"How would you remember that?"
"I remember everything, Jolie." His voice held no hint of teasing.
"Like what?"
"Like the way you look when you wake up. All doe eyed with your hair mussed. Like that giggle-snort thing you do when something hits your funny bone. Like the way you watch me, your eyelids half lowered, when I'm getting ready to kiss you."
"Do not."
"I'll prove it."
He pressed up from the lounge back, cradling her across his chest. She wanted to wipe the smirk off his face until he bent his head. Darn if he wasn't right-her lids drooped and she watched him from beneath her lashes. His lips touched hers and her eyes closed all on their own. She didn't fight. Her body was way past the fight-or-flight point. It was all about the shut-up-and-kiss now.
Jolie parted her lips, inviting Cord to deepen the kiss. He did. His fingers threaded in her hair and he angled her head so he could assault her mouth with heat and need. His. Hers. It no longer mattered. Her tongue danced with his, eliciting a soft groan from him. His arousal was impossible to ignore as she shifted her hips. Her core tightened, throbbing with the thought of having Cord buried there. She wanted him now as much as she ever had.
Her breasts ached, and she wished that he'd touch her there, that he'd run his thumbs over their peaks. She arched and rubbed against his chest, and thank goodness, Cord spoke her body language fluently. The hand in her hair dropped to press between her shoulder blades while his other hand cupped a breast. Air hissed from her lungs in a satisfied sigh. Her thighs tensed and she pressed her knees together as her center throbbed with need.
Then he broke the kiss. And set her away from him.
"What the-?"
"I'm sorry." Cord swung his legs off the lounger and his fists curled up on his thighs.
"Sorry? I don't understand you, Cord. What are you sorry for now?"
"For...this." He refused to look at her. "I didn't mean to...seduce you."
"Seduce? Me? Seriously?" Her burst of laughter came out more like a snort. "I think it was mutual, dude."
"No."
"I beg your pardon? I seem to remember kissing you just as hard as you were kissing me." She added, "Among other things," in an undertone.
"This isn't right, Jolie."
"What?" Totally confused, she couldn't decide if she was angry, amused or embarrassed.
"I want you. God knows I've always wanted you. But not like this."
"Uh...what does that mean?" She leaned forward and to the side so she could see part of his face. What was he up to? Was this some game he was playing?
"I just think jumping into-" With one hand, he made a vague waving gesture between them. "I want to take it slow. Do it right this time." Now he turned to face her, and the stark need on his face felt like a punch to her stomach.
"So what now?" Her voice quavered, and she prayed Cord didn't pick up on it.
"Not sure, sunshine." He cupped her cheek and leaned in to brush a gentle kiss across her lips. "I need to learn how to be a father. To CJ. We need to be friends. Not just-" He did that vague wave again.
Jolie studied his face. So many emotions congregated there she couldn't read them all.
"What do you want?"
Cord looked away, stood and put distance between them as he stared out over the pool. "Time with CJ. Well, more time with CJ. And maybe time together. As a...well, the three of us. As...friends."
He wouldn't look her in the eye, and she was positive he was planning something. "I don't trust you, Cord."
A flash of anger consumed his expression for a moment before he controlled it. "That goes both ways, Jolie."
His voice chipped at her walls like a sharp chisel. She opened her mouth to retort, and then snapped her jaw shut. Yeah, okay. He had every right not to trust her. She'd kept the biggest secret of their lives from him.
"You're right. I'm sorry." She drew her knees up to her chest and hugged them. "This is like doing the two-step through a minefield."
"You got that right." He stepped closer, but stopped just out of her reach. "Look, can we agree that we each hurt the other? Deeply. I really do want to move forward, Jolie. I can't undo the past. I screwed up, okay? I know that. But all the apologies in the world won't change a damned thing. Here's what I want. I want the chance to make it right. To fix things."
