Dare to Resist (Wedding Dare, #0.5)(5)

The soldier grinned. “Thank you, ma’am.” He pointed out the front window. “The diner over there has decent burgers and great milk shakes if y’all get hungry later.”

“Sounds good,” Colton said, hauling open the sliding door. Wind and rain blew in so hard it made Kady catch her breath. Colton jumped out, his back hunched to offer some protection to his own computer, and offered Kady a hand. See? Sometimes, he could actually be a gentleman.

“Thank you,” she called to the driver as she accepted Colton’s hand. “And thank you, too,” she said to Colton.

“Did…did I hear Kady Dresco just thank me?” he asked, humor playing around his eyes and mouth.

Kady stepped down, the force of the rain making it hard to give him a good smirk. “Yes, but now I’m regretting it,” she said just as her foot sank into a deep, cold puddle, throwing her off-balance.

She wobbled on her heels and Colton caught her with a hand on her ribs. “Okay?” he asked, dark eyes gazing down at her so intensely that for a moment she barely felt the rain on her face and shoulders.

“Yeah. Fine.” She pulled her hand free. She might find him irritating 90 percent of the time, but it was better to keep contact to a minimum, especially when he managed a bit of sweetness or charm. Because sweet and Colton equaled a lethal cocktail she’d never been able to resist.

Colton closed the door and then they dashed the short way across the lot to the entrance to the office. Kady could’ve sworn he kept a hand on the small of her back, as if he stood at the ready in case the combination of her three-inch heels and the two-inch-deep puddles made her unsteady again.

Beckstein pushed out of the door as they reached it, and of course he didn’t let them in first. What a ginormous asswipe.

Finally, they made it in out of the rain and stood dripping on the old linoleum floor of the tiny office.

“You can check in first,” Colton said, running a hand through his wet hair.

Kady’s phone rang. “Oh. Go ahead,” she said as she dug for the cell. Her assistant launched into a rundown of client calls before Kady stopped her. “Can you put all of this in an email to me? I’m stranded here overnight due to a storm, but if you send me everything I’ll return any calls I can today and all the rest tomorrow. Oh, and can you email Carson and copy me so we can reschedule the site visit I was supposed to do tomorrow?” A few more housekeeping matters kept her on the phone for another minute or two before she hung up and approached the registration desk just as Colton finished.

The man on the other side of the ancient, stained counter was quite possibly as old as the desert itself. He pushed his glasses up, then stared down his nose at her. “Welcome to paradise,” he said with a straight face.

Kady burst out laughing before she could stop herself. She slapped a hand over her mouth. “Sorry,” she said.

He blinked lazily, as if she hadn’t just made an ass of herself. “Can I help you?”

“Right. Yes. I’m Kady Dresco. I’m with the guys who just checked in.” She glanced over her shoulder toward Colton, who stood by the door shaking his head at her. “What?” she mouthed.

“Here you go, missy.” In almost slow motion, and without really taking his gaze off the small television that sat to the side, the receptionist lifted a key off a row of hooks and pushed it across the counter to her. Before long, she was all checked in and held an actual metal key on a ring in her hand. The large plastic tag read “2.”

“Are there any stores that might sell clothing nearby?” she asked.

The man squinted for a moment, then shook his head. “Not unless you want something from the tack shop, which is about five miles from here. Otherwise, nearest shopping is in Battle Mountain. Won’t get there in this weather, though.”

About what Kady expected. Oh, well. Looked like she had an appointment with a hair dryer, after all. “Okay, thanks.”

Colton held up his key chain as she crossed the room toward him. “At least you won’t be able to forget your room number,” he said with a smirk.

“Shut up,” she said. You forget your room number and try to enter someone else’s room on one family vacation—of course, one where your brother’s hot best friend tags along—and you never live it down.

“Good comeback.” He winked as he pushed the door open for her.

Kady rolled her eyes as she sidestepped past him and out into the humid June afternoon. A narrow sidewalk skirted close to the building from the office around to the long row of guest rooms. Rain fell in a sheet over the edge of the obviously overworked gutter. It was almost like walking behind a waterfall. “This is me,” Kady said at the second room.

“I’m in ten,” he said, gesturing past her. “Do you mind?”

“What? Oh,” she said. The sidewalk wasn’t wide enough for him to get around her without getting caught in the downpour. “Not afraid of a little rain, are ya?” He just looked at her. She grinned as she slipped the key into the lock and pushed open her door.

Kady froze.

It was raining. Inside her room. From about a half dozen places on the ceiling, water dripped at speeds ranging from Chinese water torture to what could only be described as a steady stream. The latter was right over the only bed in the room.

From behind her, she heard a low, male chuckle. “Not afraid of a little rain, are ya?”