Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
COLT
“Say what again?” she asked, her eyes roaming up and down my arms that were caging her in. Yeah, look all you want, sweetheart. Get your fill. Because I have many years of apologies to make up for.
“Say you loved me.”
Her throat bobbed as she swallowed nervously, and my eyes tracked it like a hawk. My skin felt tighter with awareness of being so close to her after all this time. Teenage Colt wouldn’t know what the fuck to do with a woman like her, but adult Colt? Yeah, he had a few fucking ideas on what to do.
“And now?” I had to know if there was anything left between us. I wanted her to tell me that I didn’t completely fuck everything up. Maybe there was still a chance for us.
“I…I don’t know.”
Defeated, I dropped my arms and put some space between us.
“I don’t know if I could trust you again, Colt. I’m sorry, I just…” She sighed, and stepped away from the hay bale. I let her get her bearings before approaching the subject again.
“You don’t have to apologize, sweetheart. I understand. I broke your trust and I’ll have to earn it back. I don’t want to rush you into anything you aren’t ready for.”
She smiled, and it made my chest ache. I wanted to see her smile again. Wanted it directed at me. “Thank you. Just give me some time. Let’s just get through this article and see what happens, okay?”
I nodded, accepting that answer. Knowing I had my work cut out for me made me want to push a bit harder now.
We set the camera back up and surprisingly enough, the rest of the interview went well. I answered all of her questions and didn’t stray too far from thinking about her. Big lie. I couldn’t focus on much else but her.
I wanted to reach out, pull her to me, and kiss her until she couldn’t breathe, but I knew I had some time before she would allow me to do that.
I wanted to earn her trust again. It’s just going to take some time.
“I think that’s about it. This article is going to be amazing. You’ll have even more women fawning all over you.”
She chuckled at her joke, but I did not. The thought of any other woman touching me now made my skin crawl. Hayden was packing up her stuff when a thought occurred to me.
“Go out with me.”
She froze, then turned around and looked at me confused. “Huh?”
“Go out on a date with me. Let me prove to you that I am not the same guy I once was. I’ve…changed.”
"Colt…”
“Please.”
Her beautiful dark blue eyes snapped up to meet mine and I could tell she wasn’t expecting me to beg.
“Okay. When?”
“Tomorrow night? I could cook for you. I can make your favorite.”
“You remember?” she asked in a low, raspy voice.
I took a step closer to her, close enough to where her breasts were rubbing up against my chest. The contact sent shivers through her body. I smiled and reached up, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. “Contrary to how our friendship ended, I remember everything there is about you, Hay.”
“Colt…” she groaned, and her forehead landed against my chest in frustration. I smirked and kissed the top of her head. “Why are you suddenly being so nice to me?”
Hayden raised her head up to stare into my eyes, searching for an answer.
“Because I was a fucking idiot.”
She smiled, and shook her head. “As mad as I was, it did look pretty convincing.”
“I never should have believed that dumbfuck. And I should have known you wouldn’t have slept with him. That’s something I’ll have to live with for the rest of my life, sweetheart.”
“May I ask you something?” She surprised me by reaching down and grabbing my hand, bringing it up between us and holding onto it like an anchor. I’d be her anchor in every storm if she’d let me.
“Anything. You can ask me anything.”
“Did you sleep with Daisy after prom?”
Shit. I was hoping she wouldn’t ask that. She didn’t need to think about Daisy. It was all in the past. “As much as I thought about it, and in my pissed-off, heartbroken state, I couldn’t go through with it. After we walked away that night, she tried dragging me into one of the closets and started taking her dress off but I put a stop to it. I was pissed, but I didn’t want to be another notch on her bedpost, metaphorically speaking.”
Hayden squeezed my hand and nodded. Her whole body seemed to relax, pleased with that answer.
“And as embarrassing as this is to admit, I’ve never been with anyone.”
Her head jerked back, shock written all over her face. “Nobody? Not even in college?”
I shook my head. “Nope, nobody felt right. Even though I was still very angry, I think subconsciously I started to realize how badly I fucked up and my hormones rejected anyone who wasn’t you. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?”
