are so beautiful—” he uttered a wistful sigh “—more beautiful than the stars themselves...”
She smiled. Her prince was definitely charming. Not that he was hers...except maybe for this night. A night she intended to make the most of—while it lasted.
They danced until the band stopped for a break. Then Blake, his arm still around her, began to steer her toward the rooftop bar.
But Juliette saw who the bartender was, a young man she’d turned down for a date several times. If he recognized her and—given how he always stared at her—he probably would, she knew he would blow her cover and destroy her evening. So she dug in her heels and propelled them to a stop.
“Don’t you want a drink after all that dancing?” Blake asked.
“Uh, yes...” Despite the cool autumn air blowing around the roof top, she was hot and flushed, but that was more from his closeness than from the dancing. “But not here...”
Blake glanced down at her. “Then where?”
She knew what he would think, but she didn’t care. She didn’t want her ball to end at midnight. She was greedier than Cinderella. She wanted longer than a few hours and more than a few dances. She wanted Blake. “Your room.”
He stared into her eyes, and as he did, his pupils dilated, swallowing the green. Then, his arm around her, he led her back to the elevators. But a line had already formed for them. So he pushed open the door to the stairs. “It’s just one flight down,” he assured her.
But when her heel slipped on one of the steps, he swung her up in his arms. “We can’t have you breaking an ankle,” he murmured.
“I can take off the shoes,” she offered. She didn’t want to break an ankle, either, because when this evening was over, she would have to go back to her real life and her two jobs and mountain of bills.
“I have you,” he assured her.
A wistful sigh slipped through her lips. She wished he had her, but he didn’t even know her. If he did, he wouldn’t be carrying her; he would be asking her for extra towels. But she wasn’t going to worry about that now. She was just going to enjoy being treated like a princess. So she linked her arms around his neck and snuggled against him, brushing her lips over his throat.
His pulse leaped beneath her mouth, and he tensed. “Now I might slip,” he murmured. But he was already on the landing, pushing open the door with his shoulder. A few strides down the hall and he stopped outside a door. “You’ll need to take the key card from my pocket,” he said, and his voice sounded strange, strangled.
She smiled and slid one hand over his ass.
He nearly jumped and cleared his throat. “Not that pocket. Inside jacket pocket.”
So she moved her hand between them, pushing aside his jacket to run her fingers down his dress shirt and over the rippling muscles beneath the silk.
“You need to find that key,” he said through gritted teeth, “quickly.”
“Why?”
He showed her why—with his mouth. He lowered his head and brushed his lips across hers before deepening the kiss.
Passion coursed through Juliette, and she kissed him back with all the desire she felt for him. Her hands moved through his short, spiky dark gold hair as she held his head to hers.
His arms tightened around her, and he shuddered slightly. Lifting his mouth from hers, he panted for breath and murmured, “The key card...”
She fumbled inside his jacket until she found it. When she pulled it out, the card nearly slipped from her fingers. Blake caught it and swiped it through the lock. Then he pushed open the door and carried her over the threshold.
The significance of the gesture must have sobered him a little because he set her on her feet and closed the door. And as he did, he ran his hand through the hair she’d tousled. “I—I got carried away,” he murmured, his face flushed.
“Uh, technically I was the one who got carried away,” she said. “Or carried down...the stairs.”
His sexy mouth curved into a grin. But the humor didn’t entirely reach his green eyes; he still looked troubled. Maybe he’d changed his mind about bringing her to his room. He left her standing by the door as he headed to the bar on the other side of the large suite.
“Don’t worry,” she assured him. “I know you carrying me over the threshold doesn’t make me your bride.”
He shuddered at the thought.
She’d been so hot earlier—in his arms, with his mouth on hers. But now she was chilled.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s just that I want nothing to do with marriage. My dad has had more than his share of marriages and I don’t think any of them made him happy.” His mouth pulled down into a frown now. “Actually I don’t think anything makes him happy...except maybe his company and his money...”
“I’m sure that you do,” she said. “That he loves you very much...” He had to be so proud of Blake; she’d heard that instead of going to work for Colton Energy with his oldest sister, Blake had launched his own successful start-up company straight out of business school.
He snorted. “You don’t know my father,” he said. “He doesn’t love anyone but himself.”
She’d heard that Fenwick Colton was one selfish son of a bitch. But how could he not love his own child?
She’d been feeling sorry for herself until now—until realizing that even though she’d lost her parents, at least she’d had no doubt that she had made them happy and that they had loved her.
His jaw was tense, a muscle ticking in his cheek. “I’m not going to make the mistakes he has. No marriage for me. No kids. Then nobody will feel like they don’t matter as much as business does to me—because that is all that’s going to ever matter to me.”
He was warning her, but it wasn’t a warning that she needed. She had no intention of getting married or having kids, either. She was taking criminal justice courses at community college because she wanted to be a cop, specifically a K9 cop. Her other job was helping out at the Red Ridge canine training center, and she loved working with the dogs.
“Maybe I’m more like my dad than I realized,” he murmured. Along with Blake’s words, she heard the pain and resentment in his voice. And she felt his pain, as well.
She stepped away from the door, crossing the room to where he stood by the bar with the wall of windows behind him, looking down on Red Ridge. Like she’d always thought he would look down on her.
But Blake Colton wasn’t the spoiled, privileged prince she’d thought he would be. He was vulnerable and charming and incredibly handsome. He sighed and blew out a ragged breath. “I’m so sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t be thinking about anything but how lucky I am.”
She’d always thought he’d been born with a silver spoon in his mouth. But while he didn’t have to worry about money, he had more emotional concerns.
He
