Broken Fences (A TroubleMaker Novel, #1) (5 page)

She grabbed her
purse and started to head out to the living room, then stopped. Colden was
standing there in a modern, fitted suit coat
with
dark jeans and a t-shirt. He looked
clean, confident, and crisp, extra
freaking crispy. His dark brown hair was a fashionable length but a little
messy, with the lighter flyaway tips giving him a devil-may-care appearance.

“Good. I like
that dress,” Sissy said into the phone, interrupting Dusty’s mouth-agape stare,
“and can you make sure Colden’s ready!”

“Oh, he’s
ready.” Dusty smirked at the phone. “But you didn’t tell me you invited him.”
She hit her purse against her thigh and turned from the compelling creature
standing with a bitch of a grin on his handsome face. She lowered her voice. “I
thought it was just going to be you and me, a girls’ night out.”

“Yeah, sorry
about that, but after last night, Jimmy wouldn’t take no for an answer. He says
he wants to make it up to me, so I figured I’d ask Colden too. I know Jimmy
wants to hang out with his best man. Oh yeah. Now that Colden’s back for the
wedding, you’ll be walking down the aisle with him. Anyway, I figured since
he’s staying with you—and you’ll need to explain
that
to me later—you
wouldn’t mind if he came along.” Sissy stopped to take a breath. “We’ll be
there in five. Chow, baby!”

Click
.
The line went dead.

Dusty had tried
to teach her little cousin tact, but Sissy had never been one to grasp such
things. “Chow,” Dusty muttered under her breath and clicked off her cell.

She stole
another peek over at Colden, who was looking at her the way a starving man
might peruse a menu in a fine restaurant. She was tempted to just get it over
with, to walk into the kitchen, lie down on the table, and lift her dress so he
could start in on the appetizer. The image drew her hips back, and her thighs
clenched.
Hot damn!
Colden James knew how to make her pussy hurt with
nothing more than a stroke from those sexy green eyes.

* * * * *

Colden wished
he’d worn a blazer that would actually button, because he was in dire need of
some coverage. He’d been walking around with a semi-stiffy since Dusty had
exited her bedroom. She was eye-poppingly gorgeous in that dress, and there was
something about the way the thin straps of her sandals wrapped around her
willowy ankles that reminded him of her delicate fingers around his wrists
during their kitchen interlude. It was submissive, in a way, and a total
turn-on.

“Well? What do
you think?” Sissy said.

By the way her
voice filtered to his ears, Colden assumed the question was directed at him.
With a chin resting in his hand, he tilted his head and raised an eyebrow at
his soon-to-be sister-in-law. He’d always liked Sissy. She was a tad on the
needy side for him, but it seemed to amuse Jimmy, who was quite tolerant of it.

“Do you like the
place?” she probed. “Think we should have the rehearsal dinner here?” She
turned to Dusty on his left, wanting her input too.

“It’s perfect,”
Dusty promptly responded with a smile. Unlike him, who was fighting the distracting
threat of a raging hard-on.

Colden shifted
in his seat.
Yeah, like that’s gonna help!
“Foods good,” he managed to
get out.

“The steak was
great,” Jimmy said, patting his belly.

Colden glanced
over at his little brother, who now resembled a man and was about to be
married.
Where has the time gone?

Sissy turned to
Colden. “Are you sure it’s not too expensive?”

“Like I told
you, it’s my gift to you two,” he said with a smile, ignoring the hole Dusty’s
eyes were burning into him.

“You’re paying
for the rehearsal dinner?” she blurted, curiosity apparently getting the best
of her.

“Yep! Can you
believe it?” Sissy announced with a clap of the hands. “The rehearsal dinner
and the bachelor party.” She broke into another clap, then stopped and gave
Jimmy a warning look. “And you’d better behave.” She turned back to Dusty with
a smile. “Not to mention, he’s sending us to the Caribbean, to Punta Cana! I’ve
never been on an island, let alone a Caribbean one. Yay!” Then she clapped
three more quick claps.

The burning hole
grew bigger, but Colden didn’t dare look at Dusty. The one-eyed monster was
starting to crawl back under the bed, and he shifted in the chair to nudge it
along.

