Page 39 of Colt

18

Colt

The sun shining through my blinds woke me up, and I was caught off guard when I realized I wasn’t alone. A memory of asking Ember to stay made me groan out loud. What the hell was I thinking? It was dumb to let her believe this was anything more than two people dealing with their grief. My life was complicated enough without blurring the lines between the two of us.

The moment I started kissing her last night, I knew it was a bad idea. But I couldn’t stop. For a little while, all the stress from Fitz’s death and the crap we were facing disappeared. But using her to fuck away my problems wouldn’t end well for her or me.

She must have sensed I was awake because she rolled over and stared at me. “Good morning.” Her voice was soft, and she almost seemed shy in the morning light—a vivid contrast from the woman who dropped down to her knees in front of me last night.

This morning was different than the time after our night together years ago. For starters, I didn’t haul ass out of bed this time, even though I probably should have. I also didn’t have an angry father threatening my balls if I ever got near his daughter again. Actually, that could still happen. Her father was gone, but she still had Ice and Viking, and pissing either of them off wasn’t at the top of my list of priorities. Regardless, I knew this was a fucked-up situation.

The way she was looking at me with those big green eyes wasn’t helping my raging case of morning wood, but I knew I couldn’t go there again. But the last time I’d had a woman stay the night because I’d both wanted and needed her to stay with me had been Jenna, and remembering that was a hard pill to swallow. It freaked me out just how good it felt to wake up next to someone that had a connection to you beyond sex. Most of the time, the next morning meant nothing, but the idea of waking up next to Ember wrapped around me was a very appealing thought—one that I wasn’t going to entertain beyond this point.

The sooner I got her out of my room, the better.

I sat on the edge of my bed, grabbing the jeans I’d tossed on the floor and pulled them on. Standing up, I walked over to my closet and grabbed a t-shirt and slipped it over my head. Getting dressed would keep me from throwing caution to the wind and burying myself in her sweet heat one more time.

Not returning her greeting must have been enough of a clue that we weren’t going to sit around and talk about what happened between us. Instead of saying anything else, Ember sat up and threw on her black dress. The piece of fabric served as a grim reminder of why we were in this situation in the first place.

Ember tried to maintain some semblance of modesty by tucking the sheet around her body as she slipped the dress over her head. Her efforts didn’t keep me from catching one more glimpse of the best set of tits I’d ever seen.

As soon as she was dressed, she left my room without sparing me another glance. Something that felt a lot like guilt settled over me. Ember didn’t deserve to be used, especially after everything she’d been through. But I wasn’t the one she should be seeking comfort from.

I grabbed my cut and walked out the door. Heading into the kitchen, I saw Viper and Wolf sitting at the table along with one of the prospects, TJ. No one else seemed to be around. I grabbed a mug from the counter, filled it with what was left in the coffee pot, and joined them.

“Well, that was an interesting turn of events last night,” Viper started in as I pulled my phone out to check my messages.

“What are you talking about?” I wasn’t trying to play dumb, but I didn’t feel like talking about what happened with anyone.

“Dude, are you really going to sit there and pretend like you didn’t drag that girl through the clubhouse and up to your room like a caveman?”

Viper laughed at me like I was an idiot. Wolf, however, just sat there and said nothing, lost in his own headspace.

“I thought it was weird that you claimed her so quickly, but damn you two were trying to burn down the place last night,” TJ interjected as he walked out of the kitchen to go work the front gate.

“Yeah, the noises coming from your room sounded like someone was having a real good time,” Viper added.

“I didn’t realize I was sitting down to breakfast with a couple of gossiping bitches,” I snapped, suddenly irritated and in no mood for them talking about Ember in that way. I knew it was irrational, but I couldn’t help it either.

Ember and I weren’t an item but I felt strangely protective of her... and me. Of us. Like I was taking this relationship seriously instead of a ploy, a directive by my president. I knew it was because we’d had sex last night, but nothing had changed in terms of what I wanted from the women I hooked up with. Nothing serious, always let them go. Last night was a mistake, even Ember knew that by the way she left me, but it made me wonder what it’d be like if we weren’t pretending. I shook my head, a useless thought since I didn’t want anything real with anyone.

“Don’t be a dick. We’re just giving you shit,” Viper said, giving me a funny look. “Truthfully, I was surprised it took you this long to seal the deal with her.”

I leveled him with a glare that said I wasn’t messing around. “We didn’t seal shit. We fucked, that’s it. It doesn’t change anything. I still don’t like her. I’ve got a job to do, that’s it.”

I regretted my words the second they left my mouth and felt like shit when I heard a small gasp behind me.

“Fuck,” I growled before pushing away from the table to go after Ember.

She was climbing the stairs as fast as her legs would take her.

“Hey, wait up,” I said as I bounded up the stairs behind her.

“Leave me alone, Colt.”

I managed to spin her around just before she reached her room. I knew she was pissed, but I wasn’t expecting to see tears filling her eyes. I dropped her arm as quickly as I grabbed her.

“I shouldn’t have said that.” I didn’t know what else to say. While I was conflicted about our night together, I didn’t want her to feel ashamed or embarrassed. And I’d only said that to get Viper off my back.