church and supposedly the home, my mother wore the pants and my father was a spineless coward who shied away from any conflict. He wouldn’t have stood up for me or anyone else against my mother. She ruled the roost and it was her way or the highway.”
Cole shook his head. “That sucks. I guess I get why you have such a take-it-or-leave-it attitude. Can’t say I blame you.”
“I just stopped trying to be someone I wasn’t for people who’d never be satisfied with the end result anyway. Trying to please my mother was like trying to push a rope through the eye of a needle. I think my biggest sin was being born a girl who preferred to do boy things. She just wanted me to look pretty and marry young.”
“Lucky for me you’re such a rebel,” Cole said with a grin. “It would suck if you were married with half a dozen hellions attached to your apron strings.”
She shuddered. “Thanks for that image.”
He laughed. But then his expression grew serious. “I like you just the way you are, P.J. Don’t ever change. You’re a very special woman. Don’t ever think you aren’t.”
Warmth traveled to the very heart of her. Into her soul, chasing away long-held shadows and allowing the sun in after an endless winter.
She stared into his eyes, soaking up all the warmth she could. “I just want to say thank you, Cole.”
He cocked his head. “What for?”
“Everything. For being you. For being so patient with me. For having my back.”
His eyes softened. “I’ll always have your back, P.J. You’ll never have to look far to find me.”
CHAPTER 28
P.J. was awake early the next morning. Her leg was stiff and she could barely move it to get out of bed without screeching pain shooting up her thigh.
She flexed and stretched her leg, grimacing as she tried to loosen the muscles.
Knowing she’d have to strip down when she got to the hospital, she opted to wear sweats and a T-shirt, this time pulling on a sports bra.
When she limped into the kitchen, she saw Cole at the table drinking a cup of coffee and reading the paper. It struck her how domestic the entire scene was. All that was missing was for her to walk over, kiss him and say good morning.
Was this what it was like for married couples? That comfortable existence that bordered on boring?
Cole looked up from the newspaper and his eyes warmed when he saw her. “Morning, P.J. How’s the leg?”
Yeah, she could totally see them falling into this kind of routine. She loved that he seemed happy to see her. Would that ever lessen? Would they end up taking each other for granted? Would they lose the easy friendship between them and start sniping like an old married couple?
She shuddered at the thought. She was getting way ahead of herself anyway. They had far too many issues to work out before she could start thinking about long-term commitment.
“It was pretty stiff when I got up,” she admitted. “Hurt like hell but I worked out some of the kinks, and if I keep moving, it stays loose.”
He frowned. “Sit down. Let me get you something to eat and then I’ll give you a pain pill. We’ll leave as soon as you’re done eating. I figure the quicker we get over there, the sooner we can get out and you aren’t stuck the entire day at the hospital.”
“You know me so well,” she said with a grin.
She settled into a chair and watched as he fussed over her. It was such an odd sensation. She and Derek had been together two full years and had never developed the easy rapport she and Cole had. And she certainly couldn’t ever imagine Derek actually doing the little things for her that Cole did.
The sex had been good. She’d give that to Derek, but in the end, that’s all there’d been to their relationship. Sex. No emotional connection. No loyalty. Nothing she couldn’t have gotten with any other man.
She’d always known that Derek felt threatened by her, but she’d ignored the simmering resentment, chalking it up to being the only woman on a male-dominated team. He never missed an opportunity to take her down a few notches and fuck with her confidence.
With Cole—and the other men on her team—there had been only acceptance and appreciation of her skills with a rifle. She hadn’t known how truly difficult things had been for her on her old team until she’d