by K. M. Scott
Grimacing, Cole gently pushed my hand away, revealing that horrible scar I hated. “You don’t have to hide any part of you.”
“The accident…after all the surgeries, I still have scars. I don’t want you to…” I tried but I couldn’t get the words out to explain.
I stood there shaking in terror as he tucked my hair behind my ear and tenderly ran his finger along the length of my scar on my cheek. Raised and hideous, it never failed to make me feel ugly.
Cole cupped my face in his hands and pressed a soft kiss onto my scar. “This is just evidence that you survived. That’s a good thing, Diana.”
Closing my eyes, I tried to believe what he said. For so long, I’d seen that part of me as a flaw, but now he was saying it wasn’t something awful. That couldn’t be true. Could it?
“If you want, I can show you my scars. Mine are just from doing stupid guy stuff, though, so you might not be very impressed.”
I looked at him and saw a smile that made all my insecurities begin to retreat back to that place in me where they always waited to ruin my happiness. “I’ll be sure to look for those scars.”
When he leaned in to kiss me once more, this time I felt no fear or worry. Just pure bliss. I loved that he wasn’t treating me like some broken thing he didn’t know how to handle. I didn’t know if he was like this with other women, but it meant the world to me that he acted like the Cole I’d known and not some stranger afraid of me.
Pulling away, I gathered the courage to say the words I never could all those years ago. “I don’t want this to be just kissing. I’m not some untouchable thing, Cole. I’m the same as every other woman in the world. But if you don’t want that from me for whatever reason, I’d like you to be honest now because I do.”
My thoughts didn’t come out like I wanted them to, but at least they made sense. Now it was up to him if we ended up sleeping together or if he walked away.
One second followed another and then another as I waited for his response. I hadn’t left him a middle choice. Either we’d sleep together or he’d tell me he didn’t want to and he’d leave. The choice was up to him. I knew what I wanted.
His dark eyes focused on my eyes, his penetrating gaze making me feel vulnerable yet again. At any moment, he could say he didn’t want me and all I came with. I knew that, but I couldn’t look away. I needed to see the truth in his eyes as he answered me.
Slowly, the corners of his beautiful mouth turned up, and he finally said, “I always wanted you, Diana. Just because I was too afraid ten years ago doesn’t mean I didn’t want you then. Nothing’s changed. You still make me happier than anyone else I’ve ever met, so of course, I don’t want this to end with kissing.”
Then his smile faded, frightening me. “I can’t lie, though. I’ve been with a lot of women since then. When I say you’re too good for me, that’s one main reason why.”
I reached out and ran my finger along his collarbone. “I’m no fool. I know everyone else’s world continued to exist for the past eight years. Wherever you’ve been and whoever you were with, those experiences made you who you are right now. That’s not a bad thing just like what I’ve been through has made me who I am.”
Cole slid his hand against the back of my head and pulled me to him, crushing my mouth in a kiss that made my head spin. “Then no more talking.”
In a flash, he slid my sundress off my shoulders and pushed it down my body until it fell into a crumpled heap at my feet. Then he did the same with my bra and underwear, leaving me naked standing there in front of him.
He kept to his pledge to not say another thing and knelt down in front of me. Before I could feel insecure, he pressed his mouth to me and everything else in the world disappeared but the two of us and his tongue teasing my clit.
I tried to hold out for as long as possible, but it had been so long since I’d been with a man that it didn’t take long for me to come. My release raced through me, making my legs buckle as I tugged hard on Cole’s hair, but he quickly caught me before I collapsed onto the floor.
Smiling up at me, he licked his lips as my thighs still quivered from my orgasm. “Thank God for good reflexes.”
“Thank you for having a talented tongue.”
Cole stood up and kissed me hard on the mouth again. “Let’s move this to somewhere more comfortable.”
