He chuckled, brushed a hand down her back. “Nothing quite so public as that, I don’t think. We could start with your committee tonight.”
She groaned, leaning against him as if the thought sapped her will to live. “I don’t want to go. Don’t make me go.”
“I won’t make you go,” he said, his hands cupping her ass through her skirts.
Beth Ann sighed. “And if I don’t go, my father will thunder in like a hurricane and want to know why I’m sabotaging his campaign for reelection by being so publicly unhelpful when he needs me now more than ever.” She rolled her eyes. “He trots out those excuses every other year around this time.” Her arms wrapped around his neck and she lifted her face for another kiss. “I have to go to this stupid meeting.”
“I’ll go with you. If that dickhead is going to be there, I’m not leaving your side.”
A warm, fuzzy feeling crept down her belly. So protective of her. She loved that. But he had to know what he was getting into. “I’m warning you. It’ll be boring.”
“I’ll think of new ways to make love to you. I’ll make a list. They’ll think I’m taking notes.”
She laughed and her hand slid to the front of his pants. “Well, I wasn’t entirely against the sex on the bleachers idea. I’ve never made love in public.”
“I’ll put that as number one on the list,” Colt drawled, smiling down at her. “Though it’s probably not as scandalous if everyone thinks we’re in a relationship.”
She kissed him again, her heart fluttering. He’d said relationship twice now. Is that where they were going with this? They hadn’t put a name on what they had yet. And she was afraid to ask, for fear she might ruin it.
After all, Allan had showed that she wasn’t good with relationships. But she trusted Colt, and he knew how important that trust was to her. So maybe she could hope, just a little.
The committee meeting was every bit as boring as she’d thought it would be. She’d been assigned the costume bash in the town square, and it was her task to set guidelines for costumes, contests, awards, and sponsors. Easy enough—why did they have to have four more committee meetings before Halloween to determine things? She complained as much to Colt on the way home, who agreed.
He’d been a perfect gentleman that night, she’d decided. He’d sat at the back of the room, just enough of a reminder for Allan to be quiet about his proclamations of love. Others had seen her enter with Colt, and the looks they’d given her were disapproving to downright confused. Wasn’t she supposed to be with Allan? They had to be thinking it.
She’d take their confusion. Eventually people would get the picture, and if she had to trot Colt out everywhere she went, she would.
The meeting went on for three hours, killing any hopes she’d had of going out with Colt after the meeting had ended.
His expression when they met afterward was grim. “They don’t like me with you.”
“That’s crazy.”
He shook his head. “It’s not crazy. You saw the way they were all looking at me. Like I’d come between the two of you.” His jaw was clenched with fury. “So we either f**k in secret like we have something to hide, or when we’re together, people act like I’m the bad guy.”
“I don’t care what other people think,” she told him. Her voice echoed in the halls of the school and she quieted. “They’ll get used to it.”
“Will they?” The look he gave her was shuttered with anger. “This entire town thinks you belong to him.”
She stopped, took his hand in hers. “But I’m with you,” she said softly.
He turned her, then, pushing her up against the lockers with a bang. His mouth dove on hers, kissing her with fierce intensity. She gasped as his tongue thrust into her mouth, the sensation pouring liquid need through her body. She moaned against him, her hand sliding to the front of his pants to cup his cock.
“I need you, Beth Ann,” he whispered against her mouth. “Let’s go back to my place. Or yours. Whichever gets me deep inside you the fastest.”
A thrill pulsed through her. She gave him another kiss, then gave a shaky laugh as a rather scandalous idea occurred to her. “No one would ever think I’m the kind of girl to have sex on a desk,” she said softly, then nipped at his lower lip.
He groaned. “Here?”
“Why not?”
Colt glanced around, then took her hand and they moved to one of the doors along the school hallway. The first one was locked, but the second was not. He pulled her inside, and stared at the surroundings. High school classes—good. The walls were covered with posters of Einstein and other scientists. No kid stuff, or that might have weirded her out. He left the lights off, and pulled her forward, and picked her up and sat her down on top of a desk in the front row, and began to kiss her again. “You sure you want to do this here?”
“We can do the bleachers, if you’d rather,” she said softly, then linked her legs around his, tugging him into the vee of her legs. “But we’re already here.”
He groaned and his tongue thrust deep into her mouth as he kissed her, stroking and rubbing against her tongue. “You amaze me,” he said, his hands moving to the tie at the back of her neck. His fingers swiftly undid it and the straps fell forward. He tugged them down, exposing her br**sts to his gaze.
She shivered with the sheer naughtiness of it, her n**ples prickling. He rubbed his thumbs over both of the small peaks, enjoying her whimpers of delight, then tugged on one before leaning down to take it into his mouth.
