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Chapter 1 “Sir?” The unsure voice of Colt King’s secretary came through the intercom on his desk. She had better sound unsure of herself. He’d told her he was not to be disturbed under any circumstances. He was working. Doing what he did best, acquiring another shop to add to King’s Customs’ empire. He needed to focus. “I told you I do not wish to be bothered.” “I know, sir, and I’m sorry, but there is someone here to see you.” “Get rid of them.” He turned his attention back to his second in command, Cedric Lathan, and the report he had compiled about the custom motorcycle shop they were about to buy. The owner was proving to be difficult, holding up the sale. He said it wasn’t a money issue, but one of pride. He didn’t want his little momand-pop shop to be lumped in with the big boys, and so far he had turned down every offer they had presented him with. He would bend soon, though. In Colt’s ten years in the business he’d learned that everyone had a price. The owner could be bought. “Increase the offer by fifteen percent.” “Are you sure? We’ve already increased our offer three times. The shop is not worth what you are willing to pay.”
Cedric was smart. Colt respected the Harvard grad’s opinion and sharp financial mind, but King’s Customs was his business. He’d taken it from a little car shop just outside the Las Vegas Strip to an empire with shops in thirty states. He knew what he was doing. “I don’t care. I want that shop. You go back to him—” Colt heard heavy footsteps pounding on the floor just before the door slammed open. “This is bullshit. I don’t need to make an appointment to see the son of a bitch.” Colt sat back in his chair watching calmly as the furious man stomped into the room. He was huge, covered in tattoos, wearing black motorcycle boots and an expression that would terrify a lesser man. “You pick up the phone when I call you. You can mess with everybody else, but don’t fuck with me. I’m not scared of you.” “Sir?” Colt’s harried assistant rushed through the door. “I called security. They are on their way. Should I call the police?” “No. You both can leave.” He looked at Cedric. “Security won’t be necessary.” Cedric blinked at him, looking back and forth between him and the man scowling in front of his desk. “Are you sure?” “Get out.” They both left, but not before giving his unexpected guest another cautious look. “Did you miss me, Duke? I’m touched. Really. I think I’m getting a little choked up.”
“You’re going to be choking when I shove your ugly-ass tie down your throat,” his older brother said to him with the nasty scowl that was so characteristic of him. “You pick up the phone when I call. I don’t give a fuck what you’re doing. You may be sitting behind this desk, but this is still my damn company.” “This tie cost more than everything you own put together.” Colt studied his ex-convict, sometimes violent, always hostile older brother, wondering how hard he would have to hit him to knock him out. There was no doubt in his mind that Duke could kill him. But there was no way in hell he was going to let Duke barge in here and walk all over him. He may be the younger brother, but he sure as hell wasn’t a kid anymore and he didn’t have to do a damn thing Duke said. “You interrupted my meeting. We’re still trying to acquire that custom bike shop so we can start the new division of King’s Customs.” “I don’t give a shit about that shop. I should be more concerned why nobody in the building knows who the fuck I am. This is my damn company.” “The company I run. I make the big financial decisions while you play with your cars. I’m in the office every day. You haven’t been to corporate headquarters once. You’ve never interviewed or met the staff. You told me that you didn’t give a shit who I hired as long as they didn’t fuck up. Nobody’s fucking up here, Duke. Which is probably why you haven’t dragged
your ass down here in two years.” “My playing with cars is the reason you get to drive your fancy, expensive, imported piece of crap. And just because I’m not down here trying to figure out how to take over the goddamn world doesn’t mean I don’t read the reports. I’m always checking up on your ass. Don’t think that I’m not. Don’t forget who’s in charge.” Me, he silently thought. If it weren’t for him, Duke’s name wouldn’t be on custom car paint and accessories. No one would have known that his brother had an amazing eye for design and detail. There would be no reality show that their younger brother, Levi, hosted, showing off Duke’s work and showcasing their brand. They wouldn’t each have millions of dollars in the bank. Yeah, King’s Customs might have been Duke’s baby, but it was Colt who made the business grow and expanded it to the empire it was becoming. But he wasn’t getting into that now with Duke. He didn’t have to. He knew what he was worth. “What do you want, Duke? I know you didn’t come here to brighten my day.” “Lolly is sick,” Duke said quietly, and for the first time that day the scowl melted from his face. “What do you mean she’s sick?” “I mean I wouldn’t be looking at your ugly face if she had a damn cold.” “Is she dying?” He swallowed the beat of concern that crept up in his throat. Lolly had taken them in after their father, too drunk to care for or about his sons, took
off. Lolly never made it a secret that the last thing she wanted was three unruly boys darkening her doorstep. She worked them like dogs and sure as hell didn’t coddle them, but she kept them fed, clothed, and together when foster care was the only other option. He was grateful to her for that, but they weren’t close. “She wants us to come home.” “You spoke to her?” “This morning. We’re leaving right now. Levi is downstairs. Get your ass in the car.” He stared at Duke for a long moment, wishing his brother had never walked through the door that afternoon, wishing he had told him anything but this. He had done everything humanly possible to ensure he never had to return to the hometown he hated. He had done everything right. He had made something of himself. He had made himself into a man respected by the world. But there was one thing he could never control. And that was Lolly. If the old woman called them back, she meant for them to come running. “Shit,” he cursed under his breath. It seemed he didn’t have a choice. He had to go home. * * * “Are we there yet?”
“Shut up.” “Almost.” Duke and Colt spoke at the same moment. Colt turned to look at his younger brother, Levi, who was sprawled in the backseat of Duke’s 1958 laser-blue Chevy Bel Air. “If you ask that one more time, old Duke here is probably going to break your fingers.” “As long as he stays away from my face.” Levi smoothed his hands over his chiseled jaw. “We all know that’s the moneymaker.” Levi was an arrogant son of a bitch, but he was the best-looking of the King boys and they all knew it. “You’ve never been punched in your moneymaker, boy?” Duke asked, looking at him through the rearview mirror. “You’re not a man until you have. Maybe I should make a man out of you.” “You’re always so damn cranky,” Levi complained. “When’s the last time you got laid? Trust me, it’ll make you feel better.” “When’s the last time you stopped running your mouth?” “It’s not my fault that I’m the only one who has any social skills in this family. People like me, and after spending nearly ten hours cooped up in this death trap with you two sons of bitches, I know why they don’t like you.” “This Chevy is not a death trap. It’s a classic.” “It doesn’t have seat belts. Or air bags. I’m pretty sure you stopped short a few times just to see me smash
into the back of your seat.” Duke shrugged. “I might have. Can’t have you too comfortable back there. You shouldn’t get to sleep while I’m driving nearly ten hours.” “I would have driven some of the way!” “Nobody drives me around.” “I was a goddamn race-car driver. You don’t trust me with your car? You’re the one who taught me how to drive. I learned everything I know about cars from you.” “Sometimes I wonder if that was a mistake. Could never seem to get you out of my hair after that.” They were close, Duke and Levi. Much closer than Colt was to either of them, and it made him realize that this interminably long car ride was the most time he had spent with his brothers in years. They were always outsiders in their little border-town community, but Colt was even more of an outsider in his family. Sometimes he wondered how it was possible that he was related to them at all. “We should have flown here,” Colt said, breaking up their back-and-forth. “We would have been there by now. I could have chartered a flight within an hour.” “It’s a waste of money.” Duke shook his head. “Nothing wrong with driving, Your Highness.” “Then you should have taken my SUV.” “I’d rather stick a fork in my eye than show up driving that.” “I’m going to agree with Colt on this one,” Levi
interjected. “His SUV is sick. He’s got TVs in the back and wireless Internet and climate-control seats. Plus it’s a smooth ride with all that German engineering. A man could get some quality sleep in a car like that.” “You slept enough.” It was then they saw the familiar green sign that told them they were finally home. WELCOME TO DESTINY. They all fell quiet. He didn’t know how his brothers felt about coming home, but he knew it was a place he never wanted to see again. No happy memories were flooding him; there was no getting nostalgic for old times. He thought about his mother dying and his father leaving him. He thought about the night Duke had gotten into the fight that sent him to prison. He thought about the need to prove to everyone that they weren’t the trash Destiny thought they were. It was a few minutes’ ride from the town’s border to Lolly’s house, and as they drove through it, Colt could see that things really hadn’t changed since they left town fifteen years ago. Destiny was a ghost town. Literally. A dusty abandoned mining town turned tourist destination that kept most of the local people employed. The economy here had been drying up when he’d gone off to college. People were losing their jobs and leaving the town in droves. The place had been pretty much dead until a casino had opened up not far from town, which brought some life back into the community.
Colt was disappointed. He had hoped the town would have disappeared from the face of the earth. “We’re here.” Duke pulled the car to a stop in front of a ranch home that had seen better days. Two faded plastic flamingos stood in the front yard, their wings still on this windless night. The porch steps looked as if they were rotting. The white paint was flaking off the house, giving it a molting look. “We’re staying here?” Colt turned to Duke, who was looking straight ahead and not at the house. “There’s a fine hotel at the casino. Hell, there’s a motel in town near the mine.” “I lost my virginity in the parking lot there,” Levi said from the backseat. “Good times.” “You think you’re too good to stay here?” Duke was trying to bait him. He always was, calling him a snob, trying to ruffle his feathers. But Duke couldn’t get to him. “You always thought you were better than this place.” “No, but the rest of the town sure as hell didn’t think we were good enough.” Duke nodded. Even he couldn’t deny how tough it was growing up with a depressed mother and drunk father in a broken-down trailer on the outskirts of town. “Proved ’em wrong, didn’t we? I’m going to the hospital. ICU has twenty-four-hour visiting.” “What? We’ll go with you.” “No. She’s wants to see each of us alone. I go first.
You go tomorrow. Levi goes after you.” Intensive care was serious, and if she wanted to see them all separately, it probably meant … He didn’t want to think about it. For better or for worse Lolly had raised them. She was their only family. “I’ll go first thing in the morning.” “No, you won’t,” Duke said, and for the first time he saw a glint of humor in his brother ’s eyes. “If you wake her before nine, she’ll crack you in the head with whatever is closest.” “My head is still sore from the time she got me with that damn ugly cowboy boot.” Levi rubbed his head. “I might have been as sharp as Colt if it weren’t for that.” “Go get some rest,” Duke ordered both of them in the way he always bossed everyone around. “I’ll be back later.” For the first time that night no one argued with him. Colt and Levi stepped out with their overnight bags and Duke drove off. “You think she still keeps that key in the fake rock?” Levi asked him. “I guess we’ll find out.” The fake rock was still there on the porch, just to the left of the door in the same place it had been since they moved there. Colt picked it up to find the key sitting inside. “You should tell her that it’s a bad idea for a single lady to keep a key on the porch. Anybody could just walk in.”
“You tell her,” Colt said as he unlocked the door. “She likes you more.” “But she listens to you.” Levi dropped his bag just inside the door. “You’re the brains of this operation.” He looked into the house but didn’t step foot inside. “I’m not ready to go to bed. I’m going to see if Shelly is still up.” “She still lives here?” “Yeah, if you kept in touch with anybody in this town, you would know.” He walked away. Colt didn’t bother to respond to that. He talked to Lolly a few times a year out of obligation. Other than that there was nobody here he needed to keep up with. He shut the door behind him, flicking on the light switch next to it. He expected to be alone in the house and alone with his thoughts for the first time all day. What he didn’t expect was a woman wearing only a leopard-printed bra and black thong to be pointing a twelve-gauge shotgun at his face. “You’ve got five seconds to get out of my house or I’m going to blow a hole the size of a baseball into your brain.” He knew he should be scared, that his heart should be racing and his life flashing before his eyes. His heart was racing, but not because he was in fear for his life; he had just gone rock-hard looking at the woman who was threatening to kill him. She looked like Raquel Welch in One Million Years BC. Long dark hair, bronzed skin, a body curvier than
the windiest of roads. “Move!” She raised the shotgun a bit, causing her breasts to bounce gently and his mouth to go dry. He had been around and slept with plenty of gorgeous Vegas showgirls, but he’d never had such a visceral reaction to them as he was having to her. He remembered watching One Million BC with his father as a boy. Now, that’s a woman, he would say. They don’t make them like that anymore. But apparently they did, and she was standing before him, nearly naked, with her long red fingernails wrapped around the barrel of a gun. He thought he was going to hate every minute of being here, but maybe coming home wasn’t going to be as bad as he thought. Welcome to Destiny.
Chapter 2 Zanna Jacobs was just getting ready to fall into bed when she heard the sound of men’s voices outside her bedroom window. Destiny, Nevada, might be a little deserted town on the Oregon border, but that was why she liked it. She didn’t have to worry about anyone, especially men, bothering her again. Well, until tonight. Which was why she was glad she’d been prepared. Luna, her granddaddy’s shotgun, had been her constant companion since she’d packed her in the trunk of her car and left home at sixteen. Some people slept with pit bulls; she preferred to dream with a twelve-gauge shotgun beneath her bed, hoping she never had to use it. But right now she had it pointed in the face of a man who looked dressed to kill in a dark suit and tie. “Move!” she barked at him since he ignored her first order. He did move, but not the way she wanted him to. He cautiously stepped closer, putting his hands in the air, regarding her as if she were an escaped mental patient instead of a badass with a gun pointed at his head. “I’m not here to hurt you. In fact I didn’t know you would be here. I would like you to put down the gun, please.” He spoke calmly to her, but firmly, like he was a guy who was used to having his commands obeyed, and for a
moment she wondered if she was pointing her gun at a hostage negotiator or some kind of law enforcement. That would be just her luck—managing to avoid lowlevel criminals all year only to be taken out by a fed. He didn’t look like any of the thugs she knew. Expensive suit. Platinum watch. She wanted to say he reminded her of Superman with his black hair and blue eyes, but he had an edge to him more Lex Luthor than Clark Kent. “Didn’t you hear me? I’m going to kill you if you don’t get the hell out of my house.” “I would rather you not.” He moved to the side, hands still up, cool as a goddamn cucumber. But she kept her eyes and her gun pointed on him as he slid down onto the couch. “If you would get out, I wouldn’t have to!” “This isn’t your house.” He folded his hands in his lap, looking at her with mild annoyance, and for a split second she felt like she was in high school again, looking across the desk at her principal who was scolding her for yet another infraction. “I’m not sure if you’re confused or need a place to stay, but I can assure you that you are the one in the wrong here.” “I’m in the wrong?” She almost dropped her gun, kind of shocked at this guy’s smug audacity. “This is my house and I can assure you that I’m going to kill you if you don’t get off your ass and move.” “I know I grew up here. I know this house belongs to Lolly Goodman. And I know I used a key to get in here.
What I don’t know is who you are. But I would like to know if you always wear such interesting garments when you threaten men with guns.” “I usually have a whole getup with chaps and everything, but in my haste to see who was in my house I plum forgot to put it on.” She felt self-conscious at the mention of her lack of attire. He hadn’t taken his eyes off hers, but just being half naked in the room with a strange man made her feel off center. She hated feeling that way and had vowed a long time ago that she would never again let another man see her vulnerability. “Why the hell are you here?” He knew the house belonged to Lolly. He knew how to get inside, but he didn’t seem to know about her. Maybe he wasn’t here to get her. But that didn’t mean she could trust him. “I asked you first. I can help you. You probably heard my aunt was in the hospital and thought it was safe to stay here. I can give you some money and you can be on your way. I have a lot of connections. I can even set you up with a job if you need one. The cops don’t have to be involved.” “I’m the one holding a gun, buddy.” She ignored his words even though he seemed earnest. She knew better than to trust men in dark suits who broke into her house in the middle of the night. “You’re the one who’s going to need the help if you don’t tell me who you are.” “Just put the gun down. I’m not here to hurt you. You know that now. I had a key to the house. I have an
overnight bag and I’m wearing a suit that would be a bitch to get blood out of.” He slowly stood up. “Sweetheart, if you’re in trouble, I can help you. If you’re on something, I can get you clean.” He called her sweetheart. She hated when men did that. She pointed the gun right at his manhood. “I’ll blow your balls right off if you keep walking toward me.” “My aunt Lolly probably won’t take kindly to you wounding me in her house. She hates mess.” “Aunt.” He’d said it before but this time it made her pause. Lolly did have nephews, Zanna remembered. Three of them. They were kind of legendary in these parts, but she never heard the old woman say much about them. She just knew that they sent her monthly checks that she never cashed and once in a while she would get a phone call from one of them. “Well, if you’re so beloved, why doesn’t she ever talk about you? Why don’t you come and see her? She’s been ill. Any good nephew would know that.” “Lolly can’t stand me. I’m not a good nephew and my brothers and I are here because we heard she was sick.” He kept walking toward her. She backed up. She hated that she did, but she was losing ground. This guy’s story made sense, and Zanna could tell that at some point three boys had lived here. Lolly still kept the bedrooms the same. “Tell me your name.” “Again, lady with the gun gets her questions answered first. Did you ever hear of ladies first?
Where’s your chivalry?” “Chivalry is dead.” He grabbed her gun with one arm while he wrapped the other completely around her, pressing her against him from chest to toes. “Especially when you’re trying not to get your head blown off.” She should have been shocked at how smoothly he had disarmed her, but she was more focused on his frame pressed against hers. Good Lord, his body was hard. Not too big. Not too muscular, but hard enough to feel yummy against her softness. He smelled good, too, almost as good as he felt. Expensive but subtle. Unlike the men around here who thought canned body spray and sweat was an aphrodisiac. His heart was pounding also, so hard that she could feel it racing against her chest, and when she looked up into his eyes, she could see that there was a tiny bit of bewilderment there. She had gotten to him. And for some reason that made her feel triumphant. Her body grew hot in all the places they connected, and her knees went slightly wobbly. Okay, so maybe he wasn’t here to kill her. “I’m Colt King. And you are?” “Colt King?” She swallowed, hearing the catch in her voice. His face was close to hers, and for the first time since she’d caught him walking through the door she had time to study it. His nose was just a little too long to be attractive. His jaw was sharp, his face full of sharp lines and angles, but he had the most stunning eyes that
she had ever seen. They were perfectly blue and the way they looked at her, the way they seemed to devour her features, made her feel self-conscious—a feeling she wasn’t used to. “What kind of dumb name is that?” she asked in order to avoid answering him. This night had somehow spun out of her control. One moment she was getting ready for bed and the next she was pressed against a coldly beautiful man in a dark suit. “It’s a good strong western name, or so my father liked to tell me.” “You’re named after a gun?” “Yes.” His hand slid up her bare back a little, not in a sexual way, but as if he was trying to get a better grip on her. It was insane how attracted to him she felt. He was basically holding her hostage, but that simple motion caused heat to shoot right between her legs. “I can see by the way you had your hands wrapped around the barrel of the twelve-gauge that you know a thing or two about guns yourself.” “My granddaddy taught me, just in case a man with an overnight bag and a suit broke into my house in the middle of the night.” “It seems like he was preparing you for this moment your entire life. My older brother ’s name is Duke. Not like British nobility but after the Duke, John Wayne, my father ’s idol. And then there’s Levi, my younger brother, who’s named after Levi’s, because there is nothing better than an old comfortable pair of jeans. Duke King, Colt
King, and Levi King. I dare you to find three men with more fitting names.” His voice was smooth and deep, like really great dark chocolate, and it slid over her like honey, but she tried to ignore the effect it had on her. She may have been disarmed, but she wasn’t at a disadvantage yet. “Didn’t your mother have a say in what you were named? Or was your father really that big of a chauvinistic asshole?” “My father was a huge asshole,” he said matter-offactly. His hand burned on her skin and, even though he hadn’t moved it, it taunted her. Reminding her that he was fully clothed and she had nearly nothing on. “Like father, like son.” She needed to break contact with him. His hard body against hers, his hand heating up her skin combined with expensive masculine smell, was causing her thoughts to be foggy and her body to ache with an itch that she hadn’t had scratched in a very long time. “Probably.” He focused that intense gaze on her lips. “You know who I am. Now I ask you again, who are you?” All she had to do was bring her knee up between his legs. That would make him let go and think twice about the way he handled her. “You would make a bad poker player.” He shifted himself forward, pushing her backward in the tiny living room until her back touched the wall. He stuck his thigh
between her legs, and it sent a thousand sparks through her body. “My manhood is going to remain unharmed tonight, and if you want to remain unharmed, too, you’ll tell me who you are.” “You wouldn’t hurt a woman.” There was something about him. She didn’t know a thing about him other than his name, but she knew he wouldn’t hurt her. He pushed his face closer to hers, his lips just a fraction of an inch away. “I’ve been calm all night, but you’re pushing me. Who the hell are you and why are you in my sick aunt’s house?” “My name is Zanna,” she told him just so she could focus on something other than the pressure between her legs, or the lips that were so close to hers. “Your aunt rents me the front room. I’ve got papers to prove it. She said she may have been born at night—” “But it wasn’t last night and she ain’t no fool,” Colt finished for her. Zanna nodded. “I can stay here. Legally.” He just looked at her, as if he was deciding whether to believe her or not. “Zanna. What kind of name is that?” “It means ‘God’s gift’ in Hebrew.” “God’s gift?” The corner of his mouth curled ever so slightly. “I was thinking you were sent by the devil.” “Really? I thought the same thing about you.” “What do we have going on in here?” Zanna looked up to see that another man was standing in the doorway.
He was younger than Colt and more beautiful. Like a young Brad Pitt, but sexier. She recognized him, too, but she didn’t know from where. “If I knew Lolly was going to be leaving a welcoming gift, I would have stuck around.” “Shut up, Levi.” “Not until you tell me how you managed to get a gorgeous half-naked female pressed against the wall. We all know I’m the one with all the game in the family.” “Come here and get this shotgun before she tries something else.” He picked it up and tossed it back at him in one move that even she was mighty impressed with. “Holy shit. She turned a gun on you?” “Yes.” He looked her in the eye as he backed away from her. “I think it was a misunderstanding. It appears Lolly has a tenant.” “I told you I can prove it,” she said, lifting her head. “You’d better not be taking advantage of my aunt, because I’ll run you out of here so fast you won’t have time to put clothes on.” “What happened to all that stuff about giving me money and finding me a job?” “I thought I was dealing with a drug addict or a psycho with a gun pointed at my head. I’m still not sure about you, but you better believe I will be checking you out.” She swallowed and kept the eye contact. She sure as
hell didn’t want him digging into her past, but she knew if he smelled fear, he would think he’d won. “I’m not afraid of you, Colt King.” “If I learn that you’re messing with my aunt, you will be.”
Chapter 3 Duke was sitting at the table with a large cup of coffee when Colt walked into the kitchen next morning. Duke, who was normally on edge and always observant, didn’t turn around when he entered. He was lost in thought, and that made Colt think that Lolly’s condition was serious. “How is she?” Duke looked up at him and shrugged. “I think you had better see for yourself.” “Cut the shit and tell me what’s going on, Duke.” Duke just lifted his coffee cup and took a long sip. “She’s expecting you.” He took the keys out of his pocket and set them on the table. Colt knew he wasn’t going to get anything out of him. “You should know that there’s a woman named Zanna here. If she pulls a shotgun on you, be careful. She’s not easy to disarm.” “What?” Duke swiveled completely around to look at him. “I think you had better see for yourself.” He walked out then, hoping that Zanna pointed a shotgun right between his brother ’s legs. Twenty minutes later Colt walked into the intensive care unit. The last time he had been there was when he was a kid. His father had brought them once when their
mother was dying. Not much had changed in twenty-five years since then. The machinery might have been updated, the doctors and nurses might have changed, but it still smelled the same. Like sickness and antiseptic. It sounded the same. Hushed voices and an oppressive quiet that was only interrupted by the sounds of ventilators and monitors. It still felt the same way it had when he was a kid. Like heaviness and sadness. This was the place they sent people when it couldn’t get any worse. He came up to Lolly’s room prepared for the worst, but he found her sitting up in bed, her face fully made up and her long ash-blond hair loose around her shoulders and teased as high as it could go. “Oh, look, the prince has made it,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, but with a smile on her face. “Are you sure you’re sick, old woman? Because I’ve got a business to run and no time for your bullshit.” “You watch your mouth, boy. Even if I can’t get out of this bed to swat you, I’ve got a big strong strapping orderly in my pocket who’ll do it for me. Now get over here and greet me like you have some sense.” “Hello, Lolly.” He walked over to her, taking the chair that was beside her bed. “You’re looking quite well for someone in ICU.” “I look like shit and you know it.” Now that he was closer he could tell her eyes were
duller than they used to be, not clear and sharp like before. She was more wrinkled than the last time he saw her and she looked happy to see him, instead of wearing the disapproving expression she’d given them throughout their childhood. She really didn’t look sick. Not sick like the other patients unfortunate enough to be there. He would have attributed her looks to just normal aging, but the fact that she seemed glad he was there alarmed him. He never thought he would see the day. “What’s the matter with you, Lolly?” “Give me your hand.” “Why?” He raised a brow at her. “You going to smack it?” “No, I’d much rather smack you in the face. Give me your hand, boy.” She extended her hand, her fingers long and bony. He took it, noticing how cold they were and how she had never ever reached for his hand before. “You’re my favorite, you know.” “Excuse me?” Those were the last words he expected. “You heard me. You’re a stuck-up son of a bitch and sometimes I wondered what crawled up your ass, but I always liked you the most.” “I have a hard time believing that.” “You calling a sick old woman a liar?” She pinned him with that stare that used to scare him in his younger days. “Maybe, but please continue. I might have to call in
the nurse to adjust your medication. You must have me confused with someone else.” “You’re my favorite, damn it! You’re smarter than your brothers. Smarter than anybody that ever came from this little town, and that’s why I was so hard on you when you were a kid. You can do whatever you put your mind to, and because of you I never have to worry about you or your brothers again. You took the shitty hand life dealt you and you won. You should be proud of yourself, because Lord knows how proud of you I am.” He just looked at her for a moment, not sure how to respond. He never thought he would hear those words from her. It was the first time anyone had told him they were proud of him. “What’s wrong with you, Lolly?” he asked again. “My kidneys have turned to shit. The doctors say a transplant is not going to happen.” “We could get a second opinion.” The best part of having money was being able to get things done. He may have felt powerless as a kid, but he’d promised himself he would never be in that situation again. “I have contacts in all the major cities. We can get you seen by a specialist in LA or New York tomorrow.” “I don’t need a second opinion.” She shook her head. “This is the hand I’ve been dealt. Your daddy wasn’t the only one who led a hard-partying life. I called you boys here because I know I’m getting old and even though you boys might like to think of me as an undying she-
devil, I’m not going to live forever.” “Are you telling me that you’re dying?” A huge part of him didn’t want to believe her. She looked too good. Her mind was too sharp. She still had life left to live and she definitely wasn’t the type to go down without a fight. “I want to talk to your doctors. We need to—” “Don’t interrupt me when I’m talking to you, boy! I’m not sure when I might go, but before I do, I need you to do something for me.” “What?” Her request surprised him. She had never asked any of them for anything. Never taken any of the money they tried to give her. She could have asked them for a lot. She’d taken care of them when no one else wanted to. It was well within her rights to ask for a favor. “My beauty parlor isn’t doing what it used to do money-wise. Especially since I’ve been sick. The girls there are doing the best they can, but I need somebody with a good head for business and numbers to go in there and see what’s going on.” “If you need money, you can cash those checks I send you every month. You shouldn’t be worried about that place now. It is what it is.” “No, I want it to be what it was. Like when you all were kids and working there. When I had so many ladies coming in and out of that shop, I didn’t know what to do with myself.” “But you’re sick. What’s going to happen…?” He
stopped himself, uncomfortable talking about her death even if he wasn’t exactly sure that was going to happen anytime soon. “I want to leave it to someone and I don’t want to leave them a dying business.” “Fine.” He nodded. “What would you like me to do?” “I want you to go in there and take over for a while. Train the girls, teach them how to run a business. See what you can do to make the place some money again.” “I run a billion-dollar corporation. I don’t have time to run your little beauty shop.” “Excuse me. My beauty shop wasn’t so little when it was putting food on the table and clothes on your back when your no-good daddy ran away. It wasn’t so little when you needed books your first semester at that fancy college you went to.” “I’ve been trying to pay you back for that.” “I don’t want your damn money! I want your time. I’m asking for a month. That’s all. Thirty days of your time for the sick old woman who raised you.” He just stared at her. Normally he was impervious to guilt, but not this time. He hated feeling like he owed anybody anything, but he did owe her. And he had to pay her back somehow. But running a salon? “You used to work there until you went to college,” she said, taking advantage of his momentary weakness. “Ain’t much changed since then.”
“What do you suggest I do about King’s Customs? It doesn’t run itself.” She rolled her eyes. “Stop acting like you don’t have a bunch of minions running around living just to please you. Plus you can call in from here. What do they call it? Working remotely? You can be bossy remotely.” Cedric could take over the day-to-day stuff while he was gone. But a month? He had never been away from King’s Customs for more than a week. “Colt, I need you to do this. You boys and my salon are the only things that ever meant anything to me.” He couldn’t help but think she was laying it on a little thick. Those words were not Lolly and if he couldn’t see her big hair and overly made-up face right before his eyes, he would think he was talking to somebody else. Still, suspicious as he was, he couldn’t deny her request. He owed her. They all did. “I’m taking your silence as a yes.” Lolly patted his hand. “I only have one stipulation. You must live in the house with your brothers the whole time.” “No.” He shook his head. “I’m the one doing something for you. I’m the one who’s supposed to be giving stipulations.” “So smart.” She nodded. “That’s why you’re so good at business. But you aren’t going to deny an old sick lady, are you? Good,” she said before he could respond. “You have a tenant,” he pointed out. “I know. You’ll stay in my room. Zanna comes with
the house.” * * * Normally Duke King would be the kind of man Zanna would lose her panties for, she thought as she studied him at the breakfast table that morning. He was big and tatted up. He wore a scowl on his face and kick-ass leather boots on his feet. He looked like he ate steel wool for breakfast and busted heads for lunch. In other words, he was a big hunk of man. Her type was bad boy, and Duke had bad boy written all over him. But instead of him sending her hormones into overdrive, she kept thinking about his younger brother Colt. King of the Assholes, she nicknamed him, and for whatever reason she’d thought of him a lot in the ten hours since their infamous run-in. She got mad as hell every time she thought about how he pinned her against the wall and slid his hand up her naked back, about how he pushed his thigh between her legs, and about how his lips hovered dangerously close to her mouth as he warned her away from his aunt. And she got really pissed when she thought about how he disarmed her. Son of a bitch managed to do what no man had done in a long time: best her. She couldn’t wait until this visit was over. Then she could get him out of her hair and out of her thoughts. “You’re not from around here, are you?” the oldest
King brother asked her as he wrote in a little black journal. He hadn’t said much more to her than hello since she’d walked into the kitchen ten minutes earlier. She didn’t know how to process their presence here. It had just been her and Lolly until Lolly went into the hospital a few days ago. She wasn’t used to having men in her space anymore, and she wasn’t sure she liked it. “What makes you say that?” she asked uneasily. She missed Lolly. The woman had done way more for her in nine months than her own mother had in a lifetime. “Your accent,” he said, still not looking at her. “Oklahoma. Right near Keystone Lake.” Zanna sat up straight. “How the hell did you know that? I thought Colt would be the first one to run a background check on me. You beat him to it.” “I’m the last person who’d run a background check on anyone. I went to prison with a guy who was from there. You’ve got Native blood running through your veins, don’t you?” She nodded. “My grandfather lived on the reservation his whole life. What’d you go to prison for?” “Killed a man just to watch him die.” He took a long sip of his coffee. She laughed. “Did you fall into a burning ring of fire after that?” One side of his mouth curled. “You’re all right,
Zanna Jacobs.” “You are, too, Duke King.” “You must not have been here long. Everybody around here knows why I went away.” “They don’t talk about it much. They only refer to you all as Lolly’s boys. The new thing is that the pastor of New Hope was caught having an affair with the principal of the elementary school and got her pregnant. He broke down in front of the whole congregation to confess his sins. Whatever you did must have been forgiven.” Duke finally looked fully at her. “It may be old news, but I don’t think anybody here has forgiven me for what I’ve done.” She couldn’t help but take note of his eyes. They were soulful. “Are you sorry?” He shook his head. “Not for what I did, but for what it did to the people I cared about.” “Where’s Levi?” Colt walked into the kitchen, interrupting the most interesting conversation she’d had in weeks. She turned around to look at him. He was such a stark contrast with his older brother in looks. Clean-cut where his brother was rough-looking. Cool-blooded where his older brother seemed to be made only of hot stuff. Despite their differing looks, one wasn’t more manly than the other. They both seemed like they could do some damage if they wanted to, but right now she was
more concerned about Colt. Her skin went all tingly as soon as the understated scent he wore hit her nose. “I haven’t seen him yet today.” Duke went back to writing in his notebook, not bothering to even look at his brother. “It’s not my turn to watch him.” “Excuse me. I had mistaken you for his nanny. You look just like Mary Poppins.” Duke left his chair and stood toe-to-toe with his little brother. “What the hell does that mean? You taking a shot at me?” Any mere mortal would have been crapping their pants standing face-to-face with an irritated Duke, but Zanna could see that Colt wasn’t affected by his brother at all. In fact he looked rather bored. “If you’re going to get in my face every time I say something that displeases you, big brother, it’s going to be a very long thirty days.” “She asked you to stay?” “Judging by the way you’re acting like somebody shit in your cereal, I’m assuming she asked you too. I know the prospect of spending thirty days trapped in this house with me doesn’t appeal to you, but if we’re both going to make it out alive, I think we should attempt to be civil to each other.” “You know I’m not the one that’s going to end up dead if we go at it.” “Don’t be so sure of that. I fight dirty.” Colt stood a little taller, folding his arms over his chest. “You’ll
never see me coming.” Duke’s lips curled into a slight smile. “You’re a son of a bitch. Sometimes I like that about you.” He grabbed his notebook off the table and walked out. “You two have an odd relationship,” Zanna said, wanting to fan herself. Seeing all that testosterone in one small room was causing her to heat up. “You could say that. We run a business together. Even if we don’t see eye-to-eye, we need each other to succeed.” He leaned against the counter, his arms still folded over his chest. He was wearing a dress shirt and slacks, and even through his uptight clothes she could see what good shape he was in. His muscles bulged slightly beneath his shirt; it made her wonder what he would look like with no clothes on. She shouldn’t be wondering about that. She didn’t even like him. “Did you all say that you’re going to be in my house for the next thirty days?” “This isn’t your house,” he said, making the hairs on the back of her neck rise. “We’ve been over this already. You’re just a short-term guest.” “I pay rent here. Those are my groceries in the refrigerator and my sheets on the bed and I’ve got a lease with my name on it.” She stood up, suddenly understanding why Duke wanted to punch him in the face. “You’re the one who’s a guest here.” “I’ve been too busy to find out exactly who you are,
but I spoke to Lolly this morning. I was hoping you were just some drifter I could toss out of here. But unfortunately she said you come with the house.” “I come with the house? Sort of like an old sofa.” “Yeah, and you don’t go with the decor.” She wanted to smack him for that comment, but the thing that was really making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up was the way he was looking at her, scrutinizing her, studying every inch of her body like she was a specimen in a petri dish. “My comment got to you.” “No, it didn’t.” “Your eyes flashed. You wear your heart on your sleeve and you’re easily baited. It’s probably caused you a lot of trouble with work, with men, with money.” “You don’t know a damn thing about me,” she said hotly. He was right, though, and she hated that he was. She felt too much and too often; it was probably why she was in this trouble in the first place. “I may not know more about you than your first name but you’d better believe I’m going to find out.” “Why are you so distrustful, Colt? Something go wrong in your childhood? Didn’t get enough hugs? Your aunt vouched for me. That should be enough. I’m here. Get over it.” “Call me crazy, but it’s not every day I walk into my childhood home and have a gun pointed at my head.” She stepped a little closer to him, not knowing why.
