It’s impossible to hold back my wince.
What Blake had told me…it wasn’t pretty.
So even though their parents not showing up (and stranding Blake, who can’t drive) would have been evidence enough for me to immediately dislike them—family shows up for family, always—what Blake had told me about how they treat Colt day in and out…
That had tipped the scales.
Colt—sweet, understanding, protective Colt who demurs the worth of his autograph but spares a few minutes for a sick kid. Colt who touches me with softness and treats me with kindness…
Colt who spent two years waiting for me…
Well, it was nothing to catch a flight.
Now, of course, I’m here in his hotel room.
Which is…scary, even though I don’t want it to be.
“Here,” he says quietly.
I blink at the little envelope he slides onto the desk near my hip. “What’s that?”
“The key to this room.” He moves to his bag. “Lake says I can bunk with him tonight.”
Just when I thought the man couldn’t dig himself any deeper into my heart, the small gesture fills me with a tenderness that threatens to undo me and I have to blink back tears, especially when he moves to his suitcase, folds it closed and starts to do up the zipper.
“I’ll just grab my stuff from the bathroom and get out of your hair?—”
I snag his wrist as he starts to walk by me, suitcase in tow.
“Baby?” he asks softly, cupping my jaw with his free hand.
“Stay?”
A shake of his head. “You’re not ready.”
“I think I’m the one who gets to decide that.”
“I think you’re right.” He flips his hand over in mine, brushing his fingertips over the inside of my wrist. “But I also know that—for me—I need to make sure we don’t go too fast.”
I should let him go.
I know I should.
But I just…can’t make my fingers release him.
“Can we play it by ear?” I say. “Start by ordering room service and watching a movie and talking?”
His eyes come to mine, hold, and I know I’m not wrong when I see the need rippling through the deep brown depths.
Especially when his words, warm and raspy, stroking up my thighs, confirm it.
“You think we’d just talk?”
I shiver.
No, I don’t think that.
But I also can’t think about that.
