“Cole! Please,” she pleaded, deciding she wasn’t too proud to beg.
“Talk. To. Me,” he demanded in that infuriatingly calm tone of his.
Pressing her head back into the pillow, Rachel glowered at him, and she had to admit that the sheer strength in his arms, holding the top part of his body away from her, was fucking sexy. His tight abdomen and erection were twitching and throbbing against her aroused skin, and as his focus remained solely on her, Rachel found it hard to think, let alone talk.
But she managed through as she said, “You’re a jerk.”
He chuckled and nodded once. “That might be accurate, but I’m the jerk you want, so talk.”
Gritting her teeth, Rachel finally relented, seeing it as the only way to get him inside her anytime soon. “Fine. What do you want to talk about? The weather?”
“No. I want you to tell me about Ben.”
As that name left Cole’s lips, it ricocheted like a gunshot through the silent dark room, and he felt Rachel stiffen right before her body kicked into flight. With more strength than he thought she possessed, she pulled her hands from between their bodies and pushed up to shove against his shoulders.
“Get off me,” she demanded.
Cole had known she would flip out when he told her what he wanted to talk about, so being obstinate as ever, he braced himself and remained where he was.
“No. Talk to me.”
“Cole,” she warned.
He looked down at her with one thought: I’m not moving, so if you want me to get off, make me. Just as it entered his mind, she maneuvered herself, so her thighs were parted and wrapped up tight around his hips. Before he knew it, she pushed and rolled as she slapped at one of his arms, making him lose his balance.
He fell down on top of her with a grunt before he gripped her shoulders. He rolled with her until they tumbled across the sheets and fell off the edge of the bed, landing with a loud thump on the floor.
Jesus, that’s going to leave a fucking mark.
She landed on top of him with an oomph before she began squirming all over him as she tried in vain to get away, but Cole wasn’t letting her go anywhere. He just hoped her knees didn’t connect with anything that would leave permanent damage. Holding her wrists, he struggled with her as he pulled her arms around behind her back and twisted his legs over hers, pinning her in place, flush against him.
“Let me go!” she spat at him as if she were a trapped animal.
“No,” he growled, holding her tight against him.
Ignoring the throbbing in his ass, back, and head, Cole leaned up, so he was nose-to-nose with her. Again, he demanded, “Who is Ben?”
Her blue eyes narrowed on his with as much heat as the center of a flame as she tried to glare him to death. “Why? Are you jealous?”
If he hadn’t been so worked up, he might have found some humor in her accusation, but as it was, he found himself losing the control he relied on to keep him in check. “Do I seem jealous, Rachel? I’m fucking pissed off that I am lying on this hard fucking floor! But I’m not jealous.”
Tightening his grip on her wrists, he continued in a softer tone, “I want to know why you yell his name out at night right before you wake up. You scream like the devil is chasing you.”
He noticed she took a quick breath before she turned her head away.
“Was he the one who hurt you?” Cole pressed cautiously. “Was he the one that made you afraid to be touched?”
The silence in the room was deafening as he made himself wait. Give her time, man. Give her some fucking space.
But on the heels of that thought came, Fuck that! I’m in her space now, and she is not getting rid of me.
Cole waited for her to say something, anything, but it turned out that no words were needed. As she turned her face back to him, he could see tears in her eyes, and he felt his chest tighten.
Releasing her hands slowly, Cole wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her down until her cheek was resting against his chest. He felt her back shake beneath his palms as she silently sobbed against him.
“Shh,” he coaxed against her dark hair where he pressed a kiss. “It’s okay.”
He let his legs relax from around hers as she snuggled in closer to him and rested her palms against his chest. He could hear every deep breath she took, and before he knew it, his hands were gently smoothing down her back to try and soothe her.
“Talk to me,” he encouraged again. He couldn’t quite understand why it was so important to him, but somehow, he knew it was vital.
“I don’t know what to say,” she finally replied.
Cole continued to stroke her naked back, running his fingertips over her mantra—Pride, Strength, Hope, Love—and for the second time tonight, he thought that this woman needed to be his permanently.
“Just start at the beginning and tell me what happened. Nothing you say will make me think any less of you, and nothing you did will make me look at you any differently. But maybe if you tell me what he did to you, you will see me differently and realize that you are safe here. I am not him, and you do not need to be scared when you close your eyes at night.”
Resting one hand on the curve of her hip with the other in her thick hair, Cole squeezed gently and pressed his lips to her head. “Let me in, Rachel. Let down that final wall.”
“Ben, please don’t do this,” Rachel pleaded as she stood, shaking, in the corner of their bedroom.
Her tank top and denim cutoffs that she had worn to her mother’s house made her feel practically naked as he moved toward her. She could feel her right eyelid starting to close from the swelling, and she was sure the cool liquid running down her chin was blood from her own lip. The worst part was that she was sure this wasn’t over, not by a long shot.
Ben had come home drunk. This was a new thing he had started.
It had been bad enough when he hit her sober, but when he would get in a mood like this with the bottle behind it, it would usually be days before she could go outside.
