by Molly McLain
Then there’s the mess with his agent. Colton tries to play off letting Liz go as no big deal, but I’ve watched his career long enough to know that’s not the case. This is a career-changing move for him…and it might not work out the way he hopes. One thing I know for sure is that I won’t let him go it alone this time. In fact, I refuse. Maybe he hasn’t realized it yet, but if we do this relationship thing, we become a team. And pregnant or not, I won’t stand back and let him get screwed over. Especially not by a woman whose interest seems to lie only in herself.
The days of passive Taylor are gone. From now on, I fight for what I want and I don’t back down until it’s mine.
On the bedside table, my phone dings with a new message. Careful not to wake Colton, I reach for it.
Working out with the team tonight, Adam texts. You good in there with the baby daddy or do you need me to save you?
I angle the screen away from Col and send a quick response. Remind me: are sleepovers allowed?
Your call, not mine. The damage is already done anyway, right? ;)
Oh, my God. Not funny.
Sure, it is. Peace out, TS!
Ugh. Men.
“Everything okay?” Col’s sleep-roughened words sound softly in my ear, and I quickly stash away the phone.
“Adam’s just letting me know he’s going out. I didn’t wake you, did I?” I flip over to face him, the sheet pulled up to my chin.
“It’s okay.” He shrugs and lets out a big yawn. “Besides, we won’t sleep tonight if we stay in bed all day.”
Reaching out, I smooth the pad of my thumb along a sleep line on his face. “Does that mean you plan on staying tonight?”
“Do you want me to stay?”
I nod. If he could stay forever, it wouldn’t be long enough.
“Good.” He leans in and steals a kiss. “But there’s someplace I want to take you first.”
My smile turns to a pout. “You mean I have to put real clothes on?”
“Yep.” He grins against my lips and gives my ass a slap. “Time to get up, Sleeping Beauty.”
- - -
Colton
“I haven’t been here in forever.” Taylor leans forward in the passenger seat of my rental car, taking in the picturesque view before us. Picnic Point on Lake Mendota, which is stunning during the day, but breathtaking as the sun goes down. “In fact, I think…” She breaks off her, pretty lips pressing together as she remembers.
“Yeah.” I park and shut off the engine. “I hope you don’t mind.”
She shakes her head, but doesn’t speak. She doesn’t have to. I know exactly what she’s thinking. I’m just sorry that it’s taken me this long to bring her back.
“You want to walk?” I ask, and she glances at me with the shimmer of tears in her eyes.
“Please.”
We make our way to a rest area, overlooking the lake, which is still a little crowded with couples and families camped out on blankets, patiently waiting for the sun to go down. It’s a warm night. Not too humid, and with a nice breeze. Taylor’s hair teases against my upper arm, as she walks beside me, our hands tangled. I friggin’ love it when I feel her on me like that. I can’t wait to experience it over and over again as long as she’ll have me, which I hope is forever.
“I think we were sitting over there.” She points to a grassy spot just down the way, where a mother and two kids relax on a couple of oversized towels. “You want to sit?”
“I didn’t think to bring a blanket.” I knew I’d wanted to do this for her, but that’s as far as my plan went. What a schmuck.
“That’s okay.” She crosses her legs and takes a seat right in the sand like a trooper, so I follow suit, sitting behind her.
“Have you talked to your dad lately?” I shift forward, my legs on either side of her hips, one hand on her waist, the other in the warm sand.
“Yep, I talk to him regularly. He’s on a new medication.”
“And that’s going well?”
“Like night and day.”
“You’re kidding.” I haven’t heard her speak of her father in optimistic terms in years. Four to be exact.
“Nope, not kidding.” She leans back against my chest and the fruity scent of her shampoo tickles my nose. “It’s pretty surreal after all this time.”
I’m sure it is. Taylor and her father were so close before his accident. She’d been a daddy’s girl, in the best kind of way. In the blink of an eye, that changed. Then again, that’s usually how it goes with drunk driving accidents.
“I need to stop by and see him one of these days,” I say quietly. Not just to see for myself that what she says is true, but because it’s also the right thing to do. I have intentions for this woman and it’s only right I share that with her father.
“He’d like that,” she says, and I both feel and hear her hiccup of emotion.
“Hey…” I nuzzle my lips to her temple as she begins to cry softly. “It’s okay.”
“I’ll never forget that night,” she whispers. “It was so perfect, you know? I hadn’t seen you in months and it was just…so special.”
I’d felt it, too, but then I’d had a plan that night, as well. She was in school, finishing up her freshman year, and I was on the road, living the dream. Almost.
It had taken her investing her time in something other than me for me to realize how much I missed her. I wanted to ask her if maybe she’d missed me more than usual, too. Maybe test the waters of something more than friends, even back then. But I never got the chance.
“I can still hear Mom’s voice when she called.” She sucks in a deep breath and chases her tears away with the back of her hand. “I didn’t think I’d make it home in time,” she says bravely. “And I’m positive I couldn’t have done it in one piece if it weren’t for you driving me.”
