Chapter 11
Oakley
I’d never been so drained in my life. The yoyo of the looming trial, feeling strong then weak, then the back and forth with Cole…
It was getting too much tonight.
Our argument was inevitable, but the interruption meant I didn’t know where we stood now. I’d been seconds away from kissing him, and I longed for it so badly I could’ve cried when Mum and Jasper came home.
Jasper glared at Cole for a second, as if he knew what had almost happened. Back home, he wouldn’t leave me alone with anyone. Cole was different. He’d always been different.
“Hi, love. Hi, Cole,” Mum said.
“Hey. How are Nan and Granddad?”
“Good. They miss you. We’ll have to go over there again soon.”
I nodded in agreement. It wasn’t that long ago that I’d seen them, but I supposed they hadn’t gotten their fix since we’d come back.
“You two had a good day?” Mum asked.
Cole huffed out a humourless laugh. “Sure.”
“Where’s Lizzie?” I asked before anyone could pick up on his tone.
“Staying at a friend’s,” Ali replied.
Lizzie had a boyfriend, then.
“Guess who we ran into outside Nan’s?” Mum whispered as Jasper went to the bathroom.
Cole smirked. “Angelina Jolie?”
“How did you know?” Mum replied sarcastically. “Abby.”
“Jasper’s cheating ex?” Cole asked.
I slapped his arm. Thankfully, Jasper had left the room.
“How is she?” I asked.
“She’s doing well. Working at your old school full-time now. She lives just along the way from Nan, in the house where that crazy old man used to live.”
Mr Johnson was a crazy but harmless old man. He used to walk around the village, asking if anyone had seen his turnips. He had been a farmer before he’d become too frail to work. I’d heard he’d died of a heart attack a couple of years after we’d left.
“Was Jasper okay with seeing her again?”
Mum shrugged. “Must’ve been. They’re going out for a drink tomorrow night.”
“What?”
Ali laughed, shaking her head. “Glutton for punishment, that one.”
Jasper and Abby had been sort of okay just before we’d left, so I guessed it was good that he was making an effort to catch up with her.
I’d spent a lot of time hating Abby on Jasper’s behalf, but the past four years had taught me not to hold a grudge.
Life had thrown too much crap at us as it was, so why hold on to something negative if we didn’t have to?
“So, how are you doing?” Jasper asked, coming back from the bathroom. Mum and Ali took a bottle of red wine and two glasses into the living room.
“I’m okay,” I replied, trying not to get irritated by the question.
They cared.
“Have you heard anything from Linda yet?” he asked.
“No.”
Jasper’s mouth cracked open, probably to ask me why, but Cole shook his head, effectively shutting Jasper up.
“You want to come out to a bar tomorrow night?” Cole asked us both.
I had no clue how he was so casual. I felt ready to snap after the almost kiss.
“Erm, I have plans.”
Of course. Plans with Abby.
“You can bring Abby, too,” Cole said.
“Mum is such a gossip,” Jasper muttered. “We might meet you after. I’ll see how things go.”
That meant if Abby wasn’t putting out, he’d bring her to the bar.
“What are you guys doing before the bar?” Jasper asked.
Cole shrugged. “Working. Some of us do that, you know.”
I stifled a laugh. “Do you do much work? You text me loads while you’re there.”
“Have you ever thought that maybe I’m just so good at what I do that I can work and still have time to text you?”
Tapping my jaw, I pretended to think. “Nope.”
“Right,” Jasper said. “I’ve had enough of the flirting already. I’m going to bed. Night.”
“Night,” Cole and I replied at the same time.
Alone in the kitchen again, Cole turned to me.
“I’m going to ask if you’re okay, but this is specific to what happened before they came home.”
“Yes, I’m fine about that. Are you? I mean, you were ready to strangle me right before.”
He ran his palms down his face. “I still half am. I should go.”
“You could stay,” I said, taking a step his way to stop him leaving. Things weren’t right with us. I could feel the distance and the tension.
“Why?”
Wow, he wasn’t making this easy.
“Because everything feels wrong right now.”
“It’ll be okay. They’re going down.”
“I wasn’t talking about that. My stomach is tight, and you’re too far away. I want you to stay.”
Cole practically stared holes into me, struggling with the decision. We almost kissed after an argument, so what was going to happen when we were alone in a bedroom?
He wanted it as much as I did, I could tell.
Finally, he replied, “All right. If that’s what you need.”
“I don’t want you to stay because you think it’s what I need.”
Holding his hand out, he said, “You know I don’t want to walk out of this house. Leaving you is still on the bottom of my list.”
I took his hand and held it tight as I nudged his arm. “You’re cute.”
“Can you not call me cute?”
“Can’t help it. You are,” I replied, grinning up at him.
He arched a brow. “Is that right?”
