CHAPTER 21 #2
The smile he gave me lit up his face like the first sunrise after winter, stealing not just my breath.
His eyes locked on mine, and the rest of the world fell away until there was only Colt, only this moment suspended between heartbeats.
I felt myself leaning toward him without meaning to, drawn by some invisible thread that had always connected us, even when I pretended it didn’t exist.
“What did I tell you about calling me daddy, Blaire?” His voice dropped to a growl, and heat flooded my body, pooling low in my belly and spreading outward until even my fingertips tingled with want.
“Jesus Christ.” Maggie pushed herself up from the dock, fanning her face with exaggerated flicks of her wrist. I glanced up to find her staring at Colt and me with wide eyes.
“I’m getting out of here before I burst into flames just from proximity.
The sexual tension between you two is suffocating.
” She fanned her shirt like she needed ventilation.
“Maggie!” I laughed, my face burning hot.
She widened her eyes dramatically, unrepentant. “What? Everyone’s thinking it.”
McCoy hauled himself upright with a dramatic groan. “She’s right,” he said, tapping his forehead. “That little exchange is getting filed away for the spank bank.”
“Oh my god.” My entire body cringed with mortification.
Hunter and Alicia climbed to their feet too, and Hunter grabbed his things from the dock before he spoke. “Mags, you need a ride home?”
Maggie stiffened. “I’m good. McCoy’s got me.”
He nodded once before he grabbed Alicia’s hand.
“Of course I’ve got you.” He rolled to his feet before he dipped into a lopsided bow in Maggie’s direction. “Milady.”
“You’re such a dork.” She smiled at him as she collected her things. “Good night, guys. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” She winked at me, and I swear my entire body lit up like a flare.
I was going to kill her.
The laughter and footsteps faded up the hill as they left, leaving the dock far too quiet with just me and Colt. Ruby usually served as our buffer, her small body and endless chatter filling the space between us, but tonight that safety net was gone.
Goosebumps broke out along my skin despite the heat, and I stood, balancing on the uneven planks. I gathered up a couple empty bottles, trying to look busy, and not acknowledge that this was the first time we’d been completely alone since I came home.
My hands felt clumsy, and I could feel Colt watching me the way a coyote might watch a rabbit. My pulse thudded, and the night air pressed in until I could hardly breathe.
I’d spent a week pretending I could hide in plain sight, but the way he was looking at me now said he’d already stripped every lie I’d wrapped around myself.
“You don’t have to do that. I’ll get it,” Colt insisted, but I didn’t turn to face him. I couldn’t.
I shook my head and grabbed a towel. “It’s fine. I’ve got it.”
My voice did not sound fine.
A long silence stretched between us. I could hear the water lapping against the wood, the distant ruffle as the wind moved through the trees.
I was so hyperaware of everything around us that I jumped when the boards groaned beneath us.
I turned in time to see him stand, stretch with a lazy roll of his muscles, and then, without so much as a word, he walked to the edge and dove off the dock.
His body cut through the moonlit surface before the lake swallowed him whole. The abruptness of it caught me off guard, and I stood with my arms full of trash, blinking at the place he’d been, uncertain what to do.
There was nothing but the night and the sound of my own heart, but then Colt surfaced, slicking his hair back with a single motion. The droplets clung to his eyelashes and shoulders, catching the moonlight, and he grinned up at me with a look that was pure challenge.
“I’m going to bed,” I said before I could do or say anything I knew I’d regret.
“Wait.” He stopped me, his voice low and eyes on me. “Swim with me.”
I didn’t answer him because I wasn’t sure I could. I just shook my head.
“Come on, Blaire.” He still hadn’t taken his eyes off me. “You’re not really going to leave me out here alone, are you?”
I rolled my eyes, but I could feel heat licking at my cheeks. “You’re the one who jumped in.”
“Yeah, but it’s less fun alone.” He stretched his arms out wide, letting his fingers ripple through the smooth surface. “C’mon. The water’s perfect right now.”
I turned away, putting my whole focus into stacking the bottles and tucking the towel under my arm. “I really should get inside,” I protested, and I meant it. The house loomed up the hill, yet I still couldn’t make myself move that way.
“Just come swimming, or are you scared?” There was laughter in his voice, but underneath it, something else, something I could feel in the way my breath hitched and my hands fumbled with the bottles.
“I’m not scared,” I lied. “I’m tired.”
He swam closer, the water parting around him in lazy ripples. He grabbed the dock’s ladder, tipped his head back, and looked up at me. “Then at least sit with me a minute. House daddy won’t bite. Promise.”