Dare to Resist (a Wedding Dare novella) (Entangled Brazen) (2 page)

“It’s wet,” she said as the rain-chilled wool settled on her shoulders.

“Not as wet as you,” he murmured.

She gaped up at him and…yup. His blazing eyes and ticking jaw told her he was fully aware of the double entendre of his words—and that those words had the power to heat her cheeks—and other places. Kady bit down on the snarky response that flew to the tip of her tongue:
Wouldn’t you like to know?
Colton had always given good banter, but why the hell was he pulling out the innuendo when he’d been the one to back off and decide the two of them together was a bad idea? She tugged the jacket closed. It was so big, it easily crossed over her chest in overlapping layers. “Happy?”

“Ecstatic,” he deadpanned, lips pressed tight and eyes narrowed. As the van got under way, he glanced forward, allowing her to drink in his profile. The rain had turned his hair nearly black and she had to fist her hands against the urge to catch the droplets of water running down his jaw with her fingers. Or her tongue.

They hit an alignment-destroying rut in the road and Kady threw out her arms to steady herself on a surprised cry. One hand grasped the back of the seat in front of her, brushing Colton’s forearm in the process.

His gaze cut back to her and his eyes narrowed at the gap in the front of the suit jacket her position had created. “Better hold on tight, cupcake.”

“Oh, don’t worry,
Colt
, I will,” she said, returning his annoying term of endearment with the nickname she knew he found equally grating. His gaze was almost a physical caress on her face and breasts, but Kady refused to meet it because she didn’t want him to see that his words had affected her again. But in truth, the stupid little term of endearment curled anger into her belly because it took her right back to the night three years before when the competitiveness and tension between them had flashed red hot and led to the single most intense sexual experience of her life. And they hadn’t even had sex. Not because she hadn’t wanted to, but because Colton had developed second thoughts and declared the whole thing a mistake.

The wheels caught in another pothole that tossed Kady in her seat.

Their hookup had happened at the party welcoming Colton home from the military. Before that night, she’d only seen him now and then when he’d come home on leave and hung out with her brother. But that night, from the moment she’d seen Colton out on the back deck leaning against the railing, beer in hand and absolutely glorious smile on his suntanned face, he’d totally stolen her breath. During his two tours in the army, he’d gone from a gorgeous boy to an incredibly hot man who had the filled-out, muscular body, survival skills, and wartime experiences to justify the arrogance that had always been part of his personality. Her friend Regan, who had a knack for summing people up in just three words, didn’t refer to Colton as a loyal, driven badass for nothing.

Kady could certainly agree with the “ass” part anyway.

“
Well, damn. Is that really you, cupcake
?” Those were the first words he’d said to her that night. The nickname had been cute for about five minutes when she’d been, like, thirteen, and afterward he’d continued to call her that simply because he knew it annoyed her.

And though she’d teased right back that eight years in the military apparently hadn’t changed him at all, it hadn’t taken her long to realize that wasn’t actually the case. Because all night, Colton had
looked
at her differently. Like, for the first time in their lives, he actually saw
her
, and not just Tyler’s little sister. Her. Kady. The twenty-three-year-old woman.

After hours of circling each other and subtle glances that had turned more brazen the later it had gotten, he’d walked into the pool house after she’d changed into her bikini and stared at her like a starving man at a feast.
“Problem
?” she’d asked. And his answer to the question had been to close them in one of the dressing rooms, kiss her senseless, and make her scream his name not once but twice, first with his thick fingers and then with his mouth. God, between his dirty talk and rough handling he’d had her so out of her mind she’d freaking begged for him to fuck her. In that moment, nothing else had mattered but him burying himself as deep inside her as he could go.

Then her brother—who had the gift of perhaps the worst timing in the history of man—had come looking for Colton, and the sound of Tyler’s voice had totally thrown Colton out of the moment and sent him flailing back from her like she was a snake that might strike him down.

