I gasped. “Be still my heart!”
Colt’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah, well, when you aren’t thinking with your head, all you can focus on is just getting that one person alone, no matter how you do it or what it takes to get that person away from others.”
“Because I’m not a Christmas tree,” I said confidently.
Colton laughed. “Right, because you aren’t a Christmas tree.”
“A sunset.” I sighed.
Colt’s eyes met mine. “The most beautiful sunset I’ve ever laid eyes on or ever will.”
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
MILO
You know that feeling you get when a really good song comes on the radio? Or when Justin Timberlake is on SNL with Jimmy Fallon and you laugh so hard you have tears streaming down your face and you’re just excited to be alive? Okay, so maybe I’m taking it to a bit of an extreme.
But I had that type of nervous excitement coursing through my veins. The drive to the hotel wasn’t very long.
Had it taken longer I might have calmed down.
Instead I was picking all the nail polish off my nails and had the stupid Madonna/Justin Timberlake end-of-the-world song going in circles around my head.
We’ve only got four minutes to save the world.
Holy crap, what if I’m terrible at sex?
It happens to people.
I mean, there has to be a learning curve, right?
Colt turned the car off.
Three minutes to save the world.
Two.
One.
“Colt!” I gripped the seat belt with my hands and breathed in and out through my nose. “We could just stay here if you want.”
“In the truck?” He looked around. “I love you too much to stay in a truck all night. Come on, let’s go.”
“Uh . . .”
“Milo,” Colt sighed. “Sweetheart, how am I ever going to look at the sunset when it’s so damn dark?”
“What?” I blinked.
“It’s dark outside,” he said slowly.
I nodded and gulped at the same time.
“And I really,” he whispered in a low voice, “really want to see you.”
“You want to see me?”
“Without the cover of darkness . . .” He leaned over and kissed my cheek. “Or clothes.”
Air wheezed out of my mouth.
And I started choking.
On him.
Not like away from him, which would have been okay—you know like when you swallow a bug and cough to the side, then smile and say something like “Those darn bugs.”
No.
That would have been forgivable.
I coughed in his face.
Like an elderly person from a home who was on oxygen.
“Sorry.” I covered my mouth.
“Are you going to make it?” Colt laughed. “Or do you need more alcohol?”
“A drink.” I nodded. “A drink would probably be wise considering the circumstances.”
“Circumstances?” His finger traced my jaw. I shivered and nearly lost control of my body. I had a terrifying vision of just ripping his clothes off but getting so aggressive that I accidently squashed him with my enthusiasm.
“Just . . . I . . . It’s you. And you, like this, make me nervous.”
“I understand.”
“No.” I laughed. “That would be impossible.”
“Try me.”
I gave him a doubtful look as he unbuckled my seat belt and then very carefully threaded his fingers through my hair. “Kissing you is terrifying, breathing your same air makes my knees weak, when I’m around you it’s a tie between wanting to chase you down—or just kiss you until you can’t breathe.”
“People need to breathe, Colt—to live.”
“I don’t know about that.” He sighed. “Sometimes I think I just need you—to live.”
Cue tears.
“You still nervous?”
“A bit.” I shrugged.
“It’s me.” Colt’s smile melted my insides, his light eyes and full grin were something I’d counted on my entire life. He was my finish line.
“When you won your first swim meet . . . I helped you get the green out of your hair. When you had your first drink—I held your hair while you puked. When your first boyfriend—the jackass—dumped you . . . I held your hand. It’s me, Milo. Just you and me. Forever . . . us.”
I kissed him.
My mouth collided with his.
And it wasn’t fear that was driving my behavior anymore.
But love.
And a total sense of being at peace—finally finding my home—in the boy who used to live next door.
CHAPTER FIFTY
COLTON
H-h-e-e-l-l-l. I was going to die.
I was already burning from the inside out—sexual frustration isn’t a laughing matter. No, seriously. You know how in sex ed the teacher tells you that not having sex won’t kill you?
God, I could still hear Mrs. Thompson’s shrill voice in my head. “It’s not going to fall off if you don’t touch it!” Then she’d smack the desk with her giant-ass ruler and start talking about the pitfalls of herpes.
Mrs. Thompson was wrong.
She was probably going to burn in hell too.
For lying.
To teenagers.
That was a sin somewhere, right? You shouldn’t lie to people under the age of eighteen. They’re minors! You’re forming the minds of children, for shit’s sake!
I was past panic.
Sweat started to seep out of every pore on my body—I was trying that hard not to go all vampire on her and bite Milo’s neck, then tear every last shred of clothing off her body in an attempt to alleviate the ache that had started over twenty-four hours ago.
Men are supposed to go to the ER if they have an erection that lasts longer than four hours, so honestly—I had every freaking right to be panicking.
“Colt?” Milo touched my arm. Damn it! Stop groping me. For real, if she didn’t stop I couldn’t be held responsible for my actions. I was going to screw her in front of the receptionist and go to prison.
Prison. Hell, I’d be a sitting duck. I was too pretty for prison, unless Max came with me; then I’d just switch spots and let him get dominated.
Dominate.
