Stolen Summer

Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

I stood between my house and Cole’s, trying to decide where I should go. It boiled down to who would ask the least number of questions about how I looked. Sadie’s car sat in my driveway, meaning I couldn’t sneak in as easily.

All I wanted was a freaking shower. It shouldn’t be this difficult.

I could always take a dip in the ocean or the pool, but I longed for sweet-smelling shampoo and clean soap, not salt or chlorine.

I let myself inside the Rileys’ house, closing the door softly behind me with a nearly silent click. Padding up the staircase, careful not to touch anything, I made it to my bedroom, my hand turning the knob when I heard Cole’s voice.

“You’re back.”

I groaned. My eyes closed briefly before I turned around and faced him. He looked…edible…lickable…tasty…and every other descriptive word I could come up with that implied fuckable. The tips of his fingers were smudged in charcoal, only making him sexier. After the commotion with Gianna, I’d forgotten why I’d stormed out of his house to begin with. It was coming back to me.

And the memories brought back my anger .

Cole’s gaze swept over me, taking in my stained shirt. I’d scrubbed most of the ice cream off my face, but I knew I must look a sight. “What the fuck happened to you?”

“You,” I snapped, poking him in the chest. “That’s what.”

He sniffed me. “Did you bathe in vanilla?”

“Do I look like I’ve had a bath?”

His dark eyes narrowed. “Killer,” he rumbled, prompting me to start talking.

I had a better idea.

A taste of revenge.

As if he sensed the shift in my demeanor, Cole took a step back as I took one toward him. “What are you doing?”

I took another step. And another until I stood close enough to smell him, to feel his body heat. My lips slightly curved at the corners as I held his slitted gaze. Lifting onto my toes, I let my focus shift to his lips, the silver hoop winking at me. I brought our mouths closer and closer still until his eyes started to flutter shut.

Got you.

“I’m in a sharing mood,” I whispered right before I rubbed my sticky cheek against his, transferring some of the residue onto him.

“What the hell, Arie?” He swiped a hand over the side of his face as his brows drew together.

I loved the way he growled my name like that. It was meant to be serious and threatening, but I found it hot.

I offered him a dry smile. “It’s the least I can do since it’s your fault I got an ice cream cone to the face.”

He blinked. “What are you talking about?”

“Your ex…she’s feeling pretty threatened by me, which I’m not entirely certain why since she’s scheming to marry your brother.”

Cole’s expression went from irritated with me to downright hostile. I actually flinched, the sudden change catching me off guard. It hadn’t been the sticky mess but the mention of Gianna that caused the shift.

Hatred.

He hated his ex.

“You saw Gianna,” he growled, bracing a hand on the wall .

“To my great displeasure. She was on the boardwalk with a few of her friends.”

“What did she say?” he demanded.

“That I should break things off with you, but then she said…” I swallowed. Did I tell him about Gianna wanting his brother, not him? I didn’t want to hurt him, but I got the impression he never loved her and the only thing he felt for her now was cold bitterness.

“Said what, Arie?” he prompted, growing more agitated.

There he went again with my name in that growly textured tone. Sighing, I walked into my bedroom because being that close to him screwed with my brain…and my body. “She said it’s Crew she wants.” I risked a glance at him to judge his reaction.

Cole bristled, a flash of fire sparking the flecks of gold in his eyes to flare as if they’d been doused in gasoline. His jaw tightened, and I felt sorry for his teeth. “Is that all she said?”

I shook my head, before turning away from him and dropping my bag on the center of the bed. “I didn’t give her the chance. I left before I did something that would get me arrested.”

Cole leaned in the doorframe. “Don’t underestimate Gianna.”

“You know that from experience?” I pressed my back into the post at the end of the bed.

“It’s a mistake I plan to never make again, and I’d rather save you from getting bitten by the snake.”

“How are we going to stop her from coiling her tail around your brother and trapping him for life?”

His eyes refocused on my face. They shifted past my shoulder, and I could see the strategies brewing. For the first time since I agreed to stay with Cole for the summer, I wanted to help him not for the money but because Gianna struck a chord inside me.

He gave me a calculated look. “I’m still working out the details.”

“Let’s take this bitch down,” I said when he only continued to stare at me.