She giggled at that and shook her head. “Not crazy at all. To be totally honest with you, I haven’t been with anyone either.”
“Now that I find hard to believe.” Even though I felt nothing but relief hearing that. I usually wasn’t one of those possessive guys who wanted to be his girl’s first and only, but I couldn’t deny the slight bit of possessiveness and hunger I felt knowing I could possibly be her first. And her mine.
But I had a ton of work to do in the meantime.
“Believe it, baby. I’ve never gotten laid, despite what my friends have claimed.”
Out of nowhere, a crack of lightning lit up the sky, followed by roaring thunder that shook the ground.
“Crap, I thought it wasn’t supposed to storm until later on!” Hayden cried out. Just as we loaded up her car and put her equipment away, the sky decided it was the perfect opportunity to open up and drop a torrential downpour.
It was getting late and I knew it would not be safe for her to drive home in this. I didn’t even know where she lived. Taking her hand, we ran up to the front porch out of the rainfall, laughing the entire time. I couldn’t remember the last time I had actually laughed by doing something normal like getting caught out in the rain.
“Why don’t you stay here tonight? There is a spare bedroom and I have plenty of shirts you could sleep in. I don’t even know where you live.”
We shook off the rain as best as we could and walked inside. The air conditioning against our soaked clothes made both of us shiver.
“I’m about a half hour away. On the other side of town. But depending on traffic, it can be brutal.”
“You should definitely stay here then. I don’t mind. Truly.”
“Are you sure?” she asked with a hint of skepticism in her voice.
“Yeah, let’s get you some dry clothes.”
Following me up the stairs, I could hear her teeth chattering from the brisk A/C. I walked into my bedroom and pulled out the smallest tee-shirt and pants I could find. They’d probably still be too big on her.
She thanked me and went into the bathroom, and when she came back out, my cock thickened behind my jeans. I liked seeing her in my clothes. If it were possible, she looked even more beautiful in them, even if they did look huge on her.
Hayden brushed out her hair with her fingers and left it down so it could dry.
“Come on, I’ll show you to your room.”
She nodded and followed me down the hall to the bedroom that was right next door to mine. Fuck me. I didn’t even think about this.
“Bathroom is right across the hall, as you are aware, and there are plenty of spare toiletries like a toothbrush, shampoo, and body wash if you want to shower underneath the sink.”
She smiled. “Thank you. You really don’t have to do this.”
Turning back around, I shook my head. “Yes, I do. I’m the Golden Boy, remember?”
She knocked me in the shoulder for my remark and it was brief, but I wanted her to touch me more. Everywhere. All at once.
“It’s pretty late and Marsha gave me free range to come and go into the office this week to focus on this story, so I think I might sleep in tomorrow morning. It’s been a while since I’ve done that.”
My smile dropped from my face. “You haven’t been sleeping?”
“Too many deadlines. It’s okay, I’m used to it.”
I felt the growl low in my throat. “You should be taking better care of yourself.”
“It’s fine. I function.”
“No, it’s not fine. You should be taken care of. In fact, you should be pampered.”
“Only if I pay someone to do that. I usually get my pampering when I get my mani/pedi every few months.”
Sighing, she let out a yawn and looked longingly at the bed. “Crap, I forgot my laptop was in the car. I need it.”
“I’ll grab it. You stay in here.”
Before she could respond, I slipped my shoes back on and ran outside to her car. Grabbing her laptop bag, and what looked like an overnight bag, I ran back into the house. The rain was coming down in buckets and I knew it was going to be for a good part of the night.
“Here you go.”
“Oh, you grabbed my duffel bag. Good. Thank you! I forgot I put that in there for emergencies. I threw one in there a couple of weeks ago in case I got stuck somewhere. Looks like I was right.”
She laughed at her own joke, and I found myself following suit.
“Well, I’ll get settled into bed so I’ll see you tomorrow?”
My hand reached out, wanting to touch her, but I held back. “Goodnight, sweetheart.”
The door closed, separating me from her, and I never hated a piece of wood more than I did right in that moment.
Fuck. This was going to be a long night.
I prayed the thickness in my pants went down, otherwise it was going to be a nice night with my hand.
Despite me wishing it was the pretty blonde next door.