One Perfect Night (4 page)

But hadn’t she known for far longer than she’d wanted to admit to herself that Rob wasn’t going to be her forever? And hadn’t she simply stayed with him out of the fear of being alone? Yes, it had hurt when she’d caught him cheating, but how much of it had been her heart that hurt...and how much of it had been the fact that he’d stung her pride with his callous behavior?

Suddenly, she wished she could rewind to that day on the slopes. She wished she could have been brave enough to accept more than an offer to learn to ski from a sinfully gorgeous man, whose strong and steady heartbeat she could still feel against her cheek in her dreams.

"Why didn’t I get his number, at least?"

Mia carefully tucked the tissue-wrapped French lingerie into her purse. "You should call Rafe. I’ll bet he could help you find the guy."

Colbie started laughing, then stopped when she realized her friend was serious. "You really think I should hire a private investigator to find a guy I spent a few hours with in Lake Tahoe?"

"Look," Mia said, looking as serious as she ever got, "I heard all that stuff you said about not wanting to be distracted by a guy right now, but you and I both know that your store is going to do really well whether or not you’re dating someone. I think the real reason you blew off what sounded like a super-hot, super-great guy was because your ex made you lose faith in all men, rather than just him." Mia’s expression turned fierce. "Rob didn’t deserve you while you were dating, and he sure as heck doesn’t deserve to ruin your next relationship, too."

Mia pulled her cell phone out of her purse, scrolled through the numbers in her contacts, and put it to her ear. Before Colbie could tackle her friend and make her drop the phone, she was saying, "Hey, Rafe, Colbie needs to talk to you about something really important."

She had no choice but to take the phone Mia shoved into her hand. "Hi, Rafe."

"Colbie, it’s been too long." She knew he was grinning, just from the sound of his voice. "How are things?"

Every one of Mia’s brothers was good-looking and charming, but she’d always felt the most comfortable with Rafe. Which was a good thing, considering the very embarrassing favor Mia wanted her to ask of him.

"Mia’s helping me get my new store ready to open tomorrow morning."

Okay, she told herself as she answered his questions about the store, even if Rafe
did
find Noah, it didn’t mean she had to marry him. She could just ask him on a date and then, depending on how that went, they could see if it made sense to go on another one. Really, there was no need to be so nervous about seeing him again. It wasn’t like he was going to declare his undying love to her, or anything.

Besides, given that Mia would never let her hear the end of it if she didn’t bite the bullet—she knew her friend was only trying to look out for her, even if her methods were a bit unorthodox—Colbie took a breath and barreled ahead.

"The thing is, Rafe, I was wondering if you could help me find someone."

* * *

An hour later…

Mia was surprised to find her brother waiting in her real estate office when she got back from helping Colbie a short while later. Not, of course, that any of the Sullivan Realty staff minded keeping Rafe entertained in her absence. Fortunately, her brother knew she’d kill him if he so much as looked at any of her employees the wrong way. As far as she was concerned every woman in Seattle was fair game except for the six women who worked for her.

"I’m glad you’re here," she told him when he finally extricated himself from her staff and closed her office door behind him. She handed him a color printout she’d been saving for him. "I found the perfect summer cabin for you."

"I don’t need a summer cabin," he told her, but when he looked at the picture of the cabin and started reading, she smiled and sat back in her chair to watch him. As kids, their parents used to rent a cabin on a lake in the Cascades every summer. All of them had a good time swimming and fishing and hiking, but Rafe had loved it more than any of them.

Sure, Mia thought, Rafe might not
need
a summer cabin, but it didn’t mean his life wouldn’t be better for owning it. He tucked the paper into his pocket before sitting on her leather couch.

"I’ve got a funny story to tell you," he said. "You remember that guy I went to college with? The one you were all drooly over when you were in high school and you came to visit us one weekend? He works with the Maverick Group now."

