Operation: Endeavor (When The Mission Ends) (12 page)

When he came in, he could hear her muffled sobs. There was enough light coming through the window so he could see she was alone. She must be having a nightmare and the torment in her sobs tore his heart in two. He rushed to her bedside and whispered her name, but she was still asleep. He lowered his body down beside her and drew her into his arms. She immediately quieted, although she didn’t wake up. She simply snuggled into his chest and sighed lightly, ruffling the hair on his chest. He felt that movement all the way down to his cock.

Damn, he was naked. Hearing her in distress, he hadn’t even thought about the need for pants. He’d lay here until she settled back into deep sleep and then he’d head back to his room.

He lowered his nose to her hair and inhaled her sweet honeysuckle scent. He groaned internally. It was going to be a long night, but despite the aching in his groin, he planned to savor each moment of what he could steal of it.

She felt so right in his arms, but he couldn’t do anything about that. She’d made it clear that she wasn’t interested in a relationship. There was no way he would open himself up to another relationship where they both weren’t on the same page. He’d done that with Dianna and it had been a disaster. Besides right now, he needed to take care of Chris and make sure he healed. His priority had to be his family.

* * *

Penelope awoke with her face pressed into a very sculpted, very sexy, very hard chest. And speaking of hard, something caught her eye. She glanced down his body and the tingles immediately erupted and coiled towards her core. How had Colton ended up naked in her bed? She took mental inventory of her own body. She still had a mild headache, but that was from her fall, not drinking heavily. She didn’t feel other signs of anything untoward happening between them, so why couldn’t she remember how he got there?

His muscles tightened and she quickly diverted her gaze from his ever-growing cock up to his face which appeared to be glowing red. Who knew Colton could blush?

His voice was gravelly with sleep. “Sorry about that.” He waved the hand that wasn’t draped around her down toward his groin.

She grinned at him, enjoying the fact he was uncomfortable. “No problem. It’s just something that happens naturally right? You’re just a healthy guy.” She glanced back down, and cocked an eyebrow at him as she murmured. “Very healthy indeed.”

He closed his eyes in a silent grimace while he continued to hold her. He opened them and a barrage of conflicting emotions flashed through. A shiver of awareness skated down her spine. Colton was naked in her bed and God, he looked sexy in the morning. His eyes darkened with arousal and she felt more than a little dazed by it. “Why are you in my bed?” she whispered, not wanting to break the spell.

“You had a nightmare.” He spoke and his voice was just as hushed as hers.

Her nipples hardened where she was draped across his side and she wanted to rub herself up against him. She had to get him out of here before she did something really foolish. She cleared her throat as she looked down at his muscular chest. “Well I guess this definitely clears up the matter as to whether you’re tattooed or not.”

His chuckle was low and sexy and made her want to do really sinful things to his body. “Oh I don’t know about that. From your vantage point right now, you can only see half of me.” Her eyes darted back up to his face where he was once again blushing. Was he actually flirting?

“Is that an invitation?”

He closed his eyes and groaned low and deep. Intriguing. His arms tightened around her as he took a deep breath. She couldn’t resist another glance down. Jeebers, Colton was absolutely huge everywhere.

He grasped her chin and lifted her face so she had to look at him. He looked into her eyes for a moment and she thought she saw a flash of regret. “As much as I would like to explore your fascination, I think we both know that would be a mistake.” He swallowed hard.

A knot settled low in her belly as his rejection slammed through her body. She jerked back and quickly slid out of bed. “Um, of course, you’re right.” He was right, so why did she feel like curling up on the floor and crying? She had to get out of here. She waved her hand at him as she moved toward the door, her mortification complete. “I’ll just go into the kitchen while you find some clothes.”

“Penelope,” he called after her, but she ignored him and fled down the hallway.