What was worse was that, in college, Regan and Kady’s sorority sister Christine had predicted that outcome—both how incendiary Kady and Colton would be if they ever gave in to the chemistry brewing between them
and
the fact that he’d pull a duck and cover. Which was exactly what he’d done. But had Kady listened? Nope. She’d led with her body instead of her brain and gotten her heart stomped on for her trouble.

Ugh, whatever
.

Thunder crashed above them, pulling Kady out of the memory. She wished she could make out some detail of the passing scenery through the rain-blurred windows because she really didn’t need to dwell on how he’d commanded her body that night, nor on the humiliating words he’d said afterward. Not with the man himself sitting two feet in front of her.

Besides, young girl crush aside, it wasn’t like she had
feelings
for him or anything. Despite the fact that he was the only man who’d ever been able to get her off. She could take care of herself just fine, but other men? Kady didn’t know if Colton had ruined her or held the only key to her lock, but either way, it didn’t matter. She could
never
get there no matter how hard she—or her lovers—tried. At this rate, it might be a wise financial investment to buy stock in Duracell.

Kady’s cheeks caught on absolute fire at the thought.
Sitting. In. Front. Of. You. Dresco.
Right. No more thinking about orgasms or lack thereof in the presence of the infuriating sex god. Got it.

Needing a distraction, Kady pulled out her iPhone and thumbed open her email. She needed to let Christine know she wouldn’t be home today so she wouldn’t worry, but the little loading icon spun and spun but never actually produced any new emails. She tried her social media accounts and found more of the same. With a sigh, she dropped the phone back into her purse.

As the rain drummed on the van’s metal roof, Kady imagined the gorgeous weather she’d no doubt be enjoying back home in southern San Fran. Her firm, Resnick Security Services, was headquartered in California’s Silicon Valley. She loved living near the Pacific Ocean, visiting the wineries, and going out with Christine and their girlfriends to all the amazing restaurants in the city, but she still missed the mountains of Boulder where she’d grown up and her family still lived.

Finally, another series of harsh bounces had them turning into the lot of the Desert Paradise Motel. Through the windows, she could just make out the long one-story, cinder-block building with doors facing the parking lot. At one end sat a small office, and beyond that a bright-orange roof covered what appeared to be a diner. Seemed to her the ratio between
desert
and
paradise
at the place was just a bit off.

The soldier brought the van to a stop and turned around in the driver’s seat. “The travel office booked you reservations here, so you’ll need to give them a credit card for incidentals, but the rooms are covered with late checkout. Assuming the roads reopen, we have you booked on the same evening flights tomorrow. Those are the first available. So, if Mother Nature cooperates, I’ll be here at fifteen hundred to take you to the airport.”

Colton nodded. “Roger that.”

“This place is the best you can do?” Beckstein asked, a sneer on his little round face.

The soldier didn’t take the bait and instead smiled. Kady wanted to give him a high five. “Yes, sir. Before the base, Panther Canyon was little more than a crossroads. This is the only motel in town until the new Best Western is finished.”

Beckstein released a long-suffering sigh. “Whole day lost,” he grumbled as he scrambled out of the van and into the rain.

Kady scooted to the edge of her seat and slipped her purse and laptop case under her arm where Colton’s coat would help keep them dry. “Sorry about him,” she called. “It’s not your fault it’s raining.”

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?”

Chapter Two

Colton Brooks couldn’t hold back laughing as Kady’s expression shifted from surprised to downright horrified. Really, he appreciated just about any reason to throw her off-kilter. Teasing and one-upmanship had always been their style, especially as her innate coding and hacking abilities emerged during her teenage years while he was six years older and busting his ass to master what came to her naturally. And since her older brother, Tyler, had been one of his best friend since…forever, Colton and Kady had been thrown together enough over the years to fuel the flames of their rivalry.

Fortunately, nowadays, that rivalry served the strategically important purpose of distracting Colton from what he’d otherwise be thinking about, especially now that Kady was all grown up—which was stripping her down and claiming her in every way a man could claim a woman.

