Surrender To Sultry (21 page)

He ambled across the foyer and took the stairs while Granddaddy waited for the elevator.
Colt was in a lousy disposition by default, but his mood darkened when he reached
the fifth floor nursery and spotted a familiar blond ponytail at the other end of
the corridor.

Leah didn’t see him. She was too busy gazing into the nursery with her fingertips
pressed against the glass. The longing on her face made his chest heavy and his arms
twitch to wrap around her.
There’s no pain in the world like carrying a child for nine months and watching another
woman take him home
, she’d told him.
Especially
knowing
I
can’t get pregnant again
. Colt clenched his fists. He didn’t want to remember her words, and he sure as hell
didn’t want to feel sorry for her.

He was about to duck back into the stairwell when a man wearing a white lab coat joined
Leah at the observation window and handed her a Styrofoam coffee cup. Colt leaned
forward and squinted at the guy’s smooth cheeks and the stringy blond hair brushing
his shirt collar. It was Dr. Benton, that Doogie Howser wannabe. He said something
that made Leah smile, then cupped her lower back and steered her toward a door marked
Staff
Only
.

A surge of red hot jealousy scalded the inside of Colt’s throat. Benton, that baby-faced
bastard, was touching Leah, and he made no move to drop his hand even after she pushed
open the door. Colt wanted to drop-kick Benton into next week, but he missed his chance.
The two of them vanished inside the room—for something that looked an awful lot like
a coffee date—and the door whispered shut.

“Hey,” someone said from nearby. “Thanks for coming.”

It was Luke Gallagher, who’d already begun towing Colt by the shirtsleeve toward the
nursery while Granddaddy followed. Colt gritted his teeth and tried not to imagine
what Leah and the doctor were doing inside that private room—whether Benton was making
her laugh or complimenting her beauty or asking her out for dinner. Her personal life
was none of his business anymore, and if she wanted to date another doctor, then so
be it. Benton was a better match for her anyway. What had she and Colt ever had in
common?

“There she is,” Luke said, pointing at the glass. “Third one from the left.”

Colt peered at a squirming bundle of blankets encased in a plastic bassinet, but he
couldn’t stop seeing Benton’s pale hand at the base of Leah’s spine.

“How’s our Calamity June?” Granddaddy asked. “Feelin’ rough, I expect.”

“She’s a little beat up, but she’ll be fine—thanks to Leah.”

Colt snapped to attention and turned to face Luke. “McMahon?”

“Yeah, she didn’t tell you?” Luke dragged one hand over his face and shook his head
in reverence. “She’s the one who figured out something was wrong with June and drove
her to the ER. Just in time too. Doc Benton said in another ten minutes her liver
would’ve ruptured.” He clapped Colt on the arm and said, “Congrats, man. You’ve got
a real keeper. I think Doc Benton’s trying to recruit her for intensive care.”

Benton was trying to recruit her, all right, and not just for the nursing staff. Colt
shouldn’t give a damn, but he did.

While Luke and Granddaddy made kissy noises at the windowpane, Colt tried to ignore
the acid burning a hole in his gut. Leah had done him wrong, and yet
he
was the one taking karma’s size twelve boot up the ass. What had he done to deserve
this?

Leah sat in the empty parking lot of Ella-Mae’s Waffle Shack, otherwise known as The
Awful Waffle, and drummed her nails on the steering wheel. With its limited menu of
doughy hotcakes, watery syrup, bitter coffee, and rubbery eggs, the Shack’s nickname
was well-deserved. Nobody ate here—it was a miracle the place stayed in business.
But if you wanted a quiet breakfast free from prying eyes, The Awful Waffle marked
the spot.

That’s why she was here: to introduce Colt to the Ackerman family in a neutral place
where neither side would feel threatened.

Now to survive the waiting…

Nervous tingles danced across her chest. Colt wasn’t her biggest fan these days, and
he could be a real wild card when angry. For the last nine years, she’d walked a meticulous
line with Noah’s parents, careful not to rock the boat and lose the privileges they
granted her. She’d damaged that relationship by lying, and she prayed Colt wouldn’t
fly off the handle and make it worse.

