Chapter 25
Emma
Wren and I were as close as a mother and daughter could possibly be, but it warmed my heart every time I watched her with her father.
We’d all been together every afternoon and evening for the last week, and I felt like I was watching two peas in a pod whenever I saw or heard them interact.
I knew that Wren was a lot like me because I’d raised her, but there were traits that she had that were so similar to Colin’s that it made me smile.
I had to stop Colin at times from spoiling her rotten, but I knew that Wren would never take his generosity for granted.
She was a thoughtful kid, and she was thriving from her father’s attention.
He’d planned some kind of summer activity every day, but I could tell that he’d enjoyed anything he did with me and Wren.
He was slowly settling into his role as a father, and I was glad that Wren had another parent she could talk to about her overactive intelligence.
I had never suggested or asked her to call him Dad.
In her typical Wren behavior, she’d just decided it was the logical thing to call him.
I let out a long sigh and rolled onto my back in the bed.
We were spending the night at Colin’s place because we were leaving fairly early for the Detroit Zoo in the morning.
Wren loved the place, but we hadn’t been there in ages.
Staying here at Colin’s place tonight had been Wren’s idea because we were leaving so early in the morning, and I couldn’t refuse. She didn’t have a lot of the summer left, and I understood that she wanted to spend as much time with her father as possible.
Colin had taken us out for dinner earlier to celebrate my birthday.
He’d helped Wren buy me some perfume from her, and he’d bought me a ridiculously expensive gift that I loved.
I wasn’t sure how he’d managed to purchase the beautiful art deco bracelet he’d given me, but judging by the quality of the antique piece, it had been pricey.
Probably just as pricey as the necklace he’d given me fourteen years ago.
The stubborn man had blown off the expensive gift like it was insignificant, but I knew I was going to cherish that piece of jewelry for the rest of my life.
Go to sleep, Emma, and stop thinking about Colin.
I wanted to do exactly that, but it was hard not to think about him when we were in the same house.
Wren had chosen the bedroom upstairs, but I was downstairs.
In the bedroom next to his.
I was happy that he was getting to know his daughter, but I really missed the two of us being in the same bed.
We’d had a few stolen kisses when Wren wasn’t close by, but we’d been careful.
She needed some time to adjust to having a father.
But the sudden separation from Colin was killing me.
You’ll live, Emma. Just go to sleep!
I let out a huff of frustration and fluffed my pillow.
I was still wide awake, and I probably wasn’t sleeping anytime soon.
I was a little startled when my bedroom door suddenly opened and Colin strode into the room in his boxer briefs.
He didn’t say a word.
He simply picked me up and headed back toward the door.
“Colin?” I whispered. “What are you doing?”
“Making sure I don’t have to spend another night without you,” he grumbled as he entered his room, closed the door with his foot, and dropped me gently onto his bed.
“Wren…” I stuttered.
“She’ll never know,” he said as he took off his boxer briefs. “I’ll make sure you’re back in your own bed by sunrise. I just checked on her upstairs. She’s out cold. I’m tired of pretending that I don’t want you in my bed, Emma.”
My breath caught as I saw his fully erect cock.
He’d obviously been thinking about this for a while now.
Just like I’d been doing restlessly next door.
Wanting him so badly that I couldn’t sleep.
“I missed you,” he said grumpily as he headed toward the bed.
I smiled as I quickly undressed and tossed my nightgown and panties on the floor. “I missed you, too.”
I let out a sigh of relief as his lips met mine, and he pinned me to the bed with his massive body.
He felt so damn good that a sharp, aching need shot through my body and directly between my thighs.
I tried to stifle it, but a raw moan escaped from my lips as soon as he released my mouth.
“Fuck me, Colin,” I pleaded as I lifted my hips.
I wanted him inside me.
No fanfare.
No foreplay.
I’d been thinking about this for a week, and the foreplay wasn’t necessary right now.
“I don’t think I have the patience to do anything else right now,” he rumbled as his lips skimmed over my neck.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and lifted my hips again.
He grabbed my ass and thrust inside me with a ferocity that took my breath away.
“Yes,” I hissed as I wrapped my legs tightly around him.
This was exactly what I needed.
This kind of intimacy.
This kind of intensity.
The pure sensuality that flowed between the two of us.
His thrusts were slow and hard, and meant to drive me completely insane.
He ground against me, stimulating my clit with every forward motion.
“Colin,” I whispered in a sensual voice that I barely recognized as my own.
He rolled and pulled me on top of him. “Ride me, Em,” he said in a husky, tormented voice. “Take what you need. This isn’t going to last long for me.”
I kept up the same pace and rhythm as I looked into his desperate, wild, and utterly gorgeous gray eyes.
My heart stuttered as I realized that he was giving me complete control.
He’d never done that before.
He wanted to make sure I was satisfied because he was on the edge.
Colin trusted me, and that knowledge made my heart flutter inside of my chest.
He wasn’t a man who gave up control to anyone easily.
I did exactly what he wanted, and I savored every stroke of his cock as I rode him until I was exhausted and sweaty.
I squeaked as he roughly rolled me onto my back again.
“Fucking hell, woman,” he rasped beside my ear. “Are you trying to kill me?”
“No,” I panted as I wrapped my arms around his neck. “I’m trying to get enough of you, but I can’t.”
“I’ll never get enough of you, either, and that scares the hell out of me sometimes,” he said hoarsely.
I knew the moment his patience finally snapped.
He took my wrists, pinned them beside my head, and fucked me with an intensity that started to send me over the edge.
“You’re mine, Emma,” he said in a commanding voice. “Say it before I completely lose it.”
“Yours,” I said with a small moan that I couldn’t contain.
I’d always been Colin’s.
And he’d always been mine.
My heart had probably always known that even though my brain had rejected it for years.
My core clenched hard around his cock, and my climax consumed me.
I had to bite my lip to keep from screaming his name.
I let go completely, trusting this man that I loved to catch me when I finally fell back to Earth.
Colin followed me over the edge, but he did catch me, and then he rolled and pulled me on top of him.
“You need to stay here more often,” Colin said in a graveled voice. “I’m not sure I can stay out of your bed this long again.”
I didn’t want to be separated from him, either.
I had no idea what we were going to do when we were across the country from each other.
“Maybe you should invite us to spend the night more often,” I suggested as I ran my hand down his chest.
“You can stay here every damn night,” he grumbled. “I want you here, Emma.”
I laughed. “Do you want me to pack our stuff and move Wren and me into your place?” I teased.
“Yes,” he said in a completely serious tone.
He sounded so disgruntled that I stroked my hand over his jaw soothingly.
The two of us were in a totally hopeless situation at the moment, and it was wearing on me, too.
Wren would be going back to school soon, and Colin couldn’t stay in Cherry Cove forever.
His entire life was in California, and he’d already stayed way longer than he’d initially planned.
“I’ll tell Wren that we can stay here until she starts school,” I offered.
“I’m pacified,” he agreed. “For now.”
I snuggled against him. “For now?”
“I meant what I said, Emma. This isn’t going to be over for us. Even when I have to go back to California. I do have to get back to California because I have responsibilities there, but this isn’t over. We’re not over.”
Tears filled my eyes. “I don’t want it to be over.”
Colin and I had walked away from each other once.
Now that he was back in my life, I knew it would shatter my heart to do it all over again.