The woman nodded, blinking rapidly. She obviously needed the job.
Melanie attempted a reassuring smile. “There’s a spot in Colton’s office where we carved our initials when we were seven. Over by the wooden file cabinet.” Of course, it had been Tom’s office at that time. And he’d decided to leave the initials in place, even through several repaintings of the office.
Anne grinned. “I saw those—there are three sets.”
Hawk had been there, too.
Colton strode forward and slung a friendly arm around Mel’s shoulders. “We’re heading out to lunch. If you need to take a half day and go hang with Tyler, no worries. If you want to stay here and work together, no worries. So…no worries.”
The last was said with a firm note that caused the oddest fluttering in Melanie’s belly. And he wasn’t even talking to her.
“Thank you,” Anne said quietly.
“See ya later, Colt,” Tyler called out.
“Bye, buddy.” Colton all but propelled Melanie out of the door and through the building. “I’m starving. Besides the latte earlier, I haven’t had a thing to eat. Tell me you’re hungry.”
Melanie lifted a shoulder. “I could eat before we fight.”
“We’re not fighting.” The firm tone returned.
Melanie glanced at his hard face. “Does anybody ever win a negotiation with you?” Those Taiwan businesspeople didn’t stand a chance.
Colton’s natural grin made him seem even more approachable, if that was possible. “Yeah. You, Hawk, Dawn, Leila…family always wins.” He casually switched their positions on the sidewalk so he walked between her and the street. “Well, unless I’m right. Then I win.”
“Are you ever wrong?” she asked, trying to bite back a smile.
“I’m sure it has happened.” He opened the door to a quiet deli.
Mel nodded and chose a table near the window to sit. The quaint restaurant had checkered tablecloths on the tables and movie posters on the walls. “What’s up with your receptionist? Cute kid.” Hopefully Anne was married.
Melanie didn’t want to analyze why that mattered to her. Not now.
“She’s a single mom and is the best organizer I’ve ever seen.” Colton glanced at the specials scrawled across a chalkboard.
“Anne is very pretty.” Melanie studied the hand-printed menu.
“Huh?” Colton focused back on Melanie and shrugged. “I guess. But I need a good assistant, and she’s excellent. I don’t care what she looks like.”
Right. “You’re not blind, Freeze.”
The bubble-gum-popping waitress showed up to take their orders.
Colton smiled, instantly sending the teenager into swoon-mode. “I’ll have the roast beef on sourdough, and the lady will have turkey on whole wheat with extra pickles.”
The teenager nodded and bopped away.
Melanie kicked Colton under the table. “Turkey isn’t what I wanted.”
He lifted an eyebrow and studied her. The seconds ticked by until she couldn’t stand his gaze any longer. “Okay. Turkey may be what I wanted…this time. But you might’ve been wrong.”
“This is a great sandwich place, and turkey is your favorite sandwich.”
She lifted her chin. “You don’t know me as well as you think.”
“I know you kiss like a goddess.”
She could only stare. Yep. That was Colton. If there was an issue, a problem, he charged head-on into it. No coyness, no subtlety, no hidden agenda. “I can’t believe you said that,” she finally choked out.
He took a sip from a sweating water glass. “I figured we should talk about the kiss.”
“Why?” She shook her head, panic heating her lungs. She couldn’t lose Colton as a friend, not now. Definitely not now. “We’re friends. We slipped. It’s over.”
“I know.” He rubbed his cut chin. “But, well, I liked kissing you. It felt—”
Right. It felt right. She nodded. “I know. But we’ve been best friends forever. I mean, forever.” He and Hawk were the certainties in her life. The limited stability she could claim. Of course she was attracted to Colton—the guy was all hard angles and good nature. But he also had gone through women like toothbrushes for a long time…and she didn’t want to be relegated to an old drawer in the bathroom.
Plus, his girlfriends were usually blond, beautiful, and buxom. Melanie didn’t fit into any of those slots. The mere idea of Colton seeing her naked sprang hives over her chest.