Speak of the devil, the good sheriff pulled up in his cruiser and rolled to a stop.
He could’ve parked beside her, but instead he put four wide spaces between them in
a silent message that he still wanted nothing to do with her. He turned off the ignition
and stared out his front windshield, refusing to acknowledge her with even a glance.

His rejection stung. Each cold-shouldered snub pricked her heart like thistle, and
he’d given her no reprieve in the week since she’d told him the truth. Her hopes of
forgiveness were fading fast. It was probably time to admit that Colt’s anger was
stronger than his love.

But even if it was too late for them, she could try to salvage her friendship with
the Ackermans, and to do that, she’d have to talk to Colt and make him see reason.
Taking a fortifying breath, she stepped out of her car and charged toward his cruiser.

The brisk morning air condensed into fog when she exhaled, and she pulled her sweater
lapels tight over her breasts to hold in the warmth. When she reached Colt’s passenger
door, she bent at the waist and knocked politely on his window.

He gave her nothing. With one arm slung over the steering wheel, the immature jerk
sipped his coffee and continued ignoring her.

This was ridiculous. Leah tried opening the door but found it locked. Temper flaring,
she pounded on his window. “I can do this all day!”

He still didn’t look at her, but he rolled his eyes and hit the automatic unlock button.
She took a second to calm down and climbed in before he had a chance to change his
mind.

The inside of Colt’s cruiser was warm and thick with the scent of his aftershave,
a smell that conjured bittersweet memories of their single night together. It was
hard to believe that just days ago, they’d fused their skin and twined their limbs
in a compulsion to get as close as possible, to join their bodies and souls. Now Colt
couldn’t get far enough away.

A pang of loss shot through Leah, so acute she struggled to catch her breath. It seemed
there was no limit to how much she could suffer. Every interaction with this man,
no matter how trifling, cut to the core. It was then that she knew what she had to
do. She would give him what he wanted—she’d leave town. The sooner the better. Maybe
she could return to Sultry Springs someday, but for now the pain was too fresh. She
needed time to heal her bruised spirit, and she couldn’t do that with Colt in her
life.

“Well?” The low timbre of his voice sent another ripple of agony through her. “What’s
so important that you had to beat down my door?”

Even though it hurt, she forced herself to face him, blindingly handsome in his starched
uniform. “I thought it’d be a good idea to talk before the Ackermans get here. We
should make sure we’re on the same page.”

He took a long, slow sip of coffee, forcing her to wait on needles for a response.
Several seconds ticked by, and then he took another sip. Finally, he said, “We’re
not on the same page. You made sure of that ten years ago.”

Leah leaned back against the leather seat and huffed a sigh. Clearly, Colt wasn’t
going to make this easy. “Look, I know you’re mad, and you have every right to be.
But I need you to pretend for one minute that you don’t hate me. Can you do that?”

He made eye contact now—in the form of an icy blue-green glare.

“We need to talk before we go in there,” she continued. “Or we’re going to make the
situation worse than it already is.”

“Fine.” He faced front and raised his mug to his lips. “Then talk.”

Leah glanced out the back window for Jim and Diane’s rental car. They should be here
any minute. “The Ackermans have always let me see Noah, but we don’t have a legal
agreement. There’s nothing in writing. They could cut me off anytime, and I wouldn’t
have a leg to stand on in court. They don’t have to let you see Noah either, so keep
that in mind before you start making demands.”

“What do you think I’m gonna do?” He spoke into his coffee, sounding offended. “Go
in there and order an omelet, then draw my Glock and kidnap him?”

“Don’t rock the boat. That’s all I’m trying to say. You’ve got a temper, CJ, and—”

“Hey,” he objected. “I don’t have a temper!”

“Oh, please.” She cocked her head to the side. “Need I remind you of The Great Condom
Incident, where you pulverized Tommy’s liver right there at the Sack-n-Pay checkout
line?”