Cole shook his head. “You don’t know what you’re getting into. I never should have involved you.”

“Too late. I’m involved.” I walked to the dresser where I’d stashed some of my clothes and pulled out a matching comfy set of shorts and a tank, careful not to get shit all over the clean outfit. My eyes flicked back to Cole.

He didn’t look happy about what I’d said, and his lips pulled down into a wicked frown. “You’re right. I should end this before you get hurt. You should leave.”

My brow arched. “Are you kicking me out?”

Darkness claimed his eyes but not in anger or harshness. It was desire. “No, because selfishly, I want you here.”

My nipples puckered under my shirt. “If we cut the snake’s head off, will she grow two?” I asked, moving to the adjoining bathroom.

I caught Cole’s lips cracking with a touch of amusement before I slipped inside. “Probably.”

Kicking my shorts off, I removed my shirt, leaving the bathroom door open. It wasn’t an invitation, but I also wouldn’t tell him to get out. I was living on the edge. Today was “fuck it” day. Consequences be damned. “Not going to lie, she looks like the kind of girl who would eat her kids,” I said, moving to the shower.

His chuckle reached me. “She would,” he assured, his voice carrying into the bathroom.

The water sputtered out of the showerhead before fully raining down. While I waited for the temp to heat up, I stripped off my undergarments. “What did you ever see in her?” I asked, stepping into the shower. I dunked my head under, relieved to finally get this shit out of my hair.

When he didn’t answer, I assumed he’d left, leaving me to shower.

I was wrong.

He stepped into the shower fully clothed. “I’m still trying to figure it out. It feels like I’ve woken from a bad dream, and for the first time in months, I can see through the haze.”

I kept my gaze on his face. “You could have just said for sex.”

His lips twitched as he lifted a hand, brushing a stray strand of hair that had fallen forward behind my ear. Water soaked his white tee and sweats, molding them to his body.

“What are you doing?” I murmured throatily, his touch doing something to my ability to speak.

He’d only looked at my face until now, and as his eyes made a slow perusa l of my wet body, my cheeks burned. It was nothing he hadn’t seen before, but I hated pretending his stare didn’t do wicked things to me inside.

Water beaded over his head as he moved under the shower—moved closer to me. He was too pretty. Too devilish. Too intoxicating for his own good. “Breaking all the rules,” he murmured in return.

And then he took my mouth.

My body ignited the moment his lips touched mine. He tasted like trouble, heartache, and promises neither of us could keep, and yet, I willingly tortured myself, sinking deeper into his kiss.

Water rained over our faces, and I threaded my fingers into his hair before it became completely soaked. His mouth was luscious and sweet, coaxing me to part for him, to let him in deeper.

Addicted, I couldn’t deny him anything.

Our tongues tangled, and in my next breath, Cole had me pinned to the shower wall, his fingers pressing into my hips, holding me captive. Blood pumped harder and faster in my veins, making me lightheaded, or perhaps it was Cole’s lips that had me feeling dizzy.

I wanted to blame the desperate need assaulting me and clawing within me, need suppressed for too long, but I had this sinking suspicion it was Cole. Any other guy wouldn’t have been able to entice such powerful desires.

His kiss seared me to my soul. Why him? Why his lips? Why did every molecule of my body respond to him? It wasn’t just the way he kissed, which was fucking exceptional. His sinful scent unleashed a devilish side of me. His smile made me want to break laws. His body made me want to get to my knees.

I was doomed.

Couldn’t it have been any other guy?

I might have never met Crew, but I didn’t understand Gianna’s obsession with him, not when she had Cole. Why would she give this up? Of course, rational Arie could think of a few reasons just not when his mouth moved over mine, demanding a response I was all too eager to give.

His voice was rough as he said, “Do you have any idea how perfect you ar e? How utterly tempting? You walk into a room, and I instantly fucking want you.”

“What are you waiting for?” I murmured, my head angling to the side as he dragged his lips just under my ear, his silver hoop cooling my flushed skin.

Steam billowed around us.

His lush mouth turned into a deep frown. “I crave you.”

My breathing hitched. “Why do you make it sound like it’s a bad thing?”

