19. Lili
LILI
Blinking awake, I stared up at the ceiling.
It was still dark, the city lights winking through the curtains. The bed beside me was empty. I glanced at the clock on the bedside table and sighed. Surely Cole couldn’t still be questioning Goodyear’s guard.
Then I heard a sound in the living area. I sat up, pushing my hair back. It sounded like ice tinkling in a glass.
I slipped out of the bed. I’d showered when I’d gotten in and was wearing a nightgown. I didn’t really own anything sexy, but this was made of purple satin and was short. I liked to think it was sexy-ish.
Padding out of the bathroom, I navigated the dark hall and living room.
I saw the big shadow sitting on one of the chairs at the table. In the faint light, I could see a glass resting on the table beside him.
“Cole?”
He didn’t move. “Go back to bed, Lili.”
“I was waiting for you, but I fell asleep.”
He didn’t say anything, but even across the room, I could feel…something throbbing off him. His dark mood seemed to fill the room.
I walked closer. “Is something wrong? Did he give you anything?” God, was Ava-Jane okay?
“He didn’t say a fucking thing.”
I stopped only a foot away from him. He was still in his jeans and Henley and sprawled in the chair. I couldn’t see his face, but I knew he was unhappy.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing I didn’t already know. I beat the guy. I hit him, over and over, but he didn’t talk.”
“Okay.”
Cole made a sound. “Don’t you get it?” He held up his hands. “I’m violent, dangerous. I hit people until they’re bloody. I’ve killed people. I don’t deserve to touch you. You should run, Lili, far and fast.”
There was enough light to see his knuckles. They were now more swollen and ripped up than earlier. My heart squeezed.
What would it take to convince this man I didn’t see him as dark or evil?
To convince him that I saw the shadowed parts of him, but they didn’t scare me.
I walked to the kitchen to get the first aid kit. I came back, set it on the table, then dragged another chair closer.
“Lili—”
“Shush. I don’t want to hear what you’ve got to say.” I opened the kit and then grabbed one of his hands. I felt the heat pumping off his body. I started cleaning his knuckles.
“I don’t deserve this,” he said, voice low.
“I know you think that.” I lowered my voice.
“I’m so bad, Lili. I’m big, bad, and dangerous.
” My voice went back to normal. “Well, I disagree.” I gently wiped away the blood and cleaned the angry wounds.
“Cole, bad men don’t sit around in the dark worrying that they’re bad.
” I set his hand down, grabbed his other one, and started on that.
I felt him watching me. When I was done, I set the stuff on the table, then I rose, and straddled him.
He groaned. “Lili…”
I lifted one of his hands, then started dropping kisses around the edges of his scrapes. I heard him draw in a sharp breath.
“What are you doing?”
I kept kissing his hand. “Kissing your boo boos better.”
His other hand curled around my hip and held on. “No one’s ever done that before.”
My heart squeezed. “Same.” I cupped his bearded cheeks and kissed him.
He was still for a second. I licked at his mouth, tasting the peaty flavor of the whiskey and that darker taste that was all Cole.
“I see you,” I whispered. “I see the scars, the ones on the outside and the ones on the inside. I know you’ve done things, you’ve beaten people up, killed people.
But I see you. I know you’ve lost people, I know you have your own code.
You’re a protector, Cole, and I love that you do whatever it takes.
” I let my lips drift up to his ear. “I feel safer knowing you’ll stop at nothing to help me, to save Ava-Jane and the others, to keep me safe. ”
With a low sound, his mouth closed over mine. I moaned, kissing him back, rocking against him. I felt his hard cock growing beneath me.
Then he rose. “Done fighting this. You want me, I’m yours.”
“Finally,” I whispered against his lips. “I need you, Cole.”
He carried me through the darkened house and into the bedroom. He laid me on the bed and took a step back. I watched him strip off his shirt, uncovering that body I loved.
“Nightie off, sunshine.”
Lying back, I yanked my nightie over my head.
“Beautiful.”
His hot gaze roamed over me, and it made me feel beautiful. He lingered on my breasts, then down to my belly. I hadn’t worn any panties to bed, hoping he’d come back to me soon.
“Spread your legs for me,” he ordered.
His rough voice sent goosebumps racing over my skin. My heart was pounding hard, warmth twisting through me, but a sudden bout of shyness hit me.
“Never seen anything as pretty as you, Lili. So smooth and beautiful. Show me.” One of his hands moved down his hard abs, then he touched his hard cock through his jeans. “I need to see more.”
I wanted to give this man everything. I let my legs fall open.