* * *

Colton closed his eyes. Damn, he hadn’t missed the flash of hurt in her eyes. He looked down in disgust at his still straining dick. He’d wanted nothing more than to spend the morning sinking into her luscious body, but they both knew that couldn’t work. They were too different. She wanted someone fun, who knew how to have a good time. That person wasn’t him. He had more baggage right now than Penelope deserved. Even on a good day, he would hardly qualify as someone to have a good time with. And right now, there weren’t too many good days to be found. She needed better. He just had to keep reminding his body and mind of that.

Penelope looked around the coffee table at her two best friends, Julie and Cassie, in disbelief. “I can’t believe Colton managed to convince you both to take the afternoon off just so you could come over here and keep me from going into work.”

Cassie smirked at her. “I warned you about Colt’s protective streak didn’t I?”

Penelope sighed and rolled her eyes. “You did, and you were right. The man needs to take a chill pill. I swear.”

“I think it’s sweet. Besides it’s been ages since we’ve had a girls’ day,” Julie said as she dipped another strawberry into the chocolate fondue.

Rather than arguing with Colton after the embarrassing debacle in her bedroom this morning, she’d let him think he’d won about her not going to work. She knew he had a meeting today with his friend from Homeland Security. She’d planned to simply wait and go to work when he left for his meeting. He’d obviously seen through her plan though because fifteen minutes before he left, Julie and Cassie had shown up at her door.

They’d brought strawberries, chocolates, assorted cheeses, breads, and several bottles of wine with them. Since she was off the painkillers, they decided they needed to celebrate. At least that was the official story. The truth of why they were really there was no secret. They were Colton’s diversionary tactic to keep her from going to work while he was out. If she hadn’t been so happy to see them, she would have been mad. But throughout the morning things had been beyond awkward between her and Colton. She could use her girlfriends right now.

Penelope frowned as she thought about the changes in their lives over the last few months. “Well, since you two went off and decided to fall in love, I’ve become a fifth wheel.”

Julie looked at her thoughtfully. “That’s not true. You know we never think of you that way. We love it when you come out with us.”

“I know, but it’s just kind of awkward with all this young love around.” She gestured toward Cassie. “This one will have her fiancé here with her permanently in just another week.” She turned back toward Julie with a grin. “And you… how are things going with Dr. Hottie?”

Julie grinned and then blushed and ducked her head. “Aaron’s wonderful. He asked me to move in with him,” she whispered.

“What?” both Cassie and Penelope screamed.

“When did this happen?”

“What did you say?”

“I haven’t given him my answer yet.” Julie’s big brown eyes filled with tears.

Cassie reached over and grabbed hold of her hand. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know,” Julie wailed mournfully. “What’s wrong with me? He’s wonderful, but it just seems too soon. We’ve only been dating three months. Doesn’t that seem too soon?” She gave them both a desperate look. Out of the three, Julie was the cautious one.

Penelope looked at Cassie. Cassie was the one with the long-lasting relationship experience here. It definitely wasn’t Penelope. She wasn’t fit to give anyone relationship advice.

Cassie took the hint and took the lead in the discussion. “Hon, if it doesn’t feel like it’s time, then it’s absolutely not. You’re both still young and you’re right, you haven’t been dating all that long. There’s no reason to rush things.”

Julie whispered, “But what if I lose him when I tell him no? He’s such a nice guy. I owe him better than this.”

Owe. That seemed like a strange phrase to use. Penelope frowned at Julie, wondering if there was more going on here than either she or Cassie realized.

“Hey,” Cassie hugged her, “if he loves you,” she drew away and looked Julie right in the eye, “and from what I’ve seen, he definitely does, he’ll be willing to wait. He’s a good guy. Don’t let your doubts push you apart.”

Julie dashed the tears from her eyes. “You’re right. God, what a drama queen, right? Everything will work out if it’s meant to be. I just don’t want to hurt him.”