“It was his kidney, not his liver. And besides, that doesn’t count.” Colt waved her
off. “Tommy needed someone to take him down a peg. Anyone but
you
would understand, Saint Leah the Passive.”

She made a frustrated noise from the back of her throat. “You’re infuriating, you
know that?”

“Now who has the temper?”

Leah’s head came dangerously close to exploding, but fortunately, a silver Ford Taurus
pulled up beside the cruiser and forced an end to their argument.

“Noah’s a sweet boy,” she said with an artificial smile and a wave out the window.
“So you be sweet too.”

Colt nestled his coffee mug inside the dashboard holder. Before opening his door,
he left her with a sarcastic jab. “Got it. Thanks for having so much faith in me,
as usual.”

His words stunned her and she sat for a silent beat with her fingers frozen around
the door handle. Colt had thrown the barb at her in spite, but a tug of guilt from
the pit of her stomach told her there was a kernel of truth behind it. She hadn’t
had faith in his ability to parent their baby all those years ago, so she’d arranged
the adoption behind his back. Had she made the same mistake by expecting him to cause
trouble today? Colt got under her skin like a deer tick, but he was probably right.
She still lacked faith in him. By the time she geared up to apologize, he’d already
stepped out onto the sidewalk.

She joined Colt near the Waffle Shack entrance and linked arms with him to present
a united front. He stiffened the set of his elbow but didn’t pull away. Leaning in,
she whispered, “I’m sorry. I do have faith in you.”

He didn’t answer, just pulled off his Stetson and alternated nervous glances between
his boots and the son he’d never met. She decided to help him along. It was the least
she could do.

She waved Noah over with an enthusiastic grin. “Hey, Bud! Come here—I missed you!”

A toothy smile split her boy’s face, and she felt it like sunshine warming her from
scalp to toes. He looked so handsome in his tan corduroys and the dinosaur sweater
she’d given him last Christmas. As he ran toward her, she lowered and reached out
her arms to him.

He gave her a tight squeeze, surrounding her in his signature little boy scent of
outdoor air and grape shampoo. She hugged him back and closed her eyes to soak him
up until he got fidgety. Noah hugs never lasted long enough.

When she stood, she nodded at Colt. “I want you to meet my good friend, Colton Bea.”
Then she widened her eyes and said in a super-serious voice, “He’s the sheriff of
the
whole
county.”

“Whoa.” Noah turned an equally wide-eyed gaze at Colt. After taking in every gadget,
badge, and patch along Colt’s uniform, he surprised her by matter-of-factly stating,
“You’re my birth dad.”

She and Colt shared a quick glance. “That’s right,” Leah said. “Did your mom and dad
talk to you about that?”

“Uh-huh, they told me yesterday.” Noah motioned to Jim and Diane, who held back a
few feet to give them some space. “Mom said a man named Colton Bea put me in your
tummy a long time ago, but he couldn’t take care of me ’cause he was still in school,
just like you were.”

Leah felt her cheeks flushing. She didn’t know how much Diane had explained about
the birds and the bees, so she didn’t elaborate. “That’s right. Colt is your birth
father like I’m your birth mother. And he loves you just as much as I do, even though
you two have never met. Isn’t that cool?”

Noah thought about it a moment before deciding, “Yeah. He’s got a cowboy hat and a
pistol and everything.” Colt chuckled at that, and Noah asked him, “Do you get to
arrest a lot of bad guys?”

“I sure do. We’ve got a whole jail full of ’em. And I brought something for you.”
Colt reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a silver star. He bent at the knees
until he was eye-level with Noah and leaned in as if to share a secret. “Now, don’t
tell anyone, but these are the badges we give
real
deputies. We don’t hand these out to just anybody.”

Noah’s black brows shot up his forehead.

“I was thinkin’ you could be my deputy in training,” Colt told him. “I can’t give
you a cruiser since you’re not driving age, but we could probably wrangle up a hat
in your size. What do you think?”

