Seducing the Bachelor (The Bachelor Auction Returns Book 3) (23 page)

This wasn’t LA. And it was 8:45 in the morning. Late by diner breakfast standards on a weekday, but way too early for that much skin. Talon pinched herself. She sounded like a small-town hick and a prude, but she wasn’t the only one who was staring, and why not? The woman’s thick, long, dark hair fell down to her waist, and the extreme widow’s peak framed her small, heart-shaped face and classically beautiful features. Hard to tell her age. Mid-thirties? Mid-forties? Her body-hugging, short skirt didn’t come close to mid-thigh and the flashy black and gold cowboy boots screamed “look at me”.

And everyone had when she’d strolled in.

“What do you recommend?” The woman asked in a low voice that was musical.

Talon found herself almost mesmerized by the woman’s unusual eyes. They were very light blue, almost mercury-colored, and heavily lashed, and had almost a hint of Asian shape. She had a very direct stare that seemed to size everything up in an instant. Whatever kind of attorney she was, Talon had no doubt almost everyone would wilt under her cross-examination.

Talon inwardly sighed. She felt so average next to the woman. If she’d been blessed with an eighth of this woman’s beauty and charisma, Colt would have come running back.

“Well.” Talon paused and leaned over to look at the menu, seeing it as if for the first time through the eyes of this exotic stranger, who was so slim and elegant she couldn’t eat very much to keep that figure, but maybe God had blessed her with a fantastic metabolism along with everything else she seemed to possess.

“I always like…”

“Where did you get that necklace?”

“What? Oh.” Talon straightened as if she were guilty of something.

Involuntarily, her hand crept up and covered the pendant, then she forced her hand down, resisted tucking it back into her shirt because she didn’t want to show it off and have to answer questions about it and how Colt had given her such an unusual piece but had never come back or emailed, skyped, called, or even texted.

“A…a…friend,” she said.

“Who?” The woman reached out to touch the pendant, but Talon stepped back.

“It was a gift, well…” Colt had asked her to keep it for safekeeping, not necessarily forever.

Which meant he was going to come back, her heart jumped. But maybe he’d just send for it. And his truck. Her stomach bottomed out.

“It was given to me.” she amended.

“That usually implies a gift.” The woman raised one perfectly arched eyebrow and one corner of her mouth followed suit. “It’s quite beautiful.” She looked at Talon more closely. “And unusual. Often individual art pieces like that are inscribed by the artist.”

“Oh,” Talon said, feeling more nervous now.

What if the woman accused her of stealing it or accused Colt of stealing it as a child although she couldn’t even imagine that. She didn’t know where he’d gotten it. He’d said it was a piece of his past. That he’d had it since he was a child. What if he’d found it or…

Her mind refused to go there. The past was the past, and it needed to stay there.

“Is it inscribed? Signed by the artist?”

Talon felt like she was hearing the woman from a long way away. What if it was hers somehow? What if she demanded it back? How would Talon prove that it was Colt’s? That he’d given it to her as a goodbye present?

“There’s no inscription.” She lied. “I love it. He gave it to me a while ago. I recommend the…”

“Who gave it to you, a boyfriend? What was his name? Does he live locally?”

“He grew up here but is away now,” Talon said coolly.

She wanted to ask some questions of her own, but this woman oozed wealth and sophistication. She said she was an attorney. Talon had no doubt if this necklace and the woman were connected somehow, she would come out on the losing end. But what if this woman knew Colt? He hadn’t told her much about his trip to the attorney, but she knew he had more questions than answers. Indecision clawed at her.

“Where did he get it? Did he say?”

“No.”

“Pawn shop? In Marietta? When?”

Talon huffed out a breath and held her order form in front of her like a shield. “It was a gift from my boyfriend. I didn’t grill him about where he got it, but he’d never steal anything. Never.” She drew herself up to her full five-ten, taller, if she put her hair up in a messy bun, but no, it was down in her youthful ponytail, darn it. “He’s a soldier who’s serving our country.”

“A soldier?” The woman repeated the word in astonishment.

“Are you going to order or not?”

