Keep It Together

chapter Six

Chrissie dried her hair and wandered out from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her body. It didn’t quite cover all her curves, but it did an adequate enough job. She knew she shouldn’t be bashful at being naked with him, not given all the fun they’d had being naked all night. However, it was the morning after and a little shyness was to be expected. Right?

She peeked around the corner and found Colt sitting at the desk. His laptop sat on the surface, and he was deeply embroiled in something on the screen, something that, as she looked closer, she didn’t understand. Rows of numbers, columns of data. She shrugged.

He was dressed and his overnight bag was packed, sitting on the end of the bed. “When do you leave?”

“Around one. I have a couple of meetings first,” he said without looking up from his pecking on the keyboard.

“About cookies?”

“Yes, about cookies. And I’m sorry, but your panties are hopelessly ruined just as I said they would be.”

Chrissie picked up the blue piece of lace from the floor. Sure enough, it was torn and unwearable. “Yes. Yes, they are. Which means, you’ll have to live up to your end of the bargain and buy me a new pair.”

Colt twisted around in the chair. “I thought the bargain was for a new bra and panties set. And why are you all covered up and trying to hide yourself from me?”

He’d caught her. “I wasn’t.” He lifted a brow, and the look he gave her made her all hot and fidgety.

“No?”

“Oh, all right.” She sighed but dropped the towel. “I was sorta hiding. I didn’t know how you’d feel this morning. I was still sleeping when you took a shower, and you were already engrossed in work when I woke up.”

“I feel just fabulous, thank you. And you’re still the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen.”

“Yeah, well.” But inside she was preening like a peacock. She felt sexy with lace and satin and silk. She didn’t feel sexy naked, except last night and right now. The way he touched her, the way he was looking at her. She’d go naked all day long if he kept that up. “The, uh… The bra is all right. At least I hope it’s all right.” She picked it up from where it sat on top of her shirt. The cups looked intact, and with a little untwisting she could straighten out the straps.

“Why does it need to be all right? Surely you can drive home without wearing it.”

She loved the leering look he gave her. She loved all the looks he gave her. Cute, funny, tender, lust-filled, leering. He’d made her feel as though she mattered, as though it didn’t matter to him that she played with guns or could hunt or worked in retail for a living. All that seemed to matter to him was…her. And dear Lord, she loved that feeling, that she was the most important thing to him in the moments they spent together. “I could, yes, but I’m not headed home.”

“Where are you going?”

“To work. I’m opening the store this morning.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t know until last night. My opener called in sick. When that happens, it’s up to me to fill the slot. It just so happens I usually do it myself rather than call someone else in.”

“Will you be working tonight then as well?”

“No. I’ve switched the shifts around.”

“Good. So you’ll be able to get some sleep a little later.” Colt stood and came toward her. “Here. Let me help.”

“I can do it. I’ve been dressing myself for years now. Besides if you touch me again, we’ll be having some sort of sex again. I can’t be late today.”

He swatted at her hands and took over connecting the multiple hooks and eyes. “I’m well aware that you’ve been dressing yourself for years, and I’m sorry, but I want to touch you again, sex or no sex. Ever think about that, Ms. Independent?”

“Fine. I do appreciate it,” she admitted, albeit grudgingly. “Having big boobs means bigger bras with more support.”

Colt kissed her neck where the ends of her hair met her skin. “I like you just the way you are, big boobs and all.”

“Do you now?”

“Mmm. I do.” He wrapped her up from behind and held her nearly naked body close to his fully clothed one. “In fact…” She gasped when his fingers slid down her rumbling belly to the apex of her thighs.

“Colt.” She reached back and grabbed fistfuls of his pants to hold on to as he manipulated and teased her still-sensitive *. The fingers from his other hand disappeared inside one cup of her bra to apply the same techniques to her nipple.

“Just relax and let me give you something fun to remember me by.”

“Then”—she turned her head and nipped at his jaw—“can you pinch my nipple a little harder?”

“I can.” And he did.

Chrissie got a little more than she bargained for when she asked for a harder pinch. He pinched and pinched until she was writhing against him. Not only did he pinch her nipple, he tugged and squeezed her * between two fingers.

