#OhMylanta

Colbie awoke at the touch of Spence’s hand on her hip. It was late afternoon—she wasn’t sure what time, but they’d spent the rest of the day in her bed. She was warm and comfortable in his arms, their legs tangled together, her back to him. The fading light slanted through the window, casting a glow through the room.

But that wasn’t what made her smile. It was feeling Spence’s lips on her shoulder, softly exploring. She could feel the heat of his body against her bare back, the hair on his chest slightly scratchy against her skin as he moved. She lay there for a moment, luxuriating in it all.

How in the world could she lose herself so completely, without a single inhibition, with a man she hardly knew? It boggled her brain.

“I smell something burning,” he murmured huskily.

“Just thinking. Why is it I feel like I’ve known you forever?”

“Because we like each other,” he said, “and because we don’t need anything from each other either.” He rolled her over to face him, his hands sliding down her back to cup her ass, his eyes dark and hungry.

“Not . . . anything?” she asked, wrapping her arms around his neck, making room for him between her legs.

“Well, maybe one thing,” he said against her mouth and then went about recharging her batteries again.

And then again, because Spence was nothing if not thorough.

Elle slipped into Spence’s office at the ass crack of dawn the next day. But since she was carrying coffee, he forgave her the interruption. Until she spoke.

“So who was the expensive suit with Colbie yesterday?”

He sipped his coffee and went noncommittal.

“Everyone’s taking guesses on what’s going on, you know. Willa and Pru think maybe Colbie’s a corporate spy trying to find out how far you’ve come with your drone project.”

Spence raised a brow.

“Kylie thinks maybe one of her brothers works at some news conglomerate and is pimping her out to try to catch you with your defenses down.”

Spence shook his head and drank some more coffee.

“Trudy and Luis think she’s after your money.”

Spence leaned back in his chair. “And you?” he asked. “What do you think?”

She sat on the corner of his desk, her business suit a siren kickass red today, her heels high and shiny black. “I think that . . . I don’t know what to think.”

He laughed. “Well, there’s a first time for everything.”

She laughed a little. “I know, right?” She shook her head. “It could still be a con, you know. It’s not like you’re being careful.”

“And you know this how?”

“Because you were sighted nearly getting in a fight protecting her yesterday.”

He wasn’t surprised. The building could’ve doubled for downtown Mayberry with all the gossip and secret spilling that went on, and that included the outlying streets as well. “Maybe there’s no conspiracy,” he said. “Maybe she just really likes me.”

Elle sighed.

“Is it really so hard to believe that a smart, attractive woman with a sense of humor could be into me?” he asked.

Elle straightened, bristling. “Okay, that’s not fair. There’s a lot about you to like. A lot, Spence. But face it, you’ve got a horrible track record.”

“We all have horrible track records,” he said. “It’s what leads up to the real thing. It’s what allows you to recognize it when it shows up. As you should well know.”

She stared at him for a beat and then acknowledged the truth of that with a sigh. “Okay, but I’m going to need you to tell me you’re not in love with her after only two-plus weeks.”

He paused. He didn’t want to lie to her but this wasn’t a conversation he was going to have with Elle before he had it with Colbie. “Probably more lust than love.”

Elle sighed again, this one pure relief. “Okay,” she said. “Lust is fine.”

“Thanks for the permission.”

She rolled her eyes. “You pay me a lot of money to keep you protected.”

“From the press,” he said. “From the needs of this building. From the demands on my time for things you can handle. Not my love life, Elle.”

“There’s that l-word again,” she said. “So, you know how Colbie takes notes all the time?”

“Yeah.”

“Tina got a peek at her laptop screen the other day at the coffee shop. Colbie had a page up about how deep you have to dig a hole to keep a dead body buried and safe from the elements.”

He shook his head, keeping his smile to himself.

“I know,” she said. “Kind of insane, right?” Her eyes narrowed, catching on to his amusement. “What the hell is so funny? Mrs. Winslow overheard her on the phone planning some sort of big heist. Even Finn and Sean are worried about you and you’re laughing about it.”

“Have you talked to Archer or Joe about this?” he asked.