Her body was acting without her permission. “Oh, come on, Colt. You’re not going to let that affect our friendship, are you?” “I could have let the death threats slide, but the attempt on my testicles kind of soured me on any future friendship with you.” “What the hell was I supposed to do? You came into my house unannounced. I had to protect myself.” “What are you protecting yourself from?” His eyes narrowed as he searched her face. “I don’t know many women who keep a shotgun handy and I sure as hell don’t know anybody who would come to this shithole of a town willingly.” She stiffened slightly at those words. He was right: She hadn’t come to Destiny because she wanted to. “Maybe I was just looking for a change of scenery.” “Maybe you’re running away from something.” She stood still, only allowing herself to blink, not wanting to give any more away to this overly perceptive man. “I don’t care what you’re running from, just make sure if doesn’t affect my aunt.” “I would never do anything to hurt Lolly. She’s been good to me.” He just looked at her for a long moment. She felt like he could see right through her. She felt almost as unclothed and vulnerable as she had last night even though she was fully dressed. She wore all black today,
like she did on most days when she had to be at work. But today she wore a long-sleeved off-the-shoulder top and black skinny jeans. Nothing too revealing, but the way he looked at her … Goose bumps sprouted along her skin. “Damn it! Stop looking at me like that.” “Like what?” “Like you’ve got X-ray vision or something. It’s damn disconcerting, especially since you give no clue what you’re thinking about.” “I don’t have X-ray vision. I don’t need it. I know what you look like beneath all this black. And if you want to know what I’m thinking, I’ll tell you. It’s very rare that I’ve seen a woman who looks as good in her clothes as out of them.” “I don’t know if I should take that as a compliment or smack the taste out of your mouth.” “Take it any way you want, Zanna. You’re a beautiful woman, but it sure as hell doesn’t mean I’m going to trust you.” “Maybe you should find yourself someplace else to stay while you’re in town. This may have been your house growing up, but this is my home now and I’m not going anywhere.” “I can’t. I promised Lolly I would stay.” “Then this is going to be one hell of a long month.” She turned aside, needing air and space and time away from his piercing gaze.
“Stay out of my way and I’ll stay out of yours, Zanna.” “Gladly,” she said as she left the room, but even as she spoke the word she knew it was going to be hard. Colt King wasn’t the type of man one could just ignore.
Chapter 4 “Is that your Mercedes in front?” Levi asked Colt as he groggily walked into the kitchen the next day. “Yes.” He looked up from his computer at his younger brother, whom he had seen only for a few minutes yesterday when he gave him the car keys. “I know we’re going to be here for a little while,” Levi said, sticking his head in the refrigerator, “but you could at least try to fit in.” “It’s a black car. How much more discreet can you get than that? Duke is driving around here with flames on his doors.” “Duke’s another story. But you’re driving around in a fifty-thousand-dollar German black car. In the land of Fords and Chevys your car sticks out like a sore thumb.” “It’s better to stick out than be overlooked.” “And I thought I was the arrogant one.” Levi grinned at him. “You’ve got your car, your computer, more clothes. You’ve been busy. Or maybe I should say your people have been busy. Did you have all your stuff overnighted?” “I told my assistant what I wanted and she got to work right away.” “Did you threaten to have her family chained up somewhere if she didn’t deliver?” Levi flashed him a
quick smile as he sat across from him with a giant glass of milk. He shrugged. “Maybe. I want the transition here to run as smooth as possible. I’ve been looking over Lolly’s business returns so I can get acquainted with her finances. From there I need to see her expenses and compare that with her profits. If she makes any. We are probably going to need to do some restructuring.” “You’re making my head spin. You know this is a little beauty parlor that specializes in giving old lady roller sets? The Head Shed is not one of your conquests.” “The Head Shed is a horrible name for a salon. It sounds like a place you would go to pick up spare body parts. We’ll need to think about rebranding.” “We’re not thinking about shit. Don’t go overboard with this, Colt. She just wants to get a few more people in the door. Offer some coupons. Don’t act like you’re about to invade the beaches of Normandy.” “I make money. That’s what I do. That’s what she asked me do. I don’t do anything half-assed.” “I know, but maybe you should. Life would be more fun.” Colt stood up, ignoring his younger brother ’s comment. Levi was all fun. His job was fun, his life was fun. Being the youngest King brother, Levi missed most of what he and Duke had gone through in this town. Most of the time Colt was grateful for that, but sometimes he
wished Levi understood why he and Duke worked so hard. “I’m going to be at Lolly’s shop meeting with her head stylist. If you need something, let me know. I can have my assistant send it.” “I’ll be all right. I’m going to see what kind of trouble I can get in here.” “Lolly didn’t give you a job to do?” “She did. It was to keep you and Duke from killing each other.” “Good luck,” he said, walking out the door and heading to his car. He knew Duke wasn’t going to be his problem while he was here—in fact, he hadn’t seen him at all this morning. He hoped Duke wasn’t getting into any trouble. It seemed like this town always had it out for him. But Duke was a grown man and Colt had his own trouble to stay out of. Zanna. He hardened just thinking about her. When he’d walked into the kitchen yesterday and seen her sitting with Duke, all her thick dark hair running down her back, something had clicked on inside him. There was no reason he should want her. Since he had left Destiny the only women he’d dated were so elegant and put-together, he wondered if they could see he was just two steps away from being trash. He had stayed away from women like Zanna. She was unrefined.
She had a kind of wild beauty that made his body tense up with awareness. She looked like a woman who could get him in serious trouble. She looked like the type of woman who would be fun to get in serious trouble with. Which meant he had to stay away from her. All his life he had to prove himself. Prove that even though he was the town drunk’s kid, it didn’t mean he wasn’t as smart as the rest of them. Prove that just because he was piss-poor, it didn’t mean he didn’t belong in his Ivy League college. And now he was trying to prove that he could take a custom car shop and turn it into one of the biggest companies in the world—that he belonged in the same places as those men with old money and family ties. He pulled up to The Head Shed to find that it looked like an older version of the place he had known as a boy. The sign had faded, the awning on the front needed to be replaced, and the whole place just looked tired. Colt mentally calculated how much the outside repair would cost. That was the first rule he had learned as a business owner: If it’s not enticing, nobody will want it. He did his research last night. The casino was just eleven miles outside of town. Now that the mine wasn’t the only attraction, they could pull in more tourists. But this place had to be less of a hair salon and more of an experience. Just like with King’s Customs. Duke thought he just fixed up cars, but he actually created art. Colt made it possible for the world to see that, and he could
do that again with The Head Shed. He was going to have to bring in new streams of revenue. Possibly bring in a consultant from one of the high-end Vegas casinos. There was actually a lot he could do with the town of Destiny to make it profitable, he thought as he looked at the dusty street the beauty parlor was located on. It could be lined with trendy cafés and higher-end boutiques. He could turn the old factory into a family-friendly attraction. He could buy the motel and make it something special. There was so much that could be done with this little dying town. All it would take was somebody with money, imagination, and the skills to do it. He could be that man. Could. Wouldn’t it be something if the kid who had nothing grew up to own everything? He wouldn’t bother, though. He was only here to fix up Lolly’s shop. Here for a month, and he didn’t want to do anything to help the town that had turned its back on them. Not a damn thing for the town that had sent his brother to prison for a crime he’d had no choice but to commit. He stepped out of his SUV and walked into the shop. It was as if he’d stepped back into his childhood. The heavy smell of peroxide, hair products, and women’s perfume struck him. The hairstylists, or beauticians as Lolly had called them, stood behind their chairs, talking and laughing over one thing or another as they put roller
sets in their clients’ hair. He could almost see a younger version of himself sweeping up hair, fetching whatever the women told him to get. He could remember keeping his head low and thinking about getting out of here, out of this shitty little town, so hard he could taste it. He never wanted to come back, but now here he was again, seeing that some things never really did change. “My eyes are burning. Good Lord, I think that’s Colt King,” Peggy Flynn said as she sashayed over to him. Peggy must be sixty-five now, but apparently she still had a fondness for tight jeans, cowboy boots, and frosted eye shadow. She looked the same and was probably one of the original cougars. She had married a man twenty-five years her junior and never hid her appreciation for a younger man. When the townsfolk hadn’t been buzzing about Duke, they were talking about that. “Hello, Peggy.” “Are you a ghost? Because I was positive once Colt King went to that fancy college of his, he was never coming back here.” “Duty called. How are you?” “Just fine. I’m still married to little Arty in case you’re curious. Although there is nothing little about that man, if you get my drift.” She winked at him. “You’re looking good, Colt. Money is the best moisturizer out there. Girls,” she called to the two other hairdressers, “come look who’s here.”
Annie just waved at him. Bertie, the oldest of the three, looked up briefly. “I bet he ain’t here for a haircut.” “Lolly sent me. She wants to make some changes.” “Changes, huh?” Bertie sniffed. “That’s not the first time we heard that.” “I’m supposed to talk to the head stylist.” He looked back at Peggy, who had been there ever since he could remember. “Are you it?” “Nope.” He heard heels clicking on the old linoleum floor and he looked up, freezing in his place. Zanna was there, a stack of clean folded towels in her arms. She wore allblack again, another pair of tight pants, and a sleeveless shirt. He couldn’t help taking her in as if he were seeing her for the first time. She wore bright red heels on her feet. The same color on her nails. Red shoes, red nails, long loose hair. She looked completely out of place there, completely different from the other women in their T-shirts and faded jeans. Like a brand-new car in a lot of muddy old junkers. “Zanna’s the head stylist,” Peggy said. “Looks like you’ll be dealing with her.” “Well, hello, stranger,” she said, her voice sounding kind of breathy. “Fancy seeing you here.” * * *
It took a moment for Zanna to recover from seeing Colt in her space. She thought when she left the house that morning she was going to have a few hours free from him—from all the King boys who seemed to take over her quiet little house with their deep voices and large bodies. But there he was, standing in her little salon, taking up the entire room with just his presence, and looking so damn masculine while he stood among the old-fashioned pink bucket hair dryers and bottles of shampoo. “You never told me that you worked for Lolly.” “You never asked.” She shrugged. “Although I was quite sure that after our last run-in you would have dug up every little detail about me, including what color toothbrush I use.” “It’s white. The electric kind.” She blinked at him, wondering how the hell he knew that, but then one corner of his mouth slightly turned up. “I saw it in the bathroom this morning,” he said. “The bathroom?” she heard one of the girls ask in a hushed gossiping voice. “Colt and his brothers are staying at Lolly’s,” she said, not taking her eyes off him. “They came the other night.” “That’s something you could have told us,” she heard Peggy say. “I might have, but some things just aren’t your business, Miss Peggy.”
“Well, excuse me,” she sniffed. Zanna could have told the girls as soon as she walked into the salon yesterday, but even though the place hadn’t seen much more than its steady regular clients in the last few months, it was still the hub of gossip in the town; she didn’t want to be accused of spilling the beans to anybody. One slip of the tongue and the whole town would have known within the hour. Let them find out on their own that the King brothers were back in town. They didn’t seem like the type of men who wanted everyone knowing what they were up to anyway. Besides, she was still processing her run-in with Colt from the other night. Still thinking about how he had seen more of her skin than any other man in the last couple of years. She thought about the way he blocked her nearly nude body from his brother ’s view by wrapping his suit jacket around her. She had tried to block that thought out. Because it was a nice thing and it conflicted with her thinking he was a serious asshole. Which he was. “So you’re the head stylist?” His look turned appraising. “Yes.” She nodded. “Lolly wanted me to speak with you.” “I’m listening.” They were standing on opposite sides of the salon talking to each other. Neither one of them had moved from their spots. He looked as if he was in no hurry to
come closer to her and she refused to go closer to him. He seemed like he was the type of man who was used to women, used to everybody, coming to him, giving him his way. But she stood right where she was, holding the towels in front of her chest like a shield and returned his gaze. “She wants me to take over the salon for a while.” “Say what now?” She heard the murmurs of the other stylists around her, but she couldn’t focus on them. She could only focus on him. On him telling her that he was going to take over yet another one of her spaces. Screw that. “There needs to be some restructuring, and I’m the one who’s going to do it.” “You’re shitting me, right?” She dropped the towels on the nearest counter and put her hands on her hips. “You have to be shitting me, because I’ve spoken to Lolly every single day since I’ve worked here and she’s never said anything to me about restructuring. She sure as hell didn’t tell me she was going to send in a stuffed suit to do it!” “Is there somewhere private we can talk?” He glanced around him at the girls and the clients in their chairs as if he expected them to scatter like roaches. Nobody moved, of course; they were far too interested in what was going on to pay any mind to Colt King’s indirect order. “Lolly’s office.” She motioned with her head. “I’m
sure you know the way.” He walked up to her, his strides long but unhurried. He didn’t break eye contact as he did. It made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. He had the kind of gaze that might wilt a lesser woman, and even though she felt a little hot under the collar, she stared right back at him letting him know that she was no less than him. “Lead the way,” he said softly as if the words were only for her ears. “With pleasure,” she retorted, feeling the need not to let him get the last word. She could feel heat on her back as they walked into Lolly’s extremely cluttered office. It might be from his gaze, but it was more than that. He was close to her. She could smell his scent and feel the warmth that rolled off his large body. “This place is a fucking disaster.” Zanna whipped around at his words to find that he was just a few short inches away from her. But this time he wasn’t looking at her. He was looking around the room, taking it in with his critical eyes. It had been a mess since she had started working there, but now seeing it from an outsider ’s perspective, it really did look like it was in need of some disaster relief. There were piles and piles of papers, envelopes, and catalogs littering every surface. Including the floor, the desk, and the pink leather sofa that Lolly kept in there. There were boxes, too, of old products that Lolly had brought in, thinking she was going to sell them to the
women of the town, but somehow she’d never gotten around to it. The walls were yellowing, the paint was chipping, and the old carpet probably hadn’t seen a vacuum since Zanna tried on her first training bra. It looked bad. And she almost immediately regretted bringing Colt in here. He looked around the place in disgust, and even though Zanna knew that this mess was in no way or shape her fault she felt like it was, because she was the head stylist and manager. She was left in charge. “How long has it been like this?” He brushed past her, going behind the desk. “Um…” She didn’t have an answer for that. She hated that she didn’t have an answer. “Always I guess. I’ve only been here a year.” He picked up a stack of unopened envelopes. “These are bills. Have they even been paid? Has anything been paid?” “The lights are still on, aren’t they? And Lolly has always paid her bills. She’s sick but she is still one of the sharpest tacks I know.” “You know? What exactly is your role here, Zanna? Because from what I’m seeing the only thing you know how to do is fetch towels.” “Listen, buddy.” She followed him to where he was behind the desk and poked him in his rock-hard arm. “I can do a lot more than fetch towels. I’m smart. I keep those biddies from spending the entire day yakking and
I’m a damn good stylist. I got a few ladies from over the border in Oregon that come to see me. In fact, if it weren’t for me, we would have closed the doors a few months ago when Lolly stopped doing hair altogether. Lolly left me in charge for a reason, and I don’t think I need to explain myself to the likes of you.” “Oh, I think you do, because for the next thirty days you answer to me.” * * * “Oh, do I?” Zanna asked him, stepping closer. Colt went hard again just looking at her. It was a reaction he was really going to have to get under control if he was going to make it through the next month. But she smelled good. Clean like soap and shampoo. Not like the perfume and cigarettes he smelled on the other women. She was pissed at him, too. People were mostly afraid of Colt so he wasn’t used to seeing anger unless it was coming from Duke. But unlike Duke, Zanna’s eyes threw off sparks; heat rolled off her and onto him, making his own skin grow hot. He couldn’t help but think about what she would be like in bed. What it would be like if he pushed her buttons and then undid them, revealing that creamy-looking skin that he hadn’t had a glimpse of since the day he arrived. She would no doubt be hot. Passionate. The kind of woman you would want to stay locked in a room with and not come out until
your legs went wobbly and your brain turned to mush. “The last time I checked the only people I answered to were Jesus and the IRS and since you are neither one of them, you can go to hell.” “Such a mouth.” Such pretty pouty lips. She was distracting him with them. Distracting him from the task at hand. This place was a mess. Lolly wasn’t joking when she said she needed him. He just hadn’t realized how bad it was. “My aunt asked me to come in here and change things around. She wants me to teach you all how to run a business in her absence.” Her eyes narrowed. “What makes you so qualified to teach us?” “I run a billion-dollar corporation and I have an MBA from Stanford.” “Whoop-di-freaking-do.” She rolled her eyes. “I was first in my class in Mr. Carlo’s Hair Academy and I dare you to find another person in the tristate area who can do a better brow job than me.” She lifted her hand and brushed at his. “You should let me clean you up. You’ve got a few stragglers.” He grabbed her wrist as her hand hovered near his face. He couldn’t remember the last time somebody had just touched him without warning or invitation. He should have let her go immediately, but for some reason he couldn’t. She had such soft skin, even on her wrist, and once again it brought him back to the other night when he had his body wrapped around hers and a hand
on her back. “Cut the bullshit, Zanna. I know how to run a business. I turned Duke’s small custom car shop into a chain of thirty stores. Our products are household names. I’m so good at what I do, television networks want to spend an hour a week showing the world our work. So what if you can do brows. I can do business.” “But can you run a salon?” She looked him right in his eye. Always. Not a lot people did that, especially women. She was no timid little thing. He liked that about her; more than that, he respected her for it. “Do you know what the latest techniques in foils are? Do you know the best haircut to suit an apple-cheeked lady’s face? Do you know how much you can charge for a cut and a two-step color process in these parts?” He hesitated for just a second. Of course he didn’t know. His business was cars, not hair care. “I can find out. Things need to be changed around here. You’re not stupid, Zanna. You can see that this place is in danger of going under.” “Of course I can! I love them old biddies out there, but do you think I’m happy that the only thing they can do are roller sets and updos that look like they belong at a 1990s prom? Do you think I like working with hair dryers that are older than my granny’s panties and less functional? Do you think I like only having a few clients a week because all the young girls would rather drive to that expensive-ass salon at the casino than come here? You may have your business smarts, but I know hair and
I know what it would take to make this place great.” “Oh do you? Then why haven’t you done it?” “Because Lolly is stubborn as a mule. I know if she gave me the chance I could do a lot with this place. I could bring the women back here and I sure as hell don’t need your help to do it.” She tried to snatch her wrist away from him but he wouldn’t let her. “If Lolly trusted your judgment, she would have listened to you, wouldn’t she? She said you had to stay with the house, but she didn’t say anything about you staying with the salon. This is no fucking vacation for me. I’m here because she wants me to be, and it would be better for you to realize that I’m the one who’s in charge. You’ll do as I say and if you don’t like it, you can take your cute little ass to the next town and try your luck there.” She pinched his arm with her free hand, causing him to let her go. “My cute little ass is staying right here. You understand me, Colt King?” She stepped closer to him, her chest nearly brushing his. “I’m invested in this salon.” “That hurt, damn it.” He rubbed his arm. “Don’t grab me and I won’t pinch you.” “Don’t touch me and I won’t grab you.” “Don’t touch you?” She gave him a slow sassy smile, causing his dick to jump in his pants. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard a man say that to me before. It’s usually the other way around. Makes me feel powerful. Say it again.
And say my name when you do.” “I’m not here to play games with you,” he said even though a hundred thoughts burst into his mind—how he could play with her, the games they could try while naked and sweaty. “And I’m not just going to let you walk all over me.” He stared at her for a long time, not sure what to say. He was never at a loss for words when it came to a battle. He had come in here with a plan of attack, a purpose. The last thing he expected was to go head-tohead with a hotheaded hairstylist. And he sure as hell didn’t expect that he would want to strip her naked and take her up against the wall. He had spent a long time making sure he was civilized enough to fit in with the rest of the world. Zanna Jacobs was bringing out the wild side he thought he had killed long ago. “Zanna,” Peggy called. Colt took a step away from her. They were still close, though, the heat of her body and her clean scent not leaving him. He forced his eyes off her and looked at Peggy, who was regarding them with much interest. He could see the wheels turning in her mind. But he didn’t give a shit. Zanna Jacobs wasn’t going to make him lose control. “Yes, Peggy.” “You’ve got a lady from Oregon on the phone who wants to make an appointment. Said she heard about you from a friend. She wants to talk about her wedding.”
“Really?” Zanna’s face lit up. “It’s been a month of Sundays since I’ve done bridal hair.” She grinned brightly before she ran out of the room. “I’ll admit I was annoyed when Lolly made her head stylist here,” Peggy said to him. “I’ve been doing hair for thirty-five years and I’ve never heard of such a thing as a head stylist, but she was right to. I’ve never seen anybody so excited about hair in my life.” Excitement. That was the last thing Colt expected to feel when he returned to Destiny, but he had found it in Zanna.
Chapter 5 Two-thirds of the King brothers were early risers, Zanna had learned by their third morning there. She could hear the shower turning on promptly at five thirty AM every day, then Duke’s heavy-booted footsteps as he walked down the hall toward the kitchen. She hadn’t heard much from Levi since they arrived, but it was Colt’s deep dark-chocolate voice that she found the most irritating as she tried to sleep. The walls were thin and she could hear him as he made his morning phone calls. Give me the status of the shop in Tulsa. I need you to email me the third-quarter projections. The shop in Branford County is not performing well. Replace the manager. He didn’t have conversations with whoever he was talking to. It was just all orders. Zanna figured he must be a bitch of a boss. She read up on him after he had announced that he was taking over the shop. She read up on all of the Kings. They had made something of themselves, all three of them, but Colt seemed to be at the center of their success. Every article said he was aggressive, taking over small mom-and-pop shops and bringing him into his empire. He was ruthless and insatiable. It was like he was trying to take over the world.
It was all well and good for him to do that with car shops, but now he had his eye on the salon. Her salon. The one Lolly had let her run ever since she went into semi-retirement six months ago. And she was doing a damn good job of it, too. She just needed a little more time and a little more power to make some changes. She had stumbled upon Destiny while she was trying to get away from Bruno. It was only supposed to be a quick stop on her way to San Francisco—but then she’d met Lolly, who seemed to know she was hiding from something and offered her a chair in her salon. It was the first time in a long time that she had felt welcomed. She never thought she would fall in love with the dusty little town or its quirky residents, but this place made her feel safe for some reason and she hadn’t felt that way since her granddaddy died. It was the reason she wanted to stay when it would have been much easier for her to make a new start of it somewhere else. The salon had so much potential. If Zanna could really dig her hands into it, she knew she could make it something special. She even offered to buy the place. She had money saved up for the down payment and everything, but Lolly wouldn’t give it up. She refused to. And now she had brought Colt in to fix things. It bugged the hell out of Zanna, but she guessed blood was thicker than water. A sharp knock on her bedroom door caused Zanna to jump and those thoughts to slip out of her head.
“It’s not seven AM yet. If you’re not critically injured, go to hell.” Colt walked in without invitation, looking better than anybody had a right to before seven o’clock in the morning. Today he wore gray pants and a black buttondown shirt with a few buttons left undone at the neck. She guessed that was his form of casual clothes and it annoyed Zanna to no end that his crisp clothes and fancy shoes looked more expensive than everything she owned put together, including her car. “I didn’t tell you to come in!” She pulled the covers over her head, wishing he would go away and hoping that her increased heart rate had more to do with anger than attraction. “You didn’t tell me not to come in. You really need to be clear about things like that.” “Get out! I’ve still got that shotgun, and not a jury in the world will convict me for blowing your balls off. Is that clear enough for you?” “Get up.” She heard his footsteps grow closer. “You’re the head stylist and we need to go in to work early today.” “My first client doesn’t come in until eleven! I’m not leaving this house until ten. Get out!” “I’m afraid I can’t do that.” He yanked the covers off her and tossed them aside. “It’s time for you to get up. I’ll meet you in the kitchen in forty-five minutes.” “You son of a bitch,” she said as he turned away
from her. She grabbed him by the back of his pants, taking him off guard as she pulled him back toward the bed. He lost his balance and landed on the mattress with a small bounce. His eyes narrowed, looking as if he was going to pounce on her, but she beat him to it. She climbed on top of him, pinning him to the bed. “I don’t know who you think you are, buster.” She poked him in the chest. “I’m not one of your servants or employees so you don’t get to tell me what to do, and you sure as hell don’t get to barge into my room and wake me up before a decent hour.” He said nothing, but the look in his eye changed as his gaze became more penetrating. It became hotter. And then she felt it. The erection that sprang to life in his pants. It was then she realized she was on top of him, straddling him. Her thighs spread wide across him. It didn’t help that she was wearing next to nothing. A ratty white tank top that had been washed so many times it was now sheer and her underwear. No bra, and as awareness spread through her, her nipples tightened painfully. She couldn’t hide that from him. “Please, Lord.” She looked up to the ceiling. “Please tell me that I’m not feeling what I think I’m feeling.” “I could apologize, but I’m not sorry.” His fingers came up slowly to touch the backs of her thighs. She could have stopped him if she really wanted to, but the
need to feel his fingers on her skin robbed her of good reason. He caressed her. Caressed. She had been felt up, groped, grabbed, and squeezed, but she never had been caressed before. He slowly slid the backs of his fingers along her thighs, causing her to feel his touch everywhere. “You’re beautiful and your body feels good on top of me. I reacted. Can you blame me?” Maybe she couldn’t but she did blame him for the heat in her belly, for the throbbing he caused between her legs, and for the dampness that was beginning to form. She didn’t even like him. Why the hell did her body want to rub against him like a cat that needed to be petted? “What in the hell do we have going on in here, kids?” Levi stood in her doorway, a sleepy grin on his face, shirtless and looking every bit as sexy as his older brother in the morning. “I get up to answer nature’s call and I find you two going at it with the door open.” “We aren’t going at it. This isn’t what it looks like!” She scrambled off, tossing a pillow at Levi and one at Colt. “This never would have happened if your bossy son-of-a-bitch big brother didn’t come in here to wake me up for work.” “We have things to accomplish at Lolly’s shop,” he said simply as he picked up the blanket and draped it
over her. “It’s your responsibility as head stylist and manager.” “Oh yeah.” Levi shook his head. “Colt and work. He loves that shit. Probably more than he loves me and we all know I’m his favorite person in the world.” “You could come to the shop today and help out,” Colt said, setting his eyes on his brother. “No thanks.” He grinned in that boyish way of his. “I’ve got plans with Shelly.” “Shelly? That sweet little schoolteacher a couple of doors down?” Zanna asked in surprise. “Yup. She’s my best friend.” Zanna liked Shelly. Hated her uptight pain-in-the-ass daddy, but Shelly was sweet. “You keep that girl out of trouble.” “No can do. Those are the exact opposite of my plans.” He winked at them. “You two have fun, and remember to keep the door closed next time.” He was gone then, leaving Zanna alone with the only guy in the last couple of years who made her feel desire, and desirable. She glanced over to Colt who was looking cool as usual, the heat she’d seen in his eyes now long gone. “Bring flat shoes,” he ordered. “What? Why?” “We’re moving boxes. And if you’re not in the kitchen in forty-five minutes, I’m coming back for you.” He left then and she wished she had a flat shoe to throw
at his head. * * * Colt knew he had no business going in Zanna’s room that morning, he thought as he watched her sorting through the boxes of old shampoo Lolly had littering her office floor. He had planned to wake her up and leave it at that. But that little voice in his head, that same naughty voice he’d had since he was a kid, made him do it. Pull the blankets off her. Get her riled up. It was that same voice that told him to climb up the old water tower and spray-paint a giant donkey on it. The same voice that told him to steal the pedals and chain off Duke’s bike when he made him mad as a kid. The same voice that made him disassemble all the carburetors in the police cruisers after Duke was taken off to jail. Since he’d gone off to college he had been trying to kill that little voice, or at least ignore it. But this morning when he saw Zanna with her sleepy eyes and her hair spread all over the pillow in his childhood bedroom, that voice became annoyingly loud. He had just wanted to see that spark in her eye. He hadn’t counted on her pinning him to the bed wearing nothing but a threadbare tank top and some baby-doll-
pink underwear. He hadn’t counted on her nipples turning into hard little peaks that he could see through her shirt. Of course his dick went hard. She was soft. Her body was beautifully curvy and he could just imagine her on top of him, riding him with her fingers digging into his chest. “Stop staring at me. It’s creepy as hell.” He felt his lips twitch. He didn’t smile often, but there was something about her that made him want to. “I was thinking. You were just something to look at.” She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “I’d much rather hear that my beauty is so captivating, you couldn’t possibly take your eyes off me.” She wasn’t wrong. He had been around a lot of sexy women, but Zanna didn’t lead with her sexuality. She wasn’t trying to be sexy and that was probably the reason he found her so appealing. “What is your plan for all of this unsold product?” he asked as he left Lolly’s messy desk and sat across from her on the floor. “I was thinking we could sell it. Not in here, though. It’ll never move if we just put it on a shelf. This isn’t the stuff I use on my clients. I would feel uncomfortable asking them to buy it.” “What’s your plan?” “You actually want to hear it?” She looked suspicious. “You’re not just going to order that I do something with it? I haven’t known you very long, Mr. King, but you don’t seem like the kind of man who takes
a lot of input from others.” “I haven’t dismissed you once. And don’t call me Mr. King.” Everybody but his brothers and Lolly called him Mr. King. Normally he liked it, liked being in charge and respected. But he didn’t want to hear it from her. He liked the way his name sounded on her lips. “Tell me your idea.” “They started a farmers market in the motel parking lot on Sunday. Most of the town heads over there after church. A lot of the people are selling baked goods and homemade crafts. The mayor had them put up a sign by the highway so we’ve been getting more tourists in. I figured we could sell these bottles two for one and hand out some coupons for some services. That way we could kill two birds with one stone: Get rid of these products and bring people in the salon.” Colt nodded. It was a start. “How much would this promotion cost us?” “The space for the table is fifty bucks. I could print up the coupons myself at home.” “How much money do you think we can make?” “It sure as hell won’t be what Lolly put out, but if it’s a good Sunday, we can bring in at least three hundred dollars.” “What plans do you have for that money?” “What’s with all the questions?” She rolled her eyes skyward. “I’m going to take it to Vegas and take my chances at the tables. Maybe I’ll blow it on a hooker with
great big knockers. Or rent a bouncy castle and jump and jump for hours.” She rolled her eyes again and Colt found his lips twitching. “What do you think I’m going to do with it? I’m going to roll it back into the business.” “The salon has seen its better days. I think a face-lift is in order.” It hadn’t changed at all since he was a kid. Part of him had been hoping it had. Part of him had hoped Destiny had changed since he was gone. “Three hundred dollars isn’t going to do it. The floor needs to be redone. It needs to be painted in here. We need new dryers and chairs. The hoods alone cost three hundred dollars apiece.” She shook her head. “Apparently Lolly didn’t leave me in charge after all. I’m supposed to be learning how to run this place from you. So tell me, Your Highness. What are your plans?” “You and I are going to go to the farmers market on Sunday. I need to see it before I make the final decision.” “Why do we need to go? I told you all about it.” “I need to see if it’s worth the time and expense. We have to pay for the rental and your time, plus the basic supplies for the flyers.” “I would do it for free. Flyers and all.” She looked back to the bottles she was sorting. “No one has to pay me.” He reached over and took her chin between his fingers, forcing her to look up at him. “Don’t do anything for free. That’s your first lesson in running a business. Everything has a cost. Including your time.
