CHAPTER 46
Cole
When we got back from the beach, the new mattress was already leaning against the front porch, wrapped in plastic that glinted in the sunlight.
We laughed it off at first, Quinn teasing me as we brought our bags inside, then spent the rest of the afternoon watching The Notebook and then a new Netflix rom com, the easy comfort of it all almost enough to make me forget what the mattress meant.
By evening, it was unwrapped and set up in her room, a quiet declaration that we’d be sleeping apart from now on.
The house feels heavy in the dark. The hum of the street outside is the only sound, shadows slipping across the ceiling. The other side of my bed is too wide. Too cold.
For the first time in weeks, Quinn isn’t curled up beside me, and the emptiness gnaws as my thoughts drift down the hall.
After last night, maybe it’s for the best. We crossed a line, teetering between friendship and something far more dangerous. And I know myself: if I kiss her again, if I touch her like that, I’ll fall.
Hell, I’m already careening in midair.
I’m still debating knocking on her door when the floorboard outside my room creaks, followed by a tentative tap.
“Cole?”
“Yeah,” I manage, dragging the covers higher, like that’ll hide the fact that I’ve been lying here, wide awake, thinking only of her.
She peeks her head inside my room. “Are you awake?”
“I am now,” I lie, throat tight.
“I can’t sleep.” A pause. “Will you… come to bed?” The last words are thin, uncertain.
She came here. She asked for me.
“Your bed?”
“Please,” she whispers.
Heat crawls up my chest. “Okay. But you can’t snooze the alarm ten times tomorrow.”
“No promises.” Her smile flickers in the dark before she turns toward the hall.
I throw off the covers, tug on my nearest pair of boxers, and follow her. Halfway down the hall, she glances back at me, eyes bright but guarded, and it’s enough to make my stomach twist.
I know she’s not inviting me for anything more than company, but that doesn’t stop my pulse from tripping at the thought of being near her again.
She slips into her bed first, curling under the sheets. I take the side closest to the door, wrapping an arm around her waist. Her back moulds into my chest, the steady rhythm of her breathing syncing to mine.
“Better?” My lips brush her hairline.
“We shouldn’t…”
“Shouldn’t do what?” I murmur.
“This,” she breathes. “All of it.”
I let out a chuckle. “We both know we’ll end up like this by morning anyway. Might as well start out comfortable.”
She goes quiet, then softens against me. “Just this though.”
“Of course.” My fingertips trace slow, absent circles over her arm. “Is this okay?”
A small nod. “Yeah. It’s… nice.”
The memory of last night presses into me with a vengeance. My body betrays me, hardening against her before I can shift away. She wriggles back even further, her ass pressing into me and making restraint nearly impossible.
Fuck, I need her more than I need air to breathe.
“What are you up to?” I whisper against the shell of her ear, unable to hide my smile.
“Nothing… just trying to get comfortable.” Her laugh comes out uneven. The sound slips through me, lighting every nerve and leaving me with the raw, aching urge to pull her closer.
“Mm-hmm. Sure you are.”
She pushes back harder, and when she gasps at the contact, I nearly lose it. Tilting my hips, I let her feel the proof of what she’s doing to me.
“I… can’t… um… think… right now,” she admits raggedly.
Neither can I. My hand slips beneath her top, fingertips grazing the warmth of her skin as I trace lazy, teasing circles over her stomach. Each pass makes her muscles jump, her breath hitching, and her skin quivering beneath my touch like she’s fighting not to beg for more.
“You’re making it really hard to behave,” I murmur, lips brushing her ear. Inside, the words feel like a warning I can’t follow myself.
“You’re the one touching me,” she fires back, but her tone is molten.
“Tell me when to stop,” I whisper. “And I will.”
She shivers but doesn’t move away. “Fuck, Cole. How do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“This,” she breathes, grinding her hips back into me. The friction nearly undoes me. I kiss the curve of her shoulder while my hand drifts lower, slipping under the waistband of her shorts.
I pause, my fingers grazing the soft cotton of her underwear, giving her one last chance to pull away. I’d stop if she did, but every beat of silence makes me ache with the hope that she won’t.
