Before I can ask her who it is, Colton comes barreling into the room in a less than graceful stride with a laughing Beckett right behind him. Something’s amiss with Colton, and I’m not sure what it is until he sees me. A goofy grin spreads across his face and it looks out of place against the intensity of his features. Luckily, I’m shuffling up my papers because he unceremoniously plops down right beside me.
“Rylee!” he exclaims enthusiastically as if he hasn’t seen me in weeks. He reaches out, calloused fingers rasping against my bare skin, grabs me, and pulls me onto his lap. All I can do is laugh because I realize that Mr. Cool and Always in Control is a tad bit drunk. No, make that well on his way to being drunk. And before I can even respond to his sudden appearance, Colton’s mouth closes over mine.
I resist at first, but once his tongue delves into my mouth and I taste him, I’m a goner. I groan in acceptance and lick my tongue against his. It’s only been a few days but God, I missed this. Missed him. I forget that other people are in the room when Colton tangles his hand in my hair and takes possession of me, holding me so all I can do is react. All I can do is absorb the feeling of him against me. He tastes of beer and mints and everything I want. Everything I crave. Everything I need. I bow my back so my chest presses to his, my nipples tingling as they brush against the firm warmth of his chest. Colton swallows the moan he’s coaxed from me when his arousal pushes up through my thin pajama pants and rubs against me.
“Should we clear the room?” I hear Haddie say before she clears her throat loudly, shocking me back to reality.
I pull my head back slightly from Colton’s, but his hand remains fisted in my hair holding my curls hostage. He rests his forehead to mine as we both draw in ragged breaths of need.
After a beat, he throws his head back on the couch and laughs loudly, his whole body shaking from its force, before choking out, “Shit, I needed that!”
I start to scramble off his lap, suddenly aware that I’m wearing a very thin camisole tank with some very aroused nipples sans bra, and Beckett—whom I’ve only met once—is sitting across from me, studying us with a quiet yet amused intensity. Before I can even cross my arms over my chest, Colton’s hands grip me from behind, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me back against him.
“Hey!” I shout.
“I got it!” he shouts playfully in response. “And Colton’s inebriated.”
What? I shift in his lap, trying to turn and look at him. “Huh?”
He chuckles and it’s such a carefree boyish laugh—so at odds with the intensity he exudes—that my heart swells at the sound. “Ace,” he states confidently. “And Colton’s inebriated.”
He busts out laughing again, and I can’t help but laugh along with him. “Nope.” And before I can say anything else, Beckett jumps in.
“You’re drunker than I thought. Inebriated starts with an ‘I’, you douchebag. Spell much?”
Colton flips him the bird, his boyish laugh returning again. “Whatever, Becks. You know you love me!” he says pulling me back against him. “Now, back to business,” Colton announces loudly. “You’re coming with us.”
Haddie raises her eyebrows, amusement on her face at my flustered expression. “Colton, let me go!” I sputter loudly in between laughs, trying to wriggle out of his iron tight grip on me. He simply holds me tighter, resting his chin on my shoulder.
“Nope! Not until you agree that you’re going with us. You and Haddie are going on a little road trip with Becks and me.” I start to wiggle again, and I feel Colton’s free hand slip up to cup my breast through my shirt, his thumb brushing over my nipple. I suck in a breath at his touch and embarrassment floods my cheeks.
“Uh-uh-uh,” he teases, his breath feathering over my cheek. “Every time you fight me, baby, I’m gonna cop a feel.” He nips at the skin between my shoulder and my neck, his arousal thickening beneath my lap. “So please, Rylee,” he begs, “please, fight me.”
I roll my eyes despite the shock wave of need that’s reverberating through me at the sound of his bedroom voice, and I can’t help the laughter that bubbles out, Haddie and Beckett joining in. Drunken Colton equals a very playful Colton. I like this side of him.
“Typical male,” I tease. “Always misguided and thinking with the head in your pants.”
He pulls me tighter against him, one arm around my shoulders while the other is around my waist. “Well then, don’t be afraid to blow my mind,” he murmurs, a low, seductive growl in my ear that has me laughing from the corniness of the line all the while tensing at the suggestion of it.
