* * * * *
The next day flew by for Elise. With Colt no longer handing out morning chores, she got a lot accomplished on the website. It still needed a lot more work to be completed, but she felt good about her progress. Elise looked at her watch. It was almost 6:00 p.m. She shut off her computer, picked up her duffel bag and headed toward the bathroom. She had invited Mace to go to the dance too, but he’d waggled his eyebrows up and down suggestively and said he had
other
plans. Elise just shook her head and laughed. Mace was such a hoot. The man was the ultimate ladies’ man, she’d quickly discovered.
She emerged from the bathroom dressed in a spaghetti-strapped, black tea-length dress with a modest slit up the side and matching high-heeled strappy sandals. The dress was made of a jersey type material, so she felt it was dressy without being too pretentious. Elise had pulled her hair up in a French twist but no matter how hard she tried to make the style look slick and chic, little wisps of hair kept falling around her face. Finally she gave up and let the pieces fall.
She walked over to Colt’s office and lightly knocked at his open door. “Ready to go, Colt?”
Colt glanced up from his paperwork and did a double-take. Elise couldn’t help the grin that rode up her face. She turned in a small circle for him.
“I clean up okay, wouldn’t you say?”
Colt looked back down at his paperwork and crushed some paper in his hand. She was surprised when he didn’t throw it in the trash. He stood up and looked anywhere but at her as he put his hat on his head and said in a gruff voice, “Come on. Let’s go.”
Elise climbed into her car and followed Colt’s truck to town. When they arrived in the Fireman’s Hall parking lot, Colt immediately walked over to her car and opened her door for her.
Elise looked up at him as he helped her out of her car. “Thanks, Colt.”
With his impassive expression, she had no clue as to what he was thinking. He gave her a curt nod, placed his hand on her elbow and propelled her toward the building. As they neared the door, Josh pushed off the sidewall where he’d apparently been waiting and walked up with a huge grin on his face. He reached out and snagged Elise’s hand saying to Colt, “Thanks for escorting Elise, Colt.”
Before Elise could utter a word, Josh pulled her into the crowded room, full of music and laughter, food and lots of people dancing.
Elise laughingly berated Josh as he ushered her onto the dance floor and immediately swung her into his arms to the rhythm of the upbeat music. “Josh, that was really very rude. I’m not your date for the evening, you know.”
Josh gave her an unrepentant smile. “Not yet, but the night is young.”
Elise couldn’t help but laugh at his optimistic attitude.
“By the way,” he looked her up and down, “you look gorgeous.”
Elise murmured a thank you and let him twirl her around the dance floor while they discussed the horse she’d considered purchasing the day before.
The music ended and a slow song started up. Elise looked up to see Colt tapping Josh on the shoulder. “I believe the lady said the next dance was mine, Kelly.”
Josh glanced at Colt and his hold tightened when he turned his gaze back to her. Elise gave him an apologetic look as she allowed Colt to pull her away.
Colt shrugged. “It’s not my fault the next song was a slow one.” His words may have been lighthearted, but the look he gave Josh wasn’t anything of the sort.
As Josh grudgingly walked off, Colt pulled Elise into his arms. “What was that all about?” She threw his words from the day before back at him.
Colt spoke close to her ear. “What was ‘what’ all about?”
Touché, she thought as his warm body pressed against hers. She noted his firm shoulder muscles under her fingers and the hard planes of his chest, brushing against hers every so often with the beat of the music. Her breathing changed at his nearness, turning shallow. “You and Josh.” She fought to regain a hold of her rioting senses.
“Josh and I have been friends and neighbors for a long time.”
“More like friendly rivals, it seems,” she laughed.
Colt chuckled. “That too, at times, I suppose.”
As they moved to the music’s slow beat, his hands trailed down her back, massaging the base of her spine. His touch sent tiny shockwaves skating up her skin, causing goose bumps to gather on her arms. And if that wasn’t enough, every so often, his thigh would brush in between hers. Elise’s nipples hardened at the erotic rhythm of his seductive movements.
He released her waist and slid his hands to her upper back. The heat of his hands permeated her dress, igniting her entire body as he pulled her closer so he could whisper in her ear, “What do you want, Elise?”
He could be asking her a million different things with that one question, but only one thing came to mind. Elise wanted to know what it felt like to have his lips on hers. And not in a kiss meant to put her in her place, but in a kiss where he put his emotions behind it. Would he be a fast or a slow kisser? Would he use his hands or words to arouse her or heaven forbid, she bit her lip, both? She wanted to know what he’d feel like pressed against her, naked, hard…she knew without a doubt he’d be an aggressive lover.
She felt his breath on her neck and thought for an instant he’d actually brushed his lips lightly against her skin. She drew in her breath, her stomach tensing.
“Tell me,” he demanded.
He’d stopped moving and pulled her flush against him, his heated gaze locked with hers. At that moment the music ended and the spell was broken. Colt seemed to shake himself out of the sensual scenario he had created around them and he set her away from him. It took Elise a little longer to let go of the feelings rocking through her. She was saved from answering one way or the other when Josh walked up and escorted her away to introduce her to some of his fireman buddies and their girlfriends and wives.
