Wounded Love (A Rocky Harbor Novel Book 3) Read online

  Needing to clear her mind of him, she took a long, hot shower, checked on CJ, then cleaned the rooms of the guests who had checked out.

  A loud noise from outside, followed by a hammering so forceful it shook the entire house, jolted Ellie from the basket of laundry she was folding. Following the racket, she raced out back and saw a series of sawhorses and lumber littering the yard. Colton carried a long white board up the ladder and pounded away again.

  She attempted to yell up at him but the noise drowned her out. When he stopped, she hollered, “What are you doing?”

  “My job.” He continued hammering until the board was in place, then climbed back down the ladder. Ignoring her, he made his way to the sawhorses, measured another board, made some markings, then slid on protective eye gear.

  “What are—”

  The saw drowned out her voice. Concerned he’d wake CJ, Ellie followed the green extension cord and unplugged it.

  Colton whipped off his protective eyewear and snarled at her. “What the hell? Are you trying to kill me?”

  “You’re making too much noise.”

  “I’m in the middle of cutting this board. You can’t turn the blade off half-way through. Damn, woman, I almost cut my finger off.”

  “I’ll find you a band aid. Stop making such a scene.”

  “A scene?” Colton stomped over to Ellie. “I’m out here doing the freaking job you paid me to do and you’re complaining about me making too much noise? Hell, don’t ever turn off a power saw like that. Didn’t your father teach you…” Colton shook his head. “That’s right. A pampered princess wouldn’t know anything about power equipment.”

  “Don’t call me that.” Ellie poked her finger into his iron chest. “You know I hate it when you call me princess.”

  The right side of Colton’s face lifted in a grin. “Princess.”

  Damn him! He used to do the same thing when she was seventeen, knowing exactly what his devilish grin did to her insides. Refusing to take his bait, she remembered why she’d come out in the first place.

  “CJ is asleep and all this commotion is going to wake him.”

  “Then stop making so much noise.”

  “I’m not making noise!” Colton crossed his arms and quirked an eyebrow. Ellie scrunched her face and lowered her voice. “Your stupid machines are loud and all that hammering is shaking the entire inn.”

  “It’s ten o’clock in the morning. Your guests should be up and out anyway and I don’t give one shit about your boy toy.”

  “My boy toy?” Ellie’s cheeks filled with air and she clenched her fists, resisting the urge to punch the arrogant bastard. “I don’t have a boy toy, you idiot. I’m a single mom with a business to run and have a sick boy trying to sleep in my room because he puked all over his bed and the both of us this morning. So shut your mouth unless you know what you’re talking about and do what I’m paying you to do. Sand and paint. Quietly.”

  Colton’s face changed from shock to understanding to pissed off again all within a few seconds.

  “Sorry about your kid.” He took a few deep breaths and looked away. When his gaze returned it was stony again. “You’re paying me to take care of the trim work. There were a few rotten boards out back so I took the liberty to pick up some new wood at the lumber store. I’m using my dad’s equipment knowing you didn’t have any in the shed. I apologize if I stepped out of line, Ms. Fairfield. You don’t have to reimburse me for the lumber since I didn’t ask first. I’ll clean up my mess and finish when your son is feeling better.”

  Turning his back on her, he strode back to his workstation, his limp less pronounced, and dusted off the saw before loading it in the back of his truck. Once again Ellie’s chest clenched. She didn’t know how to respond. She came out here angry at Colton for abandoning her years ago and for making so much commotion while CJ tried to sleep, yet she felt like she did something wrong.

  It was the quiet dismissal. Colton still treated Ellie like the pampered princess and he the lowly servant. She hated that act.

  The man was being thoughtful by taking the initiative to fix the rot in the boards instead of covering it up with paint. She should appreciate that in an employee. Only she didn’t think of him as an employee but as a friend helping her out with a project. She should apologize, but what for?

  Ellie tore her gaze away from him and went back inside to check on CJ. Better to keep her distance from Colton physically and emotionally.