“That’s real
generous of you, St. James,” Dusty asserted.

“It’s the least
I can do.” He picked up his beer, tilted it in cheers to Sissy and Jimmy, and
took a sip. Besides Dusty glaring at him with that fiery stare, he had money
burning a hole in his pocket too. Working undercover for so long, he hadn’t had
time to spend it.

“The least you
can do? Why? To make up for being gone for past six years?” Dusty mumbled under
her breath.

“Cut the guy
some slack, Dusty. He woulda been here if he could have,” Jimmy said in defense
of his older brother. “He was workin’ for the government, and—”

“Hey!” Colden
cut in. “We’re not here to talk about me. We’re here to celebrate your
wedding.” He winked at Sissy, bidding her to change the subject.

“We are,” Sissy
agreed with a smile, then folded her hands together on the table, “but I think
for all of us to move on tonight, we need to address just where you’ve been.”
Her eyes slipped from Dusty to Colden, demanding an answer.

Damn it!
Colden silently cursed, angry that Sissy had just tossed him under the bus.

Dusty turned to
him and grinned.

Make that a
damn eighteen-wheeler!

“Yeah. Maybe
Jimmy would care to explain why he told me you were married and had three
kids.”

“Shame the devil
and tell the truth! You said
that
?” Sissy shot Jimmy a shocked look,
then quickly turned back to Dusty. “Why didn’t you just ask me?”

Dusty shrugged.
“I really didn’t care.”

“No?” Colden
craned his neck and leaned in toward her to detain those fuming brown eyes.
“Then why are we even talking about it?”

Thin, annoyed
eyebrows slanted inward. “Where have you been, Colden?” Dusty huffed.

“It’s no big
deal.” Jimmy sighed. “He’s a government agent. He’s been working in Atlanta,
Georgia for the ATF, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and, uh…”

“Explosives,”
Colden finished for his little brother, never once taking his focus from Dusty.

“Yeah, but don’t
be fooled by the title,” Jimmy said. “He really just sits on his butt all day,
a regular desk jockey. Right, Colden?”

He nodded rather
than spewing another verbal lie. As far as his family knew, that was exactly
what Colden had been up to, even if it couldn’t have been further from the
truth.

“Then why the
lies and secrets about where you’ve been?” Dusty challenged, the smart girl in
her, clearly not buying it.

Jimmy was again
quick to save him. “It’s a Homeland Security thing. As for the fib about the
wife and kids…well, that was my fault, something I made up. It was either that
or the Army or…hey, bro, what was the other choice?”

“Cabana boy,”
Colden responded, still not backing down from Dusty’s debatable expression.

Jimmy let out a
full-bellied laugh. “Right. Who woulda believed that? A James brother walkin’
around handing out towels.”

“Still,” Dusty
whispered, “you shouldn’t have tried to hide your desk job.” She looked away.

Colden reached
for her hand under the table, an unexpected movement that whiplashed her head
back to him. Before she could mask it, he caught the flash of hurt in her eyes.
His heart broke a little when he found that the injury he’d inflicted had
caused her small hand to ball into a fist. He placed his large palm over it and
gently squeezed. “You gotta believe me, girl. I would’ve stayed if I could
have, Dusty.”

Chapter
Five

Dusty wanted to
believe him. She wanted to know what trust looked like in the new Saint’s eyes.
She wanted to understand. The trouble was, none of it made any sense. There was
no reasonable explanation for his quick getaway six years ago. If Jimmy was
finally telling the truth, it only validated that Colden really hadn’t felt
anything for her—at least not enough to keep him from moving to Georgia to push
some papers around behind a desk for the government.

“Slow down,
girl,” Colden shouted, catching up with her on the stairs that led to the
balcony.

After dinner,
Sissy had an appointment to visit the old opera house. Beautifully restored, it
was the perfect venue for their ceremony and reception. It wasn’t a large
place, but it would comfortably fit a couple hundred people.

“I didn’t ask
you to follow me,” Dusty snapped as she walked to the balcony railing and
looked down at Sissy and Jimmy, who were speaking with the owner.

