COLTON

ALLIE...I’D SEEN HER CRY plenty of times throughout our lives, but never like this. Not even the night before I left for California was it this brutal.

I knew that she thought I was asleep...But how could I sleep with her body shuddering against me? I’d gone too far, barging in here like I had any right to dictate what she did or whom she did it with. I’d humiliated her. This had to stop. I was so fucking in love with her that it was making me crazy. The one thing I knew without hesitation was that I didn’t want to ever hurt Alex, yet somehow that’s all I’d been doing since she arrived.

“Morning, Al,” I greeted when her eyes finally fluttered open.

“Hey,” she said, stretching her arms and legs. “What time is it?”

“A little after ten.”

She rose up onto an elbow, reaching to the side table for her phone. I watched as her eyes scanned over her messages, widening before she threw herself back onto the bed with a dramatic groan.

“Um...everything all right there?” I asked, curious.

“I’m never drinking again,” she whined, swinging her forearm to cover her eyes. The stretching motion caused the bottom of her shirt to rise up, exposing her flat stomach.

That little glimpse had memories of Alex’s strip tease the night before racing through my head. My heart was pounding. I moved the blanket to cover the tent in my boxers before licking the pad of a finger and wet-willying her bellybutton.

“Colton!” she shrieked, tugging her shirt down and squinting her eyes at me.

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist.” I shrugged, laughing into my hand. I had to do something. If she’d only known how close I was to running my tongue over her body instead.

Her tiny fist connected with my bare chest, and I grabbed her wrist, the way I always did when she got violent with me. Alex’s breathing changed. Her eyes became hooded. There were sparks shooting off from every direction, and still, we both ignored them. Eyes locked, chests heaving, each waiting for the other to make a move. Finally, Allie pulled her hand away and the moment was lost.

“I, uh...” She shook her head, laughing. “I drunk messaged Gertie last night.” She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth, chewing it nervously.

Shit. She must’ve really liked Stephan if she didn’t even wait ’til morning to start blabbing about him. “It couldn’t have been all that bad.”

Alex snorted. “I called her old...”

“Ouch...”

“Awful, right?”

“What’d she say?”

“She laughed it off. We’re gonna meet for lunch tomorrow.”

My throat thickened. The thought of her getting together to gush over her date with Stephan was making me nauseous. “Al?”

“Yeah?” she asked, sitting up in the bed.

Absentmindedly, I grabbed the end of the lock of hair that was hanging over her bare shoulder and twirled it in my fingers. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for barging in here and freaking out like that last night. I had no right. I just...” Fuck. I couldn’t tell her why it upset me so much. Not yet. I had to stick to the plan. It was working. It had to work. “You were just so upset after kissing Blex, and I didn’t want you to do anything you’d regret in the morning,” I lied.

She narrowed her eyes at me, seeing right through my bullshit.

“Okay, fine...I can’t stand the fucker.” I let out a noncommittal laugh. “But I am sorry for going all caveman and embarrassing you like that. I was out of line.”

Allie nodded and smirked. “Dean and I broke up yesterday,” she whispered, looking up at me beneath her long dark lashes while fiddling with the hem of her top. She’d die if she saw the mascara smeared below her eyes and streaked down her cheeks. My heart reached for her. I’d always loved these moments with Alex. The intimacy of having her in my bed first thing in the morning. Being able to look at her like this...raw and unpolished.

It took a minute for her words to register. Dean was finally out of the picture. “Are you serious?” My heart was racing. I’d spent years just waiting for the day I’d hear her say those very words. “So, you’re not going to marry him?”

Allie shrugged. “That depends.”

“On what?”

She gave me a flirty little wink. “On what happens this summer.”

“You really like him, don’t you?” Fucking Stephan. Well, I had news for him, I was not losing my girl again.

“He was really sweet.” Her face lit up. “I think he likes me.”

It was fucking Dean all over again.

“Of course he does, Al. What’s not to like?”

“You’re right. I’m pretty awesome.” The sound of her giggle was music to my ears, but I was curious about something.

“So, you’re just what? Keeping him on the backburner?” I asked when I’d had a minute to digest her words. “And he’s okay with this?” None of this sounded like anything Alex would do.

She frowned. “Well, shit. It sounds awful when you put it that way.”

“I’m just trying to understand, Al.”

Her eyes welled up. “I love Dean,” she started, twisting the knife in an old wound. “But, I just am not sure I’m in love with him.”

“Okay...”

“When he asked me to marry him, I wanted to say yes. I want a husband, Colt.” I nodded. “I want children and the white picket fence. All of it. We’ve been together for so long, it’s only logical that I would want that with him...” she trailed off.

My heart was lodged in my throat. “And you don’t?”

A tear dripped down her cheek as she shrugged. She looked so small. So fragile. “I don’t know...I wanted to say yes and I couldn’t. I started hyperventilating, and I just wanted to get away. Far, far away. I don’t know if that’s because I’m just scared or a huge red flag that he’s not the one.”

