ALEXIS

I FELT LIKE A movie star walking into the ballroom on Colton’s arm. So in awe of my surroundings, I practically floated in on a cloud. The ceiling had been draped in white netting with twinkling lights that set a romantic ambiance. It gave the feeling of being under a blanket of stars. Four-chair tables with white cloths and chair covers to match filled one half of the space. Each chair was adorned with a huge gold bow tied around its back. The place settings were white with gold trim. It was all so fancy, no expense spared. On the other end of the ballroom sat a stage where a four-man band filled our ears with classic Christmas music. Beside the stage was an enormous tree, decorated elaborately in red and gold. A dance floor was set up just in front of the stage and to the right of it, an open bar.

“Colton and Alexis, don’t you two clean up nice?” Coach Grady boomed, coming up behind us as we navigated the room in search of our seats. “I’m sorry you’re missing the holiday with your family,” he said, his concerned eyes locked on mine. Colt must’ve mentioned how difficult our first Christmas away from home was for me. It’s not that I didn’t want to be there because I did. It was just hard. “Well, just know I appreciate the sacrifice you’re making to be with our Colt here.” His hand clamped down on Colton’s shoulder. It was obvious he cared for him a whole lot, and it warmed me to him.

My lips stretched into a slow smile. “Being with Colt is never a sacrifice, Mr. Grady.” Colt’s hand squeezed mine gently. “I’ll be fine.”

Coach beamed. “He is one of a kind, isn’t he?”

“He sure is.” I turned toward Colton as I answered, and our eyes locked. My heart did a little dance. I couldn’t stop staring at my man in his Armani suit. I never understood why a person would pay such an enormous price for a name, but I was certainly glad for Colt’s expensive taste tonight. And for Grandpa Fowler, who seemed to have no limits when it came to spoiling his only grandson.

“Well, you two kids enjoy the party.” He walked off in the direction of his table, but before we had even taken two steps, he turned around and was headed right back.

“Forget something, Coach?” Colt asked, smiling.

“Yeah, I did, actually.” His attention turned to me. “Alexis, I wanted to see if you’d do me a huge favor and take part in the halftime show on New Year’s Eve?”

My eyes turned to the side, meeting Colt’s. He shrugged like he had no idea what this was about. “Me?” My hand came to my chest, pulse racing with nerves.

“We thought it would be fun to have a couple of the players’ girlfriends come out and shoot blindfolded.” Ugh. Why me? My first instinct was to tell him no, but he was such a nice man, and he looked so excited about the whole thing. He’d also just referred to me as Colt’s girlfriend, so I was really liking him just then.

“You should do it, babe.” Colt nudged my arm with his elbow. “You’ve got a hell of a shot for a girl,” he teased.

“For a girl?” I countered. “I seem to remember beating a certain someone at horse a time or two.”

Colt chuckled, his green eyes glistening. “It was one time, and we were like twelve.”

I dismissed him with the wave of a hand. “Semantics.”

Coach Grady watched our interaction with an amused smile. “So, how ’bout it, Alex? Can we count you in?”

“Sure,” I said, already regretting my answer. “Why not?” Why not? Was I serious?

“Great. I’m gonna get back to Mrs. Grady. She hates when I leave her alone at these things.”

I waited until he was out of earshot before growling at Colt. “Why’d you let me say yes?”

His arm curled around my waist, pulling me snug to his chest. “Shush.” Colton rested a finger against my lips. “It’ll be fun,” he whispered, his mouth hovering a breath away from mine. My heart began to flutter when his warm tongue lightly traced over my lips, easing inside. He kissed me long and slow, stealing my breath and making me dizzy with want.

Ahem. Blex cleared his throat, drawing us from our trance. “Everyone is in their seats waiting on the two of you. Coach wants to say a few words before we eat.” Oh God. How embarrassing.

Colton’s teeth bit into his bottom lip as he huffed out a deep sigh, shaking his head with laughter. “Sorry, guys.” He shrugged, holding his hands up. “My girl’s a little distracting tonight.” Then he fucked me with his eyes right there in front of the entire basketball team, coaching staff, and cheer squad.

A chorus of hoots and cheers rang in my ears as I shielded my heated face with my hand, allowing Colt to lead us to our table, where we were seated with Finn and Blex.

“Damn that was hot,” Finn announced. “I’m gonna need you to teach me how to do that smolder thing, Fowls.”

Colt chuckled. “Sorry, bro, some things can’t be taught. You either got it...or you don’t,” he jeered just as Coach stood, blowing his whistle to silence his players.

“Merry Christmas, everyone.” Mr. Grady’s eyes flitted from one table to the next, making his way around the room. “I’d like to start the evening by thanking each of you for being here tonight. I realize most of you are missing out on festivities back home, and we hope you know how much we appreciate your dedication and your commitment to this team. Tonight, we want you to forget about the game and enjoy yourselves. We’ve got a great meal being brought out to your tables shortly. DJ Ritchie will be taking over in about an hour, and we hope you’ll stick around to enjoy a couple of drinks.” His eyes narrowed, trailing around the room, “Those of you of age, of course, and some dancing. Bon appétit!”

As if on cue, servers appeared with trays of food and pitchers of water, filling our glasses. Dinner was a feast of honey glazed ham, rib roast, garlic mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and buttery rolls. The types of food you’d expect to find at a family holiday gathering. It was absolutely delicious.

