The Cowboy's Baby Surprise - A Billionaire Romance (Billionaire Cowboys Book 2) Read online

  Marissa did as Colt suggested. The hot water refreshed her, and soon, she was bundled in a thick terrycloth robe and sitting on a couch in the sunroom with Colt at her side and a cup of coffee in hand.

  “You’re really going to spend the day with me?” she asked him, as she reached for a blueberry muffin.

  “If that sounds good to you,” he said.

  As if she’d possibly be crazy enough to say no to spending the day with the handsomest, nicest guy she’d ever met. She nodded and bit into the fluffy muffin.

  “What’s on the agenda?” Colt asked.

  “Well, Jen had a few things planned, but like I told you last night, I’m thinking of scrubbing all of that and starting from scratch. I’ve always wanted to see the botanical gardens, but Jen always vetoed the idea. I figure now the time’s right—if you’re interested, that is.”

  He raised a brow. “The botanical gardens, hm?” he said. “You know what? I’ve lived in Austin for years, and I’ve never gone to the gardens.” He sipped his coffee. “Always seemed like a touristy thing to do.”

  Marissa laughed. “Well, that’s perfect then, because I’m a tourist.”

  He nodded. “True, true,” he said.

  “You want to be a tourist with me?” Marissa asked.

  “A tourist in my own city,” Colt said with a grin. “I like the sound of that.”

  A staff member walked in with Marissa’s clothes, neatly folded in a little stack in her arms. She placed them on the small table next to Marissa. Eager to get the day started, Marissa swooped them up and bounced off of the couch. “I’ll get dressed, then,” she said.

  He stood, holding his mug of coffee. “You really are intent on enjoying the simple things here in Austin, aren’t you?” he said. “I’ll call ahead for some tickets.”

  Within the hour, Colt was pulling his black SUV up to the curb in front of the botanical gardens. They spent the morning and part of the afternoon browsing the various garden beds. At times, Marissa felt herself sinking into the silence that sometimes overcame her when she was surrounded by beauty. She was happy when Colt followed suit, and she felt comfortable walking hand in hand with him without keeping up a conversation.

  At one point, as they strolled past a particularly stunning display of tulips, Marissa noticed a man dressed in jeans and a hoodie. He was wearing a black baseball hat and standing just about ten feet behind them. She paused and looked out over the flowers, which stretched out in a beautiful array of pink, purple, orange and red. The man stopped, too.

  Must be the security that Colt mentioned last night, Marissa thought.

  She considered his penthouse, which was more luxurious than any home she’d ever been in. Then, there was the way he’d been treated like a VIP the evening before, at the rodeo. Colt clearly had money, so it made sense to Marissa that he had a security guard.

  I suppose one never knows what kind of trouble can come up these days, she thought. It’s probably wise for him to have guards around just as a precaution. Then, she turned her attention back to the beautiful flowers.

  “It was just as good as I hoped it would be,” she said when the path they were on brought them out the garden’s exit. “I have no idea why Jen resisted it so much.”

  “I guess nature isn’t everyone’s cup of tea,” Colt said.

  They walked through a gate and back out onto the sidewalk in front of the gardens. A row of street vendors stretched along the wall that separated the gardens from the public.

  “Look at this!” Marissa said with a giggle. “It’s like a flea market around here! What do you think they’re selling?”

  They wandered toward one booth, and saw a tall display of postcards, fanned out on a rack.

  “Fifty cents,” the seller called out as they passed. “Hey, when can you buy a memory for fifty cents? Don’t you have friends and family who would like to know about your visit to Austin’s botanical gardens? Send them a card!”

  Marissa gave the vendor a friendly wave. “No, thanks,” she said with a smile.

  Next to the booth of postcards, there was a kiosk chock full of souvenirs. From T-shirts to baseball hats to charm bracelets, the kiosk seemed to have it all.

