by Nana Malone
“Well, not like you expected them to be.”
“No, you’re right. I knew I’d be busting my ass. What I didn’t expect was to be busting my ass, playing chauffeur for Gage, keeping my brothers out of my parent’s hair, and avoiding Gramps. By the time I do everything for everyone else, and eat a perfectly balanced diet of mountains of vegetables, whole wheat quinoa or some nonsense and boiled chicken, I’m exhausted and I crash. But of course I can’t sleep because I’m worried.”
Jen patted her hand. “Honey, I’m sorry. I know this can’t be easy.”
“It’s fine. But I love coming here. And there’s stuff on the menu that would be Cole-approved.” Green Living was the latest farm-to-table place in La Jolla. She had a rare day off training tomorrow, so she had taken the opportunity to go out for once. She’d eat properly, no salad dressing or oil on anything, but she was having a drink or two, damn it.
The restaurant had that notorious La Jolla it factor, which made it impossible to get into unless you knew someone. It had also made it the nightclub of choice for a lot of the rich and bratty set. People like her. Add to that the world-class bar and lounge next to it, and the place was a zoo.
But the good news was, there was no way she was running into Cole here.
As dinner went on, the more she relaxed. This was just what she needed. A night out with nothing to worry about the next day.
When she and Jen headed to the rooftop bar area, they picked a spot in the corner. “See, look at you relaxing,” her bestie grinned.
“I know, right? So tell me what happened to Pierre, the guy you met last week.”
Jen perked up and started giving Echo all the deets. She’d met him at a ranch in Ramona where Jen boarded her horse. He was one of the polo players.
“He’s so cute.”
“So he’s French?”
“Well, technically French and Spanish, but raised mostly here in the States. I mean, Echo, the guy is smoking hot. But he doesn’t seem to pay me any attention, so I don’t think that’s going to go anywhere.”
“Oh, come on. You’re beautiful, and everyone who meets you knows it.”
Jen put her hands up. “I do not have a self-esteem problem, I’ll promise you that.” She laughed. “But other than being super polite, he gives me a wide berth.”
“Well, next time I’m out there, I definitely want to ogle with you.”
“You sure Coach Dread will let you ride?”
Damn it. Echo sighed. “Probably not until after everything is over, but I’m coming for sure to have a look see.”
Jen laughed. “I love it, we’ll make watching a spectator sport.”
“Exactly.” Echo took a sip of her Rum and Coke and glared at it. That did not taste like sugar. And there was no sugar cane. When the waitress passed by, she said, “Excuse me, I ordered a Cuba Libre with the sugar cane.”
“Oh, yeah, I’m sorry, the guy at the bar bought your drinks and had me change it. He said you’d like this better this way. I can bring you your original order though.”
“W-what guy?”
The waitress pointed out to two dark-haired men sitting at the end of the bar talking to a couple of blondes. First, the sizzle that always went through her in Cole’s presence made the hairs on her neck stand up. Was she always going to be so aware of him? Second, raw fury lit in her veins like a torch. At the switched drinks, of course. Not because he was talking to some girl. Hell, what did she care? He was a free man.
Echo worked to keep her voice even. “Please bring me my original order, and I’ll pay for the drinks. I know this is a pain in the ass for you.”
“No, it’s okay. I’ll be right back.”
Jen leaned over to get a better view. “What’s the matter?”
“What’s always the matter? Freaking Cole.”
“Oh, my God. He’s here?”
“Yeah. I’ll be right back.” Echo picked up her drink and marched over, still unsure of what she was going to do or say. But either way, he was going to regret screwing with her.
She sidled right up to him, gently nudging aside one of the blondes. If ever there was a time to channel Cece, this was it. “Cole, sweetheart. It’s so good to see you. I’m sorry I had to cancel our date.”
Dylan grinned at her when she nodded at him.