Especially your time. Don’t do anything without expecting to get something in return.” “Why are you here then?” She removed his hand from her chin but did not let go immediately. “What are you getting out of helping this little beauty shop?” “I owe Lolly. I’m repaying my debt.” “Your debt?” She looked amused. “What did she do? Save your life?” “Yes. She did.” He got up then. Picking up one of the boxes she had finished with and taking it out of the room. * * * Zanna sat there for a moment just staring after Colt, wondering what he meant by what he had just said. A small part of her was glad he had left the room. She was finding it hard to breathe in there with him. The room was already small and cluttered, but with him in there the space seemed so much smaller. So much hotter. It might have been the way he looked as he hauled those boxes that morning, his chest and arm muscles bulging. He had told her that she was going to move them, but she did little more than sort the contents inside. He did all the heavy work, his expensive attire be damned. She thought he would be prissy about the years of dust on the bottles, or too good to ever sit on the floor, but he was there with her, cleaning just like he was used to it.
She picked up the last box, planning on heading to the storage room where Colt had put the rest when he came back into the office. “Give me that.” He took the box from her. “It’s heavy.” “I can carry it,” she protested. He took it anyway with a small head shake and turned for the back of the salon. She followed him. She could have gone back into the office and gotten started on clearing out some of the other mess, but Colt King had a hell of an ass on him. And a broad back that looked even bigger when he carried heavy things. It was a shame he had those stuffy sophisticated clothes covering it. She suspected he would look mighty good in jeans and a tee. “Why are you following me?” “I’m looking at your ass,” she admitted as they entered the storage room. He set the box on the counter and frowned at her. “It’s true. It’s real nice. Hard looking. The kind a lady could get into squeezing.” He said nothing, just stared at her, his mouth twitching into that sort of smile she was becoming familiar with. “I figured it was okay for me to comment on since you saw me nearly naked twice. I’m still mad at you for busting into my room this morning.” He shrugged, seeming not to care. “It’s hot as hell back here.” He turned away from her to examine the AC
unit that looked like it was original to the store. “I can’t believe she hasn’t replaced this,” he said as he shut it off. “I can’t believe she hasn’t replaced anything.” She watched him as he removed the front of it and popped out the filter. A shower of grime and dust rained down on him, covering his dark shirt and hair in filth. “Fuck,” he said softly. She probably would have screamed bloody murder if that was her, but he just quietly seethed. She wondered what it would take for him to really bust a gasket. “This thing probably hasn’t been cleaned since I left.” “Left?” she asked him, grabbing a towel and heading to the sink. “For college. She used to make me clean it every summer. It seems that nobody replaced me.” She walked over to him, damp towel in hand, and wiped the dirt off his face. “I bet if your big-city business friends could see you now, they wouldn’t believe it. Colt King covered in crap.” She lifted the towel to his head, giving it a good scrubbing to remove the layer of dust that coated it. “Lifting boxes and working in a tiny hair salon.” “They wouldn’t believe it.” “I still can’t believe it.” She unbuttoned the two of his buttons so that she could wipe off the dirt that had fallen onto his chest. He had a little bit of hair there. Not smooth like a lot of built
men waxed themselves to be, but with just enough hair to tickle her fingers as she touched it. She caught herself then, playing in his chest hair, standing way too close to him. She thought back to that morning when she had him between her legs and had felt his hard length pressed against her and his hands on the backs of her thighs. She kept having flashes, fantasies actually, of him rolling her over, her thighs wrapped around him as he pushed inside her. Colt looked like the kind of man that could be gentle when she wanted it and rough when she needed it. She hadn’t been with anybody in a long time. Years. Not since she found out that Bruno was more than just a bad boy—he was a scum-sucking piece of shit. “I could wash this shirt for you.” She moved her hands away from his chest and wiped down his shoulders, suddenly feeling jumpy and nervous and not wanting him to know it. “We’ve got a washer and dryer. The washing machine is pretty new. Got it back in April from the scratch-and-dent place a few towns over,” she babbled. “You probably only get your things drycleaned, but I can hand-wash it and put it in the dryer, or you can go home and change. You can go home and stay there actually. We really don’t need your help.” She turned away, knowing she sounded like a numskull, but he caught her hand and pulled her back to him. All the way into his hard body. She looked up at him, into those deep-blue eyes. His hair was wet from
her scrubbing; his face had dark smudges on it from the dust that she missed, and it held a look she couldn’t describe. It was intense. Like he hadn’t eaten in a long time and she was his first meal. Before she could blink again his mouth was on hers. He was a shocking kisser. It was the only way she could describe the experience, because he seemed to affect all her senses and for a moment it felt so damn good she couldn’t react. The only thing she could do was experience. Experience the slow slide of his tongue as it slipped deep into her mouth, experience the way his hands swept up her body, experience the way his hard chest felt against her soft one and the way her nipples turned into firm little points again as they ached for more of him. One of his hands came up to rest on her cheek as he pulled her lower lip between his teeth and nipped it. The combination of the slight pain and pleasure spurred her into action, and she looked into his eyes for just a second before she returned the kiss. She didn’t want to be passive with him. It was rare that she got to have this kind of pleasure. She wasn’t going to take it for granted. She yanked his shirt out of his pants, needing to feel more of him. She touched his stomach, running her fingers over his abs as she sucked his tongue back into her mouth. He groaned, gripping the back of her head, burying his fingers in her hair. The throbbing between her legs had grown painful. She was
wet. It normally took a lot to get her going, a long time until she was ready, but not with Colt. All he had to do was touch her and she was ready to go to pieces. He broke the kiss, his breathing heavy, and for the first time since she had met him she saw him not composed, not cool, not aloof. “Fuck,” he said softly. “I was thinking holy freaking shit.” “I-I have to go. I’ll be back soon.” He walked out on her. And she was pissed, because that was the best kiss of her life and he’d just walked away from it.
Chapter 6 Colt got in his SUV and sped away from The Head Shed. His cock was so hard he could drill through a cement wall with it. He wanted her. That wasn’t anything new— he had wanted her since the moment he saw her—but just then in that storage room he’d been dangerously close to taking her. Right on the new washing machine she was babbling about. He could have resisted her if she were a practiced seductress. But she wasn’t. She was far from it. She had zero awareness of what she was doing to him. She cleaned his face and scrubbed his hair. She touched him freely. It was like she was taking care of him. He couldn’t remember the last time anybody had done that. Lolly kept them clothed and fed, but there was no affection from her. She just gave them the tools to fend for themselves. But Zanna was different. She had a big mouth and she was feisty, but she was different from most women he came in contact with. He had known her for three days and she made him want to smile. She distracted him. Those lips. The way she just melted and let him kiss her at first. The way she turned the tables on him after he bit her lip. She came alive then, kissing him back with an almost ferocious
sensuality as she slipped her soft, warm hands up his shirt and stroked him. That one kiss was better than most sex he had. And that troubled the hell out of him. She was the last thing he needed. That was the last thing he wanted in a woman. She was the type of woman he’d vowed to stay away from when he got out of this little shitty town. But he was back here and it seemed liked his old demons were rushing at him again. He had less than thirty days to turn the shop around and get back to his life. The one where he knew what to expect, the one where he wasn’t exactly happy but at least was content. He wasn’t sure he could be successful with Zanna around. Everything about her made him want to return to his wild roots. He pulled into the hospital’s parking lot after his body had calmed down and headed straight up to Lolly’s room. She was sitting up in bed thumbing through a magazine when he walked in. “What in the hell happened to you, boy?” “What the hell are you up to, old woman?” “Nothing! I’m the hospital. I can’t get up to nothing.” “What’s the deal with Zanna? Why didn’t you tell me she was your salon manager when I spoke to you?” “You needed telling?” She shrugged. “You’re a smart boy. I assumed you would have figured it out.” “She’s been here a year. You never said anything about her living with you. You never said anything about
hiring somebody new when I’ve spoken to you.” “Is she giving you trouble?” she asked innocently. Yes! He wanted to shout his answer at her, but Zanna hadn’t really done anything—just spoke her mind and existed in his world. “Zanna has ideas for fixing the salon. Why won’t you let her?” “What the hell are you up to, old woman?” This time the words came from Duke as he stomped into the room, looking madder than a demon from hell. He stopped and turned to Colt for a moment, his anger replaced by surprise. “What happened to you? You look like you been dragged behind a motorcycle.” “I was trying to fix the air conditioner in the storage room.” “You were trying to fix something?” “Fuck you, Duke. Just because I choose to spend my life working without grease under my fingers doesn’t mean I can’t fix shit. Pop taught me just as good as he taught you, and if I wanted to, I could probably fix cars better than you.” “Oh, now you’re fucking delusional.” “And you’re a prick.” Duke took a step toward him and Colt was ready for it. They hadn’t fought since they were teenagers, but he was fired up enough about Zanna that he was pretty sure he could take Duke on and hold his own. “Enough of that, you two jackasses. What kind of boys come to visit a sick lady in the hospital and get into
a fight? Now, Duke, what the hell are you mad at me about?” Duke shook his head as if suddenly remembering why he was here. “I’ve got a kid!” “What?” Colt’s head spun. “At least I think he’s my son.” Duke looked at him and shook his head. Colt had never seen his brother look so miserable. Not even when he was sentenced to prison. Right now he looked as if the world had dropped out from under him. “Who’s the mother?” Colt asked him. “Who do you think the mother is?” he snapped. Grace. Colt didn’t say her name. He knew better than to. No one talked about the woman who’d sent his brother away. “How did you find out, Duke?” “I caught him throwing rocks at his grandfather ’s car and couldn’t help but see the family resemblance.” “Maybe he’s not yours. Have you talked to her? Did she deny it?” He shook his head. “I can’t get in touch with her. Believe me I’ve tried. She’s been avoiding me since we got back to town.” He looked back to Lolly. “You knew all this time that that boy was mine. You didn’t say a goddamn word. You let me miss out on my boy’s life.” “I did not. Grace moved out of town after you got locked up. Nobody knew she had a baby until she moved back when her mama was dying. I suspected that the boy was yours, but I didn’t know for sure and she sure as hell
wasn’t spilling the beans.” Duke was the strongest man Colt knew. He had overcome a lot, but Colt didn’t know how the hell he was going to get through this. “What are you going to do?” He rubbed his hand over his face. “I’m going to find out if he’s mine and if he is, I’m going to do what’s best for him. We grew up without a father. I’m not about to let my boy do the same.” * * * Colt King was a man of his word. A little less than two hours after he kissed the hell out of Zanna he returned to the salon, looking as fresh as ever in a new crisp shirt and slacks. He must have showered, because his hair was still wet when he walked in. For a moment she wondered if he had showered just to get clean or if he’d done so to cool down. She knew she needed to cool down after that kiss and hoped he would have stayed away for the rest of the day so she could do so. She didn’t want to have to look up at him and be reminded of the kiss they’d shared. But it didn’t matter if he was in the same room with her or across town; she would still get hot all over every time she thought about it. “Who is the mean-looking hottie over there?” Suzanne, one of her out-of-town clients, asked her as she was putting the finish touches on her blowout.
“Colt King.” She glanced at him. He had been watching them all afternoon. Annie and Peggy both had clients. Bertie had none. The elderly beautician had done nothing more than watch soap operas since she came in that morning. Zanna knew she should have found something for her to do or sent her home but Bertie was seventy-two. She felt bad chasing after her. “Colt King the CFO?” “Yeah, how did you know that?” “My husband watches King’s Customs Creates every week. His cute little brother is the host. The King brothers are like gods to a car-head. What’s he doing here?” “He grew up here. This is his aunt’s shop.” “Interesting. Is he going to get this place its own reality show? If that sexy Levi hosts it, you won’t be able to get me out of your chair.” “I doubt that’s going to happen.” She grinned as she spritzed her with finishing spray. “I’m all done. You look gorgeous, if I do say so myself.” “It’s all because of you. My hair has never been so healthy. If you came across the border to Oregon and opened your own shop, you would never have an empty chair. You’re too good to be stuck in this little salon. Hell, you’re too good for Oregon. You should be doing your thing in New York or California.” “I did my thing in a big fancy New York salon.” She’d started out as an assistant for one of the best and
worked her way up. She probably would have stayed there if the shit hadn’t hit the fan with her ex. In the end she was glad she left the city. She felt much more at home here. “I like it here. I know the place isn’t pretty, but we’re going to do our best to fix it up soon.” “Is that why he’s here?” Zanna nodded. “You don’t look too excited about it.” She actually had been excited since Colt barged into her life, but definitely not about him being in her shop. “We’ll get through it.” She glanced at Colt again, who was looking at her with that intense gaze of his, and she wondered if he had any idea what was running through her mind. “Let me ring you up. We need to set up an appointment to touch up those roots.” * * * “What smells good in here?” Levi strolled into the kitchen later that night just as Zanna had finished seasoning the mashed potatoes she was making. “Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and garlic green beans. Sit down and have some. I made plenty.” “I’m supposed to be taking Shelly out for a little dinner and line dancing,” he said, walking over, “but it’s been a long time since I had homemade fried chicken.” He plucked a drumstick off a plate and sank his teeth into it.
The moan he let out caused Zanna to laugh. “This is the best damn thing I’ve eaten all year.” “What is?” Colt walked in. His shirtsleeves were rolled up, showing off his powerful forearms. “Zanna can cook,” Levi said, taking another big bite. “That on top of being beautiful. I’m not sure why you haven’t been snatched up by some man yet.” “I don’t want to be snatched up. That’s exactly why I keep a gun under my bed.” “I’m still pissed that I missed that.” Duke walked in with a black duffel bag slung across his shoulder. “I would have loved to see you point a gun at Colt’s head.” “You probably should be glad it was just him that walked in on me. If all three of you showed up, I might have started shooting.” “I wouldn’t have blamed you.” “Where are you going, Duke?” Colt asked him. “I’ve got some business to take care of in town.” “What kind of business?” asked Levi. “You didn’t tell him?” Duke looked at Colt. “Not my place.” Duke nodded and a look of understanding passed between the two brothers. “Somebody want to tell me what the hell is going on?” “I have to do some research,” Duke said. “See if I can learn the truth about something.” “Duke.” The warning was clear in Levi’s voice.
“Don’t do anything stupid that will land you back in prison. We’ve got too much to lose.” “Maybe I should leave you all alone to talk.” Zanna dropped the dish towel she had been holding and took a step toward the door. Private family matters weren’t something she should be a part of. “No.” Duke put his hand on her arm to stop her. “There’s nothing else to talk about. I’ll be fine. I’ve just got to take care of some business.” “Ain’t that some shit?” Levi looked back at them, confusion all over his face. “What the hell do you think he’s up to?” Colt just shook his head. He knew better than to reveal something before Duke was ready. But he had thought about the possibility that there might be another King man since Duke had told him. He could only imagine how Duke felt. Their father had given up on them, disappeared without a word, without a trace, and Duke had taken care of them for a long time. Colt knew that his brother was an honorable man. He went to prison because he was too damn honorable. He would never let anyone in his family go without. He would never to do his son what their father had done to them. “I guess we’ll find out when he wants us to find out.” “Do you know something about this?” Levi looked at him suspiciously. Levi was a grown man. Colt knew that he would be able to handle the news without a problem, but Duke had
always wanted to shield their younger brother from most of the shit they had gone through. Levi never knew how bad things were in their childhood. He didn’t know that sometimes Duke went without so that Levi could eat, or the punishment that Duke took for Levi when they were kids and their father was drunk and angry. “I know what Duke just told us. If he wants us to know more, he’ll tell us.” Levi nodded. “That’s Duke for you. He didn’t even tell us he was going to open King’s Customs till he knew he could make a go of it. He doesn’t reveal a damn thing until he’s absolutely ready.” He grabbed a paper towel off the counter, wiped his mouth, and tossed the chicken bone in the garbage before he turned to face Zanna. “You’re beautiful.” He kissed her cheek. “You make beautiful chicken and one day soon, I would very much like to have another piece.” He kissed both of her cheeks and she found herself blushing. “I’m going line dancing. You want to come?” “Maybe next time, champ. You have fun.” “I’ll be thinking about you the entire time.” He winked at her as he backed toward the door. “Call me if you need a ride later,” Colt said quietly. “Aw, Colty. You do care!” Levi grabbed Colt up in a bear hug, Colt didn’t return it but Zanna couldn’t miss the twinkle of amusement in his eye. “All right, get the hell off me.” “Okay. See you two later. Don’t wait up.”
Zanna was left alone with Colt again. For a moment they just stood there staring at each other. He looked cool as usual and it annoyed her. It probably shouldn’t, but she knew he was cool only on the surface. There was something very hot about him; he simply needed to be turned on. “Are you hungry? I just finished making dinner. Have some.” She motioned to the stove where her potatoes were still steaming. “You don’t have to feel obligated to invite me. I didn’t mean to intrude.” “Colt King, are you accusing me of being polite? If I didn’t want to feed you, I would have told you to go stuff it. Now sit down.” She turned away from him to make him a plate. The truth was she was being polite, but only a little. She hated cooking just for herself. She made dinner for her and Lolly every night before the older woman went into the hospital. But she had been there for over two weeks now, and Zanna kind of missed sharing her meals with somebody. She set the plate and fork before him, watching him as he surveyed the food. He was probably the type of guy who had a gourmet chef prepare all his meals. The type of guy who turned his nose up to anything fried or fatty or really good. “Well, aren’t you going to try it? I swear I didn’t poison it. I didn’t have time. I might have if I’d known you were going to be joining me this evening.” “I was waiting for you to join me. You may not be
polite, but I am. It’s rude to eat before everyone is served.” “Oh,” was all she said, knowing that he was right. “I didn’t know that rule until my sophomore year of college. Lolly was always served first. She didn’t wait for the rest of us.” “Lolly was served first?” she asked, plating her own food. “She didn’t do the cooking?” “Duke cooked. Duke always cooked. Even before we came to live with Lolly.” “You all didn’t always live here?” She took the chair next to him at the small table and as soon as she sat down she knew she had made a mistake. She should have sat across from him because now they were too close. Their knees were brushing, and she felt that silly little tingle along her skin that only he could produce. “No. My father was a drunk—probably still is, I’m not sure. I haven’t seen him since I was twelve. Duke made sure we stayed fed.” “Where was your mama?” she asked softly. “She died,” he said matter-of-factly. “Cancer. I was eight.” He dug his fork into his cooling mashed potatoes. “Levi was barely four.” “I’m so sorry,” she said softly, wishing she hadn’t asked. “Don’t be sorry. Death is a part of life.” He took a bite of his food, then another. “This is good, Zanna. I can’t remember the last time I had potatoes this good.”
The compliment brought her unexpected pleasure. “It’s all about the butter and cheese. You can eat that, right? You aren’t on one of those no-dairy, no-flour, just-kill-me diets, are you? People who look like you usually are.” “People who look like me?” “Or maybe I should say people who feel like you.” Memories of that afternoon unwillingly flooded her again. He was solid and warm and made her feel a little bit reckless. “How do I feel?” His eyes searched her face again as if he was trying to pull the answer from her mind. “You’re hard.” His eyes sharpened at her comment, causing her to swallow. “I mean, your body is hard. All over, like you live in the gym.” “I don’t deprive myself of anything.” He bit into his chicken. “If I want it, I have it,” he said, and it made her wonder if they were still talking about food. It didn’t matter, though. Colt King was a man who always got what he wanted. “Eat your food, Zanna. It’s getting cold.” She hadn’t realized that her food sat in front of her untouched. She was starving when she got home from work today, but as soon as she sat down at the table next to him her hunger evaporated. It wasn’t like her. She had dated. She liked men. She felt at ease around them. Even scary-looking Duke she found easy to be around, but Colt was another story. He made her stomach feel all
knotty. It was ridiculous. He was just another man. A man who’d seen more of her body in the last few days than any other man had in years. He was the man who barged into home and work and bedroom without warning. Maybe that’s why Colt bugged her. Men were always pretty predictable to her, easy to read, but not Colt. She never knew what was going on in that head of his, she never knew what he was thinking, and it was damn disconcerting. She dug into her food and ate quietly for a few minutes, but couldn’t take the silence. Colt didn’t seem to mind it. He ate quietly and unhurriedly, like it was normal for them to dine together, like they had been doing this for years. “I used to cook, too, you know. My grammy taught me when I was little. People think Native Americans eat mostly maize and beans and game we hunt ourselves, but we go to the supermarket just like everybody else. At least my people do. My granddaddy had a special fondness for those little cheesy puff things and there isn’t a damn thing natural about those.” “I knew you were good with a shotgun but I didn’t think you hunted every meal yourself.” “I could hunt. My granddaddy taught me how to shoot. He didn’t believe in hunting for sport even thought I grew up in an area with a lot of hunters, but he said I should be able to handle a gun as well as any man. And I can, you know. I could outshoot most of the boys
in my school.” “You’re not somebody who enjoys silence, are you?” His question took her by surprise, even though she knew she was babbling. He could read her and she never thought she was that easy a mark. “No. I’m a hairstylist. My days are filled with chattering women. I’m not used to quiet.” “I would think you’d welcome silence even more after spending your days like that.” “No.” She shook her head. “I was an only child, and when I didn’t live with my grandparents, I lived in Tulsa with my mama. She worked a lot and when she wasn’t at work she was with whoever was her boyfriend at the moment. I was alone a lot. The house was quiet. I hate quiet houses. I have a hard time living alone.” She hadn’t meant to spill that last piece of information, but it was true. It was probably why she had latched on to Bruno. There were always people around when she was with him. Family, he called them. She found out too late that they weren’t the type of family she had pictured in her mind when she thought of the word. “I grew up with Levi,” Colt said, taking her mind away from her ex. “I don’t think I knew what quiet was until I moved out. My condo is very quiet now, even though it’s right on the Strip.” “Do you like the quiet?” “Sometimes.” “Do you want me to stop talking?”
“No.” He took another bite of his food. “Sometimes I hate silence, too.” * * * The next morning Colt headed to the salon early again. He still had years’ worth of bills and papers to sort through. Lolly’s office was one big filing cabinet. There was no bookkeeping at all from what he could see. No point-of-sales system. No balancing of the checkbook. He was tempted to call in his forensic accountant to sort this mess out, but Lolly had asked for his time. “I was expecting you this morning. Kept a fork by my bedside. I was all ready to stab you with if you stepped foot in my room.” Zanna walked into the office with her thick hair piled high on her head. He loved her long hair down around her shoulders, but seeing it up did something to him. As a whole package she was smoking hot, but with her hair out of her face and her striking features on display, he could see how truly beautiful she was. How perfectly her lips were shaped, how high her cheekbones were. He could imagine himself kissing her there. Normally the last place he would imagine kissing a woman was her cheek, but he could see himself running his lips over the curve of hers, savoring her soft skin. He would then move down to her neck, which wasn’t long or graceful, but looked like something he wouldn’t mind burying his nose in.
Inhaling that fresh scent of hers, lingering there while his hands ran up her body. “You worked hard yesterday,” he said, forcing himself to speak. The truth was, he’d stayed out of her room because he found her too tempting. He had spent most of the day sporting the world’s biggest hard-on because of her. He couldn’t afford to go through that again today, and he sure as hell didn’t trust himself not to touch her. That little voice in his head was egging him on, telling him to do all the things he’d thought about doing to her since he first saw her. He couldn’t afford to do that. He liked to be completely in control of his sexual encounters. When, where, and how he wanted it. On his terms. With Zanna he knew that would all fly out the window. “You have four clients today. All of them heading for the Firemen’s Association ball. You needed to rest.” “How did you know that?” She blinked at him. “I checked your appointment book. I then had Annie call and ask them if there was anything we could do here to make their visit more special.” “You called my clients?” “No. Annie called them. Two of the women would like their eyebrows done. Three of them want pedicures, and one would like her lip waxed.” He saw that spark light in her eyes and immediately and unwillingly his heart beat a little faster. She turned him on the most when she was all hyped up.
“You have to upsell, Zanna, if you want to bring more profit in. Those women will be leaving the shop spending thirty-five percent more than they would have otherwise.” “Well, that’s all fine and dandy, but have you considered who is going to perform those services?” She walked all the way into the room and stopped right in front of the desk. “I have never given a pedicure in my life and don’t plan on starting today, even if I did want to scrub some strange woman’s feet. We aren’t set up for it. There are none of those fancy pedicure chairs here. We don’t keep nail polish on hand. How the hell do you expect us to pull this off and why couldn’t you have at least given me the common courtesy of asking before you decided to offer more services?” He had planned to tell her last night. He had gone into the kitchen with the express purpose of telling her. But she distracted him. With first the meal and then the conversation. He had been to the finest restaurants Vegas had to offer, but he couldn’t think of a meal he had enjoyed more than her crispy buttermilk fried chicken and those creamy mashed potatoes. He also couldn’t remember the last time he had a conversation with anybody about anything besides work. Zanna did most of the talking. She never seemed to run out of words to say. Normally he found incessant speaking grating, but not with Zanna. He liked the way her Oklahoma-flavored voice filled the room and made the empty house seem
less so. He liked hearing her ramble on about her grandfather and what life was like on a reservation. He had learned that parts of her childhood had been idyllic, but other parts sad. He could relate to that. His childhood had never been happy. He had never really been happy. “Well, aren’t you going to say something?” “Peggy said she’d be willing to take on the manicures and pedicures. When I was a kid, I saw her put a full nativity scene on a woman’s nails. I think she can manage a few coats of polish.” “What about the waxing? I don’t wax. I tweeze and thread. I’m not comfortable about putting anything scalding hot on someone’s skin.” She folded her arms over her chest, and her lips went pouty. It was taking all of Colt’s strength not to get out from behind the desk and kiss her again. “Can you thread a lip?” “Yeah.” “Then you’ll do that. I know for a fact that the only reason that the shop is going to be full today is because the casino salon is fully booked. It is imperative that these women come back again. Repeat business is the best business. So today we are going to give those women the best salon experience they can have and at a lower cost.” “But—” “Do you want this place to succeed or not?” “I do, but—”
“Is it or is it not your job as head stylist to do everything in your power to ensure that it happens?” “Yes! Can I speak now, Mr. Dictator, sir? Or are you going to keep acting like a world-class asshole and continue to cut me off.” “Yes, servant. You may speak.” The naughty-littleboy voice in his head made him say that just to get a reaction out of her. Zanna did not fail him. She marched around the desk, eyes blazing, hands extended. “You slimy rat bastard. Who are you calling a servant?” She got one good hard pinch in before he caught her hands and pulled her into his lap. “Relax!” He found himself laughing as he wrapped his arms around her to prevent her from further attacking him. “I would never have you as my servant. You’re too mouthy.” She looked up at him. Her eyes were losing their fire but taking on a look that was far more interesting. “Let go of me,” she said, clearly realizing how close they were in that moment. Her plush bottom fit perfectly in his lap, and the rest of her body seemed to have aligned perfectly with his. Their faces were close again, their lips just inches apart. He did as she asked, even though it was the last thing he wanted to do. She shook her head and exhaled before she leaned in and kissed him. Her hands cupped his face, her mouth opened over his. It was a sweeter kiss than before. She tasted sweeter and hotter, if that was possible.
Her tongue worked in his mouth in a way that he could only describe as so good it was acutely painful. His dick sprang to life again, begging for relief from the tension she caused, but there were just too many layers of clothes between them. He needed to feel her skin. So he slid his hands up her shirt, touching her back and waist, up and under the band of her bra. It wasn’t enough. He wanted to be closer, wanted to feel more skin, so he undid her bra and brought one of his hands up to cup her breast. She wriggled in his lap, spurring him on. He ran his thumb across her nipple, which was already a tight, hard peak. She moaned into his mouth. It was the sexiest sound he had ever heard, and he knew that he wouldn’t die a happy man unless he heard that sound again. “Enough,” she whispered as she broke the kiss. It was only a moment, though. She set her lips against his, but lightly this time. “No more,” she said with her eyes shut. Her head came to rest against his shoulder and for a long time they just sat like that. He was incredibly aroused and uncomfortable because of it, but somehow she felt right nestled in his lap. “I promised myself that that wasn’t going to happen today.” “Why did you do it? Why did you kiss me?” “Because I’ve never seen a man more beautiful when he smiles.”
He didn’t know how to take her words. No one had ever said anything to him like that. “Now get your hand off my boob and do my bra back up.” She glanced at the clock on the wall as he did what she said. “We’ve got two hours to go shopping before my first client gets here.” “Shopping?” “We don’t have any of the supplies for the new services you’re offering. How the hell do you expect us to pull this off?” “Why do you need me to go with you?” “Your idea. You’re paying for it.”
Chapter 7 Zanna glanced over at Colt as she drove to the big-box department store a few towns over. At first she was surprised when he handed over the keys to his ultraluxurious SUV, which probably cost more than all the houses she had lived in put together. But he wanted her to drive. Said he didn’t know where it was, but she could tell he was uncomfortable. Pained looking. He had grown aroused as soon as she had started to kiss him. It gave her a little charge feeling him grow beneath her, knowing she had that kind of effect on him. But glancing over at him right now, she almost felt sorry for him. Because she was aroused, too. The heat in her belly, the throbbing between her legs hadn’t stopped yet. Made worse because he was still next to her. She could still smell his scent and feel the warmth of his skin. Every time she glanced at his hands she would remember how amazing they felt as they stroked up her body, how his thumb expertly stroked across her nipple, seducing her with such little effort. “You want to tell me what you’re thinking about, champ?” She lightly tapped his knee. He wiped his hand over his face. “You don’t want to know.” “I think I do.”
“I was thinking about having sex with you. I was thinking about having you pull onto the side of the road, ripping off your pants, and asking you to ride me until neither one of us can see straight. But it’s been a long time since I’ve had sex in a car and an even longer time since I’ve had sex in a car in broad daylight, and at thirty-three I’m wondering if I’m too old for that.” He reached out and grabbed the wheel. “You’re drifting into another lane.” “Sorry,” she said, snapping her attention back on the road. “You just can’t say things like that to me.” “Then you shouldn’t ask me what I’m thinking. And I don’t think I need to remind you that you started this.” “I did not!” “You did, too. You stuck your tongue in my mouth.” “You pulled me into your lap.” “Only because you attacked me.” “You called me a servant.” “Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt you. You really need to use your words and not your hands to express yourself.” “What?” Laughter bubbled up inside her. “I can’t believe you just said that.” He smiled again, and it was just as striking as the last time. It hit her in the chest. Really, it was just like a good chocolate cake. She wanted more and more of it. “My second-grade teacher used to say that to me all the time.”
“Why, Colt King, are you telling me you used to fight in school?” “Everybody thinks Duke is the badass, but I had a temper.” “What were you so mad about?” “They called us trash. We were piss-poor, but we were just as good as the rest of them and I used my fists to show them that.” “Oh.” She didn’t know what to say to that. She had a hard time picturing anybody treating Colt as less than. The way he walked and talked and held himself exuded confidence. Power. Money couldn’t have done all that for him. Colt had to know he was something a long time ago to get where he was. She pulled off the empty highway and into the parking lot of the only big store they had in the area. It was full of cars as it always was, even this early in the morning. There wasn’t much to do in this part of Nevada for the locals. The Shop and Box with its attached diner was a place where people spent the day. “When did they put this here?” Colt asked as he grabbed a cart and headed inside ahead of her. “I don’t know. It was here when I moved here. I guess it’s been here awhile.” She followed him for a moment until she realized that he was going in the opposite direction of where they needed to be. “Excuse me, Mr. Macho. I know you like to lead, but
do you have any idea where you are going?” He looked back at her. “I figured we’d stumble on it eventually.” “Just like a man not to ask for directions.” She rolled her eyes. “Make a left at the greeting cards, and then a right at the tires.” “Tires? They sell tires in here?” “Yup, and couches. Small pets and fresh fruit and veggies.” Colt looked truly perplexed by this. “All in one store?” “All in one store. I bet you’ve never been in a store like this before.” She grinned at him. “And the word discount makes your skin crawl.” “We didn’t have this place when I was growing up. We got our groceries from Lindstrom’s Market and our clothes from the thrift store until Lolly took us in. Then she let us order them from catalogs. I thought I was hot shit the first time I got clothes that came in the mail.” “Now all your clothes are custom-made, aren’t they? You probably have a tailor at your beck and call. And a valet to bathe you.” “I keep a seamstress locked in my basement,” he said with a straight face. “As for my valet … I’m between valets at the moment. The last one looked me in the eye while he shaved me and I had him removed.” He didn’t look like he had any sense of humor at all, but Colt made her laugh. It had been a long time since
any man made her feel the way he did. “I like it when you tease me, Colt King.” He stopped pushing the cart and turned around, not giving her the chance to blink before he pulled her into his hard body and held her close. “You have no idea all the ways I would like to tease you, Zanna Jacobs.” He spoke with his lips on her ear at first, then gently pulled on her lobe with his teeth. The warmth from his breath, the slight bite from his teeth, the shock of him doing it right there in front of the birthday cards made her want to melt into a puddle of goop on the floor. “Well, I’ll be damned.” He swiftly kissed her lips and then let her go as if nothing had happened. “I wonder if they sell King’s Customs apparel in here.” He pushed the cart again. “They should. We’re in other discount stores. I’ll have my people get in contact with their buyer.” She quietly followed him to the beauty section, trying to shake off his kiss and regain her senses, but she was afraid it was a lost cause. Her senses had taken flight the first time she felt his body against hers. “Can you get three of those foot spas with the heat? They’re on sale, too,” she said to him as she grabbed an assortment of pumices, files, and anything that looked like it would scrape skin off feet. “Why are you getting three of everything?” “Because we don’t have time or the equipment to properly sterilize these between clients, Mr. Bring-in-
Thirty-Percent-More-Profit. We’re going to need some spray bleach.” She turned away to study the nail polish. “It’s three aisles down with the cleaning supplies, and get the store-brand stuff. It’s just as good as the name brand.” He stood behind her, not moving. She could feel the heat of his eyes on her skin. “What?” She turned back to him. “You’re bossing me around. I don’t allow people to boss me around.” “Lucky for you I’m not most people.” She grabbed his hand, kissing his knuckles. She knew it was stupid to touch him again when she still hadn’t recovered from the last time her lips were on his, but she couldn’t help herself. She wanted to get a reaction out of him. “Please, sir, can you go get the spray bleach?” She kissed him there twice more. “I would ever so appreciate it.” “Get on your knees and say it.” “What!” “You’re so easy.” He gently nudged her chin and walked away. She stared after him for a moment, thinking about how she got here. When she left her lowlife ex-boyfriend, she never thought she’d end up on the other side of the country shopping for beauty products in a discount store with the CFO of a multimillion-dollar corporation. “Zanna Jacobs.” She heard Perry Andersen’s voice and inwardly shuddered. He was like a rain cloud over a
picnic. “I thought that was your fine-looking self. How are you today?” “Fine.” She kept her answer short, hoping he would go away. He didn’t. He stepped closer, looking her body up and down like she was a piece of meat roasting on a spit. “I’ve been thinking about you. I’ve still got that ticket to the firemen’s ball for tonight. You should rethink your answer and come with me.” She could smell the overpowering aroma of his teenage-boy-scented body spray, combined with cigar smoke. It made her stomach churn. “A free ticket? I thought you were taking Ms. Emily Watkins. The nice girl who works in the library. In fact, I’m doing her hair for the event. Is she going to be unable to make it tonight?” “I can make it that way. If you want, all it will take is one phone call and she’s out.” He took another step closer to her, but this time his hand came to rest on her shoulder. Perry wasn’t a bad-looking man, aside from a few crooked teeth. He was tall with dark hair and in the right light he sort of resembled Jimmy Stewart, but he was a prick. A world-class prick who couldn’t shake his thing for her. She pushed his hand away. “Emily is a sweet lady. She’s been looking forward to this for weeks. I won’t be the cause of her heartbreak. If you didn’t want to take her, you shouldn’t have asked her.”