As he rolled up his sleeves, his face blurred in front of her. Rachel was hoping she would pass out. Somehow though, she knew she wouldn’t be that lucky. He’d always made sure to never give her a reprieve like that.
“I asked you a fucking question, so answer me!” he shouted as he stepped closer to her.
Rachel swallowed and wrapped an arm around her waist as she licked her upper lip. She winced from the sting it caused in her bottom one. “I was over at Mom and Dad’s until three. I was helping Mom plant her tulips up the main path to the hou…house,” she stuttered the final word as she watched him unbuckle his belt.
“I expected you to be here when I got home,” he told her, his voice seemingly coming from far, far away now.
Or maybe she was just wishing that were the case as she swayed back into the wall.
“I expected dinner, and I expected you!”
As his saliva hit her face, a shiver ran through her entire body at the venom he directed her way.
“I’m sor…sorry. I didn’t think—”
“You never fucking think of anyone but yourself!” he spat at her as he snapped the leather in his hand.
Rachel knew what he was going to do. Really, she had known it would only be a matter of time before things progressed from his fists to other objects, but as her eyes kept shifting to the leather in his hand, she couldn’t actually bring herself to believe he would use it.
“That’s not true, Ben. I…I was thinking about you. Tha…that’s why I hurried home.”
“You hurried home, so I wouldn’t catch you, but you were too fucking late. I was here, and you weren’t, and you know how that makes me feel.”
She did know. Over and over, he had told her how he hated to come home to an empty house. It made him feel neglected and unloved, like his hard day at work meant nothing to her.
Oh god, when will I stop putting up with this?
As the thought entered her mind, she watched Ben’s hand
rise up above her, and with whiplike precision, he cracked the leather belt down hard across her bare upper thigh.
Screaming out in agony from the painful burn, Rachel had nowhere to go as he whipped his hand up a second time and brought it down across her other thigh.
Pulling back into the corner, Rachel closed her eyes tight, knowing there was nowhere to go. He was too big, too powerful, and he had her cornered. The best she could hope for would be the peace of blackness, whether that be from passing out or death. At this point, she would take either.
Closing her eyes, she made herself float away, letting her mind drift, as she numbed herself to the cuts that were forming over the raised welts on her thighs. If she survived this night and recovered in one piece, this was it. She would no longer do this to herself. She would no longer let him do this to her, and she would never, ever let a man control her or tie her down—ever again.
Rachel placed a palm to Cole’s muscular chest and pushed up, so she was looking down at him lying beneath her in the moonlight. Serious eyes peered back at her with so much intensity that they made her shiver as she tried to find the words she was desperately searching for.
However, “Can we go for that swim?” was what she blurted out instead.
“You want to go for a swim? Now?” he asked, double-checking, as she started to wriggle and make her way off his lap.
This was the only way she could think of to put some much-needed space between them. If he wanted answers, he wasn’t going to get them while they were this close. She needed distance. She needed the ability to move and breathe, and here, on the floor of his bedroom, he was too close, and she was too vulnerable.
“Yes,” she confirmed.
She moved to kneel beside him where he was now leaning up on his arm, staring at her with an incredulous look on his face.
“Okay,” he told her slowly. He sat up, so they were now nose-to-nose. “But we go as is.”
Rachel looked down at his naked body before raising her eyes to his. “I don’t see a problem with that.”
“Okay then, let’s do this.”
Cole stared at the woman kneeling beside him. She was covered only by a small pair of pink panties, and her crazy red-highlighted hair was flirting with her hard nipples. He had to remind his cock not to get excited. He had meant it when he told her he wanted to talk, and he had a feeling she was going to, but she just needed space. He hoped she didn’t expect too much of it because her being nearly naked in a body of water was not going to be a great deterrent for him.
Pushing up to get to his feet, he watched her smoothly rise before she walked around him to the end of the bed.
“What are you doing?” he inquired as she picked up her shirt.
“I’m going to get dressed before we go upstairs. Unlike you, I don’t fancy parading my naked ass up your corridor or for the camera in the elevator.”
Cole had to try extremely hard not to smile at her smart-ass mouth. “I have robes. Want one?”
Cocking her head to the side, Rachel asked, “How many do you have?”
“Enough for us.”
“His and hers?” she quipped.
“Try, mine and mine.”
He strode over to where she stood beside his bed, the bed they had just tumbled out of. She never took her eyes away from his face, and as he got closer, she turned and moved a step back until her ass hit the edge of the mattress. Cole kept walking until he pressed his naked body up against hers, and then he placed his hands on each side of her on the bed, effectively caging her in.
“I haven’t forgotten why we are going up there, so it’s best you don’t either. Okay?” he reminded her.
Rachel tipped up her chin and locked eyes with him. “This seems to be your favorite position.”
Cole let his top lip curl this time while his eyes traveled down to where her breasts were heaving with each deep breath she took.
“This is definitely not a bad position,” he agreed as he raised a hand and ran a finger over her nipple. “It’s close, but it’s definitely not my favorite.”
