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  “Why would you? Between my father’s family money from the railroad and my mother’s family money, neither is going to ever be poor or have to live paycheck to paycheck. He’s a mayor, and he’s happy being a mayor, but I didn’t want to live off their money. I even rent the house from them.”

  “You do?”

  “Yes. I want to survive on my own. Russ was always telling me I didn’t need to work because there was enough money to go around and allow us to live however we wanted, but…” She shrugged and went back into the kitchen. Colt followed like a puppy. The good feeling he had inside from being around her was infectious, and he wanted to keep it, wanted it to spread all through him. He leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms over his chest and his feet at the ankles. He was as casual as he could be when what he really wanted was to crawl inside her and stay there. Forever.

  He heard the pride in her voice, the conviction to be her own person. He was proud for her and proud of her. Russ hadn’t shared much about Chrissie as a person outside his plans for them once they were married, but now Colt was getting a chance to see her for the woman she was inside.

  “But?” He had a feeling he knew what she’d say next, and part of him hated that he’d asked her to continue. However, he wanted to hear her say it. He wanted to know for certain that she was over his brother. She’d said earlier that she was, but Colt knew that around him she would be reminded of Russ and that she’d have to see him, interact with him.

  He just had to be sure.

  “I can’t tell if you’re into humiliating me or if you’re just dense.”

  “Actually, I’m neither. I just wanted you to finish your thought.”

  “Uh-huh.” She unscrewed the lid to the sun tea jar and fished out the tea bags. Then she poured a clear liquid into it and stirred everything together with a long-handled wooden spoon.

  “What was that? In the measuring cup?”

  “Simple syrup. It’s got a little lemon in it too. You didn’t think I was going to serve you unsweet tea, did you?”

  “I, ah—”

  “’Cause we don’t do that down here. I know you’re from Texas, and Russ, well, he never drank tea, so I don’t know what y’all do with your tea, but in my South, it’s so sweet it’ll make you pucker.”

  Colt chuckled low and shook his head. She was a pistol. There would likely never be a dull moment around her. “I have always taken mine sweet. I’d just never seen it made.”

  “Never? Were you kept out of the kitchen?”

  “We were. There was always something more interesting going on.” Chrissie shook her head, and he knew it was at him, even though she wasn’t looking at him when she did it. It was an admonishment, and he was well and truly contrite. He didn’t know why he was because he’d never had any control in his house when they were growing up, but he didn’t want her disappointed with any part of him, including his upbringing.

  “And now?”

  Now she was teasing him. The minx. “Now, I’m quite fascinated and very curious about the tea. After all this, it should be the best I’ve ever had. I’m anxious to see if it is.”

  She stuck her tongue out at him. “You’re gonna be difficult to handle.”

  “The point of that being that you want to handle me?” And just like that the laugh was gone and pink once again colored her cheeks. She busied herself with the tea and made to speak several times, but words never passed her lips. “Chrissie?”

  “Um… Right. What I was saying earlier, when we were talking about money and Russ and all? I didn’t want to count on the family money or his money always being there and someone being around to take care of me. I wanted to be able to survive and support myself. It’s what my grandmother taught me. She could have had servants like my mother has, but she didn’t want them. She wanted to keep her own house, cook for her own family. The only way we differ is that I want a job that I love too. She didn’t work outside the home, and neither did my mom. If either of them ever had a dream outside the lives they led, I never knew about it.”

  He would follow her back to the safe part of the conversation for now, but he’d find out about the handling later. “Times change.”

  “Yes, they do.”

  “And Russ?” he asked.

  “He didn’t understand why I’d want to work if I didn’t have to. He said he’d work hard enough for the both of us, put in all the hours necessary to keep me living in the style to which I was accustomed. That didn’t really work out well as you can see. I’d have been bored silly in a rambling townhouse with nothing but shopping or party planning to do all day. That’s my mother. Not me. Sounds like it’s Russ’s mother too, so… Speaking of… Is he still married?”

  “Ah, no. That lasted all of a week. He said he wrote to you, tried to call you, even went to see your parents, but never was able to get in touch with you.”

  She nodded. “I burned the letters unopened. I blocked his number. And I told my father if Russ ever set foot on my property again, I’d shoot him.”

  Another bark of laughter erupted from him. Colt couldn’t help it, and for some reason, the most inappropriate thought entered his head at her statement.

  Sex.

  The two of them. Right then and there, he wanted to take her to bed and fuck the living daylights out of her.

  It wasn’t the first time since he’d pulled up in front of the house that he’d had that particular thought, but something about her defiant stance regarding his brother turned him on even more. He liked that she was a take-no-prisoners kind of woman. She didn’t hide that she’d been hurt, and she didn’t hide that she was over it. She didn’t downplay it. With Chrissie it seemed that what you saw was what you got.

  And God, that was fucking hot. “Is that when he got you the rifle?”

  The pink in her cheeks was gone, and she flashed a wicked little grin along with a wink. “Shotgun,” she corrected him. “And it might be. Are you happy with my explanation?”

  “I am.”

  “Good.” She took two glasses from the open shelves above her head and held them out to him.

