Chapter 16
LUCY
“Ican’t believe you set me up today,” Colton teases, looking at me with a look of betrayal. “Just when I was starting to think I trusted you.”
“Wait, you can’t put this all on me. You know, none of this would have happened if you hadn’t told Miss Audrey you were single,” I argue.
“How the hell was I supposed to know?” he says, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Well, everyone knows that Miss Audrey is the biggest busybody around.”
“Nope, not everyone, because I was pretty damn clueless,” he reminds me, and I grimace.
“Okay, maybe that’s fair. But in my defense, I thought I was giving you the slowest job to ease you into the season.”
“Yeah, sure. We see how well that worked out,” he teases.
“How many dates were you offered today?” I ask, interested to see what he’ll say.
“At least thirty,” he admits with a cringe, and I can’t contain my laughter anymore.
“I’m sorry, it’s not funny,” I wheeze, trying to catch my breath. “But I was expecting you to say like five or ten. Not thirty.”
Colton shoots me a withering look, and I hold my hands up in surrender. “You’re thinking too small. Not only that, but Miss Louise also took a spill right in front of me, and I had to help her up. Shit was fucking scary.”
“Oh, no. Was she okay?” I ask, concern evident in my voice.
“She was fine. So fine, in fact, that when I stood her up, she tried to set me up with not one, but three different women.”
“Look, I’m sorry. But at least you got some potential dates out of it,” I tease, and he flips me off in response.
“Yeah, sure. I asked Miss Louise how old one of the women was that she was trying to set me up with after she kept mentioning how ‘young and fun’ she was, and she was in her seventies. Don’t get me wrong, I could be down with an age gap, but I think that’s a bit much for me,” he confesses, shaking his head at the thought.
“Well, you never know. Maybe you should take her up on it. Options are pretty slim here in Mills Corner, you know,” I tease.
He pauses, and his throat bobs as we stare at each other.“I’m pretty happy where I am right now,” he whispers, looking me up and down. In typical Alabama fashion, the weather turned hot again today, and it’s over eighty degrees still, despite the fact that it’s almost eight in the evening.
I blush, trying to decide what to say, just as the doorbell rings. We both jump apart as if we’d been electrocuted.
“That must be the pizza,” Colton says, moving quickly to open the door.
Shaking my head at his retreating form, I take a moment to compose myself while I’m alone.
God, this man has my head in a mess. No matter how many times I remind myself that nothing can happen between us, every time his hands graze mine or he wraps his arms around me, I fight the urge to beg him to kiss me.
But the truth is, I want to do a whole lot more than just kiss.
I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve touched myself in the darkness of my bedroom, thinking about our night at The Watering Hole.
But even that isn’t enough to satisfy me because I know that nothing I can do with my own fingers would compare to how fucking good it’d feel to have his hands all over me.
“I got the pizza,” Colton says, coming back into the kitchen.
I jump and take a moment to compose myself, sure that my face is flushed from the turn my thoughts just took.
“Oh, great. You ready to go outside? The projector’s all set up, and I pulled some blankets out of the cabinet for us," I babble, trying to get my thoughts back on track.
“Let’s do it, Lulu,” he agrees, grabbing the drinks out of my hand.
Before we go outside, I take a moment to admire the way he looks in the faded black gym shorts and whiteT-shirt. It hits me for the first time that he’s not wearing his hat, and my stomach flutters at the reminder of why he usually takes it off.
Well, that might not be happening tonight, but a girl can dream, right?
Taking a steadying breath, I shake the inappropriate thoughts from my head and follow him outside.
“This is really some setup,” Colton tells me, gesturing to the large screen we have set up on the other side of the house. The blankets I set up while Colton was in the shower are spread out in the middle of the wide open field, looking like the perfect oasis to relax and watch the movie.
“Thank you. I can’t claim too much credit, but I really love it,” I admit, sinking down on the large soft blankets I set up. “It’s one of my favorite places on the farm.”
“Honestly, I can see why,” Colton agrees. “So, what movie should we watch? Or are there any rules associated with this part of the list that I should know about?”
“You can pick,” I tell him, leaning over to open the pizza box and taking out a large slice of bacon pizza.
Groaning at the taste of the greasy bread, I smile at Colton.
“Damn, I don’t know if I’m that hungry or if it's that good. But either way, I think that might be the best pizza I’ve ever tasted. ”
“Maybe it’s a little bit of both. I don’t know about you, but I definitely haven’t had anything of any substance since breakfast this morning, thanks to the crowds we were dealing with today.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Now that you say that, I’m just realizing I never got lunch either. No wonder I feel like I could eat just about anything,” I say with a laugh before taking another large bite.
Colton reaches for the box between us, selecting his own slice and taking a large bite. “God, you’re right. That’s fucking delicious.”
“Told you so,” I murmur before taking another bite. “Damn, so back to what we should watch.”
“Are you feeling something scary or something more fun?” Colton asks, using one hand to flip through the options on the screen and the other to eat his pizza.
“Something more fun,” I say immediately. “I’m usually a fan of scary movies, but I’m permanently scarred from the time Amelia and I tried to watch a scary movie out here.”
“What happened?” Colton asks, pausing his scrolling as he waits for me to explain.
“Well, we were watching something about these girls who get taken. Just as the girls were about to be attacked, Knox chased a field mouse our way, and it slipped in between the covers we were using. It kept running across our feet, and we couldn’t get out of the blankets.
I’ve never heard Amelia scream so loud in my life.
My brother came running out here with a baseball bat, convinced we were the ones being attacked.
Once he realized what happened, he tried to help us take out the mouse, but he missed.
And in the process, he accidentally ended up hitting me in the face with the bat just before my senior prom.
I had a huge black eye in all my pictures.
Honestly, the whole experience scarred me for life. ”
Colton chuckles at my description until I get to the part about my brother accidentally hitting me, pausing his job of flipping through the options on the screen.
“I can’t believe he hit you,” he seethes. “What an asshole.”
“Usually I’d agree with you, but it really was an accident. He felt so bad about it that he offered to let me hit him back, and he did my laundry for a solid month.”
Colton continues to scowl, and I nudge him with my shoulder. “Let’s turn that frown upside down, Mr. Grouchy Pants.”
He rolls his eyes at me, but begrudgingly smiles as he continues flipping through the movies.
“Oh, what about that one?” I say excitedly, pointing to one of the new releases.
“Isn’t that a musical?” Colton asks, wrinkling his nose. “That’s not usually my thing.”
“Wicked is more than just a musical. It’s one of the best theatrical experiences I’ve ever been a part of,” I argue, causing Colton to roll his eyes.
“All right, fine. Whatever you want, Darlin’,” he drawls, and I resist the urge to smile.
“Thanks, Cowboy. I promise you’ll love it.”