Mia thought about it for a second before snapping her fingers. "How could I possibly forget Noah?" She heaved a sigh of remembered appreciation. "Tall. Dark. Gorgeous." She shook her head. "I’ve always thought it was too bad he wasn’t into fifteen-year-old girls."

"I would have killed him," Rafe growled, before telling her, "He hired me to find a girl he met a week ago in Lake Tahoe."

Mia’s eyes grew big. "No way.
He’s
the guy Colbie bailed on at the top of the mountain?"

Rafe grinned. "And now she’s hired me to find him, too. About time I had a couple of easy cases like this."

Mia grinned back, the wicked spark in her eyes matching her brother’s perfectly. "Tomorrow’s Valentine’s Day, you know."

He raised an eyebrow. "And?"

"How about instead of just calling them with the info, we have a little fun with this? Because I think I’ve got the perfect plan...."

Chapter Five

February 14, Valentine’s Day

At 7:15 p.m., a full hour and fifteen minutes after her store should already have closed, Colbie rang up a beautiful pair of handmade earrings for an extremely relieved looking man.

When she waved goodbye and finally locked the door behind him, she sagged against the glass. Her feet were killing her and she was miles beyond exhausted, but she couldn’t stop smiling.

Because it had been the best day of Colbie’s life.

Her girlfriends had been the first ones inside the store, and she’d been touched by how sweet it was for them all to drop by. Even her old co-workers from came by to see what
Indulgence
was all about. More than one of them had bought a gift for his girlfriend or wife. Just that alone would have been enough to make it a great first day. But her friends had gone one step further and told
their
friends about her store. And, of course, Mia had spent half the day on Twitter and Facebook letting everyone on the planet know about the new store they simply
had
to check out.

She’d barely had a chance to think about Noah all day. Or to wonder if Rafe had made any progress in finding him. Or to daydream about how right it had felt when his arms were around her and she was—

Colbie had to laugh at herself as she grabbed her purse and shut off the lights. Mia was waiting for her at the swanky new cocktail bar down the street to celebrate, so instead of cleaning up now, she’d come back early the next morning to restock.

Stepping out the back door of her store into the damp, cold Seattle night, she took a deep breath. She loved the Pacific Northwest, and even when a steady stream of cloudy days had her praying for slivers of blue sky, she couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.

There were red and pink hearts plastered to every store front in honor of Valentine’s Day. Last year she’d spent it with Rob at an overpriced restaurant with food that had been far too rich for her taste. Of course, her ex had loved it because it was the hottest place in town. If only she’d had the confidence then that she had now, she would never have wasted her time with him.

Quitting her job had been a risk. Opening up the store had been a risk. Both of those had paid off in spades. Asking Rafe to find Noah was a risk too, but if things kept going this well, Colbie was starting to feel pretty good about her odds....

* * *

Noah Bryant loosened his tie and settled into one of the chairs in the cocktail lounge to wait for Rafe. Surprised when he’d texted about meeting up tonight, Noah hadn’t been able to reach his friend all day to find out what was up, but hoping it was good news about Colbie, he’d immediately agreed.

Noah’d had a busy week at the Maverick Group’s Seattle office, with a big deal he’d been working on for months finally closing. Still, he couldn’t shake his discontent. Because he couldn’t stop thinking about Colbie...and wondering if he was ever going to see her again.

If it turned out that Rafe hadn’t found Colbie yet, Noah was finally going to do what he should have done a week ago: he was going to call every goddamned number in Lake Tahoe, no matter how long it took to find her. And then he was going to do a hell of a lot better job of convincing her to give him a chance than he’d done last week.

So many things about her had resonated with him in those first few minutes they’d spent together. The jolt of pure physical attraction. The fact that she was his exact ideal of what a woman should look and feel and smell like. And, most of all, that Colbie was the kind of person who tried to help a little child she thought was in trouble, even when helping someone else meant she was going to get herself into more trouble. She was the kind of woman who went tumbling down a mountain in a stranger’s arms and was far more concerned about making sure she hadn’t hurt him than she was for her own bruises.