Despite the fact that the very sexy real thing was standing an arm’s length away, a three-year-old image flashed into his mind’s eye. Kady’s face up close in the dimness of the pool house. Mouth open and eyes pleading as he boxed her up against the wall, restrained her hands above her head, and got her off with his fingers while his cock strained against her belly.

The memory was a sucker punch to the gut and shot blood southward.

Cut it out, Brooks.

Hot as that night had been and as often as it ran through the solitude of his thoughts, it had been a mistake then. And it remained one now. For a whole fucking host of reasons.

So, since he couldn’t give in to what he really wanted from Kady Dresco, he picked on her and snarked at her and generally gave her grief. And she gave it right back. None of it was ever mean-spirited and he suspected she enjoyed it every bit as much as he did. Sometimes he thought they were engaged in one long round of mental foreplay. Except they could never—
would
never—seal the deal.

Because Kady deserved a helluva lot better than him.

Colton stepped into the room right behind Kady and surveyed the water damage, which was much safer than admiring the way she looked in his jacket. No way he should like that as much as he did—or that he should take even an iota of satisfaction from the idea that his scent was now all over her. He cleared his throat. “You don’t even have to get out of bed to take a shower. Really, it’s such a time saver.”

The fiery green of her gaze cut to his face. “You are so funny, I can hardly breathe for the laughter,” she said with a completely straight face.

“Ooh, touchy,” he said, fighting back the smile that threatened.

She held out her key. “You like it so much, I’m happy to trade.”

He shook his head and let the smile loose. “Not a chance, Dresco.”

Kady rolled her eyes. “Uh-huh. Out of my way, then,” she said, pushing against his stomach and stepping past him.

He fisted his hands to restrain himself from acting on the urge to trap her against him, his fingers pressing into her soft skin. And right there was part of the problem where they were concerned—his sexual interests veered to the rough side. Definitely not the kind of thing you did to a nice girl six years your junior who you’d known when she wore pigtails and who was one of your best friends’ little sister. And even if Colton could get past all that, he couldn’t see Kady putting up with being manhandled and controlled in bed for even one minute.

“Sonofabitch,” he muttered beneath his breath as he forced his body under control and followed Kady back around the sidewalk to the office. She glanced over her shoulder, a question clear in those beautiful eyes. He hiked his computer case higher on his shoulder and pretended not to notice.

Inside, Kady marched up to the desk and laid her key on the counter. “Excuse me?”

“Welcome to paradise,” the old man said. Kady didn’t laugh this time, though she did make an
Oh my God, would you get a load of this guy?
face over her shoulder at him. “Oh, you again, missy?” Colton smiled to himself as he imagined her reaction if he called her “missy.”

“Yes, sir. It’s raining in my room. I need another.”

The man cupped his hand to his ear. “Eh?”

“It’s raining in my current room,” she said slower and louder. “Can I please get a different room?”

For a long moment, the old dude just stared at her. No discernible reaction. “Oh, that’s right,” he finally said with a slow nod. “Two has a leak.”

Colton coughed to hide his laugh and covered his mouth with his fist.

“Um, with all due respect, sir. It’s
raining
in room two. As in, actual rain. In the room. On the furniture. On the carpet. On the bed.” She offered a hand motion that was apparently meant to illustrate the point.

The man stared at her hand like it might reveal the meaning of life and then shrugged when it didn’t. “I just work the desk, but I’ll let ’em know.”

Kady looked back at Colton with a totally bewildered expression on her face. He gave her a wink.

“Uh, okay,” she said as she tucked her long, wavy black hair behind her ears. It was longer than when he’d last seen her at Christmas, which made it even sexier. His hand twitched at the memory of how soft and thick her hair was, not to mention the thought of how damn good it would feel fisted in his hand while he—

“So, have any rooms without a leak?” she asked.

