He was a firefighter.
Which was kind of like being a soldier.
Because he risked his life every day.
Colton took a step toward me. Damn it, give the man a Purple Heart! I hope he wasn’t second-guessing being married to me.
Because I would be second-guessing it if I were him. I mean, I’m clumsy, the childhood friend, and apparently extremely violent.
“Milo.” He said my name like a caress. “Take your clothes off.”
“Um.” I tugged at my very pretty, very expensive dress and shrugged. “It’s kind of . . . nippy.” Holy crap. Shoot me now. I’d just said nippy. Why couldn’t I have said cold like a normal person? No, I had to say nippy.
Colton smirked and looked down the front of my dress. “I can see that.”
“Stop staring.” I laughed nervously.
“Why?” He pulled me into his arms. “I can stare all I want. You’re mine, remember?”
“Sure.” I nodded. “I also remember telling you I wasn’t into the whole alpha thing.”
“Too bad.” He shrugged, tossed me over his shoulder, and jumped into the pool.
I wish I were one of those girls.
The ones who cry really pretty tears, and whose screams don’t sound like a hyena giving birth. But I’m not that girl. I’ll never be her.
The scream that erupted from my mouth probably called pigeons home. Dogs started barking in the distance.
I’m sure I looked like a raccoon.
But Colton wasn’t distracted by my scream or by the fact that I had mascara running down my face.
Nope. His eyes were glued to my body.
“Colt—”
Ignoring me, he dove under water.
And that’s when I felt his hands on my bare legs, higher, and then higher. I would have happily drowned if this had been the precursor to my death. No joke. His fingers slid against my thighs and then, with the damned slowness of a tortoise, he pulled my lacy thong all the way down.
With.
His.
Teeth.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of—
Colt emerged from the water, a smug grin on his face as my underwear dangled from his teeth.
“Cute.”
He threw them to the side of the pool and held up three fingers. “One, two—”
“Why are you counting?”
“If you don’t take your own dress off in three seconds I’m doing to do it for you.” He smirked. “That little show I just put on is going to get a hell of a lot hotter. So, either you shimmy that tight little body out of that dress or I’m going to do it for you. And I really have trouble with zippers. Who knows how long it will take me to pull it all way the way down, not to mention the fact that I have a crazy obsession with the curve of a woman’s back and—”
“Stop!” I laughed. “Man, you’re bossy.”
Colt’s eyes darkened. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”
The dress had to go. Like yesterday.
His eyes drank me in, I couldn’t remember how I’d even gotten the damn thing on! Zipper? Buttons? Did it go over my head? Crap!
Colton grabbed my shoulders and turned me around. “You’re sexy when you’re turned on.”
“I’m not,” I lied.
“Sexy?” His hands found my zipper HA! I knew it was a zipper! Score one for Milo!
“A-aroused.” Right. I couldn’t even say the word.
“No?” The zipper went down very, very slowly, but what was worse, his hands followed, touching, lightly grazing my back. It was stupid, really—that a simple touch could make me melt.
But there it was.
Apparently there was magic in his fingertips.
The zipper stopped.
His hands moved.
And then he tugged a bit harder.
Um . . .
And harder still.
“Colt—”
“It’s stuck.”
“Not the two words I would have chosen to use,” I said. “But okay, what’s wrong?”
“The damn dress!” Colton shouted. “It won’t go any further. Knife. I need a knife.”
“You are not knifing me in the pool!” I tried to get free from him but he grabbed me with those magic fingertips and superhuman strength and held me against him.
“I’ll make it fast!” He laughed.
“Colt!”
“Really,” he promised. “Like a Band-Aid.”
I slumped into his arms. “I hate you right now.”
“No you don’t.” His hands moved to my dress again. “I’m going to try one more thing.”
A large rip sounded.
And my dress floated up next to me. I was too shocked to do anything except gape when Colton pulled the dress off me and threw it to the side of the pool, a look of pure satisfaction on his face.
