A guest?
It was weird how she worded Colton’s arrival, but I brushed it off as I blindly grabbed a lilac-colored buttoned dress shirt from my closet. I already donned a pair of dark denim bootcut jeans that I favored.
“Coming, Mom.” My voice sounded strange to my own ears, my nervousness raising the pitch a little too high for my liking.
As I secured the last button, I gave myself a pep talk. “Calm down, Autumn. He’s already seen you naked. There is no need to be nervous.”
When I came down the steps, I was surprised to see Aspen standing at the bottom of the stairs wringing her hands.
“Where are they?” I asked curiously. I’d expected them to still be standing by the door.
“Um, they went into the living room,” she explained and I swung my body around the end of the banister as I reached the last step and headed for that direction. “Autumn, it’s not-” but her words trailed off as I found my mother sitting in the single chair by the fireplace across from my guest. My very unwanted guest.
“Max? What are you doing here?”
“Autumn, my love,” he said as he stood and extended his arms out to me as if he hadn’t just crushed my soul and spirit three weeks ago.
Immediately I took a step back out of his reach, only to collide with Aspen, who had just stepped into the room.
“Don’t ‘Autumn, my love,’ me. What the hell are you doing here, Max?”
Max eyed my mother sitting in the chair. He was never one for an audience, but I wasn’t about to tell her to leave. If he thought he could show up at my parents’ home and not have spectators, well, he had another think coming. I heard Aspen’s retreating footsteps, but I didn’t turn around to ask her to come back.
“I came all the way here to ask you to give me another chance. I miss you and I know I made a big mistake. You have to know it won’t happen again.”
The man’s chin barely reached the top of my head as he tried to hug me, but I quickly ducked out of his way.
“I’m not interested in your apology, Max. I’m over it. Over you. And I don’t hear a smidge of sincerity in your voice. So, try again. Why are you actually here? Is it because all of your biggest clients left? Is it because you ran out of all my design ideas that you stole from me? Or is it because what’s her face moved on from you already and you want to save face? Tell me which one it is, Max.”
Max chose that moment to glance over his shoulder once again, eyeing the seat my mother so quietly vacated during my tirade. Now that we were alone, he figuratively pulled off the mask he’d so cleverly worn and the Max I remembered from my last day in New York returned.
He reached out, gripping my arm in his hand and squeezing. It was going to leave a bruise, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.
“Look here, Autumn. You’re coming back with me to New York and that’s that. You can’t possibly be happy in this Podunk little town. You’re probably going to get knocked up by some redneck prick and spend the rest of your days washing dishes and doing laundry. That doesn’t seem like the kind of life you wanted.”
Jerking my arm, I winced as his hold only tightened further. “Max, you couldn’t possibly know what I want in life.”
“I’ll give you half ownership of the business,” the snake teased.
Despite his inability to do his job, Regent Events had been in his family for decades. They were the go-to team if you wanted something extravagant. And he knew how lucrative his offer was.
“I’d let her go if I were you,” a voice boomed from behind me. Max immediately released my arm, holding his hands up in surrender as I spun to face Colton. Max was smart enough to know that he was no match for him. Not only in size, but in morals too.
The fury emanated off Colton in waves and I was astonished smoke wasn’t billowing from his ears as he stared down my ex.
“Max, you need to leave. Don’t come back here,” I said, never taking my eyes off Colton, who was watching Max like a hawk.
“Think about what I said.” It was almost laughable the way Max tried to stand his ground, only to scurry around Colton, making sure he wasn’t in arm’s reach as he exited my parents’ house.
I bit my bottom lip and shuffled my foot as I sheepishly turned my attention back to the new arrival. “Sorry about that. He ugh. . .took me by surprise.”
“Mmhmm,” Colton replied, his hands twitching at his side as he took a steady breath.
“Are you okay?” Something inside me wanted to wrap my arms around this man and take on whatever it was he was feeling at the moment.
What felt like an hour later, Colton ran a hand through his dark, wavy locks and grinned down at me.
“Yeah.”
I didn’t believe him for a second, but I couldn’t blame him at all. Colton had a protective instinct about him. I was sure that was what made him such a great team captain when he played hockey. And to see a man with his hand on me, or any woman, probably didn’t sit right with someone like Colton.
But I was going to let his fib slide. Taking in his attire, I noticed that my date was dressed far more casually than me. He wore a snug gray shirt under his jacket and a pair of well-worn jeans with his sneakers.
My heeled boots and dress shirt were far less casual.
Grabbing his hand, I tugged him in the direction of the stairs and up toward my room.
“Give me just a second,” I said as we stepped inside my childhood bedroom. Colton’s height was almost laughable as he casually laid across the full-sized bed in the middle of the room and a good portion of his legs and feet dangled off the end.
I toed off my heels and opted for a pair of Chelsea boots instead, then began unbuttoning my shirt.
“Let me.” Colton’s gravelly voice immediately made my fingers pause. As if in a trance, I walked over to him. He was the green orb and I was Sleeping Beauty, spellbound.
My breath hitched as his knuckles brushed against the tops of my breasts while he reached for the first button. It amazed me how swiftly his fingers could push the button through the opening. When he reached the final one, he slowly tugged the material to either side.
“Beautiful,” he said, as his eyes darkened. Large hands skirted up my waist and settled on my breasts, where even as large as his hands were, there was more than his fill. Colton tugged down the pale pink lace that barely contained the masses and I gasped when his thumb caressed the sensitive nipples.
“Oh, shit,” I whimpered, tossing my hair back the moment his mouth descended on one of my breasts. His tongue swirled around the peak and any consideration of my family being downstairs was immediately thrown out the window.
