CHAPTER THREE
Cole
Thirty-five years of life. Twelve years of military service. Four years running Elite. I’d survived firefights, explosions, and Jake Hawkins’s infamous cross-country training sessions.
But watching Dr. Ella Hawkins nervously fidget with her coffee cup in the corner booth of Hope Peak’s diner was doing things to my self-control that no combat training had ever prepared me for.
The morning light caught in her dark curls, making the soft waves shine. She’d traded yesterday’s sweater dress for a prim and proper button-up green shirt. No doubt, I thought, to make herself look older and more professional. It did—to a degree. But nothing could take away from the pull of those curves. Curves that had haunted my dreams last night. My hands ached to test their heavy weight. To taste the hard peaks.
My body still throbbed despite taking the longest, coldest shower of my life this morning. I shifted uncomfortably on the vinyl booth, grateful for the table between us.
“You’re staring this time,” she murmured, hiding behind her menu.
“Observing,” I countered. “It’s what security professionals do.”
She lowered the menu just enough to show those big brown eyes, now sparkling with something that looked dangerously like mischief. Her tongue darted out to wet her lower lip, and my body jerked in response. “And what are your professional observations, Mr. Sutton?”
“That you’re...” I searched for a word that wouldn’t get me shot by her brother. “Distracting.”
She dropped the menu entirely, revealing that blush that made me want to see how far down it went. A strand of hair fell across her face, and my hands twitched with the need to brush it back. To fist those soft waves while I bent her over the nearest—
“Is that a professional observation?” Her voice had gone breathy, like she could read the filthy direction of my thoughts.
“Nothing professional about the way I want to—” I caught myself, gripping my coffee mug harder. “You should try the pancakes. They’re good here.”
“Change in subject noted.” She bit her lip, and I had to look away before I did something stupid like lean across the table and bite it myself. “Did you know increased heart rate and pupil dilation are physiological indicators of arousal.”
I almost choked on my coffee. What would she say if I showed her more concrete signs of arousal? I put the mug down firmly, the sound too loud even over the hum of the morning breakfast crowd. “Ella.”
“Sorry. Medical terminology is my nervous response.” She tucked that wayward strand behind her ear, drawing attention to the delicate line of her neck. I wanted to press my lips there, feeling her pulse race under my tongue. I wanted to do so many damn things to her curvy body.
“And why are you nervous?” I shouldn’t ask. Shouldn’t encourage this attraction that was already threatening my control.
“Because I...” She sighed heavily before continuing. I braced myself. During just the short time we’d been together, I’d already learned to expect the unexpected. “Because I have, um, a request.”
“What kind of request?” I forced myself to speak in a normal tone, though my mind offered up a hundred filthy possibilities. “If this is about starting your driving lessons, we can begin this evening.”
“It’s, a, um, different kind of lesson I’d like to learn.” Her fingers traced patterns on her water glass. The innocent gesture shouldn’t have been so erotic, but of course my mind put a dirty spin on it. Of her tracing the vein on my dick as she held it in her hand before taking me into her sweet little mouth.
I rubbed my hand across my face trying to clear my thoughts. “Skiing? I can teach you that.” Tourists were always wanting to learn how to ski. I picked up my coffee to take another drink.
“No, although I would like to learn that.” She waved away her words in the adorable habit I’ve already memorized. “No. I need sex lessons.”
Coffee burned my throat as I choked this time. I stared at her through watering eyes, certain I’d finally lost my ever-loving mind. Maybe all those concussions in combat had caught up with me. Because Jake Hawkins’s little sister couldn’t possibly be sitting across from me in this diner, asking me to—
“What did you just say?”
“Sex lessons. I’d like you to teach me about sex.” She made the statement calmly as if she were asking me to teach her how to ski, but I saw the way her hand trembled as she reached for her coffee.
“Ella.” My voice came out strangled. I honestly didn’t know what to say in response. Except, hell yes. Sign me up. “Ella.”
“Little doctor.” I leaned forward, dropping my voice to ensure no one else could hear. “Are you trying to drive me crazy? Or maybe get my fucking ass beaten to a pulp by your very angry, overprotective brother?”
Her blush deepened but there was a glint in her eye that made my cock throb. “I can handle Jake.”
“You say that now,” I growled, “but you don’t know what I want to do to you. The things I want to teach you.”
The way her pupils dilated told me she wasn’t as innocent as she appeared. “Then tell me. In detail. Consider it a preliminary lesson.”
I forced myself to lean back as the waitress approached. Ella ordered pancakes, and I asked for my usual eggs and bacon. Once we were alone again, I studied her face. “You’re a virgin.”
“Yes.” She added another sugar packet to her coffee, not meeting my eyes. The nervous gesture was endearing and maddening at once.
“How is it possible that someone as beautiful as you...” I paused, choosing my words carefully. “That no one has ever...”
She laid her spoon down with deliberate care. “Would you believe I was too busy with medical school? And then the accident kind of threw my life into chaos.”
“Too busy. For anything?” I thought med students were smart. Apparently not if they had let her get away without showing her exactly what her curvy body was made for. Images of all the things I could teach her flooded my mind.
She fidgeted with her napkin. “I’ve had dates. A few kisses. But nothing... significant. Statistically speaking, about fewer than fifteen percent of people in their late twenties are still—”
“Ella.” I captured her restless hands in one of mine. Her fingers were small, delicate compared to my scarred ones. The contrast made something primitive in me nod with satisfaction. Then of course my thoughts turned to our other contrasts. Her curves, my hardness. My fucking hardness. I moaned silently, my cock a throbbing rod of steel in my pants. “Stop quoting statistics.”
“Mr. Sutton,” she said primly, though her pulse raced where my thumb brushed her wrist. “If you’re going to hold my hand like that while looking at me that way, I’m going to need to recite the entire nervous system to stay composed.”
A laugh escaped me. “Is that so?”
“Absolutely. Starting with the autonomic response that you’re currently triggering.”
I raised one eyebrow. “And which one would that be?”
She looked me directly in the eye as if she wasn’t affected by her own words. I knew differently. She might be able to recite the why and how of a body reacting under certain conditions, but then so could I. I knew the signs of fear, sadness, vulnerability. I knew bravado when it was staring me in the face. And underneath her clinical terms and sass, I could see she was nervous. Excited, but nervous.
“That my panties are wet. Very, very wet.”
I wanted to drop my head in my hands. Curse whatever alignment of the planets had led to this moment in my life, then, turn around and thank the fucking fates that it had.
“Do you know what naughty girls get when they talk dirty?” I murmured, watching her eyes widen and the slight adjustment she made on the seat. Was she hot and achy? Did her body even know what it needed? What it wanted?
“No,” she whispered, her hands clenching together.
“Tell me what you’ve done before, Ella.” I knew I had just crossed over the line. Gone beyond the point of no return. But I didn’t give a fuck. I’d fend off an entire army for this woman. For one taste of her lips, one touch from her hands. One fucking sip of that honey I knew was coating the inside of her thighs even as we talked.
“Kissing. Light petting. Nothing below the waist,” she recited softly.
“How many? How many men have touched you?” The thought of even innocent touches made me see red.
“Two. One in high school. One in college.”
“No one’s ever tasted you?” I knew by the look in her eyes, she knew exactly what I was asking. Had no man ever gone down on her sweet pussy?
“No.” Her answer was just a whisper of a sound, but I’d heard it. Heard it in the very depths of my soul.
“What exactly are you proposing, little doctor?”
She straightened her shoulders. “I’m proposing that while you’re teaching me to drive again... maybe you could teach me other things too.”