“Did you tear my dress in half?”
“I feel like cutting down a tree right now.”
“Huh?” Shivering, I swam over to him.
“Or shooting a duck.”
“You’re killing the mood.”
“Burping.” He nodded and winked. “That, Milo, was pure masculine awesomeness. Seriously, if we were stuck in the Stone Age—I would have been the guy inventing wheels and shit.”
“COLTON!”
“Yes, baby?” His grin was huge.
“You think we can, um . . .” I shrugged as my face heated, probably to a nice shade of scarlet, and pressed my lips together.
“What?”
“You know?”
“No.”
“Colt—”
“Milo, say the words. Marriage is all about communication and being open with one another, how can I see to my wife’s needs if she doesn’t—”
“Oh, my gosh, just have sex with me already!” I shouted.
My voice literally echoed in the night sky.
Great. So some five-year-old camping outside with his friends was probably going to have some questions for his parents in the morning.
“Get over here.” Colt reached for me but I swam away.
“No.” I kept swimming toward the deep end. “You ruined the moment and then made me ask my own husband for sex!”
“Before last year you were still spelling out sex in the air rather than saying it out loud. Progress, it seems, is being made if you can actually say it . . . I mean come on, sweetheart, if you can’t say it you shouldn’t be participating in it.”
“This is not helping my mood!” I kept swimming away.
I was living Nemo’s life.
Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swim, swim, swim, what do you do you—“Shit!” His hands moved to my waist.
“Caught.” Colton’s lips moved against my ear. “And I won’t have sex with you . . . I’ll make love to you, I’ll tease you, taunt you, make you scream, taste, caress, I’ll do all those things.” His hands braced my hips as he pulled me back against his body. “And nothing is going to keep me from you.”
I relaxed in his embrace as his hands ran from my shoulders all the way down until he gripped my hips, flipped me around, and kissed me hard on the mouth.
“I love you.” Colt’s lips found mine again. He tasted like mint. “I’d freaking go to a Star Wars convention for you.” His tongue pushed against mine, then retreated. “I’d name our first child Luke.” His hands lifted me against him, then slowly grabbed each leg and wrapped it around his waist as he pulled our bodies together.
With a gasp I pulled back, but his mouth wouldn’t let me retreat, I didn’t have time to do the normal Milo thing. Where I compartmentalized every sensation and made diagrams about my feelings and obsessed like a lunatic. All I could focus on were the sparks—the things he made me feel that I’d never felt before.
“Milo.” Colton’s voice was gentle as he kissed me, said my name again, kissed me, then sighed against my mouth. “Focus on me, all right, sweetheart?”
I nodded.
Words were failing me.
&
nbsp; “Of course I saw them!” Max shouted. “I’m not an idiot—and I can still see out of both eyes, thank you very much.”
Colt and I froze. I mean froze in each other’s arms. Maybe if we were really quiet they would just walk right by.
Right, they wouldn’t see two naked people in the pool.
Or the ripped dress on the concrete.
Or the underwear.
“Well, tic-tac-ho.” Max laughed. “You guys having a midnight swim? Why didn’t you say something! I would have totally joined!”
“Arousal gone,” Colt ground out, and then he swore. “Totally gone.”
“Not that kind of swim, Max,” I said in a nervous voice. Jason was standing right next to Max, meaning he could see me naked in the arms of his best friend, whom I’d just married. To be fair it wasn’t like we’d been caught doing something wrong, but still, it was my brother. I think he’d be happy if I drank chocolate milk my entire life and never even uttered the word sex.
“Hey, Jason,” Colt said nervously. “Can we, uh, help you guys?”
“It’s okay.” Max sat in one of the pool chairs. “You guys finish your swimming, we’ll wait.”
“Pervert,” Colt said.
