CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
MILO
I fought to keep up with Colton’s ridiculous pace. “Um, hey, psychopath, where are we going? There are guests who—”
His lips crushed against mine. Guests, what guests? Tongue . . . was that his? I moaned as he pulled me into his arms, his mouth hot and urgent.
“Screw the guests, you’re coming with me.”
Had he not been holding me up I would have swayed on my feet. “And we’re going where, exactly? To hide in Max’s car?”
He paused as if the idea had merit, then shook his head. “Stupid diagram.”
“For tic-tac-toe?” I gripped his hand. “Colt, if you suck that bad I can help you.”
He groaned.
“No, really!”
More groaning and cursing.
“I totally went on Google last time I played and found out all the tricks!”
“Please don’t say tricks.” He bit down hard on his lip and nearly made me pass out from the heat of his lustful glare. “Let’s go.”
And we were back to running through the neighbors’ backyards.
Until we got to his house.
“Colt.” The pool cover was off. Memories of that night plagued me, made me want to turn and run in the other direction. Jason’s sister, Jason’s sister. “What are we doing?” Was he going to reject me again? Was he regretting the fact that we went through that entire ceremony in front of everyone? Holy crap! I was going to have been married for less than three hours!
I needed to sit.
“Milo.” Colton started pulling at his tie, then his jacket. Clothes fluttered to the ground in a flurry. “We’re going swimming.”
“Now?” I hissed. “Colt, we have like a hundred people back at the house, Jason may die if he closes his eye, Reid asked how tall our roof was just in case he needed to jump, and Max told my mom he used to be a gigolo. I think we have enough stress in our lives without—”
Oh, dear Lord.
His boxers fell all the way to the ground.
All the way.
To.
The.
Ground.
God bless the USA.
Would standing up and doing the Pledge of Allegiance throw the mood off? Because I was suddenly so very thankful for that New York–born man.
And he was all man.
I kid you not, if his name were in the dictionary, right next to it would be “Hot body.”
That’s it.
No more words. Words in a situation like this totally killed the moment. For example, I could wax poetic about the way the moonlight seemed to shimmer across his very bare, tan chest. Shoot, I could even say his abs were so ripped I was afraid if he took a deep breath he was going to pull one of them. Then again, if he pulled a muscle I was the only person close enough to be of aid.
We’d play nurse and soldier.
I’d ask him to tell me where it hurt.
He’d point to ab number two, or maybe three. I do like the lower abdominals . . . Then I’d gently caress the rippled skin and whisper words of encouragement like “Don’t worry, you’ll make it. I know CPR.”
Because um . . . you could never be too careful when a person . . . er, strained his body, and I learned in first aid that you should always, always be sure the person was breathing.
By sticking your tongue down their throat.
Swear it was totally in that textbook.
Probably because I wrote it there, but—
“Milo.” Colton’s smooth voice interrupted the mental image I’d created of our nurse/soldier story. No idea where the whole soldier thing came from. Probably because I was ready to say the Pledge of Allegiance. Something was seriously wrong with me.
He was a firefighter.
Which was kind of like being a soldier.
Because he risked his life every day.
Colton took a step toward me. Damn it, give the man a Purple Heart! I hope he wasn’t second-guessing being married to me.
Because I would be second-guessing it if I were him. I mean, I’m clumsy, the childhood friend, and apparently extremely violent.
“Milo.” He said my name like a caress. “Take your clothes off.”
“Um.” I tugged at my very pretty, very expensive dress and shrugged. “It’s kind of . . . nippy.” Holy crap. Shoot me now. I’d just said nippy. Why couldn’t I have said cold like a normal person? No, I had to say nippy.
Colton smirked and looked down the front of my dress. “I can see that.”
“Stop staring.” I laughed nervously.
“Why?” He pulled me into his arms. “I can stare all I want. You’re mine, remember?”
“Sure.” I nodded. “I also remember telling you I wasn’t into the whole alpha thing.”
“Too bad.” He shrugged, tossed me over his shoulder, and jumped into the pool.
I wish I were one of those girls.
