A knot formed in my throat, choking and bitter. “Cole . . .”
“I wanted to kill him myself,” he said, voice razor-sharp. “I swear to God, I would’ve if I could’ve gotten my hands on him. I would’ve torn that son of a bitch apart, skin and bone, because of what I knew he’d done.” The hand on my hip lifted to my cheek. “For what he took from you.”
Oh God, I couldn’t look away and I couldn’t stop him from saying what he was.
“For what he took from me,” he added, his cool blue eyes latched onto mine. “So, yeah, I feel bad and I still feel guilty at times, and I sure as fuck still want to murder that dead SOB, but what I feel about that night and how I feel about what happened to you is not why my ass is sitting here with you in my arms. It’s not why the damn moment I heard you were back in town, I got my ass over here as soon as I could.”
The knot in my throat was expanding, threatening to claw its way up.
Cole’s thumb smoothed over my jaw as he said, “None of that is why I had you over for dinner, and I’m going to let you in on a little secret here. While I am worried about you being here unprotected, I’m also using that fact to my advantage. It’s a damn good excuse to get you to spend time with me that I’m not going to waste.”
I stared at him, my lips parted on a soft inhale. I heard what he was saying and I got it, but I . . . I couldn’t believe it. Or maybe I wasn’t ready to believe it. “Why?”
His brows flew up. “Why?” he repeated with a slight shake of his head. “You know, I was going to take this slow with you. Get comfortable with each other again, however long that takes. Maybe make it to one more date.”
Date? Dinner at his place was a date?
Everyone else was right.
As usual.
“I know I have to take it slow with you,” he continued, his blue eyes vibrant behind his thick lashes. He stared at me more and then said, “Fuck it.”
Cole slid his hand into my hair, gathering it in his fingers as he tilted my chin back. A heartbeat passed and then his mouth was on mine.
Chapter 14
Cole was kissing me.
For a handful of seconds, I was shocked and completely unprepared, but that surprise quickly faded into the background. In an instant, I wasn’t thinking of anything other than him and what was happening at this very moment.
Every part of my being focused on the arm at my back and the hand in my hair, and on his lips against mine. Every sense became hyperaware of how soft and yet firm his lips were. This kiss was sweet and all too brief.
He lifted his mouth just enough that when he spoke, his lips brushed mine. “Does that kiss tell you that I pity you?”
“No,” I whispered, eyes closed. A shiver started, spreading out of control.
“Good.” His voice was even raspier. “Because that is the last thing I’m feeling right now.”
My pulse was pounding throughout my body, heavier and faster in certain points. My hands were still in my lap, but they itched to touch him. Maybe this was too soon, too quick, but I could remember the last time I kissed someone. Eight months ago maybe? His name was Greg. We’d met at a charity function Mr. Berg was hosting. I remembered Greg kissing me, but I couldn’t recall a single detail other than that. But this? This soft brush of Cole’s lips would be something I knew I would never forget, and I . . . I wanted more.
I needed more.
Giving in to the rising tide of sensations, I unfolded my arms and lifted my hands, placing them on his chest as I leaned in and closed the tiny distance between our mouths. I slid my hands to his shoulders and my fingers dug in, curling around his shirt.
I kissed Cole back.
He drew me tight against his hard chest and stomach, and the kiss . . . there was nothing brief or soft about it this time.
Cole tasted amazing, and everywhere our bodies met, heat flowed out, invading my muscles and veins. A deep, rumbling sound radiated out from the back of his throat and felt wonderful against my chest. The tips of my breasts tingled, and the kiss went deeper. My lips parted, and he kissed me like . . . like he never expected that he would do it again. And I might’ve dreamt and fantasized this, but I never expected it to happen.
The hand at my back slipped to my hip and his hold tightened. I shifted, wanting to get closer, and he seemed to be of the same mind, because at the same time I squirmed, he dropped both hands to my hips. He lifted as I moved, and then I was straddling him, a knee planted into the couch on either side of him. There wasn’t a break in kissing. My hands were sliding, my fingers sifting through the silky strands of his hair.
A moan curled its way out of my throat as his hips lined up with mine. Holy wow. I could feel him and that definitely was not pity. That was a whole lot of arousal. My heart rate sped up, and I melted into him, into the kiss.
“Fucking hell,” he groaned against my mouth. Both of us were breathing heavy when we came up for air. “I forgot this.”
My thoughts were spinning as I opened my eyes. “Forgot what?”
“How this felt.” He slid his other hand down my throat to the nape of my neck as his hips jerked under mine. “How you felt.”
Oh my God.
He rested his forehead against mine. “How one fucking kiss makes me feel like a sixteen-year-old boy who’s never even been close to a girl.”
Oh. My. God.
“Did you?” he asked after a moment. “Did you forget?”
My eyes fluttered shut. “No,” I admitted. “I never forgot.”
The hand along the back of my neck clenched. “Does it make me an ass to admit I’m glad to hear that?”
I grinned. “I don’t think so.”
His head tilted slightly and he kissed the corner of my mouth. “I’m going to be up front with you. Okay?”
Kissing me seemed really up front, I thought, but I nodded anyway.
“I told you that the moment Derek said you were here, I didn’t think twice. I had to see you. Heading here, I honestly don’t remember what I was thinking.” He tipped his head in the other direction and kissed the other corner of my lip. “I didn’t want that side of your lip to get jealous.”
I laughed, feeling a hundred pounds lighter.
His lips curved into a grin. “When I got to the inn and I saw you . . . well, some things about my life suddenly made real fucking sense to me.”
And that made absolutely no sense to me.
Cole dragged his hand down the center of my back, causing me to shiver. He drew away and placed his hands on my hips again. Without warning, I was on my back and he was hovering above me, one hand by my waist, an elbow pressing into the cushion by my head.