Page 73 of Toxic Wishes

“Stop,” I put my phone between my ear and shoulder as I buckle the straps of my high heels. “I gotta go. Talk to you later.”

“You better. Have fun, boo,” she says in a peppy but almost demanding tone.

“Bye,” I hung up the phone and headed into the lakehouse. I’m sure Josh is in there waiting on me. I walk inside and see Colt standing in the living room. His back is turned to me as he looks out the window with his hands in his pockets. The suit must have been tailored for him because it fits perfectly, accenting his broad shoulders, bulging triceps, and sculpted back. I want to stare at him a little longer and admire the perfect piece of art before me, but I’m afraid he’ll catch me looking.

“Hey,” I say, walking closer to the couch. “Where’s Josh?”

“He just called me, and he asked if I could drive you since he planned on drinking.”

“I could have driven myself. He knows that. I used to do it all the time in college.” I say, trying to hold back my annoyance.

“He planned on getting shit-faced,” Colt says. “His exact words.” He slips his hands in his pockets. And it makes him look innocent and sweet. Not like a chauvinistic pro football player, but I ignore the tiny butterflies coming to life in my stomach.

What does that have to do with me driving to the wedding? I figured we were already running behind, so I didn’t press further questions.

“Got to love open-bar perks,” Colt says.

He stares at me, looking me up and down. I shift my weight to my other heel.

“He won’t get a second date out of me this way.” I joke, appearing calm even though I was anything but. I’m so out of my element right now. I’m not used to being looked at and dressed up.

I’m waiting for a smart-ass comeback, but it doesn’t come. Instead, he continues to take in my dress attire. I’m wearing a short dress that’s light pink to accentuate my olive skin tone. The sleeves are off-shoulder, so I wore my best strapless bra to hold up my girls. I paired it with white heels to match the white lace in the middle of my dress. I hated dressing up, but the way Colt looked at me, something told me it was worthwhile this time.

“You look beautiful.”

I blinked. His voice was barely audible, not sure if I heard him correctly, but managed to say, “thank you, so do you. Not beautiful, but, handsome.”

A smile creeps in, and this time, he doesn’t hold back. He is smiling wide.

“And I’ll be sure to tell Josh he’s not getting a second date.” His voice is low, husky.

Whoa, is Colt Killian flirting with me again?

“Good,” I say as I move towards the door. If I stand before him any longer, I may go up and change and let my cousin know the hibbi-jibbies got to me. Not that my family would even notice I didn’t attend.

“Do we need to pick up Namoi on the way?” I asked.

“No,” he says with an exasperated breath, like he’s tired of mentioning her name, even though it’s the first time I’ve ever brought her up since living here.

“Sorry for asking. I was just-”

“No, it’s not you. She called, but I told her it would probably be best if I didn’t. Because-” he hesitates, running a hand through his dirty blonde hair.i strand falls in front g his eyes and all I want to do is taste his lips.

“I don’t want her to get the wrong message.”

I tilt my head to the side and feel my eyebrows lift an inch from my eyes. “Wow, guess you're taking the youngster's advice.”

“Do you want to have radio rights or not?” He furrows his brows at me.

“I’ll shut up,” I say, zipping my lips with my finger, and we head out to Colt’s truck.

It wasn’t a long drive to the venue, only about thirty minutes, and I was mentally preparing for Colt to bring up Blake again, but due to my surprise, he hasn’t so far.

“So, how come you and Josh never dated?” Colt blurts out. So, I guess he wants to talk about his other half-brother.

I look over at him with a bemused smile. “I wouldn’t say he never tried to date me, but we naturally became friends. Besides, I’m a zodiac girl. I believe in signs.”

“Signs?” He says as if I told him I believe in Aliens, which I did question their existence since there was a whole universe out there we didn’t know about.

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