to her forehead, then leaned back to look at her. “Now it is.”
“You ready to finally win today?” she asked, her heart aflutter from the touch of his lips. She crossed the kitchen to take a piece of egg-soaked white bread from a bowl and place it in the sizzling pool of melted butter.
He leaned against the back door and looked out at Ryan for a moment before turning back to her. “I’ve got a date with you tonight. I already won.”
“Are you the same surly man who walked across a crowded ballroom scowling at me a week ago?”
He lowered his eyes, his lips twitching. “Are you the same chatterbox who wouldn’t let me go to the bathroom?”
“Is that where you were headed when we met?”
He nodded. “I needed a break from Lynette.”
“Well, I guess you got a lot more than you bargained for,” she said, picking up a spatula and flipping the toast.
“Ask me if I’d change anything.”
She cut her eyes to his, searching his face. “Would you?”
“Nothing,” he said. “Not one thing.”
“Me either,” she said, tugging her bottom lip into her mouth, “though I’m sorry you had to, you know, take care of those guys back at the motel.”
Her comment spilled over from her dreams last night, which had been a result of her efforts to paint Colton’s character and understand the many parts that made up the man. Sweet and brutal. Tender and fierce. Taciturn and passionate.
He inhaled deeply, shrugging his burly shoulders under a tight gray T-shirt. “Guys like that have it coming.”
“I know, but you could have gotten in a lot of trouble if someone had seen or if they’d called the cops,” she said, transferring the golden toast to a waiting plate and adding a new piece of soggy bread to the frying pan.
“But they didn’t call the cops,” he said. “Because they were wrong. Because some part of them knew they deserved what they got.”
“Of course they did,” she said, remembering her brother’s helplessness as the men taunted him, “but it worries me for you. I’d hate . . . I mean, I’d hate to see you end up in jail for doing what you thought was right.”
His eyes narrowed for a moment, and his voice grew noticeably gruffer. “I get the feeling you’re trying to say something, Verity, so how’s about cutting to the chase?”
Was she? Was she trying to say something? Why? What good was opening this can of worms? Was it guilt over knowing about his past from someone other than him? Worry that he could get in trouble on her account? Fear that he could unleash that rage on her or Ryan? Or some combination of all three?
“A couple of girls at work mentioned . . .”
Her voice trailed off as she watched him flinch. He raised his chin, his eyes cooling so fast, it made her heart clench.
“You don’t seem like the type to put stock in gossip.”
Damn it. They’d started out this morning tender and flirtatious, and she was ruining it.
“I’m not. But I’m still learning who you are, and they mentioned an incident in high school, and—”
“And you looked me up.”
She nodded, feeling simultaneously worried for his reaction and relieved to come clean with him.
“Then you know that, one, I had cause, and two, I was acquitted.” He folded his arms across his broad chest and stared at her from across the room with hard eyes. “I didn’t do any permanent damage. In fact, I still see those two fuckers around from time to time, but you can bet your ass they think twice before bothering someone weaker than them.”
“I’m sorry, Colton. I’ve upset you, and I didn’t mean to. I just . . .”
She didn’t know what to say, so she turned back around to flip the toast in the pan. It had burned while they were talking, and the charred side looked up at her accusingly.
“I’m no saint, Verity,” he said from behind her. “If you’re trying to put me on a pedestal or fit me with a halo, you’re out of luck, baby. I’m just a man with a million flaws, like all the rest of ’em. I’ve got a temper, and it’s bad sometimes, and when someone I care about is threatened, yes, ma’am, I hit back. Yes, I do.” He paused, and his voice, which had gotten worked up as he spoke, was gentler when he continued. “You should know that I’ve never hit a woman. I’ve never hit someone weaker