Penelope could chime in on this one. “
Chica
, you don’t even know what drama queen means and you couldn’t hurt a fly if you wanted to. You’re worth the wait and I know Aaron knows that too. Don’t sell him short. He’s a doctor. He has the brains to realize what a catch you are. Actually, he obviously already has if he wants you to move in. He’ll wait.”

Julie looked at them both. “I love you guys and I’ve missed you.” She drained her glass and then tipped it toward Penelope. “Fill me back up. This is our girls’ party and we’re not allowed to get all schmaltzy. Besides,” she tipped her refilled glass back toward Penelope, “we need to hear about your sex life now.”

Penelope panicked as she thought about Colton in her bed this morning. She looked at his sister Cassie. But they couldn’t know about that, right? Besides nothing happened except one great big old rejection that still stung. She tried to laugh it off, “My sex life? I must have missed it because I haven’t noticed it hanging around lately.”

“But you’re bringing someone to my party tomorrow night, right?” Julie looked at her quizzically.

“Yes, but that’s just Damon.”

“Just?” Cassie asked. “Isn’t he the archeologist from National Explorer? What’s wrong with him? Is he a typical archeology type?” Cassie scrunched up her face in distaste, which was humorous considering she held her doctorate in history, which wasn’t much better.

Penelope sighed. “Actually he’s perfect.” She took another sip of her wine. “He’s gorgeous. He’s fun. He’s sexy. God, you should see his tattoos, not that I’ve even seen all of them, but I’ve seen glimpses and they are scrumptious….”

“But…” Cassie led.

“But there’s no chemistry. None. Nada.” She shuddered and took another deep drink of her wine and got a far-off look in her eye. “It’s nothing like what I feel with…” She stopped talking suddenly, looking over at the girls and flushed red. She ducked her eyes and took another drink of wine. “Never mind. There’s just no chemistry, but he’s a great guy and a lot of fun to be with, so we’re just friends.”

Cassie looked at her searchingly. “You were about to say something else.”

Penelope just shook her head in denial. “Nope that’s all there is. Damon and I are friends. Just friends. And I’m not involved with anyone else, so what else could there be?” Penelope clamped her lips shut realizing that she was rambling.

Cassie and Julie exchanged a look before they turned back to her as one. It was Julie who spoke up first though. “So how are things working with you and Colton living together?”

The sweat started to gather at the center of the small of her back. “Good.” God, was that her voice sounding so high and squeaky? She rolled her eyes so maybe they’d believe her exasperation with Colt. “He’s just really over-protective right now after I got hurt, but other than that, we’re simply roommates living in the same apartment.”

She looked between her two best friends, not sure she’d convinced them. They looked a bit dubious. But probably the first thing she should do to convince them is to convince herself. She wasn’t quite there yet either.

Colton met with his friend, Bart Matthews, in the local Homeland Security office. The meeting had gone well and Colton felt pumped about where Mad Rob was headed. It was time to bring Chris on board. He’d swung by Cassie’s on his way home and convinced Chris to come over to the loft. By bringing him here, they could discuss the business and get Chris out of Cassie’s house for a few hours. Something he wasn’t doing enough. Besides Colton wanted to check on Penelope.

By the time they arrived at the loft, none of the three girls were feeling any pain. Both Cassie and Julie were on the living room floor seated around the coffee table, while Penelope was on the couch. All three of them were laughing uncontrollably about something. Colton bit back a smile as he observed them. They were so caught up in their conversation, they hadn’t even seen the two of them walk into the apartment.

Penelope was sprawled on the couch, one leg on and one leg off. She had her right arm raised above her head as she giggled which caused her shirt to raise high on her midriff. Her ab muscles contracted as she laughed and the sight made several muscles contract in his body. He groaned inwardly. He had to get over this lust he had for her.

He must have made some sort of noise, because Penelope suddenly sat up and grinned at him goofily. She waved her hand holding a half-empty glass of wine at him. “Hey it’s Colton and Chris. Look girls. Here’s our resident stud right now and he brought his equally sexy brother.”