His fingers grazed the under swell of my breast as his eyes watched my reaction. “Because I don’t deserve you. Because I’m a selfish asshole. Because?—”

I kissed him before he could continue listing all the reasons he shouldn’t want me. I’d heard enough.

And none of it mattered, not since the words I crave you left his mouth.

I craved him too and was rewarded when his hand cupped my heavy, aching breast, the pad of his thumb running over my budded nipple.

A shiver raked through me. Part of me longed to savor this moment, to drag out what I’d thought about every night I slept under this roof with him down the hall, but my hunger made me impatient and greedy. Prolonging wasn’t an option.

Not this time.

But the second or even the third, I could spend more time exploring his body, discovering what made him moan and what drove him to the edge. I would very much enjoy driving Cole Riley mad with desire, and the thought alone had my core pulsing.

Why were we always wet or in water when things heated up between us?

Removing soaked clothes sucked, but it was so worth the effort.

My hands drifted to the hem of his shirt, gripping the fabric and shoving it up and over his head.

“Killer,” he moaned the second I broke the kiss.

I was too busy appreciating his wet chest. His delectable body was what dreams were made of…every hard line of him inked with a tapestry of art. I ran the tip of my nails along the butterfly’s wings tatted in the cent er of his chest. My tongue swiped over his bottom lip, toying with the hoop. He had it in tonight, and it was becoming my weakness.

His sweatpants plopped to the tiled floor with a soggy slap.

My hand slipped into the tight boxer briefs molded to outline every part of him, including his erection. He moaned as I wrapped my fingers around him, and his eyes closed as he placed a hand on the wall, bracing himself. I could see the visible lines of pleasure and restraint on his face. He was so hard in my hand.

Despite promising I’d never stoop so low as to sleep with one of the stereotypical rich boys Fallen Oaks was littered with, I wanted Cole.

Maybe he was different than the others.

Maybe I’d changed.

I couldn’t help it—couldn’t deny how much I wanted him, and I’d grown tired of fighting my feelings.

My hand glided over him in slow movements, the water making him slick. I brushed my thumb over his smooth tip.

His head dipped, and he flicked his tongue over my nipple. My nails dug into the muscles of his back, and I sunk my teeth into my lower lip, yet the whimpers still left me. They turned into a moan when I felt the brush of cool silver from his piercing on the sensitive bud.

“Cole,” I whimpered.

The muscles under my nails bristled, and for a breath, I wondered if I’d done something wrong. His stormy eyes brimming with lust captured mine. “Less talking,” he growled right before he crushed his lips on mine. Our mouths moved together as if we’d been kissing each other for years instead of mere weeks.

“I don’t have condoms on me. This will have to do for now, Killer,” he murmured, slipping a finger inside my wet folds. I was damn ready for him, and one finger wasn’t going to cut it.

“I don’t care. Just don’t stop. I need more.” My hips pushed his finger deeper inside me while his thumb brushed over my nub, the friction sending me into a frenzy of lust. Steam danced in the air, weaving around our entwined bodies. The water sliding down my skin was like tantalizing drops I felt everywhere. My head dropped to the tiled wall as I held onto Cole’s shoulders.

He kissed the column of my throat while his fingers did things I could only descri be as magic, the inferno he created building in me. With each swirl and thrust of his fingers, I surrendered to him, to the sensations he created, and I had never felt more alive in my life.

My breathing hitched as he took my nipple into his mouth, and I clenched and pulsed around his finger. My hips moved, matching the rhythm he set. Oh God. Dear God. I was so off the damn path of sanity. I didn’t know how I got here, but I never wanted it to end. My pulse hammered as I so greedily took the pleasure Cole offered.

Unsure if my languid legs would support me, I took the risk, sliding one hand off Cole’s shoulder and down his chest. My hand moved farther south until I reached the hardest part of him, and I tentatively touched the wet tip, teasing at first, but I was way past the point of toying with each other. I ached to have him inside me.

He sucked in a hiss, all the encouragement I needed.

My fingers wrapped around him, his skin silky yet so goddamn firm. I took in every impressive inch in one slow stroke.

“Arie.” My name vibrated from his chest.

I bit my lip, a breathless whimper escaping me.

