see what we have and what we need.”

  She smiled sweetly. “Sounds good.”

  “See you.” He tapped the door frame.

  “Colin.”

  He turned back.

  “Thanks. For everything.”

  “Everything, huh?”

  Her neck and cheeks grew pink.

  “I meant the help with the bar and bowling alley.”

  He entered the office and leaned over the top of her desk. “Does that mean you didn’t appreciate the orgasm you had this afternoon?”

  She lifted one eyebrow. “Oh, I appreciated the hell out of that. But it shouldn’t continue. You need to stop flirting with me.”

  “Why? If you have such determination to not sleep with me again, then my flirtation shouldn’t make an impact whatsoever.”

  “It just makes things harder.”

  He couldn’t stop the chuckle at her double entendre.

  She pushed away from the desk, putting distance between them as if she thought he might try to take her right there. “It would just make things easier if you didn’t waste your time flirting. Plus, you could focus that energy on more productive things.”

  He straightened and offered her a half-assed salute. “Yes, boss.”

  He left her office letting her feel like she’d won. He had no intention of backing off. They’d be spending way too many hours alone together for him to give up the idea of having her legs wrapped around him again.

  Driving to O’Leary’s, he thought of what they could do with the space if they didn’t want to keep it as a bowling alley but came up empty. At least a bowling alley loosely fit their design. Bowling was a sport, right?

  They could do their own league and offer birthday parties for kids. If they made the alley a family place, it could grow a lot of their business. Mom and Dad could have drinks and watch a game on TV while the kids tried to bowl. Maybe they could get a small arcade going. He pictured the place in his head, but didn’t have a strong sense of it. He couldn’t even imagine how they could connect the two businesses. He needed more time there.

  “Hi, Mary,” he called as he walked through O’Leary’s. “Everything okay?”

  “Everything’s right as rain. Did you see pic
tures of that adorable baby?”

  “I saw the real deal this morning.”

  “Ryan called, and I let him know you were here earlier, but that I would close up. How are things going at your bar?” She wiped the bar down as she talked, simultaneously scanning the glasses to see who might need a refill.

  “We hit a small glitch, but we’re headed in the right direction. What’s the schedule like here for the rest of the week? I’m guessing Ryan won’t be around much.”

  Mary moved to pour a beer, and as he watched her pull the handle of the tap, he remembered what it was like to have his arms around Elizabeth, teaching her to do the same. He shook his head.

  “Ryan has all the shifts covered. He figured Quinn would be going in any day, so he planned for this.”

  Figures. Ryan didn’t trust that he could rely on Colin. Colin had told him he’d be here, and he had been. Maybe he hadn’t put in as much time since getting involved with Elizabeth, but he hadn’t walked away either. He banked the automatic anger so he wouldn’t take it out on Mary. “Give me a call if you need anything. I’m going to go upstairs and have a nap. Last night went on forever, and I have to work tonight.”

  “Okay. See you later.”

  He wasn’t needed here. He never had been. How could he not feel resentment toward Ryan because of that? Ryan had made sure of it. For a year Colin had been trying to prove himself worthy while hoping for Ryan’s forgiveness.

  It looked like that would never happen. Maybe it was time to move on. If Ryan wanted to keep doing it all alone, Colin would let him. The rest of the family had welcomed Colin back with open arms. He was tired of trying to please Ryan.

  Ryan wasn’t Dad. Colin didn’t need his approval. He’d build Brannigan’s into something to be proud of. Then he’d move on to have his own place.

  He’d be a success in spite of Ryan’s disbelief.

  Elizabeth stared at the list of bowling alleys in her hand. This was all too much. Keith’s betrayal was reminiscent of their past. She couldn’t believe he’d done this to her again.