“O’ course,” the man said, glancing at the television. “Except we don’t have any vacancies.”

She settled her purse and laptop bag on the counter. “You mean—”

“Booked,” the guy said, pointing at a long row of empty hooks on the wall above him. Colton hadn’t realized the significance of that emptiness when he’d checked in because it hadn’t mattered then. He glanced out the door and saw the blurred shapes and colors of cars parked here and there along the front of the building. And then he recalled the private who drove them here saying this motel represented the only accommodations in town. His stomach began the long, slow crawl into his shoes.

“There must be something you can do,” she said, the first real hint of being upset slipping into her voice.

“Wish there was,” he said.

Kady’s fists curled around the straps to her bags and she looked down as if collecting herself. “Okay,” she whispered, her shoulders rising and falling as if she’d taken a deep breath. “Thanks, anyway,” she said as she glanced up again. Grabbing her things, she slowly walked across the office. “Well…”

An idea came to mind, and as revolting as it was, it was miles better than the alternative. “Uh, sir?” Colton asked, approaching the counter. “Can you tell me what room my friend is in? Albert Beckstein?”

“Seven,” the man said, not looking away from the television.

Good to know security was rock-solid here. But at least they didn’t have to go knocking. “Come on,” he said to Kady as he hit the door.

“Wait. You’re gonna—”

“Bunk with Beckstein. Only reasonable solution,” he said, glad that the narrow sidewalk forced them to walk single file. That way he couldn’t see whatever expression she might be wearing right now. Because anything in the neighborhood of disappointment or disagreement might do very bad things to his self-control. And anything that resembled happiness would just make him pissed off. Not a fair reaction, since he’d been the one to shut them down—hard. But there it was all the same.

Toward the far end of the building, she came to a stop in front of the door marked number seven and turned to him.

Ah, motherfucker. Her expression was part confused, part concerned, and the frown shaping those pretty red lips looked a helluva lot like disappointment to him.

Not letting his brain churn on what her reaction might mean, Colton knocked on the door. Being locked in a room with Albert freaking Beckstein would be a lot less painful than sharing the same space with the star of his darkest fantasies while not being able to touch her. That was for damn sure.

No answer. Colton knocked again.

Kady stepped closer. “Colton, we can just—”

Fist, meet door. This time the knock was more of a bang.

The door swung open. “What?” Beckstein said.

“I, uh…” Colton’s words trailed off as he noticed three things in quick succession. Beckstein’s pants were not fully secured. A bottle of what Colton guessed was lotion or something similar lay on the floor behind the guy. And a box of tissues and his open laptop lay near where pillows were propped against the headboard on the rumpled bed.

Holy mother of fucking hell.

Colton’s stomach churned. It was one thing to jack off. It was another thing to jack off and not secure your shit before you opened a goddamned door. That was like, Puberty 101. Or Being a Guy 101. Or Basic Fucking Common Sense 101.

“I’m busy. What do you want?” Beckstein said, zipping himself.

Kady gripped Colton’s arm. “Nothing. We, uh, just wanted to tell you the diner over there is supposed to have good food,” she said as a sense of doom closed in over Colton.

Colton shook his head, rejecting what she was trying to do—namely, rescue him—even as he appreciated the gesture. But damnit, he’d faced down jumping out of airplanes and deadly insurgents and IEDs and living in a hot, sandy hell for months on end. He could damn well handle one disgusting, grating, but otherwise harmless computer nerd for a night.

Right. So get your ass in there before Kady convinces him—and more importantly you—that you didn’t come here for anything more than a restaurant recommendation.

Beckstein huffed. “Diner. Good. Yeah, yeah, got it.” His beady-eyed gaze bounced between the pair of them for another moment, and then he stepped back and closed the door in their faces.

And Colton was immediately saved from torture and damned to hell.

