Page 48 of In Colton's Custody (Coltons of Mustang Valley)

“Go ahead. Keep joking. But I know my business can’t handle negative publicity, and probably the last thing your family needs is more of it.”

He swallowed. It always came down to that. He was first, last, always a Colton. She was right that they couldn’t afford any more scandal right now. As with every other decision in his life, the family had to come first. Now he had to figure out how to quiet another potential firecracker, the one they’d just ignited together, before it blew up in their hands.

Chapter 14

Willow stared silently out the windshield as Asher drove his truck from the hospital parking lot and continued up the main street. What could she say about the activity she’d not only allowed but had been an enthusiastic participant in, right out in public? How could she have behaved so brazenly and carelessly outside the same building where her DNA and her daughter’s genetic material were still under scrutiny?

What could she tell Asher when her pulse had yet to slow completely, and she was still warm in places that had no business heating up for him? She was grateful for the darkness in the truck cab as the skin on her face and neck probably were still pink, having been abraded from the stubble on his chin. It was all she could do not to skim her fingers over her lips that felt swollen and sensitive.

How had she let this happen? She was a divorced mother. A respected local business owner. Unlike a sex-crazed college student with few obligations, she was up to her throat in them. And yet she’d been minutes, maybe seconds, from taking on a sexy cowboy in every sense of those words in the front seat of his pickup.

That he was a Colton should have been the worst part. No, that trophy went to the truth that given a less public setting, she would have enthusiastically continued the activity she’d interrupted before.

“Hey, you were supposed to turn back there,” she announced after he missed her street.

“Just give me a second.”

He drove three more blocks along the town’s deserted main drag and pulled into a parking space in front of Lucia’s Italian Café.

Willow sank down into the seat and crossed her arms. “If you think we’re going to just pick up where we left off, then you’ve got another think coming.”

It didn’t matter that she’d just considered the same possibility. Even now her skin still tingled from the delicious, rough touch of his calloused fingertips, reminders that he was a man skilled in working with his hands.

Maybe it had been a while, and she’d forgotten the zing of a first embrace, but something about being in Asher’s arms had felt different to her. Was she the only one left wondering if a kiss could be more than just a kiss?

“You’re safe here under the streetlights. I just want to talk to you.” He wrapped his fingers around the steering wheel. “I’ll even keep my hands right here, if that makes you more comfortable.”

It didn’t. That was the hell of it.

“Go ahead. Though I don’t know what we have left to talk about.”

“I’m sorry about...kissing you. I shouldn’t have done that.”

She waited for him to fairly share the blame with her over what had happened in the truck, but he studied his h

ands instead.

“Okay. You’ve apologized. Now can you take me home? I’m sure Candace wants to get back to her place, too.”

“Give me a minute. I’m trying to say something, okay?”

“All right.”

Asher shoved his hand back through his hair. He didn’t seem like the type of guy who’d ever be bashful about speaking his mind, but this must have been important to him. If she’d been happy to let him put his tongue in her mouth and his hand up her skirt, she could at least take a moment to hear him out.

He turned to face her, breaking his promise about the steering wheel.

“I think we should get married.”

The words rang in her ears, strange and discordant. “Are you serious?” she managed finally.

“Now hear me out.” He held up both hands, palms facing her. “We wouldn’t do it automatically. Only if we find out for certain that the girls were switched.”

“At least it wouldn’t be an automatic decision.”

He crossed his arms.

She lifted a hand in surrender. “Go ahead.”

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