25. Flight Risk #3
He holds me still while his fingers weave around my back and once again plunge into my ass. I’m so…full. The need to move, to grind against him, to seek release is so overwhelming I whimper against his neck.
“Please, Cole. Please.” He made me beg, and I’m not even mad about it.
Slowly, he lifts me off his cock and eases me onto my back. He’s holding my thighs open, and he just…stares.
I’m so on edge I can’t take another minute, and my hand slides down my stomach, trying to relieve the pressure by pressing hard on my clit.
Cole smirks down at me, then he slides forward. The head of his cock bobs, and he rests my right leg against his shoulder while he guides himself to my ass.
I stare in awe as he uses his hand to hold himself to my hole.
Pressure. Pleasure. Pain.
I tense, and he clucks. Fucking clucks at me. “Relax.”
“You relax,” I spit back.
“I’ll never hurt you, Junie.”
Again. He’ll never hurt me again.
And I believe him.
He presses in, just an inch, and when I cry out, he gives me a minute to acclimate.
“Fuck. I wasn’t prepared for how tight, how right, how fucking incredible this would feel.” He moves a minuscule amount, just a slight rocking of his hips to open me up to him. Then he glides in another inch, and another, while I commit to breathing like women on TV who are about to give birth.
It burns until it doesn’t. There’s a release, and then he’s all the way inside me, his gaze wild and unmoored as he studies my face for every reaction. When I smile, just a tiny lifting of lips, he kisses me hard.
Teeth and tongues collide, and whatever control Cole was wielding snaps. He fucks me. He loves me. He never takes his eyes off mine.
It’s the merging of two souls that were always seeking permission to hold space for the other.
Permission has been granted, and when I come this time, it’s earth-shattering in a whole different way.
My walls are down, and now I’ll learn to love Cole the way we’ve both always deserved.
Together.
Forever.
Cole comes with a roar that’s sadness and hope in equal measure. Giving each other a first must have brought him to a similar earth-shattering realization because the expression on his face says it all.
Everything has changed.
I wake with a start, and it takes a moment to register why.
The sun is high in the sky now, but Cole is still next to me, holding me.
Watching me.
“Creepy,” I groan, then glance at the clock and nearly jump out of my skin for a second time. “Cole!” I shriek. “It’s almost noon.”
He grins. “Benefit of sleeping with the boss. He’s all for playing hooky.”
I’m…stunned. Cole is as much of a workaholic as I am.
Then his playful smile loses some of its shine. “But I know you want to head to Charleston today. I’m not intentionally keeping you from that mission. I fell back asleep too. I only woke up about ten minutes ago.”
I think I’ve made huge personal strides in the last twenty-four hours, and studying his expression now, I can’t help but wonder if he’s in the middle of the same kind of metamorphosis.
“Hey,” I say, reaching across the mattress to cup his face. “I’m not going.”
He rears back—shock clear in his expression.
“I’m not shirking my responsibilities,” I say quickly. “Early this morning, I called in reinforcements.”
Cole frowns. Then he wraps his large palm around my fingers that are cradling his face. “Someone qualified?”
“Qualified and trustworthy.”
He closes his eyes, and his breathing evens out. Is he…going back to sleep? “Juniper?” He doesn’t open his eyes.
“Yeah?” Did I do something wrong? I wanted to spend time with him, but maybe I shouldn’t have outsourced the Devin problem?
“I’m proud of you.”
At my gasp, his lashes flutter open.
Four words. Stripped clean. I’m proud of you.
He doesn’t give me a moment to get my thoughts together.
“For solving my financial crisis. For asking for help. For…” He kisses the palm of my hand. “For talking to me about your mom.”
I swallow down the emotions threatening my composure.
“We still have a lot to talk about,” he says. “A lot to do. Some things that are…some that will be hard. I’ll get there, and I know I’m being vague. But…”
“You’ll tell me when you’re ready.” It’s another absolute truth.
He’ll tell me when he’s ready.
Whatever’s haunting Cole now is riding him hard.
Patience and I have never gotten along, but to help Cole through what obviously pains him, I’ll try, so I form a checklist in my head.
Get a status update from Hudson.
Make Devin pay for what he did to Cole.
File The Haven’s records with the county—clear Cole’s name.
By the time the county processes the statements, we’ll either have the award money or we’ll have a solid case on the books against Devin—preferably both.
Check in with Fen—make sure Grace’s drama stays far away from me.
Maybe tell Cole that I’m wearing the ring because I want to, not because I have to? Or just remove it? Think on this. Hard.
Get through this gala in ten days and then, finally, get Cole and me through whatever’s still holding him back.
Easy.
I’m a results-driven woman, and the reward has never mattered more.