Keep It Together Read online

  “Yep. Show me or…take me wherever it is that you do it.”

  “Colt, I…” Whatever protest she was prepared to mount, when he crossed his arms over his chest and appeared unwilling to budge otherwise, she relented. “Come on,” she said after a huge, fake-irritated sigh. “You can bring your tea if you want.”

  Chrissie set her own glass down, then moved by him. She tried not to notice the tingles and the way her pulse spiked when she was within inches of touching his body, but they were things she couldn’t ignore. She might not be all that feminine on the outside, but on the inside? She was a giddy little schoolgirl with her first crush.

  “I turned the second bedroom into a small workshop,” she offered into the silence. She was keenly aware that he was following close behind, that his footfalls on the steps were solid and near. She never expected him to be in her house like this, or at all. When the wedding fell through and he’d come to check on her, that had been sweet and above and beyond his responsibility.

  Only it seemed there were ulterior motives, and she felt wowed and, in a strange way, romanced. Desired too. Completely desired.

  Of course, to most people, their visit would have appeared innocent and nothing more than one friend visiting another friend, minus the kiss in the kitchen. To her, it was much more and, in her head, not at all innocent.

  He wore a cologne she couldn’t place, though she didn’t have much experience with men’s colognes. Russ had worn one scent, something by Calvin Klein, but that was the extent of her knowledge. She was more familiar with pipe and cigar smoke, chewing tobacco, gunpowder, and the ever popular been-out-in-the-woods-for several-days pine and body odor combination.

  Their steps echoed along the small, empty hallway, at the end of which was a room she walked into. Two work tables lined the long solid walls, and a drafting table sat in front of the window, which overlooked the forest behind the house. Like the rest of the house, it was bright and open.

  Metal plates of different sizes and shapes, scrolls and alphanumeric templates, and transfer mediums cluttered one table. On the other table was an assortment of special orders and weapons she needed to finish work on. She had an air compressor and several types of engraving tools and bits in the corner beside her table at the window.

  “Wow.”

  She turned to look at Colt, who was still in the doorway. He was looking around the room, and it seemed his eyes missed nothing. It was almost like he was cataloging everything in his head as his gaze passed over the tables and workspaces. “I guess I like to keep busy.” He wasn’t saying anything. The silence was one that she wasn’t wholly comfortable with. It made her feel as though she needed to justify herself in some way.

  “I guess you do. Did my brother know about this?”

  “No. I didn’t pick this up again until after him. I don’t think he’d have understood.”

  He slanted her a quizzical look. “Did he know you at all?”

  She shook her head. “No. But that’s not his fault. I had my head in the sand as much as he did. Us together seemed like the right thing, but in reality, it wasn’t. I’ll show you what I was working on. I’d bought myself a small, personal engraving tool as an early Christmas present and was making something for…” She opened the closet door and took a piece of cloth down from the shelf. It was wrapped around a plate, which she handed to Colt.

  “Wow,” he said again after taking it from her.

  “It was a lightweight hand tool, and I’d seen some good reviews on it, and I’m not one to ever pass up a tool of any kind, especially a power tool, and I’d wanted to make something special for Russ.”

  “This doesn’t look like the conventional way of spelling his name.” The comment was marked with humor and a lift of one eyebrow.

  “No. It’s not.” She didn’t have to look at the silver in Colt’s hands to know what it said. The rather unkind term that described how she felt about Russ at the time and, underneath, the words Attorney At Law. It had worked wonders on her mood.

  “The corners of the letters are hard and sharp.”

  “Well, yes. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

  Colt laughed and stepped farther into the room. He came close, so close she could hardly breathe. “No. No, you didn’t.” The last was whispered before he swooped down and took her mouth in a heated kiss. He parted her lips with his tongue and drew her in.

  He was different from his brother in the way he kissed her. Russ tried to seduce her, and Colt tried to possess. It wasn’t teasing or flirty. It was full of passion and hunger. It was everything she’d secretly dreamed about, when he wanted her more than anything else in the world. He wrapped his arms around her, and he moaned in agreement when she whimpered in need.

