CHAPTER 7

The First Kiss Is Always The Sweetest . . .

Until The Second

Gia

BLINKING AGAINST THE BRIGHT light shining in my eyes, it takes a second for the sleep to clear away and for me to realize I’m still on the couch with Colton. Sometime in the night, we moved. Now my back is to the couch cushion, with his arm and leg over me, holding me prisoner. There is no escaping without me waking him up.

He kissed me.

My eyes close on that thought and my lips tingle. His lips were softer than I thought they would be, and I had thought about them a lot since the moment we met. He also didn’t try to take that kiss deeper, and I don’t know if that means he didn’t like the kiss, or if he’s trying to go slow for my sake. I need to call Nat and see what she thinks it means.

“Stop thinking so much.” Colton’s deep, sleepy voice breaks through my rampant thoughts and my eyes shoot open to meet his.

“You kissed me,” I accuse, which sounds dumb to even me, because last night, I didn’t fight the kiss or pull away. Even when it ended, I laid my head right back down on his chest, where I fell asleep and stayed through the night.

“It’s too early for this. Go back to sleep. We have at least another hour before we need to get up,” he says, tucking the top of my head under his chin. Staring at the column of his throat, I wonder what his skin tastes like then wonder if he would notice if I touched my tongue to it. Figuring he would probably notice that, I close my eyes and try to go back to sleep, but I can’t. I’m way too wound up to even think about sleep.

“Colton.”

“Yeah?” he asks, not sounding any more awake than he sounded minutes ago.

“I can’t go back to sleep.”

“Do you want to make out?” he suggests, and a shiver slides over my skin while my fingers tighten in the material of his shirt under my cheek.

“I don’t think that would be smart. Do you?” I ask, hoping he agrees with me while wishing he wouldn’t.

“I’m going to kiss you, Gia, and it’s going to happen a lot. So smart or not, it is what it is.”

“I—”

“Don’t deny there is something building between us, Gia. ‘Cause that will piss me off,” he warns, dipping his chin down so he can look at me.

“I’m not going to deny it. I like you, and I…” I pause, trying to get my thoughts in order, which is difficult, since he’s right there looking at me. “I just like you. But you’re my only friend here. I mean, yeah, I have Nina and Ned, but they’re older, so it’s not the same. I don’t want to lose your friendship if things go bad. If we don’t work out, that will happen.”

“If things don’t work out, we’ll worry about it then.”

“You can’t say that.”

“I can.”

“You can’t,” I deny, right before he adjusts us so my back is to the couch and he’s over me with one thigh between mine. “Colton,” I gasp, but I don’t get anything more out.

His mouth hits mine, and his lips are firm and demanding, the opposite of last night. My lips part, and when they do, his tongue sweeps in, his taste hits me, and a shiver of pure delight slides over my skin and through every inch of me. Kissing him back, I mewl when his hand slides under my skull so he can tip my head to the side and deepen the kiss. Listening to him groan, I slide my hands up the back of his shirt, where I’m greeted by warm skin.

“Oh shit.”

Hearing that, Colton’s mouth leaves mine.

“Ma, what the fuck?”

His mom? Oh, God!

I keep my eyes closed and squeeze them even tighter, wanting to melt into the couch and disappear.

“I’m sorry. I’ll just—”

I don’t hear anything more except the door shutting behind her. At least I’m pretty sure she left. Then again, she might still be here—not that I’m going to open my eyes to find out.

“That didn’t just happen,” I whisper, wishing it didn’t but knowing it totally did. His mom just walked in on us making out on his couch, where we spent the night.

“Gia.” His hand wraps around my cheek and I shake my head.

“I’m not here right now,” I reply, then feel his forehead touch mine.

“Look at me.”

“Your mom just walked in on us… making out.”

“So?”

I know by the amusement in his voice that if I open my eyes, he will be smiling. “She’s my boss.”

“Actually, I’m your boss,” he mutters, and my eyes fly open just so I can attempt to kill him with my glare. “Okay, it’s too soon to make a joke of it.”

“I can’t believe this.”

“She was bound to find out about us eventually,” he says, and my eyes widen. “I’m not going to hide the fact I like you and that I really like kissing you.”