“So get your asses up, pretty ladies, and get ready!” he suddenly orders, breaking our connection, pushing me to my feet, and swatting my backside.
“What are you talking about?” I ask at the same time Haddie pipes up asking, “Where are we going?”
Beckett laughs out loud at Haddie’s all-in reaction before bringing a bottle of beer to his lips. “Hey!” Colton shouts. “Don’t be drinking my beer you bastard or I’ll take you down.”
“Chill out, Wood.” He chuckles. “You left yours on the table by the front door.”
“Shit!” he grumbles. “I’m a man in need of a beer and of women to get their asses moving. Time’s a wasting!”
“What in the hell are you talking about?” I turn to him, arms across my chest.
A slow, roguish grin spreads across his lips as he stares at me. “Vegas, baby!”
Mysterious text solved.
“What?” Haddie and I shout, but both with different meanings. There is no possible way I am going to Las Vegas right now. What in the hell?
Colton holds up his phone, biting his lip as he tries to concentrate on its screen, and I realize he’s trying to tell the time with his alcohol-warped mind. “We’ll be back in the morning, but wheels up in one hour, Rylee, so you better get that fine ass of yours moving!”
What? We’re flying? What am I even thinking? I’m not going anywhere. “Colton, you can’t possibly be serious!”
He pushes himself up from the couch, and looks a little wobbly before getting control. He looks down at me, an errant lock of hair falling over his forehead with his shirt untucked on the right side. “Do I need to pick you up over my shoulder and haul you to your bedroom to show you just how serious I am, sweetheart?”
I look over at Beckett for some kind of help. He just shrugs his shoulders, silently laughing at our banter. “I’d just give in, Rylee,” he drawls, winking at me. “He doesn’t give up when he’s in this mood. I suggest you go get changed.”
I open my mouth to speak but nothing comes out. I look over at Haddie who has excitement dancing in her eyes. “C’mon, Ry,” she prompts. “It couldn’t hurt to escape with everything that’s going on tomorrow.” She shrugs. “Have some fun and forget a little.” I nod at her and her smile widens. She whoops loudly. “We’re going to Vegas, baby!”
Beckett stands from the chair asking for the bathroom. Haddie offers to show him on the way to her room to get ready. I turn to face Colton but am caught off guard as he swoops me up and over his shoulder, swatting my butt as he carries me rather unsteadily toward the hallway.
“Colton, stop!” I shriek, smacking his ass in turn.
His only response is a laugh. “Which room is yours?” I squeal as he tickles my feet. “Tell me, woman, or I’ll be forced to torture you some more!”
Oh, I definitely like drunk and playful Colton!
“Last door on the right,” I screech as he tickles me some more before throwing me unceremoniously onto my bed. I’m out of breath from laughing, and before I can even speak, Colton’s body is flanking mine. The feeling of his weight on me, pressing intimately against me, creates a crack in my resolve. So much for being aloof. That card was thrown out the window the minute he wobbled into the family room with that playful and captivating grin on his face.
His mouth slants over mine and his tongue plunges into my mouth. I slide my hands up and under the hem of his shirt and run th
em up the planes of his back. The kiss is full of greed, angst, and passion, and I know I’m losing myself in it. To him. His hands roam, touching every inch of my bare skin he can find as if he needs this connection to tell him everything is alright between us. That our union is reassuring him, confirming that whatever’s between us is still there.
I freeze when I hear a knock on the doorjamb. “C’mon, loverboy.” Beckett chuckles uncomfortably. “Rein it in. You can do that later. Right now we’ve got a plane to catch.”
Colton rolls off of me, groaning as he adjusts his arousal in his jeans. “You’re such a buzz kill, Becks!”
“That’s why you love me, brother!” He laughs as he retreats down the hall, giving me some privacy to get ready.
Colton props his hands behind his head and crosses his feet at the ankles as I scoot off of the bed. “God, you look sexy right now,” Colton murmurs, his eyes focused on my nipples pressing against the thin cotton of my tank.
