by Brynne Asher
Cole gives me a push and it’s all I need. One moment, I’m exhausted from life, and the next, Cole gives me this.
My mum’s arms wrap around me first, followed by Dad’s, holding us both.
And my empty, broken heart beats with new life.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” Mum cries. “It’s been too long, love. No one should be kept from their child.”
My dad’s lips hit the top of my head. “Bloody hell. Missed you, darling. You’re a sight for sore eyes.”
I grip them tight, never wanting to let go as what little makeup I put on is surely streaking my face.
“Let me look at you.” Mum pushes me back and a big smile shines through her own tears. “You’re so beautiful you hurt my eyes.”
“You’re all bones, sis.” A hand grasps my bicep and my oldest brother, Archer, pulls me into his arms. “You always were but you could really use a sticky toffee pudding right now.”
I wipe my face and punch him in the arm. “Always an arse. Nothing has changed.”
His toothy grin feels like home.
Devon draws me in next. “Being on the run hasn’t been too hard on you, Bells. You still look like a pile of gold.”
“How?” I ask, reaching for my mum again, realizing how much it’s hurt not to see or talk to my family. “How did you get here?”
“Carson.” Dad motions to the man behind me. I look back and he’s standing like the god he’s proving to be with arms crossed, watching the Donnelly show play out in front of him. “He’s been in touch with Archer for over a week. We’ve been trying to plan a meet. We got a call the day before yesterday about your trip here and knew this would be the time. We’re officially on holiday. We knew it would be too hard for us to go to the States without raising a shit ton of red flags.”
Cole lifts his chin.
I sniff and don’t care if I’m wiping my nose on the back of my hand. I’m too damn happy. I look into the dark eyes I love, eyes I’ve missed, and eyes I’ve gotten pretty bloody used to seeing on a daily basis. And that sets my already frayed nerves on end. “It couldn’t have been easy. Nothing with my family ever is.”
“Your dad sprang for the boat. This is out of my budget but it gives you the privacy you need,” Cole adds and looks at his watch. “You’ve got three hours, sweetness. I wish you had a week, but no one here wants to risk exposing you.”
Mum squeezes me and I turn to her—my smile is genuine and straight from my heart. “I want to know everything I’ve missed.”
And I settle in to enjoy the sweetest gift I’ve ever received.
Chapter 21
The Bella Lottery
Cole
“We’re close. Bella has a lot of people at her back. I want her free to live her life as much as you do, Thorne.”
Bella’s father made such a name for himself with British Intelligence during the course of his career, he’s known worldwide among people like me. He retired sooner than needed but he had book deals and took advantage of the opportunities he created from busting his balls. I don’t blame him. He was at a point where he didn’t want to sit in management for years, instead choosing to spend the time with his wife.
Thorne Donnelly pulled her brothers and me aside for a brief as Bella sits with her mom, doing what I brought her here for, catching up and soaking in what little time I could manage to give her with her family. The second I realized we were following Randolph here, I knew it was the perfect place to meet. I arranged it with Archer. The Donnellys were booked on the first charter to the islands from London.
“Fucking kills me. In my gut, I always thought what happened to her was some demented attempt to get back at me. I’m not blind to the fact I’ve made enemies through the years. Did my job the way it needed to be done and pissed people off along the way. Never thought it would come to this, though, and not to my Bella.”
“Not your fault, Dad,” Devon insists. “We’ll get the cocksuckers. No one messes with a Donnelly.”
Thorne runs a hand through his salted hair. “I’ve got a shitty feeling about this, Dev. Real bad. Doesn’t help my conscience that my baby girl has been on the run and taking risks to clear her own name.”
I’m not surprised he feels this way. I would too if it were Abbott. “Doesn’t matter, Thorne. She snuck into the U.S. and paid the price with a bullet. But we’re back on track. I swear I’ll keep her safe until we can clear her name.”
