Make Me Yours (Bridgewater County 5)

“No,” Belinda countered, looking at Sam. “We should just have the autograph so we can sell it. It’s not like there are other Sam and Belinda’s out there.”

They bickered back and forth and Lacey grabbed the napkin and the pen from their hands, moved to the closest table and signed her name, careful not to tear it. Then she grabbed her own napkin and did a second autograph.

She spun back. “Here. Have a great vacation.”

The couple stopped arguing and looked at Lacey. Took the napkins and pen. “Oh, thank you!” They started talking about how they liked her hair blonde better than how it was now. Dark. Lacey just smiled, picked up her food and cup and walked away. Colt followed right behind, ensuring there weren’t any other rabid fans among the ranch’s guests. I lingered behind and watched as Belinda lifted her phone and took a few candid pictures. “Enough,” I told her, blocking her view of Lacey.

It was, perhaps, the harsh tone of my voice or the way I loomed a foot over her that the glee dropped from her face and she lowered her phone.

“Here at Hawk’s Landing, we don’t stand for harassment of other guests. I think you’ve found she’s been more than generous with her attentions on her vacation and it’s time to let her get back to it.”

“But she’s a vampire! She shouldn’t be out during the day.”

The woman was completely bat-shit crazy.

“I’ll be sure to tell her,” I replied, leaving them behind as I worked my way over to Colt and Lacey. They’d settled at a far picnic table, alone. Lacey sat facing away from the rest of the barbecue, her view was solely of the open field and the mountains in the distance. Colt had his eye on the group of guests, ensuring she didn’t have any more surprises.

I settled beside her, my thigh brushing against hers. Colt was watching her, not eating. His hat sat on the table beside his plate. Lacey was picking at her food with her fork.

I leaned in, breathed in her soft scent. “Are you okay?”

She nodded.

“When you said you were in a successful TV show, I hadn’t really ever thought about the implications of that,” I said.

She looked to me. Gone was the carefree look she had when we were at the backcountry cabin, or even ten minutes ago. “I have a lot of fans.”

“Not happening, sugar,” Colt said, not liking her diplomatic answer. “You’re a good actress, all right, hiding your true feelings, but not with us.”

“You want me to be upset, to cry, because I had my hair felt up while on vacation? You want me to yell at the couple for selling potato salad on a napkin because it touched my hair?” She grabbed her ponytail, pulled it around her shoulder so she could look at the end, make sure there wasn’t any food left on it.

“That’s better,” Colt replied. “I love knowing how you feel, even if it’s angry. You can shout and scream all you want when we take you to my spread. All right?”

She nodded.

“Let’s eat and we’ll get out of here.”

She picked up her fork and tucked into her meal. Fortunately, no one else approached. I glanced over my shoulder and saw a staff member in the usual uniform of golf shirt and jeans standing between us and the other tables. He faced the guests and was acting as a shield, ready to keep any other crazies away. One of the barbecue workers must have called in the confrontation to the office.

“Do you have people approach you like this all the time?” Colt asked. He cut a piece of brisket, speared it with his fork.

“Yes, all the time. I haven’t been to the grocery store since I found a picture of me online buying melon. The caption said I was deciding what size boob job I wanted.”

I glanced down at her breasts, a perfect handful hidden beneath her dress. They were all natural. Colt and I knew that for a fact. And they were gorgeous. Tear drop shaped, lush. They’d swayed beautifully when she’d been bent over the porch rail and fucked.

I was angry for her, for something that had happened when I hadn?

?t even known her.

“And your hair?” Colt asked.

“It’s been blonde since the start of the show four years ago. The character, Jane, has fair hair so I have to keep it that way. But when I found my sort-of ex-fiancé in my bed fucking, I kind of lost it. That’s why I came here. To escape. I’m not even registered, my sister is. I took over her reservation. When I landed in Bozeman, I had the taxi driver take me to a drug store. I colored it after I arrived.”

“Sort-of ex-fiancé?” I asked.

“I told you about him yesterday. He’s a rock star and my PR people put us together. They put a spin on it that we were dating to drum up popularity.”

Colt glanced past us before looking at Lacey. “It doesn’t seem like you need to be any more popular.”