Nodding, I replied, “Yep. You’re just going to have to get over that. Want to grab a couple Cokes and I’ll just make sure it’s cool for you to stay?”
“Sure.”
As I thought, Ali was fine with Cole staying over and didn’t seem at all surprised. Maybe that was why Lizzie stayed away. She drove me insane, but she saw more than I thought, and she was more considerate now.
Cole followed me upstairs. The closer I got to my temporary room, the more nerves ravaged my stomach. I bit my lip, hearing his soft steps on the carpet behind me.
Would he want me to take Lizzie’s bed? Probably not, but I should at least offer.
We took it in turns to get ready for bed, Cole using a toothbrush from the stash of replacements under the bathroom cabinets. My toothpaste. In Lizzie’s room, I changed into shorts and a tank top, while Cole stripped to just his boxers.
The atmosphere in the room was charged, both of us in far less clothes and getting ready to share a bed, knowing how much each other wanted to use that bed for more than sleeping.
Cole sat down on the futon with his back against the wall. He pulled the quilt over his legs. My mouth watered to trace my fingers along each dip on his chest. He was so much more toned. Soft, smooth skin stretched over muscle.
“Do you want me to sleep in Lizzie’s bed?” I asked, silently praying he would say no. God, it was hard to look at his face when he was half naked.
Tilting his head, his eyes slid up from my legs to my face very slowly. My stomach dipped. “No, I don’t.”
I walked across the room with butterflies in my tummy and sat beside him, the futon protesting to two of us on it.
“Are you okay now?” I asked.
He laughed awkwardly, scratching his chest. “Wired. Confused. Turned on.”
“Tell me how I can help.”
“Oakley.” My name was a strangled groan. “Just lay down with me. I want you in my arms so fucking bad I’m barely holding on here.”
Swoon.
I couldn’t move fast enough as I kicked at the cover. Cole laughed at me as I eagerly got us both lying on the mattress.
“Better?” I asked.
We were lying down like two sacks of potatoes, dead still and heavy with only a small gap between us. A slither of space that I hated.
He turned his head on the pillow. “I’m not better just yet. Come here, baby.”
That was all I needed to hear. His words and soft tone brought tears to my eyes. There was no longer any sign of the anger that had been leaking from every pore.
I curled into his side, my head on his chest, listening to the thump of his heart, with my hand on his stomach and leg thrown over his.
My eyes floated shut and a smile tugged at my lips.
“You’re tired,” he whispered.
“I’m really not.”
His arm tightened around my back, pressing me against him, his thigh between my legs. There was no space between us now and he clung to me like he thought I might vanish.
“Oakley,” he said, pushing his hand into my hair as he heard my intake of breath. Rolling onto his side, he pressed a kiss to my forehead and groaned.
My breath caught in my throat, body on fire at the feel of his skin on mine, and it wouldn’t be long until I couldn’t take it anymore.
I held him tighter, desperate for some friction against the ache between my legs.
Did he want to keep this strictly hugging only?
That was going to drive me crazy, I was already wound too tight.
“I’m trying really hard to be good here, but if you keep pressing that body against mine, I’m going to fucking lose the last thread of control I have.”
“Maybe that’s what I want.”
“I know that’s what you want, but we’re on a futon in your cousin’s room.”
Okay, it was hardly a hotel room in Italy….
He hissed between his teeth as I wrapped my leg around him. His erection pressed against my pubic bone. I bit my lip as pleasure coursed through my veins.
“Fuck,” he said, drawing out the word and closing his eyes. “We’re not alone in this house. Not like this…”
Gritting his teeth, he detangled his legs from mine, and opened his eyes. His brows were pulled together like he was in pain. I felt the same.
“I need it to be right, and this futon makes a noise every time I breathe.”
It wasn’t that bad, but I got what it meant.
Smirking at him, I watched regret cross his face.
“I hate myself right now.” He groaned.
“I don’t want anyone walking in or hearing us, either.”
If only I could stop my body from overheating. I was so turned on and so ready for a release that I couldn’t see straight. My skin hummed, begging for him to touch me.
“Fuck, I’m never going to be able to lay here and keep my mouth off you. I need to kiss you,” he said, cupping my jaw and drawing me closer.
I tangled my hands in his hair, tugging on the strands and making him moan. His lips brushed mine with a featherlight touch that made my toes curl.
Neither of us moved for the longest time. He stared into my eyes, and I felt how much he wanted this. I also felt how badly I’d hurt him. It was all there in his expression. I wanted to take every ounce of hurt away from him.
“Cole,” I whispered against his lips. I pressed harder and his eyes closed a fraction of a second before mine. He opened up, his mouth caressing mine, tugging, dominating.
I’d dreamt of this every night for the last four years. My fantasies didn’t compare, they weren’t even close. This was even better than last time.
I curled my body around his, and he kissed me like he wanted to make up for lost time in one night.