Page 68 of Need You
“So other than taking the kayak out, how was your day?”
“Well, it started with me taking eight geriatrics on a nature hike and went downhill from there.”
“Really? The hike sounds nice.”
“Perhaps not as bad as having terminal cancer. My family doesn’t seem to understand that I have a full-time job. They’re constantly hitting me up to sub in, which I wouldn’t mind occasionally. But it’s become a regular thing. I only get one day off a week.”
“Why is that?” she asked while pouring his beer into a chilled pilsner glass.
“We’re short staffed and I’m a control freak.”
She bent over to hand him his beer and he could see down her shirt. Nice lacy bra. God, he was such a dick.
“Can’t you hire more people?”
“Thanks to the mayor, I don’t have the budget. But Jack and I have written a proposal and plan to bring it up at the next city council meeting.” Which was sure to piss off old Pond Scum.
“I would hope so. Working six days a week and being on call all hours of the night is crazy. You need help, Colt.”
“Want to sit on the deck?” Maybe the mountain breeze would cool his ardor, because he was seriously thinking about carrying her into the nearest bedroom. Ever since that kiss, he’d been hot to sleep with her, despite his misgivings.
“Sounds great. I’ll just throw together some nibbles.”
He took her arm. “We don’t need nibbles.”
“Okay. Let me at least pour myself a glass of wine.”
He watched her reach up into the cupboard for a goblet and nearly lost his mind as her shirt inched up in the back, showing an expanse of creamy skin. For a second he fantasized about what it would feel like to press his lips there.
“You ready?” With glass in hand, she led the way.
It was definitely a few degrees cooler outside, but it wasn’t helping. Colt waited for Delaney to choose a seat among the wrought-iron patio furniture and took one as far away as he could without being conspicuous about it. He had to get a grip.
“You close to finishing the costumes?” he asked, for the sake of something to say.
“I am. Just needed to come up with a few things for some of the minor characters, but Danny’s and Sandy’s are all set.”
“It was nice of you to take it on.”
“I actually enjoyed it and it was easy. The 1950s don’t require much. Shakespeare would’ve required more of a challenge.”
“Rita will be happy. I don’t know why she doesn’t run for mayor; she does everything else in this town.”
“Hopefully, I’ll still be here to see the performance.”
He froze. “It’s the last week in October. You planning to leave before then?”
“The plan was for me to stay long enough to get a collection going and to buy a new place in Los Angeles. I do have a business to run and it’s there, not here.”
“Right.” He’d known that from the get-go, so why was he suddenly surprised? “You don’t have a house there anymore?”
“I’ve listed mine, which I got in the divorce. I don’t need all that house and I’ll need capital to run my new company. I’ll probably get a condo in Santa Monica or Venice.”
“You like the ocean, huh?”
“And the mountains too.” She gazed around the house. “This place was Robert’s idea, but I’ve come to love it—and the town.”
“Yep, Glory Junction’s something.” Lisa had called it quaint, which he’d found insulting. Quaint wasn’t the way you described home. And for him this was home—everything he loved. Family, friends, and the people he’d known his entire life, who had shaped him into the man he was today.
