“Lover boy is coming,” Alex tittered.
“Stop. He is not my lover.”
“He’s also not just a boy. Colton Crawford is definitely all man.”
Something unfamiliar bubbled up in my stomach and I anxiously tamped it down. “If you’re so interested in the man, why don’t you go after him?” I suggested, trying my hardest not to picture my gorgeous sister with the town’s newest resident.
She glanced down at me and we exchanged narrowed eyes at each other, egging the other on to make another comment. Any further remarks were halted when Colton stopped in front of our stand where Alex greeted him.
I slapped my hand over my mouth to stifle my gasp, trying not to get caught. Did I believe Colton hadn’t noticed me earlier? Not at all. But I held out hope that he would simply believe I had wandered off somewhere else in the market.
Just as quickly as I built up my hope, it was quickly squashed as a large shadow loomed over me.
“Hiding out?” the deep voice said with a chuckle. I peered up at him, the sun shone behind his oversized frame, making it hard to see his face. But those deep brown eyes of his still called out to me. I hated it.
With a huff, I replied, “No.”
“Taking a break?”
Instead of a response, I narrowed my eyes at Colton expecting him to take the hint.
“Hiding out from a sexy hockey player that bought your house?”
Mumbling under my breath, I adjusted from my crouched position, taking Colton’s offered hand to assist me in standing up.
My palms felt like they’d been submerged in water as I wiped them off on my jeans, and I could only hope that Colton hadn’t noticed. “You’re not a hockey player any longer. You retired.”
I expected the dig to cause him to wince, but I was quickly learning that Colton was full of surprises. Instead, he took a step closer to me and leaned against the side of Alex’s truck, folding his arms against his chest. Of course, that move showcased his biceps that threatened to tear his shirt into shreds.
“But you agree, I’m sexy.”
There was no point in denying it. The man was damn sexy. The entire country knew that.
“And you bought the house that I wanted,” I reminded him, not going into more details about how that house had been my dream. Somehow, the night before I was able to skirt around that topic and focus on the plans to have it approved by the historical society.
“I did,” he said sheepishly as he uncrossed his arms and ran one of his large hands across the back of his neck. “But in my defense, I didn’t know at the time of the auction.”
“Then why did you drop a million dollars on it? It’s not worth that amount, you know.” That was the part I still hadn’t figured out. He had talked about his previous foster mom, but that was it. Either he knew something none of us did regarding the property or he was working with someone else on it. It would devastate my family if he restored the house, only to sell it to a developer.
Colton reached out and swirled a piece of hair that had escaped my ponytail around his finger before tucking it behind my ear. “I don’t know. Seems pretty worth it to me.”
If I wasn’t so angry at the man for the house problem and the kiss at The Purple Goat, I’d probably have melted into a puddle at his feet. Incidentally, my pulse may have picked up when his finger had caressed the side of my cheek.
“We, uh, probably need to talk about the kiss yesterday.” I hadn’t planned on discussing it at all, but the way Colton was staring at me made me think the kiss hadn’t been such a poor decision after all.
“Yeah?” he said with a cocky grin that released a slew of butterflies in my stomach. This man needed to keep his arsenal of sexiness in check. “What about it?”
“There is already talk swirling around here and it won’t take long for people to realize it is more than a rumor.”
“Really?” he said nonchalantly, as if this was a miniscule problem.
“Yes, really. It won’t take long for someone to post something about you and me on social media. And there is probably a picture out there somewhere. Ashfield being a small town, but we’re not disconnected from the world.”
His broad shoulders moved upward in a shrug and I gasped in shock. The man was here to hide from paparazzi and salvage his reputation. Small town gossip was the last thing that he needed.
“How can you be so flippant about this, Colton?”
“Because it’s no big deal.”
My breath caught in my lungs. He thought the kiss was no big deal while I’d been lamenting over it for the last twelve hours.
“I want to do it again,” Colton added.
“Do what?” I asked, confused.
“Kiss you.”
Licking my lips, my confusion grew. “Why?”
He leaned closer to me as he whispered, “Because I like you, Autumn. And I think beneath that grumpy exterior, you like me, too.”
Colton was like the sun, drawing me closer to his light, and I couldn’t pull myself away. I wanted to be closer to him, but self-preservation kept me tethered in place.
“People will see,” I murmured as Colton’s lips gently glided along my cheek.
“Everyone left, Autumn. There is no one around,” he pointed out and pressed the slightest of kisses at the corner of my mouth. I squeezed my eyes shut and shivered when his hand landed on my hip, brushing his fingertip under the hem of my shirt. The rough pad of his thumb rubbed a circle on my skin.
It took only a split second to turn my head and brush my lips against his. I wasn’t sure if Colton was right and I did secretly like him. What I did know was that I liked his kiss. I liked the way his lips felt against mine. And when his tongue swirled around mine, I swore that there was nothing better.