Max winked and snapped his fingers. “Oh, right, now I remember. Your mom and dad are pissed because guests were asking about you guys and I didn’t have the heart to explain the whole tic-tac-toe thing to your mom in front of Grandma. That woman’s hearing’s just fine. Besides, it would have given her ideas about Reid.”
I moved to stand behind Colt so nobody would see my nakedness and asked in a shy voice, “Is Reid okay?”
“Sure.” Max nodded. “We left him with Grandma.”
“What?” Jason roared. “You said you took care of him!”
“I did!” Max lifted his hands into the air. “It’s not like I left him defenseless. He has Milo’s pink Taser.”
“Oh.” Jason nodded. “Good idea.”
“Guys!” Colt cursed. “Just give us a minute, okay? We’re naked, turn around or something and we’ll get out of the pool and sneak back into the house.”
Max turned around. “Not my fault you’re still naked, had you paid attention to my diagrams you would have already been in—”
“Max!” I yelled.
“Just saying. He would have been a lot further. Feel me?” He put his hand over Jason’s one eye. “All right, guys, do your thing, get some clothes on, you can screw all you want later.”
“I’m not deaf,” Jason grumbled. “A person can’t un-hear things.”
“Screw, screw, screw, screw, screw,” Max said in a singsong voice. “If you say it over and over again it’s not as traumatizing. You try it.”
“Hell, hell, hell, hell, hell . . .” Jason shook his head. “Nope, I still don’t feel better.”
With a grunt Max fell over.
“What just happened?” Colt asked while he grabbed his shirt and put it over my naked body.
“Jason punched me,” Max groaned.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
COLTON
I was seriously contemplating homicide.
I could practically feel my hands around Max’s neck. Rat cock-blocking bastard! Jason was legally blind by this point so he couldn’t have found his way down the street, let alone through the neighbors’ backyards in search of us.
Poor kid.
But Max?
Yeah. We’d have words later.
“Colt, I look terrible! My mom’s going to freak out!” Milo fastened the last button of the white shirt and put her hands on her hips, making the shirt ride up. Yeah, that was a vision I could live with for a while.
Until Max ruined it by coming up behind her and whistling.
The dude wanted to die.
“Stop staring,” I snapped.
“Whoa.” Max lifted his hands into the air. “Grouch much? You need to get laid.”
I lunged for him, but Milo blocked my way.
Max grinned and blew me a kiss.
“Son of a bitch!” I fought against my wife. “Let me at him!”
“For shame!” Max scolded. “You need to save your energy for later. Don’t you think?”
“I wouldn’t have to save my energy if you wouldn’t have peeping-Tommed us!”
“That’s not actually the right way to use that phrase,” Max said in a haughty tone. “Geez, it’s not like I brought binoculars and put a tracking device on Milo.”
“Can we have this discussion elsewhere?” Jason piped up. “You guys need to get back to the house, we need to save Reid, and it’s totally possible I forgot about Jenna.”
“Technically, Jenna’s Colton’s responsibility.” Max gave me another smug grin. “So many women, so little time, am I right, my man? High five.” He held up his hand. I briefly contemplated snapping it in half, then rolled my eyes.
“Oh. My. Hell.” Jason shook his head. “Is that—” He swallowed and started backing away.
“What?” I looked where he was pointing as a giant-ass raccoon started lumbering its way across the concrete.
“How did you even see that, Cyclops?” Max whispered.
“I think I’ve finally finished my mutation.” Jason backed away. “Pretty soon Professor X is going to come searching for me and I’m going to go to a better place, away from evil people like my sister who like to inflict pain on mankind.”
“Take a hit like a man.” Milo gripped my hand. “Be the man, Jason.”
“Shh.” Max put his hands up for silence. “No sudden movements. Raccoons can smell fear.”
“No they can’t,” I argued.
“They can!” Max’s voice sounded desperate. “I saw it on the Discovery Channel.”
“You watched a show on raccoons?” I asked. “By choice?”