Cole wore a patently false look of surprise for a moment before he smirked. “Echo—”
She didn’t let him get too far, though. Instead, she planted a kiss right on his lips. The change in his body was instant, as his hands wrapped around her waist and his body went rigid. All it took was the gentle parting of her lips, and he was delving in to take control, to own her, to possess her. Right in front of everyone.
With a gasp of breath, Echo backed away, and watched with a certain glee as he seemed to struggle opening his eyes. “Oh, and sweetheart, thanks for the drink.” Then Echo did the unthinkable. Something she'd never done in her life. She poured her drink directly on his head.
Dylan howled with laughter, and the two blondes stumbled back out of the line of fire. Cole—well, with his narrowed eyes, clenched teeth, and ticking muscle in his jaw, Echo sensed a murder coming on.
“Bye, Dylan, it was nice to see you again.”
Instead of heading back to the table, she detoured to the ladies’ room. At least he wouldn’t be able to follow her in there. Jeez, what the hell had she been thinking? She was never impetuous. She never acted out. Hell. She’d never poured a drink on anyone in her life. Ever. Not even in drunken college days. He was—
He grabbed her from behind and dragged her into a darkened hallway that probably led down to the cellar. “What’s the rush, Echo?”
“Let me go.”
But he didn’t release her. Instead, he gently, but firmly took both her hands and pinned them over her head with one hand. Then he bracketed her body with his, as his thigh slid between hers.
The eruption of heat in her body was instant and explosive, and her knees wobbled. You will not arch your body into his. You will not arch your body into his. You will— Oh, hell. With one shift of his thigh, she rocked her hips, seeking his leg. Seeking the friction.
He leaned close to her, even as his hip met her rocking motion. “Do you have any idea how incredible you taste?”
What was she supposed to say to that? His voice was low and seductive, and stole all ability to think or stand. He slowly released her hands and then pressed his palms into the wall on either side of her head. “Was the kitty a little mad I switched her drink?”
“Screw you, Cole.”
“You know, princess, you'd think you’d get more inventive with your comebacks.”
“This is my night off. If I want to have fun with a friend, you can’t stop me.”
“No, you’re right, but I can try and control your sugar intake. You sure you’re mad about the drink, though? And not the pretty girl I was talking to? Because, as you know, blondes are my type.”
“You can do whatever you want, I’m not interested.”
His devilish grin broadened as he lowered his head. His lips didn’t quite touch hers, just ghosted a hint of a kiss over them, as his thick, stiff erection pressed into her thigh.
Oh God, if he would just move his thigh, then maybe she’d get some relief. Just some friction was all she needed. She was already so damn close. But then, his warmth was gone and frustration tightened her muscles.
He grinned, the expression superior and mocking. The son of a bitch knew exactly what he’d done to her. “I’ll see you in a few days, Echo. Try and get some rest.”
Sixteen
Knowing he had to talk to Echo and actually talking to her were two different things. He shouldn’t have dicked with her on Friday, but he’d still been smarting from his conversation with Rory. And, well, he liked seeing her back up. But they needed to talk. He needed to apologize for the other night, at least. He’d been fucking with her just because he could.
But in his defense, she’d been fucking with
him, too. Regardless, that wasn’t a good excuse. He’d stewed over what Jen said long enough. He wasn’t quitting, and so far, they weren’t firing him, so he and Echo needed to come to some kind of truce.
Once his decision was made, he waited for the right moment to broach the subject with her but no time felt right. He did, however, make an effort to be more encouraging and less harsh in his criticisms of her technique, her times, her adherence to his proscribed diet. Fighting with her, while fun, would get them nowhere. Or, it would get them fucking against the nearest available surface.
If she noticed or appreciated his efforts, she said nothing to him about it. Her times in all the events continued to improve. He even succeeded in helping her shave two seconds from her 200-meter average. But it was pretty clear to both of them that it was time to decide what events she’d devote herself to for qualifiers. Up until now, they’d been waiting on Boston to decide.
