The Colton Bodyguard

They ended together, with her crying with her own climax as he groaned and finished, as well.

When it was over, he held himself above her with his weight on his elbows. His eyes gleamed with the satisfaction of his possession. “I knew you’d be the perfect lover for me,” he whispered.

“And I knew this was a huge mistake.”

He frowned and rolled to the side of her. “Why was this a mistake? It was just as I imagined it would be...beyond wonderful. We fit together so well.”

She sat up and grabbed the sheet to hide her breasts. She couldn’t tell him it was a mistake that she wanted to repeat again and again, but that was the truth.

She’d never felt so wonderfully out of control as she had when he’d made love to her. She’d never known the intensity of the electric sensations he’d pulled from her. He’d tapped into a part of her that she hadn’t even known existed.

“I’m not in the habit of falling into bed with men I don’t love,” she finally replied. She certainly wasn’t in the habit of falling into bed with men who didn’t love her. “I’m not a one-night-stand kind of woman.”

“I’m hoping this isn’t a one-night kind of thing,” he replied.

His words shocked her almost as much as her uncharacteristic actions so far this night. “What exactly did you have in mind?”

He reached up and gently shoved a strand of her hair away from her face. “I was hoping that you’d meet my horse in the morning and agree to work with her. It’s too long of a drive for you to come back and forth from Tulsa every day, so I figured you’d move in here, where you’ll be available to work whenever you want to. And if you’re staying here, why not sleep in my bed each night?”

“Did you manipulate things so that this would all happen?” She gazed at him searchingly. “Did you decide to alibi me knowing that Mark would break off our engagement, that I’d come here to speak to you and that I’d wind up in your bed?”

He laughed, a deep low rumble that she found ridiculously pleasant. “You’re giving me far too much credit as a super mastermind.” He sobered and his eyes took on that glow that created a new heat to flow through her.

“I waited five days before coming forward with that alibi. I had assumed Mark would do something to help you. When he didn’t, I stepped forward. I knew there would be repercussions to my actions, but I certainly didn’t anticipate you’d wind up here in my bed. But if I’m perfectly honest with you, it’s what I wanted. It’s what I’ve wanted for a very long time.”

“You never gave a hint that you were interested in me before.”

“I told you that I would have never interfered in your relationship with Mark if I truly believed the two of you really belonged together. But it was obvious when Mark didn’t even bother to visit you in jail that you deserved better than my brother. Marrying him would have been the biggest mistake of your life.”

Greta felt as if her head were about to explode. The night had been a surprise on so many levels. She scooted toward the edge of the bed.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“I’m going back to the guest room, where I probably should have stayed.”

“There’s no reason you can’t finish the night out here,” he countered.

“I don’t want to make this into anything but what it was, an impulsive sexual encounter with a man I barely know. I won’t wake up in your bed, because that makes what we just did into something different.” She frowned, knowing he probably didn’t understand, but it didn’t matter. “I’ll just tell you good-night.”

She slid out of the bed and found the T-shirt on the floor. She pulled it on over her head and then left his room and went back to the guest room next door.

She went directly to the bathroom, turned on the light and stared at her reflection in the mirror. What on earth had she just done? What had she been thinking?

As if her life weren’t complicated enough already, she’d just had mind-blowing sex with Tyler Stanton. And he’d made it clear that he didn’t intend for it to be a one-night thing.

What did he really want from her? He certainly couldn’t be in love with her. He didn’t know her well enough. And she certainly didn’t know him well enough to be in love with him. Until tonight she hadn’t even been sure if she liked him at all. He’d certainly never given her any indication that he liked her.

She turned off the light and left the bathroom and got into bed, her mind still whirling with questions. To her surprise, she fell asleep almost immediately.

The scent of freshly brewed coffee and frying bacon awoke her the next morning. She was shocked to realize it was after eight, later than she normally slept. She’d expected Tyler to show her the horse and be on the road by this time. He had an important job to get to.

Maybe it was the cook fixing breakfast and Tyler had already left for work, she thought as she dressed in the clothes she had worn the night before.

He’d probably arranged for a ranch hand to show her the horse and then he’d call her later in the day to see if she was interested in working with the wild filly.

Once dressed and with her teeth brushed and hair combed, she followed her nose down the hallway and through the great room to find a large, airy kitchen and Tyler standing with his back to her in front of the stove.

Tight jeans cupped his taut butt and clung to his long legs. He also wore a blue flannel shirt and was barefoot. She’d never seen him so casually dressed and so relaxed. It was definitely a good look on him.

“Good morning,” she said.

He whirled around and smiled at her. “Back at you. Coffee is in the carafe—help yourself—and bacon and eggs will be ready in just a few minutes.”

“What can I do to help?” She walked to the counter with the coffee machine and an awaiting cup.

“Nothing. Just have a seat at the table and relax.”

She poured her coffee and carried it to the round glass-topped kitchen table. “Don’t you have household help?” she asked, realizing for the first time that she’d seen no staff since she’d arrived the night before.

“I have the house cleaned once every two weeks by a team that comes in and I have a laundry service that picks up dirty clothes each week, but other than that I don’t keep anyone full-time except two ranch hands. I spend so many hours at work that it seemed silly to me to have cooks or maids just hanging around all day with nothing to do.”

“Speaking of work, shouldn’t you be there now?” she asked.

He forked bacon out of the skillet and onto an awaiting platter covered with a paper towel. “I took the day off. How do you like your eggs?”

“However you make them,” she replied. “You have a reputation as a workaholic. Do you often take days off?”

“I can’t remember the last time I didn’t go into work. But the company can run fine without me. I have a great general manager, and if any problems arise, somebody will call me.” He cracked several eggs into a bowl, added a dollop of milk and began to whisk the concoction.

“Mark never had any problems taking time off,” she said. “And he’s vice president of the company.”

“It’s a title, not a life calling, for Mark. Mark likes to think of himself as a trust-fund baby. Unfortunately, there was very little trust fund other than the family business. Mark shot through his cash in the first two years after my parents’ deaths.”

He paused to pour the eggs into the skillet. “Mark has always preferred play over work.” There was no censure in his voice. It was just a statement of fact that Greta knew to be true.

Greta sipped her coffee and wondered now how she’d ever thought she could find happiness with Mark. She’d suspected from the very beginning of their relationship that he was cheating on her. She knew he didn’t possess much of a work ethic. They’d had very little in common and had never really talked about what their future together would look like.

But he had been so charming and attentive when they were together, and he’d always managed to sweep away her suspicions about him and other women. Tyler was right. Marrying Mark would have been a terrible mistake.

Greta shunned the limelight and Mark craved it. She loved her work as a horse trainer and he’d been bored by it. Despite their engagement and wedding plans, Mark’s interest in her had begun to wane the minute he’d found out she wasn’t a blood Colton but rather adopted. A recent fact that had been revealed that she was still trying to come to terms with herself.

“Here we go.” Tyler set a plate in front of her and then took a seat next to her at the table with his own plate in front of him.

“Thank you, but you really didn’t have to cook me breakfast. You could have just shown me the horse and I’d have been on my way.”

He grinned, his blue eyes sparkling in amusement. “But then I wouldn’t have the pleasure of your company while I ate breakfast.”

“Do you cook breakfast for all the women you sleep with?” she asked, and a faint warmth filled her cheeks.