chapter 22

Neither of them was much in the mood for a restaurant after that, but they still had to eat,

and there was no way Colin was going back to the ranch—where he might run into Liam

—except to drop Julia off and then get the hell out of there. They went back to the

Cambria Pines Lodge, where Colin was staying and ordered burgers and fries from room

service. They sat on top of the comforter on the king-size bed, their backs propped up

against the headboard, the room service tray between them. Both of them had taken off

their shoes to avoid getting the comforter dirty, and their socks poked up side by side

companionably.

The room had walls the color of butter and a gas fireplace that offered a comforting

glow. A big window faced out on the darkness of the evening, but in the morning it

would have a view of the greenery beyond.

"I'm sorry," Colin told her as he toyed with a french fry, swirling it in a puddle of

ketchup. "About what happened, and also about how Liam is treating you."

"It's all right."

"No. It really isn't." He tossed the fry back onto his plate. "It's mean, and it's

wrong."

"Well. It is, but it's not you doing it, so you have nothing to be sorry for."

Colin shrugged. She couldn't tell whether the shrug indicated agreement or argument

with her point.

"I'm more worried about Drew," Julia said after a while. "If Liam has that much

anger toward me …"

"I can handle Liam."

"Really." It wasn't a question.

Colin shot her a sideways look and grinned. "Yeah, you're right. That's crap. I can't

handle him."

"So, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to do what I've always done since I was a kid." He let out a short laugh.

"I'm going to tell Mom and Dad on him."

They ate their burgers and fries and drank a couple of beers in sweating longneck

bottles, and then Colin gathered up the plates and the tray and put them out into the

hallway for housekeeping to find.

It was only then, with dinner over and the tension of what had happened earlier

starting to ebb away, that Julia started to be intensely aware of the fact that they were

alone together in a hotel room. What would happen from this point? Would he simply

take her back to Ryan and Gen's house, say goodbye, and wish fervently that this evening

had never happened? And was that what she wanted?

He must have been wondering the same thing, pondering those same questions,

because he stood awkwardly near the door of the room, his hands in the pockets of his

slacks, his gaze fixed on some detail of the carpeting.

"I can take you back now," he said.

Okay, there it was. Julia felt a raw sense of disappointment in her core that told her

what she hadn't been able to articulate to herself: She didn't want to leave him. She

didn't want to go back. Not now. Maybe not ever.

"That is, if you want me to," he said. He was still looking down at the carpet, but he

shot her a quick look that was impossibly shy and sweet.

She got up from the bed, walked over to him, and rested one hand lightly on his

bicep. "I'm not in a hurry," she said.

She was so close to him she could smell the light, spicy scent of soap, aftershave,

and his own warm skin. He brought his gaze to hers, and she felt a tremor of anticipation.

"Kiss me again," she said, in a whisper. She gave him a tentative grin. "I don't think

Liam can see us."

He brought his hand up to touch her cheek. "I'd kiss you again even if he could."

He touched his lips to hers gently at first, as though he were searching for the answer

to a question. He caressed her cheek with his thumb.

She had an idea that this wasn't smart, that getting involved with a man who

represented so much drama for her family—and who lived a third of the way across the

country from her—was reckless at best. But right now, she didn't care. All she knew was

that she didn't want to go back to the ranch. She didn't want to leave this room. She

didn't want to go anywhere if it wasn't with him.

He deepened the kiss, and she melted into him.

She'd felt lust before, of course. She had enjoyed men, and they had enjoyed her.

But she couldn't recall ever feeling exactly this, this warm, liquid feeling of being

transported out of the moment and into an infinitely better place.

She could no more have pushed him away at that moment than she could have

decided to stop breathing.

"Julia," he murmured into her ear. "I don't know where this is going if it can go

anywhere. I'm not—"

"Shh." She quieted him, then tangled her fingers in his hair and kissed him with her

lips, her tongue, everything she was, everything she had.

It didn't matter where this was or was not going. What mattered was that they were

here, together, now.

She unbuttoned his shirt slowly, taking her time. Then she slid it off of his shoulders

and let it fall to the floor. She ran her hands over the firm territory of his arms, his chest.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" His voice was rough, a little unsteady.

In answer, she put her hands on the back of his neck and pulled him to her, bringing

his mouth to hers.

For Colin, sex was mostly just fun. It was the likely conclusion of Date Four,

usually, after dinner at an expensive restaurant with one of the "glossed-up Barbies" his

mother had so accurately referred to. So much was about appearance. Her appearance,

always perfect and well-planned. His appearance, built around an image of affluence.

There was a script to be followed, a set of procedures in place. He did this, and then

she said that, and it all came to a predictable and most satisfying conclusion.

But tonight, there was no script. Colin felt raw and hurt and vulnerable after what

had happened with Liam, and somehow, Julia was making all of that go away. She was a

cure, a soothing balm. Touching her, he felt whole in a way he hadn't in so long.

And because she was so different from most of the women in his life, so real, being

with her and seeing the way she looked at him felt fresh, as though this thing they were

doing was an entirely different species of the act from any he'd performed before.

He kissed her, and his jaw ached from where Liam had hit him.

He didn't care.

He needed to feel her skin against his, so he took the hemline of her sweater in his

hands and lifted it over her head. The sweater dropped to the floor beside his shirt. Under

it, she was wearing a white tank top that hugged her curves, and he could see the straps of

her bra peeking out from beneath it. He slid a hand beneath the shirt and cupped her

breast in his palm, over the silky fabric of her bra.