  Chapter Five

  Colton

  If he didn’t feel like a shit before, he sure the hell did now. Colton didn’t mean to wake her sick kid; had he known he would have waited another day or two to replace the rotting trim. He figured Ellie and her boyfriend had a few too many and her grouchy, rumpled demeanor this morning was due to a hangover while the asswipe slept in her bed.

  In his jealous rage he sort of forgot about the kid. Ellie didn’t peg him as the type to go on a Tuesday night bender, but what the hell did he know about the woman? Last time he saw her she couldn’t even vote yet. Over the years she’d grown into a knockout of a woman raising a boy on her own. His boy toy assumptions aside, there were no signs of a man in her life, so he assumed the father must be out of the picture. The divorce must have brought a shitload of scandal to Thomas Fairfield.

  As he packed up his tools and stored the lumber in the shed so the backyard didn’t look like a construction zone, Colton gave his temper time to simmer. He had known full well what he was doing when he set the table saw up under Ellie’s suite and tore apart the trim board under her bedroom window. He’d hoped the bastard warming her bed would get a pounding headache. Instead, Colton disturbed a little boy sick with the flu.

  This was why he wasn’t fit to be back in society. Not because of PTSD. Sure, he’d had a hell of a time when he came back to the States, but he was better now. Backfires didn’t cause him to drop to the ground. His eyes didn’t dart back and forth checking for the enemy in every dark corner. The world wasn’t a conspiracy theory, but he didn’t necessarily belong in it either.

  A degree in business and the only experience he had was holding his breath for three and a half minutes in ice cold ocean water. And hauling a hundred and fifty pounds of gear through the desert when the sun was hotter than hell. Or aiming his gun on the enemy target over a thousand feet away and making a silent kill. He knew how to stab a man quickly and efficiently so he died instantly, leaving no sound and little blood.

  Colton could decide in a matter of seconds if he should snap a neck or apply his thumb at a pressure point to knock the enemy out. He could read terrain and satellite maps and translate five different languages.

  Unfortunately he didn’t think there were too many companies in Rocky Harbor, Maine looking for those skills. Especially from a man with only one leg. Sick of his pity party, Colton locked the shed, whistled for Sadie, who was probably down by the water, and hopped into his truck to take the rest of the day off. Too pissed at himself for being a fool, he wasn’t going to resume the sanding and painting that he had left.

  The job would only last another few days and then he’d have to figure out what to do next. Scour the job fairs? Search the Internet? Ask for family connections? No, begging for handouts was not his style. He’d rather go hungry and homeless than turn into a desperate man. He still had his pride.

  Driving through town, he spotted Rachael outside a coffee shop and pulled over and rolled down his window.

  “Well this is a welcome surprise. Here for a coffee break?”

  “I had some of your coffee and pumpkin bread earlier.”

  “My coffee? How do you know Ellie didn’t make it?”

  “Because you always put that cinnamon crap in the coffee beans.”

  “Cinnamon is not crap. So what brings you all the way into town? I mean, it’s like an entire quarter of a mile out of your way.”

  “Again the snark. What happened to sweet Rachael?”

  “She grew up. Come inside. I’ll intro
duce you to Mackenzie. She’s been dying to meet you and size you up.”

  “I’m good.” The last thing he needed was to be ogled by his sister’s friends. He’d never measure up and was tired of the constant reminder. There were some brief introductions made at Graham’s wedding but Colton had remained aloof, not talking to anyone other than his family. He’d stayed for the ceremony and once the cake was cut at the reception, he said his congratulations and left.

  “Too late. Her face is glued to the window. I can see the drool dripping down already. It’s worse than Sadie’s.”

  Rachael opened his door and Sadie jumped on his lap to greet her. She rubbed the dog’s ears and kissed her nose, then shushed her back to the passenger seat and waited for him to get out. Thankfully he didn’t look as foolish as he used to and could swing his prosthetic out and hop on to the ground in one quick move. Looping her arm through his, she led him inside Coast & Roast. The brown and white striped awning out front was mirrored inside the place, where one wall was painted with matching stripes, and the others a navy blue. Both were decorated with coffee quotes and sea shells. It smelled like a coffee shop should and had a large seating area to the left.