He put his teeth around my nipple and applied just the right amount of pressure. Then he moved to the other one, raking his teeth across the sensitive bud, and it hurtled me over the edge. I fell. And Cole was right there with me, pulsing under my hand. Pleasure coursed through me, and the world ripped apart. There was nothing but consuming satisfaction and Cole’s lips as he kissed me until the world began to reform?—

Crash.

The last tingles of orgasm working its way through my body halted at the sudden disruption. I didn’t know what it was. Not at first. Not with my mind barely functioning, but it sounded as if it had come from the first floor, and it had been loud enough to be heard over the shower.

I jerked, my heart jumping into my throat after just running a damn marathon. It made me feel as if I couldn’t catch my breath. “Did you hear that?” I asked in a winded whisper, glaring through the frosted glass doors as I braced my back on the tile.

“It’s probably Brody,” Cole reasonably replied except the straining of his muscles betrayed him. His eyes which had been so full of lust sharpened .

The water temperature cooled, which felt amazing on my flushed skin. “Didn’t he go back to the city?” I asked, an uneasy feeling tapping down my spine and fucking with my feel-good-after-orgasm high.

Tension radiated off him. “Yeah, he was supposed to. Stay here,” he ordered, releasing me and stepping out of the shower.

I hated the chill that rushed over me at the loss of his heat, and he had another thing coming if he thought I’d stay behind. “Like hell. I’m not getting murdered in the shower.” Leaving the water running, I tiptoed out of the stall behind Cole, grabbed a towel, and wrapped it around my chest, careful to follow close to him without stepping on his heels. We dripped water all over the polished floors.

In usual Cole fashion, he ignored me, securing a towel around his waist as he entered the bedroom. “Lock the door behind me.”

I did no such thing.

It took Cole a few stealthy steps into the hall to realize I still trailed him. He shot a ruthless glare over his shoulder and made me consider unfastening the towel tied at his waist. He wanted to scold me but also didn’t want to risk scaring off an intruder if it wasn’t Brody downstairs.

Cole paused at his open bedroom door, leaning in and grabbing something from inside. It turned out to be a bat. At least it wasn’t his gun. I hadn’t fully processed Cole having a gun, let alone knew how to handle it. The house could be hidden with weapons for all I knew.

Instead of frightening me, I found a sense of comfort in the thought.

In any other situation, I’d be dying on the floor, clutched in laughter at the sight of Cole in nothing but a towel and a wooden bat clenched in his hands.

As we descended the stairs, I didn’t hear a sound except for the pounding of my heart. It hammered in my chest, my adrenaline spiking as we reached the first floor. The sun had gone down quickly, basking the house in a soft evening dusk, offering enough of its orange glow to light the way.

Nothing looked out of place. The security alarm was activated. The doors were bolted and locked. No shadows lurked around the corners. It all seemed normal until…

Holy shit.

Cole came to a sudden halt, and I bumped into his solid back, the muscle s there coiled tight. Steadying my hands on his upper back, I peeked around his form to see what caused his tension. Broken glass shards were shattered over the couch and on the floor.

Someone had thrown a brick through the window.

Cole scowled at the mess, lowering the bat to the floor. “Son of a bitch,” he hissed.

I stepped up beside him surveying the damage. “Who would do this?”

His eyes remained sharp and narrowed. “Stay away from Gianna. I mean it,” he said in a low voice. It wasn’t a direct answer to my question, but it gave me insight into who he thought was responsible for tonight’s vandalism.

A balmy breeze entered the house, carrying traces of salt and seaweed through the jagged glass. “Or what, she’ll throw a brick at my head?” To be frank, it wasn’t a huge leap from ice cream for an unhinged ex-girlfriend.

His dark gaze focused on me. “She’s dangerous. And normally she doesn’t like to get her hands dirty.” Careful to avoid getting slivers of glass into his feet, Cole edged along the hall.

I watched him check the kitchen. “Meaning she has someone else do the messy business of ruining someone.”

Holding the bat down at his side, he turned to face me where I lingered in the hallway. “Or worse.”

I blinked, feeling exposed and vulnerable in only a towel. Not the attire I’d want to be killed in. “Are you talking murder? She wouldn’t.”

Cole said nothing, his jaw tightening.

Tendrils of worry skittered through my blood. It might be wise to stop writing Gianna off as a crazy ex-girlfriend. “What kind of fucking world do you live in?”

