Chapter 4
He was perfect. Hard, ready, and looking at me like I was the only thing that mattered.
I wrapped my hand around him, and he hissed, “Is this okay?”
“God, yes.”
I stroked him slowly, watching his face. The way his eyes went dark. What made him clench his jaw. The way his hips lifted into my touch without him meaning to.
“You’re so responsive,” I murmured.
“Only for you.”
I leaned down, pressed a kiss to his hip. Then lower.
“Autumn. Oh fuck.”
My mouth closed over him, and he came apart.
His hand fisted in my hair. Not pulling. Just holding. Grounding himself while I took him deeper.
“That’s—you feel—” He couldn’t finish sentences. Good.
I worked him with my mouth and hands. Taking him as deep as I could.
“I’m close.” His voice cracked. “Autumn, I’m…”
I didn’t stop.
He came with a shout, his whole body going taut, and I stayed with him through it.
When I finally pulled back, he looked beautiful and wrecked.
“Come here.” He tugged me up and kissed me hard. “That was—you’re—I can’t form words.”
“Good.”
He rolled us so I was beneath him. “My turn. Again.”
“You already…”
“And I’m going to again.” His hand slid between my legs, found me soaking wet. “You liked that. Liked having me in your mouth.”
“Yes.”
Then he grabbed a condom from his jeans. Thank God one of us was thinking. He slid into me slowly.
We both groaned.
“You feel incredible,” he breathed against my neck.
“So do you.”
We moved together, finding a rhythm that felt like coming home. His hands were everywhere. My nails in his back. Our mouths meeting in desperate, messy kisses.
“Autumn.” He thrust deeper. “I’m…”
“Me, too.”
We fell together, tangled and sweaty and perfect.
I woke up to sunlight streaming through my window and a very warm, very naked man wrapped around me like a human blanket.
Cole. Right. I’d slept with Cole Stone.
Multiple times. Once at 3 AM, when he’d woken me up with kisses and whispered dirty things in my ear that made me forget my own name.
His arm draped across my waist. Warm breath tickled the back of my neck. His morning erection pressed against my ass with what I could only describe as optimistic enthusiasm.
Cole’s hand flexed on my stomach, pulling me closer. He made a sleepy sound, half groan, half hum.
“Morning,” he murmured against my neck.
“Morning.”
“What time is it?”
I craned my neck to see the clock. “Seven-thirty.”
“Too early.” He kissed my shoulder. “Go back to sleep.”
“I have to work.”
“Call in sick.”
“I own the place. I can’t call in sick to myself.”
“Sure you can. Tell yourself you have a very serious condition.”
“Like what?”
His hips rolled against mine, deliberate and dirty. “Like a man in your bed that isn’t finished worshiping you.”
Heat pooled low in my stomach. “That’s not a medical condition.”
“It should be.” He nipped my earlobe, his hand sliding down my stomach. “I prescribe at least two more orgasms before you’re allowed to leave this bed.”
“I want to so bad, but Eli and the rescue need me.”
“Okay. Five more minutes.” He kissed my forehead. “Please.”
I couldn’t say no to that. Didn’t want to.
We lay there, tangled together, while morning light painted patterns on the ceiling.
“Tell me something,” he said.
“Like what?”
“Anything. Something you’ve never told anyone.”
I thought about it. “I wanted to be a vet.”
“Yeah?”
“When I was a kid. I thought I’d go to vet school, open a practice, save all the animals.
” I traced patterns on his chest, following the lines of muscle.
“I got into vet school after three years of undergrad. I had a breakdown during a clinical rotation. I couldn’t handle it.
The euthanasia. Watching animals suffer. ”
“That’s not weakness.”
“Feels like it sometimes. Like I couldn’t hack the hard parts.”
“You save animals every day. You just found a different way to do it.” He tilted my chin up, making me look at him. “That’s not failing. It’s adapting.”
“When did you get so wise?”
“I’m not.” He kissed me, soft and sweet. “Your turn. Ask me something.”
“The tattoo on your ribs. What does it say?”
He shifted so I could see it better. The script read: “The song remains the same.”
“Led Zeppelin,” I said.
“My mom’s favorite band. She used to play them while she cooked dinner. Dad hated it. Said it was devil music, but she didn’t care.” His voice softened. “She died when I was seventeen. Cancer. Fast and brutal.”
“Cole.” I pressed my hand over the tattoo. “I’m sorry.”
“Me too.” He covered my hand with his. “Music was our thing. She’s the reason I kept writing even when Dad told me to quit, because she would’ve wanted me to.”
