“Many years ago.”
“Before you were big time?”
“Honey, I’ve always been big time.”
“There’s that ego again.”
“Speaking of which . . .”
“I feel a whine coming on.”
He chuckled, sending warm vibrations from his chest to hers. But then he turned his mouth close to her ear, and all traces of teasing vanished. “Let’s get back to why you walked out on me that morning.”
That’s what she was afraid he was going to say. She searched for something vague enough to satisfy him and settled on, “We’re not a good fit.”
“Oh, I remember us fitting together quite well.”
“Fine. The sex was great. I’ll give you that.”
This time, his laughter sounded brittle. “Gee, thanks.”
“Oh, come on.” She tilted her head back to look at him. Big mistake. He was gazing down at her in the same way that had made her lose all her senses at the wedding and launch herself at him in an elevator. She gulped. “You can’t actually be worried that you’re bad at that.”
“Everyone has insecurities, Gretchen.”
“Even big-time Colton Wheeler?”
“Even me.” His fingers splayed wider across her back, branding her straight through her coat and sweater.
She covered her reaction with her old standby. Sarcasm. “Maybe you’re just not used to being rejected.”
“Does it make me an asshole if I say that I’m not?”
“Arrogant, maybe.”
“So you did have a good time?”
“I assumed it was obvious that I did.”
“Then why?”
She bit her lip.
“You have no answer?” he murmured.
“You’re you, and I’m me.”
“Oh, Gretchen,” he quipped in a bad British accent. “What a safe and terrible answer.”
“Really? Quoting A Christmas Carol? That’s a bit on the nose.”
He chuckled and tugged her more tightly against him. “It’s a classic. I read it every year and have seen every movie version. If you want to learn to love Christmas—”
“I never said I did.”
“—then this is your first lesson. Every person you know is represented by a character in that book.”
“Which one are you?”
“Nephew Fred, of course. I’m happy and live to make other people happy.”
“I suppose you think I’m Scrooge?”
“If the humbug fits.”
“Well, you’re wrong. Just because I don’t read it every year doesn’t mean I don’t know what it’s about. I studied it in college. And it has less to do with Christmas and more to do with an unwillingness to interfere for the greater good. To sacrifice for the sake of others. That’s not a Christmas message. Some of the loudest Christians I know wouldn’t sacrifice a single manicure to help those less fortunate. They’ll pretend to care at Christmas but then spend the rest of the year crossing the street to avoid a homeless person.”
“Okay, but you are grumpy and hate Christmas.”
“Humbug.”
He chuckled again. The vibration of it against her chest was becoming hypnotic.
“Just so you know,” he murmured, “I haven’t been with anyone since that night.”
She snorted even as her heart raced. “You’ve fed me a lot of bullshit, but that’s the first outright lie that’s ever come out of your mouth.”
“Not a lie. You are the last woman I slept with, Gretchen.”
She wrenched her face back to his. She aimed for a stony expression but likely failed. She didn’t believe, not for one second, that he’d been celibate since Mack and Liv’s wedding. And even if she did believe it, she wouldn’t be naive enough to think that it had anything to do with her. Still, her heart raced again with a foolish feminine fantasy of having rocked his world so much that he couldn’t stand to be with anyone else.
The song faded away, and before she could protest what he’d just said, he stepped away from her. “Thank you,” he said.
“For what?”
“The dance.” Colton’s thumb traced the swell of her bottom lip, and she lost a year off her life.
She backed away from the circle of his arms. “I’ll tell my brother to set up a meeting.”
Colton followed her with his eyes but didn’t move. “I don’t want to meet with your brother.”
“But you said—”