Consolation Prize (Forbidden Men #9)(14)

But then Colton’s grin floated through my head, and temptation flooded me.

I felt like a giant, indecisive Ping-Pong ball. Thinking about Colton made me feel high, floating above everything wrong between us, where life was great and his smile and laugh were helium, keeping me suspended, until bam, the Ping-Pong ball smacked into the table of reality, reminding me of every reason why grinning over him was bad. Only for, yeah, the stupid ball inside me to float right back up with memories of flirty things he said and the heated way he looked at me, the way he had gotten me to talk about my mom.

Then, crack, my thoughts once again slammed back into the hard facts.

Until Colton had sat at my table tonight, my thoughts had only been about Brandt. And then they’d become only about Colton. It didn’t seem fair to him or right of me to switch my thoughts between brothers like that.

God, I could become one of those girls, one of those stupid, fickle, indecisive bitches who ended up going after two different brothers because she couldn’t seem to decide which one she wanted. And that would be bad. That would be so incredibly bad.

I was not one of those girls.

So I needed to go.

I needed to go right freaking now before I did something emphatically stupid.

Rushing for the door, I pushed my way out of the bathroom, ready to flee down the hall in the opposite direction of the reception, but as soon as I opened the door, I saw him.

He sat on the floor with his back to the wall and his feet spread out in front of him.

His eyes were closed.

Dread clutched my throat.

“Colton?” Rushing forward, I fell to my knees by his side and clutched his arm. “What’s wrong? Are you okay? Colton, dammit, answer me!”





COLTON’S CHAPTER | 5





I came awake to the sleeve of my tux jacket trying to shake its way off my arm.

“Colton!” that cool, low yet sophisticated voice I was beginning to really dig said, except the tone was higher than usual, and sounded a little alarmed. It was still an awesome voice, though, and came from one of the sexiest women alive, a woman I decided wasn’t so bad after all.

“Colton, dammit, answer me.”

Actually, I think I liked her.

Grinning lazily over that thought, I opened my eyes slowly only to grin wider when my gaze landed on her.

There she was. Sexy as f*ck.

“Hmm?” I asked.

“Oh, thank God, you’re alive,” she breathed, sounding relieved…for half a second. Then she scowled and smacked my arm. “Thanks for scaring the shit out of me, *.”

“Ouch.” My grin fell. I rubbed my arm.

Sexy but brutal.

“Why are you sitting on the floor outside the bathroom?” she demanded. “I could find my own way back, you know.”

I glanced around, taking stock of our surroundings. I sat slumped on the corridor floor right outside the bathroom in the reception hall where my brother was having his wedding celebration. Huh. How about that? I must’ve only been out a few minutes.

Meeting Julianna’s gaze, I waved a hand. “Oh, sure. I know.” Then I reclosed my eyes. For some reason, a nap sounded divine.

But Julianna obviously wasn’t feeling the divinity of the moment. “Colton?” She shook my arm again.

I blinked my eyes open, rolled my head to look at her fully. Damn, she was as stunning as usual. But that gray dress, with the slit, and those long, lethal legs that ended in sexy-ass high heels...it was not good for my pure, innocent thoughts I was supposed to be having around her. I suddenly wanted to see her in nothing but those heels.

I frowned at them for turning my thoughts dirty. I was supposed to be helping her, not licking her calves like my stupid brain was encouraging me to do. But my mouth opened of its own accord and asked, “Why are high heels so f*cking hot on women?”

I bet she looked spectacular in nothing but them as she wound them around my waist.

“No idea.” She pressed her hand to my forehead as if testing my temperature. Her palm was cool against my heated skin. It felt good. So good. I wanted her to run those cool hands all over my body. “Baby, why are you sitting on the floor?”

Baby. Shit. I liked how she called me baby. And honey, too. She should always call me baby or honey. We should make it an edict. “I fell. This is where I landed.”

“You fell?”

I nodded. I’d fallen. Hadn’t I? Or maybe I’d sat down. Whatever. I was down here now, and it was kind of nice, so I didn’t want to leave.

I’d happily stay here on the floor, chilling, with her…in nothing but high heels.

Julianna gasped as if having a revelation. “Oh my God! You’re drunk!”

Flopping my head up and down with another sloppy nod, I slurred, “Yeah, think so. Aspen’d be pissed if she knew I was this bad off at Brandt’s wedding.”

“Who’s Aspen? Oh God, do you have a girlfriend?”

“What? No.” I tried to shake my head, but wasn’t sure if the coordination matched the command my brain gave it. “Sister. Mom,” I explained. “Noel’s wife. Bo Bo....”

“Huh?” She shook her head and sighed. “I thought you said there was only cola in your cup.”

“Yeah, about that...might’ve lied a little.” After a hiccup, I snickered. “Or a lot.”