“Emily is cute, but she ain’t got nothing on you, Zanna. I’ll just put in an appearance at the ball and then me and you could get a motel room and”—his eyes roamed her body, lingering on her chest—“get down to some business.” She folded her arms across her chest. “Why a motel room? Why not your place?” “My mother lives next door. You know that.” “So I’m good enough to screw, but not good enough to take home to your mama? Fuck off. Emily is too good for you. She really likes you, you know. I’m not sure why. I don’t think you’re fit to lick her shoes.” “I’m the fucking fire chief.” Little specks of spittle flew from his mouth as his voice rose. “That’s why. The youngest one they’ve ever had. My daddy was police chief before he died. One of my brothers is the manager of the goddamn bank, the other one runs the mines. I’m from good stock and my name means something in this town. Don’t nobody know where you came from. You’re so damn secretive about it. Acting like you’re better than somebody else. You’d be damn lucky to get somebody like me. You ain’t nothing around here.” “You all right, honey?” Colt came up behind her, tossed the bleach into the cart, wrapped his arm around her waist, and locked eyes with Perry. The term of endearment surprised her. She knew why Colt used it, but she didn’t expect to get a funny feeling in her chest because of it. “I’m fine, babe. Perry and I
were just having a little discussion about why I can’t go out with him tonight.” “She’ll be with me,” he said, not taking his eyes off Perry. “So the rumors are true. The King boys are back in town.” “We’re back but there’s nothing boyish about us.” The two men stood staring at each other, bodies stiff, backs up. If they were dogs, they would have been growling and circling each other. “You’ve come back here to throw it in our faces, have you? Some people may have forgotten what you were like, but I didn’t. My family hasn’t forgotten what you or your brothers did. And—” He stopped himself, but Zanna could have sworn there was an unspoken threat there. “Glad your family hasn’t forgotten. They shouldn’t, but if you think I spent one moment thinking about rubbing my success in anyone’s face, you’re wrong. I’m here because my aunt needs me. Not because I give a shit about you or anybody else in this insignificant place.” He ran his fingers down Zanna’s arm, finally looking at her. “You just about done in this aisle?” “Yeah.” She grabbed a handful of nail polishes and tossed them in the cart. “I’m ready to get out of here.” She pushed the cart past Perry, glad to be rid of him. “Fucking prick,” Colt said when Perry was out of earshot.
“High school rivalry? Did he steal your girlfriend or your spot on the football team?” “We were on the wrestling team. But that’s not why I hate him.” “Why then?” “His family is the reason Duke went to prison for five years.” * * * The next morning Colt looked at his little brother as he poured himself the world’s largest cup of coffee. He looked bone-tired but happy. Levi was always happy. Even after their father disappeared and they had to survive on white rice until Duke scrounged up enough money to feed them. He even seemed cheerful after Duke went to jail and Colt forced him to come live with him in California for a while. Nothing seemed to put a damper on his brother ’s spirits, and he wondered how Levi did it. How he could always be so damn cheerful when life had handed them so much shit? But that was the good thing about him. Levi made the bad times so much easier to get through. “What have you been up to?” “Shelly.” He dumped a truckload of sugar into his coffee. “Have you seen Shelly? Little Shelly who used to have braces and wore her hair in pigtails?” “No.” He shook his head, amused by his brother ’s
bemusement. “Has she changed?” “I mean she’s still the same sweet thing who prays for everybody before she goes to bed at night, but she’s … she’s … Damn.” “Why do you sound so surprised by this? I thought you two kept in touch.” “We did. We do. But in letters. She writes me long letters once a week and sends them to me wherever I am.” “Sends them, as in mails them?” He nodded as a grin spread across his face. “She handwrites them. I email her back, of course, tell her she doesn’t have to write longhand, but I get a kick out of it.” Colt never understood Levi’s bond with their neighbor. Levi was a happy-go-lucky wild guy and Shelly was the sweet shy daughter of an incredibly strict prison guard and church deacon, but they had always been close. It made Colt wonder if his serial-dating little brother had some deeper feelings for his best friend. “You have a late night last night?” “Yeah, I took her driving in the desert. I’ve got a friend who makes these insane off-roading vehicles. You take them fast enough and they literally fly. Me and Shelly were flying last night.” “I didn’t think she was an adrenaline junkie like you are.” “She’s not, but she said she’s never been able to experience anything. So while her dad’s in Florida this
month I’m going to show her a good time. We all know when that blowhard comes back, he’ll put a stop to it.” “She’s a grown woman. He can’t stop her from enjoying herself.” “But she doesn’t want to disappoint him. Since her mother died, she feels like it’s her job to take care of him and keep him happy.” “She needs to get the hell out of there.” “Hell yeah, she does. I wish I could convince her.” “Colt King!” Zanna’s angry voice distracted him. He looked up to see her, eyes flashing, money in hand, and charging toward him. There went his damn heart again. He never enjoyed making somebody angry, but seeing Zanna pissed off gave him a little charge. It was almost like a high. If Levi felt like this every time he raced cars, Colt could understand why his brother was always doing things to risk his life. Being near Zanna was a rush that nothing else could compare to. “What the hell is this?” She shoved the two hundred dollars he’d left for her at him. “You paying me for services rendered? If you’ll pay me this much for a kiss, then how much will you give me to sleep with you.” “Whoa!” Levi said, his eyes looking fully alert for the first time that day. “What’s going on?” “It’s not what you think. Both of you.” He took the money and handed it back to her. “We’ve been here eating your food, drinking your coffee, and using up all
your hot water. I’m paying you back.” He handed it back to her. “Well, I don’t want it.” She shoved it back at him. “You’re insane. Take it. We don’t want to owe you.” She looked horrified. “This is way too much! I-I can’t take this. You don’t owe me.” “We do owe you. You are going to take it. And that’s final!” “That’s final? Who do you think you are telling me when something is final?” He stepped forward, grabbed her arm to pull her close, and slipped the two bills in the back pocket of her jeans. Her eyes widened and that spark in them changed to heat. He wondered if she thought about that kiss they shared in the office yesterday, or the too-brief one in the middle of the store. He had a hard time keeping control around her and it seemed that she felt the same way. “Um.” Levi cleared his throat. “Still here. While I’m fascinated by your freaky little foreplay, I don’t need to be a witness to it.” “Shut up,” Colt barked at him, then turned back to Zanna. “You’re keeping this money, okay? I want you to have it. I don’t want you to feel like I’m taking advantage of you. You work hard for a little bit of money and I don’t want it going toward us when we already have so much.” She nodded slowly. “Just don’t leave it on my nightstand. It makes me feel cheap,” she said so quietly
he could barely hear her. “Okay.” He wanted to kiss her, pull her into his arms and kiss her until he was out of breath. He felt bad. He liked seeing her mad, but he didn’t like the thought that he might have hurt her feelings. “We’re still going to the farmers market?” “Farmers market? They’ve got one of those here?” Levi asked. Colt kept forgetting his brother was there, watching everything that that was going on between them. He had always been über-aware of his surroundings, but with Zanna around everything and everybody else faded away. “It’s nice, Levi,” Zanna said. “Come with us. I’ve got some extra money. I’ll buy you ice cream.” “Ice cream. Oh boy!” he cheered sarcastically, but in a lovable way. “I would love to spend the day at the farmers market with you. Colty here is another story.” He didn’t want his brother tagging along. It was stupid. He wasn’t dating Zanna, even though yesterday he’d led Perry the Prick to believe that he was. He had never gone shopping with a woman before. But yesterday he pushed the cart through the store listening to her talk about everything and nothing while she placed items in it. It all felt so normal. So domestic. He didn’t think he would like it, but spending time with her in a discount store was more fun than he’d had in years. Either he needed to get out more or it was her who made it that way.
He liked her. He shouldn’t. She was a distraction. She was Lolly’s employee and the type of woman he should stay away from. He was supposed to be thinking about the salon and how he could make it function better in his short time here, but yesterday as he watched her work all he could think about was her. It was bad. But right now he needed a little bad in his life. “Go get dressed,” he told Levi. “We’re leaving in ten minutes.” “Yes, sir!” He mock-saluted and sauntered out. Zanna remained, quietly looking at him and for the first time looking almost unsure of herself. “You really blew up about that money. Why did it make you feel cheap?” “It was nothing.” She looked away from him and down at her feet. “Forget about it. I’m sorry.” “I want to know,” he prodded her gently. “I feel stupid about it now.” She shook her head. “My granddaddy used to say I get madder than a cat forced to take a bath.” He stepped closer to her. “Tell me.” “It just brought back some shit I’d rather forget.” “Of what?” He didn’t want to let this go. He wasn’t going to forget that angry hurt look on her face. “My mama. Sometimes her ‘dates’ left money for her when things got tight. I swore to myself that no matter how bad things got for me, I would never let anyone use
me like that.” “Have I used you?” Sometimes he did. He used people to get things he wanted, and places he needed to be. He used women for sex, for boredom relief, but he didn’t want her to feel used. “No, Colt.” She shook her head. “You haven’t.” “Good. Now will you buy me ice cream at the farmers market?” She smiled beautifully at him. “Only if you’re a good boy.” * * * Zanna sat in the passenger seat of Colt’s SUV as he drove them to the farmers market on the outskirts of town. She was feeling mighty stupid about what had just gone down in the kitchen. She didn’t know why she went so crazy when she saw the money on her nightstand. She hadn’t slept with Colt, even though she wanted to. Even though last night it nearly took an act of God to keep her in her bed and out of his after what went down between them. He was a controlling pain in the ass who had usurped her power in the salon but he wasn’t like any of the other men in her life. She had lied to him when she told him she had vowed to never let another man use her. She had been used in every relationship she had been in. She didn’t give her heart often, but when she did, she gave it
all away. First it was Mickey when she was twenty, who claimed he was an artist, but the only talent he had was putting a permanent butt print in her couch. She worked two jobs while she went to beauty school to support him and he still stole the three grand she had saved up. Bruno didn’t steal from her. He didn’t have to because he stole from everybody else and used her apartment for his shady business dealings while she was at work. She had jumped into that relationship with both feet. So impressed by Bruno’s charm and the gifts that he showered on her, she really had believed that he worked for his uncle’s plumbing company instead of as a lowlevel mobster. He used her too, and took a piece of her pride when he slapped her for questioning his business. She should have shot him right then and there, but she did something else to get back at him. Something that really had hurt him, and that’s why she had to leave the East Coast. It had been a year and half and she hoped he’d moved on, but she knew he wanted her dead. Colt hadn’t done anything to her yet, except make her want him. Maybe that’s what scared her. She wanted him more than she had anybody else. It was more than a want. It was almost like a need. A need to be near him. A need to smell his scent and hear the low rumble of his voice. A need to be pressed against him. Her skin actually broke out in tingles when he was around. Her stomach felt like a whole field of butterflies had broken free when he looked at her. And when he touched her, even
innocently, her nipples went hard. Warmth spread through her and moisture formed between her legs. He had power and money. He bought and sold people and places for a living. He was just the kind of jackass she’d fall for. If she let him use her, there would be nothing left for anyone else to have. She wanted to give to somebody else, even though she wasn’t in the market for a guy right now. But she wanted a family of her own, a little girl she could raise up right and correct all the mistakes her mama had made with her. She wanted a guy with a nine-to-five job. Who came from a normal family. She wanted stability. A millionaire who would throw her away like a snotty tissue when he was done with her was the last thing she needed in her life. The only thing that brought her comfort was knowing that he would be gone soon. She just had to get through the next three weeks with her legs closed and her heart intact. “This place is packed,” Colt said as he pulled into the parking lot. “And not just with locals, either.” “I told you all about it. You didn’t want to believe me.” “I needed to see it for myself. I didn’t become successful by trusting anybody’s word.” She looked over at him as he pulled the car to a stop. “Do you trust anyone, Colt?” “Nope,” Levi chimed in from the backseat. “Not anyone. Even I had to go through three rounds of job interviews before he hired me, and I’m his favorite
person.” “Why do you keep saying you’re my favorite person?” He looked back at Levi. “What makes you think I like you more than anybody else?” “You don’t like anybody. You like me. C’mon, dude, everybody does. Right, Zanna?” “You’re hot.” She grinned at him. “People like hot people.” “See? Come on.” He opened his door. “I hope somebody here makes good Mexican food. I’ve been jonesing for some good Mexican food.” She and Colt followed behind him and Zanna was surprised to see that Levi was immediately recognized. A couple of teenage boys came up to him asking to take a selfie with him. “I forget you all are famous.” “We aren’t. Levi is. Even though Duke does all the designs and oversees all the projects he’s rarely seen on camera. I’ve never been on the show. Levi is the star.” “He’s got something special about him, doesn’t he?” “He prematurely aged me. He always loved kart racing as a kid but he started drag racing when I took him to live with me in California.” “You took Levi away from here?” “I had to. Duke got locked up. Half the town hated us. I was just out of college but I had a good job in a major tech company. I wanted him to have a fresh start. I never thought a year later he would be training to be a
Formula One driver. By the time he was twenty-one he was in Europe racing professionally. I wanted him to have a normal job, but he was car-crazy like Duke.” “You fixed it so that he would have a normal job. Well, maybe not a normal job, but at least one that won’t get him killed.” “What?” He seemed surprised by her statement. “You started King’s Customs to bring your brothers back together.” “Duke started it. All I did was grow it.” “But you didn’t have to. You could have been successful anywhere. It was important to you to have your brothers be a part of it. Why, Colt King, I do believe you are a big sweetie pie.” He shook his head but didn’t deny it. “I’ve never cared for having a boss. Why should I make money for somebody else when I can make it for myself?” “Hey, guys,” Levi said, rejoining them. “A kid told me there’s a truck that’s selling good carne tostadas.” They made their way through the crowds to see vendors selling fresh veggies, handmade soaps, and beaded jewelry. There was so much food this weekend. Homemade fudge, cupcakes, ice cream, and cotton candy. It reminded her of the fairs her grandparents used to take her to when she was a kid. She liked coming here, even if she was alone, because it made her feel closer to them. But now she was here with two of the King boys, one on each side of her flanking her like soldiers, and it
was a different experience. People were actually staring at them. Half of them because they recognized Levi from his TV show, the other half locals who were finally seeing for themselves that the King brothers were back in town. Colt and Levi didn’t seem to notice, though. They walked toward the truck with single-minded focus, as if the whispers just bounced off them. “The line is long. You want to look around for a while we grab some food?” “I’ll wait with you.” He shook his head. “What can I get for you?” “I can get it.” “What can I bring you?” he said in that tone that meant it wasn’t up for discussion. And frankly she was too tired to argue with him. “A chicken taco and a lemonade.” He nodded and they went off. She browsed the nearby stalls. A booth selling vintage-inspired posters caught her attention. There were big framed photos of Rita Hayworth, Jayne Mansfield, and Dorothy Dandridge. She would like to hang them in the salon. She would paint the walls and spruce up the floors, but she didn’t want to lose that old-school feeling. Her vision was for the salon to be a classy throwback to a time when women didn’t mind spending a whole day getting pampered. But The Head Shed wasn’t her salon. She was just going to have to wait until Lolly agreed to sell it to her. Or she
eventually moved on. She hated to think she was going to have to. She hadn’t brought it up to Lolly yet, but it kind of stung that she’d brought in Colt instead of giving her more control. He had brought in more money yesterday, but that was short-term. She had bigger plans for the place. “Hey there, Zanna.” She heard Perry’s voice behind her again and she couldn’t believe her luck. She had noticed the town’s fire truck parked in the lot but chosen not to think anything of it. “I’m surprised to see you here. I thought after the ball last night you’d be taking it easy today. While I was doing her hair Emily told me she wanted to dance all night.” “We danced.” His eyes passed over her, taking her in as he always did, but today there seemed to be anger in his eyes. “But she’s a lady so I took her home at a decent hour.” “That’s nice.” She turned away from him, hoping that he would take the hint. “How long have you known Colt King?” As usual, he never took the hint. “Did you know him before he came back to town?” “I’m not sure that’s any of your business.” “You’ll open your legs to him after knowing him a few minutes, but you won’t give me the time of day. I didn’t think sluts were so choosy. You must be doing him for his money.” She was so stunned that for a moment her mind
blanked out. “What did you just say to her?” It turned out she didn’t have to speak up for herself, because Colt was standing there looking mad as hell and Levi was just behind him. “I think I just heard him call her a name that no man should call a woman,” Levi said, and for the first time since she had known him, his sunny disposition disappeared. His arms hung at his sides, hands balled into fist. She could really see the resemblance between the brothers now. They looked big and tough and pissed. “You want to repeat that?” Colt stepped closer to Perry, his voice dangerously low. “It’s okay, Colt.” She tucked her hand into his. “I’ve been called worse.” He gazed at her, into her eyes for a moment. She didn’t think it was possible but he looked even angrier. “It is not okay. Nobody gets to talk to you like that. Nobody gets to disrespect you. Especially not this prick.” He turned back to Perry. “Apologize or I’m going to knock your fucking head off.” “Everything all right here, Perry?” asked Angus Whitley, another one of the firefighters, as he stepped forward. “Mind your business, Angus,” Levi warned. “We don’t have a problem with you.” “What exactly is the problem?” “Nothing I can’t handle,” Perry said, showing false bravado. Zanna could see he was uneasy. She could see
the little beads of sweat that formed on his forehead. “Apologize to her,” Colt said again. “I don’t have anything to be sorry for.” “Wrong answer.” And before Zanna could blink, Colt had swept Perry’s feet out from beneath him and taken him to the ground. He had the front of Perry’s shirt gripped in his hand and pushed his face close to Perry’s frightened one. “You Andersen boys don’t seem to know how to respect women. If you think what Duke did to your brother was bad, wait until I get finished with you.” Long gone was the polished, controlled man she had come to know in the past few days. There was a little wildness in his eyes and she had a glimpse of the boy he used to be. And it turned her on. “You’ll go to prison, just like your brother.” “You think just because your father used to be police chief around here, that means shit to me? You think you still got a judge in your family’s pocket? Think again. You have no idea who I know. I make one call and I can have your body parts spread across deserts in three states.” “What in the hell is going on here?” Zanna looked up to see that a couple of deputies were standing behind them, as well as a crowd. “Come on, Colt.” Levi pulled his brother away. “I think you made the weasel squirm enough.” “It’s nice to see that the King kids haven’t changed.” Perry got up and dusted off his clothes as Colt started to
walk away. “Same pieces of trash they always were!” he shouted for the crowd’s benefit. Colt stiffened, but he ignored him and kept walking. “Why don’t you go back to where you came from and take your piece of ass with you? Now that’s she been with you nobody around here will touch her.” Colt lunged at Perry, his fist just missing his face as Perry jumped back. Levi caught his brother, but Colt wouldn’t be still and Zanna knew if Levi let go he would kill Perry. “Damn it, Colt. Quit it!” Allen Smith, one of the deputies, grabbed him, helping Levi haul him away. “I’ve got to take you in now.” “What!” Zanna rushed to him. “Don’t. He didn’t even hit him.” “He’s trying to kill me! I’m pressing charges. He thinks he’s important, but he isn’t shit in this town.” “Shut up, Perry!” she snapped at him. “You just better be glad Colt got to you first, because I would have shot you in your manhood and from what I hear, it wouldn’t be much of a loss.” Her statement earned her some chuckles from the crowd, but she didn’t care, she was more concerned about Colt, who still was being held back and looked ready to kill. “Do you have to take him in?” “Yes, Zanna.” He looked around the crowd. “We’ve got to.” “No handcuffs, okay? Please? He was provoked.”
Allen nodded. “What do you want us to do, Colt?” “Grab the keys from my pocket and go to the house and get my computer, then go get Duke and meet me at the jail.” “Your computer?” Levi frowned. “What the hell do you need that for?” “My contacts are in there.” “For your lawyer? Just tell me who is he and I’ll call him.” “I’m not thinking about my lawyer. I’ve got other plans.”
Chapter 8 “Is that all they are asking for it? Buy it. Offer them cash,” Colt said to Cedric, his second in command back at King headquarters. “And did you find out if the bank is privately owned or held by a bigger corporation?” “It’s a locally owned bank with two branches. The first was opened back in the late 1890s on Main Street. The second is located right outside the casino and has been open for three years.” “See how much they want for it.” Colt never thought he would be here. Locked up in a tiny cell because of something one of the Andersen boys did to a woman. He had spent his entire life proving that he was just as good as them, just as smart as them, that the King name wasn’t going to be considered trash anymore. And he had done good, but none of that seemed to matter now that he was here back in Destiny. The Andersen boys still mistreated woman, and the King boys still used their hands to make things right. He was mad as hell at Perry—if they hadn’t taken him away, he probably would have knocked all his ugly teeth out—but he was madder at himself. Mad that he’d lost control. Mad that the wildness he had put away had broken free. He thought his past self was long gone, but the moment he heard Perry speak to Zanna like she was shit he
realized that it had been there all along, deeply hidden inside. He was determined not to let that side rule him. He had worked too damn hard to get where he was to go back. He was just going to have to use his mind to get back at Perry, to get back at them all. The King name didn’t mean much in Destiny? It would. “Sir, I trust your judgment in buying the land there, but I don’t understand acquiring the banks.” The faint sound of heels clicking on the floor distracted Colt from Cedric’s question. He looked through the bars of his holding cell to see Zanna walking into the tiny police station with his two brothers behind her. “Just see how much they want for it and get back to me as soon as possible.” “What if they aren’t willing to sell?” “Everybody has a price.” He hung up then to see Duke grinning from ear to ear, truly looking happy for the first time in a long time. “I wasn’t sure you had it in you, Colt.” He shook his head. “I knew you could be a ruthless son of a bitch in the office, but I wasn’t sure you had it in you to tear off somebody’s head. I think I’m proud of you.” “Your pride in me touches my heart,” he said dryly. “Is that your cell phone?” Levi asked, stepping closer. “They let you have your cell phone in here?” “Yeah, and he’s been on it the whole time he’s been in
there,” Allen said, getting up from his desk. “Colt’s not actually under arrest. He’s just in there till we can be sure he won’t go kill Perry. Personally I would have liked for you to have given him a good ass kicking, but there was a crowd and the new chief is still friends with the old chief and you know how that is.” “Can you let him out?” Zanna asked, stepping forward. Unlike Duke, she didn’t look amused. He could see the worry in her eyes. “I’m not supposed to until the chief comes back. He went to talk to Perry. He’s been getting too big for his britches lately.” “Can you let me in there then?” Allen shrugged as he reached for his keys. “Why not?” A few moments later Zanna was walking toward him. She wasn’t wearing black today. It was the first time he had seen her in color since they’d met. The lavender top and dark blue jeans she had on molded to her backside. He’d known there was something different about her this morning; he just couldn’t place it until that moment. “Why do you look like I ran over your cat?” “This is my fault. I’m so sorry.” “Strictly speaking it is, but you don’t need to apologize. I didn’t like the way he spoke to you.” “Why did you two come back so soon from the taco truck?” “I saw him head in your direction. I had a feeling. I
didn’t like the way he was looking at you in the store yesterday, either.” She lifted her hand to his hair, absently running her fingers through it. The touch was like a shock to his system. It wasn’t intentional or sexual, and he wasn’t even sure if it was meant to comfort him or herself, but it felt good. He couldn’t recall a time when such a simple touch made him feel so good. Then again he was sure if it was the touch itself that was doing him in, or the woman touching him. “That sounds pretty possessive.” He didn’t say anything to that, because it was true. When he saw her with Perry yesterday all he could think was, Mine. His to have. His to protect. “I could have handled him, you know,” she said softly as she still played in his hair. “He’s just an immature asshole with a bruised ego. He would have walked away after he had his say. He wasn’t worth you getting locked up.” “But you were. No man should ever talk to you like that. You’re worth more. You should be treated better.” “How do you know? You don’t know anything about me.” “I know enough to know that if anybody else ever talks to you like that, the same thing will happen. You deserve more than you think you do.”
Tears flashed in her eyes and for a second he was horrified, but his horror melted away when her lips met his and her soft hands came to cup his face. It was a different kind of kiss than before—just as long, just as deep, just as intense as all the others, but it felt … better. It felt like … more. It felt like it consumed him. It was like a drug and if he didn’t get a taste of her mouth every day, he would go through withdrawal. Fuck. That was the last thing he needed right now. She would make him lose himself. He never wanted to lose sight of the man he had become. “Well, holy shit,” he heard Duke say as Zanna broke the kiss. Zanna rolled her eyes and turned away from him. “Grow up, Duke. Levi, you want to take me to the grocery store so I can pick up something for dinner? Duke can stay here with Colt.” “I’ll take you, but you’ve got to promise to kiss me like that.” She glanced back at Colt, giving him a smile that was shy and luscious and just for him. “Only if you get thrown in jail for me.” “I’ll pick a fight in the produce section.” She linked her arm through his as they walked away. “Then I can live up to the King legacy and get locked up over a girl.” It was on the tip of his tongue to say, Get your own girl, Levi. She’s mine.
He didn’t say it. But he knew by just thinking the thought he was in trouble. And he knew if he was going to survive the rest of the month, he was going to have to stay the hell away from her. * * * Zanna hadn’t seen much of Colt for the past two days. But when she had seen him, he was on the phone issuing orders. From the dribbles of conversation she heard, she knew that he was buying something. Something big. She tried not to think too much about it. He bought out businesses for a living, but whatever it was he was acquiring seemed extremely important. He was in one hell of a bad mood, too. He was never pleasant, but these past couple of days … If looks could freeze, she would be iced over. She didn’t want to think it was because she had kissed him in the police station, in front of everybody. But he had gotten locked up for her because Perry was mad at her. She hadn’t even planned to kiss him, it was just that she couldn’t help herself. He fought for her. Bruno used to go after guys who looked at her funny. He fought over her like she was his property, but Colt fought for her. He made her feel respected. He made her feel like she was worth fighting for. It was a change from most of the men she had
encountered in her life. Only her grandfather had treated her well. Her father disappeared when she was six. As for her mother ’s boyfriends … One of them thought he could use her, too. It was why she’d left Oklahoma at sixteen and never looked back. “You liking the color, honey?” she asked Constance, a brand-new client but lifetime resident of Destiny, as she tried to pull her thoughts away from Colt. Constance had walked through the door this morning after seeing some of the work Zanna did on the ladies who went to the firemen’s ball. “I’ve been wanting to go blond for years but was scared to death. But, girl, I think you have made me downright gorgeous.” Constance grinned at her as she fluffed her hair. “Thank you, ma’am.” She took the cape off her and escorted her to the register. “It’s all about finding the shade that fits your skin tone and getting the right cut. You’ve got gorgeous cheekbones. There was no use hiding them under all that hair.” “My seventy-five-year-old aunt gets her hair done here. I wasn’t sure about coming until I saw what you did for Tina’s hair, and even when I walked in I had second thoughts, but you changed my mind.” “I love to hear that. I hope you’ll come back to see me.” “You think I’d trust anybody else with these roots?” They chatted for a few more moments as Zanna cashed
her out, and when Constance left, Zanna was sure she had a new regular client. The salon was empty again. Zanna plopped down in one of the empty chairs that had been patched more than a few times with duct tape. It was pink duct tape that she ordered online, but it was still duct tape. So far she was the only one who had any clients that day. It was such a difference from Saturday when the salon was a hive of activity. It was exciting and she missed it—the noise, the activity. She knew that in its heyday the salon was always busy. It would come back to that. It was starting to come back to that. Her work was speaking for itself. “You did a nice job on that girl’s hair, sweetie,” Bertie said from her chair as her knitting needles clicked. “Thank you, Miss Bertie.” “She was dyeing her hair too dark. Started to look like Morticia. I know lifting all that color without damaging her hair was hard work.” “That’s high praise coming from you.” “You know why she’s changing her hair?” Bertie asked without taking her eyes off the television. “She’s getting back at that no-good Derek Waters. They’ve been engaged for ten years. The boy needed to shit or get off the pot and she told him so. He told her he still wasn’t ready so she kicked him to the curb. Now she’s trying to show him what he’s missing out on. The man’s a dumbass. Constance is a good-looking, hardworking woman.
Nobody else is going to want him. The dumb-ass.” Zanna laughed at Bertie’s assessment. “How do you know all that? Constance didn’t say a word about it today.” “I’ve been around a long time, honey. I know everything.” She stood up, slowly, her age showing. “I’m going to take my lunch break and swing by to see Lolly. You want me to bring you back something?” “You have any more of that pineapple upside-down cake at your house?” “I’ll bring you a big slice, and some of that raspberry tea you like,” she said just before she walked out. “Zanna, I need to speak with you.” She heard Colt’s voice and for some reason it affected her physically: She could feel the hairs on her neck rising. She didn’t want to look at him, because she could tell just by the little bit of harshness in his tone that she wasn’t going to like whatever he was going to say to her. But she did look over to him, partly because she couldn’t help herself, but mostly because even though Colt King got under her skin like nobody’s business he was still one hell of a man to look at. He was standing in the doorway that led to the back, his arms folded across his chest, his stance wide. He was extra buttoned-up today in a full suit and tie, which looked damn good on him but so out of place in this outdated salon. “I’m listening,” she finally said.
But she didn’t get up. She was wearing five-inch black stilettos and had just spent four hours straight on her feet. Plus she’d be damned if she walked across the room at his beckoning. He may make her hormones crazy, but he wasn’t her boss, as much as he would like to think that he was. “I need to speak to you in private.” She looked around the salon. The only other noise was coming from the television. An episode of Judge Judy was playing in the background. “There’s nobody here but you and me, Colt. Unless you have some other plans, I think it’s safe for us to speak.” “Where is everybody? “Bertie just left for lunch, Annie has the day off, and Peggy went to a doctor ’s appointment. She’ll be here at two thirty.” Colt shook his head, and if it were possible, he looked even more surly than he had the past two days. “Are they still getting their full pay even though they aren’t here?” She didn’t want to answer, because she knew what he would think. “They are, except for Annie.” “This is what we need to talk about. There is no structure to this business. If they are not here they should not be paid. And starting today they won’t be.” “You can’t cut their pay without letting them know first!” “I’m going to let them know. I’ve finally gotten
through the mess in Lolly’s office. All the bills are current, but this place is just breaking even each month.” “I know that.” He raised a brow at her. “How do you know that?” She got up from her chair, her sore feet be damned. If she was going to face him, she wasn’t going to be doing it sitting down. “I’ve been keeping the books for the last six months.” He moved from his spot in the door and crossed the room. Colt was usually cool, but she saw the heat, the anger, creep into his eyes. “Excuse me?” She raised her chin. “I installed the software on my computer. All the bills have been paid online. I order all the supplies and I can tell you down to the penny how much is coming in and how much is going out.” “And you never thought to mention this to me?” “You never asked. You just came in here on your high horse thinking we all were incompetent and you were going to turn this place around. I told you then we didn’t need your help and I’m telling you now that I can turn this place around myself.” “Then why haven’t you?” “Your aunt is as stubborn as you. This is still her salon and in the end I have to do what she says.” “That’s bullshit. She called me in because she doesn’t want her life’s work to go under. You know what the problem is here. If you were really cut out to run this place, you would have solved it.”
“I’m building back up the clientele. We were in the red a few months ago. There were days when none of us had any clients.” “It’s not enough, Zanna. Businesses are supposed to be profitable. And right now you are the business. Why the hell are you here anyway? Your work is excellent. You could work anywhere. Why would you stay in a market where your earning potential is capped?” “Because I like it here! I’m a human with feelings. Not some damn calculator. I don’t give a shit about my earning potential.” “There is nothing here to like. Nothing good. Nothing special. You are going to see that one day and you are going to leave. Just like I did, and Duke and Levi.” “Don’t put me in the same boat as you. I’m nothing like you.” “You’ll go and take all the business with you and what will be left of this place then? You say you give a shit, but you don’t, because if you did you would have done what it takes to make this place profitable.” “I’m not going to leave, Colt. If I wanted to go, I would have left a long time ago.” “Lolly said to teach you how to run this place, but I don’t have to. You know what you have to do.” The back of her neck felt hot. No one else on the planet had the power to make her so mad. “I’m growing the business. I’m getting people to come back.”