“I didn’t know you liked a little pain with your sex, baby,” he whispered into her hair.

She shook her head against his shoulder, unable to form words. The sensations flowing between the two places he held her were too great, felt too good.

“Kiss me.”

She didn’t hesitate. She tilted her head up, and he took her mouth, parting her lips with his tongue. It was full of pleasure and passion. He eased his hold on her * and slowly stroked her. Wetness coated his finger, and soon he was swallowing her cries. He let go of her nipple in the middle of her orgasm, which only added to everything she was feeling.

She couldn’t stop trembling. She didn’t want him to stop touching her. His fingers between her legs felt so f*cking good. Her knees threatened to give out, but he tightened his arms and held her up until she was a little more steady.

His lips hovered over hers and his eyes stared into hers. This was one of those serious, life-changing moments. She was vulnerable, and he was open and… “Is it weird?” she asked softly, their breaths mingling.

“Is what weird?”

“That I, uh…used your toothbrush.”

Colt closed his eyes, and she saw he was doing his best not to laugh, but his chin was quivering, and he lost the battle. He burst out with a crack of laughter that she felt all along her back because he hadn’t let her go yet.

“So it’s not weird, just funny?”

“I wasn’t expecting that.”

Chrissie righted her breast in her bra, then reached for her shirt. The time on the nightstand clock read nine twenty-five, and she needed to be going soon. She hadn’t exactly meant to defuse the delicious after-orgasm moment with a joke, but… “What were you expecting? You do realize, since you ripped my panties in the middle of the night, I’ll have to work all day without any on, don’t you? That I’ll smell like you and sex and—”

“And minty-fresh toothpaste,” he finished for her. It wasn’t what she’d planned to say, but she nodded anyway.

“Yes, and minty-fresh toothpaste.” His next words, though, halted her in putting on her jeans and nearly caused her to stumble.

“I thought you were going to ask if it was weird for me to have sex with my brother’s ex-fiancée.”

Once she righted herself and was able to get her pants up and secured, she took in the man who had been pressed and properly attired when she exited the shower but who now was rumpled and wrinkled and completely delectable. He sat down on the edge of the bed and fiddled with his fingers between his knees, all the while looking up at her.

“No, I…” She thought about denying it but decided it was better not to. “Was it?” she asked instead. “Was it weird?”

“I’ve told you already that I wanted to kiss you the first time I met you and that I wanted to take you to bed the day after he left you. If anything was going to be weird at all, I think I would have felt it one of those two times.”

“I guess that’s true.”

“But I was wondering if…if maybe you were thinking of him last night or this morning.”

She sat next to him. “Yes. I did think about him a few times.”

“And? Am I better in bed?” When she didn’t answer him right away, he lightly shoved his shoulder into hers. “Tell me. I’m a big boy. I can take the truth.”

“Can you? Are you sure?”

“I am. Wait… Let me mentally prepare myself.” After a few seconds of deep breathing and Chrissie trying not to laugh herself silly, he nodded. “Okay. I’m ready.”

“I was thinking how happy I am that he ditched me.” He turned toward her as soon as the words were out of her mouth, his blue eyes full of surprise. She liked that she could do that to him. He’d certainly surprised her. Several times.

“You’re happy he ditched you?”

“Well, not in the way he did it or on the day he did it or with whom he did it, but yes, I am.”

“Why?”

“Because I think he really might have been the wrong brother for me.” She’d thought of looking away from him when she said it. For all he’d said about wanting her and how much and in what way, telling her how he felt when he first met her… “I’m gun-shy.”

Colt burst out laughing. “That is the most… Gun-shy? You? I know you’ve got to have a gun safe in your house somewhere. Shy is not what you are.”

“I didn’t mean guns guns, dumb-ass.” Smart-assness dripped from every word. “I meant with men. I’ve gone out on maybe three dates since March, and none of them even remotely interested me.”

“I know. It’s why I hadn’t come to Savannah thinking to sleep with you. I didn’t want to push you. I didn’t want to make it awkward for you.”