“She’ll look sexier in about twenty minutes, Donavan, if you get the hell out of here and let her do her thing,” Haddie says unabashedly as she breezes in my room holding a handful of barely-there dresses on hangers for me to try on.
“Well shit,” Colton says, pushing himself up off of the mattress, “I guess I’ve been told. Beckett?” he bellows down the hall, “Time for another beer.”
I twirl a lock of Colton’s hair absently with my fingers as I stare down at his head resting in my lap. He’s just fallen asleep and I shake my head watching the peaceful calm on his face. I’m still in shock at the direction the evening has taken. I smile, recalling the look on Colton’s face when Haddie and I walked into the living room in our sexy Vegas outfits. The bottle of beer that was angling towards his lips stopped in mid-air when he saw me. His eyes ran the length of my body in a lazy perusal, a diminutive smile ghosting his lips before they met mine. What his eyes told me in that one look was everything that I’d needed to hear from him but hadn’t heard over the past couple of days.
Desire. Need. Want.
And then unbeknownst to me, when Colton had mentioned flying, little did I know that there was a chartered jet waiting for us when we arrived via limo at the Santa Monica Municipal Airport. Haddie and I just looked at each other and shook our heads at the lavishness of it all. And when we boarded, in addition to Sammy sitting quietly at the rear of the plane, there was a flight attendant willing to fill any drink or meal order we desired. While Haddie, Becks, and I took advantage of the offer for a drink, Colton declined everything and crawled up on the couch beside me, laid his head in my lap, and declared he needed a quick nap to be ready for the night to come.
I shake my head thinking of it all, a wisp of a smile on my face when I look up to see Haddie and Beckett in a hushed conversation across from me. Haddie’s heels are off and her feet are curled underneath her. Beckett’s long legs are stretched out in front of him, and his fingers absently draw lines on the condensation of his bottle. He’s quite handsome in a non-typical way. I stare at him, realizing that he has definite sex appeal, more than looks. His sandy blonde hair is cropped close to his head and spiked up with gel. His crystal clear blue eyes are fringed by thick lashes. They are quiet eyes that take in and observe in a reserved fashion. He has broad shoulders and a lean build like Colton.
I stare at him, the best friend of my lover, and there is so much I want to ask him about Colton. So many things I think he can shed light on but know he would never betray his buddy by telling me.
Whether by chance or because he feels the weight of my stare, Beckett looks up and meets my eyes, his sentence to Haddie faltering on his lips. He angles his head to the side and twists his lips up as if he’s trying to decide if he should say something or not.
“You know why we’re here right now…why Wood got drunk tonight, don’t you?” His southern accent drawls out as he looks down and shakes his head at the sight of his friend before looking back up me.
“No,” I say.
Beckett leans forward resting his elbows on his knees and looks me straight in the eye. “Because you told him no, Rylee.” He shakes his head, a smile growing on his face. “And nobody, except me, ever tells him no.”
“That’s absurd,” I tell him, looking over at Haddie, who’s arched her eyebrow at the turn in conversation, a pleased smirk on her lips. I realize that Beckett is telling me I am the first female to tell Colton no. To not ask how high when he says jump. I glance down at Colton and back up to Beckett. “Surely one of his many others have told him no before.”
He thinks in silence for a moment before answering. “Not that I know of,” Beckett says, tipping the bottle to his lips, “and if they have, I’ve never seen Colton care like this.” He leans back and stretches out again, and I try to read the unspoken words in his eyes. “He came back from lunch one surly S. O. B., Rylee. I actually felt bad for the people on the other end of our meeting today.” He smiles at the thought. “And then the next thing I know, he was pounding out his frustration on the treadmill. Pulling me to the bar with him to sulk and started making phone calls. Hatching a plan. Telling people we’ll be in Vegas by ten, to get their asses there, and to meet him at the usual place.”
The usual place? “You guys do this often?”
“Every couple of months.” He shrugs like it’s not a big deal. “But here’s the thing, Rylee, no matter who he’s with, I’ve never—never—seen him bring the woman he’s seeing, or whatever the hell he’s doing with them, along with us.” He tips the bottle of the beer at me. “Now that’s something to think about.”
