Page 43 of The One Who Never Left: Colter

Opening the door, the sweet smell of Ms. Kitty’s famous cinnamon buns welcomed him. The door shut behind him, a bell jingling in his wake. He moseyed up to the counter and took a seat. His ass had barely touched the vinyl when he heard his name.

“Mister Colter!” the sweet voice said, sliding into his chest. “Mister Colter!”

He turned around and smiled. Sitting in a chair three times her size, was the cutest kid in the world. She wore rainbow tights, a pink skirt, and an orange top bright enough to be seen from space, and on top of her head was a headband with fuzzy horse ears dangling off each side and holding back her red ringlets.

“Hey, Princess,” he said, then his eyes met Sutton’s and lungs seized.

Sutton was the kind of beautiful that snuck up on you. Not polished or delicate—real. Her flame-kissed hair fell in gentle waves, which looked like they’d settled that way on their own—no stiffness, no shine from product, just soft and touchable. Too bad the rest of her came with an invisible electric fence that he had absolutely no business testing.

Something rushed through him. It wasn’t lust or desire but something close to recognition or maybe relief. Or maybe it was some quiet part of him that had been waiting for her without ever knowing her name settling in his chest.

Before he could even say another word, Lynlee jumped up from the table and tackled him, grabbing onto his legs like a koala clinging to a tree.

She looked up at him with the greenest eyes he’d ever seen. “Yous can sits wif us if yous wants.”

He’d learned his lesson, which was why, instead of taking a seat, Colter looked at Sutton, silently asking how she wanted to play this. He could tell she was about to make up a reason why they had to leave, when something changed in her gaze.

“We’re in a rush, but we’d love to have you join us,” she said.

Not wanting to give her time to change her mind, he pulled out a chair and took a seat. She was close enough that he could smell her—clean soap and something faintly citrus—something unmistakably her.

God, he was in serious trouble.

Colter took her in then, really took her in. The scrubs should’ve been practical, forgettable even, but somehow they looked sexy as hell—fabric skimming curves it had no business highlighting, her confidence doing the rest. He’d seen women dressed to impress, but Sutton made work clothes look tempting, and Colter clocked it as a personal failing he needed to get under control.

“What’s up with the horse ears?” he asked Lynlee.

“Today’s tryouts for the school play. It’s called Singing in the Reins and I’m gonna be Poseythe Pony.”

“We’re trying out for Posey the Pony,” Sutton corrected.

“Posey is the star and I wants to be a star.”

Colter hadn’t spent much time around kids—had never really known what to do with all that noise and motion packed into such small bodies. They usually left him feeling a step behind, like he’d missed a rule everyone else knew.

Lynlee didn’t do that. She met him straight on, earnest and bright and completely unbothered by his uncertainty, like she’d already decided he was safe. And somehow, that hit him in a place so foreign he wasn’t sure what to do with it.

“You’re already a star, role or not,” he said and Sutton’s face softened with quiet gratitude.

“You thinks?”

“I know.”

Thank you, Sutton mouthed.

He gave a wink and she went back to studying the menu. Well, he tried to study the menu, but he ultimately went back to studying her. He realized with a jolt that this wasn’t just attraction or habit—it was about the way she grounded a room without trying and the way his attention kept circling back no matter how hard he told himself to steer clear of her.

“Parker’s trying outs for Boris the Horse,” Lynlee said. “He’s a boy horse and is bestest friends with Poesy which is funny cause Parker’s my bestest friend.”

“Did you know that a male horse is called a stallion? And a female horse is called a mare?”

“Really?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Did you hear that, Mommy? I’m a mare.”

“That you are,” Sutton said, gifting her kid a smile that he felt all the way down to his soul.