by Nina Lane
He takes a polka-dotted gift bag from the desk. “Your first present. I’ll have another for you in about five minutes.”
“That long?” Arching an eyebrow, I take the bag from him.
“Actually, it’s a lot longer.”
I grin and sit on the bed, enjoying the excited anticipation of opening a present. I open the bag carefully and part the tissue paper. A glimpse of red peeks through.
“What…” I reach in and pull out a red backpack patterned with huge yellow daisies.
My heart stutters. Embroidered above the pocket is the name JOSIE in blue letters. I lift my gaze to Cole in astonishment.
“My backpack.”
If he was pleased with himself about remembering my birthday, now he looks downright smug. “Your black one is way too boring for you. And I never forgot that red backpack of yours, so I had one made.”
“Oh, Cole.” A ridiculously powerful rush of emotion squeezes my chest. Tears fill my eyes. “I loved that backpack so much. I can’t believe you did this. I can’t believe you remember.”
“I remember everything about you.” Tenderness softens his features. He threads his hand through my hair. “That will never change. But you’re really not allowed to cry, or I’ll think I did the wrong thing.”
“No.” I wipe my eyes with the back of my hand. “You couldn’t have done anything more right. Thank you so much.”
He presses a kiss to my forehead and hands me a tissue—one that is thick and infused with lotion. I dab my tears and set the backpack at the foot of the bed.
After getting to my feet, I slide my arms around his waist. He settles his hands on either side of my neck. As we gaze at each other, we both know it’s just us again, all our heartache and friendship still binding us inextricably together.
He slips his hand beneath my chin and brings his mouth to mine in a warm, gentle kiss that sparks me with heat. We tumble onto the bed. Curly meows a yelp of outrage and bounds out of the room.
Cole climbs on top of me, his body a big, welcoming weight. I wind my arms around his neck as our mouths open—hot and wet. A thousand sparks flare through me. My nipples harden, budding up against my bra. He makes a muffled noise in the back of his throat and slides his hand up to cup my breast through my oh-so-sexy overalls.
I grab his wrist, stopping his exploration. “Don’t you want me to clean up first?”
“Hell, no.” He nuzzles his nose against my shoulder. “I like you dirty.”
With a laugh, I cup his face and bring his mouth to mine again. We strip slowly, fumbling with my overall buckles and the knot of Cole’s tie. I love seeing his strong body revealed bit by bit, and by the time he’s down to his boxer briefs, I’m already wet and aching. I rub my hand over the long, thick length of his erection pressing against his briefs and along his upper thigh. Shivers of anticipation race through me.
He tugs my overalls and T-shirt off, his breath escaping at the sight of my pink bra and panties patterned with chili peppers. He palms my breasts, massaging my nipples through the cotton before gliding his fingers down my abdomen.
“Tell me,” he orders, tracing my bellybutton with his forefinger.
I twitch under him. “Tell you…?”
He gives me a wicked smile. “Tell me what you want.”
“Oh…” I swallow to ease my dry throat. “I want…want you to touch me.”
“You do, huh?” He slips his fingers under the waistband of my panties. “You’re hot under here, aren’t you?”
“So hot,” I breathe, wiggling my hips in desperation. “Please, Cole.”
Instead of heeding my plea, he unclasps my bra, exposing my bare breasts. Heat warms my skin. My nipples are so hard, pointing straight out like they’re begging to be sucked.
His eyes dark with lust, Cole obliges. He lowers his head to kiss my breasts, flicking his tongue over my nipples, his breath heating my skin. He slides his hand under my panties again, finding the damp cleft between my thighs. He rubs his forefinger over my folds and eases it into my opening. I gasp and arch my hips.
“Ah, fuck, Josie.” He pulls in a hard breath. “I can’t wait to sink my cock into all that tight heat…”
Desire flares and sparks through me. He circles my clit with his thumb, driving my urgency higher with every stroke. Then he eases away and tugs my panties down my legs.
His eyes glaze over as he stares at my exposed pussy. “Look at you, pretty girl…”
Butterflies spin and twirl in my belly. He moves away only long enough to shed his boxers before kneeling beside me. His cock rises upward, so long and thick that my nerves clench with anticipation and wetness surges in my core.
My hand trembling, I wrap my fingers around his shaft. Just the sensation of the warm, silky flesh against my palm intensifies my arousal. Tightening my grip, I stroke my hand up and down the length, easily recalling the rhythm he’d once loved. His breathing increases, sawing through the air above me. He’s looking at me with a flush of heat cresting his cheekbones and his eyes dark with want. My heart jolts.
“Open up, Josie Bird,” he murmurs, pressing me back onto the pillows.
I stretch out, my heart pounding wildly, my whole body primed and ready. Cole moves to settle between my legs. Sweat gleams on his muscular chest. He strokes his hand up my thigh, curving his fingers between them, and rakes his hot gaze over my damp skin and bare breasts.
“Wider,” he urges. “Lift your knees.”
I open my legs wider. Cooler air brushes against my pussy, and my breath scorches my lungs. I close my eyes, arching upward as I feel his cock begin to slide into me, inch by delicious inch. My body stretches to accommodate him, his length throbbing against my inner walls, deeper, deeper…
I give a choked cry as he levers himself over me, his features tight with restraint and lust. His cock throbs inside me, sending heavy pulses into my blood.
“So fucking good.” He lowers his mouth to mine. “Let me all the way in.”
Lifting my legs, I wrap them around his thighs and open myself completely. With a grunt, he thrusts, pushing his cock fully into me. I gasp, gripping his shoulders, tensing with anticipation for what will come next…
He pulls back and plunges in again, his muscles straining and flexing. Again and again, driving our arousal to the breaking point. My head spins, everything inside me exhilarating in this crazy rush. I dig my fingernails into his back as he surges into me.
