Keep It Together

chapter Two

Colt walked into the small white clapboard house behind the woman he intended to marry. He knew she hadn’t meant what she said months ago about having maybe married him instead. She’d been distraught, sad, pissed off, and he couldn’t blame her for feeling any of it, but the second the words were out of her mouth, a switch flipped inside his head and wouldn’t turn off. He’d wanted her before that, when she was still planning to marry his brother, and he’d still wanted her when the wedding didn’t take place.

She didn’t think he was serious about it, but she’d soon be thinking differently.

She wasn’t as immune to him as she might like to think she was. He could see it in her pretty brown eyes, the way she looked him up and down as though she was trying to figure out where to lick first, like he was a treat and she’d been on a diet. She hadn’t been immune to him back in December either, but at first he figured it was nothing more than her being hurt and being touched by his concern. Maybe a little revenge sex crossed her mind too at that point, because he’d be lying if he said it hadn’t crossed his. He’d have taken her to bed just to drive the memory of his brother from her mind. The tearstains on her face, the lost look in her eyes for most of their short conversation tore at him. He could have cheerfully kicked his brother’s ass for being so callous.

But Chrissie was strong. Hell, she’d come out on the porch with a shotgun! Or was it a rifle? He honestly had no idea what the difference between the two was, and up until now, he hadn’t cared. He might be from Texas, but not everyone in his great state knew how to shoot or wanted to learn. However, since she seemed so fond of firearms, maybe he should inquire about them.

Walking up the back steps of her house, Colt was at a loss as to how to proceed. She was free. She was over Russ, by her own admission. And for all the thoughts and fantasies Colt had had about her over the months, nothing compared to seeing her again in person. He was in her space, her sanctuary, her home. Something about that touched him deep down inside, and he wanted to hold on to that feeling for as long as she’d let him stay.

The idea to come to Savannah was born out of desire. He’d been wanting to set eyes on her for so long. He didn’t know how she’d react, and he didn’t know how he would. He only knew it was time to see her, time to talk to her. He hadn’t intended to start off with telling her that he wanted to marry her, but he hadn’t known exactly what to say to a woman holding a shotgun and firing it.

“I’ve been talking to your dad,” he blurted out. He hadn’t intended to tell her that, not for a while yet, but it seemed his brain had other ideas.

Tension hung between them, thick and full of hot promise. Sexual tension, for sure. Even some emotional tension. But there was something else too. Connection. Companionship. Ease with each other. He’d never found that with any other woman, though he’d really never looked for it.

He liked it. He liked what sizzled between them, and he was going to figure out how to make it to the altar with her.

Her startled gaze flew to his face. “You have? Why?”

“To see how you were doing. Because I cared and…because I was sort of keeping tabs on you and fishing for information.”

“You couldn’t call me for that?”

“Probably not the fishing for information part, but the rest, yes, I could have. I was giving you whatever space you may have needed from my family for a while. I didn’t want to intrude, but I was concerned. My brother was an ass, and while I’m not him, I thought you probably didn’t want to hear from any of us, for a bit, if ever. So, I contacted your dad.” His confession, while unplanned, was the truth.

“What kind of information were you fishing for?”

Colt felt his cheeks flush with uncharacteristic bashfulness. He didn’t even know why it was happening. “I wanted to know when you were ready to move on. He said you spent a lot of time working and shooting and making your blankets for the homeless.”

“I did. I crocheted so many blankets and scarves that I could outfit a whole platoon and then some. I kept busy, and it’s how I got over it.”

“That’s what your father said. I’m glad that you were always putting one foot in front of the other. It seems to be what healed your heart.”

“I still don’t think I fully understand why you have been so concerned about me, but thank you. That is…” She shook her head and pulled her lips inward for a moment, then let them out with a pent-up breath. “Thank you.”

Colt smiled. “You’re welcome.”

“So umm… Feel free to look around while I put the gun away; then we’ll get the tea ready.” She quickly turned away from him and disappeared through a doorway off the kitchen.

For a woman who came from money, she didn’t live like it. He knew enough about Pottery Barn and IKEA to know that she didn’t own anything from either place. The kitchen, with its open window over the sink, was a galley design and bright. He set the jar of tea on the old-style tile counter and wandered into the adjoining dining room.

Wood floors covered the house. Real wood. It was water stained in some places but for the most part looked to be in pretty good condition. The furniture in the room across a small hallway from the dining room was comfortable, plush, and looked well used.

When he’d come by back in December, she hadn’t invited him in. At the time he didn’t blame her for that. He was glad to be inside her house now. It was warm and comfortable. It was a home.