She drew in a breath as he rubbed the pad of his thumb across her erect nipple.

Something about that—the sound of her soft gasp—made him lose whatever sense of

calm patience he'd had. He guided her to the bed and lowered her onto it, his body

covering hers.

Somehow, the fact that they were both in this thing together—this tangle of family

secrets and obligations—made him feel close to her, as though they had things they could

teach each other, comforts they could give one another. Whatever he was feeling, she

could feel it, too. He knew it.

He wanted to bury himself in her, surround himself with her, and forget everything

else. He lifted the tank top to bare her smooth midriff, pulled down one of the cups of her

bra, and closed his mouth over the rounded peak.

Was there some part of him that wanted to defy Liam? That despite Liam's bullying,

wouldn't be told what to do? Maybe. But that aspect of him was deep beneath another

part, one that simply wanted to be loved.

Colin was beautiful, with his brooding eyes and his lean, athletic body. But it wasn't

his beauty that Julia's body was responding to. Instead, it was some unnameable thing,

some voice in her head that said, This is the one. She knew she shouldn't feel that way,

shouldn't even be entertaining the idea. And yet, that gut feeling of rightness, of being

exactly where she belonged, was impossible to deny or ignore.

And then the feeling of his mouth on her breast pushed all other thoughts away as

she felt a pulse of pleasure rushing through her body.

He reached down and unsnapped her jeans, then eased the zipper down. One hand

slipped into her panties, and his fingers slid into her. She threw her head back and closed

her eyes, focusing on the delicious sensations he was giving to her.

She moved her hands over his body, memorizing the ridges and planes of his chest.

He brought his mouth to the base of her throat and caressed it with his lips and

tongue. His fingers glided smoothly inside her, his thumb circling her engorged nub.

All thoughts of whether this was wise, or where things might go between them, or

what their union might do to either of their families left her. She couldn't think, she could

only feel. Her body was rising on a tide of pure pleasure, and the wave was about to crash

with devastating force.

When her body exploded with bliss, she clenched against him and whimpered from

somewhere deep in her throat. He kept touching her, caressing her, kissing her, until her

spasms subsided.

He pulled her into his arms, but she was barely aware of it, or of the room, or of

anything other than this feeling of satiety.

"Oh," she murmured. "Oh."

His hands caressed her arms, her smooth belly, as she slowly came back to her

senses.

"You've done that before," she commented. It wasn't a question.

"I've done some other things before, too, that I'd really like to show you," he

murmured against the hot skin of her neck.

She laughed, a low, throaty sound. "Yes, please."

Julia hadn't done this in a while—any of this. It wasn't that she hadn't wanted to; no

emotional wound or trauma had driven her away from men. She'd just been experiencing

a dry spell, and Colin, for her, was a long, cool rain.

She drank him in, kissing, touching, tasting everywhere. They both discarded the rest

of their clothes and clung to each other, reveling in the delicious feel of skin on skin. She

wrapped her hand around him and he sucked in a breath.

"Please tell me you have a condom," she said.

He got up off of the bed, rummaged around in his suitcase, and emerged with a

square foil packet.

"Thank God," she said.

She helped him to put it on, and then he lay back and she straddled him, drawing

him deeply into her. She would have thought that she couldn't become aroused again so

soon after her shattering orgasm. But they began slowly, and he coaxed her with his

fingers, caressed her with his hands, and she felt herself rising again, first gradually, and

then with more intensity. Just the way he was looking at her, his eyes on her, his face

showing his pleasure, was nearly enough to tip her over the edge.

He grasped her in his arms, rolled her onto her back, and thrust into her deeper,

harder, and she gasped for breath. Her body shuddered again as she spasmed in pleasure.

Her breath came fast, and she wrapped her legs around him and pulled him in close as he

stilled and shook with his own release.

They stayed there, limp, their breathing ragged until he rolled to the side and

brought her along with him, cradling her in his embrace.

"Wow," she said.

He kissed her temple, which was damp with sweat.

They lay that way until they started to get cold despite the warmth of the fireplace.

Then they got under the covers and held each other beneath the comforter.

"This date wasn't so bad after all," he said.

"Usually, when someone gets punched, it doesn't bode well," she said.

"Go figure."

She felt his hand roaming up and down her back in a way that felt protective,

comforting.

"Colin?" She wasn't sure what she was about to say. Something about the mess they

were in with his family and hers, about her home so far from his, her life, so different

than his.

"Shh. We can talk about it later." His voice was a gentle rumble.

And so she let herself drift off to sleep in his soothing embrace.

Later—she didn't know how much later—she woke up to find that he was deeply

asleep. She thought about what to do. She didn't want to wake him, but she also didn't

want to stay here all night. It would raise too many questions if she didn't come back to

the ranch until morning. Surely Liam would notice, and then what would happen between

him and Colin? And Liam might not be the only Delaney who would raise an objection.

She got up, found her clothes on the floor, and got dressed. Then she hunted around

in the dark for her purse and her coat, and slipped out of the room and into the hallway,

closing the door behind her with a gentle click.

In the lobby of the lodge, she checked her phone and saw that it was past two a.m.

The place was deserted. Cambria wasn't exactly a town where you could step outside and

grab a cab in the dead of night.

She thought about who would be the least mortifying witness to her walk of shame,

pulled up Drew in her contacts, and called him.