We lay in silence for a moment, our breathing synced.
“We’re getting deep for a morning after,” I commented.
“Is that okay?”
“Yeah. It’s good.”
He smiled, kissed me again. “Shower with me?”
“I don’t think my water heater can handle two people.”
“Then we’ll be fast.”
We were not fast.
I arrived at the rescue twenty-five minutes late, my hair still damp, wearing yesterday’s clothes, and sporting what could only be described as a face that had been thoroughly kissed.
Eli took one look at me and slow-clapped.
“Shut up,” I quipped.
“I haven’t said anything.”
“You’re thinking it very loudly.”
“I’m thinking that you look like you got railed into next week, and I’m incredibly proud of you.”
“ELI.”
“What? I’m supportive!” He followed me into my office. “So? How was it? Details. Now.”
“I’m not discussing my sex life with you.”
“You absolutely are. That’s the price of friendship. I listened to you cry over your ex for six months. You owe me good sex stories.”
I collapsed into my desk chair. “It was good.”
“Good like ‘pleasant’ or good like ‘I’ve seen God’?”
Heat flooded my face. “The second one.”
“YES!” Eli pumped his fist. “I knew it. That man has big dick energy. I could tell.”
“You’re a menace.”
“I’m invested in your happiness.” He perched on my desk. “When are you seeing him again?”
“Tonight. After his show.”
“You’re going to the show this time, right?”
I hesitated. “Should I?”
“Autumn. He’s leaving in three days. If you want whatever this is, you need to actually spend time with him. Not just naked time, though that’s clearly going well.”
He wasn’t wrong.
My phone buzzed.
Cole: Missing you already. Is that pathetic?
My heart fluttered like a teenage idiot.
Autumn: A little, but I like it.
Cole: Good. Come to the show tonight?
Autumn: Maybe.
Cole: That’s a yes. I can feel it. Front row. I’ll have them save you a seat.
Autumn: That’s very presumptuous.
Cole: It’s confidence. There’s a difference.
I smiled at my phone like an idiot.
“You’re texting him right now, aren’t you?” Eli asked.
“Mind your own business.”
“Your business is my business. That’s how this works.” He leaned over, trying to read my screen. I angled it away. “Rude.”
“It’s called privacy.”
“Overrated concept.” He stood, heading for the door. “I’m taking Luna to her foster home today, by the way. The family seemed great.”
“Good. She deserves good.”
“So do you, you know.”
I looked up. Eli’s expression had gone serious.
“I know you’re scared. But Cole? He seems like the real deal. Again, don’t sabotage it before you give it a real chance.”
“What if it doesn’t work?”
“What if it does?”
He left before I could argue.
I stared at my phone. At Cole’s texts. At the evidence that someone wanted me, found me desirable, made me feel things I’d forgotten I could feel.
Autumn: Okay. I’ll be there.
Cole: You just made my whole day.
Cole: Also, I can’t stop thinking about this morning. Specifically the shower. And the thing you did with your mouth.
Cole: I’m hard just thinking about it.
Autumn: You can’t text me things like that while I’m at work.
Cole: Why not?
Autumn: Because now I’m thinking about it too.
Cole: Good. Think about me all day. Think about what I’m going to do to you tonight.
Cole: I have plans, Autumn. Very detailed plans.
My thighs clenched.
Me: You’re evil.
Cole: You like it.
I really, really did.
The venue was packed. Apparently, Cole’s following had grown since I’d last seen him. The bar overflowed with people, most of them young and screaming when he took the stage.
I stood near the back, nursing a drink, trying to blend in.
Cole spotted me anyway.
His face lit up. He adjusted his mic and grinned at the crowd.
“Before we start, I want to dedicate this first song to someone special. She knows who she is.”
The crowd oohed and ahhed.
My face burned.
He started playing a slow, beautiful ballad I didn’t recognize. His voice poured over the crowd, intimate and raw, and every word felt aimed at me.
“I wasn’t looking for you
But there you were
In a crowded room
And suddenly the world made sense.
You don’t see what I see
When you look in the mirror
But I could spend a lifetime
Showing you the truth.”
I pressed my hand to my chest. My heart raced.
“So let me
Let me love you
Let me prove that you’re worth everything.”
The song ended. The crowd erupted.
Cole’s eyes found mine across the room.
He mouthed: You okay?
I nodded, even though I wasn’t sure it was true.
Because falling for him was supposed to be slow and careful. Supposed to be something I could control.
This felt like freefall.
And I wasn’t sure I wanted to stop.