“You are not allowed to kiss me in front of your mother,” I hiss, and he grins.

“Like I said, I’m not going to hide the fact I like kissing you,” he repeats, emphasizing that statement by kissing me again.

“Colton.” I shove at his chest, which does nothing at all to move him.

“Gia.”

“Colton,” I growl in frustration.

“Gia,” he laughs, sliding his fingers across my cheek. “I would love to continue this pointless argument, but I need to tell my mom that she can come inside and that she doesn’t need to stand out on the porch with her ear to the door.”

“I’m not doing that,” I hear through the wood of the door, and my cheeks burn.

“Come in, Ma,” he calls, pulling me up with him as he stands from the couch.

As soon as the door opens, Rose looks between us, and I pat my hair and adjust my shirt. “So how long has this been going on?” she asks, waving her hand out in our direction.

“Ugh…” is my brilliant answer to that question.

“It just happened,” Colton tells her, wrapping his arm around my waist. “And it’s going to continue happening, so if you could knock before you come in, that’d be good.”

My cheeks burn hotter while my heart, which was already pumping hard, starts to pound. “Do not tell your mother that,” I hiss up at him, and he grins.

Gah! He’s annoying.

“This makes me happy,” Rose squeaks, catching me off guard and my head flies in her direction. “Seriously happy,” she continues as she starts toward the kitchen, and I notice then that she’s carrying a shopping bag.

“Ma, what did I say about doing my shopping?” Colton growls, and she looks at him, rolling her eyes.

“It isn’t for you. It’s for Gia.” She opens the bags and pulls out some soft looking cream-and-gold yarn and two different sized knitting needles. “I know you mentioned that you haven’t been able to get yours yet, so I wanted you to have these to hold you over until you do.”

Tears start to sting my nose, but I fight them back as I walk over and give her a hug. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” She smiles gently once she lets me go. “Really, I was using this as an excuse to come check on you before you two go to work.” Her voice softens along with her face. “Kirk told me last night that you have to go in today after work to take a polygraph,” she says, reminding me of something I have been trying to forget. That, along with the fact they believe someone tried to burn down Grandma’s house with us inside. I still don’t believe that’s true. Grandma doesn’t have any enemies, and neither do I. There isn’t any reason someone would do something like that. “Are you holding up okay?”

“I’m okay. I just want to get it over with. That way, if what they say is true, they can find who really did it,” I reply, and she looks from me to her son.

“You’re going with her.”

“Absolutely,” he says instantly, and relief fills me. I didn’t want to ask him to come, since he’s already done too much, but I know I’ll feel better having him there with me.

“Good, and I expect at least a text when you leave, to tell me how it all went.”

“I’ll do that,” I agree, and she reaches out, touching the tips of my fingers with hers before looking at her son.

“Both your brothers are coming over next weekend, so I want us all to have dinner Sunday night,” she informs, then she looks at me again. “That includes you too, Gia.”

“We’ll be there,” Colton answers before I can, and nervousness fills the pit of my stomach.

“Have you two eaten? I could make you breakfast,” she offers, and Colton shakes his head smiling.

“Go home, Ma.”

“You’re so mean to me,” she laughs, giving him a hug. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Tell Dad I’ll call him when I get to the bar.”

“Will do,” she promises before giving me one more hug and disappearing out the door.

“That went well,” Colton says, and I look at him then the door. It did go well, but was it too easy? Shouldn’t a mom have concerns about her son living with a woman he just met, and also hooking up with said woman? “Stop thinking so much, Gia.”

“I—”

“Stop trying to make this complicated when it’s not. My parents both like you. They liked you before we kissed, and they will continue liking you now that we have.”

“I need to shower,” I say, not wanting to think about that right now, and his eyes darken instantly. “Alone,” I add, even though the thought of him naked in the shower with me is enough of a reason to second guess that decision and change my mind.

“I’ll drive us to work when you’re ready to go.”

“Sounds good.” I hustle past him to my room, shut the door, and lock it once I’m inside. Going to my cell phone that I plugged in to charge last night, I send Nat a text then head for the shower. When I get out, I find a text from Nat that says only one word.

FINALLY.