  And boy oh boy, did she need. She—

  The plate between them clattered to the floor, and she jumped away in surprise. She looked and found it was upside down. “A sign,” she said a little breathlessly.

  Nudging the plate to the side, Colt took its place. “Not a sign.”

  He sifted his fingers through her hair, and she fought the urge to beg him not to stop touching her. She liked the feeling of his hands on her, the scent of him wafting around her, the rightness of him in her house. “I’m going to have to get going, baby,” he was saying. Good God, there was that word again. Baby. It made her feel sweet and gooey inside.

  He was still talking, and she needed to pay attention before he was gone.

  “I have a conference call in about an hour, and it’ll take me at least thirty minutes to get back to my hotel from here. I’d still like to take you to dinner, though. You tell me when is good for you, and I’ll be there.”

  “How long are you staying?” she asked as she reached out to touch the soft cotton of his T-shirt.

  “How long until you have an evening free?”

  “Oh.” She hadn’t expected him to ask that. “I, uh…”

  He chuckled. “I own the company I work for, so I can typically make my own schedule, but I do have work to do back home.”

  “So, you’d stay or come back whenever I’m available?” He nodded and smiled at her with an indulgence no one else ever had. Except her father, and he’d say Colt was a keeper just for that one thing. She’d been the recipient of that indulgent smile of Colt’s before. The day after she was supposed to get married. On her porch. When she first admitted that she’d seen him not as her future brother-in-law but as a man. A hot, gorgeous, throw-me-down-to-the-floor-and-have-your-way-with-me man.

  “I’d do my best.”

  “This is you proving it, isn’t it?”

  Colt grinned. “This is me trying.”

  “Okay. Tell you what. I get off work at nine thirty. The store I work at is off Abercorn. I can meet you somewhere downtown on the river if you’d like. Around ten?”

  “I’m staying at the Hyatt.”

  “There’s a seafood tavern and grill that I love just down from there with outside seating.”

  “See? Saying yes wasn’t so difficult.”

  “I just wanted to see you again,” she said shamelessly.

  “Good to know. I’ll be on the River Walk outside the Hyatt at ten. For now, though, I do need to go.” He kissed her on the top of the head and lingered a moment, just staring down at her.

  “Colt?”

  “There is so much I want to say to you, do to you. My self-control is about to go up in flames. I’ll see you tonight.” And with that, he was gone. Quickly. The front door closed, and Chrissie bent slowly to pick up the plate. The tool she’d used had done a really nice job, and she loved working with it. Too bad this piece, which she’d wanted to put her heart and soul into, was little more than scrap.

  She grinned as she took the same path Colt had from the room. She had a job to get ready for and dinner to look forward to.

  Chapter Four

  Colt paced the hotel room from one end to the other. The alarm clock on the nightstand read nine forty-five. The watch on his wrist read n
ine forty-seven. His cell phone was several minutes ahead of that. He wasn’t sure which one of them was correct. All he knew was that he was supposed to meet her in less than fifteen minutes, and those minutes were taking a god-awful long time to arrive.

  He’d been waiting months for this. Just one night, just one dinner. Then another and another. Until she accepted his yes.

  Russ was the last man an independent woman like Chrissie needed, and in all honesty, Chrissie was the last woman an up-and-coming, life-of-the-party lawyer like Russ needed. Colt, though? Yeah, he was the man she needed. He couldn’t help his idiot brother, but he could help himself and the woman he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about.

  He’d never pined for a woman, and he wasn’t sure if that’s what he was doing with her. There were more women throwing themselves at him than he knew what to do with. He wanted Chrissie throwing herself at him; he’d be damn sure to catch her. He’d told her he wanted to kiss her at her engagement party, and that was the truth. He’d have stood by and watched her and his brother get married, and he’d have never said a word if that was the way things had turned out. He’d have probably found someone else down the road even, but when Russ called him that Saturday morning to tell him he was in Vegas, married to a dancer stage-named Tinsel, inside Colt had been torn between disappointment in Russ, sadness for the pain and heartache Chrissie was about to go through, and elation at what he hoped was a positive turn in his personal life.