Colt didn’t ask her to dance the rest of the evening, but he didn’t leave either. When the dance started winding down, Elise told Josh she had to head home. She had work to do tomorrow.
Josh pulled her in his arms for one last dance and this time it was a slow one. As she danced in his strong embrace, Elise’s gaze met Colt’s across the room. He leaned against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest. His gaze met hers, willing her to keep her eyes locked with his bold stare, so heated, yet so emotionally distant. Elise couldn’t stand the sweet agony, wanting one man while she danced with another. She finally just closed her eyes to stop the dual torment.
When the dance ended, Josh walked her out to her car while Colt followed them out. Josh gave Colt a pointed, “shove off” look, but Colt ignored him and walked up, pulling Elise’s car keys from her hand as she retrieved them from her purse.
“Thanks for escorting Elise out, Josh.” He turned to unlock her car door for her and held it open, waiting.
Josh’s eyes narrowed on Colt, his expression angry, before he turned to Elise. “I would like to see you again,” he paused, glancing over to Colt, “without the additional company next time.”
With the strong emotions for Colt churning inside her, Elise felt she should be honest with Josh. “Josh, I don’t—”
As if he knew she planned to turn him down, Josh quickly leaned over and kissed her, cutting off her words. “Think about it. I’ll call you soon.” He turned, flashed Colt a triumphant smile and headed toward his truck.
Colt’s jaw ticked as he handed her the keys. “If you play games, you’ll get burned,” was all he said before he turned on his heel and headed for his truck.
Chapter Four
Elise thrilled at the wind in her hair as she raced her horse across the open plains. She missed this. She’d grown up riding horses. Had even won a few ribbons. Her parents let her compete for the prestige. She did it because she loved being around horses. She loved grooming them, caring for them and most of all, the exhilarating freedom she felt when riding full throttle.
After the interesting evening the night before with Colt and Josh, she’d spent the whole next day working on the website, nonstop. When her workday ended and others had gone home for dinner, she’d stayed a little longer and then decided to go for a ride on Bess. She knew the ride would help ease her sore shoulders.
As she neared the main stable, she slowed Bess to a trot so the horse could cool down before she brought her into the stables. Letting her gaze take in the whole ranch from this angle, she smiled at the welcoming sight. Everything about the ranch made her feel at home. Bess had slowed to a walk when Elise spotted Colt. He stood outside the stables, his hat pulled low on his head, his thick arms crossed over his chest, scowling at her. What now?
Elise pulled up beside him and met his gaze. “What is it, Colt?”
When he turned to Sam and asked him to take the horse, she said, “I planned to groom Bess myself.”
“Not today. We need to talk.”
Elise slid off the horse and handed Sam the reins with an apologetic smile.
Colt took her elbow and propelled her around the stables until they were alone by the main barn.
He turned to face her, his mouth set in a firm line. “Don’t go off like that again by yourself. Do you understand?”
Elise leaned back against the barn’s wall, closed her eyes, and counted to ten. She didn’t want to get into a fight. Opening her eyes, she said, “I’m an accomplished horsewoman, Colt. There’s really no need to worry.”
“What if you’d taken a fall? Who would’ve known? And another thing. You’re a beautiful woman, Elise, and while I believe the cowboys working on the ranch are good men, I wouldn’t want to test that theory too much.”
His words made her heart trip in her chest. Elise smiled at him. “You think I’m beautiful?”
Colt clenched his jaw and curled his hands into fists by his sides. His eyes bored into hers. “Yes, I find you beautiful,” he admitted as if she had to drag it out of him.
“That’s nice to hear, because I like what I see in you, too.” She eyed him up and down with a slow smile. “So, what are we going to do about this mutual liking we’ve got going on?” she asked, letting her voice drop to a husky and suggestive tone. When conflicting emotions lit his deep blue eyes, her stomach tensed and she wondered if maybe she’d misread him.
“Then again, maybe it’s not such a good…”
She didn’t get to finish her sentence before he took the two steps between them in one long stride. With a hungry look that singed her all the way to her toes, he pulled her against his hard chest, his mouth descending on hers.
Elise welcomed his kiss, the feel of his body pressed against hers. She slid her hands up his shoulders to his head and knocked his hat off so she could run her fingers through his hair. Colt slowed his pace as his lips moved over hers, his tongue enticing her, drawing her in. If she could put a movement to the way the Texan drawl sounded, it would be his hot, wet tongue sliding seductively into her mouth, taking his time, making her want to find out what else he could do with his talented tongue.
Elise’s heart beat hard against her chest, her breasts swelled and her nipples ached as she ran her hands down his thick, muscular back to pull his shirt out of his jeans. She wanted to touch his skin. Feel it against hers. Colt groaned and slid his hands down her back, clasping her rear and pulling her against his hard arousal. She moaned as he backed her against the barn wall and ground his erection against her sex. The pressure did little to assuage her throbbing ache. If anything, it intensified it.
“Damn, I’m so hot for you, I can’t get close enough,” he groaned as he trailed his lips down her neck while he rocked his hips against hers, applying delicious pressure.
