Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Cole stared up at the movie. He and Piper were in the back row, and she was pressed into his side. She felt good there, perfect. Right.
Her hand slid into his and, yeah, that felt right, too. “I can’t believe you brought me to this,” she whispered.
“You don’t like it?”
“You know how I feel about horror films.”
He turned to her and felt a grin tug at his lips. It was happening a lot more lately around Piper. She had that effect on him, and there was no way he could fight it—and he wasn’t sure he even wanted to. “Why do you think I chose this movie?”
Her eyes narrowed. “You’re trying to scare me on purpose?”
He shook his head. “No. I wanted you to press up against me and hold my hand.”
She glanced at their joined hands. “Well, aren’t you just a diabolical genius.”
A laugh burst past his lips. Piper had him doing that a lot as well. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Someone shushed them, so Piper moved closer so he could hear her. “You would.”
She turned back to the movie, and a minute later, she pulled her hand free from his. He frowned, turned to her, but her eyes stayed on the screen. Then he felt her fingers slide across his thigh, brushing his cock. He grabbed her wrist. Shit.
“What are you doing?”
“Maybe I have a diabolical plan of my own.”
“And what’s that?” His heart started to pound a little harder.
She turned into him more, breasts pressed against his arm. “You wanna make out?”
He slid a hand into her hair at the side of her face and leaned down. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Then he kissed her, and they made out like a couple of teenagers in the back row of the movies.
The next night Piper woke to knocking on the front door.
Shoving her hair off her face, she glanced at the clock. 11:24 p.m. Throwing back the sheet, she climbed out and stumbled down the hall still half asleep. “Who is it?”
“Cole.”
A rush of excitement fired through her, shaking off all traces of sleepiness. She unlocked and opened the door. He stood in the shadow of her porch, all tall and broad and mouthwateringly yummy. She felt light-headed at the sight of him standing there.
“Hey.” He moved closer, forcing her to take several steps back until he was inside, then shut and locked the door behind him.
She smiled up at him. “Hey.”
His mouth quirked up on one side. “Did I wake you?”
“I’m glad you did.”
“I had to work late.” He leaned in, ran his nose along her jaw, then buried it in her hair and inhaled. “I thought about you all day.”
He was saying things like that more often. Not holding as much of himself back from her. She loved it. “I thought about you, too.”
Without another word, he took her hand and headed to her bedroom.
Her body went from sleepy to hot and hungry in a matter of minutes.
Cole led her to the side of the bed, wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her in close. He buried his face against her throat. “You’re still warm from your bed.” His cock was hard against her belly, and her need for him intensified until she was trembling in his arms. “Fuck, you smell good.”
“So do you.” The heat of his skin heightened his delicious scent. Clean sweat, body wash, and something darker that was all Cole.
He slid his hands down her back, smoothing them across the pale blue silk of her nightie.
“I like this, too.” Then he carried on lower, over her thighs and up under the hem.
She shivered as he started lifting it higher, baring her inch by inch, until he drew her nightie over her head and tossed it aside.
“Come here.” Sitting on the side of the bed, he pulled her onto his lap and arranged her so she straddled his hips.
She gripped the bottom of his shirt and tugged it over his head, sighing when her bare skin met his. “Did you have a good day?” she whispered.
“It just got a whole lot better.” He slid a hand down between them, toying with her through her panties.
Cupping the back of her head, he took her mouth in a hot, hard kiss.
His tongue slid against hers hungrily, and with his free arm wrapped around her, holding her immobile, all she could do was squirm on his lap.
She couldn’t believe the needy sounds coming from her, but she was unable to hold them back.
God, she felt starved of him. Cole’s arms tightened, then he twisted, and she was on her back on the mattress.
He went to his knees on the floor, slid off her underwear, his broad shoulders filling the space between her thighs, and dragged her ass closer to the edge of the bed.
“Condoms are in the bedside drawer.” She reached out and yanked it open. After getting caught without that first time, she’d made a trip to the drugstore.
He shook his head. “I need your taste on my tongue.”
Her inner muscles clenched, and she spread wider for him, inviting him to put his mouth on her.
“You like that idea?”
“Yes.” There was no use in playing coy, not when she was with Cole. Not when she knew their time together had a fast-approaching use-by date.
“Shit, Piper.” He leaned in, his shoulders forcing her legs wider, and placed his hot mouth over her.
She moaned, lifting her hips as he spread her with his tongue.
He traced her inner lips, tormenting her for what felt like forever.
Threading her fingers through his hair, she tried to grind against his mouth, pleaded with him to put her out of her misery.
He just chuckled and gently pushed his tongue inside her.
He fucked her like that, teasing her, until she was bucking and moaning.
He growled against her slick flesh. “Jesus, you taste good.”
Sliding his tongue higher, he circled her clit, making her gasp. One of his hands left her thighs, but she barely noticed because he started flicking his tongue over her in a teasing way that had her straining upward for more.
A low humming sound broke through her haze of lust, but before she could question it, something cool and blunt was pressing at her opening.
Oh god, he’s found my vibrator. He must have seen it when she opened her drawer. She should probably be embarrassed by it, but right then she was too turned on to care.
He flicked his tongue over her clit again, and she bucked. “What do you think about when you fuck yourself with your pretty pink vibrator?” he said against her wet skin.
She was too far gone to come up with a lie. “You,” she gasped. “I fuck myself thinking about you.”
“Jesus.” His voice was deep, distorted with lust. “You don’t know what that does to me, Pipe. Shit, knowing that turns me inside out. Will you let me fuck you with it, sweet girl? Let me watch you come all over it, before I fill you with my cock and fuck you again?”
“Yes. Please. Do it.”