With his back to
them, Colden rested his ass easily against the railing. The jacket was gone,
and when he crossed his arms over his chest, strong biceps and tattoos teased
Dusty’s eyes. “Just admit it. You want me.” A crooked grin tugged on his lip.

Dusty glared at
him from the corner of her eye. “Okay.” She gripped the railing and swayed
back. “Yes, once I wanted you—
once
. But like I said, let’s not dwell on
the past. I’m
so
over you, St. James.”

The smug
son-of-a-bitch’s smile broadened. He shook his head. “I’m
so
not
convinced, Dusty girl,” he said with sparkling, playful eyes.

“Stop calling me
that!”

“What?” He
arched a badly behaving eyebrow. “Girl?”

“Yes!”

“Well, you are
one, aren’t you?”

“Yes, but—”

“Oh, I get it,”
he rudely interrupted. “Too generic? How ‘bout I call you, uh…my pretty girl?
Would you like that?”

In false
protest, her nose and forehead scrunched. But she could already see it. The
minute that little fawning left his sexy mouth, she’d drop to her knees, ready
to give the man whatever he wanted.

“No?” He rubbed
his chin and released a low, sexy, “Hmm.” A second later, he lifted an a-ha
finger. “Tough girl?”

Her entire face
flushed with heated anger.

He grimaced.
“Don’t like that either?” His eyes hooded. “I know what kind of girl you are.”

She snorted
.
This oughtta be good
. “Yeah? And what kind of girl am I?”

“A bad girl,” he
huskily drawled. “You want to be my bad girl, don’t you?”

“No!”
Oh God,
yes!
Who wouldn’t want to be his bad… anything?
The new and improved
St. James was hot, and her knees were already begging to hit the floor for him.
Shake it off, bad girl. Just, shake it the hell off!

“Come over
here.” An arm wrapped around her waist. “C’mon.” He dragged out the words as he
dragged her up to his side. “It’s all good. You can be my bad girl anytime,
Dusty Owens.”

When he bent his
head down, warning bells went off in her addled brain. Sissy and Jimmy could
see them from where they were standing. She veered back, her hand pressing into
his shoulder, “Colden!”

“Don’t be so
skittish.” His lips turned up, and his grip tightened. “Where’s that brazen
girl? Where’s the girl who showed up at Rusty’s Tavern with Britt Weber, the
player of all plays?”

Her eyes
widened.
Is he really going to bring up that night?

“And after a
slow, naughty bull ride performance in a very slinky white dress, I might add,
that bad girl dirty danced with the scumbag.”

He even
remembers my dress? God.

“Where’s that
brazen girl who took a huge risk, hoping I’d come to her rescue and save her
from the sleazebag?”

The night
flooded into her brain, Colden pulling her out of Britt Weber’s truck. Him
punching Britt, who was twelve years her senior, right in the face, and Colden
chasing after her and catching up with her at old man McAllister’s fence. Crazy
for him, her attempt at making Colden jealous had worked. She’d tried to keep
him hot by picking a fight, but Colden hadn’t taken the bait. Without saying a
word, he’d just walked up to her and kissed her hard, a kiss he didn’t break
until they broke McAllister’s fence—until she’d surrendered her virtue and her
heart to him.

“So? Where’s
that bad girl now?” he provoked.

Dusty shook her
head and told him the truth. “She grew up.” She knew it was immature to try to
make Colden jealous back then. He wasn’t a kid. He was a man, and he had shown
her that night just what kind of man he was, the kind she wanted to spend the
rest of her life with.

“Nah.” Sturdy
fingers pressed into her hipbone. “I think she’s still in there. She just needs
some coaxing to come out and play.” He leaned in and huskily taunted, “Come
out, come out, wherever you are! Be my bad girl and admit you wanna play.”

“In your dreams,
St. James. Why don’t you get over yourself? I’ve already told you that I don’t
feel anything for you—not anymore,” she lied, trying to save herself.

“I don’t believe
you.” His eyes wickedly twinkled with the statement.