  “I told you it was tourist central down here,” Colt said, eyeing the wares. Then, he gave Marissa a wink. “Seeing as I’m a tourist today, I might as well do it right, don’t you think?” He stepped forward and engaged the seller in conversation. Marissa tried to keep her face straight as Colt purchased a cheap necklace on a silver-colored chain. As they stepped away from the booth, he asked, “How am I doing? Touristy enough for you?”

  “I think you’d need to stop for a selfie every three minutes in order to really nail the part,” she kidded.

  He laughed. “Okay, I’ll up my selfie game.” He pulled the necklace from the little white plastic bag that the vendor had packed it into. “Seeing as I’m not really a pink-tulip-necklace-wearing kind of guy, I might as well give this to you.”

  “Oh, you only wear tulip necklaces of the purple variety?” she joked.

  She eyed the necklace in Colt’s hand and felt her heart flutter and her cheeks flush. Did he really buy the necklace for her?

  Maybe last night wasn’t just a one-night stand, she thought.

  Would a one-night-stand kind of guy spend the entire day with her and buy her jewelry to boot?

  She didn’t think so.

  His joking grin faded. They both stopped walking. The other pedestrians around them flowed past, and Marissa had the feeling that she and Colt were on some kind of island, separate from the rest of the world.

  “Here,” he said, his voice almost a whisper. “I’ll put it on for you. If that’s okay?”

  She nodded. Her heart continued to flutter, and butterflies danced in her stomach as he inched in closer. She felt his breath on her cheek as he fastened the clasp.

  When he stepped away, she reached up and felt the cool metal of the flower pendant between her fingers. “Thank you,” she said. “I love it.”

  A car out on the street honked at a jay-walking pedestrian, and the intimate moment that Marissa felt passing between her and Colt broke.

  They continued walking along the row of vendors. As they paused to look at a selection of gardening books, Marissa happened to look over her shoulder. A figure caught her attention. He was standing about ten feet away.

  He wore jeans, a hoodie, and a black baseball hat.

  She recognized him.

  She glanced at Colt, wondering if she should mention the strange man.

  He was leafing through a gardening book, not paying any attention to the figure off in the distance

  He must be so used to having his security guards around, Marissa thought. It’d be silly to mention it.

  Colt flipped the gardening book closed and suggested lunch. Marissa agreed. As they walked back toward Colt’s parked SUV, Marissa fingered the cool metal of the tulip charm. He bought me jewelry, she thought again.

  It’s just a silly charm necklace, probably usually purchased by young girls or teens… but still… When was the last time a man gave me a gift?

  She walked alongside Colt, thinking back to the last few horrendous dates she’d been on, thanks to set-ups from family and friends. Seeing as she’d moved every few years for the last decade, always searching for the right school district to work for, dating was difficult.

  Let’s see, she thought, recalling the last few guys she’d attempted to form a relationship with.

  Nothing had progressed past a third date.

  And certainly, she’d never gotten close enough with any of them to exchange gifts.

  They reached the sidewalk near the car, and Colt used the remote control on his keys to unlock it. The car made a beeping sound.

  She turned to look at Colt.

  There’s no comparison, she thought. He’s so beyond any guy I’ve dated. He’s on another level—and the way I feel about him is, too.

  She reached for his hand and pul
led him back a few feet to the front of a display of flowers. She didn’t want to get into his car yet. There was something else she wanted to do first.

  There was a small wall in front of the colorful garden, made of shimmering silver granite. A section of blue sky just past the garden was framed on either side by buildings.

  “One photo,” Marissa said, sitting down on the stone wall and patting the empty spot beside her. “I want to remember this day for the rest of my life.”

  Colt sat by her side, and she took out her phone and quickly snapped a picture.

  Then she placed a hand on his leg, just above his knee, and turned to look him in the eye. “Thank you for the necklace,” she said, still looking into his eyes. She reached up with her free hand and touched the tulip charm. “I love it. I’ll always love it. I’m glad…” she paused, finding it difficult to find the nerve to voice her feelings.