Her eyes clouded over as her lips parted around two words, “What is?”
Rising to his full height, Cole turned and walked over to his closet. When he returned, she was still where he had left her waiting for an answer.
“Some other time, perhaps? Okay, let’s go. The pool, it is.”
Rachel took the robe from his outstretched hand, shrugged into it, and wrapped the tie around her waist. She watched Cole from out of the corner of her eye as he did the same, and just as she was about to walk by him and make her way out, he shocked her yet again. He held his hand out to her. Rachel looked at the large palm extended to her before she raised cautious eyes to his.
How does he do it? How has he made me feel so safe in just a few days? And nights. Don’t forget the nights.
She reminded herself that she was here to move forward, to let go, and to find out who she really was. Taking a leap of faith, she reached out and slid her palm into his.
“Trust me?” he asked as he wrapped his warm fingers around hers and tugged her hand gently.
As she moved up beside him, Rachel whispered softly, “I do.”
Not ten minutes later, Cole watched as Rachel dropped the robe she had worn up to the pool. She strutted to the edge and dived straight in. He had to give her props. She had great form as she glided through the water in a sleek freestyle up the length of the pool.
As he moved to the edge, his mind started to jump all over the place. How can I keep her? How am I going to convince her to stay? Does she want to stay? Fuck asking. Make her want to. That was what it came down to—making her want to.
As she came to a stop where his toes were kissing the end of the pool, the woman—who he was shuffling around all his plans for—looked up at him with large blue eyes and lashes sparkling with water droplets. As she moved effortlessly to her back, the smile that crossed her face was a combination of shy and sexy. Slowly, she pushed away from the wall, displaying her wet naked breasts to him.
Cole undid his robe and dropped it to his feet. Naked as the day he was born, he raised a brow. “Talk first, remember?”
She moved her arms out beside her, like she was making snow angels in the water, but with her fiery-highlighted hair and pink panties, Cole knew no angelic thoughts were going on in this room. From where she was, he watched her eyes drop to what he knew was throbbing proof that his cock wanted to do a hell of a lot more than talk.
“I remember,” she acknowledged as she closed her eyes. “Do you?”
That was when he made his move. Diving into the water, he torpedoed through the heated liquid, and as he came up beside her, he grabbed her waist before she had a chance to evade him. With a shriek, her legs splashed the surface as they went under. Her hands reached out for purchase, and luckily for him, he was the only thing for her to hang on to.
As her palms gripped his shoulders, Cole wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her wet warm body against his own. With a natural ease that showed years spent in the pool, he kicked out behind himself and moved her across the pool to the edge.
When her back met with the cool tile surface, Cole moved in, so his body was pinning her to it. Her mouth, wet and shiny, parted just as her legs did, and he could feel her hard nipples grazing his as she arched her body against him and wrapped those legs around his waist. Keeping his eyes on hers, Cole thrust his cock against the wet scrap of pink, the only barrier between them at the moment.
“I can do this all night,” he informed her as he lowered his mouth to her ear. “You, me, the warm water, and your sexy body…almost naked but still not quite naked enough. And after the way you tumbled me out of bed, the water feels good on my poor aching muscles.”
Cole flicked his tongue against her lobe and felt her shiver. She made a noise so soft that he would have missed it if he weren’t so focused on her.
Yes, Cole thought, that was definitely a moan.
“I could e
asily keep you here, and I could just continue to…” He paused to rub his body against her. “Grind…” He punctuated the word with his hips. “My…” He gave her another delicious stroke. “Cock…” Oh Christ, hurry. “Against…” Fuck, talk! “You.”
Rachel could barely remember how to talk with Cole practically fucking her against the pool wall. The only thing hindering the process was her pathetic excuse for panties.
Just rip them off!
“Cole,” she finally managed to push out of her mouth as her eyes searched his face.
“Talk to me,” he growled between clenched teeth. “I know you trust me, so talk to me.”
It’s now or never, Rachel thought as she looked into unwavering, unrelenting hazel eyes. He isn’t going to budge. If I refuse, that’s it. Whatever we have started will be over.
Licking her wet lips, she relaxed her legs from around his waist and pushed gently against his shoulders. She felt his arm relax as she watched his eyes narrow on her.
“You need to move,” she informed him softly.
“Rachel, let me in, and—” he started.
“No,” she began.
“No? Well, if you aren’t going to—”
“Cole?” she questioned, interrupting him once more even though she knew he hated that.
There was a steady pause.
And then, he replied, “Yes?”
“Not no, I won’t tell you. No, I can’t tell you, not while you’re so close. You need to move,” Rachel told the immense man before her.
It was funny to her. In a moment as intimate as sex, his strength, height, and power were what appealed to her most. Yet, right at this moment, it was what she needed the most distance from.
“You want me to move? Where?” he asked her in a calm voice, an exact opposite to the growl she had heard only moments before.
Rachel looked around and saw they were close to the ladder. Bringing her eyes back to his, she lifted her arm and pointed. “Over there.”