Poor word choice.
“You look flushed.” Milo felt my forehead.
I smacked her hand away and swore.
“Colt?” Her eyebrows pinched together. “Are you sick?”
She traced her lips with the tip of her tongue.
How had I never noticed how damn sexual her mouth was until now? How her lips were the perfect size, bottom and top, damn she’d feel good on me. “S-sick.” I coughed. “Yeah, I, uh . . . stomach.”
Okay, so it was a little lower . . . same thing.
“Just sign here.” The receptionist grinned and handed over a pen and paper. I signed as fast as I could, mentally cursing all pens and paper everywhere. And forced a smile.
“Is that it?”
“Of course!” The lady pulled out a pair of old-fashioned keys and handed them over. “You’re in room number two.” She sniffed and held out a small map, circling the lobby. “We’re here, if you just walk down this hall to your right.” She drew an arrow.
Okay, either she thought I was stupid or she was doing it on purpose. I wasn’t blind! I could see the room numbers! I could follow arrows!
“And take another right.” She circled the room number.
Holy shit. I was actually contemplating stabbing her with the pen. I mean it would be a flesh wound and all—I wasn’t that crazy. Or was I?
“Now if there’s anything else I can do for you—”
“Nope!” I interrupted and grabbed the map. “But thanks, we appreciate it.”
Milo gasped as I dragged her down the hall, right, and another right.
“Aha!” I shouted once we found room two. I was like freaking Lewis and Clark; I would ha
ve blazed my own Oregon Trail.
Screw maps!
“Colt?” Milo cleared her throat. “Are you sure you’re okay? You’ve been acting funny ever since we were kissing in the car and—”
“Say ‘kissing’ again.” I slid the key into the lock just as she laughed and said, “Kiss,” only the ss of kiss sounded more like a hiss and no worries I’m a dude so it wasn’t lost on me that I was putting the key in the lock. In the lock, people!
“Shit.” I pushed the door open and almost collapsed on the floor.
“Aw, is it your stomach?” Milo came up behind me, wrapping her arms around my middle and laying her head on my back. The door shut quietly behind us, blanketing the room in darkness.
“Yeah. I may need help.” I sighed heavily as I took a few calming breaths. “You know, getting out of my clothes and all.”
“Oh!” She released me. “Sure, Colt, I mean, anything.”
Damn, her innocence was incredible.
I kind of loved her more for it.
She truly thought I needed that kind of help.
Surprise.
“Turn around,” Milo whispered.
I did as she said, and tried desperately to make out the lines of her face. Where were the damn lights? I was torn between wanting to see her—all of her—and wanting to reach out and touch her. Patience was officially my least favorite word in the dictionary—right next to anything with the word Max in it.
“We don’t have to . . .” I felt Milo’s shrug under the edges of my fingertips, and I know it sounds crazy but just feeling her, just touching her, knowing the door was locked, knowing that it was just me and her, took away my panic as well as my urgency.
I had Milo.
And we had our entire future.
And yeah, I might have been slowly dying.
But I had Milo.
Under my fingertips.
I could feel each breath she took like it was my own . . . It was finally how I’d always dreamed it would be. So instead of panicking and slamming her against the nearest wall or dipping her body over a chair like I was some sort of sex-crazed maniac, I touched my forehead to hers and kissed her mouth.
Her arms snaked around my neck as her body arched into mine.
Amazing how when you kiss the right person everything seems to suddenly fit together. I think that’s how life works—we’re all missing pieces of a giant puzzle, and then when you find your match, it hurts like hell not being able to join with them.
And then the moment you do—you can’t imagine a life without being right next to them—without being on the same team. Did I even exist before Milo? I was breathing—but I wasn’t alive. I was functioning—but I wasn’t truly living.
“I promise.” I kissed her soft lips again. “I promise to go slow, Milo. You deserve the perfect night.”
“I do,” she agreed, making me laugh, “deserve the perfect night.”
I nodded as her fingers started playing with the hair at the back of my head. Damn those nails felt hot.
“But”—she pressed her body harder against me. No doubt she knew it wasn’t my stomach that was hurting anymore—“if you don’t get me naked within the next five minutes I’m going to attack you and it won’t be pretty. I mean look at Jason, I was trying to be helpful and he’s in the hospital.” She bit down gently on my lower lip, then whispered, “No telling what’s going to happen when I start attacking the man I love.” She bit again.
“God, I want to be wrecked by you.” I shuddered.
With a laugh she pinched my ass and pressed an open-mouthed kiss across my lips. Her tongue snuck out, licking the seam, making me want to weep a bit. “So what are you waiting for?”
“Nothing.” I swore. “No more waiting.”
“Colt?”
“Hmm?”
“You’re hesitating.”
“No, I’m not.” I slowly traced the outline of her face with my fingertips. “I’m just thinking.”
“What about?”
“You.”
“And?”
“How damn beautiful you’ll look in a few hours—and knowing that I’m going to be the one to put that look on your face. Yeah, I guess I’m thinking about that face and how I’m luckier than hell that I get to wake up to it every morning and fall asleep to it every night.”
