touch and I draw my feet up, folding into myself, and pry my eyes open. He’s digging around in his overnight kit that has exploded on the nightstand.
The lamp pops on, its low glow like a warm hug, reaching only us. Cole rips at the button on his pants with one hand and lifts a condom to his teeth with the other to rip it open. “Annoyed after all these years you’re still not on birth control.”
The fact he’s annoyed with me about anything right now makes me smile. “I suppose you’re always annoyed with me about something or other.”
“Yes. Only I would fall for the most infuriating woman on the planet. Hell, I had to travel around the world to find you.”
“You love my annoyances.” I bite my lip as my eyes drop to his hand that’s now wrapped around his cock. Swollen, hard, and all bloody mine.
What few female friends I had growing up complained about American men and their circumcised heads but I’ve never known anything other than the beautiful one standing erect and greedy in front of me. I wouldn’t want him any other way. Cole fists himself, pumping once as he grips my knee. I give him what he wants and my legs splay. His eyes are as greedy as his cock leering over me, trying to decide what he wants first.
Dragging a finger down the inside of my thigh, he hits my very wet sex and starts to play with me again. “This is it, Bella.” His eyes shift to mine and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him so serious. “We’ll figure out your work and my family, but you’re mine. I’m not fucking around anymore. When I sink into you tonight, there’s no going back.”
My insides flip and scrunch and tense.
“Love you, baby,” he adds, his tone low and solemn. “Not interested in living life without you any longer.”
My skin prickles with nerves as his words wash over me. I force myself to punch away every wall I’ve built around my heart while I’ve had to live without him.
“Bella.” My name falls sharp and demanding from his lips.
“Yes.” My throat tries to strangle me but I push past it for him. I reach for his hand and pull it up to my chest, pressing it flat to my heart. “I’m frightened, Cole. So scared about what’s to come. But, yes. I promise … no going back. Unless I get thrown into prison or burned at the stake.”
He lets go of his cock and bends at the waist. His forearm hits the bed beside me first and then his mouth takes mine—rough and possessive and, yes, even victoriously arrogant.
My breath catches as his cocks slides easily inside me because, for the first time, we’re connected, skin to skin, nothing between us. I moan into his mouth and my fingers dig into his shoulders. He’s never taken me bare. Ever. I know he loves Abbott with all his heart but he’s made it clear he won’t ever take a chance again. Cole Carson does not like surprises in any area of his life.
“Just for a second. Fuck, baby.” His words are jagged, and if I didn’t know better, I’d think he might be in pain. “Feels like I’m taking you for the first time all over again.”
My thighs tighten and I lift my hips for more. Every muscle in his bulky frame is taut and still, as if he’s afraid to move.
It’s something I understand. Having him again after all this time with nothing between us is too much. We’re poking a sleeping dragon and I’m afraid of what we’ll both do—or not do—if he moves another millimeter.
But Cole tempts us both. He slides out to the tip before taking me again with even more force. He groans and this time I’m sure he’s in pain. “I need to wrap up.”
“Yes,” I agree but hold him tighter. “Now is no time to be careless.”
“I don’t know,” he growls and starts to move. “You’re the only person I want to be careless with.”
He shows me how strongly he feels about throwing caution to the wind. Circling an arm around my lower back, he lifts my hips from the bed, his thrusts reaching deeper. Cole is proving exactly what he said, that I’m his.
I always have been and always will be.
“Baby.” His lips press against my temple and he starts to move faster.
I know his body when we’re like this … he’s close. “Cole—”