~**~

“Thank you, Miss Caro,” the polygraph examiner says, shaking my hand after he finishes removing the cords and things wrapped around me. The test didn’t take long, maybe twenty minutes in total, and he didn’t ask me a million question—only about eight of them, three times each. I told him I was nervous before he started, but he told me that was completely normal and not to worry about that messing with the results. Still, I was nervous, because some of the questions put me on edge.

“How long should it take to get the results?” I ask him, grabbing my bag from the floor next to my chair and standing.

“You didn’t show any deceit during the test,” he replies, and I let out a sigh of relief. “I’ll pass over my findings to Detective Preston, and I’m sure he will be in contact with you within the next couple of days.”

“Thank you,” I say, and he nods before going back over to his desk.

Opening the door to the room, I find Colton waiting for me with his back against the wall. As soon as he sees me, he takes my hand and pulls me into his chest, asking at the top of my hair, “You okay?”

“Yes.” I nod and his hold tightens. “He said I didn’t show any deceit, so hopefully if someone really did set fire to the house, they can go about finding them now.”

“If?” he asks, and I tip my head back to look up at him.

“Why would someone break in to set Grandma’s house on fire?” I ask the question I have asked myself a million times. “She doesn’t have any enemies, and neither do I. It doesn’t make sense to me. You know Grandma is not well, and she has tried to cook in the past and it didn’t go well. All I can think is that she started the fire by accident.”

“They said an accelerant was used.”

“I know,” I mutter, still having no explanation for that.

“Hopefully they will figure it out.”

“Yeah,” I agree. “I really want to get into the house to get some stuff for Grandma’s room at the nursing home. I hope that if I can make it more like home, she’ll start to feel more comfortable there and come around.”

“We’ll make that happen. As soon as they give us the okay,” he says, and looking into his eyes, I believe him. “Are you ready to get out of here?”

“Yes,” I let out a relieved breath, and he takes my hand and leads me back out of the building the way we came in. As soon as we exit, we head for his Suburban and get in. “Do you mind stopping off so I can see Grandma before we head home?”

He looks over at me with soft eyes. “I don’t mind.”

“Thanks,” I say quietly, and he reaches over, taking my hand and pulling it across to rest on his lap. Ignoring the way it feels to have him holding my hand, I pull my cell phone out from my coat pocket. “I’m going to call Nat really quick to let her know she doesn’t need to come down here and raise holy hell.”

He laughs, but I’m not joking. She was beyond pissed when I told her the news yesterday about having to take a polygraph, and threatened to come down here if they didn’t clear my name. And since she is an attorney, she could do it.

“How did it go?” she asks as soon as she answers, and I smile. She’s obviously been waiting for me to call.

“It went good. The polygraph examiner said I didn’t show any sign of deceit, so hopefully that’s all done and we can move on.”

“Of course you didn’t show signs of deceit,” she grumbles, sounding annoyed. “So what now?”

“I don’t know. I guess I just have to wait for the detective to call me.”

“I pray they do that soon so you can get on with your life.”

“Me too,” I agree. “Like I told Colton earlier, I want to get into the house and get some stuff for Grandma. She doesn’t even have any of her clothes with her there.”

“If they don’t call you by tomorrow afternoon, call and tell me. I will call them myself and demand an explanation for their actions. You have done nothing wrong and have been cooperating with them, so they have no reason to keep you from the house,” she says, and I can tell by her tone that she is working herself up—something she’s good at doing.

“How about we use you as a plan D?” I suggest, and she laughs.

“Fine. You call them tomorrow, but seriously, if they don’t let you in by Friday, I’m flying down there and we are breaking into the damn house,” she snaps, and I know she would do that for me.

“Hopefully it doesn’t come to that,” I reply, and Colton’s fingers squeeze mine.

“How is everything else going?” she asks, and I bite my lip. “Are you with Colton now?”

“Yes,” I answer simply, and she lets out a loud hoot.

“I love it. Did he take you to the appointment?”

“He did.”

“I knew I liked this guy before, but I seriously like him now,” she singsongs, and I have to agree with her on that too. “Well, I know you obviously can’t talk about him because he’s there with you, but as soon as you have time, I need all the details on that kiss. All of them.”