“You tell me what you need, Carson. I’m still on a case in Greece for the next month but I’m on leave for the next few days. I can nose around on my way back,” Archer offers.
“Wish like hell I could do something,” Thorne muses. “Outside of the walls of this boat, not sure who I can trust. Those I thought I could trust within the walls of Vauxhall are the ones trying to burn her at the stake. I know my Bella. She’s as tough as nails—got that from me—but she has her mum’s heart, pure gold. She’d go to any length to stop an attack like the one they’ve pinned on her. She damn sure wouldn’t help carry it out or keep it a secret.”
“Thorne,” Annie calls for her husband from where she’s parked on the sofa next to her daughter. “Quit talking shop and come sit with Bella.”
Archer and Devon obey and I’m about to follow when Thorne grabs me by the bicep. I turn back and he lowers his voice for only me to hear. “You need anything—call me. Money, resources … anything. I know for a fact our lines are still tapped—both Annie’s and mine. I don’t want to draw attention to ourselves and haven’t let on we know where she is. But Ollie knows how to get hold of Devon so you’ve got a direct line to me.”
“I’m good, Thorne. The people helping me work with Bella. They know she’s innocent and they don’t have to do anything by the book. Unfortunately, I do so it’s good they’re on our side.”
Thorne doesn’t look relieved. But he wouldn’t be since the establishment he used to be part of is the one he can no longer trust. Hell, even in my agency, I’m not sure who I can look in the eye and know they’re not dealing under the table to pull off some shady shit. Exhibit A—wanting Penn Simmons wiped from the face of the earth.
“The boys heard about you.” Thorne studies me. “The American their sister apparently tied herself to before all this went down.”
I give him a shrug. Winning over the Donnellys wasn’t at the top of my to-do list but it sure wouldn’t hurt my case with Bella. “I’m here and that’s not going to change. Bella knows what I want and what I’m willing to wait on, which is everything.”
He looks to his family and back to me. “She mentioned you have a daughter.”
“I do.”
His head bobs once methodically. “Then you know. Whoever your friends are who don’t have to play by the same rules you do, tell them to hurry their shit up. I want my family back. My wife and I want our daughter back. There’s nothing I won’t do for my family, but when I’m being tapped…” He shakes his head. “Feels like my bloody hands are tied. I’m counting on you.”
I look over at Bella and she’s smiling like I haven’t seen in a long time. “Don’t worry. I’m counting on me too.”
“Thorne.” Annie demands her husband’s attention again. “Please. We only have a short time.”
Thorne slaps me on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, love. I have a feeling we’ll have our girl back sooner than later.”
When Bella’s gaze shifts to me, gone is the carefree expression she had moments ago. This one is hesitant, hopeful, and maybe even a little scared. Or who knows, maybe scared to hope.
I pick up my beer and move to the group, listening to Annie grill her daughter about their time apart, what she’s been doing for work, and if she’s safe.
All too quickly, time passes and Bella and I are standing on the pier watching her family disappear into the night on the boat back to St. Thomas. It was a hard goodbye to watch, even for me, and I’ve never met her family before. Seeing tears on Bella’s face for the second time since we’ve been here might
as well be a turning knife in my gut.
The salty wind whips her long hair around her face but she doesn’t take her eyes off the black horizon until the lights disintegrate into the night.
I reach over and take her hand. “Let’s get back to the condo. It’s late and we leave early.”
She doesn’t utter a word on the walk back to the street.
The silence continues in the taxi.
She doesn’t afford me a glance, even though her grip on my hand is as intense as her mood.
I toss the driver a handful of twenties because we barely roll to a stop before Bella is out of the car and rushing to the building, as if a fire were blazing on her heels. The elevator doors almost shut me off from her by the time I catch up.
“What the hell?” I growl. “What did I do now?”