He took my hand and led me to my bedroom. Pulling me to him, he kissed me while I hurried to undo his pants and push them down over his hips. I slid my hand over the cotton fabric of his underwear, the final barrier between the two of us, and felt his erection. Cole moaned as I palmed his hard cock and in seconds, he stripped down to nothing.
Everything felt like we were caught up in a whirlwind. We tumbled onto the bed, and I landed on my back. Above me, he looked like a man intently focused on a single goal, and just a moment later, I opened my legs and he slowly moved over my body before he thrust into me, filling me completely.
I arched my back as we settled into a rhythm for our lovemaking. Cole didn’t treat me like a delicate flower, which excited me, so I responded to each thrust into me by pushing my hips forward. His cock filling me ignited feelings I’d never experienced before with the handful of men I’d slept with, like every time before had been just a teaser to what being with a man could truly bring out in me. I wanted him to feel as good as I felt.
Cole’s head dropped to the pillow next to mine, and I heard his ragged breathing as his hips continued to rock back and forth, pumping his cock into my body. Lifting my legs, I wrapped them around his waist and dug my heels into his lower back, urging him to fill me over and over.
I scratched my nails down his back as my second orgasm began to uncoil inside me, crying out his name when it finally hit. “Oh, God…Cole…”
He moaned something I couldn’t make out as I came hard, and then seconds later, he stilled inside me. I slid my fingertips over the back of his neck, feeling the dampness under his hair, as he kissed the shell of my ear and whispered, “Diana.”
In that single word, I heard satisfaction. After all this time, I’d finally been able to be myself with a man who accepted me for me.
Lifting his head off the pillow, Cole looked down into my eyes and smiled. “If I hadn’t been such a coward, we would have been together like that ten years ago. I wish I hadn’t waited.”
My cheeks heated from a blush that seemed silly after what we’d just done together. “I don’t think I would have been very good back then. Virgins aren’t notoriously great lovers, no matter what anyone says.”
He nodded and kissed me sweetly on the lips. “I probably wasn’t very good back then either. Teenage sex isn’t known for being great.”
“Then it’s good we waited.”
Rolling onto the bed, he settled in beside me, and I curled up against his body. I pressed my cheek against the area above his heart and heard it still beating wildly. “Your heart is racing.”
Cole wrapped his arm around me and hugged me to him. “That was a workout. I’m not a teenager anymore.”
We weren’t those kids sneaking off to the woods to spend time together either. No longer teenagers and all grown up, we’d lived very different lives in the past ten years, but we’d found our way back to each other.
One thing had never changed, though. I’d been crazy about Cole as a girl, and that feeling was the same now as it was then.
Chapter Thirteen
Cole
My eyes weren’t even open all the way before my brain reminded me that I’d spent the night making love to Diana. I’d slept with the woman I’d been told to keep my hands off of. She was literally the only person on the entire planet I wasn’t supposed to have sex with, and last night, that’s exactly what I’d done.
Multiple times. In multiple positions. Loving every minute of it.
I didn’t think it was a mistake. I didn’t. But in the harsh light of morning, I couldn’t deny that our actions last night could have serious repercussions. For one, Ethan w
as probably going to do way more than just deck me. That time, he leveled me just for mentioning that I thought she was hot. I hadn’t even made a rude comment about her. Just that I thought she was hot, and he’d given me a right to the jaw for that.
We weren’t kids anymore, though. Maybe things would be different now.
Looking down my body, I watched as Diana slept on my stomach, her brown hair hiding her beautiful face. We’d talked for hours after the last round of sex. She wanted to know what my life had been like and if I’d found happiness in my work. I didn’t want to lie, especially after what we’d done together, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell her the truth. Not then. It would have made her think everything between us was a lie, and that wasn’t true.
What she made me feel wasn’t a lie. That was possibly the truest and greatest good I’d ever known in my entire life. I couldn’t bear the idea of her believing that hadn’t been real for me.
