Page 50 of One Little Kiss
“Win? We need to talk.” Colton’s voice covers my fears like a warm blanket, but I quickly shake it off. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this life, it’s that you can’t count on anyone. Especially not someone like Colton Westbrook.
“You think?” I scoff. “What the hell is going on? How could you do this to him? He’s too little to understand that he can’t keep any of this stuff. Don’t you ever think of anyone but yourself?” I’m shrieking, and drawing an audience, but I can’t find it in myself to care. “Did any of you stop to think about how this would seem to him? He’s three years old. Three!” I run out of steam. The effort of holding in tears overwhelms me.
“Winnie, stop,” Colton commands, and I hate how my body responds to his tone. “My entire family has misjudged me my entire life, and I’ve let them. But not you. You may not understand it yet, but you know me. Not the Peter Pan version, the real one. Me. And I have done nothing but think of you and Weston for the past two days.”
My shocked expression tells him I had no idea I’d slept an entire day away.What the hell, Winnie? What will the judge say?Sweat forms on my upper lip, and with no couth whatsoever, I reach up to wipe it away with trembling hands.
“Stop, Winnie.”
“Stop telling me what to do,” I roar.
When Wes whimpers, I take a shaky breath and attempt to give him a comforting smile.
“Yes, you slept for almost twenty-four hours because you needed it. The only people that know about that are here, in this house right now. Plus, my brother, Preston, and his wife because she’s a doctor, and I wanted to make sure you were okay. Your dad, the judge, even your work, has no idea. They think you have the stomach bug.”
As Colton speaks, I’m painfully aware that he must know my entire life story, and shame wracks my body. Goosebumps break out across my arms, and I find myself twisting the skin around my left wrist again.
Colton crosses the room until we’re face-to-face. He reaches down and stops the assault on my wrist with one hand. He raises his other hand to cup my cheek. “You’re not alone, Winnie. I’m here to help.”
Mucus gurgles in the back of my throat when I attempt to speak, and once again, he cuts me off.
“My family has always called me Pan because they think I can never grow up. The world thinks I’m the black sheep, a playboy, reckless. And none of that has mattered since the moment I found you at that airport. I left Neverland that day, Winnie, and I’m never going back. I don’t care what anyone thinks of me but you. I’m going to help you through this. I’m going to be right here for you.”
Pieces of a conversation come to me, and I finally understand what this is. I mentally slap myself for believing, even for a second, that his words were true.
“A PR stunt. An insta-family. You need me to fix your reputation,” I surmise.
Tilting his head the same way Weston does, he studies me. “That’s what my brother thinks, yes. But that’s not the truth.”
Pulling away, I walk toward Wes. “Of course it is. Why else would we be here? Why on earth would you be going to all this trouble if there wasn’t something in it for you?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Easton back out of the way.
“You’re right. There is something in it for me. But it’s not what you think.”
Rolling my eyes, I lower myself to the ground, mentally preparing for the meltdown pulling Weston from this room will create.
“Winnie,” Colton rumbles, and I feel his words all the way to my toes.
Why the hell do I like it so much when he bosses me around?
“Look at me, CC.” His tone leaves no room for debate, and as messed up as it is, I want to listen to him. I want to believe in him even though I know in my heart it can only lead to disaster.
With a heavy breath, I lift my gaze. My body heats under his intense focus. “I know you’ve probably seen all kinds of shit about me in the press.”
The way he’s examining my every move is too much, so I refocus my gaze on Weston.
“Winnie,” he snaps, causing me to jump. “None of it’s true. None of it. As far as I’m concerned, my last night as a single man was January twenty-first of last year.”
January twenty-first?My head snaps to his as the date registers. Miami. The airport.
“What are you saying, Colton?”
“I’m saying I want you and Wes to move in here. Live with me. Let me help you get permanent custody, and then I want you to marry me.”
Easton is the one who chokes this time, spraying water all over the floor. Wes finds this hilarious, and his shoulders shake with a belly laugh as Easton attempts to wipe up the mess.
“Dude, you can’t be serious. You don’t even know her. It’s one thing to move them into your home that you’re never in, though Preston is going to rip you a new one over this, too, but marriage? You’ve always jumped into the deep end then learned how to swim. You make a decision and it’s full steam ahead, but you’re talking about people’s lives here, Colt. You’re being careless. Especially with The WB having the issues it is. What will it look like to our board of directors when this all blows up?”