  He’d spent a lot of time beating himself up for feeling that way, but she deserved better, and he was better. He’d even dated several women, or tried, but he never was able to get the image of red-rimmed brown eyes and tangled blonde hair out of his head.

  Six months had seemed an appropriate amount of time to wait. Chrissie had taken the news of his conversations with her father better than he’d expected she would. He’d figured she’d be mad or upset at least that he was keeping tabs on her, but other than surprised, she seemed okay with it, touched even. His concern for her was sincere, and his interest in her was genuine.

  His watched beeped at him. Nine fifty-five. He grabbed his wallet and room key off the hotel room desk. He didn’t want to be late and he would make sure he never was. She’d been left at the altar, and he couldn’t imagine what that was like for her or for anyone. It had to be incredibly devastating to wait like that, wondering and worrying and then finally realizing he wasn’t coming. Colt didn’t want to make her wait for him. She asked him, challenged him to prove that he was different, and his persistence in offering the dinner invitation was one way he would. Another was being on time or even early.

  The elevator touched down on the lobby level, and he made his way outside the cavernous room to the front of the hotel. He could have gone out the back way on the river side but decided casual and leisurely was the way to handle this, rather than looking like a kid about to hit a candy store for the first time in his life. The night was warm, but as he walked along Factors Walk toward the cobblestone stairway that would lead to river level, a slight breeze caught hold to make the humidity more manageable. There weren’t many people out walking at this time of night, but several of the bars were full of people.

  He settled on a bench seat and kept an eye out for Chrissie. He didn’t have to wait long. At five after ten, he saw her coming toward him from the same cobblestone entrance he’d used. Her blonde hair bounced against her shoulders, and she smiled when she saw him. She was dressed in jeans, what looked to be very sensible sneakers, and a green polo shirt, and as she got closer, he could read the name of the store on it.

  “You’re here,” she said, stopping in front of him. She sounded surprised, but the smile on her face was full of happiness, relief.

  “I am. You said ten.”

  “You don’t have anything to prove to me, you know. I was teasing earlier, back at the house.”

  “Be that as it may, I’m still here on time, and that’s important to me.“ He wouldn’t go into the details with her of all his thoughts from when he was upstairs wearing a hole in the carpet of his suite. She only needed to know she was important to him. “So, what are you in the mood for?”

  “A beer and shrimp.”

  A beer girl? Holy Mother of… Could she get any hotter? “Sounds good. You lead the way.”

  And she did. Chrissie started off toward a small bar sitting on the corner she’d just come around. She looked as good from behind as she did from the front, and he couldn’t keep from noticing the way her hips swayed and the twitch of her ass with each step she took. She’d gained a little since he saw her in December, but damn, she wore it well. She was beautiful, sexy enough to make his mouth taste like cotton, and she likely didn’t even know it. The small stud earrings and the lack of makeup only added to her appeal for him. He could just eat her alive, he was so taken with her.

  Now that he could spend some time with her, had made the move to see her again instead of just fantasizing about her, every thought he’d had for the last six months seemed to come rushing forward.

  He wanted his hands on her.

  “You coming with me or staying outside? ’Cause if you’re staying, and you’re buying, I’m gonna need your credit card.”

  Colt laughed at her flirtatious wink and the smile she threw over her shoulder at him. “No way am I giving you my card.” Yet. If things turned out the way he was hoping they would, he’d hand over anything she wanted. “You go get a seat, and I’ll get a couple of beers. What do you like?”

  “Whatever at this point. Surprise me. It was a busy night.”

  Colt watched her wind her way through the crowd until she disappeared into it. He caught sight of her again as she headed out to the terrace.