The woman seemed flustered now. Her hand went to her neck and touched the silver engraved discs, turquoise stones, and some other kind of stone before she pushed the menu away. She dug out her purse and pulled out a ten.

“Thanks for the coffee. Sorry for bothering you.”

She stood up and Talon felt bad to see that the woman’s hand shook as she ran her slim fingers through her thick hair. Head high, her eyes bored through the fused glass on the pendant, and then she woman strode out of the diner and just as they had when she’d entered, all eyes followed her progress.

“What was that about?” Deanna, one of the other servers, demanded.

Talon tucked her necklace back inside the neck of her western-style shirt.

“No idea. Changed her mind, I guess.”

“Never thought I’d see her back in town again.” Gene Roberts, one of Talon’s regulars, commented darkly and indicated he wanted more coffee.

Talon poured. “You know her?”

Gene snorted. “Always know trouble when it walks through the door,” he said.

Talon could believe the beautiful stranger had caused her fair share of problems over the years. Probably a lot of bar fights if she were the type to frequent bars, but that didn’t seem very likely now. Surely, the problems she caused now were of the more professional variety although the woman still oozed sex appeal.

“Trouble on two legs,” Gene said, shaking his head. “Haven’t laid eyes on her in over thirty years but if she’s back, things are going to change and not for the good.”

Talon felt a chill of foreboding, but then she shook it off. Gene was an old-timer and loved to tell stories, and flaunted his flair for the melodramatic with pride. Marietta was a wonderful town. Nothing other than a bar fight could happen here.

“What’s her name?” she asked curiously, wondering if somehow she could be related to Colt. A cousin, maybe?

“Samara Wilder. But most folks called her Whim since she was a bitty thing and because she was so impulsive, but when she hit her teens she just became Wilder.” He shook his head.

As the week wore on, Talon was exhausted. The diner had been so busy she’d been picking up extra shifts. The town was becoming more of a tourist destination for all seasons, and the rodeo was a huge celebration.

She’d promised Parker they would go tonight to see some of the cowboys and animals arriving, especially the bulls, which fascinated him. She’d started picking up more morning shifts, so she could do more with Parker after his sports practices, and he wouldn’t have to hang out at the diner while she worked. Since she hadn’t accepted the placement in the Washington State vet program that Noah had bullied her into applying for, she wouldn’t need to keep her days open for study since she’d finished her BS degree online. Noah was disappointed in her. He felt like she was giving up too easily and that three years was a small price to pay for the rest of her career, which he assured her could happen in Marietta. She couldn’t explain to him how she felt unable to move forward. Leave Marietta. Leave Colt’s house. Start all over once again.

She had just taken a tray of food over to a group of cowboys, who’d been flirting with her shamelessly, when she looked up and out through the window. Across the street a gorgeous, shiny blue truck had pulled up to the curb.

“Now that’s a ride,” one of the cowboys said and whistled in appreciation.

“Bit flashy for me,” another said. “A bit girlie. I’m all about big black trucks and big black motorbikes and big black stallions.”

“More like black and blue ass the way you got tossed by Diablo last week.”

Everyone at the table laughed except Talon because the truck’s door swung open and Colt stepped out like a blockbuster movie star, well-worn jeans, combat boots, V-neck, long sleeve, blue tee pushed up to his elbows and leather jacket dangling by a finger. He looked better than anything Talon had ever seen and her empty tray clattered to the floor as she ran out the door, and across the street to fling herself into his arms.

“You came back.” She buried her face against his broad should and held him as tightly as she could. “You came back. You came back. You’re really here.” She burst into tears.

His hands smoothed down her body.

“I guess that answers my first question that you’re glad to see me.” His voice was low and amused in her ear. “But the tears are beyond my skill set.”

She linked her arms around his neck and cried harder. “I can’t believe it,” she said. “It’s not yet six months, but you’re here. You’re really here. I missed you. I missed you so much.” She speared her fingers in his shorn hair, making a face because the little length he’d had was gone.

He laughed. “It’ll grow. Uh, Talon, breathing would be good.”