“I’m glad I could be there. I mean, I hated the circumstances, but…” She was with me when my dad died; it was only right that I could be there for her when she thought she might lose hers, too. “And here we are now, things finally looking up for him.”
She’s quiet for a long time, just watching the water ebb and flow against the sand. “I don’t know about that,” she finally says.
“What do you mean?”
Her shoulders lift gently. “Something’s going on with him and my mom again. I mean, he’s doing great, but Mom…” She sucks in a shaky breath. “She’s been distant. And she won’t talk to me about it.”
“That’s not the Ruth I know.” I kiss the top of her head. “Maybe she’s thinking about everything you’ve got going on here. School again, the new job…”
More silence, then Taylor turns to the side and swings her legs over mine. “Why did you want to come here tonight?” she asks, casually picking at a string on her T-shirt.
“Honestly? I just wanted a walk down memory lane.”
She shoots me a narrow-eyed glare. “To remember one of the worst nights of my life?”
Chuckling, I snag her by that hem she’s assaulting and haul her against my chest. “There’s nothing wrong with looking back at moments that tore us up. Especially when we’ve come out stronger on the other side,” I tell her, before I kiss her temple. “Besides, you’re the one who pointed out what a nice night it had been up until that point. Maybe I wanted a redo.”
Her fingertip traces along the top of my thigh, then she tucks them into my pocket as she rests her head on my shoulder. “All this time I’ve known you, and I had no idea you were so sentimental.”
“Only about you.” And I mean that. I love my family. I love FMX. But Taylor’s the one who hits that special place deep inside my chest. The one who lights me up from the inside out. “I guess I just wanted to come back and finish what we started.”
She glances up at me. “What do you mean?”
I shrug. “I had something on my mind that night.”
“Like?”
“Come on, Tee,” I chuckle.
“You wanted to tell me how you
felt?”
“Yep.” I nod, kicking myself in the ass all over again. How different would our lives be if she hadn’t gotten that call? Or more to point—if I hadn’t decided to spare her the additional stress? Her dad was on life support and my silly confession seemed so trivial at the time.
“Col…” Her hand curls around my jaw and her voice softens. “I don’t doubt how you feel about me, now or then.”
“I could’ve told you so many times.” It’s just one of the many regrets where we’re concerned. So much wasted time, either hiding my feelings from her or trying to do right by her and ultimately fucking it up. “When I say I want to do this with you, I mean it, Tee. I’m all in.”
“I know,” she whispers, and I see the understanding sparkle in her eyes. “It scared the crap out of me at first, thinking about us going from what we’d had for so long to something more. That’s why I pushed you away.”
I nod and swallow hard. “You asked me to give you time. Do you think…you’ve had enough?”
Her gaze goes soft again as she looks into my eyes and whispers. “I think so.”
Thank Christ. “Good, because I miss talking to you every day. Especially those calls and texts before bed and after my rides.” I’m not sure she’ll ever fully understand what they mean to me. “Which is why I want to ask you something else. Something I’m pretty sure I already know the answer to, but I’m going to ask anyway…”
She tips her head to the side, waiting, and her hair flutters in the breeze again. She doesn’t get what she does to me, this girl. How those simple glances and connections calm every nerve and uncertainty inside of me.
“Come on the road with me, Tee. You’re already set up for online classes next semester anyway, so it’s not like you’d have to make a bunch of changes. At least not until you hear from UW.”
Her eyes fill with tears anew and I know what she’s thinking.
“The road isn’t always like Vegas and, when it is, we can skip out on the crazy shit, like Brandon and Sara do.” I reach out and swipe away a lone tear just below her eye, as she wets her lips. “I want you with me, Tee.”
“I really want to finish school.”
“I know, and I’m not asking for this to be a permanent thing, unless you want it to be. I mean, I know I probably sound selfish asking, but—”
“I can’t keep going months without seeing you either.”
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
“I’ll need to figure out something for work. Maybe some freelance stuff to tide me over.”
“You know you don’t have to worry about that.” Yet, I know she will, because Taylor’s too modest not to.
“I won’t be that girl, Col.”
I smile and press a kiss to her forehead. “We’ll figure something out.”
“The summer session ends in a week and a half, and then we have the wedding,” she says. “Which is something else we need to talk about.”
“Let’s just tell ‘em.” I’m done pretending on all fronts and finally telling everyone how I feel about this girl…it’s been a long time coming.
She laughs nervously as she glances back to the water. “And steal your sister’s sunshine? We can’t do that, Col.”
“Casey will be relieved,” I chuckle. “She’s been reading between the lines for years.”
Taylor stiffens for a second before passing me a smile that doesn’t sit quite right on her face. “You’ve clearly never been a bride-to-be.”
Thank God for that. “You really think she’ll be put out?”
She shrugs. “Hard to say, but I don’t think we should take the chance.”
I sigh and shift my gaze to the dark gray water, slowing dancing along the beach. “You know it’s gonna be hard as hell for me to not kiss you when I’m twirling you around the dance floor.”
She grins. “You’ll survive.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“Just because we can’t make out in public doesn’t mean we can’t do it when we’re alone.”
