Part 19 (1/2)
”Oh no.” Her eyes rounded with concern and she took a step away from him. ”Don't tell me Rose has moved here, too.”
”I don't know anything about your sister.” Colt reached out and took hold of her arm. ”I'm not concerned about her. I'm concerned about us. What's going on here? Why are you so threatened by this?”
Her chin came up. ”I'm not threatened.”
”Yes, you are.” Their walk had taken them to the small camping area south of Reflection Point, and Colt tugged her along toward a picnic bench beside the water. There he sat her down and said, ”Talk to me. Tell me what's going on in that gorgeous head of yours. We were good together, Sage. I missed you when I left, and every time I received an email or a text or a call from you, I got a little charge. You must have enjoyed it, too, or you wouldn't have played the game. Am I wrong about that?”
Begrudgingly she said, ”No.”
”So then, why the panic? Why the cold shoulder?”
Rather than respond to his questions, she asked one of her own. ”What do you want from me, Rafferty? Did you come here expecting to pick up where we left off? Did you think I've been pining away for you and all you'd have to do is say 'Honey, I'm home' and I'd throw myself into your arms and then drag you back into my bed?”
Well, a guy can always hope. ”No, not at all. We had a fling. It was great, but that's not what I want with you now.”
”Oh?”
Was that hope he heard in her voice? Wow. This woman was doing a number on his ego. Colt took a moment to debate his options. He could sound the retreat and regroup. That might be the most intelligent way to go about this. But in the past few weeks, he had adopted a more go-for-broke, lay-your-cards-on-the-table att.i.tude, and so far it was working for him. He saw no reason to change that now. ”No, I'm not looking for any more flings. I want a relations.h.i.+p. Long term. I'm tired of flings.”
”Define relations.h.i.+p,” she said, a bit of a wild look in her eyes.
”I'm thirty-four years old, Sage. I'm ready for a home of my own complete with all that entails-a wife, children, a yard for the dogs.”
With a horrified gasp, she said, ”You are not asking me to marry you!”
Inwardly Colt sighed. ”No. We don't know each other well enough for that yet.”
”Exactly!”
”But I want to know you that well, Sage. You are a fascinating woman and you've intrigued me from the very first. I want to know everything about you. I think I might be falling in love with you.”
”Oh, G.o.d.” She dropped Snowdrop's leash, put her elbows on her knees, and buried her face in her hands. ”This is a catastrophe.”
Colt's mouth twisted in a grim smile. This was the closest he'd come in years to saying the L-word to a woman and she called it a catastrophe. Pretty humbling moment, he had to admit.
He took a seat beside her on the bench. Snowdrop sat looking at them both, tilting her head from left to right then back to left again, wordlessly asking, What is wrong with you people?
”Careful there, Sage. You'll give me a big head from all the praise.”
”Stop it. I am not responsible for your feelings. If I was the least little part of your decision to make this move, then you should have been smart enough to talk to me about it before you jumped off and did it. You would think a man with a Ph.D. would be smarter than that.”
”Okay, then. Just for the grins, what would you have said if I told you that I thought you might be the one for me and I wanted time with you to explore the possibility?”
”I'd have told you don't waste your time. I'm not available, Colt.”
”Why? Are you married to someone else? Involved with someone else? In love with someone else?”
”No, but-”
”So there is nothing tangible standing in my way,” he interrupted.
”There's me,” she said, her tone just a shade softer. ”I can't have a relations.h.i.+p with you. I won't have a relations.h.i.+p with you.”
”I'll change your mind.”
”You are so infuriating.”
”I'm determined. It may turn out that I'm wrong, that you are not the woman I'm meant to love, to live with, to make a home and family with. But I do know that if I don't give this, give us, the old college try, I'll regret it the rest of my life. Sorry, Sage, but I'm not taking no for an answer on this one.”
”You have to. You can't force me to fall in love with you. You can't even force me to date you. This isn't Russia, Danny.”
Colt looked down at Snowdrop. ”What man can resist a woman who quotes Caddyshack during an argument?”
”Neither is it medieval England,” Sage added.
That distracted Colt for a moment as he once again pictured her as the subject of one of Edmund Blair Leighton's paintings, only this time he pictured her naked. ”Okay, you lost me on that one. How did medieval England get into this conversation?”
She waved a hand. ”I was reading a historical romance last night.”
”My mom loves those books.” Colt scooped Snowdrop up into his arms and scratched her behind her ears, then stood. ”So, are you about ready to head back? I'm getting hungry. The Trading Post had some excellent-looking steaks and Alton Davis swore by the bottle of cabernet I bought from him. It's a new-to-me label, but I told him I'd be back to hound him if he led me wrong. Besides, I can't be too late because I promised Beth Myers I'd pick up Shadow by eight o'clock.”
”Your Lab. I forgot about your dog. You left him with the Myerses?”
”Yes. Beth and her dog were out in their yard when Shadow and I walked by on our way to the store earlier. Shadow and her mutt had a great time playing together, so Beth begged her mom to let her puppysit.”
”You know what, Rafferty? I think it's time you learn what the word no really means. I'm not having dinner with you. I'm not letting you into my house. In fact, I don't think I'm going to let you hold my dog anymore.” She stood and plucked Snowdrop out of his arms. ”Go home, Colt. Wherever that is, just go.”
”You have to eat.”
”Yes, but I don't have to eat with you.”
”Tell me why you won't.”
”Won't what? Eat dinner with you? Date you? Sleep with you?”
”All of the above.”
”No. N-O. No.”
He grinned and those d.a.m.ned dimples winked. ”I'll change your mind.”
Aargh! ”Why would you even want to? I'm a mess. You know that.”
In that knee-bending, toe-curling, s.e.xy low rumble of his he said, ”I want you. I'm here and I'm staying and I'm not giving up. Hide behind your walls if you want, Princess, but I'm giving you official notice. You are under siege.”
She couldn't help but be a little secretly thrilled. ”Go away, Rafferty.”