It’s late and the building might as well be giving me the same silent treatment as Bella. Feels like we’re on an expressway to heaven as we shoot to our floor without stopping. I lose her blue eyes when they fall shut and she drags both hands through her windblown hair like she wants to rip it from its roots.
My irritation is escalating as quick as this damn elevator. She shakes her head, and when her lips part, she looks like she’s about to throw me another curveball, but the tone of the elevator breaks her off. She makes a move for the door but I shift in front of her and hold it, caging her in the small box.
“No, dammit. Tell me what the fuck’s going on?”
Her face falls. “Move. I need off this lift. I need—”
“No. You need to tell me what I did. Why you’re pissed at me when you looked the happiest I’ve ever seen you with your family only an hour ago. Tonight was not easy to arrange.”
She puts a hand to my abs and pushes. “Cole, let me out.”
I don’t budge. “Not a chance. You turning into the ice queen is pissing me off. It’s not you. It’s not the woman I met years ago and it sure as hell isn’t the woman I fell in love with. Spar, fight—hell, fucking scream at me. Do your worst. You’re not the silent treatment type of woman, Bella. I fell in love with you as much as for what you are as for what you aren’t. You’re one of a kind and made for me. Come at me and give me your worst, I can handle it.”
I’m selfish and I know it. I’d bet my life on the fact I want her more than she wants her career. I’m willing to make any concession needed, as long as she’s mine in the end.
And I’m ready to reach the end, dammit.
Her hand on my abs tightens into a grip on my tee so tight, my already stiff frown deepens. But then she uses the grip to pull herself up.
And I finally get what I want. What I’ve wanted for weeks—no, what I’ve wanted since before I begged her to come home with me, even if it meant her hiding out in the States forever.
She closes the space separating us and her mouth lands on mine.
A kiss.
Something I refused to give her until she was ready.
I open my mouth—greedy and hungry—taking what only she can give me. I hold the elevator door with one hand but my other dips into her hair, plastering her mouth to mine. Now that I have her, there’s no damn way I’m letting her go or allowing any regrets to fuck up my plans.
Or my life. I’ve fucked it up well enough on my own and I’m doing all I can to unfuck it now. And it starts with Isabella Donnelly in my bed.
Forever.
But I feel no regret in this kiss. I press my tongue in her mouth and she doesn’t argue. She sucks it, pressing her body to mine, here on the threshold to the elevator.
And she kisses the frown right off my face—something only she has ever been able to do.
I step back and pull her with me, moving down the hall to the unit we’ve shared in paradise for the last two days. Our teeth clash but our connection doesn’t break until I’m forced to dig the fucking key card out of my wallet.
“Cole.” She’s breathless and I’m pissed I had to give her the chance to fill her lungs. “Tonight has been—”
“Shut up,” I clip and throw the door open, tossing the key card followed by my wallet into the room. I push her in and have her pressed to the wall as my mouth finds hers before the door clicks behind us. I’m not afraid of much but I am afraid of losing any traction I’ve gained. “Don’t. Don’t think. Don’t talk. And don’t fucking go back, baby.”
She nods—not letting our connection break, not pushing me away, and not kneeing me in the nuts, catapulting me into next week.
I did it.
I finally won The Bella Lottery.
Let the celebrations commence.
Chapter 22
Lost Time
Bella
What Cole did for me tonight was the most precious gift. One I had no idea how badly I craved.
My parents, Archer, Devon…
The Donnellys.
Together again.
Some families fight and argue and complain about the ones they’re tied to by blood, but not us. We’ve always been close—we’d love one another if it were a choice instead of purely being stuck with the ones we were born to.
I’ve missed my parents and brothers—so much. But until I saw them standing before me tonight, I didn’t know how deeply it ran. The hole in my heart from not seeing or communicating with my family was a pain my subconscious had built a wall around.
Cole knew what I needed, he always has. He not only gave it to me, he delivered it on a silver platter and filled that void with flowers so beautiful they’ll surely bloom for a long, long time.