“No. Archer told me to mind my own business, which obviously, I’m never going to do. I’ve been trying to get to Joe, but he’s been avoiding me like the plague, although . . . Shit,” she said, looking at her phone. “I did miss a call from him.”

“Call him back,” Spence suggested.

“Now?”

“Yeah.”

Elle pulled out her phone and hit a number. “Hey,” she said. “I—” She paused, listening. “Huh. And Archer knows this . . .?” Another pause. “Okay, thanks.” She disconnected, opened her e-mail, and thumbed through something. Two minutes later, she looked up and met Spence’s gaze. “You know.”

“Yes. But only since the other night, if that helps.”

Elle sank to a chair. “And Archer knows.”

“He’s Joe’s boss, so of course he knows. He knows everything. When you sicced Joe on Colbie, what did you think would happen?”

She shook her head. “Not this. But I guess I’m not all that surprised.” She didn’t look particularly appeased either.

“How about sorry,” he said. “Are you sorry?”

“Hey, it could’ve been any of a million reasons why Colbie was acting shady. I couldn’t have guessed this reason. It’s a good one though,” she admitted grudgingly. “Impressive.”

“Hugely so.” He had to laugh. “You can’t even admit when you’re wrong, can you.”

“I can admit when you’re wrong.” She sighed. “Dammit. You should’ve told me who she was. I’d have been . . .”

“Nicer?” Spence asked mildly.

She sighed. “Okay, yes. And I am sorry, but—”

“Sorrys don’t usually have a ‘but’ after them.”

“Fine. I was wrong,” Elle said. “And I’m sorry.”

“Wow.” Spence smiled. “Did that hurt?”

She ignored that. “But . . . something I wasn’t wrong about?” she asked. “Is that I can see you’re falling for her. Like really falling, Spence.”

“I don’t fall.”

Her expression softened. “Listen, I actually think she’s falling too.”

“I’m not as optimistic as you.”

That got a laugh out of her. Elle was a lot of things, but optimistic wasn’t one of them.

“The problem is, where does this leave you?” she asked. “You’re already having a hard time with this project and—”

“It doesn’t matter,” he said, not wanting to talk about the drone project, which was currently at the top of his shit list. “None of it matters. She’s leaving on Christmas Eve and that’ll take care of everything.”

She stared at him and slowly shook her head. “You can’t really believe that. Love isn’t that simple, Spence.”

He drew a deep breath. “Yeah, well, love sucks.”

Elle didn’t even try to disagree. “Sometimes, absolutely,” she agreed. “But the thing is, once you’ve been hit over the head with it, it actually sucks a lot more to walk away and leave it behind.”

“I’m not the one walking away,” he said.

“Maybe it’ll pass,” she said. “Maybe . . . maybe it’s just a really powerful crush.”

“Deep green,” he said.

Elle blinked. “Huh?”

“Colbie’s eyes are a clear, piercing green, but sometimes they’re more like jade when she’s sad or upset.”

She was still staring at him. “You’ve finally gone off the deep end.”

“How long have I known you? And the others? And I don’t know what color anyone else’s eyes are.” Not even Clarissa’s. “But I know Colbie’s. I also know that she bites her lower lip when she’s trying not to smile. That her comfort food of choice is mac and cheese. That she loves and cares about her family more than she worries about herself. That she can laugh at herself and life. Hell, she makes me laugh at life, and we both know that’s a real feat in itself.”

Elle was still just staring at him. “Interesting,” she said. “It’s not just any woman who can get you to slow down and notice the little things.” She shook her head. “I guess I have no choice but to let this go. Or at least try.”

“Try real hard,” he suggested. “And while I’m asking something of you, I’m going to ask this too—she’s alone out here. No friends, no family. Can’t you and the girls invite her to something?”

“Like?”

“Like the chick nights you have where you all get together and . . . I don’t know, whatever it is you all do.”

Elle looked amused. “Just for curiosity’s sake, what is it that you think we do?”

“Look, all I know is that last month you, Pru, Willa, Kylie, and Haley all went to some drag show and ended up onstage. When the club got raided by the police for some shady dealings in the back rooms, everyone got dragged downtown. Archer, Finn, and Joe had to bail you all out.”