The waitress slipped their baskets before them and hustled off to wait on a group of boys who’d just sat down.
Colton eyed his large sandwich. “Is it Milton? Are you serious?”
Melanie reached for a chip. No. She and Brian were more like buddies, but it was nice having somebody as a plus-one. “I don’t know. We’ve been dating for a while, but I’m not sure where we stand.” In fact, she probably would know more later after her doctor’s appointment, but she didn’t want to go into her problems with Colton. Yet.
“Okay.” He took a bite of his food. “Remember when we talked about owning a business together as kids?”
She grinned. The boys had wanted to own a strip club, and she’d wanted a horse farm. “I do remember.”
“Now’s the time.”
“No.” She shook her head, shoving down hope. “I can’t invest right now.”
“I know. Hawk and I will bankroll the start-up costs, and your third will be in labor—overseeing the construction and the publicity of the first two martial arts gyms. One in Mineral Lake and the other in Billings.”
She tapped her fingers on the table. “I appreciate the vote of confidence, but I don’t need a handout.”
He grinned, and at that point, she empathized with the Taiwanese broker.
Leaning back, he sighed. “Listen. We need somebody on the front lines, and I’m too busy taking over the business, and Hawk will be overseeing the fighting. It would set his mind at ease to know you were looking after things.”
Fire flushed through her. “Don’t you dare use Hawk as an emotional point.” She hated that he had to leave again for danger so far from home.
Colton shrugged. “I’m just telling you what he said. Plus, we’d have to pay somebody to oversee the construction, so we might as well pay you. We trust you, and now you don’t have to work three jobs. Win-win.”
“No.” She shook her head. “You’re not planning my life. Period.”
He sobered. “Believe me, I’m not planning anybody’s life right now.”
She frowned, concern focusing her. “What’s wrong?”
He shrugged, an odd vulnerability darkening his eyes. “Maybe nothing. I invested heavily in a business, and it may have been a mistake.”
Colton Freeze making a financial mistake? Melanie raised both eyebrows. “Ouch. Can I help?”
“Yes.” His upper lip quirked. “Please come on board to oversee the construction of my baby. I need somebody I can trust so I can concentrate on the other matter.”
God. He was impossible. Talk about going for the jugular. Or heartstrings. But owning a business with Colt and Hawk had always been one of her dreams, and there had to be a way to make it happen. She would like to help him, and this might be fun. “If I do agree, then that’s my buy-in. No salary.”
“We need the salary because we already included the line item as a cost in the construction loan.”
Oh, he had an answer for everything, didn’t he? She bit her lip. “I wouldn’t mind burning the outfit from Adam’s bar.”
“Now that would be a pity.”
She focused on Colton. “Stop flirting with me.”
“Can’t help it. I know how you kiss.” His tone rumbled guttural low.
She rolled her eyes. “I would love to call your bluff, Freeze.”
“Not bluffing.”
He wasn’t. She knew him, and if she made a move, he’d meet her more than halfway. “Our friendship is the only stable thing I have right now. The only stable thing in Haw
k’s life. I’m not going to ruin it.”
“Why haven’t we ever gotten together?” Colt’s brows drew down in the middle.
She kept herself from squirming on the chair. “By not sleeping with you, I remained in your life. Special.” Which was the absolute truth.
He grimaced. “I’m not that bad.”
“No, you’re not.” In fact, he was freakin’ amazing. “But you’ve never wanted to get serious or settle down, and usually whoever you were dating did. So when it ended, you avoided them.” If Colton ever avoided her, it would break her heart.
“I’d never avoid you.”
“I never wanted to take the chance.” Now she winced. “Plus, now we’re too different.”
“What?” His cheek creased. “We both own ranches and love it. How are we different?”
“You’re loaded with a ton of degrees. I only took one class in college.” She squirmed in her seat.