Beckett eyes hold mine until he knows I understand. There’s something different between Colton and me that he hasn’t seen before. I nod my head at him.
He leans forward again. “I’ve known Colton for a long time, Rylee. He can be cocky as hell and a stubborn ass at times, but he’s a good guy. A really good guy.” I can sense the sincerity in his voice and the brotherly love he has for Colton. He looks down at his slumbering friend and back at me. “He may not always go about things the right way, or even know how to go about them at all, but he usually has the best intentions behind his actions.” When I don’t say anything he just nods and continues. “I’m telling you this because you matter to him. More than he’s willing to admit or can acknowledge right now, but it’s important for you to know. Because if he matters to you like I think he does…really matters…not just for the recognition of being with him, but because of who he is, then you need to hear it. Shit,” he swears, running a hand over his jaw and leaning back shaking his head. “I must be drunk if I just told you that. Fuck.” He sighs. “He’d throttle me right now if he knew I was telling you any of this.”
“Thank you,” I tell him, my voice barely a whisper as I try to digest everything he’s just told me—everything I wanted to ask him but was afraid to. My head is reeling with his confession. I try to keep a rein on the hope and possibilities that bubble up inside of me. I matter enough that his best friend notices the difference in him. I just need to remember that unless Colton acknowledges it, these feelings still mean nothing.
Haddie looks over at me and smiles softly, knowing how much I needed to hear this. That these words justify the depths of emotion I already feel for Colton.
He thanks the flight attendant as she hands him another beer. “I’ve said this much, I might as well finish,” he mutters to himself with a sheepish smile spreading on his lips. Colton shifts and turns into me, his face nuzzling my abdomen, and all I want to do is bend down and kiss him. “Trying to control Colton is like trying to grab the wind. Don’t even bother...” he shakes his head “...he’s gonna fuck up, Rylee. He’s going to make a lot of mistakes and say all of the wrong things because he doesn’t know how to do anything other than what he’s been doing.”
Beckett takes a pull on his beer and sighs. “He’ll never admit it Rylee. And unless you are one of the few that are close enough to him to see it, you’d never guess that he’s a man drowning in his past. To ac
cept that there might be more than just the usual arrangement per se with you—and by you being here, there obviously is—he might just pull you down so that you’re drowning with him.” He shifts some in his seat, eyes never breaking from mine. “When that happens, Rylee, more than anything he’s going to need you to be his lifeline. He’s going to be so consumed and obsessed with preventing his past from meeting his future that he’s going to need everything from you to keep him afloat.”
He holds my eyes for a minute longer and then eases back into his seat, a slight smile playing the corners of his mouth. “I love him to death, Rylee, but some days I hate him too.” He shrugs without apology, “That’s just Colton.”
I look back up at Beckett and smile softly, a silent agreement to his assessment. “I’m beginning to understand that,” I mutter.
The flight attendant comes over to fill our drinks one last time and to inform us that we will be beginning our descent into Las Vegas shortly. I look down at Colton and a feeling of warmth spreads throughout me as I realize how much I’ve come to care for and love—yes love—him. I shake my head and Haddie catches my eye, her happiness for me brimming in hers.
It’s been several years since I’ve been to Las Vegas, and I can’t believe how much the city of sin has changed in that time. New hotels have sprouted up while old ones have been torn down. Aging ones have been renovated and made over to match the caliber of the new ones.
I’m dying to get a moment alone with Haddie. We haven’t really had one since this whole adventure started, and I need her advice on how I should act in light of Beckett’s revelations. We had a quick moment alone in the airplane while we were freshening up, but not nearly long enough to have a real discussion about the night’s events.
Lights and sounds surround us, assaulting our senses as we exit the limo. Sammy nods discretely to Colton and takes the lead as we walk up a set of stairs into an entrance at the Venetian. Within moments we are walking into TAO. Colton’s hand is on the small of my back, and I notice conveniently that Beckett’s hand is doing the same on Haddie’s. I wonder if he’s just being a gentleman or if there’s something else possibly going on. Interesting.