Page 19 of Brim Over Boot
“Hey, you started this,” I point out. “I just upped the ante.”
“You’re insufferable,” he grits out, pacing in a tight circle, his steps taking him away from me and then closer again. “God, I just—”
He cuts off, signing something I’m almost positive is an inventive insult, based on the tight, jerky movements of his hands and arms.
I grunt. “Say it to my face, Colt.”
He stops his circle abruptly, shifting to come my way. The next second, he’s in my space, shoving me backwards. “God, I can’t stand you.”
“Feeling’s mutual,” I assure him, bracing myself for him to come at me again. If he does, I might just sock him in that perfect nose of his.
“You’re an ass. Pompous. Infuriating,” he says, apparently having decided to list my faults after all. “You think you’re so much better than me, and why? Because I’m…smaller than you? Because you like feeling like the bigger man?”
“That has nothing to do with it,” I shoot back, my frustration returning tenfold. “I never claimed to be better than you as a person. If anything, it’s the other way around.”
Colton swats my hand away, making me realize I’d been pressing a finger into his chest. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean? I’ve never doneanythingto you without good reason.”
I laugh harshly.
“Stop treating this like a joke,” he practically shouts. “Jesus, you arrogant, self-centered prick of a human being.”
“Get out of my face,” I tell him, the man toe to toe with me now.
“Does anyone else get to see this side of you, huh?” he asks, not moving a muscle except to get closer. “Or am I just so special that—”
Colton makes to shove my shoulder again, so I spin him into the truck at our sides. One second, there’s Colton’s shocked expression mixed with a small wince of pain, and then my mouth is shutting the man up.
I feel triumphant. Giddy even, to have found a way to render Colton absolutely speechless. There’s no talking with my lips pressed so firmly against his, the force of my attack bruising. His hand on my chest flexes, his entire body jolting almost, as I bite his lip. I do it again, as hard as I dare without drawing blood, my soul singing in smug satisfaction and—
The return of my senses has me stepping swiftly back and releasing Colton. He blinks his eyes open, bright blue staring at me in that wide-eyed surprise I was so desperate to get a glimpse of only a handful of days ago. But my smugness at having elicited such a reaction quickly turns to something else entirely.
Becausefuck.
I have never, not once, been interested in a man. Never kissed one or even wanted to.
And of all the men in the world I could have chosen to kiss, hate-fueled or otherwise, it just had to be Colton goddamn Darling.
Chapter 7
Colton
I’mtooshockedtomove as Noah spins away from me, all but stomping to his motorcycle. The engine revs to life, and he takes off, not once looking back.
What. The fuck. Was that?
I wipe my mouth and look down at my semi.
“What the actual fuck,” I hiss.
I did not just get a hate-boner over Noah King.
Did I?
No. No fucking way.
Fuuuck.
“Colt?” my brother calls.