He pushed it inside her, sliding it in and out as he sucked on her clit.
She felt her orgasm race up on her almost instantly, and when she felt the first flutter of her inner muscles, he replaced his mouth with his fingers, sliding them over her clit to keep her coming, while he watched her come around the vibrator like he’d promised.
As soon as she collapsed back on the bed, he slid it from her body, threw it on the bed, and tore open his jeans. He rolled on a condom and covered her, pushing inside with one hard, deep thrust.
She wrapped her arms and legs around him, and he stared down at her, holding her gaze as he took her without restraint, hard and fast. A minute later, she was coming again.
When she opened her eyes, he was still watching her, intense.
But there was also a softness in his eyes that made her cling to him tighter, made her gasp from the impact of it.
His cock pulsed inside her, and he buried his face against her throat, groaning as he joined her.
They lay quiet for a long time. Piper running her hand silently over his back, enjoying the moment, the intimacy.
Finally, he kissed the underside of her jaw, slid out of bed, and went to the bathroom. When he came back he pulled her up and over him, and kissed the top of her head, trailing fingers gently over her skin.
She felt cocooned in his arms, never more wanted than when they were snuggled in the dark like this.
“You have a good day, baby?” he asked into the silence.
“Yeah, just the usual.”
He squeezed her gently. “Something wrong?”
He’d obviously picked up on something in her voice. She’d spent a lot of time in the office today, and she’d hated it.
“What is it, Pipe?”
She sighed. “I’m sick to death of paperwork.
I want more time in the garage.” She cleared her throat.
“But I’m hoping once I’ve finished the Chevy, things will be different.
” For some reason, she wanted to tell someone about it, tell Cole about it.
It was looking so good. The engine rebuild was going without a hitch, and she was proud of the work she’d done on it.
He rolled her to her back, rested his head in his hand, and started tracing patterns on her belly. “The Chevy?”
She smoothed her finger over his bottom lip. “It’s my secret project.”
“Why secret?”
“I’m going to prove to Rusty and Alex that I’m just as good at restoration work as they are.”
“They know that already, Pipe. Everyone knows you’re a fucking good mechanic.”
That warmed her, made her smile. “Well, I think my sister and best friend have forgotten that I learned right alongside them. That I’m just as good as they are. I’m sick of being stuck in the office or being given the easy, small jobs. They’ve… They don’t trust in my ability anymore.”
He cupped the side of her face. “Things have been busy while you build your business, yes?”
“Yes.” She ran her hand over the whiskers on his jaw. The beard had nearly grown back in.
“I don’t doubt they know what you can do, but maybe with how crazy things have been, for all of you, they’ve taken that a little for granted.”
“Maybe.”
“No harm in reminding them. You’ll blow them away, baby.” Then he kissed her gently. “I can’t wait to see this car when you’re finished.” He grinned. “Will you take me for a ride when it’s done?”
She grinned back. “You just want to get me in the backseat.”
He chuckled. “Maybe.”
“Then absolutely.”
He kissed her again.
Cole woke from his nightmare with a start, heart pounding, cold sweat covering his body.
He realized immediately he wasn’t alone.
Piper.
He was in her bed. Had he been making noise in his sleep, thrashing about?
Shit. He twisted to face her, but she was still out cold.
Thank fuck. He’d been worried about this.
But after the first night when nothing had happened, he’d fooled himself into thinking it would be okay.
That maybe the dreams had stopped. Jesus, if he’d woken her she would ask questions, questions he wasn’t prepared to answer.
He didn’t want Piper knowing what happened that day. How he’d allowed his control to slip. How he’d lost focus and his volatile emotions had taken the driver’s seat.
He and Adam had been tracking a dealer for over a month. The guy was slippery as hell. They needed him off the street. The ecstasy he was selling was a bad batch, and they’d been called to several OD’s because of it.
That day they’d tracked the fucker down.
But he’d tagged them before they could move in.
They’d followed, pursued him, but he’d headed into a busier part of the city, trying to shake them.
They’d called for backup, and Cole should have eased off.
It was too dangerous to follow at speed in such a congested area.
But just the night before they’d been to another OD linked to this guy. She’d been young, maybe sixteen. Fuck, the look on her father’s face when Cole told him his baby girl was in the city morgue…
Cole looked at Adam.
His partner read him instantly and scowled. “Fuck that. He’s not getting away this time.”
An image of the girl they’d found, the others that had lost their lives because of this asshole, swam through his head. Adam was right. They couldn’t let him get away.
Ignoring protocol, his training, he planted his foot on the gas and sped through the city.
“Don’t lose him,” Adam barked.
Cole glanced at his partner, then back at the road, just as a truck came speeding out of a side road, pulling out in front of them. He slammed on the brakes, but he was going too fast.
Tires screeched.
He lifted his hands…
Cole shoved his fingers in his hair. Shit.
Climbing out of Piper’s bed, he stared down at her sleeping form for several minutes. So still, so damn beautiful.
Jesus. What am I doing?
He was walking a tightrope with Piper. Keeping his emotions in check around her was near impossible.
She made him feel off balance. The only way he got through each day was by the sheer strength of his will, by maintaining the control he’d lost that day and hanging on with everything he had.
It was slipping around her. Little by little.
He knew he should stop, stop it now. But he couldn’t. It was too late. If she answered the door tomorrow night when he knocked, he would have her again. And he’d keep coming back until she finally told him no.
Tearing his gaze from her, he went to the bathroom and washed his face with cool water, then climbed back in Piper’s bed, pulling her close and staring up at the ceiling. He wasn’t going back to sleep. Not tonight.
Shit. He needed to keep a lockdown on his feelings for her. It was his only option.
If he didn’t, he might not ever be able to let her go…
Fuck.