“Seriously?” His amusement fled. “Degrees are just degrees and have nothing to do with intelligence, work, money, or anything else.” He shook his head.
“Said the guy with a bunch of degrees.” She smiled. Sure, she was smart. But still.
“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. If you want a bunch of degrees, go get them. You’re one of the smartest people I’ve ever met, and you thinking this is crazy.”
“Maybe. Even so, I’m staying in the friend arena.” Warmth flushed through her that he realized she was just as smart as he was…even without diplomas.
“Like I said, you’re an intelligent woman.” Even so, regret filled his eyes for the briefest of moments. Then his cell phone buzzed, and he glanced at the face, quickly returning the text. “Hawk’s in town looking for us. He should be here in a minute.”
In less than a minute, Hawk strode in, wearing flak and not cowboy boots.
Melanie’s heart dropped. “You’re heading out.”
“Yes.” Any peace or relaxation Hawk had earned while on leave had fled, leaving his face a hard, cold mask. “Just got my orders. Wanted to say good-bye.”
Mel skirted the table to duck into a hug. “Be careful, and come home.”
He hugged her back, longer than usual. “I will. You be safe, take care of Colton, and protect my business interests while I’m gone.”
She leaned back to smile. “You planned this.”
“Nope.” A small smile flirted with his lips. “But I want everything in place when I get back. Please.”
“Okay.” There was no other answer she could give. “I promise if you come back safely, I’ll take care of the construction.”
“Excellent.” He released her and turned as Colton stood.
Never afraid to show emotion, they hugged, and a lump settled in Melanie’s throat.
“Come back.” Colton stepped away.
Hawk yanked an envelope from his back pocket. “Just in case.” Long strides took him from the room.
Concern bracketed Colton’s face as he watched his friend leave. Then, tucking the envelope in his pocket, he sat.
Melanie sat back down. “What’s in the envelope?”
Colton shrugged. “He leaves one with me every time, and it feels like a bunch of letters. I’m assuming they’re for us, probably my mom, and my sister. But I never look, just give it back when he gets home. Like I will this time.”
Melanie stilled. “A letter for your sister Dawn?”
“They’re good friends.”
Dawn and Hawk were a lot more than friends, but now wasn’t the time. So Melanie nodded and tried to smile. Why did it seem like things were changing? She glanced at the rest of her sandwich, no longer hungry.
She considered asking Colton to accompany her to the doctor’s appointment later but quickly discarded the idea. There had to be some personal distance between them if they were going to remain friends and now business partners. Inviting the man to her appointment required an intimacy they didn’t have and never would.
Something in her wanted that closeness with him.
For the first time, she wondered if their childhood friendship could last into adulthood when deep down, she was beginning to want more.
Chapter Five
Colton pushed back in his chair and surveyed his office. Dark paneling covered with landscape paintings of Montana, and more specifically, Maverick County. When he relocated, he’d take the same paintings.
They were home.
Quiet ticked around him since Anne and Tyler had gone out for a late lunch. God, he felt unsettled. Hawk was gone, Dawn was still at school, and now Melanie was dating a banker. One not good enough for her. Plus, the idea of her really falling in love with somebody else turned him cold. He needed her, damn it.
The idea that he needed her so much worried him. This didn’t fit in with his life plan for the next few years.
His phone buzzed, and he smiled when he saw it was Sophie. “Hi, Soph. What’s up?”
“Colton?” her voice emerged high and frantic. “I’m ten minutes out of town, and something’s wrong.”
“Whoa.” He stood, already crossing his office. “Wrong with what? The car?”
“No,” she whispered. “The baby. I can’t find Jake, and I’m an hour from home and Doc Mooncaller. I don’t know what to do.”
Panic rushed through Colton to be immediately squashed. There wasn’t time for panic if Sophie needed help. He calmed his voice into a soothing tone. “Where are you?” He loped into a run through the office and outside to his truck.
“I pulled over at the Exxon gas station outside of Billings.” Tears filled her voice.