  “Are you seeing anyone now?”

  “No.” She twisted her wrists back and forth. “Will you fill these with ice for me?”

  “I, ah…sure, but…” Colt took the glasses from her and held them by the rims in one hand. With the other hand, he pulled her close. She gazed up at him, stunned.

  She’d been doing funny things to his heart, his gut, his cock and balls since he met her, and knowing she was single now, available, only added to his need. It was most definitely a need too. This desire for her. No woman he could recall from memory affected him the way this woman, this daughter of a small-town mayor, self-proclaimed redneck, down-to-earth and beautiful girl, affected him.

  “I-I’m…not the freezer,” she told him. Her breath was coming faster, heavier, and the pulse in her neck picked up speed. She wanted him as much as he wanted her and being this close to her, able to touch her, breathe her in, he didn’t know how or if he’d be able to keep himself in check.

  He’d told her that he wasn’t his brother, and for as true as that was, he wasn’t a saint either. Case in point, he’d broken a commandment, or a sort of commandment. He’d coveted his brother’s lover and soon-to-be wife. He didn’t have anything to do with the choices and decisions Russ made when he ran away to Vegas, but Colt wasn’t above taking advantage of the situation. He’d bided his time, and he was done waiting.

  He’d never been this close to her and wouldn’t have minded staying right there with her as long as she’d let him. It was summertime and hotter than hell, but he was warm in ways that had nothing to do with the temperature outside. She was tense, her eyes like those of a deer in headlights, but her hips, they weren’t still, and she kept bumping against him.

  He was so fucking hard. She had to know it because hiding it was out of the question with the way she was rubbing herself against him. “No, you’re not, and I’ll get the ice, don�
��t worry, but first I want to kiss you.”

  He inched his head down toward hers, and her eyes widened more. Her features started to blur, but just before he closed his eyes, he took mental note of the different shades of blonde in the hair around her face and the myriad shades of brown in her eyes shot through with gold.

  When he touched his lips to hers, and she surged upward into his body, he was lost. He’d been wondering, imagining for months what she would taste like, and now that he knew, he couldn’t describe if he’d tried. It was sweet and fresh, like the warmth of the outdoors on a day just like today. She tasted like sunshine.

  He slipped an arm around her back and pulled her closer. The glasses clinked as he adjusted their positions. He angled his head, deepened their kiss, and licked her lips, thrilled when she licked back. Colt pressed his advantage then, sweeping her mouth with his tongue, molding his lips to hers.

  Chapter Three

  Coffee. The taste on his tongue was coffee and spice and sugar. She didn’t like coffee, but on him? It was the best thing she’d ever tasted.

  And his mouth fit hers the way Russ’s never had, the way no other man’s ever had. This was the made-to-kiss-her-and-only-her kind of fit. This was the perfect one, the right one…

  Colt.

  Chrissie slid her tongue against his, and the two dueled for the upper hand. Colt won; she was glad to give in. He lingered over her lips for a moment longer and she clung hard, unwilling to let him go a second before she had to. She didn’t know when her arms had wrapped around his neck or when his thigh had parted her legs but she was okay with both. She leaned against him and welcomed that too because she wouldn’t have been able to stand on her own, given how weak in the knees she suddenly was.

  They stared at one another for several seconds when he lifted his head, then slowly parted. He held up the glasses, and his eyes weren’t quite back to a normal friendly gaze. She liked that.

  “I’ll get that ice now.” He sounded as though he’d swallowed a handful of her gravel drive.

  “Y-yes,” she said as she backed up. She didn’t sound much better. “You do that. I’ll just be over here holding up the counter.”

  “It affected you. I like that,” he commented with a glance over his shoulder while reaching into the freezer for ice. It was piled in a Tupperware bowl, and by the time they were done with tea, she’d have to empty her ice trays again. Oh yes, she was affected. It was wanton the way she’d thrown herself against his body. She wouldn’t apologize for it though. She wanted him. She might shouldn’t oughta, as some of her backwoods relatives would say, but she did.

  “You know, they make refrigerators with ice in the door.”

  “Yes, I do know, but I rather like my ancient fridge.” Colt handed the glasses over to her, and she was proud that her hands didn’t shake when she reached for them. She poured tea from the jar and offered it up to him.

  “Thank you, baby.”

  The small word slid over her like the sweet syrup she used in the tea, and she tried not to moan at the effect the endearment had on her. “Why did you kiss me?”

  “Why did you kiss me back?”

  His grin was powerful, and it was like a big fat thump to her solar plexus. “I wanted to.”

  “Sounds like a good answer to me. I think I’ll use it too.”

  Chrissie laughed and nervously ran her fingers around the rim of her glass. “Why?” She hadn’t meant to fling the word at him so eagerly but hadn’t been able to stop herself. “Why did you want to?” she asked a little more calmly, with a little less enthusiasm.

  His deep blue eyes never strayed from hers. “It’s something I’ve wanted to do since the first night we met. I can’t explain it really.”

  “The first night we met? But that was…?” Her forehead scrunched low over her brows as she pondered his words. “The engagement party for Russ and me?” She couldn’t keep the shocked confusion out of her voice. He shrugged and only looked uncomfortable for a moment before he was all put together and confident again.

