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39. Ridley

39

RIDLEY

The water hit me with a shock of cold, the kind of freezing that stole all the air from your lungs. I burst to the surface with a stream of curses, only to be greeted by Colt’s smirking face.

“That water is pure snowmelt this time of year.”

I treaded water, my body getting used to the arctic temperatures. “Just a second of pain for a world of bliss.” I flipped to my back, taking in the sky, the way the clouds floated across the blue in cotton puffballs. It was almost hypnotic. “Come on, Law Man. A little cold never hurt anyone.”

I twisted my body so I could watch him out of the corner of my eye. That muscle in his jaw began to tick, but then he disappeared. A second later he was back, the gun at his hip gone and his fingers going to that uniform shirt that should’ve been ugly but somehow managed to be hot as hell on him.

Tugging myself upright, I treaded water again so I could take in the show. I didn’t often let myself watch Colt like this. When we came together, it was usually a fever pitch of need. There were no slow stares and lingering touches. But now, I let myself watch.

Colt’s shirt slid from his body. Then he grabbed his white tee from behind his head and tugged it up and over. As it fell to the deck, I couldn’t have forced my gaze away if I’d tried. That chest and those shoulders could do me in. All warm, tan muscles with a dusting of hair across his pecs. Hair I’d felt as he took me but hadn’t let my fingers trail through.

Colt’s fingers deftly unbuckled his belt as he kicked off his shoes. The pants dropped, revealing black boxer briefs. Then the pants and socks were gone altogether, and he was climbing the railing. “If I break my neck pulling this ridiculous stunt, I’m going to haunt your ass.”

I grinned up at him. “I could be into a little ass play.”

Those eyes darkened again to that shadowy brown that was full of promise. Then Colt launched himself from the railing. But he didn’t go for an easy jump. He did some sort of flip that landed in a cannonball, sending a fresh wave of water over me.

But Colt didn’t surface. I turned in circles trying to see where he might’ve popped up, but he was nowhere to be found. My heart picked up speed, and just as I was about to dive down, a hand locked around my ankle and tugged.

I shrieked as Colt popped up right in front of me, laughing. I splashed water in his face. “I’m going to kill you for that.”

He grinned, and it had a boyish quality to it. The kind that reminded you of innocent mischief and the teasing tug of pigtails. He shook the water out of his hair, and it coursed down his face in rivulets. “You wanted me to live a little.”

“Yeah, live. Not scare twenty years off my life.”

Colt pulled me to him, then swam us close enough to shore that he could stand, the grin still on his face. “Sorry, Chaos.”

My legs wrapped around his waist. “You’re not sorry at all.”

That grin widened. “Maybe not.”

His fingers dug into my ass, massaging there. My body responded instantly, heating at his touch, leaning into him in a quest for more. My fingers threaded through his hair, almost midnight now that it was wet, and tugged on the ends of the strands.

“Need something, Chaos?” That rasp to his voice was back, the one that had skated over my skin in a pleasant shiver since the first time I heard it.

The only problem was that I was becoming addicted to the sensation. It was a dependency I didn’t want to study too closely, so I did the only thing I could. I kissed Colt.

He tasted like a mix of iced tea and mint, and his scent of bergamot and cloves swirled around me. Colt met my kiss in that duel for supremacy I could always count on him for. It was as if we were always starving for each other. Maybe because we knew this thing between us had an expiration date. Only, we had no idea what that date was.

Today had been a reminder of that. I could’ve just as easily been wrapping up the case, mapping out the lineup of final podcast episodes. But instead I was in this lake, with Colt.

And he was making me feel .

I was good at doing things that reminded me I was still alive, still breathing. But no one and nothing made me feel more alive than Colt.

Remembering that spurred me on, my legs tightening around his waist. I felt his length press against my core and moaned into his mouth as I rocked against him. I searched for friction, for pressure, but what I really needed was him.

Colt tore his mouth away from mine. “Chaos,” he growled, the warning clear in his voice.

I searched those dark eyes. “Remind me I’m alive.”

He must’ve read the desperation in my voice, the need, because something shifted in him. His hands tightened on my ass, pulling me harder against him, showing me how much he needed me too. “You feel how much I want you? How I’m dying to be inside that tight heat, stretching you, taking you?”

My walls fluttered, crying out for exactly that. “Yes.”