Chrissie took his face in her hands and touched her lips lightly to his. “If there is a right brother, you’re him. Russ was definitely the wrong one.” She kissed him again, this time lingering over the taste of him. Toothpaste and Colt. Rich and warm and sexy. “I have to get going or I’ll be late.”

“You’re really going straight to work without panties?”

“Yes. At least until my break. I’ll scoot down to one of the department stores and get a pair.”

“Please don’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because I like the idea of you without them. I know it’ll be a little uncomfortable, and you’ll feel exposed and naked even though you’ll be covered and no one will be able to tell, but it’s sexy.”

She shrugged and retrieved her purse from the chair her clothes had been in. “Okay. For you.”

“Thank you. We’ll go shopping for a replacement pair next time I’m in town.”

“Mmm. Sounds fun.” She didn’t think it sounded fun at all. She really thought it sounded embarrassing. She didn’t have body issues, not often. She knew she was heavier than the average woman and had her problem areas, but she’d never thought it made her less of a woman or less of a good person because of it. Him going panty shopping with her, seeing what size she actually wore?

Then again, maybe it would be fun. He liked her without clothes, and he liked her with just bra and panties on. It likely wouldn’t matter to him the number on the tag so long as he got to touch her. That was such a sexy thought to her that she planted another kiss on his lips. Hard but lingering.

“What was that for? Not that I minded and not that you can’t kiss me anytime you want, just curious.”

“Felt like it.”

“Good enough. Hand me your phone.”

“Why?”

“So I can put my number in it. You might want to talk to me sometime.”

She handed the phone over. “More like you’ll want to talk to me.”

“No doubt in my mind about that. In fact, I’ll want to talk to you again the second you close the door behind you.” It took but a few seconds for him to enter his phone number and e-mail information.

“What about putting my number in your phone?”

“I’ve already got it. Russ gave it to me when y’all first became engaged. He said he wanted me to be able to get in touch with him even if he wasn’t answering his own phone.”

“Oh.” She’d love to know what else Russ had said about her to Colt, but she didn’t have time to ask. “I’ll, uh… I’ll see you.” She leaned up and stole a kiss. At the door, she turned to him. “I think I’m going to miss you.”

“Not for long.”

She struggled to break eye contact with him but finally did and turned the doorknob. On the other side of the door, she stumbled when she got a look at what was there. Or rather, who was there. “Russ,” she croaked.

“Christina? What are you doing here?”

“I, uh…” She looked helplessly, wordlessly back at Colt but couldn’t read the expression on his face any more than she could discern how she was feeling other than off balance and ready to run. She glanced back at Russ, then ducked out the door. “I was just leaving.”

Her heart pounded and echoed in her ears. The walk to the elevator seemed longer than it had last night, and she just hoped she could get there before one of the brothers came after her.

Russ.

Tears threatened to fall down her cheeks, and she did her best to keep them from falling until she was safely outside and in her car. The walk wasn’t far, but just like the elevator, it seemed a million miles away.

Had Colt planned it? Russ showing up? No, he couldn’t have. He hadn’t known what time Chrissie had to leave. But then, she’d told him she had to work tonight, not this morning, so… “Shit,” she whispered.

Seeing Russ after all this time was harder than she’d expected it to be. She was over him. She didn’t have any doubts about that, but being that he’d walked out on her on their wedding day, whether it was the best thing to have happened to her in the long run, those feelings of humiliation, hurt, and betrayal screwed with her brain right now.

She’d known she would have to see him again, but in all honesty, she had been hoping it would be later rather than sooner. The morning after f*cking the hell out of his brother wasn’t exactly the most opportune moment, not with the feel of Colt’s fingers on her, the ache in her nipple where he’d been pinching, the tingle on her lips from his kiss.

She’d planned out for months what she would say when she saw Russ but had found herself tongue-tied at seeing his face. That she had to go into work now, smile and be polite and kind when all she wanted to do was go home, load her shotgun with shells and put a few extra holes in her wedding dress, well, surely that was a normal feeling in a situation like this. Right?