  “There you go. You know my secret now. I’m a good man, but I wanted to kiss the ever-lovin’ hell out of my brother’s fiancée. Out of you. I didn’t. I didn’t let on to anyone, especially you and Russ, how you were everything I’d been waiting for to walk into my life.”

  Processing this information would take a little while. Shock was at the top of the list. Did he believe in love at first sight? That’s what he was describing, wasn’t it?

  He completely overwhelmed her. The words he spoke, him being in her house, fitting in and out of place at the same time. He was big and expensive and citified in her simple country setting. Yet he made himself at home as she’d said he should. “And when you came by the day after the wedding that never took place? Did you want to kiss me then too?”

  “I wanted to hold you and let you cry. I was very sorry he left you like that. It was cruel and heartless. Kissing you that day wouldn’t have been right. I didn’t want to put you in that kind of position. You deserved better, and you needed time to heal.”

  Should she confess? Should she let him off the hook? “I wanted to jump you out on the porch when I saw you that morning.” She was embarrassed to admit it, but he deserved to know. It didn’t make her sound very upstanding to want to crawl up the body of her ex-fiancé’s brother the day after she’d been jilted. However, it was the truth, and if he was man enough to admit an attraction to her, she was woman enough to do the same.

  “Thank God.” He seemed relieved, and Chrissie laughed.

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. Glad I’m not alone in this.”

  Chrissie ducked her head. “Me too. It’s probably not a good idea though to…” Her breath shuddered when she saw the toe of his shoes in her line of sight to the floor. Her breath fairly stopped when he reached out with his fingers and lifted her chin. It wasn’t the first time he’d done it that day but it affected her just the same as if it were.

  “You said you were over him.”

  “I-I am.”

  “You said you wanted me.”

  “I do,” she said softly.

  “It’s a damn good idea then.” They stared at each other. His blue eyes darkened and up close, in the bright kitchen, she could see her reflection staring back. He was so handsome, so sexy… Could she be lucky this time around? ”You’re doubting me.”

  “You are Russ’s brother.” That’s it, Christina. Hide behind some good, old Southern sarcasm.

  “Brother, yes, but I’m not him.”

  “Prove it,” she countered, tossing out the challenge. It hadn’t been planned, but with him right there, offering her something she’d been dreaming about for months…

  “Oh, I will.” He leaned down again, pressed his lips to hers a second time, and then stood to his full height and stepped back. “I’m not sure you really want me to, though. You did continue to reject my offer of dinner.”

  “Work.”

  “Yes. Work. I know all about that. Where do you work? I don’t believe you’ve said.”

  “Promise not to laugh?”

  He considered her for a moment, and she fidgeted. “You keep asking me that every time you start to reveal something. Why on earth would I laugh?”

  Chrissie ran her finger through the condensation on the glass. “You have a high-powered job and I…I manage the hunting department of an outdoor store.”

  “Come again?”

  She looked up from under her lids. “You said you wouldn’t laugh.”

  “No. I asked why would I laugh, not that I wouldn’t. But I’m not laughing.”

  “You have a smile on your face,” she said indignantly.

  “And that’s not a laugh. Did I hear you right? You work in retail?”

  “I do.”

  “Why? I know you said you wanted to find your own way and not depend on the family money, but retail?”

  Chrissie shrugged. “There isn’t much I am professionally trained to do. A liberal arts degree o
nly goes so far for someone who wasn’t sure what she wanted to do with her life, but I do know how to hunt and shoot. I’m good at it. I know more than the average guy about guns, and they were mighty impressed with me. It’s not my dream career, and it’s definitely not flashy.”

  “There’s more to life than flash and exotic.”

  “You’re sweet, but you don’t have to patronize me. I’m okay with what I’m doing right now. It pays the bills.”

  “I’m doing nothing of the sort, but if it’s not your dream career, what is?”

  She wondered how much more she could reveal of herself before he took off running. She hadn’t been frilly and too terribly feminine before or during her engagement, and she’d become even less so since. She had her little girly secrets, but if Colt hightailed it out of her life before they got to that point… “I do some engraving. Custom work on guns and knives and even some swords for reenactors.”

  “Engraving?”

  “Yeah. I’m just full of surprises, huh?” She stared straight into his eyes lest she miss the moment he decided enough was enough and she was one arrow short of an outdoor show. “I dated a guy in college whose family owned a trophy shop. While we were together, I worked part-time for them during their busiest seasons. My mother flipped. It was my first job, and I loved working, earning my own way. I loved the work itself too. They taught me how to use the tools, and as it turns out I was kind of a natural at it.”

  “Uh-huh. Let me get this straight. You shoot and hunt. You make sun tea and can make blankets out of yarn. You come from money but choose to work. And you’re an artist?”

  “I’m not an artist.”

  “You can engrave designs and names on things, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re an artist.”

  Chrissie shrugged. “My mother thinks I’m a boy. She blames my father completely.”

  “Is he sorry?”

  With a sparkle in her eyes, she shook her head. “Not a bit.”

  “Good. Show me?”

  “N-now?”