“Would any of you care for a glass of wine?” a waiter asked, passing out wine lists to each of us. I stared down at the menu in my hand, waiting for one of the guys to tell the man we were underage, but Blex, Finn, and Colt started discussing our options like ordering wine with dinner was something they did every day.

“We’ll take four glasses of the Cabernet Sauvignon, please,” came Colton, collecting the wine menus and passing them back to the man.

“What are you guys doing?” I muttered when the waiter had walked off.

Colt’s arm went around my shoulders, his lips to the shell of my ear. “It’s a private party, Al. No one is going around checking IDs. They won’t tell us anything if we don’t draw attention to ourselves.”

“I don’t even know what you just ordered. I’ve never had wine. We aren’t this fancy in Texas, Colton,” I teased, poking fun at his new lifestyle, which, to be honest, was quickly growing on me. What girl wouldn’t enjoy getting all dolled up for fancy dinner parties and weekends at beachfront mansions?

“It’s a popular dinner wine,” Colt answered. “You’ll like it. It’s strong, so sip it,” he added with a sly smirk. “Remember, I said don’t draw attention to yourself.”

The wine was disgusting. I can’t even explain the taste, but it wasn’t sweet at all, and I was a sweet drinker, on the rare occasion that I did drink. I’d consumed more alcohol last summer with these boys than I’d probably ever drank before, combined. But I sipped that wine anyway because everyone else around me was drinking it and I wanted to fit in. I could be classy, damnit.

“You don’t have to drink it, Alex.” Colt laughed, watching my face pucker as I took another swallow between bites. I liked it better that way. The food erased the lingering yuck from my taste buds.

“It’s fine,” I said, forking a bite of ham into my mouth.

“You look like you just got a whiff of ass, Lexi,” Finn argued from across the table.

“Shh,” I hissed, looking around to see if anyone had heard him. “I’m trying to be sophisticated, Finley.” I widened my eyes at him, indicating for him to shut up.

He shrugged, his shoulders shaking with a chuckle. “Well, I’m just letting you know, as your friend, that you are not pulling it off.” He winked.

Glaring at Finn, I grabbed my glass, chugging the last of it while making a conscious effort to control my outward reaction. It burned the whole way down, and I felt my cheeks flush as I hurriedly chased it with a bite of potatoes, giving the jerk across from me a snide smirk.

Ignoring the boys’ laughter, I concentrated on my plate, feeling relieved to have that wine business over with. Then our waiter returned while I had a mouthful of food and refilled that fucking glass. When he walked off, Finn raised his brow in challenge.

“Just drink your water, babe.” Colt moved to grab the wine, and I swatted his hand away.

“It’s really not that bad anymore,” I insisted. “I think I just had to get used to it. Leave it.” I don’t know why I felt the need to keep up, but I wanted to fit in. Somehow in my mind, that equated to drinking the nasty wine.

Colt shrugged. “Drink it slowly, Allie, or it’ll sneak up on you.”

This time, I listened to him, figuring if I finished anytime soon, that waiter would be back, topping it off again.

Halfway through the second glass, I got the warm fuzzies. I was feeling hot everywhere, but it was an enjoyable heat, the kind you get cuddled up in front of the fire on a cold night, wrapped in your favorite blanket. My skin tingled.

“You need to just fuck that girl and get it over with,” Finn said to Blex, regarding the new cheerleader, Georgia, who he couldn’t seem to tear his eyes from. Georgia was a beautiful redhead with freckles on the bridge of her nose and just under her eyes, which were green like Colton’s. And she was nice. I sort of steered clear of the cheerleaders in order to avoid Lyla, but she was always coming over to talk to me. I’m sure it had more to do with getting close to Blex than her desire to be in my company, but I didn’t even care. I liked her, and I hoped they ended up together. Blex deserved a good girl.

“I think I might ask her to dance in a minute, but I don’t want to be the only ones out there.” His eyes darted to the empty dance floor. DJ Ritchie had kicked things off about thirty minutes ago, and it was still bare.

“We’ll go!” I offered, all too eager to feel Colton’s hands on my body. Apparently, wine made me horny. It didn’t taste quite so awful anymore either.

“Will we?” Colt teased.

Lowering my bottom lip, I tilted my head to the side and fluttered my big brown eyes at him.

“I was kidding.” He winked, taking my hand in his. “Let’s go.”

We were the first two out there, but I didn’t even care. As far as I was concerned, we were the only two people in existence when Colt placed his hands on my waist and began swaying our bodies to the sensual rhythm of “Slow Hands” by Niall Horan. Colton had amazing control and awareness of his body. The slight thrusting of his hips perfectly timed to the beat. His lips brushed my neck, setting my pulse to race just before swinging me away and reeling me back in. His moves were fluid, like the music moved through him, while at the same time each touch felt deliberate. Dancing with him was a constant building of sexual tension and the ultimate foreplay.

When the song switched to something more upbeat, I glanced around, noticing the dance floor had started to fill up. Blex was a few feet away with Georgia, and Finn was near the bar, cozying up to a girl I didn’t know. Everyone seemed to be having a great time, even Coach Grady and his wife, who were tearing it up with the rest of us to “Salt Shaker” by the Ying Yang Twins.

“Ready to go?” Colt’s whispered words came hot on my ear, causing my body to shiver.

“I thought you’d never ask.” In reality, we hadn’t been there but a few hours total and had only made it through a handful of songs, but I was ready to explode with how badly I wanted him.

Colton’s eyes bore deep into mine, hooded with desire. I felt his stare in the pit of my stomach. “What d’ya say we pick this party back up at home?”

“Let’s get outta here.”