“I like animals, okay!” Max said. “Sue me.”
“Guys!” Milo gripped my hand tighter. “We can go out right here, come on.”
We moved slowly toward the other side of the yard and opened the gate. The hinges creaked.
“No fear!” Max shouted just as the raccoon started charging us. “Every man for himself!” Max ran past me and Milo.
Jason followed, but because his depth perception was off he hit the actual fence instead of the gate. I grabbed him right before he fell into the raccoon’s clutches.
“Git!” I yelled at the furry creature. It backed away and sauntered off.
“Holy shit, you’re the One!” Max started clapping. “We’ve been searching for you for decades! Finally, the One! The raccoon whisperer.” He bowed. “I’m not worthy.”
“Shut up.” I pushed Jason into Max and grabbed Milo.
“Are you wearing a Star Wars shirt?” she asked once we were safely out of earshot of Jason and Max, who were arguing over The Matrix movie facts.
“It’s a figment of your imagination.” I cleared my throat and looked away.
“You love me.”
“I do.”
“You’re wearing a Star Wars shirt.”
I paused and pulled her into my arms. “So you’re saying I’m badass now.”
“You have an R2-D2 on your shirt.” Max came up behind me and slapped my back. “Badass probably isn’t the phrase I’d use . . . just sayin’.”
I lunged again.
Milo shook her head and kissed me softly across the mouth. “Leave it . . .” With a shy smile she stood up on her tiptoes and whispered in my ear, “That way I can rip it off later. You know, return the favor.”
“Hell, yes.”
“If you’re done taking advantage of my sister—you guys have a party to return to.”
“Oh, look!” Max pointed toward the sky. “See, I told you Reid would be fine.”
I looked up. “Well, shit.”
“He’s not fine.” Milo groaned and covered her face with her hands. “He’s on the roof!”
“I knew I should have locked him in the bathroom.” Max tapped his chin. “Oh, look, Grandma’s with him too!”
&nb
sp; “He’s going to jump.” Jason shivered and wrapped his good arm around his core. “I can’t even blame him.”
“Reid!” Max yelled. “Are you okay?”
Reid just stared.
I couldn’t see his eyes but I imagined they were full of fear, terror, horror. “Reid! Sweetie! It’s so high up here!” Grandma started moving toward him. Reid turned and walked closer to the edge.
“Walk away from the light, Reid!” Jason shouted up at him. “It’s not worth it, just, just let her—you know—and then it will all be over with.”
“Truth!” Max said. “She’ll probably fall asleep afterwards and then we can all get drunk and this will be like a very, very, very bad dream.”
Reid’s shoulders slumped as Grandma wrapped her arms around him and placed her head on his back. “Oh, you’re so very big and strong, you naughty boy, playing a game of cat and mouse! Well, this kitty’s all riled up and ready to play!”
“I think”—I shuddered and tried to blot out the images of Grandma—“I’ve lost all ability to perform sexually just now.”
Max sighed and elbowed me. “Should have used my diagram.”
“Not now, Max!” It was Milo’s turn to lunge.
“Oh, Reid, turn that little face around so I can give you a proper kiss.”
I swear—I just saw tears rolling down the poor kid’s face. I was willing to break into a pharmacy just so I could get him drugs.
But they didn’t sell those kinds of drugs.
The ones that made you forget.
Unless he was lucky enough to get a roofie.
One could only hope, or in Reid’s case—pray.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
COLTON
It took us a good fifteen minutes to convince Reid not to jump—and even then, I’m pretty sure he would have taken the plunge off the roof had we not intervened.
He and Grandma went back into the house, while Milo and I went in search of clothes.
Things were going smoothly, until Max opened his mouth.
“I’m glad we’re friends,” he whispered as we all crept down the hallway. Max and Jason were shielding us just in case someone saw Milo or me in our current state of disarray.
All we had to do was make it to her bedroom so she could change.
A few feet.