“I’ll call.”

“Good. I love you.”

“Love you too. I’ll call soon.”

“You do that, and don’t forget to send the picture.”

“That’s not happening,” I mutter, and she laughs again.

“Fine, talk to you later. Tell Colton I said hi.”

“I will, later.” I hang up then I send Rose a text to let her know that everything went okay before I slide the phone back into my pocket. “Nat said to tell you hi,” I inform Colton as we pull into the parking lot for the nursing home.

“You can tell her I said the same when you call her back later to give her all the details,” he says, and my breath leaves on a whoosh. “The volume on your phone is high.” He smiles, and my eyes narrow.

“It’s rude to eavesdrop,” I scold him, as he pulls into one of the guest parking spaces.

“I wasn’t eavesdropping.”

“Whatever.” I try to tug my hand from his, but he doesn’t let me go. Instead, he uses my hand to force me over to his side of the cab. “Colton,” I hiss, right before his mouth lands on mine and his tongue slides between my parted lips. I don’t fight the kiss. On the contrary, I tip my head to the side and give as good as I get, which means we end up making out in the cab of his Suburban for a good ten minutes before he starts to slow the kiss and pull away. “I need to go in and see Grandma,” I tell him when my eyes finally open to meet his.

“Yeah.” His voice is deep, and the sound of it dances across my skin, making me want to crawl into his lap and kiss him again. “We should go.”

“We should.” I nod in agreement, but neither of us moves to pull away or gets out. We just sit there, looking into each other’s eyes. I finally get my breathing under control, along with my heartbeat, and even though I don’t want to, I loosen my hold on his shirt, where my hands are wrapped in the material, and lean back. “We should go in. I want to make sure she eats,” I say, and he nods, releasing my hand.

Grabbing my purse, I open the door and jump out, and by the time I make it to the back bumper, he’s there holding out his hand to me. I take it and lead him inside to the front desk so they can buzz us in.

As soon as we make it down the hall to Grandma’s room, we both enter at the same time to find her sitting up in her chair with a tray of food in front of her with the lid still covering it.

“Hey, Grandma,” I call, and her eyes come to me and she blinks. And for the first time in over a week, I get a small smile. “This is my friend Colton,” I tell her while taking off my coat and dropping it to the end of the bed, along with my bag.

“Nice to meet you, ma’am,” Colton says, and she looks at him and smiles again. Tears of relief and happiness start to fill my eyes, but I don’t let them fall. Instead, I pull the lid off the tray to see that tonight’s meal consists of mashed potatoes, cut corn, and what looks like meatloaf.

“You haven’t eaten anything. Are you not hungry?” I ask, pulling a chair up next to her and picking up wrapped silverware off the side of the tray.

“I could eat,” she tells me, and more relief washes through me as she takes the spoon from my hand. Feeling Colton pull another chair close, I sit there and watch her take one bite and then another.

“How are you feeling today?” I ask her after she takes a sip from the cup of apple juice on the tray.

“Okay, I guess, but I still wish they would let me out of prison. I didn’t do anything wrong. I don’t know why they are keeping me captive.”

“Grandma, this isn’t prison.” I feel guilty, because it kind of is like prison, even if it isn’t. “You’re at Morning Point Nursing Home,” I explain gently, and she looks at me then around the room. I can see the wheels turning, but I know she still doesn’t understand when she looks at me confused.

“Why?”

“I—” My words come to an end when a tall, good-looking black man wearing scrubs and sneakers comes into the room.

“Sorry, I didn’t know Mrs. Ricci had company,” he says, stopping just inside the door and across the room from us. “I was just coming to help her eat, but I see you have already started doing that.”

“Yes, sorry,” I tell him, and he smiles.

“Don’t be. It’s all good.” He gives me an easy smile. “I’m Stan. I’m one of the aids who works here. I just transferred over to evenings.”

“Nice to meet you, Stan. I’m Gia, her granddaughter. And this is Colton,” I introduce, and he lifts his chin Colton’s way.

“Do you plan on being here for a while?” he asks, and I nod once more.

“Cool, just press the bell on the wall and I’ll come collect her tray when she’s done eating.”

“Will do, thanks again.”

