Chapter 23 Cole
TWENTY-THREE
COLE
Having Eve in my apartment knowing she’ll be in my arms when we go to sleep settles something inside me. My chest expands with a soft, happy warmth watching her curiosity exploring my space.
There isn’t much. The walls are sparse and I have a few boxes that are still unpacked from what little I brought with me.
I didn’t want to make it feel like home, worried I’d be leaving when the season was over.
I haven’t had the chance to make a dent in the last few weeks once I found out my job isn’t temporary.
My hand hasn’t left hers since we walked through the door. I let her lead me from room to room, fingers laced because neither of us is willing to stop touching.
The ride from the bar was like this, too. I held her leg and she wouldn’t stop running her fingers over the back of my hand.
We’re making up for lost time.
No more denying what we both want. No more pretending we’re only friends.
Eve takes us back to the living room, almost pulling free from me. I draw her back, lifting her chin with a crooked finger to kiss her. It’s unhurried and deep, learning the shape of her mouth, the glide of her tongue against mine. I commit all of it to memory.
I kiss her for the sake of kissing her, because I can. I don’t take it further.
Of course I want her again. I don’t think I’ll ever have my fill of being inside her. We’ll get there.
For now, this is everything I need. Just being near her. Being able to touch her as much as I’ve wanted for months.
We both end up smiling into the kiss. I’m not sure if I do it first or her. She giggles and I slide my arms around her waist.
“I can’t stop kissing you,” I murmur against her lips.
“I know. Me either.”
She presses on her toes. I dip my head to make it easier for her to reach, resting my forehead against hers. I could stay like this for hours.
“You’re mine,” I marvel.
“I am. Which makes you mine, too.” She sounds equally awed. Her voice drops to a whisper. “I’ve liked you for so long, Cole.”
I hug her tighter. “You have? Since when?”
“Yes.” She gives me a cute, self-conscious look. “I can’t even remember when it started. God, I used to do anything to get you to smile at me. Past me would be flipping her shit right now to know I’m with you.”
My mouth quirks and I study her tenderly. “Is that right?”
Eve hides her face against my chest. “Don’t look at me like that, it’s embarrassing.”
“Like what? I’m just looking at my girl.” I cradle her head. “You’d better get used to it because I plan to do this a lot.”
“How is this going to work? We still have my dad and brother to worry about,” she mumbles. “We can’t just be like ‘surprise we’re together’ at dinner. My dad would have a heart attack.”
I walk backwards until I hit the couch, dropping down to bracket her with my knees. My fingertips graze the backs of her thighs, sliding up beneath her dress. She shivers at the contact.
Dating the head coach’s daughter is still going to be a problem. Benson I think I could convince easier. I hope, anyway. My best friend might knock my lights out once I come clean about being with his sister.
If he’s on my side, maybe I can win over David without losing my job for breaking his off-limits rule on Eve. As long as I continue proving I’m a good coach, I think this will work out.
“I’d say we’ve had damn good practice at sneaking around.” I press my face to her soft stomach, peering up. “We can still keep us a secret for now until we figure out how to tell them. And I do want that.”
“To tell them?” She cards her fingers through my hair.
“Of course. I won’t hide how I feel about you forever, sweetheart. Don’t you want to kiss me or hold hands whenever you want without worrying who sees? Dance with me at The Landmark instead of making eyes at me across the room? Sit next to me at dinner with your family without stealing glances?”
“Yes,” she answers in a heartbeat.
I hold my hand up and she threads her fingers with mine. I bring them to my mouth, kissing her knuckles.
“Jess knows, sort of. She has our backs if we need someone to cover for us.”
We’ll worry about everything else later. I tug her to my lap. She comes easily, resting her head on my shoulder. I close my eyes. As long as I get to enjoy doing this with her now, I’m content.
“Are you hungry? I can make something, or we could watch a movie?”
She pulls back, covering her smile. “A movie? You’re making me feel like I’m on my first date in college.”
“I haven’t actually dated a lot. Or had anyone I’d call a girlfriend. Things were usually more focused on getting a drink and getting naked.” I squeeze my nape. “So I guess this is sort of in the first date territory for me. We’re really doing all of this backwards, huh?”
She tilts her head with a fond expression. “A movie sounds great.”
We pick something out. When I go into the kitchen to scrounge for popcorn, she follows me, hugging me from behind while I search the cabinets.
