Chapter 12
Cole
Two long days later, Ben and I grabbed our paint guns and made our way into the forest. We had been there so many times, they didn’t bother us with the whole induction and rules thing now.
Nigel, the owner, had made us sign our lives away and then we had been let loose to inflict pain on each other.
I’d not had the chance to be alone again with Oakley yet, and it was driving me nuts. We’d not even kissed since I stayed over.
Agonising over why not had become a much-hated pastime. I needed to shoot Ben to let off steam.
“So, what are you doing tonight? Actually, let me guess… you’re going to see Oakley?” he asked as we walked out to the battlefield.
“I’m not sure what I’m doing.”
He chuckled. “Of course, you’re not.”
“We haven’t made plans, but I’ll check what she’s doing after this.”
“What’s going on between you two, anyway?”
“Not sure. It’s complicated.”
“How’s it complicated?”
I deadpanned, doing a double take. “You’re not that dumb, man. She lives on the other side of the world. We’ve spent the past four years apart, and she’s back for the trial of the men who abused her.”
“So? What’s your point?”
My jaw went slack. “Well… all of that.”
“I call BS. That’s what you’re letting come between you? You need to sort your shit out, Cole. If you love her, hold on, and all of that other stuff will work itself out.”
“Sort my shit,” I muttered under my breath. It wasn’t a case of that. I knew exactly what I wanted. “Thanks for the pep talk.”
“You’re scared of getting rejected again like when she left you before.”
I gritted my teeth, ready to punch a hole through his face. “Thank you for bringing that up.”
“You’re a fool, man.”
“Her plan is to return to Australia. What do I do with that?”
“Why start this up again if she’s leaving?”
“Because I can’t help myself! Because when my grandad died six years ago, I desperately wanted to have just one more conversation with him. Remember me saying that? Well, this feels like my one more with Oakley. She’ll leave and it’ll fucking suck, but she’s here now.”
It sounded so simple when I boiled it down to that.
“Man, just tell her that and she’ll soon fall at your feet,” he said, wide-eyed.
Laughing, I shoved his chest, wanting this conversation over. “Come on, I’ll give you a chance to get me this round.”
“Like hell. I’ll annihilate you.”
After thrashing Ben again, I dropped him off at home and called Oakley. Her number now the most called in my Recents list.
“Hey,” she said, picking up my call as if she’d been waiting for it.
I made a left at the lights. “Did it even ring?”
“What do you want?” she asked, a smile in her voice.
“What are you doing?”
“Not much. Ali’s dragged my mum into the city for a show and to get her drunk. Jasper said he was going meeting friends but that means he’s seeing Abby. Lizzie came back for ten minutes and then left again, looking rather pleased, so I think she’s really into this boyfriend. How was paintballing?”
“Painful. You’re alone…”
“I am. Fresh out of the shower and watching TV.”
My hands tightened on the steering wheel, images of water cascading down her body making me push down on the accelerator a fraction harder. “I will be fifteen minutes.”
“Oh, you want to come over?” she teased.
“Don’t be cute.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
She disconnected the call, probably while laughing at me. I could almost hear it.
I put my foot down, wanting to turn GTA on everyone who was in front of me on the road.
Eleven minutes later, I pulled up on Ali’s drive, practically abandoning my car. I ran along the path and knocked. My knuckles stinging at how hard I’d rapped on the door.
Oakley opened up seconds later, leaning against the frame. She smirked. “Well, this is–”
I stepped forward, unable to stop myself moving to her. My hands held her cheeks, the heat from her soft skin sinking into my fingers. “You’re beautiful,” I said, and my lips met hers in a hot and needy kiss that made my heart thump against my ribcage and my dick swell against her stomach.
“I… like… this… greeting,” she muttered between kisses, clinging to me. I couldn’t fucking stop long enough to let her speak properly.
Moving forward, I kicked the door closed and bent down to pick her up. Her tongue duelled with mine as she wrapped her legs around my waist, the kiss becoming more urgent by the second.
I couldn’t get her upstairs fast enough. Everything we’d been through, all of the hurt and anger, poured into our kiss as I clumsily carried her upstairs, my foot almost slipping on a step.