It had been years since any place had felt like a home to him. His sister, Amber, lived in the house they’d all grown up in back in Houston. He lived in a penthouse apartment on the top floor of his company’s office building, which was located in Houston as well. It wasn’t the kind of place he’d like to grow old or raise a family in, but until Chrissie, until this little understated house in the country outside Savannah, he hadn’t really known what would resonate with him. Now he did.

“Please don’t take this wrong, but why this place and not something closer to town?” he inquired when she emerged again.

“Promise not to laugh?” She herself had a smile on her face when she asked it, but he nodded anyway. “I had lived at home all my life. My parents have this huge house in Pembroke. Well, you saw it back in December, right? When my mother threw that lavish luncheon the day before the wedding? I had my own space in it and could come and go as much as I wanted. I went to college here in Savannah and had an apartment with several friends, but then moved back home after graduation. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. My mother didn’t want me doing anything but finding a man to marry. When Russ and I started dating, then got engaged, it… God, to say it out loud sounds so awful. I needed to live on my own. I wanted to live alone, on my own. I’m not explaining it right. I’m in my thirties. I should be on my own. I should have been on my own for a long-ass time.”

“I think I understand. You come from money, privilege. You didn’t have to do anything if you didn’t want to, and there was no pressure for it.” He did understand. He knew what having money did, what it could do. It could buy you anything, even time and nothing at all.

“That’s just it. I wanted to do something, I just… I had to figure out how to make my own way.”

“I’m not judging you. Amber went through a similar period right after college, but she couldn’t stand Russ’s mother and her constant parties at the time, so she begged our father for a job.”

Chrissie snickered. “I remember Russ telling me about his mom and then meeting her. It was…interesting, to say the least. I don’t think she has missed me or was too broken up about there being no wedding. She didn’t even say good-bye when she left the church, and to be perfectly honest, Vegas showgirl was probably right up her alley of prospects for him more so than a redneck girl from South Georgia.”

Colt couldn’t hold the bark of laughter in. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand how my father fell in love with her, but she made him happy, and my mother made him miserable.”

As siblings, though, the three of them had gotten along fairly well from the start, but it was clear they were all very different personalities. Amber and Colt had taken control of their father’s holding company after going to college in Austin at UT, but Russ had gone off to college clear across the country for a law degree. He’d been offered a job with a top corporate firm in Houston, as well as a job in the family business, but had turned it all down for a prestigious criminal and family defense firm in Atlanta.

Russ always had been the one who bucked the system, and Colt had always admired him for it. When his law office opened a satellite location in Savannah, Russ had moved without a second thought so he could head it up. He’d bought the perfect downtown townhouse right in the heart of the historic district and had a plan.

Ditching his bride-to-be and running away to Vegas hadn’t been part of that plan. Even now, Colt didn’t know the truth of what had spooked his brother. Russ had seemed to Colt and Amber to be turning over a new leaf, a more settled existence since he met and got engaged to Chrissie. In the end, though, it really didn’t matter, the whys and whats about it. Russ had lost her, and Colt was going to do his best to keep her.

She was special, and she tripped his triggers in ways no other woman ever had. She wouldn’t care for his money. She wouldn’t care for his place in his company. She wouldn’t be impressed with Houston society or making a splash with the local who’s who crowd. She was the kind of woman who would want nothing more than love and give nothing less in return.

He could do that and be happy with it. He could take or leave the trappings of being the head of a company, but he didn’t want to leave her. She would fit him. He hadn’t quite figured out how he knew that, he just…did.

She was comfortable too. He joked and smiled easily with her, around her, at the mere thought of her. His guard was down, and he liked that about himself. How a woman he barely knew could manage that, he didn’t know. He’d never experienced anything like it, and he didn’t want to lose how incredible it felt.

“Are you close with your parents?”

“My dad, yes. We’re a pretty tight family, I guess. Russ doesn’t come home much, though.”

“What about your mom? You said she made your father miserable, but is she happier too?”

He rarely even thought about his mother anymore. “When she left, she never looked back.”

“Oh, Colt, I’m so sorry.”

Her sincerity was genuine. He could tell in the way her voice softened, in the way her eyes transformed from happy to sad in an instant and seemed to reach out to him. “Thank you, but I’ve been over it for a long time.” Colt’s father had settled enough money on her that she could go wherever she’d wanted, and he figured she’d gone as far as she could to get away from them all. She’d been a society maven, the same as Russ’s mother, but in a different way, one he didn’t know how to explain.