The pressure builds, coiling around my lower body with every plunge of his shaft. I bite down on his damp, smooth shoulder, struggling to retain the control slipping from my grasp with every passing second.
“I feel it,” I breathe, straining, aching to reach between our bodies and rub my pulsing clit. “I want to…harder…I’m so close, I…”
He drives into me, hitting the sweet spot. A firestorm ignites. Stars burst behind my eyes. Explosions rip through me, firing my nerves, submerging me in wave after wave of bliss.
Cole pushes to his knees, his cock still inside me. He thrusts again and stills, surrendering to his own release. A deep groan rumbles from his chest. Still shuddering, I’m unable to take my eyes off him as he crests the wave.
“Ah, fuck, Josie, you’re amazing.” He rolls to his back with a groan. “So much better than a chocolate factory.”
I laugh. Happiness and utter satiation billow inside me. I tuck myself against the solid wall of his body. He rests his arm heavily over my shoulders. His heart is a steady, rhythmic metronome flowing into my ear. A lullaby strong enough to quiet even my overworked brain and damaged soul.
Darkness beckons. Beside the man I never stopped loving, I close my eyes and let myself fall.
Chapter 15
Josie
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I wake with a start some time later, though without the usual heart palpitations and lingering fear of a nightmare. My pulse is even, and I haven’t broken into a sweat. Both nightstand lamps blaze light through the room. Cole is still asleep, the angles of
his face softened in repose, his eyelashes like black feathers against his cheekbones.
Pressing a kiss to his bare shoulder, I climb out of bed and tug his T-shirt over my head. It’s close to eleven. The red backpack is still at the foot of the bed. For the first time in ages, my heart is light. Unclouded. Clear.
I pull on a pair of socks, intending to go to the kitchen for a snack and some sketching. As I walk toward the door, I notice a fuzzy stuffed animal lodged on the lowest shelf of the bookcase.
Is that…?
I bend to tug the animal out. My throat closes over. So worn most of its fur is rubbed off, the rabbit has gray floppy ears, huge blue eyes, and a cottontail that used to be white but is now gray.
Wally. My old best friend, whom I used to haul around in my backpack all the time when I was a kid. Wally had moved into the apartment I’d shared with Cole, living mostly on my dresser or closet shelf. I’d never thought about what had happened to him.
After I’d been released from the hospital, I’d gone straight to live with Vanessa. She’d hired a moving company to pack up and move my belongings out of the apartment so I wouldn’t have to go back. I’d eventually gone through a few of the boxes, but I hadn’t thought about Wally.
Cole had taken him. Kept him.
Tenderness softens me. I lean down to put Wally back in his place on the shelf.
My heart suddenly slams against my chest. On the shelf above, there is a framed 5x7 color photograph of me with my parents, Vanessa, and Teddy. It’s the picture Cole had taken on the night of the anniversary party, the last photograph of my family all together.
I haven’t seen it before. I’d forgotten it even existed as a physical photograph. It’s my last memory of that night, this moment just as Cole pressed the shutter button and the bright flash went off.
My chest tight, I straighten and stare at the photo. My parents, Vanessa, and I are standing in a half-circle with Teddy in front of us. He’s holding a white bakery box. We’re all smiling and tired. I’m behind Teddy, one hand on his shoulder and the other holding the ridiculously large wooden keychain—shaped into a B for Benjamin—that had belonged to our father.
Teddy had made the keychain for him in woodshop, and though it was unwieldy and impractical, our father had immediately attached all his keys to it and carried it everywhere. When he stuffed his keys in his pocket, the wooden letter B would flop against his hip. He didn’t care, remarking that he was likely the only person in the world who never lost his car keys. Teddy had been indescribably proud.
I study the picture for a moment longer. A prickling sensation nudges my chest. I move closer to the nightstand and turn the photo toward the light.
The party was winding down. We were getting ready to go home. We had our spring raincoats on. All our goodbyes had been said. We’d had no idea that twenty minutes later, we’d be half-submerged in the ocean, crushed in a mass of twisted metal.
Everything in the picture makes sense—our smiles and happy weariness, the flowers in my mother’s arms, Teddy’s missing tie, the bakery box that contained leftover cake.
Everything except…
Why am I holding my father’s car keys?
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Click here for the conclusion of Josie and Cole’s story in IF WE FLY.
About the Author
New York Times & USA Today bestselling author Nina Lane writes hot, sexy romances about professors, bad boys, candy makers, and protective alpha males who find themselves consumed with love for one woman alone. Originally from California, Nina holds a PhD in Art History and an MA in Library and Information Studies, which means she loves both research and organization. She also enjoys traveling and thinks St. Petersburg, Russia is a city everyone should visit at least once. Although Nina would go back to college for another degree because she's that much of a bookworm and a perpetual student, she now lives the happy life of a full-time writer.
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www.ninalane.com
Acknowledgments
Thank you a million times over to the following incredible people for never failing to help me out of the convoluted maze of writing in which I so frequently find myself: Stacy Jerger, Cathy Yardley, Jessa Slade, Lea Ann Schafer, Corinne DeMaagd, Kimberly Kessler, and Kelley Heckart.
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Thank you, Victoria Colotta of VMC Art & Design, for both your perceptive insights and your work on my beautiful website.
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Danielle Sanchez of InkSlinger PR, thank you so much for your energy, support, and efforts on my behalf.
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Thank you again, MJ Fryer, Maria D., and Rachel B. for your time, honesty, and staying so steadfastly in my corner. Special thanks to Maria for giving Cole his last name! Thank you, Nina’s Ninjas, for sticking with me for so long, especially during the downtimes.
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As always, thank you so much to all the readers and bloggers who have been such a source of love and support.
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