The Bad Boy's Redemption (7 page)

“I approve of that plan,” he said. “Pajama pants make for easy access after our bellies are full.”

“So I’m going to be the appetizer and the dessert,” she said, not missing the way his eyes followed her as she started across the room. “A lot of responsibility for one woman.”

“You can handle it,” he said. “You’re made of tough stuff, Olivia Page.”

Olivia smiled, taking the words as a compliment, never imagining that the man who had just made love to her as if his life depended on bringing her pleasure was counting on her toughness to sustain her when she was on her own.

She had no idea he was already making plans to leave town, a full month ahead of schedule, keeping the news secret from the woman he professed to be falling in love with.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Colton

Colt had learned early on in his military career the importance of keeping his head and his body in the same place.

He couldn’t focus on the mission at hand if he was worried about something going on back home in Lover’s Leap, and often the mission at hand was dangerous, high-stakes, and potentially deadly. His life had literally depended on compartmentalizing his feelings and keeping one world separate from the other.

Even on the day his mother went into the hospital for a biopsy that would reveal if the lump in her left breast was cancerous, once he strapped into the pilot’s seat, his mother’s health was the furthest thing from his mind.

When he was on duty, he was on duty, serving his country; when he was at home, he was home, enjoying his family, and he did his best not to let one interfere with the other.

So it wasn’t that difficult for him to put the letter he’d received the morning of the race from his mind. It was a matter for another day—for December twenty-eighth, the first day his commanding officer had said he would be back in the office—and not relevant to celebrating the holiday with his family. There were decisions to be made, big decisions that would affect the entire course of his life, but worrying about them today wouldn’t do anyone any good.

Besides, he didn’t want to worry.

He wanted to enjoy another perfect day with the woman he was falling for so hard and fast it would give a normal man whiplash. But thankfully, Colton wasn’t a normal man, he was a man accustomed to flying F-18s and shuttling through the air at the speed of sound. By comparison, falling for the girl next door, a person he’d loved in one way or another since she was a little girl, wasn’t such a fast thing.

It was just a good thing. A wonderful thing and Colton couldn’t ever remember being happier to walk into his parents’ home with a woman on his arm. The house smelled like turkey, sweet potato casserole, and homemade pies, the Christmas tree was glittering in the corner by the fireplace, his father, cousin, and brothers were crouched around the coffee table in the living room playing a loud game of poker, while his mom blasted carols loud enough to drown out the shouts and cursing.

As he and Olivia closed the front door behind them, his father looked up and lifted a hand in greeting. “Olivia! Welcome, sweetheart. Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas, Mr. Brody,” Olivia said, returning his wave. “Merry Christmas to you too, Tucker. Good to see you Seth, Blake.”

His cousin Seth grinned and welcomed Olivia to the madhouse, while Blake and Tucker waved and murmured their own welcomes before turning back to their cards, clearly too distracted by a losing streak to be on their best manners. But the annual Christmas Eve Day poker game was an epic and very serious event that would involve bragging rights for months to come. Not to mention a giant jar of pennies, the biggest pot they played for all year.

“Just like I remember it.” Olivia beamed up at him as he took her coat and hung it on one of the dozens of hooks nailed into the redwood wall inside the door. “It even smells the same.”

“It’s good to have you here for Christmas again,” Colt said. “Mom is so happy you’re back in town.”

“Colt is that you?” His mama peeked out the door to the kitchen, her flushed cheeks stretching in a wide smile when she spotted Olivia. Tossing the dish towel in her hands onto the counter, Sarah hurried across the large, open living room with her arms outstretched. “Olivia! Oh my goodness, get over here darling and let me give you a hug. I’m so glad to see you.”

“Me too, Mrs. Brody.” Olivia sank into his mother’s hug with a grin. “I’m sorry I didn’t come by sooner. I’ve been so busy trying to get the shop ready to reopen; the days have been flying by.”

