Colton smiled. “Thank you.”
“Where’d you find her? Or did you finally slow down and get caught?”
“Out in the panhandle. She’s an assistant to my financial advisor at the ranch. You’ve heard me speak about Andy.”
“According to Bunny, she is pretty as a picture. And she works and she likes livin’ on a ranch? Boy, you’d better hang on to that one!”
Colton chuckled. “Bunny tell you all that in a text message?”
“She gets a little wordy when she’s had a couple of drinks.”
“I got one big word of advice. Prenup!” Richard said.
Colton raised his glass as if in agreement. It was crazy how easy it was to convince people that he and Laura really were together without saying hardly anything at all.
“Smart man. First wife damn near wiped me out. I made Tootsie sign a prenup,” Richard said.
“Yeah, but she made you sign one too, didn’t she?” Willis asked.
Richard nodded.
Willis stood up. “Well, I’m going to go to my room and get out of these boots. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow. See y’all at ten right here.”
***
Laura stretched out in the Jacuzzi and let the warm water and jets work on her tense muscles. She’d made it through the first item on the agenda. If she had a gold sticky star she’d paste it on her forehead.
The ladies damn sure didn’t act like rich women, but then Laura had never dealt with a billionaire before so she didn’t have a ruler to go by. These old gals were funny, sweet, and Karen even drank beer. They were all a far cry from Viola Cranston, the fussy rich woman who came into the greenhouse in her high heels, floppy hats, and dripping diamonds from every finger.
The water finally grew lukewarm, so she reluctantly crawled out and wrapped a luxurious towel around her body. Roxie had worked hard on her fingernails, but two of them were already chipped. Her blond hair hung in damp strands.
“Thank you, Karen, for planning a day of beauty. I’m going to need it.” She talked to her reflection in the mirror.
She padded barefoot from bathroom to bedroom and dug her nightshirt and underpants from her suitcase. When she was dressed she headed for the living room. Using the arm of the sofa for a pillow, she snuggled down with a fluffy throw over her body and turned on the television. Reruns of
Friends
popped up.
She was laughing at Joey, who’d just found out that Monica and Chandler were sleeping together. Would Janet’s eyes bug out like that if she found out that Laura and Colton were sleeping together?
Damn, where did that bizarre thought come from? This was as made up as playing paper dolls in the yard with her sister when they lived in Arkansas. In their make-believe world the paper dolls kissed each other and hopped across the grass to live happily ever after. They did not take off their paper clothes and sleep together.
“You got home before I did. Bad night?” Colton said.
She blushed and looked up to see him leaning over the sofa. “No, it was a great night. We just got all our plans made and beers drank early and I came back to the room and had a long bath. I didn’t hear the elevator.”
“You were laughing too hard to hear anything.” He kicked off his boots and moved around to the front of the sofa. “I like that episode too. Joey’s eyes tell the tale, don’t they? I’m glad you had a good time. I worried about leaving you.”
She caught a whiff of his shaving lotion and her breath caught in her chest. She pulled the throw up tighter, but it didn’t ease the quivering mass of raw nerves. “I had fun. So you watched this too?”
“Oh, yes. It was the first grown-up sitcom that Granny let me watch. I couldn’t wait for the nights it came on. I was just a teenager when it started and up into my twenties when it ended. I never missed an episode. I own all ten seasons, so if you ever want to have a whole weekend of watching it, just holler at me.”
He removed his jacket, tossed it over a nearby chair, and scooted to the middle of the sofa. She started to jerk her feet up to give him room to sit, but he picked them up and laid them in his lap. “So you did fine with the ladies?”
They weren’t in public and there wasn’t even a bellboy in the room. He didn’t have to play the dating role, so why in the devil was he so close to her?
“They are great. Not what I was expecting, but great,” she mumbled.
He unwrapped one of her feet and started massaging it. “What were you expecting?”
How had he gotten to be thirty years old and still be single, with or without money, when he could rub a foot like that? Her skin tingled all the way to her scalp.
“I expected them to be all hoity-toity,” she said.
He grinned. “Amazin’, ain’t it? I figured I’d be treated like a redheaded stepchild when I first met them. But folks nowadays don’t care where you got the money. They just want to know what you’re going to do with it. People are people. Sometimes moneyed folks have toys that are a higher quality but they all take their britches off the same way at the end of the day.”
He could have massaged her feet all night without mentioning taking off britches. The sensation of his thumbs working on her arch and a picture of him slowly removing his jeans fanned a roaring hot fire of desire.