Her grandfather’s influence had been enough for the marathon’s organizers to agree to allow Echo to move from the general start to the women’s elite running group, so she’d been pushing to devote more and more of their training time to the marathon, even though she hadn’t wanted to compete in the event to begin with.
Today they were working at the Coulter estate. She needed to get some terrain running in if she was really doing the marathon. With him following in a golf cart, she ran the charted territory at a quick clip. Then, at the six-mile mark, she went down in a sudden heap.
“Fuck. Echo.” Panic and adrenaline spiked Cole’s blood. He picked her up gently before putting her in the cart and driving her back to the house.
“Do you think you can make it to your room?” he asked as they passed through the entryway.
“No,” she grimaced. “It’s up a flight of stairs and at the other end of the house. Just…help me into the sitting room, it’s right off here.”
They got her seated on a sofa, and while she piled pillows beneath her knee, Cole took a quick look around the room. Large, with a fireplace as its focal point and a small bar off to one side.
In addition to the sofa, there was a matching loveseat, and a few chairs around a coffee table. Expansive windows looked across the drive and front lawn. Smaller windows looked off to the garage along the eastern-facing edge of the house. There was also a set of doors leading into the dining room. Cole could just see the gleam of the polished tabletop.
She lived in a whole different world.
Echo’s groans of pain brought him sharply out of his silent appraisal. He wanted to find it over-the-top or ostentatious, but the house was disconcertingly inviting and…cozy.
“Here,” he told her, pulling over one of the chairs and sitting so he could easily reach the tense muscles of her leg. With the pads of his fingers over her smooth skin, he could feel the knots and systematically pressed and rubbed them until they started to ease. “Your folks aren’t home, I take it,” he said.
She shook her head. “They had an appointment in La Jolla, and Mom wanted to get some shopping done for the trip to Boston. I don’t know why. It’s not like we’ll be gone for long. Ahh,” she groaned. “That’s much better.” She sat up straighter and began flexing her leg, back and forth, until she was able to hold it straight while she rolled her foot at the ankle, working out the last few kinks.
He didn’t want to let go. Because you are a glutton for punishment.
“I, uh…I’ve been meaning… There’s something I wanted to say for a while, but it’s never seemed…” Cole stopped and started. She set her leg back down on the sofa, and he continued examining the muscles up and down her leg, pausing every now and again to knead a particular spot. “About when we met. The second time, that is. When we officially met…I should apologize. You know…with giving you a hard time about it all.”
“You mean when you accused me of lying to you, and sleeping with you in order to make you look bad?” Her voice was flat, but direct. She was clearly more comfortable being direct with him than with her family.
“Yeah, I know I didn’t handle it well, and…well, in the last few weeks, I’ve realized that…it’s not the kind of thing you would do. Not the lying about who you are and sleeping with a complete stranger part because you definitely did that, but doing it specifically as a means to…undermine me…my position as your coach…whatever,” he rambled, suddenly aware of just how high up her thigh his hands had traveled. Oh, hell. Heat flooded his veins, and he fidgeted in his seat. Clearing his throat, he added. “I’m afraid I let my frustration…affect the way I coached you—especially at first. And I’m sorry for that.”
She shook her head as she picked at her sleeve. “You don’t have to apologize,” Echo muttered. “It was awkward for both of us, and we both said things that were…well, some of them might have been true but we didn’t necessarily need to say them. And as for you letting…what happened between us…affect how you coached me, I think I’ve shown that I can handle myself. I didn’t ask to be coddled or given any kind of special treatment—”
“That’s just it,” Cole interrupted. Shit, this was harder than he thought. “I didn’t treat you fairly. It had nothing to do with ‘special treatment,’ and everything to do with the fact that I wanted to make you miserable, because I was.”
“Well, if I was miserable with my training it had little to do with you,” she insisted.
“I’m trying to apologize and be the bigger person here.”