“I don’t really
care what you believe.”

“Take your
panties off.”

As angry as he
was making her, her body had to respond to the command, and every muscle froze.
“What?”

“If they’re bone
dry,” he said, tilting to the left and dropping his voice, “I’ll believe you.”

“Colden, look
where we are, for God’s sake. You’re crazy if you think I’m gonna—”

He tilted
slightly closer, his eyes dark and daring. “Take them off.”

“I-I can’t,” she
mumbled, hypnotized by his captivating, intent look and even more stunned by
the crazy demand.

“Why?” The
corner of his mouth lifted. “Oh, right.” His smile grew bigger. “Don’t worry. I
don’t mind getting my hand a little wet.”

What?
Absolutely incorrigible!
“You’re an ass.”

“Well, if that’s
not your excuse, what is?”

“Besides the
obvious, it’s a rude a request.” She smirked at him.
Yeah, that’s right,
buddy. Two can play at this game.
“I can’t give them to you because…” She
inched closer to his tempting mouth. “I’m not wearing any.” Unable to ignore
the pleasure she got from seeing the astonishment light up his eyes, her smile
grew too.

“Damn, girl.” He
exhaled, letting out a very noticeable whistle. His hand slid slowly down her
hip, as if to confirm her claim, then roamed to her backside. “Do you know what
a statement like that can do to a guy?”

“Again, I don’t
care.”

“Well then,
let’s make you care…” Colden’s talented fingers walked her dress up the side of
her hip. Once her entire right leg was exposed, his hand slipped beneath the
material. He didn’t take his time but went straight to the apex of her legs and
cupped her with his warm palm.

Dusty!” Sissy
yelled from below just as Colden’s finger slithered between her wet folds and
passed over her clitoris.

Dusty gripped
the railing, biting back any verbal response, grateful for the high wall that
was hiding what Colden was doing to her.

Glancing over
his shoulder, Colden looked down at Sissy and smiled. Without turning away, he
quietly said, “Dusty, lift your hand.”

She followed his
orders. His thumb ran over her sensitive nub, and her knees bent a little.

“Now wave to
your cousin,” he said.

Again, like a
marionette, Dusty abided.

“Ah. Being a
good girl?” he mused as she looked over at his smiling profile. “I like that
too.” The wicked grin revealed laugh lines in the corners of his eye. He had
his hand up her dress, his fingers on her tender flesh. Arrogant or not, Colden
James was magnificent.

“Isn’t it
beautiful?” Sissy shouted up to them.

Colden turned to
Dusty, and she was glad he was holding her in all the right places, because
everything from the neck down was ready to let go.

“Now…” His
finger found the berth of her heat, and he gently probed her. “Open that sexy mouth
of yours and answer your cousin.”

She batted her
eyes, trying to let reality back in. “Yeah,” she squeaked, then cleared her
throat and looked down at Sissy. “Yes, it’s…perfect!”

Colden’s finger
slipped into her. “So very, very perfect,” he rasped. He withdrew, then slowly
dipped back in a little farther, just as Sissy turned away—just in time for
Dusty to bite down hard on her lip to stop herself from crying out in pleasure.
He pushed deeper, the thickness of his finger stretching and filling her.

Her head dropped
onto his shoulder, and his sex-filled scent entered her entire body. “Damn,
girl. You’re so tight.” He held his finger inside of her, his palm pressing
into her pubic bone. “It’s been a while, huh?”

His hot breath
bathed her naked shoulder as she watched Sissy and Jimmy walk out the front
doors without a backward glance, probably to check out the patio. She didn’t
care where they were going. She was just relieved they were leaving. She let
out a small moan, beckoning Colden’s finger to move inside of her.

“Yes, a very
long time.” She was surprised she’d found her voice as her hips relentlessly
sought the talent of his touch.

He responded by
rolling the pad of his thumb over the hood of her clitoris a few times before
sliding two thick fingers into her. From the inside out, she conformed to his
fit. Squeezing her hip, he held her firm as he withdrew, then thrust back in
with a little more force. She moved with his fingers, her body silently begging
for him never to stop.