“No problem.” He smiles at me then looks at Grandma. “Enjoy your visit,” he tells her before leaving.

“He seems nice.” I smile at Grandma, and she shrugs.

“He’s nice enough… for a prison guard,” she murmurs before taking another bite, and even though I know it’s not nice, I still laugh.

“Your grandma seemed okay tonight,” Colton says two hours later, as he opens my door for me to get into the cab of his Suburban.

“She did,” I agree, thinking that’s an understatement. After we sat with her while she ate, we took her on a walk around the building, and then I helped her into her pajamas before getting her into bed. Yes, she still thought she was in prison when we left, but she was talkative and alert the whole time we were there with her. It was a huge change from even yesterday, when I thought for sure I would get a call that she had suddenly passed away.

“Do you feel better now?” he asks, sliding in behind the wheel, and I turn my head to look at him after locking my seat belt in place.

“Yeah, I needed to see her like that,” I admit, and his face softens.

“I’m glad you got it then,” he says, starting up the engine and backing out of the parking space.

Hearing my stomach growl, I cover it with my hand. “I’m starving.”

“Wow, she’s hungry,” he mutters, and I smack his chest with the back of my hand lightly.

“It’s hard to think about food when you’re worried about your family.”

“You’re right.” He reaches over and rests his hand in my lap. “How about we stop and pick up a pizza to take home?”

“That sounds good, but at some point, I’m going to need to start cooking again. If I keep eating takeout the way I have been, I’m going to end up gaining twenty pounds,” I mutter, looking at my cell phone to make sure I haven’t missed any calls.

“I like all of this.” He squeezes my thigh. “And if you gain more weight, I’ll like all that too,” he says, and my stomach dips in a good way. “Still, you’re right. We can go grocery shopping tomorrow when we get off work.”

“Don’t you work tomorrow night?” I ask, remembering looking at the schedule and seeing he worked most days from four ‘til closing.

“I changed shifts with Dad for this week so I could be around if you needed me.” He shrugs like it’s not a big deal that he did it, when it is not just a big deal, but a huge one.

“Now you’re making it hard for me not to kiss you,” I tell him honestly.

“Not going to stop you,” he rumbles, as a smile spreads across his lips. “But just saying you could wait until I have you home to do it so I don’t have to pull away to go in and pick up our pizza.”

“Right,” I say, and his hand on my thigh tightens before he lets me go to pick up his phone and hand it to me.

“Call in our order. Number’s under Bob’s Pizza,” he instructs.

“What kind of pizza?”

“Whatever you want, as long as it doesn’t have fruit on it.”

“You mean pineapple?” I ask, and he smiles.

“Yeah, like pineapple. I do not eat fruit on my pizza.”

“Are you crazy?” I gape, and he looks over at me, grinning.

“I’m guessing you like to eat fruit on your pizza.”

“You cannot eat pizza without it,” I tell him honestly.

He laughs. “Order half whatever you want and half meat.”

“Meat pizza. Could you be any more of a guy?” I tease, laughing and sliding through his contacts for the number to Bob’s Pizza in his phone. Once I find it, I hit call then I order a large half-meat half-Hawaiian pizza. And since it only takes us about five minutes to get there, we spend fifteen minutes making out in the parking lot before he has to run in and pick it up.

~**~

Hearing my cell phone ring in the back pocket of my jeans late the next morning, I drop the rag in my hand to the top of the table I’m cleaning, and pull it out. The number isn’t one I recognize, but it’s local, so I slide my finger across the screen and put it to my ear.

“Hello,” I answer.

“Miss Caro, it’s Detective Preston.”

“Hi, Detective. How are you?” I ask, looking over at Colton when I feel his eyes on me from across the room.

“Good, thank you for asking,” he says as Colton walks toward me from the back of the bar. “I wanted to let you know that Chad should be in contact with you sometime this afternoon to give you instructions on how to go about entering your home and retrieving your belongings.”

“That’s great news,” I say, feeling relieved I will finally be able to get some of Grandma’s stuff for her.

“I really appreciate you cooperating with us. If you have any questions about what’s going on with the case, you can call this number.”

“I’ll do that. Thanks again, Detective. Have a good day.”

