Chapter 22
Laney
Three hours later, it was time for me to go.
Skye was feeling well, and the young family definitely needed their privacy.
True to his word, Cole picked me up. The second I left the hospital, I sort of crashed.
I’d been high on adrenaline during the birth and while tending to Skye in the room, and now I was processing everything.
I was still lost in thought when the cab pulled in front of his loft.
Once we were inside the apartment, he trained his eyes on me.
“What are you thinking about, Laney?” he asked, caressing his thumb over my lower lip.
“So many things. Too many. I am not sure how to make sense of them.”
“Tell me, maybe I can help.”
“I don’t know,” I teased. “They’re about you. You might give me biased answers.”
“Of course they’ll be biased. But also one hundred percent true.”
I smiled as he led me backward through the loft until I felt the edge of the kitchen island at my back. Cole lifted me up on it right away. His gaze was beckoning me to talk.
“Everything is so intense when we’re together. So all-consuming... and different. I’m becoming different.”
“And that’s worrying you?”
“No, it’s just that I used to be terrified of certain things… like allowing myself to be happy when babies were born, to just give in to that joy. And today, it was so different. I was so immensely happy. I’m rambling. I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to apologize for, Laney. Nothing. It’s normal to be scared. You can talk to me about anything. Don’t hide any side of you from me. I want to know all of you intimately.”
My heart thundered in my chest at his words. I had so many butterflies in my stomach that I could barely sit still.
“Cole…, you mean that?” I laughed, and he laughed right back, feathering his lips over mine.
“You just make me feel things I didn’t know existed, Laney. And I have no problem owning up to that. You’re changing me, baby.”
“You’re changing me too,” I confessed. “I went from being terrified to just being afraid.”
He drew the tip of his nose down my temple to my cheek.
“Good. I want you to give yourself to me completely, Laney. And I won’t tire until that happens.”
“It might be a while. That feeling of having half your life ripped away from you is terrifying,” I whispered, because I wanted that too, so badly, but I didn’t want to make any promises.
What if this fear of loving and losing never went away completely?
It wouldn’t be fair to him to get his hopes up.
“I’ll be here. Do you trust me?”
“Yes. I just don’t trust myself yet.”
“I’ll change that, you’ll see.”
“God, you’re making it impossible for me not to dream.”
He grinned devilishly. “About what?”
“A huge family and a cute house where we’d all gather whenever we want to. Kind of like Skye’s. It seems like something that’s so far away, but you make me want to reach for it.”
“We have all the time in the world.”
“How are you so relaxed about this?”
“Babe, I told you that my nickname isn’t the charmer for nothing. One year ago? Or any time before I met you? I never even thought about the future. I think there’s a time for everything.”
He kissed my right cheek, descending to one corner of my mouth. He licked along my lower lip until I moaned, tugging at his shirt. I felt that lick right between my thighs.
“Did you have dinner?”
“Not really.”
“Put your hands on my shoulders,” he commanded. I didn’t even hesitate to do that, loving the way his strong body felt under my touch. I yelped when he lifted me off the island. He lowered me to the floor and walked me backward toward the couch.
“Hey, aren’t you going to feed me?” I asked.
“I’ve got some leftovers in the fridge. We can have some fun before dinner.” His hands went from my waist to my ass.
“Quick and dirty?” I wiggled my eyebrows.
“Never quick, always dirty.”
“I like the sound of that.”
We tumbled on the comfy couch right next to each other.
“I’m waiting for the dirty part,” I whispered.
“It’s gonna have to wait until after dinner.”
“Then why is your hand on my ass?” I pouted, batting my eyelashes.
“It’s mine,” he said seriously.
Grinning, I kissed the tip of his nose.
“I’m not questioning that… but you are sending me mixed messages.”
He slid it back up to my waist, taunting me with a smile.
“Happy?”
“Not at all.” I moved his hand back to my ass cheek the next second. “I’ll take the fondling, mixed messages and all.”
He kissed me lazily, taunting me, but I wanted more of his touch. I wanted to be connected to him in every way possible. I already felt so emotionally entwined with him that my whole body hummed with pure joy and happiness. I wanted that physical connection too, right away.
Cole
Laney was feisty tonight. She rose to her feet, flashing me a saucy smile before stripping off all her clothes. Fuck me .
She walked toward the bedroom. I eagerly followed her.
I had a prime view of her gorgeous, round ass.
Her body was exquisite. I loved the tiny waist, her curvy thighs, but that ass was my kryptonite.
I loved how confident she was in her nakedness, and I had to make an inhuman effort not to just press her against a wall.
I breathed in and out slowly through my nose, willing to calm my racing pulse.
Inside the bedroom, I immediately pulled her against me, pressing that gorgeous ass of hers against my crotch.
“Fuuck.”
She turned around, licking her lips. “I need to get you naked.”