“How do you get over something like a parent leaving?”

He shrugged. He didn’t know how to answer her because no one had ever asked him the question before. “One foot in front of the other. Our house, when she was there was the unhappiest that you can imagine. She and my father fought all the time. Loud, screaming fights. She was always threatening to leave him, and he always countered her by asking how much money she wanted.”

“That sounds horrible. Mine fought but never anything like that. Didn’t you hate Russ, though? His mom? They broke up your family. I mean, what was it like for you to one day find out your father had another family?”

“Russ never talked about any of this with you?”

“Not really. He didn’t talk about much other than work and his friends at work. I’m sorry. I guess I shouldn’t ask.”

“You can ask me anything. I’m not surprised Russ didn’t share it with you. He’s not always that forthcoming about personal things.” He wanted to reassure her that he wouldn’t hold things back from her, that nothing was off limits, that he would open up and talk to her about more than his work. “I don’t blame Russ or my father for the affair with Russ’s mom. Daddy wouldn’t divorce our mother on his own because of Amber and me, in part because we were so young. It was noble but unnecessary. She was my mother, and I loved her for that I guess, but I sure didn’t like her.” The hurt at her leaving had long ago dissipated, and he’d never found need or reason to go searching for her. If she’d wanted him or Amber, she’d have come for them. She was the adult, and they were the kids. Seeing as how she didn’t… “When she left, my father seemed to change almost immediately. He looked younger, acted younger. He brought Russ home one day and explained to us that Russ was our half-brother. He encouraged us to ask questions and said he’d understand if we were angry. Amber asked if he was going to come live with us and that she was okay with it if he did. She’s the matter-of-fact sibling. Takes everything and processes it with analytical precision, even when she was a child. I only asked if I would have to share my room. We had a huge house, and Russ could have his own room and I had bunk beds. I was concerned he would have to sleep in my room, and I was planning to lay down my ten-year-old laws.”

Chrissie laughed. “What? He couldn’t have the top bunk?”

Colt gave her his most stern look which only made her laugh more. “Nope. That top bunk was mine, and I ready and willing to fight for it.”

“I guess he got his own room, though?”

“He did. Across the hall. And got his own set of bunk beds. Copycat.” Colt winked. “But, Daddy suddenly wanted to be home with all of us, do stuff with us as a family. He was happy, a different man, and that’s what I choose to remember. I know he had an affair with her. I know most people see her as a home wrecker. I know all that, but she made my father happy, and that’s all that mattered to me and to Amber.”

“You’re a good man, Colt.”

He flushed from her words. “Thank you, ma’am.”

“And I’m glad you and your family are close, but I don’t think Russ’s mother is ever going like me.”

Colt laughed. “So you think you’ll be seeing her again in some capacity where she’d be forced to tolerate you?” At Chrissie’s blush, Colt felt smitten all over again, right down to his toes. She was a redneck girl, a country girl who was as beautiful on the inside as she was gorgeous on the outside, and since Russ’s mother was the only mother he currently had, the woman was just going to have to figure out how to love Chrissie.

“Well, I didn’t, ah… I didn’t mean to imply that… Crap.” Her being at a loss for words endeared her to him more than she already was. She seemed to have no filter between brain and mouth even though he knew she tried to find one. He himself was a lost cause and decided to take pity on her.

“How long did you live here before y’all were supposed to get married?”

Chrissie’s relief at the change of subject was almost tangible. “As soon as we started getting serious. About a year, I guess. He wanted to live downtown near his office, and I could understand that. I figured we’d move in together after we got married. This place, though”—she gestured with an arm sweep—“had been my grandparents’ home before my grandpa became involved in politics. I’d always loved it here, and it fit me. Russ couldn’t stand the quiet. He was always restless out here. It wasn’t busy enough. I guess that should’ve been my first clue.”

“You really prefer it over noise? Over the fast-paced days and nights of city life?” Colt couldn’t believe what he was hearing, though he shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, she seemed to be right at home with firearms. That fact aside, she couldn’t sound more perfect than if he’d picked her out of a catalog. He knew she wasn’t, but for him, she was heaven, and everything he’d been waiting for. He wanted to shout from the top of his lungs, Where have you been all my life?

At the same time, he kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, for her to say something, do something that would break the balloon and jar him back to reality and put his feet on the ground.

Chrissie laughed. “Yes. My mother had parties or luncheons or brunches all the time, so I can relate to what Amber was going through. There was always something going on, and though I was there, involved, right in the thick of it all, I couldn’t wait to escape. I like my quiet life out here away from everything.”