She whimpered against my mouth, arching her hips into my erection. Then her fingers tangled into my hair, and I moaned against her tongue.
“You ready to go off, baby?”
“Please,” she panted, clawing at my back.
Four years. Four fucking years.
We made it to Lizzie’s room and I kicked the door shut behind us.
I laid her down on the noisy futon and worked at getting her clothes off.
“I need to see every perfect inch of you,” I said, pulling her jeans down. She gripped the hem of my T-shirt and whipped it off over my head.
Next, she tugged at my belt and jeans. “I want you naked, too. Please, Cole, I can’t take it.”
Her words made my stomach clench. I got her top off and popped open her bra. Our clothes strewn messily beside the futon.
Groaning, I leant back on my knees and took her in. Laying beneath me, naked, with a parted mouth and glossy eyes. She’d never looked so perfect. Her body was stunning before but now… goddam.
“Cole,” she whimpered.
I ran my hands along her hips. “You keep begging me like that and I’m going to come.”
Moaning, her head hit the pillow as she flopped into the thin mattress. I moved my hands up, tracing my fingers between her breasts and across her shoulder bone, her body shuddering against my touch. She was still so responsive.
“What do you want first? Tell me and it’s yours.”
“Cole, I…” she whispered, biting her lip.
She just needed to come.
“I’ve got you,” I said, lowering my head and flattening my tongue against her clit.
“Shit,” she murmured, her hips leaving the bed, and her hands fisting the sheets. “I’m not going to…” Crying out, she arched her hips, grinding against my mouth as I pushed my tongue inside her.
Her taste exploded on my tongue, and I curled my fingers into the flesh of her thighs, so turned on it was unreal.
So fucking hot.
“Cole… Cole…” she panted, writhing underneath me, meeting every flick of my tongue as she chased her climax.
I returned my attention to the little ball of nerves that begged for my attention, circling it, then licking hard. When I pushed my finger inside her, curling it against her wall, she cried my name and tightened.
“Fuck!” she called out, coming on my tongue. “Cole.”
“Baby,” I murmured against her skin when her body went slack, kissing up her stomach and taking her nipple in my mouth. She felt like heaven.
Her fists unclenched, releasing the sheets, and she wrapped them around my neck.
“Cole, I need you.”
I raised my head, smiling at her flushed cheeks. “I need you, too. So much, Oakley.”
She reached over into a washbag beside the futon and handed me a condom.
I arched a brow. “Prepared.”
“Bought them the day after I saw you. Nothing has changed for me.”
Damn.
I rolled the condom on, panting as my muscles coiled, and aligned myself with her entrance. “Nothing has changed for me, either.”
Slowly, so fucking slowly, I pushed forward and buried myself deep inside her heat.
Closing my eyes, I moaned loudly and pressed a kiss to her neck, lost to the sensation of having her wrapped around me. “You feel even better than I remember.”
Her body shuddered around me, and she pulled my mouth back to hers.
I wanted to move slowly, to draw this out and savour every second, but she felt too good. Meeting my pace, we stretched together, lips moulded together, and pleasure exploded across my body.
I couldn’t stop kissing her, touching her, rolling my hips into hers.
“Cole,” she mumbled almost incoherently into my mouth.
I was so close, she felt too good, and it had been so long. Her fingernails dug into my scalp, and I fucking lost control.
“Yes,” she cried, pulling at me, needing to be as close as physically possible. I wrapped my arm around her back, clamping her to me as I pushed deeper inside her.
“Come for me, baby. Fuck, I’m so close,” I panted.
I gripped her hip, grinding hard into her, and she fell apart.
“Cole. Yes!”
I followed right after, kissing her until I rode out my climax.
We didn’t move for minutes. Neither of us spoke. We held each other until we could breathe again.
“Hi,” she said, running her hands through my hair as I lifted my head from her shoulder.
“Hi.” I smiled.
Her hands slid down my neck and over my shoulders. “That was perfect, Cole.”
“I am so in love with you,” I told her, and kissed her lips.