“That feels wonderful. Can I take your hands with me when I go back to Amarillo?”
“Sorry, darlin’. I go where they go and my ranch is in Ambrose. Why don’t you just leave your feet with me?”
“But how would I walk?”
“You wouldn’t. You’d have to stay with them.”
She propped up on her elbows. “So you are offering me a job as a permanent assistant on the ranch?”
He raised one shoulder in a half shrug. “You are doing right well at the ranch. Andy isn’t nearly as stressed. Yesterday, he was even whistling like he used to do all the time.”
“And how long do you plan on keeping up the dating ruse?” she asked.
He shrugged. “It’s working out pretty good for me. I’m usually knee-deep in women by now at this thing, but after I walked in with you and you were seen with the ladies, no one has come on to me. Andy and Granny are geniuses, but don’t tell them I said that.”
He tucked her feet back under the throw and stood up. “Hungry?”
He could have sat right there until daybreak, but since he stood, so did she. “No, Karen ordered a couple trays of appetizers for us while we were drinking. You?”
“We had snacks on the table.”
She had the gut feeling that they were not talking about food, but she had no idea what to do next. No, she did not want food. Yes, she did want something else, but the desire terrified her. Definitely she had no idea how to tell him in words what she felt.
“Sleepy?” he asked.
She flipped the throw back and stood up. “I’m way too wound up to be sleepy.”
He stretched and looked up. His green eyes felt as if they were shooting flashes of heat on her skin. When he blinked she cooled slightly for a nanosecond, but then his eyes opened and there was the fire again. The depth of his gaze drew her like a magnet.
He reminded her of a sleek male panther when he stood up and stretched, undressing her every minute with no more than his eyes. Lord, if he could make her squirm with just a long, lingering look, what would happen if his hands were on her body?
He took a step forward and she could feel the warmth of his breath on her forehead when he exhaled. Instinctively, the tip of her tongue moistened her lips. It all happened in slow motion. His mouth covered hers, first in a sweet kiss and then in a hungry, lingering one, and things kicked fast-forward so fast that her head swam.
She thought she heard Janet screaming from inside the elevator, telling her to slow down and make sure she wasn’t doing something she’d regret. She mentally pushed the button and sent her sister down to the lobby. After that all she could hear was the humming inside her heart.
He cupped her butt in both hands and she gave a little hop, wrapping her legs around his waist and both arms around his neck. She needed to feel his body against hers, so she pressed closer and closer. He backed up two steps and sat down on the sofa with her in his lap.
“Tell me to stop now if you are going to,” he whispered.
“I can’t,” she said honestly.
“This is not part of the deal and it’s not make-believe,” he said.
She leaned back and unsnapped his shirt all in one motion. “No, it is not.” She splayed her fingers out on his hard muscular chest. “I never knew that erotic zones had anything to do with my fingertips.”
“Guess it all depends on what you are touching.” He grinned.
His lips found hers before she could answer and his hands slipped up under the nightshirt to massage her back. God Almighty, every single inch of her skin had become erotic zones. His hands were ice and fire at the same time. Sizzling heat one second and then icy cold when his hand left that spot and moved on. She arched her back and purred like a kitten.
“Feel good?” he whispered.
“Mmmmm!”
He pulled the shirt over her head and tossed it on the floor.
Pressing her naked breasts against his chest, she bookcased his cheeks with her cool hands and brought his lips to hers again. She unbuttoned his shirt and pushed it back over his shoulders so she could touch his skin freely. His hands moved from back to breasts and she moaned out loud. His lips followed and she thought she’d melt in a puddle right there on the sofa.
As if he could read her mind, he readjusted her position, scooped her up into his arms like a bride, and carried her to his bedroom. “Sofa is too narrow. We got a king-sized bed.”
He laid her on the bed and true to the picture she’d had, he slowly kicked off his boots, unbuckled his belt, slid down the zipper of his jeans, and pushed them down to the floor. Her eyes bulged when she realized he wasn’t wearing underwear.
“Never learned to like them,” he answered her unasked question.
“Wow!”
“Thank you.” He gathered her up in his arms and started another round of steamy, hot kisses. His thumb and forefinger hooked in her panties and she raised her hips enough that he could remove them. And then his hands were everywhere on her body, touching as his mouth tasted. She ran her hands down across his chest, through the thin line of soft dark hair that extended from taut nipples to belly button. The combination of his hands on her and her newfound sensual fingertips on him created a fire that grew hotter and hotter until she thought she’d explode before they ever got around to having sex.