“No need to apologize. I should apologize for missing the race yesterday. I heard it was the most exciting one in years.” His mom pulled away, her brows knitting as she reached for Colt. “Come here you big thing. I need to get as many hugs from you as I can get. I’m stocking up for when there’s a shortage.”

“I’ve always got hugs for you, Mom,” Colt said, hugging her tight. “Especially if you made apple cheddar crumble pie.”

She humphed. “Made two—one for today and one for you to take home.” Sarah patted him on the back and motioned for him and Olivia to follow her into the kitchen. “Now you two come on in and help me get a quick lunch organized. Your brothers are useless and Daisy’s upstairs with the kids rounding up old clothes for the snowman competition.”

Olivia bounced on her toes before skipping along beside him toward the kitchen. “Oh, I can’t wait! I was dreaming about my snowman last night. He’s going to be amazing.”

“I thought we were going to be a team this year,” Colt said.

“We can be,” Olivia said. “As long as you’re willing to go along with my artistic vision.”

Colt grunted. “Willing to be bossed around is more like it.”

“Takes one to know one.” She shot him a look that left no doubt in his mind that she was thinking about the bossing around he’d done last night, when she’d been spread out on the floor in front of him looking so damned sexy he’d been pretty sure he was going to lose his mind from wanting her.

He grinned in response, unable to resist laying a hand at the small of her back, though he knew it was best to keep public displays of affection to a minimum in front of his family unless he wanted to be cornered for twenty questions before dinner. He’d already been through the ringer with Tucker and Daisy—who had given him hell yesterday about keeping the letter a secret from Olivia for a few more days. He could do without any more familial interference.

He would tell Olivia when the time was right.

This was his relationship and his decision and he didn’t want to do anything to ruin her first holiday back in Lover’s Leap. He wanted today to be perfect for her, filled with all the wonderful things she remembered about a Brody Christmas and a few happy surprises…once he had the chance to sneak away and get them ready.

“Colt, you get out the sandwich bread and plates and napkins,” Sarah said, making it clear he wouldn’t be sneaking off anywhere anytime soon.

Colt had always been his mom’s kitchen helper—a side effect of being too little to go help the big boys chop and tote firewood when he was kid—and some things never changed, even if he was now bigger than Blake and taller than Dylan.

“Olivia, if you want to grab the condiments out of the little fridge, I’ll head out to the garage and get the sandwich meat and cheese from the big fridge.” Sarah paused by the door to the garage, turning back to Colt with a serious look. “I think sandwiches and that veggie tray I’ve got on the table should be enough to hold everyone over until dinner time, don’t you, honey?”

“It’s more than enough, Mom,” he said, gathering three types of bread from the pantry. “And you know Dad will end up making popcorn when the kids come back inside after building snowmen.”

His mom smiled, but he didn’t miss the flash of sadness in her eyes. “I remember when you were the kid coming back inside. Time is going by too fast. It seems like we just got you home and now…”

She didn’t finish the sentence before she bustled out the door, but she didn’t have to.

He knew she was referring to his return to the marines and had the sneaking suspicion that Daisy might have gone back on her promise to keep her mouth shut. He made a mental note to corner his sister and convince her to stop stirring up unnecessary trouble and then focused on the job at hand.

It was what he was good at and by the time he’d helped Seth’s boys and their friends make sandwiches and joined Olivia at the card table set up in the living room to handle overflow seating, he had forgotten the strained moment in the kitchen.

He and Olivia ate their ham and cheese while catching up with Blake, who had taken over running the ranch four years ago when his last tour of duty in the Middle East was over. They talked cattle prices and construction schedules for the cabins Blake was installing at the rear of the property—hoping to take some business off the hands of the ranch retreat up the road—and then helped clean up the mess and get the kids dressed for playing outside.

Since Dylan and his son were out of town this year, it was only Seth’s two boys and their two friends competing in the children’s snowman contest, but the adults did their part to fill the yard with snow people, the way they had when they were young.