  “Interesting place.”

  “It’s the best. Colton, this is Mackenzie.” The introduction was unnecessary. They’d met at the wedding, Mackenzie the maid of honor and him a groomsmen.

  “I know.”

  Rachael ignored him, continuing on with her babbling. “She got me my first job and I’ll forever be in her debt. Mackenzie, this is my war hero brother Colton.”

  “I’m not a hero, Rach.”

  Part of him felt bad for snubbing his brother’s friends at the wedding. It wasn’t their fault the last place he wanted to be was at a social event with all eyes on him. Not that they were. It was Graham and Maggie’s day. But Colton’s stony appearance had caused a stir. He wore the monkey suit and everything. Conversation, however, was not something he’d agreed to.

  “You fought and served for our country. I’d call you a hero,” Mackenzie purred as she stuck out her hand, waiting for him to do the same. When he did, she didn’t shake, but held firm, caressing his palm. Normally, before the accident, an obvious invitation would have him hauling the woman back to his hotel or truck or bathroom, whatever he could find, but there was no river of lust flowing through his veins even though the woman was a beauty.

  “Just did what I got told to do.” He pulled his hand away and tucked them both into the pockets of his fatigues, a reminder that he needed to get some civilian clothes. Maybe today since he wouldn’t be working.

  “How did you do it, Rachael? Growing up in a house with three hunks?”

  “Four,” Rachael corrected.

  There was a flash of something—wicked, maybe?—in Mackenzie. “Oh yeah. I forgot about Blake.”

  “Blake? He’s ugly as sin.” Colton surprised himself by teasing his brother. He hadn’t done that in a long time.

  “Colton,” Rachael reprimanded, “that’s not nice.”

  He shrugged and grinned. They all knew Blake was the ladies’ man in the family. His carefree attitude mirrored Graham’s and they both always had a stream of women at their door. It had been a few years since Colton had been out with Blake, and he assumed nothing had changed in his brother’s love life.

  Colton’s, however, was about as active as a first grader’s. Which is why the lack of sexual attraction to Mackenzie surprised him. Her short dark hair and wild eyes didn’t do it for him. Instead the single mother with messy hair and a tattered flannel robe brought a feverish pulse through his veins and into his groin.

  Growing uncomfortable with Mackenzie’s flirty eyes while she chatted to Rachael about brownies and pies, he interrupted them by placing a kiss on Rachael’s head.

  “I gotta go, sis. Just stopped by to say hi.”

  “Oh. Sorry. I’m heading back to the inn to help out Ellie anyway. Can you give me a lift? I walked down this morning and left my car there.”

  A trip to the mall to grab some jeans and a sweatshirt sounded better than facing Ellie again. He couldn’t let his sister down, though. “Sure.” He’d drop her off in the small parking lot and peel out of there before Ellie noticed him. Maybe Rach would go shopping with him, pick out a few things. He hated going into stores and rummaging through racks of clothes and had no idea where to shop around here.

  “Hang on. Almost forgot. Requests from the locals.” Mackenzie handed Rachael a slip of paper.

  “Eggnog-filled donuts? Let’s get through Thanksgiving first.” Rachael tucked the slip in the pocket of her jeans.

  “You’re seriously going to disappoint the Merks?”

  “Oh, you didn’t say the request was from them. Consider it done.”

  “So you’re going back to the Inn to make donuts for the locals?” Colton asked.

  “Actually, I’m going to Jake’s work site in Kennebunk to grab his truck for Ellie.”

  “Why does she need his truck?”

  “She wants to get some decorations for the Inn from a local farm and can’t fit everything in her small car. Oh.” Rachael put her hand on his forearms and smiled brightly. “What about your truck?”

  “What about my truck?”

  “Can you loan it to her? Or maybe you can go together.”

  “Don’t try to play matchmaker. It’s not gonna happen.”