“My God, that feels good,” he whispered.
She inched her fingers down.
“And this?” She teased the already hard erection.
“That is going to get you in big trouble.”
“What kind?” she whispered.
He kissed her hard and rolled on top of her.
Her hands automatically went around his neck. She got ready for the first thrust, but he buried his face in her neck and nuzzled there until she groaned.
“Tell me what you want, Laura.” It felt as if his breath was making love to her.
Nothing mattered anymore. Not whether she stayed or went at the end of the month or whether she wore a cheap dress to a formal dinner. She just wanted Colton to put out the fire.
She wrapped her legs around him. “I want you.”
She arched against him and with a firm thrust he started a rocking rhythm that shot her straight upwards toward the full moon hanging over the Dallas skyline outside the bedroom window. She was frantic in her desire to find release, and yet she didn’t want it to end. His hands were magic and made her float somewhere between heaven and earth where gravity had no power.
“Oh. My. God,” she mumbled.
“I know,” he said.
Then his mouth covered hers. They could have been in a barn full of hay or on the banks of the river. It had nothing to do with the fancy hotel room and everything to do with a red-hot fire between them. They moved in unison and groaned at the same time. She wailed his name at the same time he mumbled hers and then it was over.
Her body had no bones and her breath came in quick, short gasps. Had she died in that last moment? Was her soul floating toward heaven and her body didn’t even realize that it had left?
Colton rolled to one side and six inches of space separated them. She felt lost until he laced his fingers in hers and squeezed. That kept her alive and her soul settled back into her body. She inhaled deeply several times and opened her eyes. He was inches away from her face and staring right at her. He brushed a soft kiss on her lips.
“Now I’m hungry,” he said.
“For what?”
“I’d say seconds but, darlin’, after that…” He let the sentence dangle.
“I thought I’d died. I don’t think I could do that again tonight,” she said.
“Intense,” he drawled.
“Doesn’t begin to cover it.”
He threw his left arm around her and drew her close. “You are…”
“What?” she asked.
“I can’t find the words.”
It was the most beautiful line she’d ever heard.
Laura had never slept with a man in her entire life. In the two relationships she’d had, they’d gotten together in motels and in their apartments but never in hers. And she’d always, always gone home long before daylight. When she awoke that morning, it took more than a minute to get her bearings. When she realized what she’d done and where she was, she threw a pillow over her head and hoped it didn’t catch on fire from the scarlet blush burning her face.
“Good morning,” Colton said cheerfully.
She mumbled something but didn’t move the pillow. She couldn’t look at him and she’d have trouble looking at herself in the mirror. She still had months and months of work to do at the ranch to pay Andy and she had to sit at the supper table with Colton and… the list went on and on.
“Wake up, sleepyhead. We’ve got a full day ahead of us.”
She wanted to crawl inside the pillowcase and flat-out die, but she sat up and managed a weak smile. She kept the pillow close in case she needed to use it again and looked everywhere in the room but at Colton.
“Hungry?” he asked.
“Mmmm,” she mumbled.
Food was the last thing on her mind.
“Are you awake or are you still sleeping even though your eyes are open?” he asked.
She glanced in his direction. He wore lounging pants printed with the Dallas Cowboys’ logo and a gauze undershirt with the tail hanging out. He was barefoot and he definitely had bedroom hair.
“Breakfast in bed. We’ll share,” he said.
“Coffee?” she muttered.
He nodded and headed back toward the door. “The beast does not wake without coffee?”
“The beast has been known to bite before coffee.” She pulled the covers up over her naked body and looked around for her underpants and shirt but couldn’t locate them anywhere.
Colton rolled a small cart into the room with a coffee service on the top and two dome-covered plates on the second shelf.
“Pancakes, bacon, and eggs, but first coffee. I would have pegged you for beauty, not beast.” He poured two cups of coffee and handed one to her before adding lots of cream and sugar to his.
She tucked the sheet tightly under her arms and held the cup in her hands for a few seconds, savoring the steamy aroma as it spiraled up. “Thank you.”
“No cream or sugar?” he asked.
She shook her head and sipped.
“So you like your coffee like your men?” A wicked, sexy grin put a twinkle in his green eyes.
She cocked her head to one side.
“Strong and hot,” he answered the question in her expression.
High color filled her cheeks.
“Is that a blush I see?” he asked.