Cole moved closer and groaned. “So fucking pretty.” Another primal groan. “I can see how wet you are.”
My hands twisted in the sheets and I squirmed.
“You’re all achy and needy, aren’t you, baby?”
“Yes. For you.”
“Run your hand down your body. Touch your pretty tits.”
I was panting now. A little hesitantly, I let my fingers drift down my collarbone, over the curve of my breast, to my nipple. I pinched it, my lips parting.
The low noise he made egged me on.
“Lower,” he ordered.
My fingers skated over my belly, leaving sensation in their wake. I dipped them between my legs.
“Fuck, Lili, my cock is leaking. Touch yourself.”
I stroked my folds and gasped.
“Tell me,” he demanded. “How does it feel?”
“Hot, wet, slick.”
Suddenly, he was wrenching his jeans off and kicking them away. He stepped closer, right to the edge of the bed, his big body so damn glorious. I saw every muscle, every tattoo, every scar. There was still blood on his skin and that nasty cut from the fight. I’d need to take care of that. Later.
He used one hand to circle his thick cock and pump it.
“Look at me,” he growled. “Look what you do to me.”
I looked. I drank it in. His cock was swollen, veined, and I saw a bead of fluid at the head.
Then he put his knees on the bed, his hands grabbing my hips and sliding me closer. I cried out.
“Cole.”
“I’m still dirty, sweaty, and bloody from the ring. You still want me?”
“Yes,” I breathed. I’d take him anyway I could get him.
“What do you need, baby?”
“You.”
He tossed my legs up on his shoulders. “First, I’m putting my mouth on that sweet pussy.”
His big hands slid under my ass, fingers sinking into my cheeks, then his mouth was on me.
I bucked and cried out. He dragged his tongue everywhere, stabbing inside me, before finding my clit. I twisted, but he held me tight for the assault of his talented mouth. Like when he fought, he was relentless. He licked, he sucked, and soon I was a blabbering mess.
I reached for what I could, my nails raking his skin. Pleasure built inside me, hot and unrelenting.
Then my climax hit me.
I screamed, pulsing against his mouth, my legs clamping on his head. I felt torn up and turned inside out, in the best way possible.
When I could actually think again, I was lying on the bed, watching Cole roll a condom on his big cock.
Then he was levering over my body. One heavy thigh nudged my legs apart, spreading me wide. I smelled the tantalizing mix of his healthy sweat, his dark scent, and his arousal. I felt the head of his cock slide across my pussy several times, and I gasped and squirmed.
“It was too fast earlier. Hot as hell, but I wanted to take my time, absorb every second of being inside you.”
Hard and fast, or slow and steady, I wanted it all the ways. “Come inside me, Cole.”
He started to push inside me.
Our gazes locked. I felt the insane stretch. I was swollen from earlier, and boy, I couldn’t believe I’d taken him so easily that first time.
He slid deeper, and I groaned. “Oh, God.” I pushed my head back into the mattress.
“Christ…Lili, you feel so good.”
I clutched at his thick biceps. “So full.”
His lips touched mine, nipping. “Never going to get enough of the way your tight pussy grips my hard cock, sunshine.”
I moaned. I slid my hands down, touching his sweat-slicked skin. I found his ass and gripped him hard.
With a curse, he pulled back and then thrust back inside me.
“Yes, Cole, please. Move.”
It was like he’d taken off the brake. He started pounding into me, his hips hammering forward.
“Fuck, Lili.”
“Don’t stop.” I lifted my hips as best I could to meet his thrusts. I loved having him on top of me, inside me. I felt things coiling inside me and knew a second orgasm was building fast.
I couldn’t wait to come with Cole inside me.
“Yes, that’s it, sunshine. Come for me again.”
I exploded. Pleasure hit hard and I cried out. His mouth took mine, swallowing my scream as my body shuddered.
Then I felt the muscles in his big body tense. He thrust deep and let out a brutal sound. I clutched his arms, feeling him pulse inside me. He let out a long groan, then he was murmuring my name before his big body dropped on top of mine.
Thankfully, he rolled to the side quickly, pulling me with him.
I couldn’t move, I couldn’t think, I could barely breathe.
He nuzzled the side of my head. “Never come that hard before.”
My racing heart did a thump. “Really?”
He pressed a kiss to my cheek, my jaw. “Really.”
“It was pretty amazing.”
He tilted my face up so our noses brushed. “It was.” His hand drifted down, touching where my pulse raced in my throat.
I lifted my hand to his chest and when I felt his heart pounding as hard as mine, I smiled.
“Night’s not over yet,” he murmured.
I licked my lips. “Good.”