I’m overcome. I have been for weeks but when the door opened and I saw the gift he arranged, I was filled with happiness and gutted by guilt for pushing him away.
It was all I could do to get back to the condo without claiming what I should have long ago. Greedily grasp the gift that was dangling in front of me and stop being a tunnel-visioned imbecile.
I’m not proud of myself and plan on doing everything I can to fix what I’ve mucked up.
“Baby.” Cole’s lips on my neck tease my sensitive skin as he yanks my cami over my head. It whispers to the floor next to us with promises of what’s to come and I’m left standing braless in a pair of wide-legged linen trousers.
I pull at his T-shirt and he helps, reaching between his shoulder blades. Then, from my bare breasts to my fresh scar, I’m skin to skin with the only man I’ve ever been with, the only man I’ve ever loved.
“Thank you. For tonight.” I look into his dark eyes, to the lust and need settled in them. “I’m sorry I’ve been too deep in my own problems to see … everything.”
He runs a hand up my side, his thumb spanning my midsection and dragging over the mark I’ll always have to remind me of what brought me to him. “We’ll talk later. All I can think of right now is how to fuck you without hurting you.”
I shake my head as he takes a step back and unbuttons my slacks, dropping them to the floor. “Sometimes I worry about my own sanity because that shouldn’t turn me on, but it does.”
He says nothing as his lips hit mine again, devouring me. I swallow his moan, feeling it low in my belly and then, farther down, between my legs when he paws my arse with both hands in a firm squeeze.
This reminds me of times long ago when we were new. We had worked together for months and couldn’t fight it any longer. Every time we were together it was about me—him teaching me, leading me to new places which would only make me blush before driving me wild, and making me forget all the reasons why I blushed in the first place.
But as much as it was about me, it was also about him. Cole didn’t hold back and made sure I knew my naïveté and lack of all experience did things to him he couldn’t put into words. He might not have been able to explain them, but he showed me all the ways me being me drove him wild.
“The last time we were like this, you were giving me goodbye sex,” he murmurs against my temple as he fondles my nipples into pebbled peaks. “If you try that shit again, Bella, I’ll tie you up and keep you i
n my dingy basement. I don’t give a shit how weird it makes me.”
My thong lands on the floor and Cole drops to a knee next to them.
He presses his lips to my scar before tracing it lightly with his tongue. I look down my bare body, watching him give all his attention to the worst of me and remember what he said not long ago about seeing the beauty in my healing wound rather than the nasty mark I’ll always carry. “I haven’t seen your dingy basement. It can’t be worse than some of the places I’ve called home while hiding out.”
His hands slide down my abs and pelvis. When his thumbs settle on either side of my clit where I’m more than wet, he easily spreads me, making my breath catch. “Baby, don’t make me think of lost time, it’ll piss me off. Not when I’m here.” He looks to his hands and my most private parts he’s re-familiarizing himself with. His thumbs massage my lips but nothing else.
Electricity zings through me—every square inch of my bare skin acutely aware and sensitive to his touch. Gone are the warm and humid island temps. All the heat I’m feeling now is purely and utterly Cole Carson.
He flicks my clit with the tip of his nose right before his tongue teases me. My head hits the wall with a thud and I press my hips forward as his name drips off my lips, as desperate as I feel. “Cole.”
“Sweetness.” His tongue explores, his fingers continue to torment, but he doesn’t come close to my clit again. “Missed this. Missed losing myself the way only you can make me do.”
I shift my legs apart in hopes he’ll take everything I’m greedy to give. “I’ve missed you so much, I think I blocked it from my bloody brain. Please, Cole. Do your worst later, but don’t torment me now. I won’t be able to handle it.”
“Oh, I’m going to torment you.” His tongue circles my clit as he slides a finger deep inside me. I press onto his hand, finally allowing myself to want so much more. “I think you deserve a little payback for pushing me away.”