I cock an eyebrow. “Keep talking, gorgeous.”
“I’d rather not.” She kisses me instead.
Chapter Seven
Taylor
“You know what I mean? It’s nuts.” Colton smiles and stuffs a French fry into his mouth. I grin too, but I have no idea what he’s talking about. I lost track of the conversation five minutes ago, when the thought of crawling back into bed with him crept into my head and refused to leave.
The last thing I should be thinking about is sleeping with him again, considering I haven’t shared the ramifications of our last time together—or maybe it was the first time—but the craving right now is a strong one. Probably a mix of hormones and these past couple of months, wondering if I’d ever have the chance to be with him again.
“You getting tired?” he asks, as the waitress clears away my half-eaten dinner and brings the check.
“A little,” I lie. Whatever gets us home faster.
“All right then.” He winks, throws a tip on the table, and offers me his hand.
Smiling like a fool, I take it, pretty sure I’ll never get used to this new adventure with him. Of course, holding my hand was something he did from time to time before, too, but this somehow feels different. This feels…possessive. Like we’re showing the world what we’ve finally discovered. And I love it.
The apartment door is still locked when we get home, so I dig my keys from my purse while Colton slides his big hands around my hips and sidles close.
“You mind if I shower before we call it a night?” he asks in my ear, and the gentle brush of his lips against my skin sends goose bumps racing down my arms.
I shake my head and turn the knob. “Not at all.”
“You could join me,” he whispers, and his fingers glide up beneath the hem of my T-shirt at the same time a rush of heat blooms low in my belly. All that sensation in one spot gets the best of me and I shiver from head to toe.
“Not nice,” I sigh, feeling his knowing smile against my temple.
“I love this, you know.” He walks me into the apartment and somehow manages to close the door without taking his hands off of me. “I always knew you were ticklish. That you liked to be touched, too. But this is fun. Making you squirm in ways I couldn’t before.”
“Oh, you did it before, too,” I confess. “I just never let you see.”
“Yeah? Like when?” He snatches my purse from my hands and tosses it onto table, all the while guiding me toward the hall and tormenting me with those promising lips on my neck, the side of my face…anywhere he can reach.
By the time we get to my bedroom, I’m lightheaded and well on my way to wet. I’m also not sure I can wait for the actual shower to get him naked.
“A girl never shares those secrets,” I tell him before I spin out of his arms, going straight for the hem of his shirt. I need to feel his skin beneath my fingers and touch him in ways our time together in Vegas didn’t allow.
“I thought you were tired,” he chuckles, then humors me by jerking the shirt over his head. For a moment, words fail me. The room is dark except for the moonlight streaming in through the window, but it’s just enough to set him aglow in shades of silver. So much skin. So much muscle. So much Colton…
“I lied,” I whisper, before I press my lips to the center of his chest and inhale a deep breath of nothing but him. My fingers dance along the thick, hard muscles in his arms, then down to his waist, which tightens and twitches as I explore. “Pretty ticklish yourself,” I tease, and he gives a soft grunt.
“I just like you touching me.”
“That’s good…” I smile against his skin as my fingertips feather through the light dusting of hair across his pecs. “Because I like it, too.” I know so much about him, yet there’s this whole other side to him that I know so little about. “Vegas wasn’t nearly enough.”
“You’re telling me.” His hand slides back into my hair and then suddenly he gives a tu
g, exposing my neck to his eager mouth. I gasp as his lips part, treating the column of skin from my jaw to my collarbone with hot, wet kisses and the greedy nip of teeth and tongue.
“Goddd…” The moan rolls up from low and deep in my belly, where the fire he started months ago still glows. “You don’t know how many times I wondered if this would ever happen.”
“You keep saying that,” he says, walking me backwards step by slow step to the bathroom on the other side of the room. “But I’m not sure I believe you.”
I laugh and curl my fingers into the waist of his jeans. “Believe me. I’ve had many sleepless nights, thinking about you. Us. This.”
He pulls back just enough to see my face. “Sleepless?”
I nod, and a crooked grin puckers the dimple in his cheek.
“Like, you’d lay there and just think…or you’d do something else?”
And just like that, the embers of longing flame to life. Not just on my face, but everywhere.
Crossing my arms, I yank my T-shirt over my head. “Definitely something else,” I answer, loving the way his gaze drops instantaneously to my breasts. “This for one…” I trace the scalloped lace along the top edge of my bra with a single fingertip, watching with absolute delight as his eyes go hazy and dark.
“For one?” he croaks, and the power that surges through me, knowing I have him so rapt, is breathtaking.
“Sometimes this, too.” I stroke my thumb across my nipple, still encased in the pink fabric. I’m more sensitive there now and the simple touch is enough to make me tremble and gasp.
Col’s hands are on me in a second, tugging down the cups of my bra and taking over. He’s not as gentle as I am, though, yet it’s exactly what I need. My head drops back and I turn myself over to him, letting him flick and pinch, lick and taste. Heat pulses between my legs, as he plays and I wonder how the hell we ever waited so long for this.