One of Colt’s hands left my ass, skimming up my waist to cup my breast. “Your gorgeous fuckin’ nipples are already hard enough to cut stone. Cheeks flushed, lips parted. Most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen.”

“Colt,” I breathed.

“You know what hearing my name on your lips does to me.”

I did. But what he didn’t know was that it did something to me too. The promise of it.

“Take me,” I whispered.

It was all he needed. That hand dropped from my breast, curving around my waist to hold me as he tugged my underwear free with the other. Then he reached for his boxer briefs, pulling them down. His tip bumped against my entrance as my legs encircled him again.

Those dark eyes flashed, all heat and promise. “Tell me again.”

“Take me.”

He did.

Colt’s arm tightened around me, pulling me down onto him as his hips rose up to meet me. My lips parted, my head tipping back as he filled me. The stretch was heaven, taking me right to my limits and reminding me exactly what I needed, that I was here, breathing.

Colt slammed into me again and my legs tightened, spurring him on, desperate for even more. His fingers slid into my hair, tightening on the strands. My head tipped back even farther, taking in that glorious late-afternoon sky.

The beauty of it all was almost more than I could handle. But I focused on every sensation, not wanting to lose a single one. The cold water sliding over my heated skin. Colt’s fingers gripping my hair. His cock moving inside me.

Then Colt’s head dipped. His lips closed around my nipple through the thin fabric of my bra. That nearly took me over the edge as he hummed around the bud.

His hips angled, hitting that spot where I needed him most. And then his teeth grazed my nipple. That hint of pain, the sensation that made all others sweeter, took me over.

My core clamped down around him as I let out a sound that didn’t resemble anything human. But I didn’t care. I wasn’t hiding from him. I could be who I needed to be.

Wave after wave rolled through me as Colt kept moving, thrusting deeper until his fingers fisted my hair, his lips moving to my throat, and he released inside me. We rode every ounce of pleasure the other gave until there was nothing left but shallow breaths and gentle hands.

Colt pressed a kiss to the column of my throat as he finally pulled out of me. “Thank you. I think I needed that reminder too.”

We were both processing the day, in our own ways and together. And there was something about that truth that had an ache taking root in my chest. But I smiled at the man opposite me. “Nothing like a little lake action to remind you you’re alive.”

Colt chuckled. “Pretty sure your underwear’s floating behind you.”

I laughed as I twisted in his arms, grabbing for them. “I’m not putting these back on. Nothing sounds worse than cold undies.”

He grinned back at me, looking lighter than before. “I’m kind of partial to you underwearless.”

“You would be.” I brushed the hair back from his face with one hand, my fingers tracking down to his scruff and feeling the prickle of it the way I'd wanted to earlier. “You’re something to look at.”

Colt quirked a brow. “Am I, now?”

“Quite the specimen.”

“Careful, this could go to my head.”

My thumb traced below his bottom lip, following the line of scruff. “I like seeing you like this. Relaxed, happy.”

That look faltered for a minute, but Colt held it. The quality changed but not the root. “We used to come here all the time. Mom, Em, and me. It was our spot. There was an old run-down cabin where my place sits, but no one lived up here.”

I stilled, a mixture of warmth and pain sweeping through me. My family had our own special lake spot and the memories that went along with it. That joy mixed with sorrow came on every time I ventured to a similar spot. But this was more.

Colt looked at me, but I knew it wasn’t me he was seeing anymore. “After everything that happened to Em and she didn’t want to leave the house much, I would still come out here. Just to think or try to silence the guilt.”

That pain beat out the warmth as I looked at the man who carried so much on his shoulders. So I did the only thing I could: I showed him that he wasn’t alone. “I made Avery go to the party that night.”

Colt blinked a few times, trying to bring me back into focus.

“She hated the parties the frats put on, but I wanted her to get out and experience college before we graduated. If I hadn’t…”

Colt’s hand slipped beneath my tangle of wet hair, and he squeezed my neck. “If you hadn’t, he would’ve taken her another time.”

“I know,” I croaked. “And I could say the same to you.”

Colt’s face softened. “You’re a smooth one.”

“I try.” I stared at him for a long moment, soaking in his heat, in such contrast to the chilly water of the lake. “I’ve never told anyone that.”

His brow creased as his thumb stroked the column of my neck. “What?”

“That I forced Avery to go. Not the cops. Not my parents. No one.”

Colt’s thumb stilled.

