Descending Darkness(78)

The look he is giving me is breath-taking…literally. I can’t form any words, so I just nod my head. He clears his throat and rubs the back of his neck with his right arm, diverting his eyes. He is trying to look elsewhere, but is having a difficult time. I giggle and take a step back into the room.

He takes the hint and starts backing away. “I’m uh…going to be…downstairs…somewhere. Yeah.” I can hear Emma and Natalie quietly laughing in the room behind me. Colton starts nodding and turns toward the stairs. He looks over his shoulder at me once more before running into the railing. Laughing, he looks ahead and walks down the stairs.

I close the door and lean against it. “Wow, he’s got it bad,” Natalie says through her laugh.

“I should probably get dressed now,” I say. I can’t keep my voice from wavering with embarrassment.

“Or you could just walk around in that towel. It’d be worse than Kyril without a shirt. You could get away with anything,” Emma suggests.

“I’d rather not do that.”

“Eh, doesn’t matter anyway. You can just use that magic of yours to get what you want,” Emma laughs as she walks over to me with a brush and a handful of bobby pins.

I sit down on the edge of Emma’s bed and let her work her magic. Natalie hands me a handful of clothing. Emma blow dries my hair but lets the ends curl. Without looking at the clothes, I get up and go into the bathroom.

I put on the jean shorts and black cami and grab the shirt. I put the shirt on and look at my reflection in the mirror. Besides the dark circles under my eyes, I look…decent. However, when I get a closer look at my outfit, I know I can’t leave the room wearing this.

I open the door and look at Natalie and Emma, “I can’t go downstairs looking like this.”

“What? Why? You look hot,” Emma said.

“Besides the fact that this shirt is see-though, I’m basically just wearing a cami and my boobs are hanging out of it,” I tell her.

“That’s the point,” Natalie says as she throws open the bedroom door.

“What is it I always say?” Emma grabs my arm and pulls me out of the room. “Oh, if you’ve got it, flaunt it.”





Chapter Twenty-Three




Colton

Entering the kitchen, I try to regain my composure. Ryanne in a towel was almost too much. Her wet hair was pulled over her left shoulder, cascading down her back in ringlets. I wanted to run my hands through her hair and then there was that towel—the only thing covering her body.

“Colton?” A hand slaps my back, jarring me out of my thoughts.

“Huh?” I ask, blinking back into the present. I am standing in the middle of the kitchen with everyone watching me. David is standing behind me, looking at me with an amused expression.

“What are you thinking about? You are completely out of it.”

“What are you talking about? I’m not thinking about anything.”

“Sure, because we’ve been talking to you and you have yet to answer any of our questions,” Larkin says.

Shoot, I didn’t hear any of their questions. I stare at him waiting for him to ask me the questions again. Tom laughs and asks, “How’s Ryanne doing?”

“She’s fine. Emma and Natalie are helping her get ready…which is odd now that I think about it.” Why would Ryanne go to Emma to help her get ready? She hates the outfits Emma picks out.

“You’re crazy if you think I’m going to go in there looking like this,” Ryanne says from the top of the stairs.

“Oh come on. It’s not like you’re showing too much skin or anything,” Emma says. “You’re covered.”

“There’s barely any fabric to this shirt, Emma. I’m going to put on a t-shirt.” All the guys get up from the table and walk out of the kitchen. I push past everyone. They do not need to see her wearing a shirt with ‘barely any fabric.’ However, when I make it into the living room, Ryanne is already at the bottom of the stairs. Natalie is standing behind her with her hands on Ryanne’s shoulders.

This Ryanne is almost as bad as Ryanne in a towel. Her shorts reveal too much skin on her legs. They seem to go for miles and her shirt…The black material is completely sheer, revealing a tight plunging camisole beneath; also revealing too much skin. She looks amazing but not when she is surrounded by a bunch of guys.

“Do you see that? They’re all staring at me. I want a t-shirt,” she says while trying to turn around. Emma and Natalie both grab onto Ryanne and pull her the rest of the way down the stairs. She fights against them for a little but lets them pull her the rest of the way down. “Gosh, Ryanne. You couldn’t have just gotten ready on your own. Screw being tired,” she starts mumbling to herself.