I hovered my hand over her head, afraid to touch her because I didn’t want to wake her yet. I liked lying there with her on top of me and her breath drifting over my skin every time she exhaled. I wanted to have every single day begin this way.
But how could that ever happen knowing I had nothing to offer her?
Touching the top of her head, I let my fingers glide over her soft, brown hair. I closed my eyes to focus my thoughts on how that felt so I’d never forget, just in case I didn’t get to experience that again. I’d lived on mostly memories of Diana for the last decade, even as I went through women like a fish through water. None of them compared to her.
It didn’t matter that some had better bodies, bigger tits, firmer ass, or whatever. It didn’t matter that most of them were far more confident than Diana or that more than a few were way wilder in bed than her. None of them made me feel what she did all those years ago as we sat together and talked in secret in the woods behind her house.
I’d resigned myself to thinking I’d never get to feel that happy, that peaceful, again. And then that day she stopped me at the front door of the hotel, that happiness returned. Now that it was back, I didn’t want to lose it again.
But how could I ever keep Diana once she found out what I really was?
She turned her head and stared up at me as if she’d heard my thoughts, and for a moment, I wondered if I’d spoken them out loud. Then she smiled, and the fear of losing her faded into the background, replaced by the sweetness that came with that gentle smile.
“Morning. Did I wake you up?” I asked as she sat up next to me.
Diana shook her head and rearranged her hair along the sides of her face. “No. I can’t tell you how odd it was to open my eyes and be just inches away from a penis.”
I couldn’t stop myself and chuckled at her candor. “He’s up and at ’em like that in the morning.”
Her cheeks turned light pink, and she smiled like she found my stupid joke funny. “Are you hungry?”
“Yeah, I could go for something to eat.”
Tugging the sheet up to hide her naked body, she leaned over and grabbed her phone off the nightstand. “I’ll order breakfast. What would you like?”
“Two eggs, scrambled, two orders of rye toast, and bacon. Two, make that three orders of bacon.”
As I rattled off my order, her eyes grew wide in surprise. “That’s a lot of food. I usually eat a danish or muffin.”
I pulled on the sheet and chuckled. “I used up a lot of energy last night. So did you. You might want to eat something more than a muffin this morning to keep your strength up.”
Again, she blushed. “Will I be needing more energy for something today?” she asked innocently, making my cock harden at the sound of her words.
“Likely.”
Diana bit her bottom lip in that way that made her look so sweet, even though I had a feeling she did it because she was nervous, and then made the call to order our food. When she finished, I tugged the sheet completely away from her and slid my arm around her waist to pull her on top of me.
“Cole, I need to get up to answer the door when the food’s delivered,” she protested half-heartedly while I cupped her ass in my hands and squeezed.
“That gives us a few minutes at least. I figured we could start now, eat our food, and then finish after.”
I slid my rock hard cock over her clit, and her eyes rolled back in her head. Fuck, she was wet and ready for me already.
Rolling her hips, she dragged her pussy down the length of me. “I’m not going to be able to hear the knock on the door.”
Her protests gave way to her need, and she rocked her hips one last time, taking me inside her with a sweet groan. Stuffing my hands into her hair, I held her head so I could kiss her as she rode my cock. Christ, I didn’t know how I’d let her off me if someone knocked right now.
In my head, I quickly added up how long it would take to make our breakfast, hoping the kitchen started from scratch since it was for Diana. By my count, we had about five minutes at least, even if they just had to put the order together. Not exactly a marathon session, but enough to probably get off.
I pushed her up so she sat straddling me. Fuck, she looked incredible perched on me with my cock deep inside her. I slid my thumb over her clit and said, “Ride me, baby.”
Staring down at me, she took my command to heart and did just that. Rocking and rolling her hips, she fucked me as well as any woman I’d ever had while looking as sweet as an angel as she did it. I felt her cunt begin to clench around my cock and knew it wouldn’t take much longer, so I grabbed hold of her hips with both hands and pushed up hard, ramming into her. She whimpered my name, so I did it again and again until her body tightened around my cock so hard I knew her release had come.