…

“I think I just threw up in my mouth,” Kady said, still kinda stunned. She tugged the lapels of Colton’s coat tighter around her, as if it could shield her from what’d just happened. Who the hell answered the door when they were in the middle of masturbating? And, if you had to answer the door, who didn’t hide every last scrap of evidence of said masturbation first??? Albert freaking Beckstein. That’s who. “Am I crazy, or did we just…was he just—”

“Yeah.” Colton scrubbed a hand over his face. “Never speak of this again.”

Kady chuckled and leaned her head against the thick bulge of Colton’s arm, making her realize she still had a death grip on his biceps from when she’d been trying to warn him away. Since touching him when she now had to share a room with him probably wasn’t the best idea, she let him go and stepped back. A flock of butterflies whipped through her belly. “Well, you dodged a bullet, Brooks,” she said, acting like she wasn’t nervous and excited and really freaking nervous. “Looks like you’re stuck with me.” She peered up at him from beneath her lashes…and tried not to get her feelings hurt that he didn’t look particularly happy about that fact. But, damn, if he thought rooming with her was worse than rooming with Beckstein, that didn’t say much about his opinion of her, did it?

A memory sucked her three years back in time.

After Tyler left the pool house, Colton retrieved his shirt from the floor of the dressing room and refused to meet her gaze. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. You were just…there, and it’s been a long time.”

Humiliation heated Kady’s face. God. If Tyler hadn’t walked in, she would’ve had sex with Colton—and
this
was what he thought of her? “What? Like, I was just any warm body?” she said, embarrassment shivering over her nakedness as his words battered against the affection she’d always felt for him, even when he made her crazy. “Like this wasn’t about me and you? Wow. And I thought you’d actually seen me tonight.”

Anger darkened his expression. “Of course I see you. I’ve always seen you.”

“No, you haven’t,” she said, crossing her arms over her breasts. It would take too long to fix the ties on her bikini top, and she didn’t feel like swimming anymore now anyway. Or staying at this party for a second longer. “You’ve always seen Tyler’s sister.”

He threw out his hands. “Well, you
are
Tyler’s little sister. What the hell do you want from me?”

“Not a thing.” Kady scooped up her top and paused, her hand on the dressing room door. “But think about what you
just
said, Brooks. You have no idea who I am.”

“Yeah? Well, you don’t know me, either.”

“Clearly,” she said, and then she slipped out the door.

“You okay?” Colton asked, expression serious.

Kady blinked out of the memory and shook off the phantom pain of the exchange. That was old news and she’d gotten over it, and they’d seen each other enough times since that night that awkwardness no longer lingered. “Yep,” she said, giving him a smile. “Ready to go see what lurks behind door number three?”

Colton tapped the plastic key chain against his hand. “Guess we better before the moaning starts.”

Chuckling, Kady turned and dashed toward Colton’s room—
their
room, now. “God forbid,” she called over her shoulder. “Bad enough I’ll have the image in my head. I don’t need the soundtrack. Hurry up.”

Colton walked toward her slowly, and though she was cold and wet and freaking out just a little, she couldn’t deny the way his almost calculated approach made her belly flip-flop. Tall, dark, beautiful, brooding… But not for her. Didn’t hurt to look though, did it? Her gaze dragged over the lean muscles of his body. Nope, didn’t hurt at all.

He jingled the key, then slipped it in the lock. “Here goes nothing.” The door swung open and he flicked at the light switch just inside.

“Oh,” Kady said. “Looks like third time’s a charm.” In the positive column was the fact that it was a rain-and-masturbator-free room. In the negative column was the fact that there was just one bed. As in, one. For both of them. She stepped inside, dropped her bags onto the little round table in front of the window, and slipped out of Colton’s coat.

The door clicked shut behind her and Colton settled his bag on the floor beside a chair. He lingered by the door for a long moment, hands on his hips as his gaze surveyed the typical motel accommodations. Did this room feel small or did Colton just seem to take up a lot of it? He took off his shoes, then turned on a few lamps, peeked into the bathroom, and generally checked things out.