Chapter 25
Colton
Time had changed her. Sinking into my desk chair, I glanced longingly at the entrance to my office, hoping she might just come back for another kiss or some petty remark.
I hadn’t been expecting her to walk in here. Her sun-kissed skin was a couple shades paler, and her once long, blonde hair was now a rich, caramel color that barely brushed her shoulders. And her body – God, her body had only gotten better.
No longer was I fighting an attraction for a young girl who thought she was an adult. I was now fighting with every fiber of my being to not take that beautiful woman who had just stolen the breath straight from my lungs and make her mine.
How had I not recognized her at first completely puzzled me. The second she walked into my office, I should have picked up on those blue eyes. They were always so incredibly startling, like a perfect winter sky in Florida. And her sweet lips? How had I missed her sweet lips that curved into that breathtaking, dazzling smile?
I should have known she would blow the wind right out of my sail and leave me stranded in the middle of the ocean. Because now that I was reminded of how she tasted and felt beneath my touch, there was no way I could go through with marrying Shannon now. There was no way I could honor that promise now.
My phone buzzed with a text, and the screen flashed with Shannon’s name.
Guilt crept into my bones, making it hard for me to pick up the damn thing and read her message.
Shannon: Good news! We got the venue!
Colton: Fantastic honey!
I tried to share in her excitement but I felt none, not when the woman I wanted was down the hall, her anger radiating off her in thick waves through the thin walls.
She had stormed out of here, hitting me with a deep scowl, lightning flashing in those beautiful eyes of hers as she turned her back on me, her heels clicking against the floor with each stride she had taken away.
I could only watch her when she left. I took in her toned physique, those strong long legs, that plump peach of an ass. Her hips swayed with each step all while her hands were balled into fists at her side. Her long, straight back begged for my touch. And I wanted to do nothing more than massage the tension out of her shoulders. They were pinned back, her pin-straight caramel hair brushing her shoulders.
I wanted nothing more than to pull her back into my office, close the door, and kiss the anger right out of her steaming body, take all that rage and turn it into passion. I wanted to thread my fingers through her now shorter hair.
But she had reared back from me, her fingers brushing over those swollen lips that I had kissed. And she had just about shoved me across the room in her rush to get away from me.
There was a subtle knock at my door, and I glanced up, seeing her dad – my boss – standing there, a deep scowl setting into his jawline.
Fuck, did he know? Had she told him? Would he fire me?
He crossed his thick arms over his chest, frown lines marring his forehead. “We have a problem, Colton. Now, I’m not accusing you, but I need to know everything.”
He wanted to know everything? Surely, he didn’t want to know how I had just pinned his daughter to the wall and kissed the breath straight out of her lungs.
“Of course, Sir. I’d like to start with apologizing—” He raised his hand, cutting me off, confusion in his blue eyes that were so similar to Summer’s.
“What are you apologizing for? Did you steal the parts?”
Parts? What parts?
“Uh, no, Sir. I’m not aware of the situation.” I stood, seeing the urgency in his gaze.
“Someone is stealing from us, and as manager of this department, I expect you to figure out who it is today. I don’t want anyone going into the storage room without your supervision, even the top technicians. I won’t have money stolen from me right under my damn nose, do you hear me?”
“Yes, Sir. I understand. What is going missing? I’ll pull up the inventory logs and check them as a starting point.”
I heard those heels clicking against the tiles again and shifted my attention to Summer who glared at me over her daddy’s shoulder. “Is he the culprit, Dad? The one robbing us?” Pure hated laced her sweet voice, and I hated it.
I hated that she thought I would ever intentionally hurt her or her father. Didn’t she understand that I wasn’t the bad guy?
“No, Summer. He’s going to be the one investigating the issue.” She sighed loudly, rolling her eyes before crossing her arms over her chest, accentuating her perfectly-sized breasts.
Don’t look. Don’t fucking look – not in front of her father.
I averted my gaze back to him and waited.
“Do you have a problem with that?” He turned to face her, and she nodded, her blue gaze lighting up.