“You as well, Miss Caro.” He ends the call and I shove my phone back into my pocket, feeling relief but still uneasy.

“What did he say?” Colton asks, crossing his arms over his chest as I pick up the cleaning rag and start to scrub the table again.

“He said Chad should be calling me this afternoon with instructions on how to go about getting stuff out of the house.”

“That’s good news,” he says, studying me.

“It is good news,” I agree, finishing wiping down that table and moving on to the next one.

“So if it’s good news, why don’t you seem happy about it?”

“He didn’t tell me that my name is cleared,” I admit.

“You didn’t do anything wrong. You passed the polygraph test. Pretty sure all that adds up to your name being cleared, Dimples.”

“That all might be true, but he didn’t say it, so I don’t know if it is or not.”

“Call him back.”

“What?” I stop what I’m doing to look at him.

“If you’re that worried about it, call him back and ask him if your name is in the clear.”

“I can’t do that.” I shake my head and walk to the next table, spraying it down and cleaning it.

“Why can’t you?” he questions, seeming puzzled, and I let out an annoyed huff.

“Because then I will look suspicious.”

“How on earth will you look suspicious if you ask him if your name is cleared?”

“Have you never read a book or watched a movie? The person who is normally guilty is the person who is always trying to pretend like they are innocent.”

“Babe, you are fucking innocent,” he growls.

“I know that,” I growl back. “Which is why I can’t just ask him. I need to wait until they tell me what’s going on.”

“It’s eleven,” he tells me out of the blue, and I feel my brows snap together.

“And?” I ask, wondering what that is supposed to mean.

“You told me I can’t kiss you while we’re working.”

“You can’t,” I confirm, moving around the table so it’s between us. “Absolutely no kissing at work.” I made that rule yesterday morning when we pulled up to the bar. There isn’t much I can do about his parents knowing about whatever this thing is happening between us, but I can still shield them from having to witness it firsthand.

“You being crazy and cute is making me want to kiss you.”

“Colton,” I warn when he starts to come around the table toward me.

“What about if I take you outside?”

“You can’t do that either. I need to work, and so do you.”

“I can’t believe I agreed to this crazy rule,” he mutters, looking as annoyed as he sounds, and I smile at him. “Don’t smile at me like that.”

“I’ll stop,” I lie through my smile, and his eyes drop to my mouth.

“Christ.” He turns around and walks off saying, without looking at me, “I got shit to do. I’ll be in the back.”

“I’ll be here,” I yell at his back, still smiling as he shakes his head and disappears into the office. Going back to cleaning the tables, I still have a grin on my face.

Finished with the cleaning over two hours later, I drop my cleaning stuff in the office then look at the clock on the wall and see it’s already after two. Colton left about twenty minutes ago to go to the storage unit to pick up a few supplies, and also to grab us lunch from some sandwich place he said is good. I’m not hungry, since I had two bowls of cereal this morning for breakfast, but that didn’t stop him from insisting I eat something. And knowing when to pick my battles, I didn’t fight him on it.

Standing behind the bar, I pour myself a Diet Coke and take a sip. I lift my head when the door opens, expecting to see Colton, and my spine goes straight when it’s not him. Instead, it’s Lisa wearing slacks and a yellow silk blouse, with a blazer that matches her pants. Taking my eyes off her I notice the two other women with her. One is a blonde with the same cut and style as Lisa, wearing a vest over a denim shirt with dark blue jeans and boots. And the other, a brunette with a short bob wearing an army-green colored jacket with jeans and black flats.

As soon as Lisa spots me at the bar, she starts in my direction with the two women. Not even asking why they are here, I know why they’re here. I can see it in the catty way Lisa is looking at me and the way the girls are flanking her on either side.

“Is Colton here?” Lisa asks when she reaches the bar.

“Nope,” I answer, then ask, “can I get you girls something to drink?”

“What’s going on with you and Colton?” the brunette asks, looking me over in a way that I know she’s sizing me up.

“I don’t think it’s any of your business,” I tell her honestly, then look at the three of them. “Are you drinking?”

“Are you seeing him?” the blonde asks.

“Everyone has been seeing you two around town,” Lisa puts in. “Real classy making out with him in broad daylight.”

