Branded as Trouble (7 page)

“You were too busy to come to a meeting?”

“Cut me some slack. I’ve missed one meeting in two and a half years.”

“I left you a bajillion messages.”

“I particularly liked the one where you called me a dickhead.”

That brought a small smile. “If the shitkicker fits…”

“Don’t fuck with me, India. I’m not in the mood.”

“Well, gee, I wouldn’t want anything to ruin your ‘mood’, especially since you have a hot date.” India bit her cheek to keep from lashing out further. “You know what? Forget it. All of it. Have a lovely evening with your horse-faced honey.”

Colt laughed and said, “Oh, no you don’t,” as he snatched her elbow. “We ain’t close to done with this conversation.”

“We are. Just leave me alone.”

“Like hell.”

Stupid tears flooded her eyes. She couldn’t blink them away fast enough and the stupid jerk saw she was about to bawl like a stupid baby.

“Sweet Jesus, are you cryin’?”

“No.” She jammed her wallet in her back pocket and attempted to flee.

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“Dammit. Don’t you walk away like this.”

“Haven’t you humiliated me enough tonight?” India dodged people congregating in the hallways, fully aware they were gawking at her. And him. And them.

“Come back here.”

Burning gazes of strangers raked her inked skin as deeply as if they were wielding tattoo needles. Disgusted glances at her piercings pricked her as sharply as if they were holding a piercing gun. Normally she could give a rip about the stares, but tonight she had a hard time holding her head up, which pissed her off.

She didn’t get far before Colt clamped his fingers around her biceps. “Let me go.”

“Not a chance.”

“Where’s your date?”

“Shut up, Indy.”

“I hate you.”

“No, sugar, you don’t.”

More tears surfaced.

He dragged her downstairs. Smart people scattered at seeing the intent on Colt’s face and the fury in his every movement.

Taking a quick look around, he pulled her into a closet in the middle of the hallway. Then he stepped in front of the door, blocking her exit. “Start talkin’.”

India mimed zipping her lip and tossing away the key.

“You are the most annoying woman I’ve ever met.” Colt advanced on her. “For the record? There are lots of things I feel for you, but pity ain’t one of them.”

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Her shoulders hit a wall.

“Still ain’t talkin’ to me?”

She shook her head.

Colt was a breath away. “I’ve got an idea on how you can put that smart mouth of yours to better use.”

Her lips parted. In protest or invitation? Dammit. Lately whenever they got within kissing distance all she could think about was locking lips with him. For hours. Days maybe.

“Well?”

“Fine. If you wanna talk so bad, why don’t you tell me one of the things you feel for me?”

“You couldn’t handle it right now because you’re mad and confused.”

“Mad? Yes. Confused? Where do you get off—”

“Look, at yourself. Why are you pushin’ me away with one hand, and pullin’ me closer with the other?”

“I’m not.” Then she noticed her right palm was flat against his chest shoving, while her left hand was bunched in his T-shirt pulling. “Nice try at changing the subject, but I know the real reason you won’t tell me.”

“What’s that?”

“In your dating…
void
over the last few years, your silver tongue has tarnished and you aren’t very good with words.”

“Is that so?” His eyes never left hers. “I wish you weren’t bein’

so damn difficult because we both know the real reason you’re fightin’ with me.”

“Wish granted.” She sidestepped him.

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A hand clamped on her shoulder. He used the momentum to spin her against the wall again.

“Let me go. You’ve made it clear—”

“No, I haven’t.” His hands braceleted her wrists and he held them firmly by her sides. Colt eliminated the gap between their bodies and nestled his cheek against hers. Whiskers scraped her jaw, his soft lips brushed the side of her neck, his hot breath skittered across her damp skin with every exhalation.

“This’ll make it a damn sight clearer of what I feel for you. I wanna touch you, Indy. Right here. With your back up to the wall. I wanna suck your nipples through your flimsy shirt. Taste how anger changes the sweet flavor of your skin. When that ain’t enough contact, I’ll lift up your shirt so I can pull those pretty pink nipples in my mouth, rollin’ my tongue around the hoops. I’ll suck hard, suck deep, suck for a good, long time.”