“I’d like to oversee everything and make sure it’s being handled correctly. I won’t let our company lose money, not a penny more, Dad.” He nodded thoughtfully before addressing me.
“Show her everything you find and figure out who is stealing from us by the end of the day.” He looked at both of us, and she nodded in agreement, though she didn’t look thrilled at the prospect of working so closely with me.
“Yes, sir. I won’t let you down.” Either of you, I silently added.
We spent the entire day going through the logbooks, looking for discrepancies between the parts coming in and the ones being taken out. We found that more than one item was being stolen. It had started in small amounts and eventually got much larger.
“I don’t know how I missed this,” I mumbled, jotting down another potential suspect. I had three already. Mr. Danvers would not be pleased that more than one person could be stealing from us.
“I’m gone for one year – one freaking year – and now people steal from us? After everything my dad does for them,. He’s a kind boss, and this? This is just insanity.” Summer paced my small office. She had kicked off her shoes an hour ago, mumbling about how beauty was not worth the pain, and continued to hover over my shoulder, looking at my computer screen.
“It’s not your fault. It’s mine.” I scrubbed my hand against my forehead. “I took over the position a few months ago, and that’s when this started. I haven’t been monitoring everything closely enough.”
She either didn’t hear me or didn’t care about anything I said.
“Read the names again.” She was still pacing, her hands on her hips as she waited for my answer.
“Rod, Max, and Nick.”
She stopped and looked to the sky, then started counting on her fingers.
“Rod’s been working here for the last few years. It wasn’t him. Max came in a few months after Dad started the place, and Nick… who the fuck is Nick?” She whirled around like she had figured it all out.
“He started a week or two after you left.”
“And when did the parts start to go missing?”
I easily began to follow the mental map she was making. Looking at the screen, I looked at the dates on the log. Nick was our guy.
“A month after he started working for your dad.”
“That’s him! We did it!” She did a little happy dance before stopping and looking up at me a blush covering those gorgeous cheeks.
It didn’t take very long to get into her good graces again, to get her to put her guard down around me.
I wasn’t the bad guy here, no matter how hard it was for her to understand that. I just wanted to do the right thing by Shannon.
She didn’t have long to live, and I owed her this wedding. I owed it to her to love her until she died because at the end of the day, if our positions had been swapped, I knew she would do the same for me.
I got up from my seat, closing the small space between me and Summer. I stared into her eyes. The intensity in her calming gaze almost staggered me. I wanted to freeze this moment with her – to stare into her ocean eyes that were swirling with so much lust and affection for me.
“Darlin’, you’re blushin’,” I whispered, my fingers coming up to caress her flaming hot cheek. I fought the smirk tugging at my lips, but I couldn’t help myself when she leaned into my touch.
“I-it’s my blush of excitement,” she stuttered, starting to pull away, but I wrapped my hand around her wrist, keeping her frozen in front of me.
“Nah, baby. You’re red for me. I know you.” She shivered, a sigh falling from her plump lips – lips that I wanted to kiss, to claim.
“Shut up.” Embarrassment laced her tone. Her voice shook with uncertainty like she was trying to fight her attraction to me with every freaking bone in her body. But she should have known better. Just as she was struggling, I was powerless against her wit and beauty.
“It’s a good thing, darlin’,” I mumbled, my finger tracing her bottom lip. I felt it quiver beneath my touch. She wanted me just as badly as I needed her.
“W-why?” Her voice was soft, a moan on the tip of her tongue.
“Means you like me again, babe. No matter how hard you try to resist me, you can’t deny that your heart and body call for mine.”
Her eyes fluttered shut as a tremble of emotions shook through her.
“I hate what you do to me, Colton. I just want to move on – find someone who will love me and only me.” She pressed her face into my hand, her own hands resting on my chest, her fingers curling into the thick fabric of my shirt. She was clinging to me like I might just disappear.
I threw my head back, groaning. I hated this fucking path God had put me on.
Why?
Looking down at her, the pain etched onto her face, my heart clenched.
I didn’t want to hurt this sweet girl.
If only she knew that I did love her – and only her – and nothing could change that.