“Sorry.” She managed to peel herself off him a little bit so that she could gaze into his face.

He looked the same mostly. Tanner. Thinner. And so wonderful she could hardly believe he was real. That he was here. That he was hers. Her hands explored his body, making sure he was in one piece even though he looked fantastic.

His thumb stroked across her lower lip, which parted, and she sucked his thumb into her mouth. Her eyes shone and she held eye contact as her tongue played with the pad of his thumb.

He groaned. “Two minutes in town, and I’m going to be arrested for lewd conduct.”

She stepped back into his body and sighed.

“I wanted you to come back so much,” she whispered. “I missed you. I thought about you every day. I prayed that you were safe and happy and totally focused on your mission.”

His hands settled on her waist “That was the dumb ass in me talking,” he said. “The minute I walked out of the house that morning, determined to clear my head and complete my six months, all I could think about was walking back in.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t know if I could, Talon. Stay in one place. Be the man you think I am. Be a partner. Build a life with you. I have no idea how to do those things.”

“You just have to commit to try,” she said tearily.

He held her tightly, squeezing out her breath, and she felt his body tremble.

“I’m going to do more than try, Talon, but I’m going to make mistakes. Shut you out sometimes.”

“I don’t care,” she whispered. “I just want you. I’ll make mistakes, too, but it doesn’t matter because they will be our mistakes, and I forgive you in advance.”

He smoothed the tears off her cheeks with his thumbs. And then he kissed her even though they were on Main Street with traffic and half the diner staring at them.

Talon stood on tiptoes to deepen the kiss and press more tightly against him and lost herself in his mouth.

He leaned his forehead against hers, his breathing ragged.

“I had pictured this with me being more civilized and romantic and not mauling you in public,” he said ruefully. “And I was too nervous to stop for flowers.”

She sighed, hands smoothing over his arms, his shoulders, his back. “It’s perfect.” She breathed. “You are so perfect.”

“Hold on to that thought when I fuck up,” he said. “And go all silent and moody, and build my walls.”

She just gazed up at him, stars in her eyes; hardly able to formulate a thought other than he was back and in her arms. She didn’t even know if he was back to stay or only on a weekend leave. He’d said six months minimum away, but that didn’t matter now. He’d come back to her. He’d come back home.

“So you’re happy to see me answers my first question. And now for the second. What do you think of the truck?”

“Hmmmm.” She was too preoccupied with brushing her palms against his shorn head and down his body. “The truck looks great with you against it, but the cowboys in there think it’s too girlie.”

“I hope so because I got it for you.”

“What? Why?”

“The blue reminded me of your eyes.”

She looked at him doubtfully. “That’s crazy.”

“Maybe. You’re right. Your eyes are much more beautiful.”

“Colt,” she said breathlessly.

“You can’t drive to Bozeman for school every day in your Subaru. It won’t last through September.”

“Oh.” Her face fell. “I’m not going.”

“Why?”

“I just…” She twisted her fingers together.

He covered her hand. “You’re going to school. I busted ass to get back here before the term started, but we can talk about it later,” he said. “Today.”

There were so many questions to ask, but she could see most of the staff peering at them through the window. Even Gene had gotten off his usual barstool and was staring at them.

Colt looked at back at them. “I hate an audience.”

“I love them.”

“Should we give them something to look at?”

Talon flushed. “Maybe not.” She clung to his hand, not willing to let him go. “Want something to eat?”

“Yes.” His golden gaze was positively wicked and burned up and down her body.

“I should be off in another hour or so.”

“I waited this long. I can wait another hour.”

She swallowed hard. “You’re here,” she whispered. “You’re really here.”

He opened the door of the diner for her, but they didn’t even get through the door before Deanna was waving her away. “Get out of here. Gina and I can handle this.”

“But…” Talon began.

“Just go. You can return the favor some other day.”

They turned around and, once outside, Colt handed her the truck’s keys.

“Can I catch a lift?”

She looked down at the keys. “Colt, it’s too expensive of a gift.”

“You’re my girl, right.”

She liked the sound of that.

“And I have it on good authority that real men don’t drive blue trucks.”