“People are killed every day, Killer.”

This was a ridiculous conversation to be having in towels. “Yeah, in drive-bys, robberies, and on TV. This is a small town that prides itself on safety.”

“Death happens everywhere. Even in Fallen Oaks,” he said, handing the bat to me.

What the fuck did he want me to do with this? Hit him in the head? Becau se I was seriously considering it. “You should call the cops. And probably warn your brother,” I said reasonably because that was what rational people did. They informed the authorities. It was always the people who remained silent who ended up in a pool of their own blood on an episode of Unsolved Mysteries .

I refused to make my debut on TV as a dead girl.

“I’ll make a few calls, and in the meantime, it’s probably best you don’t stay here.”

My chin firmed. “I’m not scared of her. Haven’t you learned anything about me yet?”

“If it’s about the money?—”

A flash of hurt speared into my chest. Did he still believe I was that shallow? “It started about the money. I won’t deny it, but it’s become personal. I’ve never quit anything in my life. I’m not going to quit on you, Cole.”

“I’m not giving you a choice.” He turned from the broken glass and jogged upstairs, leaving me staring after him.

Propping the bat in the corner, I pinched my towel in front of me and took off up the stairs. “Is she trying to scare me or you?” I shot back, staring at the twin snakes tatted on his shoulder blades.

He moved faster than me, taking more than one stair at a time. I’d barely made it up a few treads, and he was already stalking down the hall. “I don’t think it matters as long as she gets what she wants.”

By the time I reached the second floor, my lungs burned. I stopped at Cole’s doorway, finding him inside pulling on a clean pair of shorts. “Is she behind the break-in last week?” The night I got choked. I shuddered at the memory of his fingers squeezing my neck.

He looked at me, hard flecks of gold in his eyes. “I don’t have proof.”

“But you suspect her,” I added, voicing what he wasn’t.

Again, his silence was deafening.

“Cole—”

He plucked a shirt off his unmade bed. “Leave.”

“What?” I blinked, confused by the sudden harshness of his tone, of the detached attitude lining his body.

His eyes clashed with mine. “Get the fuck out of here. ”

I flinched at the cruelty darkening his eyes. Did he mean his room? The house? His life?

I needed specifics.

The way he was acting would have sent grown men running from the room, but my feet were rooted to the floor as if I’d forgotten how to walk. Or I was glutton for punishment. Perhaps a bit of both. “Why are you being like this?” I shot back, giving him a fraction of the anger he sent to me. It was my impulse to respond with the same level of intensity someone showed me.

He yanked the shirt over his head before he replied. “How many ways do you need me to say it? I no longer need you. You served your purpose. I don’t want you here. I got what I wanted. Take your pick.”

My back bristled, and my fingers clasping the towel together loosened. “You’re a fucking asshole. How could I think for even a second you were different?”

“What? Let me guess…you thought I could have feelings for someone like you?” An ugly nastiness moved into not just his tone but his features as well. Like the idea of caring for me made him dirty or gave him the ick.

Regardless, it was a reaction I knew well. I’d deluded myself into thinking Cole wouldn’t treat me like every other prestigious asshole. I hated that he made me doubt my character-assessing abilities.

“I know what you’re doing. This isn’t you,” I said but with less conviction, trying one last time for Cole to show I hadn’t been wrong about him. I wanted to believe he pushed me away for my safety. Only minutes ago, we’d been in the shower together as vulnerable as two people could get. He made me trust him, and if it had all been a lie, I knew my heart would freeze over. Doubt and old insecurities crept in.

“If you know me so well, then you know what I’m capable of and what I’m not. And I’m not capable of caring about anyone other than myself. I don’t want to see you again.” He turned his back to me dismissively like I was the help.

Maybe I was. Maybe I was just a girl he hired, no different than a maid, the driver, or the cook.

“Have it your way, but if I walk out of this house, I’m never walking back in,” I said with an air of finali ty I meant.

The hard press of his lips and the silence that followed gave me my answer.

Fuck Cole Riley.

Fuck his problems.

Fuck his money.

I wished I’d never met him.

I didn’t want to see his face again.

And he could shove his deal up his pompous ass.