“I don’t… I haven’t… I mean,” she stammered.
“Spit it out, Laura.” He chuckled.
“That was not make-believe and I’m not that kind of woman.” The words tumbled out.
He patted her bare shoulder. “It was what it was and it was fantastic. Want me to find a robe for you?”
Their eyes met in the middle of the bed and held.
“Please,” she whispered.
He kissed her on the forehead. A whisper of warm sweet coffee, his very breath told her that Colton didn’t think she was cheap and easy.
He handed her a thick white robe monogrammed with the hotel logo and turned his back while she slung her legs off the bed, dropped the sheet, and tied the belt firmly around her waist.
“Decent?” he asked.
“Yes, and thank you,” she said.
“Good. Come on around here and sit beside me while we have breakfast. We’ve got about an hour before we have to be down in the lobby.”
She tucked the robe in between her knees when she sat down. He set the two plates on the top of the cart and removed the domes. Her stomach growled at the smell of bacon and warm maple syrup.
“We worked up an appetite, didn’t we?” he said.
She blushed again. Couldn’t they pretend it never happened? In the other two relationships, the fellow called the next day but they didn’t talk about what they’d done the night before. But then, in those relationships there wasn’t much to talk about, not when compared to what had happened with Colton. She’d never been so hot, so wanton, or so satisfied when it was over.
“What’s on your calendar for the day?” he asked.
“We’re doing a day of beauty,” she said.
“Then you can call Karen and tell her that you will see her at the dinner tonight because you don’t need to do a day of beauty. You are gorgeous just like you are right now.”
The giggle was barely there but it relieved a whole lot of tension. “That is a line of shit. I just woke up and my hair is a fright. My eyes have bags under them and are droopy. I have to wear my glasses today if I get to wear contacts tonight, and remember, I’m the nerdy girl, not the sexy one.”
“I just see one lovely sexy woman in my bed eating breakfast with me, and if you don’t do the day of beauty, I can skip lunch and we can spend a whole hour in bed at noon.”
That time she was able to fend off the blush, but his words created a stirring of desire that she couldn’t brush away.
“I don’t think so. I’ve never had a day of beauty and I’m going to see what I’ve been missing.”
Her mouth said one thing; her brain thought another; her body screamed for a third that sounded much better than anything else.
He slid close enough that he could cup her cheeks in his palms. The kiss was one of those hungry ones that made her forget about food, beauty, and even breathing. It ended as abruptly as it started and he went back to eating.
“What was that all about?” she asked.
“While you are getting your day of beauty, I want you to think about what you are missing,” he said.
She picked up her last piece of bacon and crammed it into her mouth. She would have thought about him all morning anyway without the kiss, but now she wouldn’t be able to put him out of her mind for sure. No wonder so many women had been chasing him. If they knew what she did, they’d run even harder. Too damn bad theirs was a fake relationship. She could fall so easily for Colton and just as easily get her heart shattered into a billion pieces. No billion-dollar cowboy would ever settle for a woman who had worked in a greenhouse, who lived in boots and jeans, and could care less if her fingernails were painted pink, red, or even blue!
***
“It’s really not fair for Laura to be in the same room with us,” Bunny fussed.
“That’s right, Karen. You damn sure dropped the ball on this one. We’re all going to have self-esteem issues after today,” Tootsie said.
“God, I’d give half of my billions to have firm upper arms like you’ve got, Laura,” Melanie said.
Karen piped up from the end of the row of massage tables. “If they’re up for sale, I’ll give you more than she can rake up out of her bank accounts.”
Laura smiled. “Y’all are too funny.”
She swallowed a moan when the masseuse dug into the tight places in her neck and shoulders. It felt almost as good as the sex did the night before. Not
as
good
by any means. Nothing was that wonderful.
“I bet you brought that slouchy old black pantsuit for tonight, didn’t you, Karen?” Melanie asked.
“Jesus, I live in jeans and boots on the ranch. I hate to shop and it’s worked fine for five years, so it will be fine for one more boring dinner and dance.”
Laura listened to their conversation with one ear and to the trickling waterfall over against the far wall with the other. She imagined skinny-dipping in the small pool with Colton. She had to turn off the pictures or she’d be making sex noises right there on the massage table.
“Jesus ain’t goin’ to help you, Karen. You are not wearing that thing again. It’s out of style. We are going shopping right after the hair salon stuff. I made arrangements for an hour at a little boutique right beside the beauty shop. If we’re ready except for slipping into our new outfits, it won’t hurt to get back to the hotel thirty minutes later than we’d planned,” Melanie said.