“You sound jealous,” I say, and her eyes flash with anger then fill with what can only be described as pity.

“I’m not jealous. He’s mine. He’s always been mine. We’ve been together since we were fifteen, and when he gets over this, we will be together again. Even his mom has been trying to get us back together again.”

Staring at her, I know she truly believes that. She thinks Colton will eventually get over what she did to him and go back to her. For all I know, he might, but I really doubt it. The damage she did cannot be repaired. As for Rose, I don’t know what she’s thinking.

“Are you drinking?” I repeat my earlier question, and the three of them look at each other, then climb up on the barstools in front of me.

“We will each have a water,” Lisa orders, and I pull out three glasses and fill them with ice then bring up the soda gun and fill their glasses with water. Pushing the full glasses toward them across the bar, I’m half tempted to tip them over onto their laps. But I don’t, because that would be rude, and I don’t really feel like cleaning up the mess it would cause.

“How’s your grandmother?” Lisa’s blonde friend asks, making my already tight muscles bunch almost painfully. “I heard she’s not right in the head.”

“I heard you only came to town to get her money, and when that didn’t work, you tried to kill her by setting her house on fire,” the brunette says, and my hands ball into fists at my sides.

“You need to leave now,” I growl, ready to jump over the bar.

“I think Rose would disapprove of you talking to paying customers like that,” Lisa says with a smile. “In fact, when I leave here, I’ll make sure to call and let her know how rude you’ve been to us.”

“Call her now,” I suggest, and her eyes turn to slits before they all stand at the same time like some well-planned performance.

“This is going to be my first and last warning,” Lisa sneers, knocking over the three full glasses, causing water to go everywhere and the glasses to fall off the bar and shatter at my feet. “Stay away from Colton.”

“It will be kinda hard to do that, when I live with him,” I tell her, and her body jerks back and surprise fills her eyes. I don’t even have it in me to feel bad for her, since she’s such a bitch. But I still think I should have kept that information to myself, because she is obviously crazy.

“Come on, Lisa. Let’s get out of there,” the brunette says, taking hold of Lisa’s arm and dragging her toward the door, with the other friend following along with them.

I wait until the door closes behind them to suck in a deep lungful of air. I didn’t even realize I wasn’t breathing until then. Tears burn the back of my eyes, but I fight them off and lean over, resting my hands on my knees and trying to calm down. My nerves feel shot and my body feels wired, like I drank way too much coffee. Gritting my teeth, I fight the urge to call Colton and tell him what just went down. I don’t want to worry him about this, or make him have to think about Lisa or deal with her. Especially when I know that’s exactly what she wants.

“Gia.” My head flies up when I hear Colton call my name, and I watch him come toward me with worry-filled eyes. “What the fuck happened?” he asks, looking at me then the mess of shattered glass and water at my feet.

“Nothing,” I say shakily, watching him set a bag on top of the bar. “You know me. I’m clumsy.”

His eyes narrow. “Tell me what happened and why you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Nothing happened.” I wave him off. “Like I said, it was an accident.” I grab the garbage can from under the counter and set it down in the middle of the floor then move toward the office to grab the broom and dustpan.

“Please don’t lie to me,” he says gently, wrapping his fingers around my wrist to stop me from walking away.

Turning to look up at him, I swallow over the sudden lump in my throat. “I’m not lying,” I state, and his eyes close. “Please let me go so I can get this mess cleaned up,” I whisper, and his eyes open then he dips his head and touches his forehead and lips to mine in a soft touch that makes me want to curl myself into him and tell him everything that happened with Lisa and her posse.

“Leave the glass. I’ll clean it up,” he orders, letting me go, and I let out relieved a breath.

“Eat your lunch. I know you’re hungry. I can clean this up.”

“I’m not going to let you clean up glass. Just go get some towels from the back,” he instructs while he heads toward the office.

Standing there, I watch him disappear before I head to the storage closet to grab a stack of bar towels along with the mop and bucket. It takes us a while to get all the glass and water cleaned up, and I can tell Colton is frustrated and annoyed, but he doesn’t ask me to tell him again what happened.

Which I’m pretty sure is worse than him asking me over and over again.