  Seeing as she knew her time with Colt was short, she pushed past her resistance. “I’m glad we’re spending the day together, Colt. I’m not the type of girl to have one-night stands. I like this… I like getting to know you. It’s been a very long time since I’ve enjoyed another’s company this much.”

  He opened his mouth to speak, but she shook her head. “Please don’t feel like you have to say the same thing. That’s not why I said it.”

  “I do, though,” Colt said. “I feel the same.”

  He leaned into her, and Marissa met his lips with hers. Though they’d kissed many times since their first kiss on the park bench, Marissa felt a new depth of connection pass between them as her lips tasted his. She felt almost dizzy as they parted, like her world was swirling pleasantly.

  As she reoriented herself to her surroundings, sitting on the stone wall, a flash of light caught her eye.

  It came from Colt’s SUV—inside of it.

  It was like a camera flash, only brighter.

  The bright white light blinked out and then erupted into a red, orange, and yellow explosion the size of which Marissa had never seen. The SUV shattered from the inside out, and then the booming sound of the explosion echoed in her ears, rattling around in her skull as she watched in horror.

  Chapter 5

  Marissa

  Marissa felt Colt’s body press down protectively over her like a shield, knocking her flat into the soil of the garden bed behind the wall.

  An intense ringing filled her ears. She squeezed her eyes shut. The sharp scent of explosives and burning plastic filled the air. A jolt of searing pain passed through her as something sharp struck the back of her hand, which lay exposed just outside of the cover that Colt was providing with his body.

  The pain in her hand continued. She kept her eyes closed. After a moment, she felt Colt roll off of her.

  “Marissa, are you okay?” he asked urgently.

  She opened her eyes and saw Colt jump up. Just past him, the skeleton of his SUV was still smoking, and several small fires in the interior smoldered, hot and red. The area around the vehicle was clear except for debris and black ash. A small crowd of people was gathering, a few of them on their phones, probably calling for help.

  She lifted her hand. “I’m okay,” she said, her voice shaky. “It’s just my hand—a small cut, I think. Are you okay? What just happened?”

  Colt nodded. “I’m okay.”

  There was a small cut on one of his cheeks, and she noticed a rip in one of his pant legs. His arms were covered in dirt, thanks to the way he tackled her into the soil. He was looking around, now. “Is anyone hurt?” he called out.

  Marissa quickly saw that no one had been hurt. The sound of sirens in the distance became louder and louder. Then, two men ran up to the scene from the left, and another team of two ran in from the right. At the same time, a black SUV that matched Colt’s screeched to a stop just behind the wreckage. One of the men was speaking on a radio, and Marissa heard him say, “…have him in sight, and it looks like he’s unharmed. The woman is with him.”

  She felt pressure at her elbow, as one of the men attempted to help her up.

  She resisted. “Let go of me!” she shouted, batting at the man.

  Colt reached for her shoulder and looked into her eyes. “It’s okay,” he said. “This is my security team. You can trust them.”

  Marissa’s whole body was shaking uncontrollably. The man at her elbow, who was young and had a brown buzz-cut, attempted to get her to stand again. This time, she succumbed to his prompting. “This way, ma’am,” he said. “Follow me right over to this car.”

  She climbed into the SUV and was joined by Colt and the young security guard who had assisted her. Another two guards jumped into the front seat, and soon they were pulling out into the street and weaving through traffic at top speed.

  Colt leaned forward so that his head was between the two front seats. “What was that? Charlie, you want to explain what happened back there?”

  The man driving, an older gentleman with silver hair and a thick mustache, turned slightly and spoke as he steered the car past a tour bus. “Seems Vance and his guys are directly behind this, Colt,” he said. “We had surveillance set up around the gardens, and our bravo team saw him at the north entrance at 9:55. We were following him, but under the false assumption he was on his own.” He shook his head regretfully.

  The muscular guard in the passenger seat spoke up. “He’s been operating solo for several weeks, now. We assumed he would be on his own today. That was our mistake.”