“You want me to get your girlfriend arrested?”

“No,” he said. “I really, really don’t want you to get her arrested. I want you to include her in your crazy-ass gang and make nice.”

“I don’t make nice easily.”

“No shit.” Spence gave her the look that he knew she could never resist. “Just try. For me, okay? If you get the others involved, it won’t look like I made you make friends with her.”

Elle blew out a sigh and hopped off his desk. “The things I do for you.”

When Spence was alone, he stood at the window and tried to gather his thoughts. Yeah, okay, so he was in deeper than he’d thought, or even planned on. But what he hadn’t yet admitted to anyone, including himself, was that even if Colbie expressed an interest in making this work, he still wasn’t sure they could. Could he change his habits? Let her in, all the way in? He wondered if these worries had anything to do with why his grandpa had picked up and left his family, out of the blue.

And did the old man have regrets?

Shaking his head—there was no use going there—Spence called Colbie. He’d already told her Joe and Archer knew. “Elle too.”

Colbie was quiet for a beat. “Okay.”

“Don’t worry—they’ll keep it to themselves.”

“They’re your people,” she said. “If you trust them, then so do I.”

His people. He had his people, and she had hers. It already felt as though they were a continent apart.

One afternoon Colbie was writing away and getting lots of pages while she was at it, when Elle texted her to come to her second-floor office. Okay . . . When she got up there, she found Pru, Willa, Kylie, Haley, and Elle going through a trunk of costumes.

“Girls’ night out,” Elle said to Colbie.

Kylie was wearing a headband with a feather in it, a flapper dress, and some seriously high heels. “Hard to snag a good man when you’re as short as me,” she said.

“But can you walk in those?” Colbie asked doubtfully.

“To be determined.”

“There are worse things than being short, you know,” Haley said.

“True,” Kylie said. “There are actually great things about being short. For instance, when you hug a guy and you feel his heartbeat against your ear, you know exactly where to stab him if he hurts you.”

“She’s just kidding,” Willa told Colbie.

Behind Willa’s back, Kylie shook her head. No, she was not kidding.

Haley, who didn’t like men at all, just grinned. Willa was in only a bra and panties, pawing through the trunk. “The twenties theme is harder than I thought it’d be to pull off. I don’t look good in hats.”

Pru was in her boat captain’s uniform. Or at least the pants and boots. She wore no top and was talking with someone on the phone. “Don’t worry,” she was saying. “We don’t plan to get arrested this time.”

Colbie hesitated. “So . . . you got arrested last time?”

“Yes, but that hardly ever happens,” Kylie said and tossed Colbie an outfit.

“We for sure can’t get arrested again tonight,” Pru piped in. “I’ve gotta work in the morning. Plus I promised Finn.”

“Party pooper,” Kylie said.

“You in?” Elle asked Colbie.

She had no idea. Back home she didn’t have a lot of friends. Janeen and Tracy. Jackson. Andrea Horvath, her editor. Most everyone else had fallen by the wayside when she’d gotten so busy.

“Colbie?” Willa asked.

“I’ve never actually been on a girls’ night,” she admitted.

“Why not?” Haley asked. “You and your tribe too busy or something?”

They had all paused what they were doing and were looking at her with varying degrees of curiosity.

“This is a little embarrassing,” Colbie said.

“It can’t be as embarrassing as when we took Pru to the spa and she screamed the house down during her Brazilian,” Elle said.

“Hey,” Pru said. “My bits are extremely sensitive.”

Colbie sighed. “I don’t exactly have a tribe.”

They all blinked collectively.

“You don’t have any friends?” Willa asked.

“Not ones that I can just call up and go out and get arrested with.”

“One time,” Pru said and sighed.

Willa smiled sweetly at Colbie and squeezed her hand. “Well, you can change that right here and now. Elle put tonight together, including you, so you’ve got your girlfriends now. Us. Right, guys?”

They all nodded enthusiastically. Well, except for Elle. Her nod wasn’t quite enthusiastic, but Colbie got the feeling that she didn’t do enthusiastic, so she decided to take it.