“Labor costs are too high. Bertie has had two clients since I’ve been here. She doesn’t rent a chair here. She doesn’t work on commission. She gets paid to sit around and do nothing all day. She needs to go.” Zanna’s head spun for a moment. “Are you that much of a heartless bastard? She was here before you were born. You’ve known her since you were a kid. You can just throw her out like that? Are you that fucking heartless?” “I’m not heartless. I’m practical. She doesn’t earn the money she’s paid. She doesn’t do anything.” “She’s seventy-two!” “She needs to retire.” “Her husband is dead. Her kids have moved away from here. All she has is this place. All she has is us. It’s the reason she gets up in the morning. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?” “No.” He shook his head. “I’m a businessman, not a social worker.” “You can’t fire her. Lolly will never allow it.” “I was doing a favor for Lolly before but now I’m an investor in this place. The nail and pedicure stations will be arriving soon. Annie is licensed and will be taking on clients. Peggy has agreed to more education and will be sent away to take classes. In order to compete with the casino’s stylists she needs to be current.” “When the hell were you going to tell me this?” “I’m telling you now.”
“I’m not going to let you get rid of her. I won’t let it happen. Lolly took me in when I had no place to go. She gave me a job here, paid me when it probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do. She believed in me and I’m not going to let you just throw Bertie away.” Colt was quiet for a moment. “You’ve got one week to help her find a way to bring in more clients or she’s gone.” He turned away. “One week until I start interviewing new stylists to take her place.” “You bastard!” Those were the exact words Zanna was thinking, but they didn’t come from her mouth. Perry Andersen had come through the front door, his face molten red and looking like he was about to pop. Colt stood there, expressionless, but she could see a little gleam in his eye. It looked a lot like satisfaction. “I’ve been called a lot worse before,” he said quietly. “You bought my house! You bought my fucking house!” “It wasn’t your house. You were just renting it, remember? You should have jumped on it when the owner offered it to you earlier this year. I guess it’s your loss. Real estate values are only going to go up in this area. Or maybe they won’t. Maybe this place will become the ghost town it was always meant to be.” “So it’s true? You and Duke are buying up half the town?” “Only half? You had better check your sources. You
said the King name didn’t mean anything in this town. Just wait: You’ll see our name in so many places, you’ll only be able to escape it in your sleep, and even then you’ll be dreaming about it.” “You’re a lunatic.” “No, I’m a man who doesn’t like to be fucked with.” Colt took his eyes off Perry and looked to Zanna. “He still owes you an apology. Would you like to hear it?” She opened her mouth, but words failed her. She couldn’t believe what was happening. “I own your house.” Colt turned his attention back to Perry. “I own the bank that owns your car loan. The mortgage on your brother ’s house. Duke owns the factory your brother manages. If you and brothers haven’t learned to respect women before, you will now. We can make your life hell. It’ll be easy. Apologize to Zanna.” “I-I’m…” She could see how pissed Perry was, but he was also defeated. There was nothing he could do. Colt King was powerful. She had known that, but she hadn’t been able to wrap her head around how much power he had until that very moment. “I’m sorry, Zanna. I was wrong.” She nodded and looked back at Colt, whom she realized was still a complete stranger to her. She’d thought she could hold her own against him, but she was pretty sure she had just gotten in way over her head.
Chapter 9 Colt watched Perry leave the shop a few moments later, knowing he wasn’t done with him yet. By the time he was through in this town no one would associate the name King with the word trash again. It hadn’t mattered how hard he worked, building their brand, building their wealth. It hadn’t mattered how much he studied in school, how hard he tried to keep his nose clean: Everybody associated them with their father ’s bad behavior. His father had gotten into drunken fights. His father had hit on women with his slurring words and sloppy kisses. His father had driven his car into a lamppost, and his father had shown up to work drunk and caused that accident that made everyone hate him. They had the misfortune of being born to him, but they weren’t him. If Destiny didn’t know that, it was going to find out. “That couldn’t have been about me?” Zanna asked him. “You didn’t buy his house just because he got fresh with me.” He took his eyes off the door and looked at her for a moment. She was in black again today, her stylist uniform when she was at work. She was the type of woman who looked sexy in anything she wore, but he decided he liked to see her in lighter colors, like the pretty purple she’d worn on Sunday when she kissed
him, or the white tank top she’d had on the day he barged into her room. He had been so caught up in his plans the past few days, he’d barely had any time to look at her. He had avoided her, because he knew if he looked at her too long, if he got too close to her, he would have a hard time controlling himself; he would want her more than he already did. And he couldn’t have that. It would take away from his plans. “He needed to apologize. That was a way to make him do so.” “Is revenge that important to you? Does it feel good knowing that you’ve got him dangling by the balls? Does it make you feel good to know that he’s going to be living in fear of displeasing you?” “He treated you poorly. Don’t tell me you feel sorry for him?” “I don’t feel sorry for him. I feel sorry for you! If you go to all this trouble because one asshole ran his mouth, I’m afraid of what you’ll do to someone else.” “This wasn’t just any asshole. Duke went to prison because of his family’s lies. You expect me not to go after them? The Andersen boys are bullies and they finally fucked with the wrong person.” “Are you any different? You are nothing but a big bully in a suit.” She walked out before he could respond. Her question hit him in the gut. Of course he was different. He had to work for what he got. He’d also had
to push people out of the way to get to where he was. He had no regrets. But watching Zanna leave through that door¸ he couldn’t help but feel that she was disappointed with him. And it bothered him that he even cared what she thought. * * * An hour later Zanna walked into Lolly’s hospital room to find the older woman sitting up in bed leafing through a glossy gossip magazine, looking more serene than sick. Zanna didn’t cry very often. Tears meant weakness and weakness wasn’t something she could accept in herself, but seeing Lolly sitting in the bed instead of in the salon with her was starting to take its toll. “You’re early today,” Lolly said without looking up. “You just missed Bertie. She said something about bringing you cake.” “I’ll get it tomorrow. I don’t think I can walk back into that shop today.” Lolly looked up at her then, her usually no-nonsense expression turned into one of concern. “What happened?” “Why did you have to send him there? I didn’t want to say anything because it’s your shop, and you can do what you want with it. But why did you have to send Colt? I thought I was doing a good job for you.” “Come here, girlie.” She opened her arms. Not many
people got to see Lolly like this. Soft. Kind. But she was. And that’s what Zanna needed after dealing with Colt. “What did he do?” She stroked her long, skinny fingers through Zanna’s hair. “Did you know he’s buying up the whole town? Just to get back at the Andersens.” “I don’t blame him much for that. They took my boys away from me. They were always tough little shits, but they changed when Duke went away. Colt will never admit it, but he loves deeply. He loves Duke. He admires him. Duke took care of them before I did, when I was too stubborn and pissed off at my brother to step in and do what was right. I don’t blame him for wanting to get back at anybody. And from what I heard, Colt tried to kill for you. That’s not like him—Colt doesn’t lose his cool anymore for anyone. Why are you so mad at him?” “He wants to get rid of Bertie.” “Say what now, girlie?” “He said that labor costs are too high and that we shouldn’t be paying Bertie if she isn’t working. Part of me knows he’s right. Bertie has had two clients in the last two weeks. She won’t clean. She doesn’t answer the phones. She’s not making the shop any money, but she’s Bertie. She’s been there forever! How can he think about just letting her go?” Lolly was quiet for a moment. “That damn Colt always has to do everything too well.” “It’s still your shop. Just tell him to leave Bertie
alone.” “I can’t. I asked him to clean things up. He’ll leave if I overrule him.” “He wouldn’t.” “He would. And he won’t look back. We’ve got to think of a way we can keep Bertie. She’s my best friend, taught me a lot about hair. She’s mentored a lot of beauticians and turned them into something decent. Even taught Colt how to do a roller set when he was ten.” “What?” Zanna lifted her head. “Why?” “That was his punishment. He was a feisty little thing before he calmed down. Every time he acted up we had him do a roller set. Most of the time it was on a mannequin head, but if he was really acting up, we made him do it on a person. The boy did so many of them the year he turned fifteen, he got better than me at them.” “You made a fifteen-year-old boy do hair as a punishment? That’s mean.” “Ain’t nothing wrong with a boy doing hair. Best hairdresser I’ve ever seen was a straight man named Monty. He was good in bed too. Had hips that swiveled better than a spinning chair. Plus I was teaching him a trade. Duke fixed cars. Levi was always throwing himself off of something. Colt learned how to run that business from me. If things didn’t work out at the fancy college of his, he would have run the shop.” “He is running the shop.” “No, he thinks he’s running the shop. I would have
never sent him in there if I thought he was going to railroad you. Where’s your damn backbone? I’m a little disappointed in you. Colt is smart but he ain’t womansmart.” Zanna took a deep breath, her mind starting to work again. “He did say that if I could find a way to bring in more clients, he would keep Bertie on. I think I know just how to do it.” * * * She wore pink today, Colt noticed when he walked into the room. A bright-pink top, in a shade that most women couldn’t pull off. But she did. The color looked like it belonged against Zanna’s bronzed skin. “Good morning,” she said, nodding to him. He could tell by the frostiness of her tone that she was still angry with him. And not the angry that he liked, not the type of angry where she came flying at him with sparks in her eyes and heat rolling off her body. He much preferred that Zanna to this one. She had barely spoken to him. She had gone along with everything he had said for the past few days. No pushback, no arguments, no fights. She had been unfailingly polite. He hated it. He hated the politeness, the distance, the quiet, even though that was what he wanted. He needed to
concentrate, to work, to figure out what the issues were in Lolly’s salon—and he had. He had accomplished a lot in a little bit of time, but the urge to touch her never went away. In fact it grew stronger, as if her absence was making him want her more. It was making that wild voice in his head, the one he’d kept buried for so long, louder. He tried not to look at her as she bent over and stared into the refrigerator, but he couldn’t resist. Her ass looked damn good in those blue jeans. It was like she was taunting him. The kitchen was small, and her behind was inches in front of his face. He couldn’t help himself. He reached out, hooked his finger through her belt loop, and yanked her toward him. “What the hell?” She landed in his lap, her curved bottom fitting there just right. “You’re not wearing black to work today.” “I’m not going to work today, Mr. Boss Man. I thought you knew that. You keep track of all our schedules so well.” She tried to get off his lap but he wouldn’t let her. His hands slid up her hips to her waist. The little of band of skin between her shirt and the top of her jeans always looked delectable. He couldn’t help but to run his fingers over it. He felt her tremble slightly at his touch. She couldn’t
hide that from him, so he slid his hand farther up her shirt, his thumb massaging the small of her back in circles. “You’re mad at me.” “No shit.” She shifted in his lap so she could look him in the eye. “I’m pissed at you, Colt. But I’d bet you don’t even care.” He did care and that’s what had been driving him crazy the past few days. He cared how she felt. But he was right when he said Bertie had to go. It didn’t make sense to keep her on. “I half expected you to show up at my door with your shotgun, threatening to shoot my balls off if I didn’t take back my decision.” He ran his hand up her back, to the band of her bra. It was smooth, probably made of satin. He was growing hard just imagining what it looked like, how her plump breasts would look spilling out of the cups. He touched the fastening, rubbing his finger along it, reminding her it would only take a swift move of his fingers before he had it off. She squirmed in his lap. “Let go of me.” “I don’t want to.” She slowly raised her hand to his hair, which was in need of a cut. He waited for her to run her fingers through it, like she had in the jail cell just before she kissed him. But the gentle touch he was waiting for never came. She grabbed his ear and yanked on it instead. It was almost better than the caress he had been expecting. “Ow, damn it!”
“Did that hurt?” “You know it did.” He rubbed his ear with one hand but couldn’t bring himself to let go. “Good. I’m mad at you. The last thing I want is your big paws all over me.” “I don’t believe you.” He rubbed her back again. “Why aren’t you going to work today?” She seemed surprised by the question. “I took the day off.” “But why?” “Why the fifty questions? You would think it was stupid anyway.” “You don’t know that.” “It’s my granddaddy’s birthday, okay? He’s been dead for fifteen years but when he was alive, he would keep me out of school so we could celebrate it. We used to get giant cupcakes from the bakery in town and cookies-and-cream ice cream with whipped cream and chocolate syrup. And we used to go to the movies. Every year before he got too sick to go. I just don’t like to work on this day. Okay? I save it for him and if you think that’s stupid, I don’t care.” “My mother loved chocolate peanut butter brownies,” he said, not knowing what prompted him. “Sometimes when I miss her, I make them.” “You make them?” “From scratch.” He nodded. “I used to buy them but they weren’t the same. I kept her cookbook. My brothers
don’t know, but I took that cookbook with me the day social services came to remove us from the house. I haven’t tried the other stuff in there, just the brownies, because I knew they were her favorite. I don’t think it’s stupid, Zanna. I know what it’s like to miss somebody you love.” She let out a long sigh before resting her head on his shoulder. “I’m still mad at you.” She wrapped her arms around him. “Don’t think that I’m not.” “Good.” He hugged her back, amazed at how good it felt to wrap his arms around her and just hold her. “If you tell anybody what I said today, I’ll have you killed.” “I would expect no less.” He felt her chest shake with laughter. “Yo, Colt.” Levi walked into the kitchen, his cell phone in hand. The position that he and Zanna were in didn’t seem to faze him. “Duke’s been calling you. He gets all pissy when you don’t pick up your phone.” “What does he want?” “I don’t know. Something about a bank. He wants us to meet him.” “Right now?” “I guess. He sounds pissed.” “When is Duke not pissed? Call him back and tell him we’re on our way.” Zanna climbed off his lap as he moved to stand up, but he didn’t want to leave her today so he took her hand in his and said, “Come with us.”
* * * They pulled up in front of a small white house that had clearly seen better days. A little house-shaped mailbox with the name TRUMAN printed on it stood in front, a huge contrast with the tumbledown house behind. Paint was flaking off, and the porch seemed kind of lopsided. The overall effect more haunted than homey and cozy. In a town as small as Destiny, Zanna knew most people by name. So she knew Grace Truman, the elementary school nurse and the daughter of the former judge. Even though the man had stepped down from the bench some ten years ago, everyone still called him the Judge. And everyone knew that he lived in the big white house on the outskirts of town and drove a new Cadillac every year. So she was surprised to see that Grace lived here, in one of the shabbiest houses in town. There was nothing about the way Grace dressed or acted that suggested any kind of lofty lifestyle, but Zanna wasn’t expecting this. “Why did Duke tell us to come to the old Phillips place?” Levi asked as Colt pulled the car to a stop. “Old Phillips place?” Zanna looked back at him. “Next to us, the Phillips were the most talked-about people in town. Everybody said the son was crazy and that they kept dead bodies down in the basement.” “That wasn’t true,” Colt said staring at the house. “The Phillips were older parents and their son was mentally ill and didn’t take his medication because of all
the side effects. He was harmless, though.” “I wonder what happened to him.” “He lives just outside Vegas in an assisted-living apartment.” “How do you know that?” Levi asked his brother. “I sent him there. His mother wrote to me five years ago and asked me to help her find a place for him after she passed away.” “Why did she ask you?” “Because I’m rich.” He shrugged. “Don’t you get people writing to you asking you to help them?” “Sometimes. I guess the better question is, Why did you do it?” “Because I’m rich.” He shook his head. “Does it matter? Let’s go see what Duke wants.” Zanna suspected there was a reason behind Colt’s kindness, but she didn’t push the issue. Duke came from around the side of the house and walked up onto the porch, which was piled high with tools and building supplies. She could tell by the fresh slabs of wood that he was replacing the rotting porch. He wasn’t focused on the task before him, though; instead he was staring up at the roof. As they got closer, they could hear the stream of cusswords coming out of his mouth. “Whatcha looking at, Duke?” Levi came up behind him, slapping his brother on the shoulder. “He’s on the fucking roof.” “Who?”
“My son.” He quickly glanced at Levi and then back up to the roof. “What do you mean your son?” Levi walked forward grabbing his shoulder. “You’ve got a goddamn kid? When the fuck were you going to tell us?” “Today.” He shrugged Levi’s hand off his shoulder and gave him a look that would make any normal person crap their pants. “I just learned the truth for sure myself. Grace got pregnant before I got locked up. She never told me. She still wouldn’t have told me, but I threatened to sue her for custody.” “That worked? Her father is powerful in these parts.” “The boy is mine. There’s no denying it. She named him Ryder.” “Shit. Really?” Colt asked, speaking for the first time since they had arrived. “The whole damn world could have figured out he was your kid with a name like that.” “Somebody want to clue me in?” Zanna said to him. “What’s the big damn deal about the name?” “My favorite movie is Easy Rider.” “He used to have a leather jacket with an American flag on it,” Levi told her. “He always said that if he had a boy, he’d name him Ryder,” Colt added. “Yeah. I’ve got a boy and he’s on the fucking roof.” “Where’s Grace?” Zanna looked up, trying to spot the boy. “She’s taking shifts at the hospital to make ends meet
now that school is out for the summer. She left him here with me. I told her that I would sue her for full custody if she didn’t let me be a part of his life. And she did and now I fucked up because I don’t know shit about kids. He was supposed to be heading to summer school, but when I tried to take him, he climbed onto the roof. And I don’t know how to get him down without dragging his ass off.” “Did he climb on the roof because he was afraid you were going to kill him?” Zanna asked, only half joking. “I should kill him. He’s a surly, miserable little bastard. The only thing that’s stopping me from wringing his neck is that he’s just like me when I was his age.” “And you were a delight,” Colt said, surveying the house. And before she knew it, Colt had climbed the porch railing and was hoisting himself up to the roof. “Colt!” Zanna called after him. He still shocked her so often. He was the last man she’d think would climb on top of a house. Especially in his pressed trousers and expensive Italian shoes. “It’s not that high.” He extended a hand to her. “Levi, help her up.” “Gladly.” Levi grinned and hoisted Zanna up to the railing. She didn’t need much help, though. She had climbed many trees when she was a kid in Oklahoma. She was, however, glad she had worn espadrilles today, instead of her usual sky-high heels.
The roof of the old house gently sloped upward, and on the other side she could see a young boy lying down with his hands shielding his eyes. Without saying a word Colt took her hand and led her to him. It was the second time today he’d held her hand. It was probably an absentminded gesture for him, but it turned her on. Hell, she had been turned on since he pulled her into his lap this morning, but there was something about holding hands with the generally cold man that made her legs turn jiggly and rushed tingles all over her sensitive places. “It’s hot as hell up here.” Colt eased down on the roof next to his nephew. “Who the fuck are you?” The boy sat up and stared at Colt. “Watch your mouth.” Colt clamped his hand on his nephew’s shoulder. “Your father may feel too guilty about missing out on your life to tan your behind like our father did ours. But I’m not your father. I’m your uncle and I’ll put your ass in check.” “We’ll toss you right off the roof,” Levi said. “It’s not that far a fall. You can survive with a broken arm, Ryder. A good compound fracture might mellow you out a bit.” Levi sat on the other side of the boy. “There’s a lady here.” Colt motioned toward Zanna. “We respect them. Apologize.” Ryder looked at her and then back at Colt, his face mulish. He looked a hell of a lot like Duke. She
wondered why no one in this town had put it together that this boy was his son. “It must really hurt being tossed off a roof,” Levi said, looking around him. “Especially if you don’t land right.” “You wouldn’t throw me off this roof.” The boy’s voice sounded surer than his face looked. “You don’t know us,” Colt said. “We would. I’m surprised you haven’t heard about us. We were infamous here.” “I’m sorry,” Ryder said quietly. “My mom doesn’t like cursing, either. She tells my dad—I mean Duke— that he’s not allowed to do it in the house.” “He shouldn’t. I’m Levi by the way.” He extended his hand. “That’s Colt. The pretty lady here is Zanna, but she’s not family yet. We just are staying with her for a while.” Zanna heard the yet but chose to ignore it as she sat down next to Colt on the increasingly warm roof. Levi probably didn’t mean anything by it anyway. “I know who you are,” he said, looking at his uncles. “I watch your show.” “Do you?” Levi grinned. “I get to play with cars and people give me money for it. My job is pretty cool.” “I told my mom I didn’t need to go to school to get a good job.” “You’re wrong.” “My dad—I mean Duke— didn’t even finish high
school. He’s rich. You didn’t go to college.” “Your dad got his GED. I had to train in Europe to become a race-car driver. Nobody handed me anything. And Colt”—Levi looked over to him and grinned —“Colt’s the reason we have what we have. He’s the one who went to the fancy school. He’s the one who learned all about finance and how to make money. He’s the reason your dad has freaking windshield wiper fluid with his name on it. Race-car drivers and football players make lots of money, but when you’ve got smarts like Colt, you keep growing your money. You’re not just rich, you’re wealthy.” “What’s the difference?” “You don’t know?” Levi shook his head. “I guess that’s why you should take your ass to summer school. Come on.” Levi rose. “I want pancakes. You want pancakes? I didn’t get any breakfast yet.” To Zanna’s surprise Ryder got up and followed his newfound uncle. “Levi has always been great with kids,” Colt said to her as he rose. “I used to think it was because he was a big kid himself, but it’s more than that.” A few minutes later they were all back on the ground. Duke looked kind of bewildered seeing his son climbing down with all of them. “What the hell did you say to him to get him down?” he asked Colt. “Levi threatened to toss him off the roof and then offered him pancakes. You know, normal uncle stuff.”
Chapter 10 “What are you thinking about, Colt?” Zanna asked softly. She was seated next to him in a booth in Destiny’s only coffee shop, located on the outskirts of town. Getting pancakes with Ryder had gone out the window when Grace showed up, wanting to know why the school had called her to tell her that Ryder was absent. Colt had never wanted to see anything as bad as he wanted to see the showdown between Duke and Grace. He had remembered his brother ’s ex as delicate, but the woman who pulled up today, mad as hell, was a big departure from the one he knew years ago. “Colt.” Zanna nudged him with her knee when he didn’t answer. He looked over at her. Damn, she was gorgeous. He’d thought he might get used to her face, but every time he looked into it he had the same reaction. He had always prided himself on being clearheaded, but the truth was he had trouble thinking when she was around. Trouble focusing on her words when her leg was pressed against his and her sweet scent was infiltrating his senses. It made him want to pick her up, carry her home, and bury himself inside her until he regained his senses. But he was afraid that that might never happen as long as he was around her. “Why do women always ask that?”
“Women ask you that a lot?” “No,” he said so only she could hear him. “If I’m alone with a woman, she usually knows what’s on my mind.” “Are you seeing anyone back in Vegas?” Her question surprised him. “Why do you want to know?” He ran his hand up the length of her thigh. “I’m making conversation,” she said lightly, but he could hear the hitch in her voice. “I’m trying to get to you know you. You confuse the hell out of me.” He ran his fingers along the inside of her thigh, wishing he could feel her skin instead of the rough denim. “You confuse me, too.” She grabbed his hand, linking her slender fingers through his, looking around the half-full restaurant to remind him that this wasn’t the place to start something he couldn’t properly finish. “You never told me what you’re thinking about.” “My brother has a son. There’s another one of us. Another King male walking around this planet that we hadn’t known about. I’m half surprised that Levi isn’t the first one to father an illegitimate child.” “You should give Levi more credit. He’s more careful than you think.” “Look at him.” Their eyes traveled to Levi. He was leaning over the counter, grinning at the waitress behind it. She was laughing, her cheeks pink, her eyes filled with that look women always gave him. Out of the three
of them, Levi was the one women fell for. “I think he screws everything that moves.” Zanna shook her head. “He’s just a flirt. I think he might be the kind of rare man who loves a woman completely.” “Completely? What does that mean?” “From the bottom of her feet to the top of her head no matter what, and he won’t stop until she knows it. You see that waitress. She knows in the back of her mind that she’s over forty and has three kids and a husband at home. She knows that she’ll never have a shot with him, but she’s enjoying him anyway. And he’s enjoying himself because he likes to make people feel good, but he’s not serious. He doesn’t want to sleep with her. I’m sure he gets around, but I think he’s saving up all his real loving. Because one day he’ll meet a woman who is worthy of his love and he’ll throw everything at her, and the whole world will look at her and just know that she is completely loved by him.” Colt couldn’t take his eyes off Zanna as she spoke about his brother. Loving someone completely, loving someone the way Zanna described. Out of the three of them, Levi seemed to have the best shot at it. Duke had always been so hard. So angry. Colt knew that Duke had loved Grace once upon a time, but prison changed him. Betrayal fucked up any shot he had at being anything other than he was right now. And as for Colt … he’d learned early on not to get too close, not to trust. When
an entire town turned its back on your family, feeling like that came with the territory. “Have you ever been loved like that?” he asked her, purely out of curiosity. “I’m sitting here with you drinking the world’s shittiest coffee. What do you think?” It was a shame, he thought. Zanna with all her fiery appeal seemed as if she loved hard, loved with passion, loved with everything she had. It might be fun to be loved completely by a woman like that. “What makes you think you know so much about Levi and how he will love?” “I’ve been through some stuff. I’ve learned how to figure people out.” “Oh, have you?” “Not all people. Some I figure out too late. And then there is you, whom I can’t seem to figure out at all. Why did you help the Phillips boy?” “Because everybody treated him like shit. He wasn’t a bad person. There’s this stigma around people with mental illness—that they’re dangerous psychopaths who’ll hurt you. And he was far from it. I know what it’s like for people to shit all over you without even knowing you. Everybody needs a chance to be in a place where they are respected and so did Michael. So I helped him.” Zanna was quiet for a long moment as if she was trying to process what he had said. “I respect Bertie. So
do Annie and Peggy.” “That’s different.” “How so?” “It’s business. She’d be better off somewhere else. She’s no longer an asset.” “But she’s an asset to me. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?” For a split second he wanted to relent. He wanted to give Zanna exactly what she wanted, but he couldn’t. Because that wasn’t him and it went against everything he was here to do. He was going to go back to Las Vegas, back to his big office, back to people following his every order without question. “I’m not discussing this anymore, Zanna.” “But you didn’t—” “I told you how she could keep her job. It’s in your hands now.” “I was afraid of that.” He couldn’t start giving in now, because it would be the first step in losing a piece of the man he had worked so hard to become. * * * Zanna checked her hair again just before she stepped out the door. Normally she liked to wear it loose, but today she had piled it on top of her head because she knew she was going to need it out of the way. They were going to
be busy at The Head Shed. At least if everything went according to plan, they would. “You’re heading out early.” She turned around to see Colt standing just a few feet behind her. He wasn’t wearing his business casual clothing. There was no sign of a suit; instead he wore a black T-shirt with a King’s Customs logo, a pair of jeans, and black boots. The T-shirt was just tight enough so that she could see the hard lines of his body and the slight bulge of the biceps. He wasn’t clean-shaven, either; a hint of shadow lined his cheeks. Her mouth went dry looking at him. He looked damn good all buttoned up, but seeing him dressed as if he’d stepped right out of a biker bar made her throb between her legs even more than she usually did when she saw him. “What’s with you? Why do you look like that?” “I’m going to paint the back office. Now that I know you have everything accounted for on your computer, I threw all of that junk away.” “Oh?” She was having a hard time concentrating. She couldn’t take her eyes off his Adam’s apple as he talked. “Yeah, all the stuff needed to go.” “It could have been gone a lot sooner if you had told me you kept the books.” “Well, I was mad at you.” She shook her head. “I’m still mad at you.” “Is that why you’re leaving here so early this morning? Are you trying to avoid me? It’s just business,
Zanna.” “You’re right, Colt. It just is. I guess I’ll see you at the shop.” She arrived at the salon an hour and a half later after making a few stops, one of them at the Restful Acres retirement village. A lot of their clients lived there. Once a month all the stylists would head there to give the residents a day of beauty. It had been Bertie’s idea, and even though she’d spent more time chatting with her friends than doing hair, it was a good one. The residents loved seeing her face when she walked through the door. Zanna knew she was doing the right thing, even though a little bit of guilt was creeping up inside her. She had Lolly’s blessing. Hell, Lolly was the driving force behind this whole thing. She was doing it for the principle of the matter. For Bertie’s well-being. To teach Colt King a lesson. That this was her salon and she knew what she was doing. Everything wasn’t so black-and-white with Colt. There were shades to him she wasn’t sure she would ever understand, but she was starting to see that underneath that cold businessman exterior was a really good guy. “Good morning, ladies.” She was the last one in this morning, which was unusual, but she had warned them that they might be busy today and she was glad to see that everyone was there. “Good morning!” Annie smiled brightly at her. “The
new nail station came in this morning. I’ve been working on my designs at home. You know I used to do nails in Vegas before me and Buddy moved back here. I did showgirls’ nails. Some of them just wanted plain colors, but I had one who loved to go crazy. Hearts on Valentine’s Day. Palm trees when she was going to Hawaii. I did snowmen at Christmas. I got damn good at them, too. You think anybody here would let me try that on them?” “You think anybody here would believe how you haven’t shut your trap since that thing arrived?” Bertie said, her knitting needles clicking away. “I’m just excited. Colt told me that no one else in town is doing nails. He ran the numbers. He said I could bring home twenty-five percent more a month if I concentrate on manicures.” “Did he?” Zanna couldn’t deny how happy Annie looked. “So you have pledged allegiance to the King.” “He’s a bit intimidating is all. He’s not a bad boss to have. He wants us to do well. He said happy employees are more productive.” “I’ve known him since he was a teenager,” Peggy said, “And he has grown into one hell of a good-looking man. If I wasn’t married to my honey, I’d be putting the moves on him myself.” “He belongs to Zanna, you little strumpet,” Bertie huffed. “At least that’s the word around town. I know you all heard about what happened at the farmers market.
You just have been too polite to say anything.” “Is it true, Zanna?” Annie asked. “Did he really almost take Perry’s head off?” She nodded. “He tried to.” “And he did it because he was disrespectful to you?” Peggy asked. Zanna nodded. “I don’t think he was much of a Perry fan to begin with.” “Boy is a huge asshole,” Bertie added. “Enormous. Full of shit and full of himself since they made him fire chief. I thank the good Lord there hasn’t been a real fire since he got the job or the whole damn town probably would’ve burned to the ground.” “You think so?” Annie asked. “He can’t be all that bad.” “I do think so. I also think Zanna hasn’t slept with Colt, even though the whole town thinks so. Have you, girl?” “Excuse me, ma’am, but I don’t think that’s any of your business.” “See? She’d be more relaxed if she had. I’ve seen the way Colt looks at her. If he could throw her over his shoulder and take her on the desk back there, he would. Bet you the sex would be good, too. The kind that would make your toes curl.” “Okay!” Zanna put her hands over her ears. “Enough of that.” “Oh come on, Zanna. You’re the youngest, hottest
one here. Next to myself of course,” Peggy said. “And you haven’t dished once about your sex life to us. Not one single thing. Lord knows we’ve told you enough. Even Bertie told us about her younger freaky days.” “Well, unlike you tramps, I’m a goddamn lady. I’m going in back to check on the supplies, you holler when my clients come.” She walked away, tossing her bag on the counter in the storage room. She suddenly felt hot. Colt was nowhere near her and she felt hot. She knew Bertie’s words were true. She knew sex with Colt would be good. She knew it would curl her toes. But she also knew that if she slept with him, once wouldn’t be enough. She’d want more and more of him until she confused hot sex for love and would find herself in a shitload of trouble. Again. There would be no falling in love with Colt King. She needed a nice normal guy with a normal job, who wanted all the same things she did. Stability. Family. A little place to call her own. Colt didn’t want any of that. Actually she didn’t know what the hell Colt wanted, because they never talked about it. All she knew about him was that he took care of his brothers, and that he missed his mother sometimes, and that he’d helped a man from his past for no other reason than kindness. Well, damn. She still wasn’t going to fall in love with him. Especially when he was so hell-bent on changing the salon that she hoped would become hers. He might have
been right about some things. He might have made Annie and Peggy happy, but he was a smug jerk who took over without even asking her input and for that he needed to pay. She walked into the office to find that he was painting it light pink. The same pink as the hair dryers in front. “Why did you pick this color? Was it on special at the hardware store? Buy one gallon get four free?” He looked up at her. There was a smudge of pink paint on his face that she found damn sexy for some reason. “I overheard you say you would like to keep the pink dryers if you could, because they remind you of a 1950s beauty parlor. Duke knows a guy who can take the guts out of anything and make it run again. I’m having him come out to fix them so we don’t have to get rid of them completely. I thought you might like to continue the color in here.” “Oh.” It was thoughtful of him. Actually it was sweet, but she didn’t want to give it to him. “This is Lolly’s office. You probably should have checked with her.” “This is your office now, too. Lolly used it as a dump. You do the books. You get the desk. She won’t mind. I think she’s getting ready to retire.” “Did she tell you that?” She hated that the hope in her voice was so evident, but it was there and not because she wanted Lolly to stay away; she wanted the chance to buy the place. It was the only place close to feeling like
home. More than that, it would be something of her own. Something tangible she could show her mother and prove to her that she had made something of herself. No matter what her mother had done to her. “She didn’t tell me that she was going to retire in so many words, but I know. It’s time.” He turned back to painting the wall. He was good at that, too. Painting in smooth, even strokes. Businessmen were supposed to be doughy and pale and not good with their hands, and here was Colt King putting that stereotype to shame. “A package came for you this morning. It’s on the desk.” “A package for me? I didn’t order anything.” But there was a Styrofoam container on the desk with her name on it. Inside was a pink bakery box. A huge yellow cupcake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles sat there staring up at her. A little flag on it said HAPPY BIRTHDAY. It was just like the ones she’d shared with her granddaddy. Just like them. Down to the flag. “We never got the ice cream you promised us,” he said, his back to her, still painting the wall as if he hadn’t just rocked her world. “Maybe we can pick some up after work.” She shut the office door, turning the lock so no one would come in. She went over to him, touching the hand that held the paintbrush. “You’re crying.” He dropped the paintbrush and touched her face. “I thought you would like it.” “How did you do this?”
