The Consequence of Loving Colton

“Spit it out, Milo.”

“Fall in love with me.”

“Damn.” Max pulled away, his face pinched. “It’s like you can read minds! I love you, okay? I’ve loved you for years! I just want to be in your life. God, don’t shut me out! Don’t love him! Love me instead! The plant, Milo! The aloe vera! How can you deny me?”

Somehow in the middle of his speech he’d adopted a British accent.

“Shakespeare theater camp?” I crossed my arms.

“I was the best damn Hamlet they’d ever seen.” Max’s grin spread across his face, his dimples damn near making me want to let out a girlish sigh. “And sorry, I may be a great kisser, and yeah, you turn me on—you’re hot, so what else is new? But love? Yeah, I don’t do that. I’m like one of those guys who girls write about. The rogue.”

“Rake?”

“Yeah, that.”

“Awesome.”

“I’m probably going to die alone.” Max exhaled and put on what I can only imagine was supposed to be a brave face. “But I’ll always have memories of us.”

I pulled him in for a hug and giggled. “We should probably make one of those pacts that if both of us aren’t married before we’re thirty we walk down the aisle hand in hand.”

“Deal.” He shrugged. “I could totally wake up to you for the rest of my life, but I’m pretty sure that it won’t happen.”

“Oh, yeah?” I rolled my eyes. “What makes you so certain?”

Max pulled me in for a tight hug, then whispered in my ear, “Because Colton’s been watching you from the upstairs window for the past twenty minutes.”

CHAPTER TEN

COLTON

“What are you doing?” Jason asked, scaring the shit out of me. I cursed and banged my forehead against the window, then pulled back, elbowing him in the jaw.

“What the f—”

“Jason!”

Mrs. Caro, his mom, came around the corner and folded her arms. “That is terrible language!”

“I was going to say fu—”

“Fudge. Yes, I know. Been using that excuse since you were in middle school. What happened to your face?”

“Black eye from last night.” Jason shrugged.

“No, no.” Mrs. Caro leaned forward and placed her hands on his jaw. “Your chin, it looks like you’re bleeding.”

“Son of a—”

Mrs. Caro frowned.

“Whore.”

“Better.” Mrs. Caro grunted and held out her hand. “Now let’s go get you cleaned up.”

“Better not,” Jason grumbled under his breath. “I swear at the rate I’m going I’m probably going to get hit by a car before I get married.”

“One can only hope,” Mrs. Caro mumbled under her breath.

“What was that?” Jason asked.

“I hope we have Dial soap.” She winked at me and then patted Jason’s back. “It disinfects.”

“Oh.” Jason followed her down the hall, so I was able to return to my stalking post. Why the hell did she and Max look so damn happy? I could have sworn I almost ripped the guy’s head off when he kissed her again.

“Shit,” I mumbled under my breath. They weren’t on the lawn anymore. I leaned in closer and tried to peer to the left to see if they’d walked around the house.

“Bird-watching?” Milo’s mocking voice invaded my ridiculous stalking session.

“Yup.” I didn’t move. “Early spring, lots of . . . birds returning from . . . Florida.”

“Oh, yeah?” Milo stepped right next to me and pressed her face against the glass. Damn, she smelled good. “Wow, look at all of them, it’s like a freaking Hitchcock movie out there.”

Yeah. No birds. None. Not even the fake kind people put on their lawns. Awesome.

“They left.” I cleared my throat. “You probably scared them off with your loud walking.”

“My loud walking didn’t seem to scare you off.”

Damn, she had me there.

“So.” I moved away from the window. “Where’s Max?”

“Eating. He’s hungry all the time. It’s incredible the amount of food that guy puts away.”

“Cool.”

Cool? Wow, I’d just made things so much more awkward. I shoved my hands in my pockets and waited for her to say something to break the silence. I didn’t know how to act normal or how to act interested without first scaring her and second ruining everything. Then again, acting interested wouldn’t be right. What was I thinking? I had to act indifferent but not so much that she thought I was an ass.

Which left me looking like a complete loser as I watched her smile grow.

“Colt . . .”

“Yeah.”

“You sure you’re doing okay?”

“Course!” I laughed it off. “I just didn’t sleep that well last night.” Visions of your best friend’s little sister dancing through your head didn’t exactly scream R and R. “Tired.”

“Me too. I wish we didn’t have to work.”

I nodded.

Milo’s head jerked upright. “Holy crap! I know what to do!”

“Huh?”

She grabbed my hand and dragged me down the hall to the guest bedroom that led into the attic. “Uh, Milo?”

“Shh!” She pressed her fingers against my lips.