Heavy Secrets - Elle Aycart Page 0,26
uneasy. “Max already has a lot on his mind, and James too. I wanted to protect them. I’m waiting until after Valentine’s Day. I wanted to tell you, but the words wouldn’t come out, and the more time passed by, the worse it got. I’m sorry it took so long for me to get my head out of my ass. I called yesterday, settled the past-due charges and extended the rental. I was supposed to go today to sign some papers, and I blew it off.”
“You have to go and check, baby.”
“I know,” he finally admitted, his eyes remorseful. “I thought this was done already. She was dead. End of story. No AWOL mother anymore. No need to ponder the whys. The storage unit threw me for a loop. She’s kept that damn locker for twenty years. She hadn’t bothered to contact us in almost three decades, and now we have to go sort out her shit?”
She understood Cole so well. “You need to face whatever is there. She left your name as the secondary contact for a reason. It can’t be ignored. You don’t have to go today or tomorrow, but you will have to go. If for nothing else, then for closure.”
Cole lifted his head and stared at her. “I love you so much, sweet thing.”
“I love you too.” She kissed his bloodied knuckles. “You’re hurt.”
“Hitting the wall was not one of my finest moments.”
No, it wasn’t. His knuckles had been bruised enough from the hours he must had been beating himself up and the punching bag. “Mike is going to wonder.”
“He won’t.”
She tried going on her knees to be at his eye level, but he lifted her onto his lap, wrapped his arms around her, and rested his face in the crook of her neck.
They stayed like that for a long while, softly petting each other and kissing. His stubble was abrading her skin, and she was going to have whisker marks tomorrow, but she didn’t care. This was the Cole she’d been missing these past days. This was the intimacy she’d been craving. The uncompromising guy whose thick skin was a self-defense mechanism she could take, as long as he let her in. Because at the end of the day, they weren’t perfect, but they sure as hell were perfect for each other. And they were a team.
“Cole, you’re hard,” she whispered the umpteenth time his cock jerked against her thigh.
“I know. I need you. Like crazy. All the time. It’s like I’m only at peace when I’m inside you.”
Yet he didn’t move. Didn’t take over. He just brushed his thumb over her lips, his eyes soft.
“Don’t let me fuck this up,” he begged, his voice breaking. “Please.”
“I won’t, Cole. You won’t fuck this up because I won’t let you chase me away.”
She stood up, grabbed his hand, and pulled at him, bringing him to the bed. Then she shrugged off her T-shirt. “I need you too. How do you want me?” she asked, lowering to her knees and caressing his chest.
“Bring the cuffs.”
It looked like he wasn’t done showing his dominance. She didn’t complain. She knew her man and what he needed. She wasn’t going to deny him. “Okay.”
Christy fished out two pairs of cuffs, but as she began putting one on, he stopped her and took them from her. “They’re not for you. They’re for me.”
While Christy was trying to wrap her mind around his words, he cuffed one of his hands to the headboard, closed the other cuff around the other wrist, and brought it to the opposite side of the headboard. “Help, love.”
She obeyed. “Cole…”
He was propped against the headboard, fastened to it. The intensity of his stare reverberated through her body, stiffening her nipples and flooding her pussy.
“Make me come, baby.”
CHRISTY STILLED, HESITANT. “Are you sure?”
Hell no, but one thing was crystal clear: he loved Christy, couldn’t live without her. She needed this from him, and he did too. Needed to let his guard down and show her there were no walls between them.
“I recall a certain woman half a year ago saying she wasn’t confident enough to take on a man like me.”
“Yes?”
“You should have seen her today, baby. Standing tall and proud. Naked. Withstanding my worst scowl and the crappiest of my attitudes. Facing me off and giving me a run for my money. Daring me and calling me out on my shit. She was magnificent. The love of my life.”
Her smile was radiant, lighting up her face. “I’m