Chapter 27
A knock on the door broke the spell, causing Janice to blink. Cole answered it, accepting a paper bag from a delivery driver and exchanging a few bills for the meal. The smell of hot food filled the small room… burgers and fries that made Janice's stomach growl.
"When did we last eat?" she asked, suddenly ravenous.
"I honestly don't remember." Cole spread the food out on the bed, the only real surface in the tiny room, and gestured for her to join him.
They sat cross-legged on the mattress, the bags of food between them, eating with their fingers. It should have felt awkward, sharing a meal on a bed in a tiny hotel room, Janice wearing almost nothing but Cole's shirt. Instead, it felt natural. Right.
"Here." Cole held out an onion ring and offered it to her. "These are actually really good."
Janice leaned forward and took it from his fingers with her teeth, watching his eyes darken at the contact. "You're right. That's amazing."
When they finished their burgers, he surprised her with a large slice of apple pie. Gasping, her eyes lit up as she eagerly set the plastic container onto the bed.
“Damn, I forgot to ask for forks,” he muttered.
“Don’t worry. We can eat it with our hands.”
He picked up the piece of pie and held it out. She took a bite and groaned, then watched as he did the same.
He held out another bit, and this time, her lips closed over his fingertips as she took it, and she heard his sharp intake of breath.
"You're playing with fire," he warned, his voice low.
"Maybe I want to get burned."
The words hung in the air between them. Cole set the food aside, his movements slow and deliberate, giving her every chance to pull back. But Janice didn't want to pull back. She wanted to lean in.
"Janice." He reached out, tucking a strand of still-damp hair behind her ear. His fingers lingered on her jaw, tilting her face up toward his. "I need you to be sure about this. Because once I kiss you, I'm not going to want to stop."
Her heart hammered against her ribs. "I'm sure."
"This isn't just... adrenaline? Proximity? We've been through a lot together in a very short time, and sometimes that creates feelings that aren't—"
"Cole." She placed her hand over his, pressing his palm more firmly against her cheek. "I've been trying to figure that out too. Is this real? Is it just the situation? But then I realized something."
"What?" The word came out more as a growl than a question.
"It doesn't matter how it started." She turned her head, pressing a kiss to his palm.
"What matters is that it's real now. What I feel for you…
the way my heart races when you look at me, the way I feel safe when you're near, the way I want to know everything about you.
That's not adrenaline. That's not proximity. That's something more."
Cole was quiet for a long moment, his thumb tracing slow circles on her cheekbone. When he finally spoke, his voice was thick with emotion.
"I've been on a lot of missions. Worked with a lot of people under pressure.
And I've never, ever felt anything like what I feel when I'm with you.
" He leaned closer, his forehead touching hers.
"This is different, Janice. You're different.
And whatever this is between us, it's the most real thing I've felt in years. "
She closed the distance between them, desperate to erase any space.
The first kiss was gentle, tentative. Almost a question and an answer all at once. His lips were warm against hers, tasting of salt from the fries and something uniquely him. Janice sighed into his mouth, and the sound seemed to break something loose in him.
The second kiss was deeper, hungrier. His hand slid into her hair, tilting her head back as his tongue swept against hers. She grabbed fistfuls of his Henley, pulling him closer, needing more contact, more heat, more of him.
"Tell me to stop," he breathed against her lips. "Tell me to stop, and I will."
"Don't stop." She pulled back just far enough to meet his eyes, letting him see everything she was feeling. She wanted him to understand her want, the need, the absolute certainty coursing through her body. "Please, Cole. I want this. I want you."
He groaned, and then his mouth was on hers again, hot and demanding. The empty food bags got pushed aside, forgotten as he lowered her back onto the mattress, his body covering hers.
"Wait." He pulled back, breathing hard, his dark eyes searching her face. "I need to say something first."
Janice's heart clenched. Was he going to stop? Was he having second thoughts?
"This means something to me," Cole said, his voice raw with honesty.
"You mean something to me. This isn't a hookup, a one-night thing, or whatever else you might be thinking. When this is over, when the investigation is over, and you're safe, I want to see where this goes. I want a chance at something real with you. I know we can’t say what that’ll look like, but I just wanted you to know.”
Tears pricked at her eyes. "I want that too."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." She pulled him down, kissing him softly. "Now stop talking and show me."
And he did. His fingers slowly unbuttoned his shirt, the one she was wearing. “This shirt never looked so good as it does right now.”
She grinned and admitted, “I was already considering stealing it.”
“No need to be sneaky, ’cause you can have it. If you’ll think of me every time you wear it, then it’s yours.”
He sat up, his knees on either side of her thighs, and his hands parted the material. She hadn’t put her bra back on, and the air hissed from his lips as her breasts were exposed.
“Fucking beautiful,” he moaned, his gaze moving over her as though he couldn’t get enough.
She shifted from side to side, enabling him to drag the flannel material off her arms. It still provided a soft blanket underneath her, the intoxicating scent of him surrounding her.
