Page 73 of Colt

“Come here,” Colt muttered, holding out his hand.

I took it, smiling at the tingle I always felt when we were skin-to-skin as I shuffled toward him.

He lifted my leg under the knee and pulled it across his lap until I straddled him, sliding his arms around my lower back. “What you thinkin’ about?”

My gaze lowered to his lips. “Just wondering how I got by without you for so long.”

He smiled so big his eyes crinkled at the edges. “Been askin’ myself the same thing. I tell myself I had to wait for you to grow up, and it happened when it was meant to.”

“I know,” I whispered. “But sometimes it feels too good to be true and that you’ll get taken away.”

He brought his hands up to frame my face. “No, Freya. Whatever happens next, we’ll get through. As long as we fight for each other, we’ll be okay.”

Blood raced through my veins, and every inch of skin he touched tingled.

My emotions ebbed and flowed through my chest, surging like the tides until I couldn’t hold it in anymore. Tears welled in my eyes. “I love you.”

Colt paused briefly before leaning forward, gently pecking my lips and muttering, “Same.”

Tears began to burn the back of my throat.

He hadn’t said the words, but the sentiment was there. The practical part of my brain told me it was still early days. He’d say it when he was ready. But I wanted to curl up with embarrassment. No girl wanted to be left hanging, but at the same time, I knew I couldn’t force it.

“You still goin’ out tonight?” he asked, cleverly changing the subject.

I swallowed down the sting from my wounded pride and nodded. “Yeah. It’ll be weird saying goodbye to my friends. We’ve studied together for so long that they almost feel like family. If Abi hadn’t promised to follow me when she graduates, I’m not sure I could leave.”

“She’s fuckin’ crazy mad,” he said good-naturedly. “But she also runs deep.”

I ran my fingers over his cheek and whispered, “Mad isn't necessarily a bad thing. Here, you should embrace a side of you that is quirky and unpredictable, and maybe when you get back to reality, you’ll want to take a little of that with you.”

“Look at you, quoting Alice in Wonderland,” he breathed. “Is it any wonder you knock me off-kilter?”

I smiled, looked into his eyes, cocked an eyebrow, and threw his word back at him, “Same.”

Colt tipped his head back and laughed.

I noted his sparkling eyes, white teeth, and happy expression and giggled from the infectiousness of his hearty chuckle.

It was hard not to get sucked in by him. Colt had a smolder that I’d loved since I was a young girl. He had something about him, a natural magnetism that held my interest and made other men fall by the wayside.

Of course, I’d waited so long and saved everything for him. Nobody affected me like he did. Nobody else measured up.

I loved Colter Van Der Cleeve so much that sometimes it hurt to look at him.

I always had.

But I couldn’t ignore the sliver of uneasiness weaving through my belly because of the one word he threw at me when I made myself vulnerable and told him my truth.

Same.

Colt

Two A.M. and I sat in the darkened lounge, waiting with my hands clenched into fists.

I’d been calling Freya for hours, but she’d ghosted my ass.

She was subconsciously punishing me for not saying the words back to her, and it pissed me off.

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