Page 18 of The Acquisition

His tongue swept across his plump lower lip, grazing the dip in the middle. "Is that something you've done a lot of?"

Truth or lie? I was a shitty liar on a good day, so I decided to stick with the truth. "No. I mean, never intentionally. It does seem like my relationships tend to devolve to that though."

"What if I want more than a hookup?"

Those words stabbed me in the chest. I wanted to beg him not to let me hope for something more, not when I knew he'd see things differently after a week or two. "Don't make promises to me," I said quietly.

Colt's jaw clenched. "Fine. I'll play this game, for now. We keep this to ourselves, but I have a stipulation."

"Which is?" I was afraid to ask, but I could tell he was serious.

"There's no one else. No dates of any kind with anyone other than me."

"Dates aren't–" I was going to say they weren't necessary, but he shushed me again.

"I think you have a control problem. You've been holding on to everything so tight, it's time you let someone else take over."

I shook my head. He could forget the entire thing. "No. I'm not handing over the reins of my life to you."

"Not all it," he agreed. "But I'm not sure you know how to accept good things. This once, you don't get to make the rules. I bet you tried to plan out all your previous relationships meticulously."

"I don't like surprises," I muttered.

"Those boys might have let you get away with that shit, but I'm not going to."

"I think this might be a mistake," I said, mostly to myself.

"Maybe, but nothing good in life ever happens if you don't make a few of them."

Up to this point I'd done everything expected of me, besides quitting my family's company. I was the perfect society daughter, and I was miserable. Perhaps it was time to be a little reckless.

SEVEN

JANA

When Evie and Beckett departed for the evening, it hit Colt that his daughter was married, and we were all staying in the same house for the evening. I did a much better job playing the part of the perky best friend after Colt and I came back inside. I stupidly promised to get him drunk to distract him as the newlyweds disappeared down the hall.

It was a promise he held me to. Sabrina, Colt, and I stayed up later than everyone else and finished a bottle of tequila before we had to practically drag Sabrina back to her room. She wasn't kidding about being a lightweight.

After she was tucked into bed, Colt pressed me up against my door. His large hand framed my face, and he hovered above my lips for several heartbeats staring straight into my eyes. I was able to catalogue every golden fleck and every streak of green in his hazel eyes. Time slowed, and we existed in a moment that felt eternal.

Painfully slowly, he lowered his lush mouth to mine. One hand grasped my hair and the other my hip. Any thought I would be able to exercise any control with him flew out of my head. His hold screamed possession, and with one touch I was ready to be his.

When our lips parted, he groaned against my mouth. The vibration tingled against my skin and traveled like an electric current through my body. I burned for him. Anticipation built like butterflies in my chest. His mouth met mine one more time, but this was only a brief brush of lips.

"Goodnight," he said.

It seemed like he had to force himself to release me, but he did and walked a few doors down to his room.

I entered my room in a daze, then sat for a while trying to figure out what happened. We discussed this earlier, and I thought we both agreed to satisfy the physical attraction between us. For a while I was convinced he was feeling the same longing I was.

After a while, I realized he wasn't coming back, and I changed into night clothes. Sleep didn't come quickly, and I tossed and turned listening for the whisper of my door opening. I didn't fall asleep until light began to slip through the cracks of the blinds in my room.

"Wake up." My body rocked back and forth.

I cracked one eyelid, and it scratched across my eye like it was filled with sand. "What?" I croaked.

"Wow, you look like crap." Sabrina sat on my bed and looked way too good for someone who drunkenly fell asleep at the table the night before.

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