“That’s ditto, Cowboy,” she said breathlessly. She gasped as he dipped his head and his hot mouth closed around her nipple through her shirt and skimpy bra. Her gasp turned to a low moan when his hand moved lower, stroking her mound through her jeans.
She pushed against his hand, wanting all of him, everything he could give.
Suddenly, Colt stepped back, his nostrils flaring, his heated gaze full of desire and want. He ran a hand through his hair, clearly frustrated. “What
am
I doing?” he ground out as if he weren’t allowed to indulge in his sexual desires.
By the detached look in his eyes, Elise could tell he had pulled away and not just physically. She dropped her hands and pursed her lips, saying in a light tone, lighter than she felt, “It looks like you’re going to leave me high and dry.”
Colt leaned over and picked his hat up from the ground. He hit it against his leg, as if out of habit, before putting it on his head.
He met her gaze, his face a hard and unreadable mask. “I’m sorry, Elise. It won’t happen again,” he said before he turned and walked off toward his truck.
* * * * *
The next few days slid by in a blur for Colt. Refusing to accept Elise working for the Lonestar for free, he’d set her up on an equal monthly partner’s salary. He still hoped she’d decide to sell to him, but until then, paying her was only right in his mind. Other than that one interaction with her, he’d spent as much time outdoors as possible, avoiding her as best as he could considering they worked down the hall from each other.
His actions the other day by the barn made him feel like a real bastard leaving her there, leaning against the wall, wanting—her jaw red from his five o’clock shadow, her lips swollen from his kisses. But self-preservation had finally called his brain back to order since the damn thing had taken a flying leap at her sexy, emerald eyes and saucy invitation. Sure he could’ve gone for the sex, but there was something about the way he reacted to her that scared him. His physical response to her went deeper than any other woman he’d ever been around.
He didn’t want to fall into the same trap his father had. No matter what anyone said, he believed his father died of a broken heart at the young age of forty-nine. When Colt was a teen and his mother walked out on them, saying she missed the parties and high society, he’d never forgiven her. She had come from old money when she’d married his father, and he knew his dad never felt like he really deserved his mother.
Walking away from Elise was the hardest thing he’d ever done. And he
had
suffered for it. The past few days he walked around constantly half-aroused; his body jumping to full arousal at the smell of her seductive, floral perfume, the sound of her slightest laugh, especially the throaty one he would hear when she spoke to Mace—the same voice that was torturing him down the hall, even now, as she and Mace talked about the online advertising and promotion aspects of the Lonestar. It grated on his nerves that his happy-go-lucky brother got all of her attention. It didn’t matter to him that the website she worked on fell under Mace’s PR purview.
There went that sexy laugh again. His chest contracted in anger and something else he didn’t care to examine too closely. That did it. Colt stood up and walked over to the spare office down the hall. He began moving boxes full of rodeo overflow stuff from the office to his truck. After his third trip past Mace’s door, he looked up to see Mace leaning nonchalantly against the doorframe, watching him approach with a box in his hands.
“Whatcha doin’, bro?” He grinned at Colt.
“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m cleaning out this office so Elise can have her own office and you can get some work done,” Colt replied, his tone clipped.
“Oh, I don’t know, Colt. I think I’m just fine.” He turned his head quickly back to Elise. “How about you, darlin’? You feel like you aren’t getting any work done over there?”
Elise didn’t even look up from the keyboard; her brow was furrowed in concentration as her fingers flew across the keys. She flipped her hand saying, “Sure, no problem, I’m fine,” before she returned her fingers back to the keyboard.
Mace turned triumphant eyes back to Colt. “See, we’re fine. You’re going to throw your back out for nothing.”
“That’s why you’re going to get your lazy butt out here and help me.” Colt said with a meaningful look in his eyes.
Mace raised his hands. “Fine, I get the picture,” he said grudgingly as he moved to retrieve a box from the back office.
“You can take Cade’s computer and Elise can take yours since she needs a more powerful PC to do the website stuff,” Colt commented as Mace loaded the last box onto Colt’s truck.
His little brother turned to him, a knowing grin on his face. “Hey, if you want her, go after her.”
Colt met Mace’s curious gaze. He knew Mace saw the emptying of the other office for what it really was. A sinking feeling made his stomach fist into a knot. “It’s not that simple, Mace.”
Mace slammed the door on the back of the truck closed and met his gaze, “Yes, it is.”
“She’s upper class. Enough said.”
Understanding dawned on Mace’s face. “Colt, Elise is
not
Mom.” Then, he shrugged his shoulders. “And hell, even if she is, who said you have to marry her. There’s nothing that says you shouldn’t have a little fun in life, big brother.”
When Colt didn’t answer, Mace continued, as he rounded to get in the passenger side of the truck, “Hey, she’s a desirable woman and if you don’t take a shot at what’s right before your eyes, there’ll be plenty of men lining up at her door who will.” He flashed Colt his best playboy smile before he hopped into the truck. “Including me.”
Colt felt as if someone had just kicked him in the gut. The very thought of another man, even his own brother, touching Elise, drove him fuckin’ nuts. He got into the truck and slammed his door harder than necessary. He didn’t say a word to Mace as he drove toward the storage shed.