“How long?” he
half-growled, fingers plunging deeper, rougher. “How long, Dusty?”

“Oh, God!
Colden, too long,” she hissed. She needed him, and as she gripped his strong
biceps, her nails dug into his shirt. Her hips rotated, pleading for more.

Something tugged
and pulled deep inside of her.
His finger? Is he really curling it inside of
me?
Oh my God!
She was going to die right there. He was reaching
places that had never been touched before, and the odd motion was doing crazy
things to her body. Each jolt, like jumper cables, sparked her neglected
desires back to life.

Suddenly, Colden
stopped. His talented fingers stilled. He bit her naked shoulder, and she heard
him take a noisy deep breath. “Dusty,” his tone insistent. “How long?”

She couldn’t see
his eyes, and she wasn’t sure whether he’d figured it out or if she’d again
underestimated Colden’s jealousy. She was sure of one thing. He had no right to
give a shit about who she’d been with in the past six years. The trouble was,
she hadn’t been with anyone. So, to get his magical fingers working again, she
decided to go with the truth. She propped her chin on his broad shoulder. “Six
years, Colden. It’s been six years.”

The muscles in
his shoulder rolled under her chin. He arched his back, and his dark eyes
looked down at her. His mouth was partly opened, and she wanted to kiss it.
“Are you trying to tell me…” he said, then cleared his throat. “Are you sayin’
you haven’t been with a man since me, Dusty girl?”

In need of cheat
codes, something to help her understand the play on Colden’s beautiful face,
Dusty’s feet fidgeted.
What’s that look supposed to mean?
She couldn’t
tell if he was angry, surprised, or disappointed that she was still so
inexperienced.

His fingers left
her, and he grabbed her by the arms and gave her a little shake. “Answer me!”
The edginess in his voice made his feelings clear. He was angry.

“No!” she
wailed, wanting to let him know he was hurting her.

“So there’s been
no one else?”

“No! No one
else, Colden!” She tried to shove his brutish ass away.

He grabbed her
by the wrist and started to pull her toward the stairs. Her plan to seize the
interrogation had worked, but she quickly noted her error, because she really
needed him to sedate the itch he had caused between her legs. She couldn’t
believe he was hauling her back downstairs.

A few feet
before they made it to the top step, Colden twirled her around and pushed her
back. His forearm hit the wall, trapping her in the hidden corner. Hard muscles
pressed into her as an aggressive knee nudged between her legs. With his
nostrils flaring and his chest puffing, he gazed down at her, his eyes darkened
with desire. Just as his finger had done, the powerful effects of his
expression reached right inside and gave her a tug. “I want you, Dusty. I
wanted you six years ago, and I want you right now. I’m not afraid to say it.”
He kissed her hard, and when he pulled away, her lips felt bruised, but it was
a good kind of hurt. “I’m gonna give you one more chance to admit the truth, to
admit that you want me just as badly.”

“Okay.” She
breathed and lifted her chin, looking up into his demanding eyes. “Fine!” she
huffed. “I wanted you then…and I want you right now!”

In the past six
years, Colden had seen some pretty horrible things. As the months rolled by,
he’d been privy to the devil’s handiwork. He’d encountered strung-out druggies,
heartless and ruthless criminals of every ilk, and even a few dead bodies. He’d
also seen piles of illegally purchased guns being dispensed into the streets,
weapons he’d had to leave behind. He knew in his gut that some of them were
going to be responsible for killing an innocent bystander during some drive-by,
a homeowner during a burglary-gone-bad, or a cop in the heat of a crime.

What Colden
couldn’t grasp was that during those six hellishly long years, through all the
evil he’d faced on a daily bases, one thing had remained pure and untouched,
Dusty Owens. So, when Dusty admitted that she hadn’t been with another and that
she indeed still wanted him, it took every ounce of Colden’s strength not to
give himself to her, not to sink himself into all of her untouched purity.
After so many years, he refused to take her under such rushed circumstances.
But even if he planned to deny himself Dusty Owens, he wasn’t a selfish man. He
was more than willing to alleviate the passion he drew from her imploring eyes.