He leaned forward, his mouth devouring hers again.
Only this time, his palms skimmed her hips and upward until her breasts filled his hands.
Kneading the mounds, she gasped into his mouth again, and he swallowed the sound.
Her fingers grasped at the tight Henley he wore, trying to drag it upward.
But there wasn’t enough room, and her groan turned from sexy to frustrated.
He chuckled as he sat up, and she hated the separation until she watched him reach back, grasp the soft material, and yank it over his head.
Now, seeing his torso in all its muscular glory, her breath rushed out.
Her fingertips ran over his warm, soft skin, feeling the enticing ridges. He jerked, and she laughed.
“Ticklish?” she wondered aloud.
“Damn… yeah. It was the one thing my younger sisters could try to torture me with,” he said, smiling.
“Good to know.”
“Are you planning on using that information, Dr. Lynch?” he asked, his voice a low growl.
“Only if absolutely necessary, Mr. Iverson,” she replied in a fake haughty accent with her brows arched.
“Then I’ll just have to keep you occupied.”
His gaze pinned her to the mattress, and she nodded. “Sounds like a good idea to me.”
His clothes were soon discarded, and her panties joined his garments tossed to the bottom of the bed.
Hands began to explore, soft curves against hard planes, satin skin against warm steel.
His fingers delved inside, curling and reaching as she arched into his hand.
It didn’t take long for her to come, and the sight of him licking his fingers afterward made her heart pound even more.
Her legs fell open, and her hands grasped his shoulders. He held himself over her, having dug a condom out of his wallet. “Tell me what you want, Janice. I need to hear you say you want this as much as I do, because if you don’t, I’ll stop. What we do is all up to you.”
She nodded slowly, wanting him to feel the emotions crashing through her.
“I want this, Cole. I know we’ve only known each other a few days.
I know our emotions have been all over the place with adrenaline, danger, excitement, fear.
It’s a lot to pack into a short period of time.
But I’ve never wanted to be with someone as much as I want to be with you.
And it’s not just because it’s been a while…
” She chuckled. “And by a while, I mean a long while.”
He grinned, leaned down, and nuzzled her nose with his. “I want this, too. I want this with you.”
Her fingers tightened, and he slid in slowly at first, and then, with a single thrust, he fully seated himself into her tight channel.
Her eyes rolled back in her head, and a long, sexy groan came from deep in her lungs.
The pace of his thrusts increased, making it hard to think of anything else but the sounds they made, their bodies fitting together, and the coil tightening inside, until all she could see were stars behind her closed eyelids.
“Let me see you,” he ordered softly.
Her eyes popped open, and as soon as she saw the intense expression on his face and how his gaze peered deeply, she couldn’t imagine being with anyone else. Ever.
After a few more thrusts, his body stiffened as his muscles grew taut, and he roared out his own release.
Afterward, they lay tangled together in the hotel bed, Janice's head on Cole's chest, his fingers tracing lazy patterns on her bare shoulder. The room was dark now, the only light coming from the parking lot outside filtering through the thin curtains.
"What happens after Alaska?" Janice asked quietly, voicing the question that had been circling in her mind since it hit her that she couldn’t imagine him not being in her life. "You live in Montana. I live in Washington. These aren't exactly neighboring states."
Cole's hand stilled on her shoulder. "I've been thinking about that."
"And?"
"And I don't have all the answers." He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "But I know that what I feel for you isn't going to go away just because there's distance involved. People make long-distance work all the time. And you said it yourself that your job isn't tied to a specific location."
"That's true." Janice propped herself up on her elbow, looking down at him. She lifted a finger to trail over his grizzled cheek and soft lips before scoffing. "I don’t even know if I have a job with the university anymore.”
“Can you do wildlife veterinary work in other places? I mean, I know you can, but I didn’t really know what you might want to do.”
“Washington was convenient because of my parents, but it was never about the place. It was about the work."
"Montana has wildlife," Cole offered, a hint of a smile playing at his lips. "Bears. Wolves. Elk. All kinds of animals that need veterinarians who understand them."
Janice laughed at his playfulness, feeling something bloom in her chest. “I guess we need to get out of this mess before we decide what’s next.”
He sighed, then cupped her face in his hand, his expression serious. "Yeah… but I just want you to know that this”—he gestured back and forth between them—“matters to me. You matter to me."
Janice leaned down and kissed him, pouring all her hope, fear, and wanting into the contact. When she pulled back, she was also sighing.
"Let's make sure that the evidence is secure. And we’re safe. And Charles Penson has to sweat out his illegal mining operation." She kissed him again. "Then we figure out the rest. Together."
"Together," Cole agreed. "I like the sound of that."
They settled back into each other's arms, and for the first time since this whole nightmare began, Janice felt truly safe.
Not just because of the locked door or the walls around them, but because of the man holding her.
The man who'd risked everything to protect her and who wanted to build something real when this was over.