Diana dropped down onto my chest like a limp ragdoll, but I was hell bent on coming before that damn knock on the door interrupted us. Holding her to me, I pistoned into her like a madman, riding the waves of her release to my own. When it finally happened, I thrust into her one last time and groaned as I flooded her with everything I had.
We lay there for less than a minute before the sound of someone knocking on her hotel room door made her roll off me quickly and run to the bathroom. Seconds later, she hurried through the bedroom to answer the door wearing a white bathrobe and looking like a woman who had just been fucked first thing in the morning.
When she reappeared, she had a tray full of food in her hands. “Breakfast is served!”
I sat up in bed and pulled back the covers for her to sit. “Aww, honey. You shouldn’t have,” I joked as she set down the tray on the end of the bed.
Diana laughed and then her expression grew serious. “I forgot to ask you if you wanted coffee. I’m sorry. I don’t drink it, so I didn’t think to get any. Do you want me to call down for some?”
“No, I’m fine. I’m wide awake already after what we just did, so I don’t need coffee to wake me up this morning.”
She sat down next to me, and I saw her blushing again. As I took a plate of scrambled eggs from her, I said, “I think it’s cute that you blush like that.”
Shrugging, she handed me my bacon. “I don’t know why that always happens. I’m not that innocent girl anymore, so I don’t know why my face hasn’t gotten the memo.”
I breathed in the greasy and sweet scent of maple bacon and took a bite. “Delicious. You really know how to make a great breakfast.”
“You’re silly,” she said with a smile and then rolled her eyes.
As we ate our food, I thought about our time together. “You know, I always wished we had sex in high school. Now I’m glad we didn’t.”
“Why?”
“You know how they say things are better when you wait? They’re right. You actually surprised me.”
“Surprised you? How?” she asked as concern filled her blue eyes.
Now that I’d started this conversation, I didn’t know how to proceed. “I guess I figured…”
Diana waited for me to finish, but when I didn’t, she said
, “You thought because I stayed here all these years that I wouldn’t be good in bed, didn’t you?”
The woman never failed to surprise me with her bluntness. Nodding, I admitted the truth. “Yeah.”
A sexy smile lit up her face. “See, this is why boys should always go after bookworms. We learn a lot from reading. You’d be surprised what you can learn just from books.”
I took a bite of bacon and asked, “Is that where you learned that thing you did with your tongue when you went down on me?”
She blushed like I knew she would and lowered her head. “No. I guess I’m about to blow up my argument in favor of reading, but I saw that online.”
That she could be embarrassed enough by sex talk to blush and then in the next breath admit that she learned how to give a phenomenal blowjob by watching porn online charmed me, as ridiculous as that seemed. Surprised by her admission, I nearly choked on my piece of bacon and could only croak out, “Really?”
“There’s only so much reading a person can do, Cole. I may have been afraid to leave here for a long time, but in many ways, I was a normal woman in her twenties.”
The sadness in her voice when she said that hit me like a shot to the chest. I hated the idea of her fearing everything so much that she closed herself off from the world. Pulling her to me, I held her and kissed the top of her head.
“You’re so beautiful and the thought of you here all alone all that time makes me hate myself for not trying to find you before this.”
She leaned back and looked up at me like an angel. “It wasn’t that bad. I’m better now, but this place was safe for me when I needed to feel protected.”
I gently squeezed her in my arms, wishing I knew what to say. “And now you’re going to find a house with a big yard and maybe get yourself some horses like you dreamed of back when we’d talk about all the things we planned to do in life.”
Giggling, she shook her head. “I don’t think I’m going to go for the horses, but everything else, yes. I want to be able to walk out on my porch on summer days and have a place to read my books and even eat breakfast, if I want to. And if I have anyone over who likes way too much bacon with his breakfast, he can sit with me and eat all that greasy meat too.”