“You know you have a box in the corner that says plates,” she points out.
“Yeah. I didn’t bring much. That one’s from my parents shipping extra stuff they thought I’d need. I only ended up unpacking the essentials.”
She hums in understanding. “I want to get cozy. Can I borrow a shirt to wear?”
“Yeah.”
I take her to the bedroom. She strips off her dress and unhooks her bra, standing bare before me. I rake my teeth over my lip. She doesn’t hide.
I saunter over, giving her curves a light caress. Her lashes lower in enjoyment.
Tearing my gaze from her, I pull a clean t-shirt and boxers from the drawer to give her. I also find a pair of loose shorts for myself. Pulling her panties from my back pocket, I set them on the dresser, shooting her a smirk.
I watch her in my periphery while she gets dressed, then change slowly for her benefit. She looks damn good in my clothes. My cock is half hard at the sight. If I make it through the movie knowing she’s wearing my shirt and little else, it’ll be a miracle.
“Comfy?”
She lifts the neckline to her nose. “Yes. I’m totally stealing this.”
A rumble sounds in my chest as I bend and haul her over my shoulder. My arms secure her thighs and I grin at her squeal. She grips the back of my shirt, laughing.
“Are you ready to watch the movie? Because if not, I’m going to toss you on that bed and fuck you again.”
“Mm, tempting,” she sasses. “Let’s watch the movie first.”
Somehow it feels like we’ve been together forever and like everything is fresh all at once. I want to spend hours making her come, and also as long laying around with her head resting on my chest.
I just want to exist with Eve Lombard as the universe passes us by.
We settle on the couch with her nestled into my side, my arm draped around her shoulders. The film we pick out ends up being background noise.
I miss most of the beginning because I’m too focused on the talking we’re doing with our hands. We’re palm to palm, then entwining our fingers, exploring every bump and line.
She flips my hand to study my palm with gentle sweeping touches. I have no idea what’s going on in the film because I’m captivated by her.
Halfway in, she gets up for water. Instead of returning to me, she pauses by one of the boxes I’ve been using as a side table. She plops down and moves the stuff on top to the floor before opening it.
“Want me to turn this off?”
She jolts, attention flying to me. “I’m sorry,” she says automatically. “This is sort of bugging me.”
I chuckle. “Don’t be. I wasn’t paying much attention to the movie, either. I was more interested in looking at you.”
She blushes and climbs to her feet. I drag the box over to the coffee table so we can do it together.
“You’re giving me a good excuse to finally unpack.”
Her shoulders relax. “You don’t mind?”
“No. Help me make this place feel more like a home?” I offer my hand.
She takes it with a relieved smile. “You always do that.”
“What?”
“You get me. I never have to explain myself, you just roll with it. You don’t get mad about my ADHD or think it’s annoying when I’m distracted like this.”
“Why would I? It’s part of who you are. And if I haven’t made it clear enough, I like everything about you, sweetheart.”
She bumps her shoulder against mine. I take her chin and kiss her.
The movie continues while we make our way through the box.
She finds spots for my hockey trophies and gives me shit for having some NHL merch for west coast teams when most of Heston Lake follows teams in the Eastern Conference in addition to their support for the Heston U Knights.
I wrestle with her until I get her into one of the jerseys I collected while I was away at college and tell her how cute she looks.
It’s late when we strip down to go to bed, but we don’t sleep right away. We lay awake talking. It doesn’t matter that we’ve had nights like this talking through the dating app or on the phone in the last few months.
This is better. She’s exactly where she belongs.
I have her in front of me, my leg tucked between hers. The sweet scent of her shampoo fills my lungs and it will be all over my sheets.
In the middle of talking, we end up kissing. Then she pulls on my arm at the same time I give in to the urge to roll on top of her. She opens her thighs for me and I settle my cock against her, grinding against her until she has her legs wrapped around me.
“Need you,” she begs.
When I slide inside her it’s my own personal heaven.
This time we go slow. I take her hands and pin them above her head with our fingers threaded together. I swallow each gasp as I hit her nice and deep. The flutter of her pussy when she comes is too fucking good. I drop my forehead to hers, a groan scraping my throat as I finish.
Afterwards, I have Eve wrapped in my arms. She moves her ass back so it’s against me and I drag her close enough to feel her heart beating in time with mine. I bury my face in the crook of her shoulder, more content than I’ve ever been in my life.