The ones who cry really pretty tears, and whose screams don’t sound like a hyena giving birth. But I’m not that girl. I’ll never be her.
The scream that erupted from my mouth probably called pigeons home. Dogs started barking in the distance.
I’m sure I looked like a raccoon.
But Colton wasn’t distracted by my scream or by the fact that I had mascara running down my face.
Nope. His eyes were glued to my body.
“Colt—”
Ignoring me, he dove under water.
And that’s when I felt his hands on my bare legs, higher, and then higher. I would have happily drowned if this had been the precursor to my death. No joke. His fingers slid against my thighs and then, with the damned slowness of a tortoise, he pulled my lacy thong all the way down.
With.
His.
Teeth.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of—
Colt emerged from the water, a smug grin on his face as my underwear dangled from his teeth.
“Cute.”
He threw them to the side of the pool and held up three fingers. “One, two—”
“Why are you counting?”
“If you don’t take your own dress off in three seconds I’m doing to do it for you.” He smirked. “That little show I just put on is going to get a hell of a lot hotter. So, either you shimmy that tight little body out of that dress or I’m going to do it for you. And I really have trouble with zippers. Who knows how long it will take me to pull it all way the way down, not to mention the fact that I have a crazy obsession with the curve of a woman’s back and—”
“Stop!” I laughed. “Man, you’re bossy.”
Colt’s eyes darkened. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”
The dress had to go. Like yesterday.
His eyes drank me in, I couldn’t remember how I’d even gotten the damn thing on! Zipper? Buttons? Did it go over my head? Crap!
Colton grabbed my shoulders and turned me around. “You’re sexy when you’re turned on.”
“I’m not,” I lied.
“Sexy?” His hands found my zipper HA! I knew it was a zipper! Score one for Milo!
“A-aroused.” Right. I couldn’t even say the word.
“No?” The zipper went down very, very slowly, but what was worse, his hands followed, touching, lightly grazing my back. It was stupid, really—that a simple touch could make me melt.
But there it was.
Apparently there was magic in his fingertips.
The zipper stopped.
His hands moved.
And then he tugged a bit harder.
Um . . .
And harder still.
“Colt—”
“It’s stuck.”
“Not the two words I would have chosen to use,” I said. “But okay, what’s wrong?”
“The damn dress!” Colton shouted. “It won’t go any further. Knife. I need a knife.”
“You are not knifing me in the pool!” I tried to get free from him but he grabbed me with those magic fingertips and superhuman strength and held me against him.
“I’ll make it fast!” He laughed.
“Colt!”
“Really,” he promised. “Like a Band-Aid.”
I slumped into his arms. “I hate you right now.”
“No you don’t.” His hands moved to my dress again. “I’m going to try one more thing.”
A large rip sounded.
And my dress floated up next to me. I was too shocked to do anything except gape when Colton pulled the dress off me and threw it to the side of the pool, a look of pure satisfaction on his face.
“Did you tear my dress in half?”
“I feel like cutting down a tree right now.”
“Huh?” Shivering, I swam over to him.
“Or shooting a duck.”
“You’re killing the mood.”
“Burping.” He nodded and winked. “That, Milo, was pure masculine awesomeness. Seriously, if we were stuck in the Stone Age—I would have been the guy inventing wheels and shit.”
“COLTON!”
“Yes, baby?” His grin was huge.
“You think we can, um . . .” I shrugged as my face heated, probably to a nice shade of scarlet, and pressed my lips together.
“What?”
“You know?”
“No.”
“Colt—”
“Milo, say the words. Marriage is all about communication and being open with one another, how can I see to my wife’s needs if she doesn’t—”
“Oh, my gosh, just have sex with me already!” I shouted.
My voice literally echoed in the night sky.
Great. So some five-year-old camping outside with his friends was probably going to have some questions for his parents in the morning.
“Get over here.” Colt reached for me but I swam away.
“No.” I kept swimming toward the deep end. “You ruined the moment and then made me ask my own husband for sex!”
“Before last year you were still spelling out sex in the air rather than saying it out loud. Progress, it seems, is being made if you can actually say it . . . I mean come on, sweetheart, if you can’t say it you shouldn’t be participating in it.”