He shrugged, looking unsure of himself for the first time since she had known him. “I made a phone call. The cupcake came this morning. I didn’t mean to upset you.” “You didn’t, you dummy. I think you had better kiss me right now.” “Thank God,” he whispered as his lips drew closer to hers. “All I could think about was kissing you.” There was no slowness in his kiss, no patience. She had been prepared for slow and sweet, but Colt King wasn’t about to give that to her. This kiss was hungry. It was nearly wild, out of control, as if he had been caged this past week, holding in everything until this moment. It had been nearly a week since she’d last tasted his mouth. She told herself she wasn’t counting the days, but she was. Every look, every touch they had shared since then reminded her that she missed him; she wanted more of him even though it was the last thing she needed in her life right now. His thick fingers moved to the button of her jeans; a second later they were open, his hands yanking them down. He gripped her behind, squeezing it, pushing her into him, into his hard cock. “I tried, Zanna. I tried, but I can’t keep my hands off you.” He pushed her backward until she landed on the couch. He yanked her shirt up to her chin, exposing the black lace bra she wore. “You’re sexy,” he told her as he knelt before her. He slipped his hand into one of the cups of her bra, flicking his thumb over her hard nipple before he pulled out her breasts. He looked at her for a
long moment. “I’ve wanted to do this to you since the day I met you.” He ran his tongue over her nipple, then sucked it into his mouth. Hard. It was slightly painful but she liked it. It excited her. “My dick gets hard every time you walk past me. Every time I smell you.” His voice excited her. The low, deep rumble. She flooded. Never had she’d been so wet, so aroused in her life. “You drive me fucking crazy.” He switched to her other breast, running his tongue around over her nipple, sucking on her, making that throb between her legs unbearable. “Tell me what you want to do to me,” she begged as she reached for him. “I want to hear it.” “I just want to be inside you.” He took her mouth again as he unhooked her bra. His hands reached around, cupping her breasts. “I want to feel you tight and wet and squeezing around my dick. I want to make you come. I want to hear you moan. I want to make you happy.” “Zanna?” There was a knock at the door and she froze. Not just because of the interruption, but because of the last thing he’d said to her. He wanted to make her happy. It was probably just something he said in the heat of the moment, but it hit her square in the chest and made her want to cry again. “Zanna, you in there?” It was Peggy’s voice. “Yeah?” She pushed Colt away, yanking up pants that felt suffocating on her too-hot body.
“Y’all shouldn’t be in there with all those paint fumes.” “I know.” She fastened her bra the best she could, not risking a glance at Colt before she opened the door a crack. “What’s up?” “There’s about fifty people waiting outside. They say they are all here for the Bertie special.” He came up behind her, yanking the door open more. His mouth was kiss-swollen, his eyes still held a little of that wild spark, and the heat he threw off almost made her knees buckle. “What do you mean, Bertie special?” “Oh, you don’t know?” Peggy gave him a cheeky grin as she produced one of the bright-pink flyers Zanna had handed out. Zanna snatched it from Peggy and shut the door in her face. “I’ll be there in a minute.” She turned around to face Colt, feeling like shit. Feeling lower than shit. “What’s going on?” he asked. “You’re going to be mad at me.” “Why?” She shut her eyes. “I’ll send them all away. I promise. I’ll tell them you’re not even here.” “What did you do?” he growled at her. “I printed up flyers offering up a Bertie special.” “What exactly is that?” “In my defense, you said that if Bertie didn’t bring in more clients, you would get rid of her. So I printed up
these flyers.” He snatched the paper out of her hand. “Are you fucking insane! You told people I would roller set their hair?” “I was mad at you and I wanted to keep Bertie around and Lolly told me you were actually good at it, but I said the cost was fifty bucks and I seriously didn’t think there would be more than a few people out there.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the office and back into the salon. Peggy hadn’t been exaggerating. There were more than fifty people outside the salon. Levi and Duke had made it in. Duke brought Grace with him. “What’s this?” Levi said. “What did you do to make Lolly punish you now?” “Lolly’s not punishing me. Zanna is.” Perry Andersen along with his brother Jeff pushed their way inside the door. “Is this true? You doing hair for a living now?” He had a smug look on his face— which was brave of him, considering Colt could evict him at any moment. “He ain’t doing shit,” Duke growled. “Now get out before I kick your ass, too.” “I knew it was a lie. Everyone should know by now never to trust a King boy. They’re no good, just like their father. Let’s go outside, Jeff, and tell everybody that Colt is running away, just like his father did after that accident he caused in the factory. Just like he did when
Duke got sent to prison.” “Send them in.” “What?” Zanna said. “You don’t have to do this. I’ll send them away. I’ll tell them it’s my fault. It is my fault.” “I don’t run away. Send them in.” “I’ll help,” Levi said. “Colt wasn’t the only one who got punished by doing roller sets.” “Don’t look at me,” Duke said. “I’ve never touched a roller in my life. But I’ll stay here to support you.” “I’ll go first.” Grace stepped forward. “I would be honored to have Colt do my hair.” “Move it, Bertie,” Colt said, staring down the old woman. “I’m taking over your station.” She grinned at him. “Just make sure you clean it up when you’re done.” “I’m sorry, Colt.” Zanna grabbed his hand and squeezed. “You will be. You’re going to pay for this.” * * * Colt and Levi definitely did know how to put rollers in hair, but that was all; it was the extent of their training. They both were awkward about it at first, big rough hands fumbling with delicate pink and yellow rollers, but after a while they got the hang of it again and made a competition out of it, to see which of the King brothers could do a set faster.
Zanna had never in her wildest dreams thought that watching men roll hair could be sexy, but it was. Especially men in black T-shirts wearing motorcycle boots. She was forever grateful that Levi decided to pitch in, because the salon turned into a party spot with music blasting and people laughing. He made Colt smile, too, which Zanna thought would be impossible since he had gone into this with such grim determination. He was pissed at her, would barely look her way, and when he did, his expression nearly burned up her skin. But she didn’t have much time to focus on him. It was up to the rest of them to style the hair the boys were rolling up. And for once the stylists’ knowledge of older hairstyles came in handy. The women of Destiny were walking out of the Head Shed with bouffants and beehives, victory rolls and Marilyn Monroe face-softening curls. They had used more hair spray and bobby pins in one day than they had in a year, but the clients were walking out of the shop happy—and Zanna had never taken in so much money. “Food’s here.” Grace headed toward them with two large bags of Chinese food. Zanna couldn’t help but give her a Grace Kelly–inspired hairstyle. She was as slender and regal-looking as her name implied even if she wore clothes that looked about fifteen years old. “Oh thank you, you sweet, beautiful woman.” Levi grabbed the bags from her. “I had her order everything on the menu, Shells,” he said to Shelly, whom Zanna had
turned into a pinup girl with some big soft curls and a rolled bang. “I want you to walk on the wild side tonight and try some spicy Kung Pao beef.” “I’ll be fine with just rice. You know I’m not used to eating exotic things.” She gave him a soft smile and Zanna watched Levi’s eyes change. He was always a flirt, but there was something in the way he looked at Shelly that made Zanna’s heart beat faster. “Only you would think that Chinese food is exotic.” He kissed her cheek and grabbed her hand. “Take a walk on the wild side with me tonight.” They walked into the back, followed by Annie, Peggy, and Bertie. “I think I need to call Ryder again,” Grace said, reaching into her purse for her phone. “No.” Duke grabbed her hand. “He’s fine. He’s with his friends and you already called him.” “I just want to make sure he’s not getting into any trouble.” “Two dozen phone calls from you isn’t going to keep them out of trouble. Plus I told him that if he didn’t keep his nose clean, I was going to break his neck.” “You didn’t?” she gasped. “He’ll be fine, Grace.” He wrapped his arm around her, a twinkle of amusement in his eye. “Now let’s go eat some high-calorie, inorganic, non-free-range food.” “I want to say I’d rather eat spinach and sole tonight, but I really am looking forward to shoving my face into some fried rice.”
“That’s my girl. Come eat, Zanna.” Duke motioned his head toward the back. “I bet your feet are barking.” She nodded and looked back at Colt, who was sitting at Bertie’s station in a world of his own. He had been there since the last customer left twenty minutes ago. “Leave him,” Duke said. “He needs to decompress.” She did leave him but just for a little while. She came back a few minutes later with a couple of beers that somebody had smuggled in and a smaller bag with the food she had ordered just for herself. “I’m breaking my own rules tonight.” She set the food on Bertie’s clean station and handed him a beer. “We’re not supposed to eat on the floor.” She climbed into his lap. “Don’t tell Lolly.” He didn’t say anything, just looked at her with the cold look he had been giving her all day. “Say something.” He took a long drink of his beer instead. “I’m sorry.” She kissed his quiet lips. “I’m sorry that I embarrassed you.” She gave him another slow fulllipped peck. “I was mad at you and trying to be like you. You said it’s just business and I was doing what I thought what was best for the business.” She smoothed her hands over his lightly bearded face. “We took in enough to cover Bertie’s salary for two months today. Plus I got ten women who made appointments to come back. I used what I had. I used you, but you have to understand why I did it.”
“Shut up.” He put his beer down and reached up to her hair, pulling out the bobby pins and headband she wore to secure it in place. “I hate your hair up.” He raked his fingers through her tangled hair. “Do you?” “No, but I’m mad at you and I want to say mean stuff.” She smiled up at him. “Don’t smile at me. You’re going to pay for this.” “I’ll pay.” She slipped her hand up his T-shirt. All day she’d thought about picking things up where they’d left off this morning. “I can think of fifty ways that I’d like to pay you back.” “I decide when. I decide how and where. You’ll just have to take whatever I have in store. No questions asked. No protests.” “Okay.” She grew breathless. Her nipples went hard again at the thought of his mouth on them again. If he could turn her to mush in five minutes, she couldn’t wait to see what he would do to her if he had all night. “Take these stupid shoes off.” He reached for one of her heels and flung it across the room. “I don’t know how you function in them all day.” “I—” “No talking. I’m hungry. Feed me.” She took an eggroll out of the bag and handed it to him. But he grabbed her wrist and brought it up to his mouth. “I said feed me, damn it.”
Normally she hated to be bossed around, especially by a man, but there was something about Colt, with his low, rumbly voice and his sleepy eyes, that made her do what he said. “You’re lucky I feel bad.” She fed him. “Or I might be reaching for my shotgun about now.” “And you’re lucky I’m so damn tired right now, because you have no idea what I want to do to you.” She kissed up the cord of his neck. “I’ll make you some coffee when we get home. I really don’t want to delay my punishment.” “I decide when, where, and how. You aren’t supposed to be looking forward to it.” He lifted her hand to his mouth and took another bite of the eggroll. “I can’t help it. I look forward to everything when it comes to you.” He wiped his hand across his mouth and then kissed her, cupping her face in his hands, not allowing her to get away, even if she wanted to. She didn’t want to get away from him. There was no place she’d rather be than right here, the recipient of Colt’s hot sleepy kisses. “Get a room, you two,” Bertie barked at them, causing Colt to break the kiss. “Go away, old woman. How many more ways can you ruin my day?” “Oh, hush, boy. I came out here to talk to Zanna.” “Yes, ma’am?” She showed her one of the flyers she had made for today. “You did this all to save my job?”
She glanced at Colt, not wanting to tell Bertie that Colt didn’t think she was useful to them anymore. “We needed extra money coming in. I made it happen.” “I was going to retire. I am going to retire at the end of the month. Colt worked it out so that I could live near my oldest on the Oregon coast. He’s even sending me on a cruise.” “What?” She looked up at Colt, noticing that his body had gone stiff and his face was expressionless once again. “It was good to see the boys back in the shop and even better to see you take Colt down a peg or two, but you didn’t have to do it for me. I thank you for wanting to keep an old lady around, but you didn’t have to.” She reached for her purse. “I’m going home to soak these old bones. I’ll see you tomorrow.” “Why didn’t you tell me?” Zanna looked back up at Colt when Bertie had gone. “You made me think … You acted like you were just going to fire her if we didn’t bring in enough money.” “I know what I’m doing. I know what’s best for a business and I know how to treat people.” “Why didn’t you just tell me you’d worked it all out with her?” “Why did you assume I would throw Bertie away? I thought you knew me better than that by now.” She had hurt him. He would die before he admitted it, but she had hurt him. And she realized that as much as
she would like to, she still didn’t know him at all.
Chapter 11 “Hi, Colt.” Jennifer Peters, one of his former classmates, waved to him as he was leaving the gas station that evening. He waved back, expecting her to keep moving, but she walked over to him, carrying a small blond child in her arms. “I’m so sorry I missed that stunt you and your brothers pulled off at The Head Shed. I was at work, but I could have dropped dead right on the spot when my sister told me that you and Levi were doing hair. Business there has been slowing down for years. It was a smart thing to do to bring people back in.” “I can’t take credit for it. It was Zanna’s idea.” “But she couldn’t have pulled it off without you.” She smiled softly up at him. “I would have loved for you to do my hair. I had a huge crush on you in high school. Did you know that?” The admission took him by surprise. Jennifer was in all his honors classes, but was one of the nice girls who generally stayed away from them. “I didn’t.” “We didn’t have assigned seats in school, Colt. Why do you think I sat next to you in almost every class?” Like every teenage boy he had liked girls, but back then he didn’t pay his classmates much attention; he was
focused on getting the hell out of there. On receiving a scholarship to Stanford. On making something of himself so he could prove them all wrong. Jennifer had always been nice to him, though, and so had her sister and a lot of other people he knew. He’d forgotten that, or had been too pissed off to notice it in the first place. “I wish you would’ve told me that.” She shrugged. “You were too good for me. It’s like you were on a mission and the rest of us knew we would get in your way.” “I was too good for you, Jenny?” She nodded. “We’re really proud of you here. You King boys are the best thing that ever came out of this place.” “Thank you,” he said, meaning it. “I’ve got to go home and get dinner started. It was nice seeing you.” “Nice seeing you, too.” He drove back to Lolly’s house, his mood somewhat lifted. He had avoided Zanna all day. He was pissed at her, but more than that, he wanted her and knew that if he were in close proximity to her, he wouldn’t be able to control himself. He had lost control in the shop yesterday morning. All she did was ask him to kiss her. That’s all it took for him to rip off her clothes. Right there in the back of the salon, in Lolly’s half-painted office. With three employees in the front, in a business where anyone could just walk in. He hadn’t even tried to
restrain himself, either. He hadn’t tried to be quiet. He’d wanted her with single-minded focus. He hadn’t wanted anything so bad since he was here, even though he longed to leave this place so bad his teeth hurt. Zanna’s beat-up old Ford was in the driveway. Levi’s truck was gone, as it usually was this time of day. Colt had come in later than usual, hoping he would catch her alone. After thinking about her all day he was finally ready to face her. He found her in the kitchen staring into a pot of spaghetti. “You’re late.” She looked up at him, her eyes a little wider than usual. “Was there a certain time I was supposed to be in?” “I— no. I held dinner for you. It’s spaghetti and meat sauce. My grandmama’s recipe. Nothing special, but we all liked it.” There was a kind of shyness around her this evening that he found sweet. “You don’t have to cook for me.” “I know.” She looked back at the pot. She had changed out of her black clothes. She was barefoot, in a light-pink tank top and a pair of ripped jeans. Her hair was loose, her face clean of makeup. She was as pure and natural as a woman could be in that moment. He liked her glamorous and made up, but he liked her this way more, because he knew this was the version of her not everyone got to see. “I’m here now. Let’s eat.” They shared a quiet dinner. Colt wasn’t hungry, but
he ate anyway just to please her. His mind was preoccupied with his plans for tonight. “Are you sure you had enough to eat?” she asked as she removed his plate. “There’s plenty left.” She put his plate in the sink and turned toward the freezer. “I’ve got some ice cream in here. Or there’s some cheesecake. It’ll take a while to defrost but—” He grabbed her hand and pulled her close. “I know how I want you to pay me back.” “Oh?” She swallowed. “I want you to cut my hair.” “What?” She blinked as if he had spoken another language. “I embarrassed you in front of the whole town and all you want from me is a haircut?” He wasn’t really mad at her about the stunt. It was smart. It got more people into the shop. She had expanded their base of returning customers and it hadn’t cost a thing. It was good business. It was just business. It was something he might have done, and he respected her for it. “Yes, but I’m very particular about my haircuts. I’ll be really mad if you screw it up.” She nodded and left for a few minutes, returning with her barber kit and spray bottle. “You know,” she said as she draped a cape over him, “I started out cutting men’s hair. Men are much less fussy than women, and I made good tips.” “Why did you switch over?” “Two reasons.” She studied the shape of his face, and
he could see her mind working. She was truly talented. He knew some people thought she was just a hairstylist. But she was more. He’d seen her transform people—not just their looks, but the way they felt about themselves. “Men’s hair can be boring. I wanted to expand my skill set, plus the owner of the shop thought it was okay to stick his hand down my shirt. After I threw a jar of Barbicide in his face, we both felt it was best for me not to return.” He stiffened slightly, not liking to hear that her boss had taken advantage of her. “I’m glad you defended yourself.” “I learned how at a young age.” She wet his hair, combing it back away from his face. “I don’t want to cut it too short. I like your hair longer. I like your curls.” “Do what you want.” He was going to be back home in Las Vegas soon, back to his old self and old life. He had just a little time to be with her, to be this man he barely recognized. She took his chin between her fingers and kissed him. It was a soft kiss, not necessarily sexual, but it turned him on, sparked that hunger inside him that he had been keeping at bay all day. “I’m sorry, Colt.” “Stop apologizing to me, damn it!” She jumped. “You did what you had to do. You did what you should have done for your business.” “But I used you to do it and I feel bad. Plus you’re
mad at me.” “Why do you care if I’m mad at you?” “I don’t know. Why are you mad at me?” “Nobody likes to be outsmarted, do they?” he lied. That wasn’t why he was mad at her, even though it annoyed him a bit. Maybe he wasn’t even mad at her. Maybe he was mad at himself. He didn’t have to go through with the stunt yesterday, but he wanted to. Not to prove it to the town that he didn’t back down, though. He’d done it for her. Because Bertie was that important to her. He wanted her to have what was important to her, even if he knew it wasn’t the best thing. Who the hell was he? “I outsmarted you?” She grinned at him, and it managed to turn him on even more. “That’s the nicest thing any man has ever said to me. I know I’ve been a lot smarter than most of the men I’ve come in contact with, but I’ve never heard them admit it.” “Stop gloating and cut my hair.” She picked up her scissors and made a few snips before he leaned forward and lifted her tank top. She froze. Colt took that as encouragement to lean forward again and kiss the curve of her stomach. She’d had him twisted up in knots the whole time he’d been here. It was his turn to twist her up. He kept thinking back to yesterday morning. She was so responsive, so easy to arouse. So wet when he touched her. There were so many things out of his
control when it came to her, but he could control this moment. He kissed lightly around her belly button. Her skin was so soft there, so kissable that he had to work hard to keep his mind focused on the task at hand. He could lose himself in her later; right now he had to follow his plan. He lightly licked her, loving the soft noise that she made that was somewhere between a gasp and a groan. “Colt.” He unbuttoned her jeans and kissed her just where the band of her underwear met her skin. “What?” “I-I … What the hell are you doing?” “I’m kissing you.” He pulled her jeans down slightly to reveal her hips. He ran his hands over them first, then his lips. “You have perfect hips. Did you know that?” “They’re big,” she breathed as he took her skin between his teeth. “Perfect,” he corrected her. “Remember that night I met you? You had a gun pointed at me and all I could focus on was the way you looked and these hips.” He yanked at her jeans again to reveal her lusciously round bottom. “Colt, I’m supposed to be giving you a haircut. I’ve got scissors in my hands. This could be dangerous.” “Then don’t move.” He cupped her bottom, squeezing it between his fingers. It was so erotic, feeling all that flesh. He had been with slender women. Toned women. Women who spent more time worrying about
their appearance than anything else. Being with them was … nice, but being with Zanna, with all her wild natural beauty, was special. Getting to be an up-close witness to all this beauty was like an event, something he would keep in his memories long after he was gone. He bent his head to run his lips over her satiny underwear. He could smell her excitement, feel the dampness that was starting to form there. “I don’t think my knees can take this.” Her voice trembled as she said it. He took pleasure in that, in knowing he had such an effect on her. He took the scissors from her and tossed them on the table. “Put your hands on my shoulders and don’t move them unless I tell you to.” She nodded as he pulled her jeans all the way down. Her thighs were just as lovely as her hips, perfectly plump and covered with all that delicious-looking olivebrown skin. He was like a kid and her body like a playground. He almost didn’t know where to start. Almost. He smoothed his hands down the backs of her thighs. “Take off your top.” She lifted it over her head, revealing her bra. It was black with little red cherries printed on it. He lifted his hand to run his fingers over her cleavage and almost lost control. All that smooth skin … The image of her sweet-looking underwear against
her bad-girl body made his cock so hard it almost burst through his pants. He took a deep breath, trying to steady himself. “Your bra. Take it off.” Her hands shook slightly as she moved to do what he ordered. “What if Levi comes in?” “He won’t be back for the night. I made sure of it. Take it off.” She did what he asked, completely revealing herself to him. His mouth went dry. He had seen her before, but not like this. Yesterday it was rushed and frenzied. Today he was going to look his fill. He was going to savor her, because he knew he wasn’t going to have much time with her. “Touch yourself.” She looked unsure of herself, shy almost as she lifted her hands to cup her breasts. “Show me what you do when you’re alone.” She stroked her nipples with her thumbs, making his heart pound almost uncontrollably—but he couldn’t lose control. Not yet. He had to get through this. “I need to taste you. Come here.” She leaned down, bringing her breast to his mouth. It was the sexiest thing he had ever seen. He sucked her into his mouth and her knees gave out and he knew it was enough. He scooped her into his arms and carried her to her bedroom. She reached for him, trying to kiss him as he set her on the bed. He avoided her lips because he knew if he
felt them against his, he would get lost. Lost in her kiss. Lost in her scent. Lost in her. He couldn’t afford to do that right now. “You’re gorgeous.” He couldn’t help but tell her that. “I spend every minute of every day wanting you.” He stopped himself from saying any more. He didn’t trust himself. She made him feel out of sorts. She made him feel … different. “Come here, Colt.” She reached for him. “Let me touch you.” “I’m not finished yet.” He pulled off her underwear, leaving her completely naked. He positioned himself between her legs, kissing his way up her inner thigh. She was beyond ready for him, and he touched the wetness that had made it to her thigh. He could feel his control slipping, so he pushed open her thighs and did what he had been thinking about doing to her for the last two days. “Holy shit,” she cursed as he spread her legs and licked inside her. He wanted to laugh. She had the power to make him want to laugh but he couldn’t, because he was too focused on what was in front of him. He licked deeper inside her, making his tongue do what his dick so desperately wanted. She moved against his mouth, she moaned and panted and gripped his hair. She was everything he expected in a bedmate. She was everything he wanted.
She was going to come. He wanted to hear it, feel it against his mouth, but he pulled away from her and settled his fully clothed self against her naked body. “You’re so good, Zanna.” He kissed her neck. “Thank you for this. Good night.” Her eyes flew open. “What?” “Good night.” “Good night?” He lifted his body from hers, even though it was the single hardest thing he’d ever had to do. “Payback is a bitch, isn’t it?” * * * Zanna lay there for a few minutes trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. Colt King had seduced her, stripped her naked, carried her to her bedroom, given her the best oral sex she’d ever had in her life, and then stopped just before she was about to have the most intense orgasm ever. That couldn’t be right. She pinched herself, thinking it had to be a dream. But it wasn’t. She was wet between her legs and throbbing. She could still feel his lips where they touched her body; the tingles that were still rushing along her skin. That had just happened. He just left her. He called it payback. It was damn
effective because she was mad as hell. “Son of a bitch.” She flew out of bed, grabbing her robe off the back of the door before leaving her bedroom. He was coming out of the bathroom when she saw him, and she went after him swinging. “Rat bastard.” She punched his arm. “Asshole.” She pinched him. “Where do you get off—?” He kissed the words out of her. His tongue swept into her mouth and the words went out of her head. “I want to walk away. I want to not want you, but there is nothing you can do to make me stop.” He kissed her a little softer this time, a little longer, a little more erotic, tasting every inch of her mouth. “Tell me you want me as much as I want you.” She couldn’t speak. His kisses had robbed her of her words so she just nodded. She nodded and prepared herself to be loved by him. He stepped away from her for a moment, pulling a condom out of his pocket and rolling it onto his hard length with a speed that she found dizzying. “You always walk around so prepared?” she asked, her excitement building. “No. Only when I’m around you. I get hard just hearing you speak.” “I want you now, Colt.” She reached out and took his cock in her hand. He hissed in pleasure and she saw the look in his eye change again. Before she could process what was
happening he had backed her against the wall and pushed inside her. He was big and hard and hot, and he was pumping inside her like a madman on a mission. She loved it. The only thing she could do was hold on and enjoy it. Every slide made her wetter, every hot breath he let out against her skin made her want him more. Her eyes wanted to drift shut and let her senses take over, but she wanted to see him. He was beautiful, like some piece of fine art that should be placed in a museum. Dark hair, angular features, Greek god–like. But there was also a roughness about him, a wildness that made her need him. She was a woman who liked sex, but she had never needed to be with a man before. She needed to be with Colt. She needed to feel him inside her. It was like needing to breathe. “Kiss me,” he begged. “Kiss me now.” They were the three sweetest words to her. She smashed her mouth against his, kissing him as hard and as deep as she could. Her orgasm was building, so fast and uncontrollable it scared her. He pumped harder inside her, her skin stinging where their bodies slapped together, but it felt amazing at the same time and she didn’t want it to end. All too soon her climax hit and she sank her teeth into his shoulder. He jerked against her, spilling himself
inside her. He held her against the wall, still deep inside her for a few minutes while he caught his breath, but then he let her down slowly, took her face in his hands gently, and kissed her. This man … She wasn’t sure if her heart could survive him. “Did I hurt you?” “You make it hurt so good.” She smiled up at him, feeling shy again all of a sudden. “I didn’t mean for that to happen that way.” He brushed her hair out of her face. “Up against a wall is good. In fact it’s very very good. I’ve never had sex like that before.” “Me either.” He was quiet for a moment and she would have given everything she had just to know what he was thinking. “I don’t want this night to be over yet.” “Who said anything about this being over? We are going to have ourselves a good old-fashioned sleepover.” * * * Colt walked back into Zanna’s room a little after five the next morning. He had just come out of the shower and for a moment he considered heading back to his bedroom so he could start his day, but the thought of an empty room didn’t seem as appealing as sneaking a few
more hours of sleep with a warm, naked woman. “You came back.” She lifted her head, giving him a sleepy smile. It was that smile that did him in. It made him want to come back even though he knew he should probably stay away. “I did.” He climbed beneath the covers and reached for her naked body. “Mmm,” she moaned as he wrapped his arms around her. “You smell so clean. Maybe I should shower too if we’re going to lie like this.” “No.” She smelled like him and sex and her own sweet scent. It was intoxicating and arousing. He didn’t want to let her go. “Can I ask you something about your past?” “Um … Yeah.” The hesitation in her voice was clear. He almost didn’t want to ask her but it had been bothering him since she had mentioned it. “Why did you have to learn how to defend yourself at a young age?” “Oh.” She was quiet for a beat. “Did I tell you I needed to defend myself?” “You did. When you were cutting my hair.” “Oh. You don’t want to hear about that.” “I do. I asked you.” “I lived with my mother after my granddaddy died. Her boyfriend had a case of grabby hands. It was no big deal.” His stomach tightened. “I think it was.” “It was okay. After I stabbed him in the hand with a
fork, he got the idea that I wasn’t okay to touch.” He exhaled slowly. “How old were you?” “It was three days after my sixteenth birthday. The legal age of consent in my state. He thought I wanted it. My mother was mad at me because she said I taunted him. I left home after that. I never saw her again.” “You should have had him arrested. Where was your father?” “I don’t know. He skipped town when I was little. My grandfather was the only one who protected me. I spent a long time trying to feel safe. I didn’t get that feeling again until I moved here.” “You feel safe here?” “I do. I had been running from yet another failed relationship when I came here and Lolly took me in. She gave me a job and a place to stay when that shitty motel I was staying got bedbugs.” “Bedbugs?” “Yeah. She came charging in there and moved me out. Of course she wouldn’t let me into her house until I stripped down and boiled all my belongings in the steel tub out back.” “That sounds like her.” “They all were nice. Peggy showed me around. Bertie cooked me meals. Annie treats me like I’m one of her own. And it’s not just them, it’s a lot of folks. I’m not from here, but I feel like I belong here.” He had felt the opposite about this place. He still did.
He thought about his ordered office and his spacious luxurious condo. He thought about all the things he had worked so hard to get that he’d left behind when he came here. “I’m glad they were good to you.” “And I’m sad they weren’t to you. I know you had it rough, but not everybody thought poorly of you. You can’t hate a whole town because a few people called you trash.” “There’s Duke, too.” “It’s more than that isn’t it? That’s just a reason to hate the Andersens.” “My father showed up for work drunk one day and caused an accident that permanently disabled a man and caused the factory to be shut down for a month. The town didn’t like us before, but they turned their backs on us after that. They hated us and we were kids. You don’t forget something like that and you don’t forgive it, either.” “I’m sorry you had a hard life, Colt.” She pressed a kiss to his throat. He could tell by the sincerity in her voice that she meant it, and it made him pull her a little bit closer. “Don’t be sorry for me. I have more money than I know what to do with and everything I’ve ever wanted.” “Do you? Is that why you bought up half the town?” “Part of it was to piss off Perry, but I’m not in the business of losing money. We were looking into building a racetrack here and decided that this place
would benefit from more family entertainment. The mines and the casino are here, but I think if we could build a family-themed attraction with go-carts and indoor batting cages and an arcade, we could bring more jobs to the area and boost the economy. The factory is on its last legs. Two hundred people are going to be out of work when it shuts down.” “That would devastate this place.” “I wouldn’t care, but Duke’s kid is here. I don’t know how he’s going to work this out with Grace, but his son has had it hard enough; he doesn’t deserve to grow up in a dying town. Plus if everything works out, it’s going to make us a hell of a lot richer.” “And I thought money wasn’t everything.” “No, but it sure is nice.” She laughed again and disappeared under the covers. He felt her lips graze his lower stomach. His dick twitched. “You want to have more sex?” he asked her as she slid her hand into his boxers and freed him. “I must not have done a good job. I thought you would be tired out by now.” “You are a very thorough, very excellent lover.” She ran her tongue over his head, causing him to go fully erect. “I’ll be walking funny tomorrow. I just want to make you feel good.” Her mouth was warm and wet, her lips soft. He had never felt anything so good. “You don’t have to do that,” he said, struggling to speak. “I can make it so it’s good for both of us.” He
loved being inside her. He loved the way it felt when her tight wetness squeezed around him. He loved hearing her when she panted his name. He loved … “Just relax, baby. You’ve been taking care of me all night. It’s time for me to take care of you.” He did relax then and for the first time in his life he let somebody really take care of him.