“And I’m saying that there was no need for any of this. We were doing just fine before when we didn’t talk about what happened. But no,” she tried to pull her leg away but he held on. “No, you had to go and bring it up and now it’s out there, and—”
“Good God, do you ever shut up? I don’t remember you being this chatty when we—”
“Yeah, well, we didn’t exactly do a lot of talking that night, did we?”
“Probably a good thing, because apparently we would have just wound up arguing.” The heat of her thigh on his hand coursed from his palm, up his arm, and then raced through his body.
The memory of how her smooth, bare skin had felt beneath his hands that night had his fingers itching to ride a little higher, to slip beneath the waistband of her running shorts and feel the warm slickness of her once more.
She glowered at him, even her pupils dilated. “If you weren’t such a—”
First, he knew he shouldn't have done it. Second, he knew it wouldn’t help. Third…well, fuck third. He needed to taste her again. He helped himself up and pressed his lips to hers to shut her up. She responded immediately, her lips parting. Her fingers clutched the back of his head, holding him steady as her tongue slipped into his mouth.
Holy fuck. Cole perched at the edge of his seat as Echo rolled slightly towards him, causing his hand to ride farther up her thigh, the inviting heat between her legs obscured only by a few thin layers of fabric. Her body arched toward him.
He should stop. Fuck that. He needed to pull back. Hell no.
She dug her hands into his shirt, pulling him forward, making that little mewling sound. An electric charge ran through him and his cock jerked. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. If he kept this up, he’d have her on his lap, and screw getting caught.
With a rough growl he tore his lips away and eased back. “Shit.”
“We can’t,” she gasped.
“Of course not,” he agreed, clearing his throat. “I’m…sorry. I don’t… I don’t know what just happened.” He turned away from her and stood.
Cock hard, and aching with frustration. Brain, a mess. Emotions…all over the fucking place. “I should…I should go.” He needed to get the fuck out of here, so he could think. Because right now she was too close. Too soft.
“Go? You…you can’t go.”
He froze. Was she…did she…want him to stay? Because, fuck, he wanted to stay. He couldn’t think straight. He was entirely too aware of his throbbing cock. And if he didn’t chill out, the whole house would be all-too-aware.
�
��My parents,” she added. “Remember? They were meeting us here today to make travel arrangements for the marathon.”
Fuck him. He’d been summoned. Something his brain kept trying to forget. “Right… Boston. So what time were you expecting them home?” he asked calmly, his voice sounding to his own ears as though he were growling at her. She’s not for you.
“The appointment should be over in about a half-hour, and it’ll take them at least as long to get back here,” she estimated.
“Appointment?”
“A…uh…business appointment,” she said quickly, flushing. “They’re touring one of the…manufacturing sites for…something at the store. I wasn’t paying too much attention to anything they were saying, apart from the time. I was supposed to be running, so…” Her voice trailed off.
So they were here for at least an hour, alone together. “Right, I need a minute. Restroom’s through here, isn’t it?” he said, pressing forward without waiting for her to confirm for him. He needed a minute to cool down.
If he could just breathe, take a break from her scent, he’d be fine. You’re delusional. Nothing was going to get Echo out of his system. It was a futile effort designed to torture him.
Seventeen
Echo knocked on the bathroom door. “Cole, can we just talk?”
“Jesus Christ, Echo, can’t a guy get a little privacy?”
She had zero idea what she was doing. Her IT band still throbbed some, but he’d helped her work out the kinks. At least those ones anyway. Right about now, she had other things on her mind. Other…needs. What just happened in the living room—it was the one thing that had felt like hers in weeks. It was also, unfortunately, the one thing she felt like she couldn’t have.
“Look, I’m sorry. Can we just talk about this? I don’t even know what just happened. I just—could you just—”
He dragged open the door. “What? What do you want from me, Echo? I don’t want to play this game anymore. I’m your coach. That’s it. I don’t need you just dicking with me.”