And she doesn’t. She grabs my wrist, fingers curling tight as she guides me lower with a frustrated “Hurry up.”
“Is that what you want?” I press, needing to hear it.
“Cole, I’m three seconds from doing it myself. Hurry. Up.” Her voice trembles as she turns her head toward me.
She parts her legs slightly, granting me more access, and just like that, my restraint snaps.
I slide my hand between her thighs, heat radiating as I find her already soaked, panties damp against my fingers.
I rub slow, teasing circles, every whimper she gives pulling me deeper under.
She shifts onto her back, sliding an arm around the back of my neck to draw me closer, moaning into my skin as she trails quick, desperate kisses along my throat, each one hotter and more urgent than the last.
“More,” she demands. “I need more.”
I push the damp fabric aside, finally touching her bare, slickness coating my fingers. I slip one inside, her body tightening instinctively. She gasps, arching into me, nails digging deeper into the sheets.
“More. Please, Cole. I need more.”
I add a second finger, curling them just right until her body clenches around me. She rocks into me, grinding against my cock as I groan into her neck. Part of me knows we’re toeing the edge of no return, and it only turns me more frantic.
“Just like that?” I breathe against her ear.
“Yes,” she pants. “Don’t stop.”
I kiss along her shoulder, lingering at the curve of her neck, murmuring low encouragements against her skin as she writhes beneath me. “Good girl. Come for me.”
She clamps around my hand, holding me there as though she never wants to let go. I keep my fingers steady, coaxing every last shudder, every gasp, until she’s boneless against me, face buried in the pillow and damp hair sticking to her cheek.
Her release drags me over the edge. My body jerks, pleasure ripping through me. I grit my teeth, forehead pressed to her shoulder, riding it out while her muffled gasp echoes in my ear and her nails rake down my forearm, both of us unravelling together.
We collapse into stillness, and I rest my hand over her stomach, rising and falling with her steadying breaths.
“Quinn?” My voice is soft. “You okay?”
“Yeah… are you?” she asks, turning her face toward me slightly, hair brushing my jaw.
“Yeah. I… um… need a minute.” I slip away, rushing to the en suite to clean up, cheeks burning.
“Where are you going?” she calls after me, voice small.
“Just… sorting something out.”
“Okay… don’t be long.”
I slip into my room and change into fresh black boxers, the cool fabric a sharp contrast to the heat still clinging to my skin, before returning and sliding back under the sheets.
She tucks herself against me without hesitation, her head finding its place over my chest.
“We have to stop doing that,” she mumbles, her breath warm through my shirt. The words are half-hearted, like she already knows we won’t.
“We could change the arrangement,” I offer, pressing a kiss to her hair.
The scent of jasmine grounds me, but inside, a thread of panic pulls taut.
What if she doesn’t want this tomorrow? What if I leave for that year-long trip and come back to find she’s moved on, realised this was nothing more than a moment for her?
The thought hits harder than I want to admit.
She tilts her head, eyes searching mine. “What do you propose?”
“That we just keep doing this.”
She laughs softly. “What about our friendship?”
“We’ll always be friends. But right now, all I want is this. To touch you. To hear that little sound you make when you come.”
“Ugh, stop. I can’t think.” She swats weakly at my chest. But the way her breath hitches tells me she’s overthinking already.
She toys with the waistband of my boxers, teasing me into another groan. “You’re the one making it harder.”
“Very funny. But… seriously.” She pauses. “What do you want to do?” Her tone shifts, the air thickens again, but her gaze is guarded even in the dark.
“Ball’s in your court. You make the rules.”
“Let’s keep sex off the table. As much as I’m into this… we won’t be able to go back once we do.”
“Fair point. I’m good with that.”
I kiss the top of her head, lingering longer than I should, hiding the sting in my chest. She yawns and lets out a soft sigh, burrowing closer.
“You’re probably right.”
I tighten my arms around her, committing her scent to memory. I want to give her everything. But time’s running out, and I still don’t know if she sees what I see.
When her breaths finally deepen into sleep, I press a kiss to her hair and let the words slip free, barely louder than a prayer:
“I love you.”