Chapter 14
Cole
The following morning was hell for me, just like the previous three mornings had been.
I was up by five thirty and in the gym shortly after that.
I guess I thought working out hard before Lauren arrived would help relieve some of the sexual tension I felt from the moment she walked through the door in the morning.
Hell, maybe it took the edge off.
A little.
But I wasn’t sure my strenuous morning workouts were helping any more than the fact that I got myself off every single night thinking about her.
Every.
Single.
Damn.
Night.
Thank fuck we were now done for the day.
It wasn’t like Lauren dressed to be provocative.
She did absolutely nothing to try to draw my attention to her body.
In fact, her leggings and T-shirts were pretty modest.
However, if I had to see her shapely ass when she bent over in those leggings one more time, I wasn’t sure I would have been able to keep myself from losing it.
I lowered the weights I’d been using and grabbed a towel to wipe the sweat off my upper body.
I’d sent Lauren into the steam room after her workout for some deep tissue relaxation.
I couldn’t see her at the moment, but all I could fucking think about was her in that steam room in nothing more than the towel I’d tossed her.
Probably the strangest part of my frustrated state was the fact that Lauren was completely and utterly clueless.
She had no idea that my dick was hard every moment we were together.
She’d innocently asked me if I was joining her in the steam room without a hint of sexual innuendo.
Like a friend who was asking another friend if they wanted to hang out.
That was when I’d tossed her a damn towel without another word.
If I’d replied to her question, it wouldn’t have been anything appropriate for a supposed friend to say to a friend.
I caught her watching me curiously once in a while, but it wasn’t a look filled with unadulterated lust.
Hell, if I thought for one second that Lauren wanted me, I’d break every rule I’d made for myself just to get her into my bed.
I knew I’d cross that damn line, even though I respected my cousins and Millie.
That scared the hell out of me, because I prided myself on being rigid and highly disciplined.
All of the discipline I’d fought for my entire life was starting to unravel, and I hated feeling like I was losing control.
“That’s twenty minutes,” Lauren said brightly as she strolled out of the steam room in just that white towel. “I’m done, right?”
She was covered.
The towel was large, and it was wrapped completely around her.
It was almost down to her knees.
It didn’t matter.
As far as my cock was concerned, she was half naked, and I gritted my teeth as I moved closer to her. “You shouldn’t stay in there any longer than twenty. How are you feeling?”
She wasn’t complaining, but I knew damn well that her muscles were sore. She hadn’t been limping, and she’d insisted that she was fine, but I’d slowed things down a little today just in case.
She grinned up at me. “I feel like a limp noodle. I’ve never used a steam room before.”
She didn’t look like a limp noodle.
Her cheeks were flushed, and that adorably perky, blonde ponytail still bounced with every move she made.
“Relaxed is good,” I grumbled.
She looked like she was going to turn around and head to the shower, but she suddenly turned toward me again like she’d changed her mind.
Lauren hesitated before she reached out and touched my upper arm. “Are you okay, Cole? You don’t seem like yourself today.”
It was a simple touch, but every muscle in my body tensed.
I was shirtless, dressed only in a pair of sweatpants.
She probably felt my muscles contract because she frowned at me and pulled her hand away. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have touched you.”
Oh, hell. Now she looked confused, and I knew I was being a dick.
I’d been abrupt with her all morning, and it bugged the shit out of me that I might have hurt her feelings.
Lauren didn’t deserve that.
The remorseful look on her beautiful face as she turned to go made me reach out and wrap an arm around her waist to keep her from leaving.
“I’m never going to hate it if you touch me,” I told her in a graveled voice.
She gripped my biceps to steady herself as she gazed up at me. “You won’t?” she said breathlessly.
I shook my head. “Never. I’ve been an asshole today. It’s not your fault, angel.”
“Is there anything I can do to help you?” she asked softly.
The sweetness of her concern…
The way that she actually seemed to give a damn how I was feeling…
The way she was gazing at me like she actually gave a shit about me…
All of those things sealed her fate.
The thin thread of control I’d been hanging onto snapped, and I did exactly what I’d wanted to do since the first time I’d seen her again in Crystal Fork.
I lowered my head and captured those plump lips of hers, satiating the desire that had been building for what seemed like forever for me.
I kissed her.
I took a small taste of the forbidden fruit before I caught myself, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
I was about to back off when Lauren wrapped her arms around my neck and opened to me without a single hesitation.
The low moan that reverberated from the back of her throat was like a gut punch to me.
Holy fuck!
She actually wanted this as much as I did.
I pulled the tie from her hair and grasped handfuls of the thick, blonde locks, holding her head exactly where I wanted it so I could continue to devour her gorgeous mouth.
I finally released her lips so we could breathe, and kissed my way down her neck, savoring the feel of the soft, sensitive skin there.
“Cole,” Lauren murmured in a needy voice that made my dick twitch.
“Tell me what you want, angel,” I growled against her neck.
I knew what she needed, but I wanted to hear her say the words anyway.
Her answer surprised me.
“I’m not sure what I need, but I need something,” she whimpered, sounding desperate, but a little…confused.
I pulled back to look at her face. “Lauren?” I questioned gruffly.
She looked up at me, and tears started to leak from her eyes as she babbled, “I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing. I want you, but I don’t exactly know what to do.”
Fucking hell!
How was that possible?
I swung her up into my arms and carried her upstairs, wanting to get to the source of her tears as quickly as possible.
“Explain,” I grunted as I dropped onto the sofa in the living room and settled her into my lap.
My cock was still painfully hard, but getting to the bottom of her issue was more important at the moment.
“I’m not sexually experienced,” she said in a rush.
I listened while she explained her sexual history, which was basically…nothing.
One time that had lasted about two minutes, which must have been a very awkward and painful two minutes for her.
That was it.
She’d lost her virginity, but she was basically an innocent.
No man had ever pleasured her, and no man had ever made her climax.
“Have you gotten yourself off?” I asked her.
“Yes,” she admitted. “But it’s never happened with a guy. I’m not sure why, but it’s all I can think about whenever we’re together. I don’t think I’m really a sexual woman, but you make me crazy.”
Fuck! I wanted to show her just how crazy things could get between the two of us.
Oh, she was a sexual woman, all right. She’d just never been with a man who could show her exactly what lust, sensuality, and desire felt like.
When I looked down and saw the vulnerability in her beautiful blue eyes, I knew I had to end this interlude as quickly as possible.
If she was a woman who knew exactly what she was getting herself into, I would have talked my way into her bed in a heartbeat.
But…she didn’t.
When it came to the pleasures of the flesh, Lauren was about as na?ve as a woman could get, and there was no way in hell I could take advantage of that.
She deserved the quintessential nice guy who would shower her with affection and romance before he tried to get her into his bed.
How in the hell had I forgotten that Lauren wanted a real partner?
“There’s not a damn thing wrong with you,” I grumbled as I stood and then pulled her to her feet. “You were with the wrong guy. You and I are physically attracted to each other, Lauren, but I’m the wrong guy, too.”
My gut twisted as she looked at me like she had a million questions but didn’t dare ask a single one of them.
A plethora of emotions crossed her face.
Confusion.
Sadness.
Disappointment.
And finally, the ones I hated the most…mortification and humiliation.
In the end, she didn’t utter a single word before she turned and walked away.