“They still blame me. My parents. Dad never said anything, but one of the times Mom lost it and ended up in the hospital, she screamed at me, Why didn’t you stay with her? You lost my baby!? ” I could still hear the words. They were permanently etched into my brain, even if she didn’t remember saying them.

Colt’s fingers tightened on my neck, not painfully but in a way where I could feel the anger rising in him. “She was hurting,” he rasped. “And sometimes when people can’t deal with their own pain, they have to spew it onto other people. Doesn’t excuse it, but sometimes just understanding that helps.”

I searched his dark depths. “Did your mom do that?”

He shook his head. “She went inward. Stopped connecting. Don’t get me wrong—she did everything a mom was supposed to do, but it was like she wasn’t all there. I think she had to put up a wall, hoping she’d never feel that sort of pain again.”

“I think that’s how my dad is.” I let my arms curl around Colt’s shoulders, soaking up their strength. “He’ll check in occasionally, but he isn’t really there .”

Colt’s thumb picked up its ministrations again, that rough pad sweeping over the delicate skin of my throat. “Things like this, they change you.”

“I miss them,” I admitted. “It’s bad enough how much it hurts missing Avery. But it’s somehow worse missing them because they’re still here. Right in front of my face. But still…gone.”

Colt’s arm tightened around my waist. “But you’re still here. Still fighting. For them and for Avery.”

My eyes burned, but I didn’t let any tears come. “I am.”

“And you’re not alone.”

I stiffened. “Colt?—”

He squeezed my waist to cut off my words. “You’ve built a community around you. One you carry with you wherever you go. And then you make more as you go. Dean’s half in love with you. My damn dog is all the way there. You’ve got Sam reaming me out for giving you a hard time, and even his chess buddy Norm has started taking your side. Mira and Celia are not far behind. Hell, even that biker, Ace, asked me what I was doing to find the guy who hurt you. My sister adores you, and my best friend since birth took your side before he even met you.”

That had me choking on a laugh. “Sorry about that.”

Colt sent me a mock glare. “You should be.” His fingers skated along my ribs. “Ridley. You’re never alone because you carry your sister with you.”

I sucked in a breath so sharp it sliced at my throat and lungs.

“She’s always been a piece of you, and she always will be. And you honor her every day of your life.”

I struggled to speak, wanting to so badly but also not wanting to lose it. “That’s all I want. To do her proud. To live for us both.”

“You do.” Colt dropped his forehead to mine. “I promise you do.”

We stayed there for a long moment, neither of us moving, until finally the cold won out and I shivered.

Colt pulled me tighter against him and started toward shore. “Come on. Let’s get you warm.” He kept hold of me as he walked out of the water, my legs hooked around his waist. “If there are any hikers out on the lake trail, they’re getting a real nice ass shot.”

I choked on a laugh. “We all deserve rewards for getting out on the trail.”

Colt just shook his head, but I could feel his grin against my cheek. “Making the most of every day, right?” he asked.

“Even if that means showing the world my ass.”

He chuckled as he set me down on the deck. “Let me grab us some towels.”

I shivered as the mountain air hit me but moved to pick up my discarded clothes as Bowser charged out the back door. I pulled on my shirt and paused to greet him, giving him a good rubdown. “There’s my boy. Were you good today? You want to play fetch in a bit?”

Bowser wagged and barked, then ran down the steps to go do his business. I fished my phone out of my pocket, seeing a series of texts. But one name caught my eye.

I hadn’t heard from Baker since the scene at the hospital. I’d simply continued recording my episodes and took the chicken’s way out by letting Sully deal with him. Thankfully, my editor had been willing to take one for the team these past couple of weeks, but it looked like that reprieve was over.

Baker

What the hell is going on with your Instagram? Is this some sort of stunt?

I frowned, pulling up the social media app. My feed looked normal, but then I clicked on a photo. The comments were flooded with unfamiliar handles that had a sick feeling spreading through me.

AveryAnnihilator123,

SerialSlasher69,

EmersonsEverything88.

The list went on and on, each comment worse than the one before it.

Careful where you put your nose Ridley or it won’t be a w@rning next time.

Go spread your lgs somewhere else podcast sl?t.

Two Gs to whoever teaches Ridley a lesson.

But my heart stopped when I saw the most recent comment.

I wonder, will Ridley’s screams sound the same as her sister’s? I can’t wait to find out.

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