on my feet before I can even register what the hell I’m doing. “Move,” I say to the kid, but it’s more of a growl than words I’m actually speaking.
“What the fuck, man?”
“Well, if it ain’t my ex-boyfriend.”
“Come on,” I say to Lemon. “We’re leaving.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“The hell you aren’t.” I grab her wrist and tug her through the crowd.
“Hey.” The kid yanks Lemon’s other arm so hard, she jerks toward him. “What the fuck do you think you’re doin’, old man?”
“Trust me,” I growl. “You’re gonna wanna walk away.”
“Or what?”
“Or someone’s gonna be IDing your body in the morgue tomorrow.”
He gulps and steps back. I might’ve laughed if I weren’t so fucking pissed.
I tug on Lemon’s arm, but she digs in her heels. “On second thought, I think I want another drink.”
“Lemon,” I growl through clenched teeth.
She grins up at me like a naughty school girl and I lose all fucking patience with this woman. I bend and wrap my arms around her legs and then I hoist her over my shoulder and carry her out of the bar toward my truck.
Lemon kicks and screams, thrashing over my shoulder. “Put me down, Colt!”
I slap her ass. “I’m gonna put you down—right in the front seat of my truck.”
“Colt!”
Zadie chuckles. “You two haven’t changed a bit.”
“I guess I’m driving your car home,” Wyatt says, snatching Lemon’s purse from her hand.
“No! Wyatt, you are not driving my car.”
“I’ll drive it,” Wade says.
“No one is driving my car.”
I open the passenger-side door and hurl her in.
“West, tell him he can’t do this.”
West leans against the car door. “Sorry, sis, can’t quite hear you.”
I glance at West, wondering why he’s helping me when he very well could have taken his sister’s side.
He shrugs. “You owe me.”
I nod and climb in the driver’s seat. “Buckle up, Lemonade.”
“You can’t do this to me. It’s humiliating.”
“No more humiliating than you letting that frat boy grind all over you.”
“Screw you, Colt. Just because you’re celibate, doesn’t mean I plan to be.”
“Jesus. Do you hear yourself? When did you get so damn self-righteous?”
“I’m not self-righteous.”
“Bullshit. I bet if I looked that word up in the dictionary, Lemon Winchester would be smiling right back at me from the page.”
“What are you more pissed about, Colt? That I was dancing with some frat boy or that I dared to have any fun at all when you’re clearly still so miserable.”
Ouch. Well that fucking stings. Am I really that much of an asshole? My eyes dart from the road to her and back again. “You think I’m miserable?”
She sighs and shakes her head. “Will you just take me home, please?”
“No. You and I are gonna talk this shit out once and for all.”
“Fine.”
“Good.” I tighten my grip on the steering wheel, thinking about how every fight we ever had in the past ended up with us kissing like crazy and loving each other well into the night. That ain’t gonna happen this time. I know it, but it don’t stop the fist in my gut.
“Great,” Lemon says, because she just always has to have the last word.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Lemon
Colt shuts off the engine and stalks toward his cabin. I sit and watch him through the windshield. I’m pouting, and I can’t avoid this forever, so I open my door and I climb out before following him past the other cabins. At least Carla is out at Earl’s, so we don’t have to worry about waking her.
I stomp up Colt’s front steps and wipe my boots before heading inside. He comes in behind me, and I close my eyes as I feel the warmth from his body, so much bigger than mine, so close, so … Colt.
“You gonna move, Lemonade, or you just gonna stand in my doorway all night?”
My nipples bead as his hot breath washes over my neck. Goose bumps break out across my flesh and I shiver. Maybe Colt sees it, maybe he just can’t help but pause because he feels this too—this spark, this connection. The close proximity of our bodies shakes up all of my senses. He hasn’t even touched me yet and all I can do is stand here like an idiot because I’m too afraid to move—I’m too frightened to break this spell.
“Lemon,” his voice is a raspy growl. It does wicked things to my insides and I dart out my tongue to moisten my lips. Colt’s hand wraps around my waist tentatively and he lowers his lips to my neck.
A breathy moan