Page 14 of Double Booked

I melted into the kiss, totally forgetting there were other people in the room until someone cleared their throat. A man stood by the receptionist's desk and if Colton was the all-american golden boy, this man screamed bad boy. He wore black jeans and a black t-shirt and looked to be about two inches shorter than Colton. Tattoos ran up and down his arms and I could see one peeking out the collar of his shirt. His brown eyes were slightly slanted, hinting at some Asian heritage and his brown hair was cropped short. A small smile played on his lips although his eyes seemed like they were a swirl of emotions.

“So this must be the island girl,” he said wryly.

Colton laughed, tugging me close so I was tucked under his arm. “Riley, this is Justin, my best friend. Justin, this is Riley.”

I reached my hand out and Justin took it in a quick handshake. His grip was firm but warm and his hands were calloused. Both he and Colton had serious forearm porn going on and I tried to quell the desire in my gut at being near both of them but Colton’s best friend was definitely attractive.

“It’s nice to meet you,” I said warmly, “Colton’s told me a lot about you.”

“He’s been surprisingly tight-lipped about you,” Justin raised an eyebrow at Colton. “But I can see why he would want you all to himself.”

Colton’s smile was fond as he looked at Justin even if he rolled his eyes. “I’m going to have to be careful how well the two of you get along.”

I winked at Justin, catching him off guard if the slight widening of his eyes was any indication. “I don’t know, I think Justin has all the stories I might need to know.”

Justin let out a surprised laugh that transformed to a much realer smile than he had previously.

“Wait, this is island girl,” another man pushed out of the crowd in the doorway.

“Island girl, huh?” I arched an eyebrow at Colton who had some red dusting his cheeks.

“Colton was surprisingly tight-lipped about his vacation other than he met an amazing woman on the island,” Justin informed me, seeming to enjoy the glare Colton shot at him.

I squeezed Colton’s hand to show him I wasn’t mad before extending my hand to the newcomer. “I’m Riley.”

“Jake,” The newcomer introduced himself. He had short brown hair and stood about four inches shorter than Justin and Colton. “I would shake your hand but mine are covered with paint.” He held up paint covered hands. A wedding band glinted on one of them underneath the splatters of green paint.

“Go wash up,” Justin shoved Jake playfully.

“Aww but I don’t want to miss this. The boss finally found a girlfriend.” We hadn’t talked about labels yet but the term girlfriend didn’t scare me like it had in past relationships. It might be a little quick but I didn’t want to run like I usually did.

“Go,” Colton ordered but there was no anger in his tone.

“I didn’t know you were Colton’s girlfriend,” the receptionist came simpering up. She laid a hand on Colton’s arm. “You didn’t tell me you had a girlfriend.” I was really not starting to like this woman.

Colton discreetly removed her arm by stepping closer to me and wrapping a hand around my waist. “I do. Vicky, this is Riley. Riley, this is Vicky. She works the front office while we’re out on site.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Vicky,” I said, not extending my hand for her to shake. Out of the corner of my eyes I could see Justin’s eyes narrow. Seemed I wasn’t the only observant one in the room.

“It’s sooooo nice to meet you too,” Vicky said, the smile on her face not meeting her eyes. “Are you coming out to Jimbo’s with us tonight?”

“Jimbo’s?” I asked, looking up at Colton but Vicky answered.

“It’s the local bar. We always go on Fridays after work, isn’t that right, boss?”

Colton hesitated. “We do.”

“Well perfect then,” Vicky clapped her hands together. “We can all go out to eat like we planned and you can join us.” Vicky emphasized the you like I was an outlier who needed her permission to join. I arched my eyebrow at her but didn’t say anything. I would rather have some alone time with Colton but I also didn’t want to disrupt his life too much if this was a regular thing for him.

“Okay, we’ll meet you there.” Colton called over his shoulder, tugging me down the hall to the right of Vicky’s desk. Justin watched me with an unreadable look and I winked at him again. His eyes widened and I smirked. There was something in me that liked poking at Justin like that.

Colton pulled me down the hallway to the second door, stepping in and switching the light on before crowding me up against the door. “I can’t believe you’re here.” He breathed, looked down at me.

“I can’t believe it either,” I admitted. “I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea showing up out of the blue but I wanted to surprise you.”

He groaned and pressed closer, dipping his head to place a soft kiss against my neck that had me shuddering. “Baby girl, you can surprise me anytime you like. You never need an invitation to come down here ever.”

He nipped my neck softly and I groaned. “Colton.”

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