“Colt,” she breathed, groaning with need as his tongue flicked over the tip. Oh heavens, that felt so amazing. “Oh, mercy, that feels so good.”
He bit her nipple, eliciting a sharp, soft little cry from her throat. His mouth immediately moved to cover hers, kissing away the sounds she made. “Someone might be hanging around, darlin’,” he said. “ You want them to hear you getting pleasured?” His fingers twirled around one peak even as he whispered to her, driving her mad with need.
“I’ll be quiet,” she whispered, and when he leaned down to bite her other nipple, she whimpered, biting down on her lip. His hand moved under her skirts, finding her panties, and she parted her thighs wider to allow him access to her p**sy.
“So slick and wet,” he murmured against the peak of her breast, and gave it a lick even as he brushed his thumb over her clit.
She gasped, moaning, her fingers digging into his shirt. “Colt—”
“Sounds like you do want them to hear you,” he said, though the sound was a low chuckle, as if he were pleased she couldn’t quite keep herself as quiet as she wanted. His mouth tugged at her nipple, rolling it against his tongue and then lightly biting it, and each new sensation was accompanied by a flick over her clit. She cried out, bucking against his hand. God, she was so wet, so full of need for him. His fingers rubbed along her cl*t faster, even as he turned his attentions to her other breast, nipping at the peak. She clung to his shoulders, her heels wrapped around his hips, locked together.
The door clicked. The light came on.
“Beth Ann?” Allan stood there in the doorway.
Beth Ann gasped, unlocking her legs from around Colt’s waist, struggling to pull her dress back to cover her br**sts. “Get out of here, Allan!”
Allan stared at the two of them in shock. He didn’t move. “What the hell is this?”
Colt stepped in front of her, blocking her from Allan’s view. “Get the f**k out of here.”
“This is a public building,” Allan said, furious. He looked at Beth Ann, scandalized, then back to Colt. “You son of a bitch. You’re taking advantage of her while she’s hurting.”
She rolled her eyes. “Allan, go away—”
“Get the f**k out of here,” Colt repeated again, his voice low and dangerous. His hand went backward to her, as if he could shield her from Allan.
But Allan looked at the two of them, furious. “Disgusting, trashy behavior. I should have guessed that was why she’d want to go slumming with you. Well, newsflash, Waggoner, she’s a shitty lay—”
Colt launched himself at Allan. He tackled the other man to the ground with a crash, and she barely had time to scream before Colt was straddling Allan. He slammed a fist into the other man’s face.
“Colt!” Her shrill cry didn’t make either man pause. As she watched, Allan’s fist aimed for Colt’s face, missed, then slammed into his jaw. “Both of you! Stop it!” She hopped down from the desk, clutching her dress to her.
Colt’s fist slammed into Allan’s face again, and she grew afraid. Oh lord, if he beat the snot out of Allan, Allan would call the cops on him. She tugged at Colt’s arm. “Colt, please, stop it.”
“Yeah, Colt,” Allan said with a sneer, blood streaming down his face. “She doesn’t want you to hurt me.”
But Colt had stopped, and he panted, still straddling Allan, and cast a bleak look at Beth Ann, as if betrayed that she would stop him.
“I’d put my shoe through your damn face myself, Allan,” she said in a hard voice, and continued to tug at Colt’s arm. “But this is enough. Colt. Please.”
He lowered his fist. Slowly got off Allan. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, blood that he ignored.
Allan got to his feet, pressed his sleeve to his nose, then snarled at Colt, “I’m calling the police.”
“No, you’re not,” Beth Ann said calmly, and she was surprised at how calm she was. “Or I’ll tell them you were stalking me, and Colt was defending me.”
“I know the police. They’re my friends,” Allan said smugly.
“They used to be my friends, too,” she pointed out, moving toward Colt. “And they know you won’t leave me alone. If you file one charge against him, it’s going to be your word against both of ours.”
Allan glared. He wiped his face with his sleeve, smearing blood. “We’ll discuss this some other time.”
“No we won’t,” she said, but the door had slammed shut.
Colt followed him to the door, and for a moment, she thought he was going to chase Allan down the hallway and beat him some more. Her heart thundered in her chest. But Colt only turned the light back off, locked the door, and returned to her.
“You okay?” she breathed.
He leaned down and kissed her, hard. His teeth ground against her own and she tasted his blood in her mouth. His tongue thrust once, twice, and then he was pressing hard kisses down her neck and throat. “Colt?”
He growled against her skin. “I f**king hate that dirtbag.”
“I’m sorry,” she said softly.
He turned back to her and his hands went to her cheeks. “Don’t tell me you’re sorry,” he said in a hard voice. “Just tell me you’re never going to go back to him again.”
“I’m not—”