Colton started his truck and drove into the street. “Okay, Sophie. Here’s the deal. You sit in the car, take deep breaths, and try to calm down. I’ll be right there, and I’ll take care of everything.”
“Okay.” She took an audible deep breath.
“Give me an idea of what’s happening.”
Her voice caught. “I had a bad twisty zing of pain, and now I’m spotting.”
Shit. That couldn’t be good. “Where’s Jake today?” Colton asked, his mind calculating the best scenario.
“He’s at the federal courthouse in Billings, but his phone is off, so he must be in court.”
“Okay.” Colton pulled onto the interstate. “I need to hang up for a second and make a couple of calls, and then I’ll call you right back. Okay, sweetheart?”
“Okay.” She sniffed.
He hung up and dialed one of his financial clients, the best gynecologist in Montana, and received quick reassurances that they’d see Sophie as soon as he got her there. Then he dialed the courthouse and was told that Mr. Lodge was in court.
“I’m sure, but I need you to get a message to him,” Colton said to the curt woman on the phone.
“I’m sorry, but not while he’s in court.” Derision dripped from the woman’s tone.
“Listen lady, we have a family emergency, and you need to fucking get my brother out of court. Now.” Colt’s rare temper began to compete with the panic sweeping him. “Believe me, while you don’t want to face Jake’s wrath, you really don’t want to deal with me. Tell him to meet me at Rollings Women’s Center. Now.”
“Well,” she huffed. “I’ll see what I can do.” She clicked off.
Colton fought a growl and took the exit for the gas station. He found Sophie sitting in her car, tears on her face, pure terror in her eyes. Instantly, he shot into calmness.
“Any more pain?” he asked casually as he helped her from the car.
“Um, no.” Her face relaxed marginally. “But it’s too early for the baby to arrive.” Panic reasserted itself as the color slid from her cheeks.
“The baby is not coming.” He lifted her into the truck. “This is a glitch, happens all the time.” Shit. What the hell did he know about pregnant women and babies?
She grinned, her lips trembling. “Been studying the issue, have you?”
No, but he should’ve been. He shut her door and jogged around to
jump in the driver’s seat. “Sure. This is just fine, but we’re going to see a doctor anyway. The best in the country.”
“The entire country, huh?” Sophie’s shoulders relaxed even though her hands shook in her lap. “How fortunate that he lives in Montana.”
“Where else would he live?” Colton fought for a reassuring tone as he pulled back onto the interstate, forcing himself to only drive a few miles over the speed limit. Okay, twenty.
He cleared his throat. “Did anything like this happen with your last pregnancy?”
“No.”
He glanced over, not liking the dark circles under Sophie’s eyes. She looked way too delicate and frightened. “This will be fine. Take another deep breath.”
They arrived at the clinic in record time, and Sophie started to open her door.
“Wait.” Colton jumped out and crossed around to lift her from the truck.
“I can walk, Colton.”
“No.” He hustled into the clinic and marched up to the receptionist. “Doctor Jordan is waiting for us.”
The door flew open behind them, and Jake ran inside.
Oh, thank God. Colton turned and deposited Sophie in her husband’s arms.
Jake snuggled her close. “Are you okay, Sunshine?”
A nurse opened a door by the receptionist and motioned them inside. “The doctor is waiting for you.”
They disappeared after the nurse. Colton swallowed and walked over to sit, dropping his head in his shaking hands. What if he hadn’t gotten there in time? Had he driven too quickly and hit too many potholes? What if—
He lifted his head and took several deep breaths. Enough. He’d just sit in the plastic chair and wait for the good news. It would be good news. He wanted to call Quinn or their dad but decided to wait until he heard something. Anything.
So he called the ranch and gave instructions for somebody to drive out and fetch Sophie’s car.
Then he waited.
Alone in the waiting room, he watched as woman after woman, all in different phases of pregnancy, went in for an appointment and then left. Some were accompanied by men, some by other women.