Chapter 12 Zanna walked into the kitchen the next morning feeling sleepy and pleasantly sore. She had never had sex like that in her life. Never. Never so many times. Never so good. Never so long, or hot, or sweet. And never up against a wall. Damn. She blushed all over, glad that sex like that existed in real life and not just in romance novels or movies. “Did you two have a good time last night?” Levi asked from the kitchen table. His grin for her was extra wide today. “What are you…?” It was then she realized that her clothes littered the floor; her haircutting kit was still out as well, as were the leftovers from dinner. It was like a tornado had ripped through the kitchen. “You ever have those moments when you wished a hole in the ground would open up and swallow you? I’m having one of those moments now.” “Why?” Levi got up and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “Colt has it bad for you. It was only a matter of time. I’m surprised you two held out this long.” “Half the time I think he’s an asshole. The other half…” The other half of her thought he was somebody
she really could fall for. “How do you stand him?” “Good morning.” Colt walked into the kitchen. There was a little ice in his voice, and his eyes traveled right to Levi’s arm wrapped around her. He couldn’t really be jealous? Of Levi? Especially after last night. Was she wrong if she admitted it made her feel a little good? Levi looked at his brother with mischief in his eyes before he set his lips on her ear. “You’re special to him. I know he’s a pain in the ass, but I think he has a shot of being happy with you.” He let go of her and faced his brother. “It’s not like you to leave a mess, Colty. I think I’m going to tell Lolly on you.” “Shut up, Levi.” “You know you said that to me so many times I thought Shut Up Levi was my name until I turned six.” Colt smiled. Zanna could tell that it was a struggle, that he didn’t want to, but he couldn’t help himself and that was one of the reasons she couldn’t stay away from him. She wanted to unlock more of that man inside him. “You always talked too damn much.” He shrugged. “It’s part of my charm. I’m going to go get some sleep, but I want to take Shelly to see Crimson Rock tonight. You guys should come with us. It’ll be a good time.” “What’s going on between you and Shelly? I saw the
way you looked at her in the salon.” “What’s going on between you and Zanna?” Levi countered. “I saw all the clothes you left on the kitchen floor.” Colt didn’t say anything, but it was a good question, one Zanna wanted to know the answer to herself. She didn’t want to be one of those women who analyzed things to death, but she did want to know what he’d been thinking about last night. She wasn’t expecting love from him, or anything serious for that matter; she just wanted to know if last night was something out of ordinary for him, or if lovemaking like that was commonplace. “You want to go with them, Zanna?” Colt asked her, breaking her from her thoughts. “Yeah. Sounds like fun.” “We’ll go to dinner at Nino’s. The place we could never afford when we used to live here.” “You don’t own it, do you?” Zanna asked him, teasing. “Not yet. We’ll see how the evening goes.” “Good-bye you two.” Levi waved at them. “Clean up after yourselves next time.” Zanna started picking up her clothes as soon as he left, but Colt stopped her and pulled her into his arms. “What did he whisper in your ear?” He was jealous. It was stupid and lovely at the same time. She looped her arms around his neck and pressed
herself against him. “He said that you might like to wear my panties sometimes and that I shouldn’t be alarmed and to go with it.” “Liar.” He kissed behind her ear. “How do you feel about thongs? You’ve got a good ass. I think you could really pull one off.” “Zanna,” he grumbled. “He’s your brother. You know he wasn’t hitting on me.” “In theory I know that. I just don’t like anyone touching anything that belongs to me.” “Are you this possessive with every girl you sleep with or is it just me?” “Only the girls who point guns at me.” She looked up at him, fingering his uneven hair. “I’ve got to finish this haircut.” He ran his lips across hers. “Do it at the salon. You know what happened the last time we attempted.” “That was your fault. I think you planned it.” “I would do it again. I am going to do it again.” “So last night wasn’t just one night?” He shook his head. “No, but I’m only here for another week.” “And then you go back to your routine and I go back to mine.” “King’s Customs isn’t just my business, it’s my life. I need to get back to my life.” She nodded, understanding that. Colt worked.
Nonstop. It was who he was. And this was just a little fling. Colt wasn’t the kind of man she needed anyway. Poor girls who were born on reservations didn’t end up with millionaire CFOs. “We have a week.” He kissed her slowly. “I intend to make it a good one.” * * * Crimson Rock Canyon was about twenty miles outside Destiny. With huge cliffs and peaks that soared over eight thousand feet, it was a rock climber ’s paradise. It was also the perfect place to bring a girl if you wanted to be alone with her. Colt had come here a couple of times when he was a teenager. But tonight he had Zanna by his side and she was wearing a dress. A light-blue dress the color of the morning sky. Her legs were bare and looked so inviting peeking out beneath the hem. All he had to do was slide his hands up her legs and push her underwear aside before he could sink into her. But that was going to be impossible tonight because they weren’t alone. Not really anyway. Levi had rented three souped-up offroading jeeps. One for Duke and Grace. One for Levi and Shelly, and one for him and Zanna. This used to be a make-out spot for them, but it felt entirely different being here with his family. It wasn’t a bad feeling. He watched Duke watch his son scramble up a rock. He couldn’t see the expression on his brother ’s
face, but he could tell by the way he held himself that he was going through something. “It’s weird for you to have a nephew, isn’t it?” Zanna asked as she slipped her fingers between his. Holding hands was weird for him. It was different and he realized that it was something he liked, feeling her smaller hand locked with his. It wasn’t something he had done with other women; it wasn’t something they’d even attempted with him. But Zanna was different. She held his hand. She pushed his buttons. She touched him without thought. There wasn’t another woman out there like her. “It’s not weirder for me than it is for Duke. I’d still be trying to nail Grace’s ass to the wall. I can’t imagine what it must feel like not to know that there was a little piece of you walking around leaving an imprint on the world.” “Maybe Grace was afraid that Duke wouldn’t have wanted him.” “He would have wanted his son.” “I’m sure Grace had her reasons for not telling him.” “And maybe she’ll let us in on them one day, but right now it’s their business.” “I think they’re going to get back together.” “You sound so sure of yourself.” He looked over at her as she gazed out at the quickly darkening sky. “She’s in love with him.” “How do you know?” “I know when a woman is in love with a man, Colt,”
she said softly. He knew better than to read into her words. He was horrified when a woman he was casually seeing told him she was in love with him. But he didn’t think he would be horrified if Zanna told him. In fact he thought he might like it. To be loved by her didn’t seem so bad at all. “Do you know when a man is in love with a woman?” “He’s in love with her and you’re going to be an uncle again. Mark my words, there’s going to be a whole new generation of King kids terrorizing people.” He was comfortable with the idea. He had built King’s Customs for his family. To restore their name. It would only be fitting to have more than one generation enjoy it. “Do you think you want kids, Colt?” “I never thought about it. I work. I work too much to be there for them. My father wasn’t there for us, and I couldn’t do that to my son. Do you want kids?” “I do.” Her voice sounded wistful. “I didn’t used to, because my mama was so shitty to me. I thought I might be like her, but I’m not and I would like to have something of my own to love and take care of and make happy.” She laughed at herself. “That sounds so corny and if you tell anybody I said that, I’ll shoot you for real.” It wasn’t corny and he could see her as a mother. He could see her loving. She deserved that. She deserved to
be happy. “You should have that one day.” “Ryder, you put that down,” they heard Grace scream as she hid behind Duke. “It’s just a little lizard, Grace.” Duke laughed and wrapped his arm around her as their son came at them dangling a lizard between his fingers. “Boy, if you put that lizard on me, you won’t live to see your next birthday.” “Maybe I’ll get a cat instead,” Zanna said with a laugh. “Cats are good.” * * * Colt rested his head on Zanna’s chest. She could tell it was more than moving in his sleep. He was wide awake and had been for hours. He’d had been slightly restless last night, never seeming to find true comfort while he slept. He should have been exhausted after keeping her busy in bed all night. But before that they had a great evening, driving in the desert followed by a long dinner with his family. Every time she was with all of them she found herself sitting back and just taking it all in. She had her girls at the salon, but it had been a long time since she’d been with a family. Bruno had always surrounded himself with friends, with people, but they had never felt like a family. She never sensed bonds among them like she did with the King boys. It was nice because even though she was an outsider, even though
she knew that being with all of them like this was going to come to an end soon, she felt like part of the gang. And it made her almost hollow. It was as if she missed it already and it hadn’t gone away yet. She ran her fingers through his curls. She had cut his hair yesterday at the salon, but not as short as she should have and purely for selfish reasons. She liked his hair, liked how it felt between her fingers. Liked how his curls looked when they were damp from the shower. “You didn’t sleep well,” she said to him. “You were moving around a lot.” “I’m sorry.” He kissed between her breasts. “Did I wake you?” “No, but I am a little miffed at you.” “Why?” He looked up at her with those probing blue eyes of his, the ones that never failed to make her stomach feel funny. “I felt kind of boneless after we had sex last night. I obviously didn’t have the same effect on you.” “I don’t do this.” He rested his hand on her thigh. “I don’t stay the night. I don’t sleep in beds that aren’t my own, but I’m here.” “Oh.” She didn’t know what to say to that. All she knew was that it kind of stung. “You don’t have to be here if you don’t want to. I didn’t ask you to stay.” “I want to be here. That’s my point. I want to spend my nights with you.” He paused. “It’s annoying.” Oh hell, he was sweet. In his own grumpy sort of
way, but he was sweet and it made her want him all the more. She stroked his cheek. “I think I might miss you when you go,” she admitted, knowing she shouldn’t have. Knowing that it was one step closer to admitting she had deeper feelings for him than she wanted to. “We still have this week. You probably won’t miss me by the end of it.” He went to rest his head on her chest again, but she caught his face between her hands so that she could see into his eyes. “Let me miss you, okay? Don’t try to make me mad and ruin it. I want to miss you.” He sat up then, his brow furrowed as he looked at her. She had no clue what he was thinking, but she didn’t care because she wasn’t going to take back what she’d said. She wanted to miss him. She’d never wanted to miss a man before; she’d never had a reason to miss any of them before. They had always hurt her too much. His cell phone rang. It was just before six AM, which was late for him. Before he’d started sleeping with her he was usually up and working at this hour. He looked at his phone and back at her, seeming unsure of whether he should pick up. The fact that he hesitated a little made her feel good. “Go ahead.” She gave him permission. “It might be important.” He grabbed his phone off the dresser. “What do you need, Cedric?” “We need you to come back, sir.”
“I told you when I was expected back. I thought you could handle things while I was gone.” “We’re running into building permit problems in California with our expansion projects, and the deal in Henderson will not go through without you. The owner wants a meeting with you before he agrees to sell.” “We’ve been dealing with him for three months. Make it happen. I don’t care what you have to do, I want that shop.” “I can’t make this one happen, sir. He wants to speak to you.” Colt went quiet for a split second and Zanna could feel the dread filling her. It was dread more than sadness. She knew he was going home. She knew he had his life to return to, but she was planning on another week. She needed that week to prepare herself for his departure, because she was sure that once he left he was never coming back. “Fine. Set up a meeting. I’ll be back today.” He hung up and immediately called his assistant to arrange for a private plane to pick him up at the airstrip in the next town and a driver to meet him when he landed in Vegas. Colt was usually all business, but Zanna could hear the change in his voice. She could see his body go stiffer, see the way he held himself tighter. He was morphing back into Colt King, head of the King Empire. He wasn’t the man who spent the night in bed with his arms wrapped around her. He really was the boss and he was
important to more than just her. He put his phone down after a few more minutes of talking to his assistant. “I’ve got to go back.” She sat up and nodded. Grabbing his face, she pulled him close and kissed him. But it wasn’t like their normal kisses, the ones that heated her up and made her want to pull him on top of her so she could feel him slide deep inside. It was just as deep, but it was softer, slower, and he didn’t kiss her back. He sat there and let himself be kissed with everything she had. She didn’t know why, but it was the right thing for him to do. It was like he knew she needed to get it out. She hugged him close then, running her fingers through the messy curls that she had come to love. “What are you doing?” Colt asked her. “What do you think I’m doing, jackass? I’m saying good-bye.” “I want the rest of my week.” “But you’re leaving.” She lifted her chin off his shoulder and blinked at him. “You’re coming with me.” He kissed that spot under her ear that made her lose all common sense. “You mean to tell me you’re asking me to drop what I’m doing, cancel all my appointments, and follow you to Vegas for a week?” “I’m not asking you to come.” He ran his fingers through her hair as he peppered kisses down the side of her neck. “I’m telling you that I’m not done with you yet.
I’m telling you I want you with me.” I’m not done with you yet. Yet. That word stuck in her head, because she knew he would be done with her soon. She was starting to fall in love with him and he would just be done with her one day. She’d known going in that whatever it was that they were doing was going to have an expiration date. She knew this was ending soon and it was going to hurt her when it did. She should say no. Get it over with. Break away before an extra week with him caused her to fall deeper. It would just be easier. “So when you’re done with me, you’re just planning to throw me away like a snotty tissue.” “I don’t want to talk about being done.” He slid his hand down to her breast, cupping it in his large warm hand. “I just want to be with you. Okay?” “Okay,” she breathed and knew when the week was over, losing him was going to hurt like hell. But she didn’t care, because no man had ever made her feel like this. So wanted. So good. “You’re being sweet to me,” he said just before he took her mouth. “I’m not sure I know how to take it.” She pinched his side hard, causing him to yelp out in pain. “Ouch, damn it.” “Is that better? Don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.” He grinned at her and pinned her to the bed. “You’re going to pay for that.”
“Really?” She wrapped her legs around him. “I’m looking forward to it.” * * * “This doesn’t look like a plane, Colt.” Zanna grabbed his hand as they boarded his private jet. She stopped just beyond the door, nearly frozen in place as she stared at the plane’s interior. He had been in this jet so many times that he never paid much attention to his surroundings, but he realized that for somebody seeing it for the first time it was luxurious. A huge contrast from the tiny house they had just left and the small dusty town it was in. “It is a plane. I promise you.” He tugged her hand, pulling her a little farther inside. “It looks like a house. You’ve got a couch, recliners, and a flat-screen TV. I could live in here. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so clean.” She let go of his hand and struggled to remove her shoe. “What are you doing?” “I don’t want to mess up the carpet. It’s creamcolored and looks brand new.” “You don’t have to take off your shoes unless you’re doing it to be comfortable, and you don’t have to worry about messing up the carpet. I swear I won’t charge you a cleaning fee.” “This is your personal plane.” She froze again, one
shoe in her hand. “You didn’t rent it?” “It belongs to King’s Customs. Sometimes Levi uses it when he has to make an appearance overseas. Duke won’t step foot in it. Says it’s a waste of money.” “How much does a private jet run these days?” “You don’t want to know, but it’s worth it to me and much easier than flying commercial.” “I’ve only been on a plane once.” She slipped off her other shoe and walked away from him, dropping them so that she could run her hand over the leather seats. “It took me two hours to get through security and then I was stuck for five hours between a rather large man and a woman with a rambunctious two-year-old on her lap. If you don’t have to go through that every time you want to fly, I think whatever you have to pay is worth it.” She crossed to the other side and smoothed her hands over the couch. “Can I lie on this?” “You can do whatever you want, Zanna.” “Am I being a total goober?” She grinned bashfully at him. “You can tell me to shut up.” He didn’t want her to shut up. He liked her chatter. He liked the excitement in her eyes when they’d first pulled up to the airstrip. She was so unlike any of the women he had dated, who were used to the best, were impressed by nothing, and expected everything. Zanna didn’t expect anything. In fact she seemed happy just being with him. He had never experienced that before. With anybody. He almost didn’t want to trust her, but he did.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been on anything so soft.” She lay down on the couch, rubbing her face against the velvety leather. He always found her beautiful, but right now in her bright-green sundress that bunched up around her thighs, her bare feet, with her thick hair spread out behind her, there was a sort of earthiness to her that he found more than beautiful. He couldn’t find the right words to describe what he was feeling in that moment. “Come here.” She opened her arms to him. He went over to her and settled himself on top of her soft body, his head nestled between her breasts. He could hear the steady beating of her heart and it soothed him. She was right when she accused him of being restless last night. He was restless and it was because of her. He didn’t enter relationships. He didn’t have affairs that lasted more than a few days. It was too much work, led to too many complications, but the more time he spent with her the more he found himself wanting to be with her. Thirty days in the presence of this woman wasn’t enough. But it was affecting him, his work, who he thought he was as man, or at least the man he’d worked so hard to become. She had nailed him this morning when she told him to let her miss him. It was as if she knew he was going to distance himself from her so he could get his head right, so he could start to return to the man he was before Lolly called him home. She wasn’t going to let him get away with it, though.
She wasn’t going to let him go cold with her, turn back into the man he was comfortable being. Comfortable being. But not necessarily happy being. He had never felt happiness before, so he wouldn’t know how to describe it, but if he had to describe how she made him feel, it would be pretty close to that. “You look damn good in a suit, Colt, but I have to admit that I don’t like you in them.” “No?” “No. Too many layers between us. It makes it hard for me to feel your skin.” “As soon as we’re free to roam the cabin, I’ll take it off for you.” He slid his hand up her dress, letting his fingers brush along the band of her underwear. Her eyes widened with surprise, but he saw excitement lingering there. “You want to have sex on this plane?” She looked behind her. “What about the pilot?” “He won’t come out.” “How long is the flight?” “An hour and a half. Just long enough to show you a good time.” “You probably show every girl you bring in here a good time.” She grinned up at him. “You’ve got this whole having-sex-in-a-plane thing down to a science.” “No,” he said seriously. “I’ve never taken a woman in here. You’re my first.” “Your first?” Her smile turned mischievous as she ran her foot up the back of his leg. “What an honor. I
guess I’m going to have to make this memorable for you.”
Chapter 13 There was only one word Zanna could use to describe Colt’s penthouse apartment: sleek. But if she had to imagine a place Colt King owned, it would be this. Everything from the cabinets to the tiles was done in cool gray tones. Every single piece of furniture, appliance, and fixture looked like it cost more than she’d made in the last five years. She was almost afraid to touch anything, worried that her fingerprints would sully the pristineness of it all. “Your place is real nice, Colt. It’s big. Lolly’s whole house could fit right here in this room.” “You don’t like it,” he said coming up behind her. “I didn’t say that. It’s impressive.” “But you don’t like it.” He wrapped his arms around her. “Open window treatments.” And with just his voice command the curtains opened, revealing a wall of windows overlooking the busy Las Vegas Strip. It was beautiful with all of its bright lights. They were high up, looking down on everything and everyone. It was as if he truly were a king. “Do you ever feel like you live in an amusement park? It’s always busy here, isn’t it? Always bright lights and action. Always exciting.” “You don’t like excitement.”
She turned in his arms and took his lapels in her hands. “I like excitement, Colt. It was exciting being with you on the plane. It’s exciting being here with you.” She hugged him close. “I’ve never been in a place that was so beautiful before.” “I run a big company. Men like me are supposed to live in places like this.” “Is this your dream home? Is this the place you were dying to get when you were a little boy in Destiny?” “Something like this. I always thought I would have bikini models for maids.” He smiled at her again. His smiles were becoming easier, and she found herself falling deeper with each one. “I always thought my butler would wear a black one-piece. With cuffs and collars to keep it classy, of course.” “Of course.” She nodded, grinning back at him. “What does your actual butler wear to work?” “I don’t have one. I only have an Eastern European maid in her sixties. She barely speaks English and she has a couple of springy gray chin hairs that really highlight her face.” “Sexy.” “In her own way. No one else does my laundry the way she does, and she makes a stuffed cabbage roll that is so good it makes me hard just thinking about it,” he said, causing her to giggle. “I guess that makes up for the lack of bathing suit.” “Sometimes I’m tempted to buy her one just for
kicks.” He buried his fingers in her hair. “What was your dream growing up?” “I don’t think I had one.” “No dream house. No pink dollhouse mansion.” “No. My grandparents lived in a little two-room cabin that they had built themselves. It was shabby but it was homey. I loved living there with them. When I was with my mother, we lived in a few motel rooms before she got it together enough to rent us a one-bedroom apartment. Those places never felt like home. I guess I just wanted a place that felt like home. My dream house would be a nice split level with a garage and maybe a pool in the back.” Now that the words were out she felt silly saying them. Here she was standing in front of a millionaire who just like her came from nothing, but who had so much more to show for it. “You can have more than that.” “I don’t need more than that. Except my own salon. I’ve been saving up to buy The Head Shed, but Lolly won’t hear of it.” “It’s time for her to give it up.” “It’s time when she says it’s time. We both know that.” His cell phone rang, and he stepped away to answer it. “I’ll be there in twenty minutes,” she heard him say before he came back to her. “I’ve got to go into the office.” She nodded, understanding that he’d come back here
to work. “What should I do while you’re gone? I can make you dinner? I’m not promising you stuffed cabbage rolls, but I can fix you something nice.” “You don’t have to cook.” He grabbed her chin and quickly kissed her mouth. “I want to take you out tonight. Someplace really nice.” “Let me cook for you. I want to.” “Okay,” he relented. “The fridge is fully stocked, but if you need something, you pick up the black phone in the kitchen and call down to the concierge.” He pulled a black card out of his wallet. “I’m going to be gone for a while, so go shopping. Buy anything you want. There’s a private lap pool on the roof and a hot tub in the bathroom. I have a driver here at your disposal. Don’t be afraid to use him.” “I’ll be fine. Have a good day at work, honey.” He gave her a half smile before he leaned in to kiss her lips. “I’ll see you when I get home, dear.” * * * Colt walked through the door just after eight that night. It was a full hour before he usually got home, but he’d ended his day early because he knew for once his condo wasn’t empty. Zanna was sitting on his couch, feet bare, her curvy body wrapped up in a thick robe he kept in the guest room. “Hey, Colt.” She scrambled off the couch, smiling at
him, looking happy to see him. He would be a liar if he said he hadn’t thought about her while he was working. He could barely concentrate because all he could do was think about her. His mind had been on her since they had met but he’d thought it might be different once he went back to his office and sat behind his desk. He was on his turf doing what he had done for years, but nothing had changed. She never left his thoughts. She kissed him and he tasted sweetness on her lips. Peaches and a little bit of sourness that reminded him of something he had enjoyed when he was a little kid. “You taste good.” He kissed her again, a little longer this time. “I bought candy.” She smiled bashfully at him as she took his briefcase from him and stripped off his suit coat. “I went a little crazy.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him over to his breakfast bar. “I got peach and apple rings. Sour balls, Baked Beans, and some of those red candy laces. Oh and a big-ass chocolate bar. Your driver took me to this really cool store off the Strip. I got Ryder and Lolly some gifts. I hope you don’t mind.” “I don’t.” He shook his head as he picked up a sugardusted neon-green gummy candy and bit into it. He couldn’t remember the last time he had eaten anything so sweet, but the sugar rush was welcome and made his long day at work seem like a distant memory. “Damn, this is good. What did you get for yourself?” “This,” she said as she chewed on a red candy lace. “I went to the supermarket, too. I just couldn’t bring myself
to call your concierge when I’m fully capable of going myself. I made your driver come inside with me, though. He’s a real nice guy. A vet. Served in Vietnam, did you know that?” “No.” He kept a couple of drivers on call for King’s Customs but he had never spoken to any of them more than to announce his destination. “I guess you wouldn’t. You’re not exactly Mr. Warm and Fuzzy. Ned seemed really surprised when I asked him to come shopping with me, and he nearly had a heart attack when I asked him to eat lunch with me. He said things like that weren’t done.” “You ate lunch with my driver?” “I didn’t want to eat by myself and he’s such a nice guy. Really interesting. He’s been married to his wife for forty-five years. Wants to take her on a cruise around the world. He’s almost saved up for it, too.” “So you went to the supermarket, the candy store, and had lunch with my driver?” “Yeah,” she said with a red lace hanging from her mouth. “I made dinner, too. It’s warming in the oven. My grandmamma said that candy before dinner will ruin your appetite, but I’m grown now and can do whatever the hell I want.” “You didn’t go shopping, though? You didn’t buy anything just for yourself?” “I have the receipts right here.” She handed him a few wrinkled papers. “I treated your driver to lunch with
my own money. I didn’t think you would want me using your card for that.” He quickly calculated everything she’d spent, including the groceries for tonight’s dinner. “You spent one hundred and sixteen dollars?” “The T-shirt for Lolly was twenty-seven bucks. I know it was too much, but it was so cute. I can give you the money for it.” “Are you on drugs?” He walked around the counter to where she was and grabbed her shoulders. “I was expecting you to buy shoes, or clothes, or a handbag. Not candy and some souvenirs for my family.” “I don’t want to go spending all your money.” “Why not?” “Because it’s not mine. I didn’t earn it.” There were few times in his life when he was flabbergasted, but today was one of them. “But I’ve got it to spend and I want to spend it on you.” “I don’t want your money. I’m here because I want to be with you. I did buy something purely for myself, though. Go sit down in your dining room and I’ll show you.” He did as she asked without argument, but only because he couldn’t think of anything to say to her. She wanted him and he believed her. There weren’t many people in his life except his brothers whom he could say that about. Everyone wanted him for his money or for what he could do for them. They never just wanted him.
He sat at the table, loosening his tie; the feel of it around his neck was slightly strangling. He had worn one every day for the last ten years, except when he had been in Destiny, and somehow after that short time it now felt suffocating. Zanna walked into the room without the robe she had been wearing just a few minutes ago. His mouth went dry. She was carrying a domed silver tray and wearing a black bathing suit, red high heels, and a white tie. “Good evening, sir.” She set the tray in front of him and dramatically removed the lid. “Tonight we are having roasted chicken with a side of chipotle sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts in brown butter. For dessert we have a Dutch apple pie and a fine vanilla bean ice cream.” She looked at him, a sassy smile spreading across her face, and he knew he loved her right then. The knowledge knocked the air out of his lungs, but it wasn’t unwelcome. He loved her. He more than loved her. He was in love with her. “Come here.” He yanked her into his lap, positioning her until she straddled him. “You’re amazing.” He kissed across her collarbone, grabbing her behind so she could feel how hard he was for her. “Sir!” She playfully slapped at his hands. “I am a professional and I will not tolerate any hanky-panky from you.” “But you look so damn delicious.” He pulled at her
straps, leaving her shoulders bare. “I have to have you.” “You like this?” she asked, dropping her character. “It was only nine ninety-seven at a discount store and I got the tie for a dollar. I couldn’t find cuffs and collar. I’m sure the concierge people would have found them somewhere, but then I think they would have figured out that I wanted to use them for freaky sex games with you and they would have thought less of me.” “They are paid not to think and I won’t let anyone think less of you.” “You’re sweet, Colt.” She brushed a soft kiss across his mouth. “I’m not sweet. Don’t say that.” “Does that bother you, my sweetie-sweet gumdrop?” She unbuttoned his shirt, not all the way, just enough so that she could smooth her hands over his chest. “You’re my sweetheart.” “Zanna,” he growled, but he was getting more turned on by the moment. He couldn’t wait to make love to the woman he was in love with. She touched his erection, rubbing her hand over the place where his pants bulged. “This is impressive. You think I can take care of it now and we can have sex later?” “You don’t want to have sex now?” Her stomach growled, startling a laugh out of him. “I’m starving,” she admitted. “This food smells good and I think I’m going to need to keep my energy up if
I’m going to keep up with you tonight.” She set her lips on his ear. “You have so much stamina. A girl needs some fuel to survive all those orgasms.” “Let’s eat.” He gently removed her from his lap. “I want to take care of you first. Let me.” She reached for him, but he grabbed her hands, needing her to stop so he could get out what he needed to say. “You know this is not just about sex for me.” He didn’t know what else to say to her but he needed to tell her that. He needed her to know that she was different. Her eyes searched his face for a moment, as if she was trying to think of what to say. “Me either, Mr. King.” He took her mouth in a hot, deep kiss, loving the way she wrapped her arms around him and held on as if he were going to float away. “You’re all wrong for me, you know,” she said, breaking the kiss. “And you’re all wrong for me, too, but right now I don’t give a damn.” They were quiet for a long moment. He was savoring the feel of her, savoring that somebody was there just for him. He had never had this before. He didn’t know how to respond, didn’t know how to go forward, but he wanted to. It was impulsive and too quick, and probably too wrong for the life he had carved out for himself, but for once he just didn’t care. She rested her lips against his cheek. “If you break my heart, I’ll shoot you.”
“If I break your heart, you should.” * * * Zanna woke when she felt Colt’s heavy body come over hers. He wasn’t naked like he was the last time she’d felt him on top of her. She felt the silkiness of his tie against her nude skin, the buttons from his shirt pressing into her. Somehow that sensation of fabric against her exposed skin caused her to tingle between her legs even though he had spent hours last night making sure she felt thoroughly satisfied. “I’m going to head out to work soon.” He kissed the side of her face. “I-I…” She stopped herself from saying that she didn’t want him to go. She didn’t, but it was stupid of her to think. Colt worked all the time. It was part of him. She had to accept that. “I know you have to go in. Can I make you some breakfast before you go?” “No thanks. I’ll grab something at work.” “Can I pack your lunch then? I can make you a nice sandwich from last night’s pork tenderloin.” “I have a lunch meeting today, but thank you.” “Oh.” She felt a little disappointed. She hadn’t been here two full days yet and she was feeling a little useless. “You’re on vacation. Relax. When’s the last time you did nothing?” “Never. I supported myself since I was sixteen.”
“You’re here with me right now. Let me support you.” She didn’t say anything to that. It was the thing every woman wanted to hear, but for some reason those words made her stomach sink. What did they mean? They hadn’t really talked about their future; no indepth discussions had been had. All she knew was that he cared about her, that it was more than just sex for him. That was a big step for him. It wouldn’t be fair to ask him for more. And even if she did? What would that more be? Marriage? Kids? She would have to give up Destiny. Give up the little life she had carved out for herself in a place that made her happy. Because his life was here. There was no mistaking it. He wanted nothing to do with the town that raised him. “I’m feeling bad, you know. I go to see Lolly every day. I bring her food. I comb her hair. I miss her.” Something that looked suspiciously like guilt crossed Colt’s face before his expression went blank again. “You can still call her. My brothers are there. She’ll be fine.” “I know.” “I want you to relax. You’re always worried about everyone else. Let me worry about you.” “I like to worry. It gives me something to do.”
“You’ll have something to do today. I set up a day at the spa for you.” “A spa day?” “A facial, sugar scrub, pedicure, full-body massage. Anything you want.” “What if I want you to take the day off and give me a full-body massage?” “I can’t. They called me back because they need me here. I thought you understood that.” “I do,” she sighed. “And you’re not going to cook tonight. After the spa you’re going to go shopping for something nice and then I’m going to take you out for a nice dinner.” “Can you do me a favor before you go?” “What?” “Just show me how to work your fancy shower again.” “That I can do.” He eased himself off her and handed her a robe. “It took me a week to figure it out. I wasn’t here when they installed it, and when my assistant called asking me if I wanted written directions left, I snapped at her and told her that it was just a shower. How hard could it be? That’s one of the few times in my life I truly felt like an asshole. I showered at the gym for a week.” He walked ahead of her into his spacious bathroom that was half the size of Lolly’s house. She could only imagine how uncomfortable he had been there. In that
tiny bathtub shower, with the pink rubber bathmat and the shower curtain that stuck to you as soon as the water went on. Lolly’s house had been one of the nicer places that she lived so she hadn’t noticed any of those things, but compared with this space she wasn’t sure how Colt lasted there at all. “If you want just a simple shower, you press the top left button. The up and down arrows control the temperature. The sideways arrows control the pressure. If you want steam, press here. If you want to feel like you’ve gone through a car wash, press this button twice.” “A car wash might be nice.” She followed his directions and water started to fall from the ceiling of his shower. “Is this real? I’ve never seen anything like it.” “Wait till you feel it. I only use that when I have some extra time. It’s the kind of shower that makes you want to stay in till your hands get pruny.” “You don’t use this a lot, do you?” He hadn’t come in until nine last night and when he did, she could tell he was exhausted, tense, not the way she thought anybody should be coming home from a job they loved. She had been lonely without him even though she had kept herself busy by exploring the building and making him a lavish dinner. She wanted to be annoyed when he came in so late, but she wasn’t because he seemed to like having her here. He was good to her. There was only one other
man who had been good to her before and he was long gone. “No. Not often.” “Maybe we can make time this weekend.” “I have to…” He stopped himself, but she knew what he was going to say. “I’ll make time.” “Have a good day at work.” She leaned forward, giving him a lingering kiss, but he didn’t walk out like she had expected. He sat on the edge of his massive tub. “I have a few minutes. Get in.” “I think you just want to see me naked, you perv.” “I do.” He watched her as she untied her robe. She opened it just a little to reveal one of her breasts. She didn’t know why she was teasing him. She didn’t know why she was starting something she knew they couldn’t finish, but there was something about the way he looked at her. Like he was hungry for her. “You’ve seen me naked a lot. I’d think you’d be tired of seeing it by now.” “No man ever gets tired of seeing a beautiful woman’s naked body. I never get tired of looking at yours. I like to watch you. It sounds creepy but it’s true. I like to watch you work and cook and speak and breathe because I had this picture in my head of what my fantasy girl looked like and she looks just like you. And sometimes I can’t believe you’re real.” “Colt.” She choked on his name, crossing the room
so that she could cup his face in her hands and kiss him. “You’re full of shit. You got that off the Internet or read it in a book because no man in the history of the world could come up with something so sweet.” “I keep a writer on my payroll for moments just like this,” he said in his usual deadpan voice. He stood up, pulling the robe completely off her body, his hands grazing down her sides, touching all the places she had complained weren’t perfect. Then he got down on his knees to kiss the round part of her belly and the curve of her thighs. He cupped her behind, squeezing her flesh between his fingers as he spread hot openmouthed kisses across her hips. She flooded then, moisture seeping out and covering the insides of her thighs. She throbbed for him and he seemed to understand that she needed him to soothe her, because he slipped one long finger inside her and slowly began to stroke her. “Wh-what are you doing?” she gasped. “I-I-I thought you had to work.” “I’m making time.” He pushed her against the shower, the cool glass against her hot skin turning her on even more. He took her leg and tossed it over his shoulder and simply looked for a moment. She was open to him and so exposed, but just as she was starting to feel self-conscious, he licked inside her one slow long lick that made her knees buckle and her cry out his name. “Get in the shower.” She thought he was going to walk out, to go to work, but he didn’t. He yanked at his
tie, his hands shaking with need as he ripped at the buttons of his shirt, causing some of them to break off. If he were any other man, she might be scared. He was so big, so strong, so intense, and he was coming for her— but he was Colt. And he cared about her. When he was finally naked, he stood there, chest heaving, cock pointing straight out at her. She knew what was about to come and the wait was nearly making her bust from her skin. “I said get in.” She did and the warm water rained down over her, another sensation to add to her overly sensitive body. He came after her, grabbing her, pulling her over to the marble shower seat. He sat, pulling her on top of him. Her entrance slid up against his hardness. Their skin was wet, their bodies were slippery but still fit perfectly together. Every time she had sex with him it was incomparable and she didn’t think it could get better, but this was better. “Put me inside you,” he rasped, his mouth against her skin. She ran his head along the length of her opening, teasing herself, teasing him even though she knew they were both past that point. “Ride me, baby. Ride me slowly. I want this to last.” She slid him all the way inside her, loving the way he groaned when he was fully buried in her. He kept his hands on her hips, helping her, guiding her as she slid up and down him. “Look at me,” he ordered when her eyes drifted shut. She looked into his eyes and he was staring back at her
as they moved together in unison. She had never made love like this. It was more than just the steamy setting. It was that she was actually making love. She was looking into the eyes of the man she loved and he was looking back at her. She felt close to him and after years of not letting anyone near her heart it felt just plain good. She felt him slide into her a little harder. She moved on him a little faster. The warm water was on her back, his hard body was against her wet skin, and she was losing control. Every time he groaned, every time he said her name as he drove into her, pushed her closer to the edge. She didn’t want to come. She wanted this to last longer because she knew as soon as they finished he would be gone again, off to work, leaving her to wait until he came home again. But he pulled her nipple into his mouth, sucking hard, and brought on an orgasm so intense that she shed tears. He lost all control then, moving her hips wildly, pumping into her in a way that took her breath away. He spilled inside her, taking her mouth in the same moment. The kiss was sweeter than expected. It was as if he didn’t want it to end, either. “What have you done to me?” He ran his thumbs over her cheeks. “You’re the one who broke into my house. I was just minding my business until you came along.” He softly pecked her lips. “Do me a favor and run a bubble bath.”