“Gloria’s?” the lady massaging Bunny asked.
“That’s right,” Melanie said. “We may all buy something new, but Karen is definitely not wearing that ugly outfit she’s worn for twenty years.”
“Five, not twenty,” Karen said.
“Well, it’s damn sure ugly enough for twenty years. What’d you bring, Bunny?” Melanie asked.
“I’m not saying jack shit. I’m just going to buy something new. I don’t want you bitchin’ at me. What about you, Tootsie?”
“I’ll buy whatever Melanie and Gloria pick out, long as it doesn’t show my bat-wing arms or my flabby stomach. I swear gravity just sucks fat cells down faster and faster.”
“Laura?” Melanie asked.
“You mean I can’t wear bibbed overalls and go barefoot?” she asked.
“Honey, you probably could and even in that put everyone else to shame, but you ain’t goin’ to. What did you bring?”
“A cute little red dress, but I’m not afraid to change my mind.”
“Good girl,” Melanie said.
After the deep massage, Laura felt like a wet noodle. She was amazed that her legs carried her to the next room, where curtains separated five deep Whirlpool tubs. Her personal lady-of-the-day, Sarah, waved a hand in front of dozens of containers filled with bath salts.
“What’s your favorite fragrance?”
She glanced down the row and finally pointed at the warm vanilla sugar. The woman opened the top and put three heaping scoops into the bubbling warm water. She motioned for Laura to get inside, hung her robe on a hook when she dropped it, and tucked a rolled towel under her neck when she was comfortable in the tub. Then she massaged Laura’s face and temples for ten minutes before applying a mud mask.
“We’ll let that set for twenty minutes before we remove it. I’ll leave you to relax while it does its job,” Sarah said softly.
Laura couldn’t wait to share what it meant to have a day of beauty with her sister. Janet would squeal when she heard about a thirty-minute soak in a Whirlpool that smelled like vanilla.
“What flavor did you go for?” Karen hollered from the other side of the curtain.
“Peach,” Tootsie said. “If I wasn’t already through menopause, I’d swear I was pregnant. I’ve been craving peaches like when I was expecting both my girls.”
“Honey, you passed menopause twenty years ago. And you have to be exposed to get pregnant.” Bunny giggled.
“Hey, now! I’ve been exposed. Maybe not as often or as wild as I used to get exposed but I haven’t dried completely up yet.”
Karen’s voice was louder than theirs. “You two are going to embarrass Laura. I swear, I see a red glow from behind her curtains.”
“I’m not blushing,” Laura protested. “Good for you, Tootsie. I’m not going to dry up when I get to be forty either.”
“Forty, my ass!” Bunny exclaimed. “Forty has done bypassed her like a wild Texas tornado.”
Tootsie giggled. “We were all wild as Texas tornadoes in our day, weren’t we, girls?”
Melanie piped up. “I wouldn’t know what y’all are talking about. Changing the subject before we do embarrass Laura… what time did you say that afternoon snack was coming around? I’m hungry.”
“Soon as they wash the mud off our faces, we get to eat,” Karen answered.
Lunch was served at a glass table at the edge of a bubbling waterfall. They wore their white robes as they nibbled on finger sandwiches, pepper poppers, strawberries, and grapes, and sipped chilled glasses of wine. After that they dressed in their jeans and boots to go to the hair salon. Five women waited with snap-front robes for them to slip over their clothing and then the next step began.
“Oh, darlin’, I love your hair and the way it’s cut; we could do it up like Marilyn Monroe in the picture where she’s standing over the vent. The old styles like that are making a comeback and you’ve got just the figure and face to wear it.”
“I agree,” Karen said.
Laura nodded. “I’m at your mercy.”
“Oh, let’s find her a dress like that for the dance tonight,” Bunny said.
“There’s one in the window over at Gloria’s,” the hairdresser said. “I looked at it but it was too small for me to fit into. I bet it would work great on you. It’s shorter than Marilyn’s and there are sparkly stones on the halter, but it would have the same effect. It would be perfect with the hairstyle I’ve got in mind.”
“You’re going to knock Colton’s eyes out,” Bunny said.
“I don’t know…” Laura started.
“Honey, in twenty years your arms are going to look like shit and your boobs won’t be all perky. Enjoy your time because it won’t last forever,” Bunny said seriously.