Holding You (21 page)

“Wow, look at the stars tonight. Even with the lights from town, you can still see the stars so good.”

Nope. She had no clue. Taking her hand, I walked over to the ladder. Pulling on my arm, Lauren attempted to get me to stop walking. “Colt. Oh my gosh no! We’ll get in trouble if we climb the water tower!”

Giving her a slight pull, I laughed. “No we won’t. Blake is working tonight and I gave him a heads up my truck would be parked here and that I was taking my girl on an adventure.” Blake was one of Luke’s best friends from high school. He was one of the sheriffs working for Mason County. And he owed me a favor. I saved his ass one night when his truck broke down and he wanted to take Colleen Mitchell out on a date. He begged to borrow my truck and I let him.

Stopping at the ladder, I held my hand out. “Ladies first.” I could see the excitement dancing in her eyes. Lauren started up the ladder as I followed. Once we got to the top, Lauren let out a gasp. “Wow, look at the stars from up here! It’s beautiful.”

Smiling, I dropped my head back. The light breeze blowing kept it cool, but not too cool. “Thank goodness you’re not afraid of heights,” I said with a chuckle.

Lauren nodded her head and said, “Yeah, you lucked out on that one.”

Reaching into the bag, I pulled out the quilt and spread it down. The lower deck of the tower was wide enough for us to practically lie down up here. Once I got it spread out, Lauren sat down and looked all around. “Colt, this is perfect. I feel like it’s just the two of us.”

Reaching down, I lifted her hand and placed the back of it softly against my lips. Using my tongue I drew a pattern onto the back of her hand. Lauren’s lips parted open as her tongue darted out to lick her lips.

Keeping my eyes on her, I kept up the motion. Lauren clearly enjoyed it. The moon was casting light onto her beautiful face as her eyes watched my tongue move across her skin. “Colt,” she whispered.

Slowly and gently, I placed soft kisses up her arm. Pulling her closer to me, Lauren straddled me as she wrapped her legs around me. “Don’t . . . let me . . . fall,” she said as her eyes met mine.

Smiling softly, I whispered, “Never.”

Lauren leaned in and took my lower lip between her teeth and gently bit down on it. Letting out a moan, my dick pressed between her legs. Lauren’s hand moved gently up and down my back as she rocked against me.

“Fucking hell, Lauren. I want you.” Slipping my fingers in her shorts, Lauren let out a whimper.

Moving faster, Lauren pressed her lips to mine again as our kiss turned hungry. I had no idea if anyone was walking by and if there was, could they tell what we were doing? Lauren began whimpering softly into my mouth.

“Oh, Colt. Colt, I’m going to come.”

Pulling her in closer, Lauren fell apart as I swallowed her moans. My dick was throbbing in my pants I wanted her so damn bad. This was about Lauren, not me. Pulling her lips from mine, Lauren dropped her head into the crook of my neck as she attempted to gain control of her breathing.

“I love you, Colt Mathews.”

Shutting my eyes tightly, I pulled my hand out of her shorts and I wrapped my arms around her tighter. “I love you too, Lauren.”

Sitting like that for about five minutes longer, neither one of us spoke. Lauren finally moved off of me and sat back down next to me. Her face flushed from her orgasm still. Letting out a nervous laugh she looked away. “I’m sorry. You just do things to me, Colt. Sometimes it feels like I can’t even control my own desire for you.”

Placing my hand on the side of her face, she nuzzled into my palm. “I feel the same way, sweetheart. You’re my life, Lauren. You always have been, and you always will be.”

Sliding onto my side, I wrapped my arm around her as we dropped back onto the quilt and looked up at the stars. “Colt?”

“Yeah?”

“I still can’t push away the fear I have about Daddy’s business.”

Closing my eyes I sucked in a breath before slowly blowing it out. “Lauren, I can tell Scott I’m going to be helping out my father this summer if—”

Lauren quickly sat up. “No! No, I don’t want you to do that. I want you working for daddy. It’s just, I know him and I know he’s gonna be pushing me away and telling me I’m not ready and I don’t want to take that out on you. I’m so scared I’m going to pull away again.”

Pulling her back down next to me, Lauren rested her head on my chest. “I won’t let you, Lauren.”

“Promise me, Colt. Promise me you won’t let me push you away again.”

Holding her tightly, I whispered, “I swear to you, Lauren. I’m never letting you go. Ever.” Reaching into the bag I pulled out the bracelet and took Lauren’s hand in mine.

“Because I hold the key to your heart, and you hold the key to mine.” Slipping the bracelet over Lauren’s hand she let a sob escape between her lips.

Holding it up, Lauren smiled. “Colt, this is perfect. So perfect.”

Smiling, I pulled her to me and held her.

“Are you excited about Colorado?” I asked.

Nodding her head, Lauren said, “Yes. At the same time I feel sad though. I mean I really want to spend time with the girls, but I also want to spend time with you.”

Kissing the top of her head, I smiled to myself. “I know what you mean. But y’all are going to have fun, sweetheart.”

“I know. I’m so glad Taylor is going. She needs to cut loose in a big-time way.”

Chuckling I held her tighter as we lay under the stars and talked about everything and anything. I’d never felt so whole in my life as when I was holding Lauren in my arms.

“Colt?” Lauren whispered.

Taking in a deep breath, I smelled sweet flowers from Lauren’s shampoo. Smiling, I kissed her head. “Mmm?”

“Are you going to make love to me?”

My heart dropped to my stomach and my dick instantly hardened. “I take it you’ve had enough of the stars.”

Laughing, Lauren pushed herself up and gave me a naughty smile. “I’m kind of in the mood for seeing stars of a different kind.”