Colt’s words set her blood on fire.

“That ain’t all. I wanna go down on you. Yank off your jeans.

Rip aside your panties and finger you until you’re nice and wet.

Then I’ll drop to my knees and taste you. Gently at first. Lick a path from the top down to where you’re weepin’ for me.”

India’s knees threatened to buckle as he tormented her with erotic images.

“I’ll swirl the tip of my tongue around your opening, never going higher, sometimes slipping just a little too far back. Nipping that tasty tender flesh between your thighs with my lips and teeth.

Then I’ll jam my tongue as deeply inside you as it’ll go. I’ll do it 68

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Branded As Trouble

again and again and again. Licking you from the inside out. But I’d stop.”

“No,” she whispered hoarsely.

“
Yes
. I’ll pull back and cool you down.” He blew a stream of air across her neck. Chills beaded her skin. “Can’t you feel it? My breath blowing on the hottest part of you?”

“Colt—”

“When you can’t stand it, when you’re grinding your wet sex against my face, demanding release, then I’ll give you what you crave. My thumbs will spread you wide. I’ll set my mouth on you and I’ll suck until you explode on my tongue. And I’ll lap up your sweet juices like candy.”

India panted. She clenched her thighs together, hoping the pulsing tremors would break free into a full-fledged orgasm.

He dragged openmouthed kisses across her throat to her ear and whispered, “You still thinkin’ I ain’t good with words?”

She glimpsed fire burning in his eyes before he crushed her lips beneath his and kissed her until she thought her head would explode from the sheer hedonistic pleasure of it.

Eventually she recovered her sanity. “Is this some kind of game to see if you can get me hot and bothered?”

“You ain’t the only one who’s hot and bothered.” Colt released her right hand and placed it over his fly.

India felt his hardness straining against the zipper of his Wranglers. She stroked him until air hissed through his teeth. “Colt.

What are we doing here?”

“Goin’ straight to hell.”

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Lorelei James

“Then why doesn’t this feel wrong?”

“It isn’t. Stop.” Colt pushed back, putting a few feet between them. “I can’t do this again.”

“Do what?”

“Want you when I can’t have you and be miserable because I can’t stay away from you. I’ve tried. And what’s the first thing I do when I see you? Run the other direction? No. I haul you off and maul you.”

While India stared at him, he stared at the cement floor.

“I don’t want you to stay away from me, Colt.”

“Sayin’ stuff like that is not helpin’ this situation.”

“What will help?”

“I don’t know.” Colt left without another word.

India’s urge to cry was almost as strong as the one to run. Her fingers had circled the door handle to chase after him, when she heard a lilting voice say, “Colt?” on the other side of the door.

“Hey, Fallon. I was just comin’ to find you.”

“Really? Because I’ve been looking all over for you.”

Fallon? His date was named after a character on
Dynasty
?

Seriously?

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to run off.”

“But you did.” Pause. “What were you doing in that closet?”

Crap. They were so busted.

“Because someone told me they saw you and that tattooed woman sneaking in there together.”

That tattooed woman.

“Who told you that?”

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“About half a dozen different people. Are you denying it?”

“Who’s to say those people might’ve been mistaken about what they’d seen, or what they thought they’d seen?” he countered.

Not exactly a lie on Colt’s part.

“Tell me the truth. Were you in there alone?”

The tension crackled through the wooden door slats and India held her breath.

“No.”

“That’s what I thought. You were in there with her. When you were supposed to be on a date with me. People warned me about you, ‘Don’t go out with Colt McKay, he’s a womanizer and a player of the worst sort’ but did I listen to them? No.”

India’s stomach churned.

“Did you honestly believe no one would see you taking her into a supply closet for a quickie? Are you that much of a sex maniac?

