Dream Of You - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,12
to ignore the wild fluttering and the thousand questions whirling around in my head. I peeked over at him as I lowered my cup, and our gazes locked. Air leaked out of my parted lips. Colton didn’t look away, and neither could I. Absolutely struck helpless by the intensity in his stare, the wisps of excitement building in my belly gave way to a slow burn that got my pulse pounding. How could a single look from him draw such a response? That gaze of his dipped, and I drew in a shallow breath and felt the warmth travel through my veins. Was he looking at my mouth again? Oh Lord, it was getting hot in here.
Goodness, this man…even his stare was pure…pure sin.
I cleared my throat. “So…um, when did you and Nicole part ways?”
“About six months or so ago.”
Ice chased away the warmth as I schooled my expression blank. Six months? That wasn’t a long time ago, especially considering they were engaged to be married and were together for six years. Six months was…was nothing. After I lost Kevin, six months had changed nothing for me. How could he be over the failure of a relationship in six months?
And why did it matter? No, it didn’t, but there was no mistaking the rise of disappointment. I wanted to smack myself.
Colton leaned forward. “I did have another reason for stopping by. It’s about what happened last night.”
“Of course,” I murmured, slapping a smile across my face as another surge of dismay made itself known.
He looked at me strangely. “I don’t want to go into the gory details—”
“I can handle them.” Or at least I thought I could. I was pretty sure I could.
That half smile was back. “When I got called out when I was talking with you, it was because the coroner had picked up the…body and had some evidence. Obviously, we know what the cause of death is, but I wanted to stop by and let you know that we are probably going to have an ID sometime today.”
“Oh.” I took a drink of my now lukewarm coffee.
“I also want you to contact me immediately if you see anything weird, okay?” Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a business card and placed it on the table.
My gaze fell to the card. So formal. “What could be weird?”
“Just if you notice anyone hanging around here that you’re not familiar with. Anything that gives you a bad vibe. That sort of thing.”
I glanced up at him, the unease from earlier returning. “Should I be worried?”
“No.” The smile he gave me this time didn’t reach his eyes. “Just careful.”
That really didn’t make me feel warm and fuzzy, but couldn’t he have just called me? If he had my address, then he had my cell.
The smile transformed and his face softened. “Yeah, I could’ve called you and told you that.”
My chin jerked up as I almost dropped my cup. “Can you read minds? Oh man, I hope not.”
His gaze did that slow slide again. “Now I’m curious to what I’d discover if I could read your mind.”
I widened my eyes and said nothing because seriously, my mind was one step from face planting in the gutter when he was around.
Reaching over, he tapped his fingers on my arm. “I didn’t want to just call you.”
“Oh,” I repeated. Goodness, I had this conversation thing down pat. It wasn’t my fault. The tapping of his fingers had sent a fine shiver up my arm.
“And I was in the mood for crepes,” he continued. “And when you’re in the mood for crepes, you want to share them with a pretty lady.”
My mouth opened but there were no words.
He chuckled as he rose. “I have to get going.”
“Okay,” I murmured, putting my cup on the table. I stood, following him to the door, and when he stopped suddenly, I nearly bounced off his back. His playful grin once again made an appearance. “Sorry.”
Colton tilted his head to the side. “I’ll be in touch, Abby.”
As he left and I closed the door behind him, I leaned forward, gently knocking my forehead against it as I tried to stop my wayward thoughts from making a bigger deal out of his visit than I should.
But it was hard.
“Ugh.” I pressed my forehead against the door and groaned.
Colton was an admitted flirt—an outrageous one. That was what he had to be doing because there was no way that it could be anything else. After all, how could it? Not