Page 17 of One Little Kiss
“And?” My voice sounds skeptical, but my insides are a flutter of anticipation.
“I want to speed date you.”
Wrapping my arms around my waist, I angle my body away from him.Danger. Danger. Danger,rings out in my head out of habit, but I tamp it down with a forceful shove. Maybe it’s his smile, his swagger, the way he always seems to be memorizing my face, but I want this time with him. If nothing else, it will give me fodder for fantasies for the foreseeable future because men like him don’t exist in my world.
“For fun. Twelve hours. Twelve dates. Whatever we can come up with. What do you say?” he prods again.
“I’m still not sleeping with you.”Jesus. I can’t even say that with a straight face.
“Fair enough.” He returns my goofy grin. “Is that a yes?”
Tossing my hands in the air, I do something I never do. I throw caution to the wind, and hope for the best. No to-do lists. No pros versus cons. I simply jump in headfirst, somehow knowing Colton won’t let me fall. “Sure! Why not? Our first date starts now, though. Tell me about your nickname.”
“First date. Get to know you? Is this how you want to spend our first hour?”
“Yes. It most definitely is.” I don’t even try to keep the excitement out of my voice this time.
“Okay, then. Dig in.” He points to my nachos, takes a bite of the vending machine hotdog, and tries to choke it down. “My brothers all take after my dad in some way. Preston has his need to protect. Easton got his temper. Halton got his artistic ability. Ash …” He grows quiet, and a flash of sadness takes over his entire body. “Ash has his sense of duty, I think.” Shaking his head, he forces a smile as he stares through me. “Me? I got his sense of humor. My family has been through some shit the last few years. Heavy, sad, sometimes scary shit, and I feel an overwhelming need to bring levity to them all. My dad loved practical jokes. Really loved them. When he passed, I took over, trying to make everyone laugh. I’m not irresponsible. I’m not trying to stay young forever, but I am selfish. I don’t want a family until I know I can give them my everything. So, my brothers think my love of life, my need to make them laugh, and my refusal to settle down yet as Peter Pan. It doesn’t bother me that much, so it’s not worth trying to correct them.”
“But that also means they don’t really understand you.”
His head tilts to the side, and he pinches the back of his neck with his free hand. He’s done that a few times, and I’m noticing it’s his unconscious way of dealing with discomfort. “Maybe,” he finally acknowledges. “But my brothers have been through a lot. They’ve dealt with some pretty intense things alone in a misguided attempt to protect us all. We all get that from my dad, too. However, when the time comes, I know they’ll realize I’m not living in Neverland.”
“Do you think you’re trying to do the same thing by not letting them in? By pretending to be the happy-go-lucky brother?”
Colton leans back as he regards me, slowly nodding with his lips turned down.
“Maybe, Winnie. I never thought of it like that, but I’m also happy with my life the way it is for now, so maybe they have a point. I don’t think I’m pretending to be happy. Right now, I have nothing to hold me back. I like to have fun, so why not drag them all into it with me?”
“Well, I don’t think you’re a lost boy, Colton. Not from the way you describe it. Someday you’ll find the thing or the person worth settling down for.”
He holds my gaze for an uncomfortably long time. I’m not prone to fidgeting, but suddenly the invisible lint on my pants is easier to stare at, and I glance away. When I steel my nerve to sneak a peek in his direction, I find smoldering eyes focused entirely on me. I’ve never understood how someone could smolder, but Colton Montgomery is a prime example.
“When I find the woman worth growing up for, I promise you, I’ll be all the man she needs.”
His words make me shiver. In the quiet of the deserted airport terminal, his words feel as though he’s speaking them not just to me, but about me. It’s a ridiculous notion, and I’m not prone to childish fantasies, but for the briefest of moments, I can envision him as my future. Shaking my head, I pop another nacho into my mouth and don’t miss the heat that fills his gaze as he watches my lips move.
Holy freaking intense.
“Ah, so what kind of pranks do you do?”
His face transforms, and I can suddenly picture him as a little boy. Dirt on his hands, grass stains on his knees, and always, always causing trouble. The vision is adorable, but the man is breathtaking.
“Anything with glitter. Nothing pisses off grown men quite like glitter. That shit gets everywhere. And when you pour it by the gallon into swimming pools, car filters, and water guns?” He howls with laughter. “I swear, they piss glitter for days.”
I’m laughing with him as I envision grown men I’ve never seen covered in sparkly colors.
“Do your brothers look like you?” I ask when my side hurts from laughing.
“We’re all slightly different versions of our dad, so yeah.” The laughter dies with each passing word. I open my mouth to apologize for saying something wrong, but he cuts me off. “So, law school? That’s what you were studying when I rudely interrupted you earlier?”
“Yeah. I wasn’t as prepared as I should have been the first time I took the LSAT. I want to do better.”
“One-sixty is pretty good, isn’t it?”
“It is, but I want one-seventy. I can get one-seventy. I know I can.”
Colton tilts his head, studying me in a way that makes my skin feverish. “Wow. Impressive. What kind of law?”