“A bubble bath?” “Yes. I’ve got to call into work and tell them I won’t be in until lunch.”
Chapter 14 Colt glanced at his watch for the third time since this meeting had begun two hours ago. He couldn’t get his head into this negotiation. His mind was on Zanna. Zanna whom he’d spent an hour with in the tub. Zanna who made him pancakes and sausages and then made him sit with her and watch an episode of the trashiest talk show on the planet. He was never late to work, never got to his office after seven AM since he’d started running it. But today he walked in at noon. Five hours late and he hadn’t wanted to come in at all. If he could have, he would have sat there all day, eating leftover candy and watching mindless TV. He had been to Paris, white-water rafting, and to the pyramids in Egypt but there was nothing more exciting than sitting with that pretty girl on a couch. “I’m sorry, son, but your mind seems to be elsewhere this evening.” He was sitting in his boardroom across from Harvey Leyard, the owner of the little mom-and-pop car shop that King’s Customs had been trying to acquire for the past three months. “I’m listening, but we’ve been here for two hours and haven’t been getting anywhere.” “Well, maybe we would get somewhere if you showed a little concern, a little care. This is my life’s work and you want to buy it out from beneath me and
you don’t even seem to care enough to pay attention during this damn meeting.” “I know you have been losing business steadily for the past two years to the big chain shop down the road. I know that you are seventy-seven years old and unable to do the work that you used to, and you’ve got a kid working for you that’s a hell of a customizer whom you can barely afford to pay. I also know that if King’s Customs takes over your business, we’ll do right by it. I started it with my brothers. We are family-owned just like your place is.” “That’s just the thing. I want to keep it in my family!” “Who’s going to run it? Your daughter is a doctor. She is too busy to worry about your little place. If you don’t want to sell it to me, fine. All I know is that I left a beautiful woman at home who is waiting for me to take her out. I promised her I would be home early tonight and she’s a hell of a lot more important to me than kissing your ass.” He got up from the table. “Sir.” Cedric hurried after him. “We’ve been working on this deal for months. We agreed that it was in a perfect location for our expansion project and that it would cost far less than building a new shop and hiring all new employees.” “Yeah. But I just don’t give a shit anymore. I’m going home early.” “You never leave early. You never come in late.”
“I own the place.” He loosened his tie. “I’ll do whatever the hell I want. You’ve got a wife. Go home to her. When’s the last time you walked in the door before eight?” He left Cedric standing there. Fifteen minutes later he was back home. He walked in the door to find Zanna staring out the window overlooking the Strip. She was in a sophisticated black dress, her hair pin-straight and hanging down her back. “Hey,” he said to her, finding that when she turned around, her face was elegantly made up. She was beautiful. She was always beautiful, but she didn’t look like herself. “Hi.” She smiled at him and he saw her, the woman he knew. “What do you think?” She turned in a circle. “I went into the salon and told them to make me look like a woman who would date Colt King. This is what they did.” He didn’t want her to look like a woman who would date him. He wanted her to look like herself, but he didn’t say anything, just walked over to her and ran his fingers through her now flattened hair. “You’re gorgeous. Let me change my jacket and we’ll be on our way.” They walked into The Country Home, a restaurant that served overpriced Italian rustic food, but the place was spectacular—designed to resemble an enchanting Italian lagoon with each table in a private cabana.
“Well, holy hell. This place is freaking amazing,” Zanna exclaimed, her Oklahoma accent thick in that moment. Her eyes were wide again, reminding him of what it must look like when a kid went to Disney World for the first time. The maître d’ looked back at her. “We have an excellent table for you tonight, sir.” He led them to a corner cabana that felt private even though the restaurant was full. “You ordered the ten-course meal. Here is the wine list; your waiter will be out with your first course momentarily.” “Ten courses,” Zanna whispered when he was gone. “You know I can barely finish three courses for ten ninety-nine down at Ruth’s. Where do you expect me to put ten courses?” “They’re small plates, Zanna. More like bites. You’ll see. This is one of the top-rated restaurants in the country.” “It looks like it.” She glanced around her. “I never thought I would be in a place like this.” “What kind of wine would you like? We could get a nice bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon.” “Get what you want. I’ll stick with water.” “Come on, Zanna. We’re out in the best restaurant in all of Vegas. You can’t just have water. You can have whatever you want.” “I used to drink strawberry wine that cost three ninety-nine at the corner store. I don’t know what kind of
wine to get. Get what you like.” “Colt.” A leggy blonde walked toward him. It took him a moment to place her because he was so caught up in Zanna, but he recognized the woman. Nicole Ramsey. They had dated for a few weeks last year. He broke it off as soon as she hinted that she might want more from him. “It’s good to see you again.” “Hello, Nicole. How are you?” he asked purely out of politeness. “I heard you were out of town.” She looked over at Zanna, her eyes taking her in, sizing her up in a way that only women could do to each other. “Was it business or pleasure? You never leave town for so long.” “It was both.” He looked back at Zanna, who openly stared at Nicole. “I can see you’re busy. Have a great evening. I heard the tartare is great.” “Who was that woman?” Zanna asked. “She looks just like Veronica Lake.” “She’s nobody.” “She’s obviously somebody if she walked all the way over here to talk to you, and she was eyeing you like she was a tiger and you were a big juicy steak.” He laughed at her observation. “She was not. She’s someone I went out with a few times.” “I think you left an impression on her,” she teased. “Colt King, Vegas’s most famous lover.” “My money left more of an impression on her than
anything else. She wanted to be Mrs. Colt King. But she sure didn’t want to be my wife.” “So it was serious between you two?” she asked, not in a jealous way, but simply as if she was curious. “No, I don’t get serious with women.” “But she wanted to get serious with you? Does that happen to you a lot?” “I try not to get involved,” he said, wanting to end the conversation. “She still thinks she has a shot with you. That’s why she came over.” “I don’t want to talk about her anymore. I’m here with you.” “She’s real classy-looking, a lady. Probably thinks I’m a hooker.” “Zanna…” “Okay, so maybe not a hooker. What’s the term for the high-class ones? A call girl? That’s it! She thinks I’m a call girl.” “I would never bring a call girl to one of the most expensive restaurants in the country.” Their waiter appeared then and if he heard any part of their odd conversation, he didn’t let on. Colt ordered a sweeter wine that he thought she would like. It arrived a few minutes later along with their first course. It was a chilled cilantro pear broth. “Oh, this is cold,” Zanna said in surprise. “Is this supposed to be cold?”
“Yes, you don’t like it?” “It’s fine.” She smiled at him as she put her spoon down. “So, tell me where would you take a high-class call girl for dinner?” “Why are we having this conversation?” “Just indulge me.” “I’ve never been with a call girl, so I don’t know for sure. I might not take her to dinner at all.” “You have to! That’s just rude if you don’t.” “Okay.” He thought about it for a moment as their next course appeared. Baked goat cheese. “I think stuffed-crust pizza or maybe double cheeseburgers and milk shakes.” “That sounds amazing actually. Why wouldn’t you take a normal date there?” “I don’t think it would have ever occurred to me to do so. Men are supposed to impress women, and I don’t think greasy cheeseburgers would do that.” She poked at her baked goat cheese, which he never cared for, either. “I would eat greasy cheeseburgers with you, and pizza. In fact, if you took me for ribs, I’d be mighty impressed.” “Let’s go then.” “What?” He stood up and grabbed her hand. “Let’s go get burgers and milk shakes.” “But they already started serving us. And that wine probably costs more than I make in a week.”
“I don’t care. You want greasy cheeseburgers and ribs, we’re going to have greasy cheeseburgers and ribs.” “I didn’t mean to imply I wasn’t having a good time. You left work early so we can eat here. You were looking forward to it. We should stay.” But he knew she wasn’t having a good time. He could tell ever since he had brought her into his world that she had been feeling uncomfortable. He had worked so hard to get everything he had, but none of it was important to her. She was the only woman he had known to whom none of what he had made a damn bit of difference. “I want cheeseburgers now and I took off work early to be with you. I don’t care where we eat.” She wasn’t the type of woman who wanted to be spoiled—and that made him want to do it even more. “I think I may have a serious crush on you, sir.” She kissed his cheek. “Good. I was hoping you would.” * * * Zanna hated to admit it, but she was kind of relieved to be out of that fancy place. It was beautiful. It was the kind of place the poor little girl living in a dingy motel room in Tulsa she used to be would have dreamed of going to, but when she was there with all those forks and crystal water glasses, she was reminded that she was still that
girl who was born on a reservation and lived like a nomad for most of her life. She felt completely out of place. She felt like she was living somebody else’s life. She was missing Destiny, too. She felt like she was part of the community there. Here she was feeling kind of lost. She looked back at Colt who was waiting in line for their order while she collected straws and napkins. He looked so out of place there in his fancy suit. He had been comfortable at dinner and even though she knew he came from nothing, he seemed like he was made to be there. He had earned the right to have the finest. She was relieved to be out of there but she felt damn guilty about it, too. Almost like he deserved to be with that elegant beauty who walked up to him instead of her. “Yo, Zanna. Is that you?” She turned around at the mention of her name then wished she hadn’t. Because her heart stopped in that moment. The past she’d worked so hard to get away from had sneaked up behind her. It was Johnny, one of Bruno’s friends. When she left New York, she had left them all behind, those low-level gangsters who’d rather scam little old ladies out of money than get real jobs. “That is you!” Johnny grinned at her. “You look way different.” His eyes traveled up her body. “But good. Bruno was looking for you. What the hell happened to you?”
He didn’t know? Of course Bruno probably had too much pride to admit that she’d outsmarted him. That she’d taken the cash he had been keeping at her place and done what was right with it. She was sure he would have had all of his friends after her. She was sure that if she hadn’t moved away, he would have killed her. “I moved.” “It’s funny that I ran into you here. You on vacation? I lost a bundle at the tables. I’ve got to tell Bruno I saw you here. He’ll get a kick out of it.” “I don’t think he will.” “Zanna.” Colt wrapped his arm around her in that protective way he did whenever another man was around. “You okay, baby?” “I’m fine.” “Good.” He looked at Johnny. “Let’s go.” They got back into their chauffeured car. Zanna still felt shaky, like the rug had been pulled from beneath her. “Tell me what’s wrong.” He wrapped both of his arms around her, pulling her head down to rest on his chest. She debated telling him, but she was tired of holding it in and he knew so much about her already. “That was my ex’s friend. The ex whom I moved across the country to get away from after he slapped me around and put his hand around my throat. He’s a low-level mobster and I found out that he was scamming senior citizens in a construction scam. I believed him when he told me he worked for his uncle. But that was dumb of me because
he never worked and seemed to have his lazy ass on my couch every time I turned around.” He stiffened slightly. “Do you have LOSER MAGNET tattooed on your forehead? You’re too damn smart to be so damn stupid when it comes to men.” “I know, right?” She smiled up at him, feeling much calmer than before. “I’m with you. Is that going to come back and bite me in the ass somehow?” “I’m perfect. We both know that.” He wasn’t perfect. Nobody was, but maybe he was too good for her. Maybe he was put in her path just so she would know what it was like to be with somebody who treated her well. “Tell me why you stopped seeing that woman?” “You really want to know? She was like making love to a cold, dead fish, and she was a vegan. That’s where I draw the line. I like a woman who’s not afraid to bury her face in a greasy meat carcass.” He went quiet for a moment and kissed her forehead. “You know that as long as you’re with me I won’t let anybody hurt you.” She knew that. She just didn’t know how much longer this would last. * * * The sound of Zanna’s laughter greeted Colt when he walked in the door two nights later. He walked in a little later than usual. It was well after nine but he’d had to
make up for some of the work he’d missed while he had taken off to be with Zanna. Work that he couldn’t delegate to anyone else or put off until later. But the whole damn time he was there he was thinking about her and feeling guilty that he was at work while she was sitting here waiting for him. She was spread out on the couch, in a little pink nightie, the phone to her ear. He could hear the deep timbre of a man’s voice, which immediately made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. “Your brother just walked in, Levi. And he’s looking at me with that I’mgoing-to-rip-someone’s-face-off look. Probably thinks you’re trying to get with me. You want to talk to him? No?” She laughed again. “I’m glad you called. Goodbye.” She disconnected and set her cell phone down. “Hello, gorgeous.” She held her arms out to him, causing him to drop his briefcase and go to her. “Hello, yourself.” He climbed on top of her, resting his head on her chest. “How was your day?” “It was okay. Watched a marathon of The Golden Girls and sent your maid home so I could clean everything myself.” “You sent my maid home?” “Yes, and you’re right. Nobody scrubs a toilet like she does. I’m going to have to ask her what her secret is.” She was bored here; more than that, he could tell she wasn’t happy. She hadn’t complained once, but he knew. And if he was being honest with himself, he would admit
that he wanted her there for selfish reasons. Because he liked coming home to her at night, because he liked sleeping with her. Because she made him happy. Being here wasn’t good for her. It was only good for him. “You want to go back to Destiny, don’t you?” “What?” His question caught her off guard. He could have ignored the issue a little longer, probably gotten her to stay here for a little while longer, but she needed her own life, not to be squeezed into his. “I want to be with you, Colt.” “But you don’t want to be here, do you?” “I was thinking that I could get a job if we were planning on moving forward.” He shook his head. The thought had crossed his mind but he knew it wasn’t the answer. “You don’t belong here.” She was about to protest but words failed her. “You could come back home. You bought all that property, and Lolly’s there.” “But my business is here. My life is here and I worked too damn hard to leave that place to ever go back.” “I know.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry, but I love Destiny. It’s my home.” “I know, baby. It’s not mine anymore.” His lifted his head and kissed her lips lightly. “I’ll take you back tomorrow.”
In his gut he knew he was doing the right thing, but in his heart it felt like he would never recover.
Chapter 15 He was too good to be true, Zanna thought as she watched Colt get dressed two days later. He had taken her back home and as soon as the plane landed on the dusty airstrip she felt lighter, like she could return to being the woman she was. Head stylist of her little salon, a woman who worked for everything she had. A woman who had finally found her place in the world. But she felt heavier, too. Like she was giving up something good that she was never going to get back and it was going to leave a hole in her. He didn’t put on a full suit today, just a T-shirt and pair of jeans that he had left at the house. She thought he was going to leave after they flew in yesterday, but he stayed the night, stayed in bed with her, getting up later than usual. It was as if he didn’t want to go. Why did he have to go? “Why don’t you leave tomorrow?” She rose from bed, dressed in a ratty tank top and underwear, the same thing she’d worn the first time he barged into her bedroom. Only then she was ordering him out. Now she was asking him to stay. “I can’t. I’ve already taken off too much time.” “Damn it, Colt. You haven’t taken any time off. You take off a half day here and there. You work less than
twelve hours and you call that a vacation. That is not a vacation. Work shouldn’t be your life. You’re going to get old and die and what will you have? A business? An empire to rub in the faces of some people who don’t matter. What about you? When are you going to find some happiness?” “Why are you yelling at me?” “Because I’m sad you’re leaving, you asshole.” She punched his arm. “And I don’t want to cry again.” “You think leaving you is easy for me?” He grabbed her arms. “I want to be with you. I like my life and my job. I’ve spent years working toward this. Just like you’ve spent years finding a place to make you feel like you belong. I can’t ask you to give that up.” “You could have and I would. For you. I would have picked up my world and moved it into yours to make you happy.” “That wouldn’t have made you happy.” “But I would have tried for you. I would have put my happiness second and tried for you.” “What the hell are you even talking about?” “You didn’t try for me. You couldn’t even think of a compromise.” “Damn it, Zanna. This is not the life I want.” “Yeah.” She nodded. “I guess you didn’t want me as much as I wanted you.” “You’re being ridiculous. I tried for you. I tried harder for you than I had with anybody else. I was ready
to commit to you.” “Coming home after eight every night and leaving before seven the next day is a great way to have a relationship.” “I can’t talk to you right now. You’re not making any sense.” “Just go.” She shook her head. “I hope you find that woman who is going to easily fit into your life, because it’s going to be one long, lonely life if you don’t.” He shook his head and walked out without saying another word. She sat back on her bed, chest heaving, not sure why she had started that argument. But she was mad at him, really and truly mad at him, and she hadn’t realized how much until that moment. She wasn’t enough for him, she realized. He would always put work before her, before his family. And she needed more than that. She deserved that. For once in her life she deserved to come first in somebody’s life. She wanted children and a family of her own and stability and she couldn’t get that from him. But she’d known that going in, and maybe she wasn’t mad at him at all; maybe she was mad at herself for falling so deeply in love. Maybe she was mad that he was the love of her life but his job would be his. * * * Colt stormed into Lolly’s hospital room. She was sitting
up in bed, her hair perfectly done, her face full of makeup, looking as innocent as a newborn baby. “Who shit in your cereal this morning, son?” “Zanna. Instead of saying good-bye she picks a damn fight with me. Some stupid shit about me not trying with her. I didn’t try with her? She’s the only woman I’ve ever tried with. Hell, I want her with me every damn moment of the day. I never wanted anyone else near me before. I never told anybody else the things I’ve told her. I’ve never lost my fucking mind over a woman before and she says I’m not trying. All I did was try.” “So what’s the issue?” “She says I work too much. Of course I work too much. All I know how to do is work. I don’t do it just for me. I did it for Duke to pay him back for taking care of us when our lousy father wouldn’t. I did it for Levi to keep his ass in this country and out of a damn car wreck. I did it to prove to everybody who thought we were shit that we aren’t shit anymore.” “Yes, you did, and you did a good job. But Colt, the boys are fine. And they are fine because of you. When are you going to give yourself a break? When are you going to take time to enjoy life? I’ve never seen you happy before. I’ve known you all your life, too, and that makes me damn sad. You had a chance at it with Zanna.” “But she wanted to come back here.” “She didn’t say she wanted to come back here without you. She’s mad at you because you gave up too
easily. You said you tried with her and maybe you did, but you quit. You quit when you couldn’t easily find a solution with her. Zanna is not business. Love is not business. Why the hell do you think I called you back here?” “Because you’re dying and you wanted me to help you with the salon?” “I’m not dying, stupid. Not anytime soon at least. I’m just old and a little sick. And the salon is going to Zanna. She’s been trying to buy it from me for months but I wanted to give it to her, and I didn’t want to turn it over until I knew it would turn a profit for her. She’s a good girl who’s had a tough time and she deserves it.” “What about you? How are you going to live if you don’t sell the salon to her?” “I’ve got a couple of rich nephews that are going to buy me a beach condo. What the hell do you think?” “Anywhere you want to go, you just let me know.” “I know you’ll take care of me. But I want to know who the hell is going to take care of you, Colt.” “I don’t need anybody to take care of me.” “Don’t you? What about somebody to make you happy? Somebody to keep you on your toes? Somebody to just grow old with?” “You’re telling me you set me up, old woman?” “I set you all up and did a damn fine job of it myself.” “Your plan didn’t work. She’s pissed at me and I’m
going home alone.” “You don’t have to go, Colt. Have you ever asked yourself what you want? Not what you think you should want, but what would really make you just plain old happy.” Zanna would make him happy. Making her happy would make him happy. Maybe that’s why he’d given her up so easily. Because he knew she wanted marriage and kids and a small-town life. She wanted a partner and he wasn’t sure he could give her that. He wasn’t sure if he had it in him. * * * Zanna forced herself out of bed and out of the house after Colt left. She felt like shit. Worse than shit: She felt heartbroken. But she wasn’t sure why. She had known this was going to end, that she and Colt were never going to last, never meant to be. She had prepared herself for this split because she knew he was all wrong for her. She knew that before she fell head over freaking heels in love him. She wished she could be like those calm, classy women who could find losing a love sad and bittersweet. She couldn’t, though, and instead of sending the man she loved away with a good-bye she’d ruined their last moments together by blowing up in his face. They had ended like they had started. Explosively.
But he was good to her. Better than anyone had ever been to her before. Maybe that’s why she’d lashed out. She had been hurt before. She had run away from relationships before, but this time it was different. She said she wanted to miss him, but she lied. Missing him was going to hurt like hell. “Well, look who’s back,” Peggy said when Zanna walked into The Head Shed after driving around town for hours; she didn’t know where else to go. “For somebody who just spent a few days in Vegas with a sexy millionaire, you sure as hell don’t look happy.” “I missed you old biddies,” she said, trying to inject some lightness in her voice. “How’s business since I’ve been gone?” “Good,” Annie said, getting up from her nail station. “I did seven manicures and two full sets of acrylic nails yesterday. Made seventy bucks in tips alone. I just about passed out when I counted them up all last night.” She put her hand on Zanna’s shoulder. “But really, honey, what’s the matter with you. Didn’t you have a good time with Colt?” “I had a very nice time with him.” “She’s in love with him, you twit,” Bertie said, still in her usual spot, still knitting while her eyes were fixed on the television. “He’s in love with her, too.” “He’s in love with his job,” Zanna said, her voice conveying more emotion than she meant to. “He’s always been a hard worker.” Peggy nodded.
“Even when he was a kid and Lolly put him to work here. He always went above and beyond what he had to do. Always picked things up quickly. Always looked at us with judgment in his eyes, like he could do hair better than us.” “He probably could, if we trained him more,” Bertie harrumphed. “Especially with the way you have been doing your haircuts lately.” “You saying I’m losing my touch, old woman?” Peggy swiveled toward Bertie, her eyes hot. “Losing it? That would imply you had it in the first place.” “Oh, quit it, you two. Can’t you see that Zanna is hurting? What happened in Vegas?” Annie looked at Zanna. “I was half hoping to get an email telling us that you weren’t coming back with a picture of your hand with a huge diamond ring as an attachment. Only half hoping, because I love you like a sister, you know.” “I know,” Zanna said, giving her a small smile. “Nothing happened. Colt doesn’t want to stay in Destiny and I don’t want to leave.” “I don’t really blame him,” Peggy said. “People were downright cruel to them after his father caused the accident at the factory. Then when Duke went away Colt seemed to lose all faith in this place. That man may love you, but he probably don’t love you more than he hates his past.” Annie and Bertie nodded in agreement.
“Look on the bright side,” Annie said with a squeeze of her shoulder. “There was a guy here a little while ago looking for you. He said he was an old friend looking to reconnect.” “What?” Zanna had no old friends, no one she would ever want to reconnect with. “What was his name?” “Didn’t leave one,” Bertie said. “He’s been asking about you all around town. Tall and thick. Has a big head and one of those goomba accents.” Bertie’s eyes met hers. “Said he was going to come back to see you. Told him to buzz off and if you wanted to see him, you would have contacted him.” “Oh.” She didn’t want to alarm the girls but her stomach dropped. Her luck had run out. She’d tried to put that encounter with Johnny out of her head, thinking maybe he would have forgotten to tell Bruno he saw her. Or at the very least that Bruno wouldn’t track her here. Not to the town and the people she had come to love. “He’s just some loser from the past I don’t want to see,” she said, realizing that all eyes were on her. “I just came to check in with you all. I’ve got a bit of a headache. I think I’m going to lie down now.” She got back in her car, her mind racing. She could make it back home, grab her bag and her gun, and be out of town within the hour. She had money saved up. She could start over somewhere new. In another small town. In a new place. She arrived back at Lolly’s house and ran into her
bedroom. She could try for Alaska. She had a cousin there. She could lay low for a while. Maybe he would get tired of following her. Maybe she could start over and be a completely new person. He wouldn’t stop coming after her, though, and if he knew how much she had come to love this place and these people, he would damage them. It wasn’t above him. He could steal from the elderly. He could put his hand around a woman’s throat and choke the breath out of her. There was no telling what he could do when he was pushed. She shoved as many clothes as she could in a duffel bag along with her savings before she grabbed her shotgun and headed for her car. She needed to fill up the tank. Once she got going she didn’t want to stop until it was absolutely necessary. She threw everything in the backseat. It was then she heard the sound of a roaring engine coming down her dusty little road. A big black SUV pulled up behind her car, blocking her in. And then Bruno stepped out of his truck looking almost the same way he had when she left him. Big body, dark, slicked-back hair. She had thought he was handsome once upon a time, but he just looked like a big goon to her now. “Where you going, Z? I thought you would be happy to see me.” “Leave me alone, Bruno. I don’t want any trouble from you.”
“You should have thought about that when you stole from me.” He grabbed her by the back of her neck and brought her closer to him. His scent made her queasy, too much cologne mixed with sweat and the smell of a rotten soul. “You’re looking good, though. Still sexy. Still fuckable. I actually missed you for a while when you were gone. Nobody can do me like you could.” “Get off me, you asshole.” She struggled against him, but his grip on her neck tightened. “Easy, baby girl. Easy.” “I’m not easy and I sure as hell ain’t your baby girl.” “Still got that spark, huh? Makes my dick hard seeing it. Can’t wait to get you back in bed.” “I’m not sleeping with you.” “You’ll do what I say or you’ll end up spread across this fucking state. You stole from me. You don’t get to steal from me. Most people don’t get to steal from me and see their next birthday, but I’ll make the exception for you because we had good times.” “I’ll pay you back.” “You will. On your back and your knees and whatever else I tell you to do.” No she wouldn’t. She wouldn’t be used like that. No man would use her like that. “I’d rather you kill me. I won’t sleep with you again.” She stomped on his foot and kneed him in the groin, causing him to stumble backward and let her go.” “You bitch.” He went down on his knees, holding his
balls, but Zanna wasn’t satisfied with that. She took the palm of her hand and rammed it into his nose, feeling the satisfaction of hearing him squeal out in pain. “I’m going to kill you for that.” She reached into the back of her car and grabbed Luna out of the case, pointing the shotgun at his head. She was tired of running. Tired of hiding from him. Tired of wondering if and when he was going to catch up to her again. “I’ll blow your goddamn brains out.” “Relax. I’m not here to hurt you. I just want to talk to you.” “Bullshit. You flew all the way across the country to talk to me? Yeah. You put your hands on me once and I let you live. But not this time. You touched me so you’re in for it now.” She cocked her gun. “Nobody gets to degrade me. Nobody gets to treat me like shit ever again.” “Calm down!” Fear crossed his face, and she took pleasure in that. “I didn’t fly across the country. I was in California when Johnny called me.” He stood up very slowly, and as he did she raised the gun so it stayed pointed right between his eyes. “I hate it when a man tells a woman to calm down.” She pointed the gun at his feet. “I’m wondering how many toes I can blow off with one shot.” “I just want my money back.” “Your money!” She pointed her gun right at his
manhood. “You stole that money from senior citizens, promising and then failing to do work they never needed in the first place.” She fired one round off, missing him purposely. He screamed. “Somebody needs to teach you a lesson and I think it’s about time I did.” “I’ll leave. I won’t bother you again.” “And why should I believe you?” “Because you’re a crazy psycho bitch and I don’t want anything to do with you.” “Who you calling a bitch?” She fired again, barely missing his left foot this time. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry!” “You’re damn right, you’re sorry. You’re the sorriest piece of shit I’ve ever laid eyes on and I’m sorry I ever met you. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t blow your balls off.” Colt’s SUV pulled up behind Bruno then. Bruno actually looked relieved, but Colt looked murderous as he got out of the vehicle and slid his arm around Bruno’s throat, crushing his windpipe. “Who the fuck are you? And why are you here?” Bruno wheezed something out, unable to form words. “He’s my ex,” Zanna supplied. “Is this the piece of shit that put his hands on you?” “I just called him a piece of shit, too! We do think alike! And yes, it is.” “Didn’t anybody ever teach you not to put your hands
on a woman? That’s one thing my brothers and I cannot tolerate. That’s one thing that’ll cause you to end up dead in these parts.” He tightened his arm around Bruno’s neck. “Step away from him, Colt. I need a clear shot.” “Let me kill him. I’ve got a place where we can get rid of him and it’s less messy.” “He hit me. I’d rather do it.” “Okay.” He stepped away. Zanna lifted the gun to his head again. “Any last words?” “I just wanted my money. Okay? I wasn’t going to hurt you. You don’t have to kill me.” “She owes you money?” Colt asked. “Fifteen K. I need it now. That’s all. That’s why I’m here.” “I don’t have your money. I donated it to charity.” Colt slipped his watch off his wrist and gave it to him. “Take this and get in your car and don’t ever come near her again.” “Don’t give him your watch! He’s a low-life thief. Just let me shoot him.” “Go!” he ordered in the voice that told her he was taking no arguments. “Oh, and one more thing.” He punched Bruno in the jaw so hard his head snapped back. “If you ever come back here and mess with my girlfriend again, I’m going to tie you to a tree and let Zanna use you for target practice. You’ll look like Swiss
cheese when we get finished with you.” “Okay. Okay.” He got in his car and sped off. Colt closed the distance between them and took the gun from her hands. “Are you okay, baby?” “I’m fine,” she said, even though she wasn’t. She was dizzy was relief and high from adrenaline pumping through her veins and shocked to see him. She thought she’d never see him again. “You should have let me kill him.” “We both know you couldn’t do that. You may be spunky, but I’m not sure you’re cut out for jail.” She grabbed his arms, feeling kind of shaky, and just looked up at him. “Is he the reason why you came to Destiny?” She nodded, unable to speak, her heart was pounding so hard. “Why didn’t you tell me that someone was after you? I could have protected you. I could have stopped it before it got this far.” “This wasn’t your fight, Colt. It was mine. And I didn’t want a man saving me when I could save myself.” “You did save yourself, but I want you to be safe. Do you have any idea what it would have done to me if something happened to you? I can take a lot of shit, but I couldn’t take that.” “I’m fine.” “He could have killed you.”
“I can take care of myself.” “But you shouldn’t have to! You shouldn’t have to do everything alone.” She looked up into his eyes. There was a ferocity to his face, a look in his eyes that made her heart sore. “Why did you come back here?” “I forgot to tell you something.” “What?” “I love you.” “Oh.” Her heart pounded against her chest. She had gone a long time without anyone saying those words to her. They almost sounded foreign to her. It almost felt unreal. “Are you sure about that?” “I’ve never been so sure about anything in my life. I’m just as sure that you love me, too.” “How do you know I love you?” He tossed her gun aside and took her hand, placing it in the center of his chest. “I know it because I feel it. I haven’t been loved much in my life. I’m not an easy man. I’m not easy to love, but you love me anyway.” “I’ve always enjoyed a challenge.” “I was afraid of being with you, because when I am I don’t recognize myself. I feel different. I feel out of control. You make me do things I’ve never dreamed of doing. You drive me crazy.” “I’m sorry.” “Don’t be sorry. You make me happy. I think I thought all the money and all the success was going to
make me happy, but none of it matters. I just want to be with you and I’ve realized that I’ve got to meet you halfway.” “I’ll try to like Vegas more if you agree to work less. I—” “No.” “No?” “No. We’re not moving back to Vegas. Lolly is giving you her salon. We can’t move it there. I’ll move here. We’ll make it work here, but on one condition.” “What?” “We’re going to remodel the hell out of this house.” “Where’s Lolly going to live?” “In a brand-new beachfront condo somewhere. She’s giving me the house.” “She is?” “Yes, on the condition that I marry you.” “Marry me?” She looked up at him in shock. “But it’s so soon.” “I fell in love with you the moment you aimed your gun at my head. I knew right then there was no one else for me.” This was insane and foolish and they were all wrong for each other … and yet so right at the same time. She really didn’t have any choice in the matter. “Holy hell, I love you, Colt King.” She kissed him. “I think I will marry you.” She rested her head on his shoulder. “I’m going to be Zanna King. What a crazy name.”
“No crazier than the story we get to tell people about how we met. ‘I saw her standing across the room in nothing but a pair of leopard-printed underwear with a shotgun aimed at my head. I knew then that I had found the love of my life.’” “The love of your life, huh?” “The love of my life.” She laughed before she leaned in and kissed him. “I hope you’re ready, because this is going to be one hell of a ride.” “Don’t I know it.” He kissed her again. They both knew that in each other they’d found what they had spent a lifetime searching for.
Don’t miss Sugar Jamison’s next eBook BETTING THE BAD BOY Available February 2016 from St. Martin’s Press!
About the Author
Sugar Jamison is a Southern belle trapped in a New Yorker ’s body. With a love of big hair and high-heeled shoes, she spends her days at her very normal day job and her nights dreaming up sweet and sassy romances. Visit her on the Web at www.sugarjamison.com. Or sign up for email updates here.
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Contents Title Page Copyright Notice Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 About the Author Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author ’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
The Bad Boy CEO copyright © 2015 by Sugar Jamison. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010. www.stmartins.com Author photo © Dawn Lyn Cover design by Danielle Christopher Cover photographs: man © BlueSkyImage/Shutterstock; background © STILLFX/Shutterstock Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at (800) 221-7945, extension 5442, or by e-mail at
[email protected]. eISBN 9781466891135 First eBook Edition: November 2015