Standing, I reached down and helped Lauren up. Honestly, it felt too good having her in my arms, I didn’t want to move but I still had another surprise for her. “Come on, I’ve got one more place I want to go.”

“Somewhere private I hope.”

Wiggling my eyebrows, I said, “Oh yeah baby. When you come, you can scream to your heart’s content.”

Biting on her lip, Lauren whimpered.

Climbing down first, I kept reminding Lauren to watch her step and to take it slow. Stepping off the ladder I reached up and grabbed Lauren by the hips, lifting her off the ladder. Letting out a small yelp, she spun around and I about fell over. Her smile would always be my undoing. There was something magical about it. It filled my body with love and hope.

Taking her hand, we walked to the truck. Lauren jumped in as I threw the bag into the back seat. Making my way over to the driver’s side of my truck, I jumped in, started my truck and hit play on my iPod. “Smoke” by A Thousand Horses began playing. Smiling, I reached over and turned it up. Taking Lauren’s hand in mine, I made a plan to make sure my shirt was covered in her perfume by the end of the night. Pulling out onto the street I turned and headed to our spot.

MY HEART WAS
still beating like crazy as Colt drove toward what I thought was his families cattle ranch. My mind was spinning as I attempted to take it all in, the orgasm, the height of the water tower, the stars in the sky, Colt holding me in his arms as we just talked endlessly.

Colt pulled down his driveway and waited for the gate to open. I watched as the giant black-iron gate opened. The words
Mathews Cattle Ranch
stood out in bold letters. Glancing over to Colt, I asked, “Where are we going? To your house?”

Smiling, he shook his head. “Nope, we’re going to our spot.”

Pulling my head back in surprise, I asked, “Our spot? We have a . . . spot?”

Tossing his head back, Colt let out a rumbled laugh. “Yes ma’am we do.”

Facing the front, I desperately tried to think of where in the hell our spot would be.
We had a spot? I don’t remember ever having a spot? Huh.
Chewing on my lip, I turned back to Colt. “We have a spot?”

Colt turned down one of the older dirt roads. This road ran behind the main barn of the ranch, just down from Grams and Gramps house. Looking all around, I tried like hell to remember our spot.

Oh. My. Glitter. I’m the worst girlfriend in the world. Placing my thumb in my mouth, I chewed on my nail. We have a spot and I don’t even remember it. Lifting my eyes, a thought occurred to me and I snapped my head over and looked at Colt.

That bastard. He’s probably thinking of Rachel! It’s probably
their
spot. Not our spot. Slowly facing the front, I folded my arms across my chest. Oh, if he thinks I’m letting him make love to me in someone else’s spot, he has another thing coming
.

Bastard. Oh wait until I tell the girls this one.

Sitting in the passenger seat, I began to plot my revenge on Colt. Maybe I’d give him a blowjob and
accidentally
sneeze and bite down . . . just a little. I bet that would hurt. Maybe my foot would make contact with his balls . . . by mistake of course.

Not paying attention at all to where Colt was going, I didn’t even notice when he stopped driving.

“We’re here.”

Humph.
I’m not moving one inch.

“I know it’s dark, but do you remember what you said to me when we were standing in this very spot when we were six years old, Lauren?”

Blowing out a fast breath, I blew a blonde curl from my eye. “No.”

Wait. What? Six years old?

Looking out the window, I let my eyes adjust. Sucking in a breath, I opened the truck door and jumped out. My hands came up to my mouth as I walked over to the tree. The tree that held the treehouse Gunner made for all of us. I hadn’t been here in years. Truth be told, I had forgotten all about it.

Stopping just short of the tree, I looked up. It looked like it was in perfect condition. Like the years hadn’t even touched it at all. It stood only a few feet off the ground, but when I was six, it seemed so high.

Closing my eyes, my mind drifted back to that fall day.

“COLT, YOU WATCH
Lauren and make sure she doesn’t fall,” Momma yelled out. Colt turned and smiled. “I won’t, Aunt Jessie! Promise!”

Colt took my hand and helped me climb up into our new treehouse. Looking around, I started jumping. “Is this all ours?”

Colt started jumping, too! “Yes! And Luke’s and Grace’s and Libby’s and Will’s and my stupid sister Alex’s! Oh and Daddy said it’s for Maegan and Taylor, too!”

Letting out a scream, I hugged Colt. “I can’t wait to show them,” I said as I stopped jumping and spun around.

Colt stopped me from spinning. “Or, we could tell my momma and daddy and your momma and daddy that this is our spot.”

Grinning so hard my cheeks hurt, I nodded my head. “Yeah! Our special spot forever, Colt. You can even marry me here.”

Colt wasn’t smiling anymore. “You want to marry me, Lauren?”

Shrugging my shoulders, I scrunched up my nose and looked up to think about it. Looking back at Colt, I nodded my head and said, “Yep. You ain’t gonna marry anyone else, Colt Mathews.” Placing my hand on my hip, I took my other hand and pointed at Colt. Like Momma does when she wants me to listen real good. “You hear me? If you do, I’ll beat you up ‘cause I ain’t afraid of you.”

“I ain’t afraid of you either and girls can’t beat up boys, Lauren.”

My lip began to shake and I felt sad. “Does that mean you won’t wait to marry me, Colt?”

Colt laughed as he spun his body around. “Ah heck, Lauren. I’ll marry you. I don’t think any other boy could like you more than I do anyway. I will love you forever. That’s what Daddy says to Momma.”

Standing up straight, I nodded my head as I stomped my foot. “Then it’s settled. You’re gonna marry me and become Mr. Lauren Ashley Reynolds.”

“Cool!” Colt smiled and winked. I had to look away cause my face felt funny. “Come on, let’s play hide and seek before the others get here! You’re it!”