37. Rosalie #2
He sighed, twined his fingers with mine, and pulled me back to him.
“I like it only being us. Right now, it’s all I want. The guys know if anything were wrong, they’d have heard by now. My car is gone. They know we’re fine.”
“They don’t,” I protested, making to get up, but he tugged me back to him.
“I’ll call them before we go to bed,” he murmured against my lips. “I want this time with you. Can you give me that?”
I sighed and nodded, letting him take control of the situation.
He was right. We did need this.
“How has everything been? Aside from the shit we’re going through?” Cole asked.
“I don’t know,” I murmured. “Awful.”
He let out a soft hiss of discontent at my answer. “What can I do to make it better?”
“I just want no more of the stuff that’s been going on. I want us to be happy again.”
“We will be,” he said fiercely. “Whatever it takes, Rosebud.”
I licked my lips. “There actually is something I’d like.”
“What is it?”
I shifted off him and rolled onto my side. He followed so we were facing one another.
“I’d like to get a job.”
He blinked at me like I’d spoken a different language. “A job?”
I nodded. “They’re hiring at the music store. Kern’s on 9th? I talked to the owner. He said he’d love to bring me on. I can even teach customers piano and guitar there in the evenings if they want to sign up. I think it would be a good opportunity for me?—”
“I don’t understand. Why do you need a job?” He frowned at me, his forehead crinkling.
“I’m running low on money,” I said softly. “My savings are almost gone. A job could fix that for me.”
“If you need money, I have money, Rosalie. I have a lot of fucking money. I could leave right now and buy us a mansion, boat, and your own music store if it’s what you want.” He rolled over and grabbed his wallet. I watched him pull a wad of cash out before pushing it at me.
“Cole, I don’t want your money.”
“Take it. It’s your money, too. We’re together.
Look.” He quickly counted out the cash. “It’s only twelve hundred, but I’ll give you more when we get home.
In fact, I’ll add you to my credit card.
It’s unlimited. You can get whatever you need.
Go buy a whole ass music store if you want.
I don’t care.” He thrust the money out at me again.
“Cole, stop.” I wrapped my hand over his. “I want to make it on my own.”
“No.” A muscle popped along his jaw. “You’re my girl. My girl doesn’t work. You’re not going to be some fucking cashier in a music store. Not happening.”
“This isn’t your decision,” I said gently, knowing he was getting angry.
“It is, though. I get what you’re saying about wanting to have your own shit, but Rosalie, everything we’re doing is so you don’t have to do any of that.
We want to take care of you. You’re our girl.
This decision affects us all. What if you’re hurt while you’re there?
What if someone finds out and fucking takes you from us?
Just… no. This is something we should all decide.
What happens to you affects us. Take the money. Please. I’ll get you more tomorrow.”
“I don’t want it.” I sat up, frustrated out of my mind.
He followed and moved to sit beside me on the edge of the bed.
“I don’t want to fight,” he said softly. “Please. Let’s not fight. I’m tired of fighting.”
“It’s not a fight.” I sighed and let my head hang. “I just don’t feel like I’m my own person anymore. I’m an item you guys possess. If it’s like this with me wanting to work at a music store, what if I ever make my career happen? Will I not be allowed to tour the world?”
He said nothing as he sat beside me for a long time.
Finally, he spoke. “Please. I don’t want you to work.”
“I don’t want to leech off you guys,” I whispered. “I want my own things. I live in your shadows, and it’s overwhelming. I need this, Cole. I-I have to feel like I’m doing something useful.”
“You are. You’re studying. Practicing. Taking care of Cotton. If you work, then I won’t get to see you as much, and shit’s already bad with our schedules.” He gave me a pleading look. “I’m asking you to let me take care of you.”
“And I’m asking you to let me take care of myself.”
He licked his lips. “If you take care of yourself, you won’t need us anymore.”
“I’ll always need you.” I looked at him.