  Colt shook his head. “I’m not looking to lay blame on anyone,” he said. “That’s not what this is about.”

  The car fell silent.

  Marissa felt her breath coming from her lungs in little shallow bursts. Her whole body was still trembling, and there was still a faint ringing in her ears. Her hand stung where it had been punctured.

  The driver, Charlie, spoke again. “He must have been operating with a team today. While we had eyes on him in the garden, his team was wiring up your car.”

  Colt muttered an expletive and put his head in his hands.

  The young guard with the buzzcut in the back seat spoke up. “What were you doing, out in a public place like that? We told you to lay low. Are you bent on making our job difficult? Trying to stake out that place would—”

  Charlie interrupted the young guard, “That’s enough,” he said. “You remember who you’re working for there, newbie.”

  The young man bit his tongue.

  Colt sat up straighter and ran his hand through his hair. “You’re right. I’m making your jobs harder.” He swore again.

  Charlie spoke. “Colt, you did nothing wrong. It’s our job to protect you, and we failed at that. Everyone was okay—this time,” he said. “Vance is getting more serious about his threats. I called in the entire team, and we’re going to talk about our next move.”

  They drove on in silence. Marissa tried to wrap her mind around what the men were saying, but she had trouble focusing. The ringing in her ears sometimes faded, but sometimes grew more intense. A headache was blossoming in the back of her skull.

  An explosion, she thought.

  I witnessed an explosion.

  Thank God no one was hurt.

  But what if Colt and I hadn’t stopped for the photo? We would have been in that car.

  We would both be black ash on the street right about now.

  The thought chilled her to the core, and her body gave a violent, involuntary shudder.

  Colt noticed and reached his arm around her. She leaned into him, grateful for his strong presence.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered. He kissed her head. “I’m so sorry.”

  I don’t understand, thought Marissa. What is he sorry about?

  Who is this Vance guy that they’re all talking about?

  She was confused but too shocked to voice her confusion.

  The rest of the car ride passed in a blur. When they arrived at Colt’s penthouse, the security team had her and Colt wait in the car while they performed a thoro
ugh check of the building’s interior and exterior. Once it was cleared, they handed Colt and Marissa each a bulletproof vest to wear while being led from the car into the building.

  As Marissa threaded her arms into the vest, she felt the chill of fear overtake her again.

  This is so that I don’t get shot, she realized. What, do they think a sniper is waiting out there, hoping to gun us down? Why?

  Who is Colt, and what is he involved in?

  This last thought sent a shockwave of searing, sharp doubt through her.

  She forced her legs to move as the young security guard helped her from the SUV. The vest was heavy on her shoulders. She felt like she was dreaming as she hurried into the building.

  Once inside, relief flooded her. She’d never been so scared in all of her life, or so grateful to reach the inside of a building safely. Hot tears slid down her cheeks as the guards accompanied them into a sitting area in one section of Colt’s penthouse.

  Colt positioned himself on the couch next to her, but his presence did little to comfort her. Now that she had doubts about him, she had no solid ground to stand on.

  A guard with a first aid kit knelt in front of her and tended to her hand, the antiseptic stinging. Then, he dabbed a clear liquid on Colt’s cuts.

  More guards entered the room, and a meeting started up.

  Charlie positioned a whiteboard on a tripod at the front of the sitting room. “This is the block that the gardens are on. The car was positioned here,” he said, drawing a mark. “My reckoning is that he was aware we had eyes on all four entrances and exits to the gardens. He must have had his men…”

  Marissa tuned out the guard’s words. They didn’t make sense.

  She began to cry harder.

  Colt rubbed her arm gently, but she pulled away. Suddenly, she didn’t care that she was in a room full of people in a meeting. She only cared about getting answers—from Colt.

  She turned to face him and was only vaguely aware that she was interrupting Charlie as she spoke. “Who are you?” she demanded, wiping tears from her eyes. She inched away from him further. “Colt, I really need to know. Right now.”