She was the fantasy. The dream. The ideal woman, if there were such a thing. She had beauty, brains, smiles. She had curves, was feminine somewhere underneath, he was sure of it, and could handle a gun. He’d never thought much about it before, but he found it incredibly sexy. She was self-sufficient, able to protect herself, didn’t need anyone, and could acknowledge it.

If he hadn’t been in love with her the moment he first met her at her and Russ’s engagement party…

“I guess it’s a good thing your family never sold it.”

“It is. My grandma wanted to keep it in the family as a reminder of their humble beginnings. Well, that and the land. We’re sitting on several thousand acres of prime forest land here. We own it outright and have been hunting on it for years.”

“Do you? Hunt, I mean.”

“Not anymore. I did some when I was growing up. My dad taught me. I couldn’t play organized football, so I had to do something to spend some time with him. My grandmother taught me to sew, cook, and make things. She said it was good to know how to make do in case the money ever ran out.”

“What can you make?”

“I can cook just about anything. Southern style, of course. Bacon grease, butter, you know…” Chrissie pointed to a large basket full of yarn that sat beside an overstuffed chair. “And afghans. I make several a year and donate them along with scarves and mittens. Grandma was also big on giving back however we can. My mother donates money and will volunteer from time to time, but I try to make things for people who don’t have anything.”

She blushed as she talked about it, but Colt didn’t know why. He hoped she wasn’t embarrassed by it. It wasn’t something he’d expected her to do with any of her free time, though that was only because he didn’t know what exactly she did with her free time. She surprised him with every word she said, every gesture she made. “I had no idea.”

“Why would you? Between my father’s family money from the railroad and my mother’s family money, neither is going to ever be poor or have to live paycheck to paycheck. He’s a mayor, and he’s happy being a mayor, but I didn’t want to live off their money. I even rent the house from them.”

“You do?”

“Yes. I want to survive on my own. Russ was always telling me I didn’t need to work because there was enough money to go around and allow us to live however we wanted, but…” She shrugged and went back into the kitchen. Colt followed like a puppy. The good feeling he had inside from being around her was infectious, and he wanted to keep it, wanted it to spread all through him. He leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms over his chest and his feet at the ankles. He was as casual as he could be when what he really wanted was to crawl inside her and stay there. Forever.

He heard the pride in her voice, the conviction to be her own person. He was proud for her and proud of her. Russ hadn’t shared much about Chrissie as a person outside his plans for them once they were married, but now Colt was getting a chance to see her for the woman she was inside.

“But?” He had a feeling he knew what she’d say next, and part of him hated that he’d asked her to continue. However, he wanted to hear her say it. He wanted to know for certain that she was over his brother. She’d said earlier that she was, but Colt knew that around him she would be reminded of Russ and that she’d have to see him, interact with him.

He just had to be sure.

“I can’t tell if you’re into humiliating me or if you’re just dense.”

“Actually, I’m neither. I just wanted you to finish your thought.”

“Uh-huh.” She unscrewed the lid to the sun tea jar and fished out the tea bags. Then she poured a clear liquid into it and stirred everything together with a long-handled wooden spoon.

“What was that? In the measuring cup?”

“Simple syrup. It’s got a little lemon in it too. You didn’t think I was going to serve you unsweet tea, did you?”

“I, ah—”

“’Cause we don’t do that down here. I know you’re from Texas, and Russ, well, he never drank tea, so I don’t know what y’all do with your tea, but in my South, it’s so sweet it’ll make you pucker.”

Colt chuckled low and shook his head. She was a pistol. There would likely never be a dull moment around her. “I have always taken mine sweet. I’d just never seen it made.”

“Never? Were you kept out of the kitchen?”

“We were. There was always something more interesting going on.” Chrissie shook her head, and he knew it was at him, even though she wasn’t looking at him when she did it. It was an admonishment, and he was well and truly contrite. He didn’t know why he was because he’d never had any control in his house when they were growing up, but he didn’t want her disappointed with any part of him, including his upbringing.

“And now?”

Now she was teasing him. The minx. “Now, I’m quite fascinated and very curious about the tea. After all this, it should be the best I’ve ever had. I’m anxious to see if it is.”

She stuck her tongue out at him. “You’re gonna be difficult to handle.”

“The point of that being that you want to handle me?” And just like that the laugh was gone and pink once again colored her cheeks. She busied herself with the tea and made to speak several times, but words never passed her lips. “Chrissie?”

