Page 60 of Colton in the Wild
To her surprise, he shook his head. “You got me back when I needed it most.”
She knew he meant back in school. “I always knew how smart you were, you just had this glitch. It took until I realized how brilliant you were at math, unless it was a word problem, to put it together.”
“But you did. I thought I was just stupid, like everybody said.”
“Surely your parents didn’t.”
He shrugged and looked a little sheepish. “No, they didn’t. They told me just the opposite. But at that age, what do your parents know?”
She laughed. “I was always amazed at how smart Mom got after I turned twenty-five.”
“Yes. Mine, too.”
“They are very smart,” she confirmed.
“But they think…” He shifted his gaze back to the window.
“They think what?”
“That we…belong.” He looked back at her, took a deep breath and added, “Together.”
And there it was. The opening she’d wanted. And, for the first time, she didn’t hesitate. “Told you they were smart.”
“Hetty…”
“I’d run to you, like in the movies, if I could.”
He was on his feet in an instant. He didn’t quite run, but only because the room wasn’t that big. Still, he was with her in mere seconds, close, warm, his arms around her as he looked down at her.
“You’re sure, Hetty? Because if you change your mind, I’ll stop, but it may kill me.”
She smiled up at him, letting all the feelings that had been swirling between them show. “When do I get to see the bedroom?”
He swore under his breath, low, harsh, and so hungry, it made her flush with heat.
“By the way,” she added, feeling a little giddy, “the doctor says you have to do all the work.”
“My pleasure,” he said, and he sounded every bit as hot and eager as she felt.
The promise of that night in the cave was about to be kept.
Chapter 32
Spence wasn’t a slob, something he was thankful for at the moment. He might have tossed a shirt over the back of that chair by the window and hung the towel to dry from the bathroom doorknob this morning, but other than that, the bedroom was tidy enough. Besides, to him, the big window that looked down at the sound, and the fact that he could see just the edge of the RTA building in the distance, made him not care so much what the inside looked like. Of course, it made life a little interesting this time of year when the sun never really set, but a good pair of blackout curtains helped.
But right now, absolutely nothing mattered other than the woman he held in his arms. He’d never dreamed, never dared even hoped, that they might end up here like this someday. He’d always thought she’d disliked him so much it could never, ever, happen. He’d always thought she still remembered him as that kid everyone wrote off as stupid, or whose brain was weird.
And then he couldn’t think at all because Hetty, his Hetty, the woman he’d always assumed was far beyond his reach, was kissing him. Hotly, fiercely, until he was breathless. He had the crazy thought his muscles had melted from it, because he felt as if they couldn’t hold him up any longer.
It was all he could do to control how they fell onto his bed, making sure he took the brunt, with Hetty deliciously on top of him. She was so lithe, energetic and strong, he almost forgot about her leg. And the doctor’s orders.
He tore his mouth from hers long enough to say, “I’m supposed to be doing all the work, remember?”
“Then stop being so hot,” she whispered.
Spence didn’t know whether to laugh or yell with joy, and what came out was a tangle of both. Clothes disappeared in a rush and it was all he could do to handle hers gently, although when she was fully healed and well, all bets would be off. He fumbled with the condom. He would have written it off to it having been a while, but he had the feeling it was just Hetty.
His imaginings of how this might be, if it ever came to pass, were nothing compared to the living, breathing reality. Fiery was the only word he could think of. Every time he touched her, heat leapt along his nerves, and when she touched him, it roared to life so fiercely he was surprised he couldn’t hear the crackle of the flames.