Daisy made a snow mermaid, Tucker and Seth teamed up to make an enormous snow ogre, and Colt and Olivia made a three-headed monster snowman with half a dozen stick arms protruding from its sides and five noses.

“Why does it have five noses if it only has three heads?” Twelve-year-old East, Seth’s oldest, cast a judgmental look at Colt and Olivia’s creation.

“Because it looked funnier that way,” Colt said, throwing his arm around Olivia’s shoulders as they surveyed their masterpiece.

“Yep,” Olivia agreed. “Five noses is funny. Six would have been too much.”

“Absolutely.” Colt nodded soberly. “Six would have taken things too far.”

East scrunched up his nose, as if undecided whether or not to take them seriously, but finally grinned. “You two are weird.”

“Definitely,” Olivia agreed. “But he’s weirder.”

“You’re out of your mind Page.” Colt laughed, knuckling her hair until she squirmed free. “You’re the weirdest person I’ve ever met. And that includes a guy I knew who collected his ex-girlfriends’ toenail clippings.”

“Ew.” Olivia giggled as she shoved his shoulder. “You’re making that up.”

He grinned. “I am not. And he had a huge collection. With a guy that weird, girlfriends became ex-girlfriends pretty fast.”

“He’s lying,” East said, laughing. “No guy that gross would ever have a girlfriend in the first place.”

“I take offense to that, East,” Colt said, leaning down to scoop up a handful of snow and packing it between his gloved hands. “You know what happened to the last person who called me a liar?”

“What?” East’s eyes glittered as he backed away, clearly understanding that the snowball Colt was forming was no idle threat.

“He got hit with a snowball in the butt,” Colt said, drawing his arm back. East turned to run but only made it a few steps before Colt’s snowball connected solidly with his jean-clad bottom.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Colton

Colt barely had time to thrust his arms up into the air in victory when a second snowball came flying in from behind Olivia, hitting him right in the face. Olivia spun around to reveal Seth busy packing another snowball and Tucker taking cover behind the ogre as he patted together his own supply of ammunition.

After that, things quickly degenerated into chaos.

Initially Tucker, Seth, East, and the other kids were all teamed up against Colt and Olivia. They held their own at first, thanks to Olivia’s super-fast snowball forming skills and Colt’s killer right arm. But finally numbers won out over skill and technique and Olivia ended up taking five snowballs to the back of the head and neck in rapid succession.

After that Logan, Seth’s youngest, and his best friend came over to Olivia and Colt’s side, where they spent most of their time defending Olivia from attack like eight-year-old knights in soggy winter coats and mittens.

Colt had never been prouder to be Logan’s godfather. He saved his biggest snowballs for his little cousin, plopping them into Logan’s hands and then picking the boy up and running across the space between the two shelters so Logan could toss the giant snow bomb right at his dad and older brother.

They returned from their third such mission to find Olivia sneaking away toward the house, clearly having had enough of this year’s epic snow battle.

“You headed in?” Colt asked, ducking behind the snow monster for shelter.

“I have snow in uncomfortable places,” Olivia said with a laugh. “I’m going to go warm up with the rest of the ladies in the kitchen and get the gossip.”

“We’ll be in before too long,” Colt said. “Save me some of the peppermint hot chocolate.”

“Me too!” Logan squirmed off his lap to dive back into the snow and scrape together another giant missile.

“Will do,” she said with a salute and fond look at Logan that made Colt think about what kind of mom she might be.

He’d never wondered that about a woman he was dating before. But he wondered now, and he knew without a doubt that Olivia would be the sweetest, funniest, best mom a kid could ever ask for.

That increasingly familiar warm, achy feeling flooded through him, but it didn’t throw him as much as it had even a day ago. It was becoming something he recognized. It was the Olivia feeling, the way he felt when he was with her or wishing that he were. Now, it just made him smile as he watched her tromp through the snow toward the house, walking funny because she had snow down her pants.