That was the very core of Cord. He was a fixer. The classic middle child. He negotiated. Smoothed over hurt feelings. Compromised. She'd loved that about him, once upon a time. She'd watched him protect the twins and Chance from their father, but she'd also watched him surrender to Cyrus's demands. She didn't want to admit that he hadn't really changed all that much. Not in the fundamental things-an odd combination of protector and defeatist.
Though she wasn't sure she was ready to trust him, she admitted he still had way too much boyish charm to be healthy, and he oozed his way through her defenses no matter what she did to thwart him. The fact her panties were damp testified to that.
"You're insidious."
His bark of laughter echoed through the covered patio. "Don't forget incorrigible."
"You're definitely that, too. You just won't stop, and then you slime your way back into my life."
"Well, that certainly paints me in an attractive light."
"And you know what else? You're right. Sleeping with you would be a horrible idea."
He looked amused now.
"Horrible, huh?" He glanced at her chest. She knew her traitorous nipples were peaked and obvious.
Folding her arms across her chest in self-defense, she nodded emphatically. "Yes. Horrible. I momentarily lost my mind. I swear you're like one of those rainforest frogs with the poison skin. You kiss me and I lose all sense."
"I figure that's a good thing, sunshine."
Her previous thoughts returned, swamping her with misgiving. "Don't, Cord. I'm...I'm not ready for this."
"Not ready for what?" He looked cautious now.
She waved her hand between them. "This. Us. You in CJ's life. I don't trust your father, Cord. I don't trust that you'll-"
"That I'll what, Jolie?"
Now he looked angry, but she wasn't ready to reveal her thoughts, to tell him that she didn't trust him to choose her and CJ this time. She scrambled off the lounger and headed toward the door. "I'm going home."
His laughter surrounded her, so rich and warm it tasted like s'mores on her tongue, and she wavered for a moment.
"Are you sure I can't convince you to stay for the sleepover?"
"I am not sleeping with you, Cordell Barron. Not tonight. Not ever."
Ten
Cord reread the report. Despite any conspiracy theories to the contrary, the stuff happening on the drilling rig-including his and Cooper's injuries-appeared to be just unrelated accidents. Despite this information from Cash's investigator, Cord wasn't completely convinced. He couldn't forget how J. Rand had warned him away from Jolie at first, even though they'd declared a truce of sorts in the talk they'd had later at the ranch. And while Jolie's father wasn't nearly as cutthroat as his own, Cord couldn't completely shake the idea that the problems his company was facing were tied in somehow with Jolie's return.
He set the folder aside and stared at the drilling run reports on his desk. Though Cooper wasn't fully back on the job yet, Cord had been back in the office for about a week. But the view from his office window lured him away from work more often than not. The medical complex on the hill across town held too many memories. Bad-the pain of recovery and rehabilitation. And good-the serenity of waking up to find Jolie hovering at his bedside.
His phone buzzed and his assistant's voice informed him that Cyrus was on the line and insistent. With a grimace, he stabbed the blinking light.
"I'm busy."
"So am I. Did you really think you could hide it from me?"
Cord did not want to have this conversation. "Hide what?"
"Your bastard."
Anger and adrenaline surged through him, making him reckless. "You mean my son?"
"Not until you file the paperwork, Cordell. Do it. Now. Or I will."
The old man hung up before Cord could retort. His day had just turned into a big whole heaping pile of dog crap.
Business. He had to focus on BarEx. His private life was screwed at the moment even though he'd managed to work out a schedule of sorts with Jolie, giving him time with CJ-but not time with her. He was still kicking himself for calling a halt to their lovemaking that night. And now his old man knew about CJ. "You are all kinds of a fool, son," he muttered.
"So what else is new?"
He whipped around, surprised he hadn't heard the door open. "Damn, Chance. Give me a heart attack next time."
His brother laughed and dropped into a guest chair, legs stretched toward Cord's desk, booted feet crossed at the ankle as he made himself at home. "Glad to see you back."