Noah’s parents were in a good, loving relationship. Baggage and commitment issues weren’t the reason he hadn’t yet married and started a family. He simply hadn’t found the right woman yet.

But in only a handful of minutes in Lake Tahoe, hadn’t he known that he was looking at a woman he could fall in love with? Hadn’t his soul recognized his mate…even as his intellect had tried to get him to look at things rationally?

His phone buzzed with an incoming text. He saw Rafe’s name and figured he was just checking in about being late. But that wasn’t what the message said.

I found her.

Hallelujah! Noah wanted to cheer and pump his fist in the air.

Where is she?

Rafe’s answer came a beat later.

In the bar.

Noah blinked at the words once, twice, three times before believing them. At which point he stood up so fast he knocked his drink over. But he didn’t stop to right it, not when he was too busy scanning every face in the room to care about the beer dripping onto his shoes.

And then he saw her. She was standing at the bar with a friend. A friend who was pointing straight at him.

My God,
he thought,
just as he had on the mountaintop in Lake Tahoe,
she really is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.

And so damn sweet, from the inside out, that it made his chest hurt just looking at her.

Noah wasn’t the kind of guy who had a bunch of checkboxes he was trying to fill. Ideas came when it was their time, business flowed when it was meant to be, and he’d always known a wife and a family would come, too, when they should.

Now.
He wanted her
now.

He moved swiftly through the crowd toward her and she stood and stared at him as if she couldn’t believe her eyes. "Noah?"

Just seeing and hearing his name on those gorgeous lips had him instantly as aroused as he had ever been. But it wasn’t just his body responding to her. This time he was all in, heart and soul.

He’d learned his lesson in Lake Tahoe, knew how bad it had been to lose her once.

He wouldn’t lose her again.

"Colbie." Her name was a caress on his lips as he smiled down at her beautifully expressive face. "I’ve been thinking about you all week. And now—" He couldn’t stop himself from touching her, from brushing his knuckles across the soft skin of her lightly flushed cheek. "—here you are. My very own wish come true."

"I’ve thought about you, too." She looked away for a moment as though she was embarrassed. "More than I should have."

They were standing in the middle of a crowded bar on one of the busiest nights of the year, but all he saw was Colbie, and all he heard were her quickening breaths as the crowd jostled them into each other’s arms.

Until her friend said, "It’s nice to see you again, Noah."

He was hard pressed to pull his gaze away from Colbie, but when he did, he finally recognized her friend. "Mia Sullivan?"

"I’m glad you remember," Mia said with a grin. "I’m not fifteen anymore, but you’re clearly taken, so I’ll catch up with both of you later. Oh, and Rafe says to tell both of you this one is on the house." Her eyes sparkled with mischief. "Have fun, you two." A moment later, she’d disappeared into the crowd and he was alone again with Colbie.

"You know Rafe?" she asked.

"He was my roommate in college," Noah explained. "And you—"

"—practically grew up in the Sullivan house."

"I asked him to look for you," he told her.

"So did I," she admitted.

He shook his head. "I don’t understand. Why did you leave me in Lake Tahoe without any way to find you?"

She looked uncertain for a long moment. Finally, she admitted, "I was scared." She bit her lip. "Of all the things you were making me feel, even though we’d just met."

He could tell how big a deal it was for her to admit that to him, and it pleased him to know that she was trying to trust him. At least, a little bit.

"Tell me, Colbie. Tell me what I made you feel."

"The same things you’re making me feel right now," she said in a soft voice that he had to lean closer to hear. Her scent wrapped around him again, drew him in even further. He wanted to breathe her in everywhere, wanted to know what her skin tasted like in all those same places. "Like my heart is going to beat out of my chest just because you’re here."

He knew she was being honest with him, but at the same time, he could tell she was still cautious. Still nervous about being with him. He wanted not only to know all of her secret desires, her secret pleasures…he wanted to know the secret to her heart.