After a few minutes, I sneak a glance but Colt and the mystery brunette are gone. WTF? Damn, he works fast. I scan the bar, looking around for them. Surely he wouldn’t just leave me here. Would he? I guess I really hadn’t thought this through.
A second later, a guy with shaggy blonde hair and crystal blue eyes is standing in front of me. “Hi.”
“Hi?” I say, more than a little confused.
“I’m Ted.”
“Taylor.” I raise up on my stool and glance around him, still searching for Colt. But the mess of bodies crowding the bar makes it impossible.
“It looks like your friend left with my friend, so I thought I’d keep you company,” Ted says, bringing my attention back to him.
So Colt did leave with her. Huh. I try not to be annoyed and remind myself that this was my idea. I wonder if she’s in our car right now, sitting where I just sat, on her way to the hotel room I’m sharing with him. The vodka churns in my stomach. Ted sits down in the stool across from me. Colt’s stool. It feels like even more of an invasion.
“I’ve never seen you here before,” he says, flipping his longish hair off his forehead.
“Never been here before.” I down the rest of the drink. Probably not wise, but I’ll do anything to defy Colt right now. Ted’s cute actually, but I’m so on edge about Colt’s fling with the plain brunette who I swear could pass as my sister, I can’t focus on anything around me.
We pass about fifteen minutes with Ted trying to engage me in a conversation (he goes to school at the nearby university) but my mind twirls with thoughts of Colt and what he might be doing at this very moment, not to mention worrying about how I’m going to get back to the hotel.
A few minutes later, Colt appears with the brunette smiling by his side. Another satisfied customer. They stroll up to the table together. He introduces her as Sarah. Awesome. Colt drops a few bills on the table to pay our tab and we say goodbye to Sarah and Ted. She and Colt don’t even exchange phone numbers, not even a thank you. Huh. I guess that’s how it’s done. Though it certainly isn’t something I’m used to.
Outside I storm ahead of Colt, heading straight for the car.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” he calls from behind me.
I hold up my hand, waving him off and keep walking. If I tell him what’s wrong, it won’t be pretty. I have no clue why I’m so emotional, why this whole thing is conjuring up memories of Wes I can’t deal with.
“Why are you pissed at me? This was your idea.”
I swing around to face him. “Yeah, well I didn’t think you’d leave me alone in a bar while you fucked some random girl in the parking lot.”
A group of guys getting out of their car next to us bursts into laughter. I walk away from Colt as their laughter grates against my nerves.
“We didn’t fuck, actually,” Colt’s voice is low. He stands inches from me, looking frustrated.
Anger and jealousy pulses through me and I force air into my lungs, trying to push the irrational feelings away. I take a moment to gather my wits and notice that Colt’s hair seems no more rumpled than before. His shirt is still neatly buttoned.
“I just let her go down on me.” He grins a cocky half smile and glances at me through his eyelashes.
I push past him, walking ahead.
He chuckles and quickens his stride to catch up with me. “God, I’m kidding, Taylor, calm down. She went out for a smoke and I kept her company. We just talked. You’d like her actually, she’s an art student.”
His words should ease my mind, but instead, I feel even more disgusted with myself. I needed to keep my feelings for Colt in check. They are swinging wildly back and forth between hatred and lust.
We climb into the car and ride in silence to the hotel. When we get inside our room, I mumble an apology to Colt.
“What was that?” He puts his hand to his ear, urging me to say it louder.
“I. Said. I'm. Sorry,” I say it slowly, enunciating each word.
He grins. “What were you so mad about anyway?” He unzips his duffle bag and pulls out a worn gray T-shirt. “It was your idea that I needed to get laid. Which reminds me – I didn’t, by the way.”
I watch as he unbuttons his shirt, my eyes traveling south along the path of his fingers. He peels the button down shirt off his shoulders, and stands in front of me in a snug fit white T-shirt and jeans riding low on his hips.
I blush and look away. “I’m going to go change,” I mutter.
I grab my backpack and head into the bathroom. Begging myself to get a grip, I splash cold water on my face and catch my reflection in the mirror. My cheeks are flushed pink, my eyes shining brightly. All my senses are lit up around him. Colt is a manwhore. I repeat in my head, and I am not this girl. I will not be this girl. I need to remember that.
I change into my pajamas, and practice deep breathing. When I come out, Colt’s in his room with the door closed, which is probably for the best.
I drift into a restless sleep wondering how it is one guy can both infuriate me and fascinate me so much.
Chapter 14
We’re both quiet on the drive into Cleveland. I think about the disapproval written all over Taylor’s face last night when I led Sarah back inside and introduced her.
I could tell it unnerved Taylor how much she and Sarah looked alike. But her reaction was the last thing I expected. She seemed genuinely upset. I didn’t understand why, but I knew I didn’t ever again want to be responsible for making her big blue eyes look up at me like that.
We make it to Cleveland in the late morning and check into the same hotel that Lars Kaiser is staying at. McAllister’s instructions in the envelope I gave Taylor say that she’s supposed to access his computer and copy over his files so we can find out who he’s working with, names and locations of where they may be planning to make their deals. This is a non-contact mission. He won’t even know we’re here. But still, it makes me nervous. Especially since we’re right under his nose. But I know McAllister’s right, he’d have no idea that we even exist.
Inside our hotel room, another two-bedroom suite, I drop my bag on my bed, then join Taylor in the living room. She gets straight down to business setting up her laptop on the desk. I have nothing to do, so I opt for pacing beside her, wearing a path in the thick carpeting, turning each time I reach the wall. I stop and watch over her shoulder as she eagerly clicks through screens I’ve never seen before.
“Anything I can do to help?” I ask.
She digs around inside her laptop bag, pulling out a few crumpled dollar bills. “Go get me a Diet Coke.”
I refuse her money, but head for the door. “On it.”
While in the hallway, I use the time to explore the layout of the hotel. I note where the fire exits are, the distance of each stairwell to our room and the location of the janitor’s closets. Then I go to the vending area and get Taylor her beverage.
Back inside the room, Taylor doesn’t even glance up as I set the drink on the desk beside her. She’s furiously tapping at the keys, an adorable look of concentration on her face. Her hair is pulled tight into a ponytail that hangs down her back. I sit down on the couch, feeling useless.
Taylor’s insistence that I needed sex bothered me. At first it was funny, until I realized what kind of a guy it made me in her eyes. This girl was fucking with my head and I never doubted myself. Ever. And that look on her face when she thought I’d slept with that girl last night? She looked so hurt. Even though she acts sarcastic and tough, there’s something she’s hiding, and I don’t want to hurt her, which is why I need to stay away from her. She’s far too fragile. We’re partners on an assignment. Nothing more.