  “Dangit. All the good ones are taken.” Mackenzie hugged Rachael before winking at Colton. “Let me know if it doesn’t work out between you and Ellie. I don’t have a problem with sloppy seconds.” She blew him a kiss before returning to the counter to wait on customers.

  “Is she serious?”

  “Mackenzie? I don’t think so. She’s a flirt, that’s all. About your truck.”

  If Ellie needed his help, why didn’t she ask him? Why go to his sister’s fiancé for help when Colton had a truck sitting in her driveway every day?

  Unfortunately Keith and Doreen brought him up too well. Never let a woman do a man’s job, his dad would say, while his mom would argue that she was fit and able to do anything a man could do. His father always stepped in and took care of the hard, manual labor before she could lift a finger.

  “Fine. I’ll help. Tell me what she needs.”

  ***

  Two hours later he pulled back into the Inn’s parking lot for the third time that day. He hadn’t a clue what she was going to do with eight bales of hay and four dozen dead corn stalks. The pots of mums he could understand. Women liked flowers and crap.

  Not knowing what to do with the loot, he hopped out of the truck, thankful his prosthetic didn’t hurt so much anymore, and was careful not to make too much noise as he climbed the porch steps. They too would have to be replaced in the next year. The wood was holding up okay but after another winter they’d be no good.

  Not that he cared. He wouldn’t be around. Unsure whether to knock or let himself in, he erred on the quieter route. It wasn’t like the door lead to her house or private rooms; all guests and visitors used the front door.

  This was only the second time he’d come in the front, and without the shock of seeing Ellie for the first time, he took a moment to study his surroundings. She’d done a nice job decorating the place so it felt inviting and not stuffy. Casual but elegant. With money as no object, he supposed she could afford to do so.

  Ellie must have gone to college and majored in interior design as she had planned. Good for her. Just because Colton didn’t go after his dream didn’t mean she couldn’t meet hers. He wondered if her rich, snobby husband had made her drop out of college and start a family, with her as his arm candy while he did his political bullshit. Most likely the ass had an affair and left Ellie high and dry, a young kid in tow.

  Tamping down another bout of resentment and jealousy, Colton made his way down the hall, through the dining room, and into the kitchen. Rachael said Ellie didn’t like to cook, which was why she’d hired Rachael, but the smell from the kitchen said other
wise.

  “Is that you, Rachael? I’m heating up some of your chicken noodle soup. It’s the only thing CJ will—” she cut herself off when she noticed Colton standing in the doorway.

  “I…I was expecting Rachael.”

  “I have a truckload of stuff. Where do you want me to put it?”

  “Stuff? Like loud machines and hammers? Maybe a marching band?” Ellie cocked her eyebrow and stuck out her chin. Damn, she was cute.

  “Dead stuff.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Dead grass. Dead corn stalks. But the flowers and pumpkins are alive.”

  “Oh.” She set the ladle down and put the lid back on the pot. “You picked up my order?”

  “Yup.”

  “Oh.” He could read the struggle in her face. She was still pissed at him for this morning and was surprised he’d picked up her decorations. “Thank you.”

  “Sure.” He rubbed his beard, trying to appear casual when all he wanted to do was see if her lips still tasted like honey and peaches. “Where should I unload it?”

  “You don’t have to do that. I can unload it.”

  “I’m not an invalid,” he echoed her words from this morning.

  “I never said you were. But you’re definitely an ass.”

  “Mommy?”

  A little boy with messy blond hair and sleepy eyes walked into the kitchen wearing football pajamas and a frown.

  “Hey, big guy. How are you feeling?” Ellie gave her son a hug and touched his forehead. “You feel much cooler. Ready for some soup?” She picked him up as if he weighed nothing and he wrapped his legs and arms around her, resting his head on her shoulder.

  “Okay.” He sounded tired.

  Ellie set him on the counter and looked up at Colton with shock, like she’d forgotten he was in the room. Her eyes went round as saucers, like they did the first day, and she scooped her son back into her arms, as if shielding him from Colton.