“I’m not stopping you.” I held my hands up, letting her take the lead. She quickly undid the buttons, pushing off my shirt, kissing my shoulders and then down my right arm. Once my shirt was on the floor, she looked between us, cupping my erection over my pants.
“Jesus, Laney!” I groaned, clasping her wrist. She smiled saucily, but I needed her touch too much to play around. I needed the real deal. I unclasped my belt with my free hand, lowered my zipper, and then brought her hand inside my boxers. She wrapped her fingers tightly around my erection.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. I cupped her face, watching her lips, before looking her straight in the eyes.
“You’re so important to me,” I said.
Her expression lit up, but that was the last thing that registered, because she tightened her grip on my erection, and instinct overpowered rational thought.
I kicked away my pants and boxers before gripping her hips, aligning them with mine. My cock was between us, and I pressed the length of it across her slit but didn’t enter her. I just wanted that flesh-on-flesh contact.
My balls tightened. A groan tore from me. I rocked back and forth, keeping her in place by her hips, right until she moaned.
Stepping back, she turned around, climbing on the bed on all fours, looking over her shoulder at me. Damn, she was gorgeous like this, demanding what she wanted. I was more than happy to give her just that—but on my terms.
I climbed right behind her, leaning over to kiss the side of her body, from her breast down her ribcage, then further down to her hip.
I drew my fingers from her knee up to her ass.
Her skin turned to goose bumps, even more so when I brought one hand between her legs.
She moaned when I slipped two fingers inside her.
I curled them against her sensitive flesh, and she rewarded me with a long, deep cry before she buried her head in a pillow.
My erection pressed against her outer thigh, and I could barely hold back.
“Cole, please.”
“Please, what?”
“Touch me. Fuck me. Please.”
Her voice was shaking, and so were her legs, but I wasn’t done.
“I want you to come like this, Laney. After, I promise I’ll fuck you so good, until you come around my cock too.”
My words spurred her on. I slid my fingers out of her, pressing against her clit, and she exploded. Fucking hell, she was gorgeous, pulling at the sheets as one leg shot backward.
She cried against the pillow, and her whole body was shaking as I pushed her on her back. I slid on a condom before placing one leg on my shoulder. I entered her while she still hadn’t finished coming, but I wanted to feel that tightness around my erection. She felt exquisite.
“Fuck. Fuuuuck.” I rocked my hips back and forth, watching her face twist with pleasure, her breath becoming more frantic.
She was so damn tight that I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t do anything but watch her beautiful face, and her body respond to me.
I looked down between us, and somehow watching myself slide in and out only intensified the pleasure.
She lowered the leg I’d put on my shoulder on the bed, pushing herself against me.
I leaned down on my elbows, kissing up her chest and her neck. I wrapped my fingers in her hair, keeping her head tilted to one side, and my mouth on her neck, tasting her skin.
“Fuck, fuck.” I swelled inside her and came so hard that my vision faded.
And when Laney tightened around me, climaxing again, pleasure gripped me completely. I lost control of my limbs. My body jerked forward. All my muscles were burning, but I didn’t relent, didn’t slow down until we both rode out our climax.
Shifting to one side, I kept her pressed against me until she murmured, “I am not sure I need dinner anymore. Just this.”
“I like the sound of that, babe.”
She looked at me, smiling. “If you want to spoil me with your famous whole-body massage, I’m all up for it.”
“My pleasure. Just need to draw my breath.”
My cock twitched when I got rid of the condom. Laney was watching me intently, holding a pillow under her head. I lay on my back next to her, and she immediately moved her fingers down my abs.
“I liked being there with Skye today,” she said.
“Glad to hear that, babe. How was your time with Isabelle?”
“She likes the space but needs to crunch numbers first and see if she can afford it. Says she’ll ask for more tours. It’s harder than she expected.” Worry laced her voice.
“Isabelle’s tough. She’ll find something that works for her.”
“I know. Wish she’d let me lend her money so she wouldn’t have to account for every cent, but?—”
“I think all we can do is support the people we care about in every way they let us.”
“You’re right.”
“I like this,” I said.
“What?”
“Having you in my bed, sharing how our day went, bouncing ideas off each other.”
She grinned, tapping her fingers over my sternum. “I like it too. I like you. You’re making it awfully difficult for me to climb out of bed.”
“I have a dangerous proposition. Don’t.”
She opened her mouth, closed it again. “So your idea of feeding me dinner is… starving me?”
“Sweetheart, my idea of dinner is eating you out. But we can get back to that after I feed you. I was going to suggest I bring you a tray to bed.”
She grinned. “Ohhh, I love the sound of that. But first things first. I want my whole-body massage. If you’re ready.”
“I am. Lie on your stomach.”
“Yes, sir.”
I grew semihard when she rolled on her stomach, putting that gorgeous ass right in front of me. Dinner could wait for a long time.