Page 17 of Hero's Prize

Her eyes flew up to his as a giggle escaped her. It had been much longer than forty-five seconds, but the fact that he wanted another go thrilled the deepest feminine parts of her.

She winked at him. “Yeah, but it was a pretty great three-quarters of a minute.”

He threw back his head and laughed. “Oh, you’re in for it, Butterscotch. Just you wait. Power nap, then you’re all mine.”

He threw the washcloth back into the bathroom then got into the bed, pulling her close to his side.

Definitely better than her fantasies.

They were both nodding off when Colton muttered, “Man, I owe Lincoln a drink. That’s for damn sure.”

She chuckled but had no idea what he was talking about. “Why is that?”

“He’s why you’re here.” Colton’s yawn was huge. “Thank God Lincoln is Lincoln and he doesn’t have much of a filter.”

She could feel Colton’s body relaxing, drifting toward sleep. Hers was doing the same. She let out her own yawn.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.” It took so long for him to respond, she thought they’d both fallen asleep. His words were almost mumbled. “But damn, I’m glad he told me about your crush.”

Her eyes blinked open. Had she just heard him right? “What?”

Colton gripped her hip, then rubbed little circles with his fingers. “I’m glad you have a crush on me. Made my day to hear it.”

Ice pooled in Ella’s veins.

What?Lincoln had told Colton she had a crush on him? That’s why he’d invited her here?

She froze, having no idea what to say. She felt like mortification would consume her from the inside out and burn every other part of her to ash. What was she supposed to say?

Colton’s soft snore saved her from having to say anything at all and galvanized her into action. She couldn’t stay here. Couldn’t go for round two after a nap, knowing he’d only brought her here because she’d been served up asa sure thing.

Or worse. She couldn’t bear the thought of that.

She eased out of his grip and slid off the bed, silently finding her clothes. She took them into the living room area to put them on, wanting to make sure not to wake him. She could not bear facing Colton right now.

She didn’t even put on her shoes. She had to get out of there.

She made it out the door, shutting it silently behind her. She closed her eyes as she leaned back against it and took a breath.

God, she’d made such an ass of herself. To actually think that Colton had magically felt some attraction to her after all these years and invited her up?

That was not what had just happened. She knew what had just happened but didn’t even want to allow herself to think of the phrase. At least not until she got back to her own room and could fall apart.

“I’m telling you, Colton’s suite is right down here. I paid a bellboya lotto find out.”

Ella’s eyes flew back open at the conversation. Two women—young, slender, blonde…definitely Colton’s normal type—were walking down the hallway and almost to her.

“Money well worth it if we can casually run into him, right?” the other woman responded.

“Yeah. I mean, we might have to camp out in this hallway to make it seem like a casual encounter, but…”

“So worth it,” they both said at the same time, giggling.

Ella pushed away from the door, but they were too close and could obviously see that she’d just come from the room they knew was Colton’s.

“Oh.” Both of them stared, eyes flicking from the shoes she held in her hands to what she was sure was her mussed hair and makeup.

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