Good Lord. You have to know I am not the kind of woman who does that sort of thing on the first date.”

Tell her you haven’t been on a date in your sober state. Tell
her you haven’t had sex in three years.

He stayed mum.

“I cannot believe I thought you’d changed.”

“Live and learn, I guess,” Colt said bitterly. “You ready for me to take you home?”

She laughed. Cruelly. “Right. Like I’d be seen with you again.

It’s probably just as well I caught you cheating right away, rather than finding out later what kind of sneaky man you are. And if she’s www.samhainpublishing.com 71

Lorelei James

the kind of woman who lets you screw her in public? Then you two deserve each other.”

Her angry bootsteps faded down the hallway.

Colt didn’t call after her.

Poor Colt. India really had no idea what to do.

You could’ve defended him.

Yeah, popping out of the closet with her lips swollen from his hard kisses would’ve been a sure-fire way to defend Colt’s honor.

When India finally found the guts to open the door, Colt was long gone.

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“
I cannot believe I thought you’d changed
.”

Story of his life in recent years.

Colt chinked his glass of Diet Coke to his reflection in the sliding glass door as a sarcastic self-toast. Well done. He wasn’t surprised Fallon had lashed out. He’d hurt her; her natural instinct was to strike back.

His natural instinct was to hole up with a bottle.

Not possible, but his body still craved a drink so badly his teeth hurt.

He’d tried to get out of an unhealthy situation with India, only to find himself defending her at the first opportunity.

The silence in the community center after the auctioneer announced India’s prize package tied Colt’s guts in knots. India might act tough, but beneath that hard outer shell was a softie trying to find her place within a community that didn’t easily welcome strangers.

Or didn’t readily believe long-time citizens could change.

They were both screwed. No wonder they’d been together these last few years. And Fallon, while trying to make it an insult, had it exactly right: they did deserve each other.

How could he convince India that statement was true?

Lorelei James

The high point of the night had been the ten minutes of heaven he and India carved out in the supply closet. Nothing else mattered but the need pulsing between them. Each kiss, each touch, awakened the sexual beast sleeping inside him.

Maybe that’s why he’d been content living a celibate life. He’d needed to learn who he was as a man, not a male who only thought with his dick.

So what now that the beast was fully awake?

Sate it. With lots and lots of sex.

Colt knew if he drove back into town and trolled the bars he could have a woman in his bed within an hour. But there was only one woman he wanted in his bed.

India.

Avoiding her had only produced a sharper ache. Lining up a date with another woman only proved he’d compare every female to the tattooed smart mouth who’d stolen his heart. Goddamn, she could piss him off one second and fire his blood with lust the next.

Drown your sorrows. You deserve to cut loose and try and
forget about her.

Nights like this were the worst, being unsure and frustrated only increased his cravings for alcohol.

So booze was out. Sex was out. Sleep was a lost cause. That left one thing.

Colt changed into workout shorts. In the spare bedroom, he slipped on his boxing gloves and beat the stuffing out of the punching bag until he was sweaty and too exhausted to think.

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The next morning the phone rang as Colt came inside from stacking wood. Only three people called him before eight on Sunday. India, his cousin Chassie, and his mother. Lately Chassie didn’t bother phoning first, she barged right into his house. He didn’t need to look at the caller ID today. “Hey, Ma.”

“Good morning!”

Carolyn West McKay was the cheeriest morning person on the planet. He poured the last of the coffee in his mug and listened to her chatter like a chipmunk. She’d get to the point of the call eventually. But she had this perverted sixth sense—if she thought you were trying to speed her along, she’d find irrelevant things to yammer on about.

“…just wanted to double-check that you were coming for an early family supper tonight.”

Finally. “How early?”

“Four o’clock.”

“Sure, I’ll be there.”

“Good. Cam is coming when he gets off shift. Wish Carter and Macie and their boys could be here. Keely too. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a family dinner.” Her weighted pause actually caused Colt to hold his breath. “Is there a chance you’ll be bringing a date?”