“This is not helping my mood!” I kept swimming away.
I was living Nemo’s life.
Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swim, swim, swim, what do you do you—“Shit!” His hands moved to my waist.
“Caught.” Colton’s lips moved against my ear. “And I won’t have sex with you . . . I’ll make love to you, I’ll tease you, taunt you, make you scream, taste, caress, I’ll do all those things.” His hands braced my hips as he pulled me back against his body. “And nothing is going to keep me from you.”
I relaxed in his embrace as his hands ran from my shoulders all the way down until he gripped my hips, flipped me around, and kissed me hard on the mouth.
“I love you.” Colt’s lips found mine again. He tasted like mint. “I’d freaking go to a Star Wars convention for you.” His tongue pushed against mine, then retreated. “I’d name our first child Luke.” His hands lifted me against him, then slowly grabbed each leg and wrapped it around his waist as he pulled our bodies together.
With a gasp I pulled back, but his mouth wouldn’t let me retreat, I didn’t have time to do the normal Milo thing. Where I compartmentalized every sensation and made diagrams about my feelings and obsessed like a lunatic. All I could focus on were the sparks—the things he made me feel that I’d never felt before.
“Milo.” Colton’s voice was gentle as he kissed me, said my name again, kissed me, then sighed against my mouth. “Focus on me, all right, sweetheart?”
I nodded.
Words were failing me.
“Of course I saw them!” Max shouted. “I’m not an idiot—and I can still see out of both eyes, thank you very much.”
Colt and I froze. I mean froze in each other’s arms. Maybe if we were really quiet they would just walk right by.
Right, they wouldn’t see two naked people in the pool.
Or the ripped dress on the concrete.
Or the underwear.
“Well, tic-tac-ho.” Max laughed. “You guys having a midnight swim? Why didn’t you say something! I would have totally joined!”
“Arousal gone,” Colt ground out, and then he swore. “Totally gone.”
“Not that kind of swim, Max,” I said in a nervous voice. Jason was standing right next to Max, meaning he could see me naked in the arms of his best friend, whom I’d just married. To be fair it wasn’t like we’d been caught doing something wrong, but still, it was my brother. I think he’d be happy if I drank chocolate milk my entire life and never even uttered the word sex.
“Hey, Jason,” Colt said nervously. “Can we, uh, help you guys?”
“It’s okay.” Max sat in one of the pool chairs. “You guys finish your swimming, we’ll wait.”
“Pervert,” Colt said.
Max winked and snapped his fingers. “Oh, right, now I remember. Your mom and dad are pissed because guests were asking about you guys and I didn’t have the heart to explain the whole tic-tac-toe thing to your mom in front of Grandma. That woman’s hearing’s just fine. Besides, it would have given her ideas about Reid.”
I moved to stand behind Colt so nobody would see my nakedness and asked in a shy voice, “Is Reid okay?”
“Sure.” Max nodded. “We left him with Grandma.”
“What?” Jason roared. “You said you took care of him!”
“I did!” Max lifted his hands into the air. “It’s not like I left him defenseless. He has Milo’s pink Taser.”
“Oh.” Jason nodded. “Good idea.”
“Guys!” Colt cursed. “Just give us a minute, okay? We’re naked, turn around or something and we’ll get out of the pool and sneak back into the house.”
Max turned around. “Not my fault you’re still naked, had you paid attention to my diagrams you would have already been in—”
“Max!” I yelled.
“Just saying. He would have been a lot further. Feel me?” He put his hand over Jason’s one eye. “All right, guys, do your thing, get some clothes on, you can screw all you want later.”
“I’m not deaf,” Jason grumbled. “A person can’t un-hear things.”
“Screw, screw, screw, screw, screw,” Max said in a singsong voice. “If you say it over and over again it’s not as traumatizing. You try it.”
“Hell, hell, hell, hell, hell . . .” Jason shook his head. “Nope, I still don’t feel better.”
With a grunt Max fell over.
“What just happened?” Colt asked while he grabbed his shirt and put it over my naked body.
“Jason punched me,” Max groaned.