  “What can I get you?” the bartender shouted over the noise.

  Colt returned his attention to the bar. “You carry anything local?”

  “Moon River, yeah.”

  “Two.”

  “It’s on tap.”

  “That’s fine.”

  The beers were poured and slid across the bar to him. Colt turned and took the same route through the crowd as Chrissie had. The smell of fried fish, alcohol, the river, summer outside at night, and sweat all mixed together. The noise was near deafening in the middle of the room, but as he got closer to the terrace, it dimmed to a moderate roar, enough to where he could hear himself think.

  “You eaten here?” he asked as he sat across from her at a small two-person square table.

  “Only once or twice.” She picked up the beer and sucked a little at the foam before swallowing the medium-amber liquid down. “Mmm. The local stuff.”

  “Yep. Have you had it before?”

  “Yeah. Their brew pub is over on Bay. Good beer, good food. You should try it sometime.”

  “Next time I’m in town, I’ll let you take me.”

  Chrissie nodded slowly, wary as she studied him, but soon eased back in her chair. “Okay.”

  Colt smiled and took a swallow of his own beer. “This is pretty good.” He was the one person in his family who liked beer. Russ and their father preferred bourbon. Amber preferred wine. And Russ’s mother lived on gin and tonic. Colt, though, liked the earthiness of beer, the warm camaraderie it often inspired. He could walk into a bar in any given town, order a beer, and be treated like he was a long-lost friend. One couldn’t do that in wine bars.

  “It is. You travel a lot, right?”

  “I do. I like to try whatever local flavors in beer or wine or food when I can. Makes the hassle of traveling a little more personal.”

  “Does that include women?” She asked it with such a straight face that he wasn’t sure how to answer her without damning himself, for good or ill.

  “Now see,” he said around a snort of laughter. “I can’t tell if you’re being curious or snarky.” She shrugged but maintained her casual posture in the chair. She sipped at her beer and stared at him, unblinking and unhurried. Something softened inside him even more. She could hold her own agains
t him and make him sweat.

  “Curiously snarky.”

  “No, it doesn’t include women. I’m perfectly content to not have a different woman in each city.”

  “One-woman man?” The tone of her voice said that surprised her.

  “Lately, very much so.” He knew she wasn’t sure of him. Hell, how could she be? She didn’t realize how seriously his brain had taken hold of her innocently made statement, a statement made out of pain and sadness and humiliation. But he wanted her. He wanted to take her to bed. He wanted to keep her there. He wanted to immerse himself in her life, and he wanted to bring her into his.

  He took a sip of his beer. “You said you had a busy night?”

  “Yeah. It’s not hunting season, but sometimes around here it doesn’t have to be. These people stock up year-round.”

  “Do you find it hard to sell to men?”

  “I don’t find it hard, no, but I think some of them find it hard to buy from a woman. They don’t seem to believe I know what I’m talking about. They often want to speak to a manager, and when they find out that I am the manager, that I can load and unload, that I can take apart and put together again any gun we have in stock better and faster than they can, they generally listen.”

  “You’re a show-off.” He hoped she could hear the pride and admiration in his voice, as the statement it was meant as and not a question for her to defend or justify herself.

  “When it comes to something I know, yes.”

  The waitress chose that moment to appear beside their table. Chrissie ordered a basket of fried shrimp with a side of fries, and he followed suit. They each ordered more beer, and Colt settled into his seat a little deeper, relaxing with her in a way he hadn’t with a woman in a long time.

  “What do you do?” she asked. “For work, I mean. You know I work in an outdoor store, but I don’t know what you do. Russ never talked much about you, other than you being a businessman of some sort.”

  “He wasn’t very forthcoming about you either.” Colt had to wonder if Russ had just been going through the motions in his relationship with Chrissie. He didn’t know why that would have been true, but something seemed off in how Russ had handled things. His brother wasn’t stupid nor was he irresponsible. “Oh boy. Now it’s time for me to make you promise not to laugh.”