You ran to me, my brain was screaming. That should have told her everything. “And here you are,” I rasped.

“Here I am.” She gave me a half smile.

“And Dean?”

“He won’t let go.” Her lips quivered. “After kissing Blex, I knew that I couldn’t be that girl. I told him what happened and that I thought we needed to break up and explore this summer...that he should do the same...Colton, we’ve been together since we were just kids.”

I nodded. She didn’t need to defend herself to me. “I get it, Allie. Don’t do anything you aren’t one hundred percent sure of. Marriage is a really big step.” And he’s the wrong guy, I thought.

“Anyway, he said that I was it for him and he’d be waiting for my answer.” She shrugged, tipping her head to one side, indicating that was it.

“You won’t be an easy girl to get over, Allie,” I whispered, knowing full and well just how impossible that feat would be.

“Okay, what about this one?” Allie called as she began to make her way down the narrow stairs for what felt like the hundredth time that day. I swear that girl was getting a kick out of modeling everything in the closet.

Finn was catcalling from his vantage point across the room before I’d even got a look at her. My buddies were enjoying this entirely too much.

“Well? What do you guys think?” Alex spun around slowly in the center of the room to give us a good look at her latest outfit.

“Hot damn, Lexi,” Finn purred. “You sure you wanna waste all that—” his eyes roamed up and down her tight body “—on Stephan?”

Alex glared at him, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I’m just saying, I would be more than happy to take his place.”

“Like hell,” I growled and then flinched when I felt Blex’s shoe make contact with my shin.

“You look beautiful, Alex,” Blex said, jabbing me with his elbow. When I didn’t say anything, he gave me another jab. “Doesn’t she look nice, Fowls?” His tone was that of a mother trying to coerce the proper response from her child.

“Colt?” Allie asked nervously, her cheeks growing rosier by the second.

I cleared my throat, adjusting my position on the couch. I couldn’t even find words. That little black dress was hugging all her curves. I had the strongest urge to scoop her into my arms and carry her right back up those stairs. I wanted to rip her clothes off and to finally claim her as mine. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could do this. “You look...” I paused, swallowing hard, as I looked her up and down, my heart pulsing.

Alex’s brows rose.

“You look,” I repeated, rising from my seat before I walked over to join her. I felt the charge in the air between us. Noticed the hitch in her breath. The goose bumps that lined her arm as I ran a finger from her wrist to elbow.

“Yeah?” she whispered, her voice heady.

Lowering my head to the bend of her neck, I inhaled the scent of her flowery perfume. “You look,” I rasped, allowing my lips to brush her throat, “like...I need another drink,” I whispered in her ear.

“What’s the matter with you?” she asked with a nervous laugh as she playfully shoved my chest.

I started for the kitchen, calling back over my shoulder, “Nothin’, Al. I’m empty.” I shook my can in the air as proof. “You want one?”

“No, I...I’m fine, Colt.” The disappointment in her voice pierced my chest, but I had to get away for a few minutes to clear my head. I stood in the open fridge and downed half a beer before looking up to find Blex standing in the doorway.

“You need to figure this shit out, man,” he warned, walking over to grab another beer for himself. “You can’t keep sending her all these mixed signals.” He locked eyes with mine on his way back out to the living room. “Shit or get off the fucking pot, Fowls.”

I finished off that beer and grabbed one more before making my way back out there. Alex sat slumped over on the armchair with her head in her hands. Her earlier excitement had been washed away with my inability to give her a simple compliment. I was such a dick.

“Hey, Allie,” I said, crouching before her. At the sound of my voice, she looked up. Her brown eyes wet with unshed tears. “You look really, really nice.”

She nodded in agreement, but I could tell she didn’t believe me.

Pulling her head to my shoulder, I eyed my roommates over her back as I began to massage the nape of Alex’s neck. I motioned to the stairs, and they followed my cue, leaving us alone in the living room.

Allie’s breath was warm on my skin, and she smelled so fucking good. I wished I could just sit there and hold her forever, but dickhead would be arriving soon and I couldn’t let her leave like this. “Hey,” I husked into her hair.

She sat up, rubbing her nose with the back of her hand.

“I’m sorry, Al. I’m the world’s biggest asshole. You look amazing, and I guess...Well, it just sort of shocked me...how beautiful you are.” Someone fucking shoot me and put me out of my misery.

Her lips began to tremble as she searched my face, trying to decide whether or not to believe me.

“It’s hard for me to see you with guys,” I continued, revealing how truly pathetic I was. “You mean a lot to me.”

She nodded. “You mean a lot to me too, Colt—”

Just then the doorbell rang. Of course it did.

Alex stood, adjusting her dress. “Will you get it?”

“Yeah,” I rasped, pushing up from the floor. My lips pressed into a line as I gave her a final once-over before answering the door.