“I don’t want you to do this,” he whispered, a look of desperation on his face as he slid off the bed and kneeled between my legs.
“Please, Rosalie. My dream is to take care of my family. My girl. My kids. I want you to focus on achieving your career dreams. I’ll be able to handle that because I know it’s your endgame.
Working in some dead-end job isn’t where you belong.
Please. Let me take care of you so you can continue to focus on doing what you love.
” He placed his hands on my hips. “I want this. I’m begging you. ”
I stared down at him for a moment before letting out a sigh. I knew that my working would stress them out. He was right. Someone could hurt me.
“OK,” I said, giving in.
He looked at me, clearly surprised I’d relented.
“Really?”
I nodded. “Really. I can probably budget a little more and not get coffee. Maybe I can make my own lunches and bring them with me?—”
I was silenced with a gentle kiss from him.
“When I take care of my girl, I take care of all aspects of her. Your bank account will have money in it when you wake up in the morning. You’ll want for nothing.
Ever. And when my baby is growing in your belly, she will want for nothing. Tell me, Rosebud.”
“You’ll take care of us,” I murmured.
“And you’ll fucking let me.”
I nodded, but he reached out and gripped my face. “Say it. Tell me.”
“I’ll let you. Until I make it on my own, and then I’ll pay you back.”
He stared me down for a second before kissing me again. “Fine. I agree, but I get to decide how I’m paid back.”
I sighed, knowing it was a losing battle. Instead, I pulled him close, letting his hands explore my body as his tongue slid along mine in a deep kiss. He pushed me back onto the bed and climbed up so we were both lying on the mattress, him over me.
The way he kissed was different. It was slow. Deliberate. Careful. It wasn’t how it usually was with him. Cole tended to be rough and wild, but this was out of character.
He carefully undressed me, drinking me in, so much adoration in his eyes, it made my breath catch. Cole Scott truly did love me, and I loved him. In that moment, I felt like anything was possible for us.
He kissed his way down my naked body before teasing my clit with his tongue. Usually, he just dove in and ate me until I was screaming. This time, he was slow. Teasing. Tasting. Torturing.
He sucked against my clit, making tingles rush through my body. One finger inside me. A second. His mouth never disconnected from my clit as he licked and sucked.
The orgasm was slowly torn from my body, lasting longer than anything I’d ever felt before as he continued the same pace on me.
“Cole,” I moaned. “Oh my god.”
He continued his work until I felt boneless in the sheets. Satisfied, he slowly climbed up my body, losing his boxers along the way, before his lips met mine in a soft, deep kiss.
I raked my fingers through his silky blond hair, earning a purr of approval from him before he gently pushed forward and breached me.
Another moan slipped past my lips as he bottomed out in my pussy, filling me completely, his lips fused to mine, a hand cradling my face while the other gripped my hip tightly.
And that’s how he made love to me. It wasn’t fucking. He made me feel so many things that I couldn’t tell what was real and what wasn’t.
So slow. So deep. So full.
In and out. Over and over. His pace never changed.
“I love you,” he whispered against my lips. “My Rosebud.”
“I love you,” I answered back, going in for more of his delicious kisses.
And when we came, it was together. I’d never been made love to like that from him. We’d had some really good moments in the past, but this was something else entirely. This was a man not only telling me he loved me and could change, but he was showing me.
Any doubts I had in my mind about things working out disappeared as he pulled out, then rolled me onto my side after we both came. He lodged himself deep inside me again, his arms holding me tight.
“I’m going to fall asleep just like this,” he whispered in my ear. “Buried in the only woman I’ll ever love. And maybe I’ll get lucky tonight. Maybe we’ll start our garden. I really fucking hope so.”
He kissed my temple fiercely before covering us.
I lay with my back against him, his cock still very much hard and buried inside me.
Maybe he was right. Maybe we would start our garden soon.
Tonight made me want it even more. He’d shown me exactly what I needed to see.
If there was hope for Cole Scott, then there was hope for all of us.