Red Handed(76)

After they’d given their statements to the FBI, she’d fallen asleep on Cole in the backseat of the car as Adrian drove them home. The next thing she knew, they were in Cole’s bed, naked under the covers, limbs entwined as if they were one. She wasn’t sure who had turned to who first, but within moments, he’d been inside her, driving her to the brink of ecstasy over and over before finally pushing her off the edge and tumbling down the cliff along with her, his body shuddering and trembling before they both collapsed into a deep slumber.

She’d guess by the sun’s position in the sky that it was probably early afternoon. Cole’s arms were wrapped around her waist and his leg thrown over hers, his solid chest cradling her back and his erection nudging between the cheeks of her ass. She pushed back, eliciting a groan from him.

She wanted to ignore the reality waiting for them outside his bedroom and spend the day making love here in this room, where they could pretend nothing else existed but the two of them and that reality wasn’t ready to tear them apart at their fragile seams.

“Good afternoon,” he said, grinding against her backside and tweaking her nipple between his fingers.

After last night, she thought she’d be sated, but her pussy moistened and her clitoris throbbed. “It is now.”

He rolled her onto her stomach, his weight pinning her to the bed, and tugged her arms behind her back. Holding her wrists with one hand, he notched his cock to her entrance and pushed inside. She was trapped, unable to move, and there was nowhere she’d rather be. Funny how providing consent to bondage changed the way her mind and body reacted to it.

With shallow pumps, Cole moved his cock in and out of her pussy, the position limiting its depth. She clenched her vaginal muscles as if she could trap him as well. As if she could suck him deeper inside her and keep him there, becoming one, never to be separate again. The slow and steady rocking of their bodies rubbed her clitoris on the sheet, throwing her into a state of fevered desperation, her core tightening as heat built into a blazing inferno, and she toppled into climax, taking him with her, his hot essence dripping down her inner thigh. He lifted his weight off her body, dragging her with him and her in the crook of his arm.

She watched his chest rise and fall with his breaths and traced his tattoo with her fingertip. “What happens now?”

“I was thinking of taking a shower.” He kissed her forehead. “Taking you in the shower. Lunch followed by a visit to the hospital to check on Tasha. Then—”

“I mean with us.” A lump lodged in her throat. “It’s all over. Once they release Tasha from the hospital, I can go back to Arizona.”

He tipped up her chin, his eyes laced with breathless intensity. “Is that what you want?”

She had nothing for her out there. But what choice did she have? “I can’t stay here. This isn’t who I am.”

A muscle jumped in his cheek. “Maybe it wasn’t a week ago, but you can’t tell me you don’t belong here.”

Did she belong anywhere? She felt as though she was caught between two worlds, with one foot in each, belonging to neither. Could she leave Roman and Tasha? “And what would I do?”

“Whatever you wanted. Open your own art gallery. Make your dreams come true. Stay here with me at Benediction.”

What were her dreams? Only one came to mind.

Cole.

She searched his eyes, seeing her reflection, and realized she dreamed the impossible. Nothing had changed. His fear of going blind, of losing control, of depending on someone he loved, continued to drive a wedge between them. She accepted his lifestyle. Accepted his need to give back to the community that had saved him when he’d hit rock bottom. But what she couldn’t accept was being the only one to make sacrifices.

“I want to say yes, but I want to get married and have kids someday. If I stayed and things worked out between us, would that be something in our future?”

Storm clouds gathered in his eyes, darkening his expression as he braced her face in his palms. “No. I just can’t commit to you like that. I love you too much to turn you into my nursemaid, Danielle. I love you more than I thought I could ever love anyone. I don’t want you to go, but I can’t give you what you want.”

He loved her.

And she loved him. Loved him enough to walk away from him, knowing that conceding to his limitations would mean a lifetime of unhappiness for them both. Unable to return his words of love, she blinked back the threatening tears and dug inside herself for strength. “I don’t want to go, but I want it all. It wouldn’t be enough for me to be one of your slaves. I want marriage. I want your children. It would be different if you couldn’t have them, but this is your choice, and I can’t stay knowing I don’t have all of you.”