“Colt—”
Without letting her get one more word in, I captured her lips with mine. They were so warm—already swollen—and tasted so good I wanted to hang out there for a while, just holding those lips captive, then slowly moving down to the rest of her body. If kissing her made me want to explode, my mind couldn’t even comprehend what would happen once she was mine.
Once our bodies were joined.
I moved my hands to the back of her dress and slowly unzipped it, letting it fall to the floor, careful not to remove my mouth from hers lest I really actually die.
Milo stepped out of the dress, heels still on. Hell, yeah, she was going to have to keep those. I couldn’t see them, but sometimes an imagination is a scary thing.
She surprised the hell out of me when she reached out and lifted my shirt over my head, then slowly grazed the front of my chest with her nails.
Holy shit, I was going to pass out before we even started.
Her hands moved to the front of my pants. She hesitated, so I covered them with mine and urged her on. “Aw, Milo, getting shy?”
She jerked the pants down so hard I was almost castrated—okay, so maybe her innocence wasn’t such a good thing in that type of situation.
“Careful,” I hissed.
“Oh, sorry,” she said in an innocent voice. “Did I hurt you?”
“You did that on purpose.”
“You were getting cocky.”
“Kind of the point,” I fired back and then stopped when her hands reached my boxers and slid them off.
Heels, heels, heels, she was still in high heels. I kind of felt like singing—in fact singing would be a good idea because then hopefully I would last longer than five seconds when our bodies were pressed together.
Milo’s breath was hot on my stomach as she leaned down in front of me and then stood.
“Tease.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said hoarsely and then tried stepping away from me.
“Not so fast.” I grabbed her by the waist and lifted her into the air, wrapping her legs around my waist as I walked her toward the bed. “You think you can just tease and retreat, is that it?”
“That’s kind of been the definition of our relationship, Colt,” she whispered and then let out a little moan when I dipped my hands into her bra and cupped her breasts, pulling the lacy torture device away from her soft body.
“Tease and retreat.” I massaged.
“Uh-huh.” She whimpered. “I mean, what?”
“Is that what you want?”
“Is—oh, that feels, really, really—”
“Milo?”
“Yes?”
“All right, if you say so.” I pulled my hands away from her body, feeling the loss like a punch to the gut, and sat up.
“Where are you going?”
“Just giving you a little taste.” I reached for the rest of her clothing—which thank God was only her underwear—and very slowly pulled it off, throwing it onto the floor.
“Taste?” she whimpered.
“Tease and retreat.” I licked her foot.
She tried to jerk away; I pressed her legs against the bed and licked the inside of her calf, then kissed her knee. “Damn, you have beautiful knees, you know that?”
“Colton!” She clenched the comforter in her hands.
“Yes?”
“Just—”
I kissed the inside of her thigh.
“I’m going to kill you.”
“You”—I kissed the other thigh—“love me.”
“Not right now!”
My hand slid up from her thigh to her hipbone, then pulled back as she
sighed again and then said, “Bastard.”
“Tsk, tsk, Milo.” I spanked the side of her ass and chuckled. “Insults will get you nowhere.”
“You’re. Killing. Me.”
“Welcome to the club.” I spent a good amount of time kissing her stomach, lingering on her belly button as my hands explored every inch they could find, which of course earned more curses and insults, but I kind of liked it.
Passionate. She was passionate.
“Colton!” Milo all but screamed. “I swear if you don’t—”
“Don’t?”
She was panting, silent, but panting.
“I need—”
“What?”
“Stop interrupting and put me out of my misery already!”
My lips found hers in a flurry of need as I finally allowed my body to rest against hers, careful not to let all of my weight crush her. Milo wrapped her legs around my waist again and bit my neck as I slowly, painfully, pushed into her. My vision blurred as I tried to tell my body to go slow, when really? I was done around twenty-four hours ago.
“More.”
“Milo—”
She jerked me forward, rocking her hips up.
And I was lost.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
MILO
I’m having sex.
With Colton.
When he moved inside me I seriously almost passed out—from pain at first—and then from something completely and utterly incredible.
My entire body shook with both desire and fear. It was a tie. His skin was so smooth as it slid against mine, but him being inside me? I was unable to explain what it felt like, to be filled, to be so complete with my soul mate. It shouldn’t have worked, it should have been hell. Instead? Pure heaven. I gripped at his back, pulling him closer, needing more of him.
I squeezed my eyes shut as Colt’s mouth found mine again, his tongue joining in almost perfect cadence with our bodies as if matching every stroke with every push, every tug. Too many feelings were exploding out of me—so many that I almost couldn’t keep up. I was with Colt, finally. My heart was beating so out of control that I knew he had to hear it. His eyes met mine as he continued to kiss my neck. His hands moved to my hips as he slightly withdrew, making me feel such loss I whimpered. With a smirk he pulled me up and angled our bodies differently so that I was almost in his lap. It was intimate, so personal I almost jerked away, even though it felt better—amazing. It was the most intimate thing I’d ever experienced. Looking at the love of my life, face-to-face, feeling him inside me and knowing that this was it. Me and him, forever. What I’d lived for—was in that moment.