Noah whirled around and asked Diane, “Can I, Mom?” She nodded and Noah didn’t wait
another moment to accept his gift. Colt pinned it to his sweater, careful not to pierce
the dinosaur’s head, while Noah beamed like a sixty-watt bulb. “Thanks,” he said,
admiring his star.

“You’re welcome.” Colt extended a hand. “Nice to meet you.” When Noah gave it a vigorous
shake, Colt nodded appreciatively and said, “Nice grip.”

Leah figured it was time to introduce the Ackermans. She waved at them and touched
Colt’s shoulder. “Jim and Diane, this is Sheriff Colton Bea.”

The three of them leaned in to exchange greetings and handshakes, their postures stiff
and their smiles tight. Diane, whose wardrobe typically consisted of yoga pants and
long-sleeved T-shirts, had dressed in a pantsuit paired with pearls. She fidgeted
with her designer purse strap and clung to Jim, who looked more like a math professor
than a graphic designer in his tweed sport jacket. It seemed everyone had something
to prove today, including Colt, who could’ve worn street clothes but obviously felt
more powerful in his uniform.

What they all needed was to relax and bond over a greasy second-rate breakfast. Leah
wrapped an arm around Noah and led him toward the front door. She called over her
shoulder, “Everyone ready? The food’s great here. I hope you’re hungry!”

***

“That’s not a T-rex.” Noah tapped his finger against the green dinosaur embroidered
on his sweater. “It’s an allosaurus.”

The boy said it with so much authority that Colt believed him, but he still asked,
“How do you know?”

“T-rex was bigger.” Noah shrugged as if the answer should be obvious, then sipped
his herbal tea like a little scholar. “He weighed three times as much.”

Colt mirrored his son and took a swig of the pond sludge that passed for coffee in
this joint. Why Leah had insisted on meeting here was beyond him. “You know an awful
lot about dinosaurs.”

Noah darted a glance at Diane. “My mom takes me to Dino Camp at the museum every Saturday.”

Private school, museum memberships, science camps—Colt couldn’t deny the Ackermans
had given his boy the kinds of things he couldn’t have provided at seventeen. Judging
by the couple’s fancy clothes and trendy haircuts, they had plenty of cash to drop
on Noah, but that didn’t make Colt feel all warm and fuzzy about the adoption. Money
and education weren’t everything. He could’ve taught his son how to throw a perfect
spiral and how to catch a catfish using nothing more than a night crawler and a few
yards of fishing line. And if you asked him, that kind of knowledge was more practical
than how to tell dinosaurs apart.

“You play any sports?” Colt asked.

Leah answered from the other end of the long table, “He sure does. Noah’s soccer team
is going to regionals again this year, aren’t you, Bud?”

“Uh-huh.”

Soccer? A deep-in-the-heart-of-Texas Bea man playing
soccer
? “That’s great,” Colt ground out while clapping his boy on the back. “But a big,
strapping guy like you? I took you for a football player.”

“Nah,” Noah said. “I don’t like football.”

Colt almost choked on his coffee. This kid needed an intervention. “Well, you can’t
judge the sport by the Vikings. Next time you’re in town, I’ll take you to a Texans
game so you can see what
real
football’s all about.”

“Hey,” Leah objected. “The Vikings have a good team this year.”

Colt rolled his eyes and whispered to Noah, “Girls.”

Noah gave a conspiratorial giggle. “Yeah, girls.”

The waitress returned with their orders and began dealing out plates like poker cards.
Colt scowled at his lumpy grits, runny eggs, and a buttermilk biscuit hard enough
to qualify as a lethal weapon. He glanced beside him at Noah’s bowl of diced fruit.

“That’s all you’re gonna eat?” Colt asked him.

Diane spoke up from the opposite side of the table. Until now, she and her husband
had done a good job of keeping to themselves so Colt and Noah could get to know each
other.

“I brought a packet of gluten-free oatmeal,” she said. “He’s got a slight allergy
to wheat. Nothing serious, but it gives him a tummy ache.” Then she pulled a pouch
from her purse and used the boiling water from her teapot to mix up a bowl of oats.