“Um… Right. What I was saying earlier, when we were talking about money and Russ and all? I didn’t want to count on the family money or his money always being there and someone being around to take care of me. I wanted to be able to survive and support myself. It’s what my grandmother taught me. She could have had servants like my mother has, but she didn’t want them. She wanted to keep her own house, cook for her own family. The only way we differ is that I want a job that I love too. She didn’t work outside the home, and neither did my mom. If either of them ever had a dream outside the lives they led, I never knew about it.”

He would follow her back to the safe part of the conversation for now, but he’d find out about the handling later. “Times change.”

“Yes, they do.”

“And Russ?” he asked.

“He didn’t understand why I’d want to work if I didn’t have to. He said he’d work hard enough for the both of us, put in all the hours necessary to keep me living in the style to which I was accustomed. That didn’t really work out well as you can see. I’d have been bored silly in a rambling townhouse with nothing but shopping or party planning to do all day. That’s my mother. Not me. Sounds like it’s Russ’s mother too, so… Speaking of… Is he still married?”

“Ah, no. That lasted all of a week. He said he wrote to you, tried to call you, even went to see your parents, but never was able to get in touch with you.”

She nodded. “I burned the letters unopened. I blocked his number. And I told my father if Russ ever set foot on my property again, I’d shoot him.”

Another bark of laughter erupted from him. Colt couldn’t help it, and for some reason, the most inappropriate thought entered his head at her statement.

Sex.

The two of them. Right then and there, he wanted to take her to bed and f*ck the living daylights out of her.

It wasn’t the first time since he’d pulled up in front of the house that he’d had that particular thought, but something about her defiant stance regarding his brother turned him on even more. He liked that she was a take-no-prisoners kind of woman. She didn’t hide that she’d been hurt, and she didn’t hide that she was over it. She didn’t downplay it. With Chrissie it seemed that what you saw was what you got.

And God, that was f*cking hot. “Is that when he got you the rifle?”

The pink in her cheeks was gone, and she flashed a wicked little grin along with a wink. “Shotgun,” she corrected him. “And it might be. Are you happy with my explanation?”

“I am.”

“Good.” She took two glasses from the open shelves above her head and held them out to him.

“Are you seeing anyone now?”

“No.” She twisted her wrists back and forth. “Will you fill these with ice for me?”

“I, ah…sure, but…” Colt took the glasses from her and held them by the rims in one hand. With the other hand, he pulled her close. She gazed up at him, stunned.

She’d been doing funny things to his heart, his gut, his cock and balls since he met her, and knowing she was single now, available, only added to his need. It was most definitely a need too. This desire for her. No woman he could recall from memory affected him the way this woman, this daughter of a small-town mayor, self-proclaimed redneck, down-to-earth and beautiful girl, affected him.

“I-I’m…not the freezer,” she told him. Her breath was coming faster, heavier, and the pulse in her neck picked up speed. She wanted him as much as he wanted her and being this close to her, able to touch her, breathe her in, he didn’t know how or if he’d be able to keep himself in check.

He’d told her that he wasn’t his brother, and for as true as that was, he wasn’t a saint either. Case in point, he’d broken a commandment, or a sort of commandment. He’d coveted his brother’s lover and soon-to-be wife. He didn’t have anything to do with the choices and decisions Russ made when he ran away to Vegas, but Colt wasn’t above taking advantage of the situation. He’d bided his time, and he was done waiting.

He’d never been this close to her and wouldn’t have minded staying right there with her as long as she’d let him. It was summertime and hotter than hell, but he was warm in ways that had nothing to do with the temperature outside. She was tense, her eyes like those of a deer in headlights, but her hips, they weren’t still, and she kept bumping against him.

He was so f*cking hard. She had to know it because hiding it was out of the question with the way she was rubbing herself against him. “No, you’re not, and I’ll get the ice, don’t worry, but first I want to kiss you.”

He inched his head down toward hers, and her eyes widened more. Her features started to blur, but just before he closed his eyes, he took mental note of the different shades of blonde in the hair around her face and the myriad shades of brown in her eyes shot through with gold.

When he touched his lips to hers, and she surged upward into his body, he was lost. He’d been wondering, imagining for months what she would taste like, and now that he knew, he couldn’t describe if he’d tried. It was sweet and fresh, like the warmth of the outdoors on a day just like today. She tasted like sunshine.

He slipped an arm around her back and pulled her closer. The glasses clinked as he adjusted their positions. He angled his head, deepened their kiss, and licked her lips, thrilled when she licked back. Colt pressed his advantage then, sweeping her mouth with his tongue, molding his lips to hers.