“I still don’t understand. What’s the check for?” She could have guessed he had no intention of making this easy for her.
“It’s the amount your uncle received selling off your father’s company. Basically, the money that he stole from you and your mom. My father and I both agreed you should have it.”
Cole scowled at the paper in his hands, then ripped the check into tiny pieces, letting the scraps drop to the floor. “I don’t want your money, Shaun. Never did.”
Shaun’s heart tore and scattered amongst the discarded shreds of paper. Money often worked as an effective bandage in her circles. Most disagreements could be resolved with cash. The same hard truth had bubbled over into her personal dealings with people as well.
Quite the opposite, she learned, when dealing with someone as proud and stubborn as Cole. He wasn’t motivated by money. A concept she still struggled to understand.
“That’s not what that was.” Why did he always make everything she tried to do for him seem like some sort of freaking hand-out? Granted, maybe the check seemed like a hand-out, but she didn’t know how else to deal with people or relationships. Cole had unintentionally given her a gift: freedom from the contracting firm she’d never really wanted. Freedom from Robert and a board who couldn’t tell inspiring design from a box of Lego. She wanted to thank him, but she just didn’t know how. “This was a mistake. I’m sorry to have wasted your time.” Shaun released a breath and started toward the swinging doors in defeat.
“I know what you did,” Cole called out, fixing Shaun in place with his intense stare.
She opened and closed her mouth, wondering if she’d spoken her thoughts out loud. Cole turned his back to her and stalked over to his workbench. Picking up a magazine from a pile of papers, he returned to where she stood. He flipped the well-read booklet open to a dog-eared page and held it out to her.
Shaun didn’t have to look to know what the article was about, but she did anyway. The magazine was Nouveau Design and the photo spread was of her apartment, with Cole’s furniture featured. A framed copy of the proofs was hanging on the wall in her loft, a surprise she had planned to give Cole the day he broke her heart.
Shaun had added some minor touches to make sure each piece popped off its respective page. She had draped the bed with miles of ivory Egyptian cotton that complemented the headboard, a beautiful mosaic of graying repurposed wood. The chaise she had upholstered in cranberry velvet sat in contrast with the darkly stained teak flooring of her living room, an impressive book collection acting as the perfect backdrop. An oak patio dining table worth the envy of any dinner party host danced against the deep blue cityscape of Mason, illuminated by a parade of ornate, dripping candles. The photo shoot had turned out to be everything Shaun had wanted and more. When the time had come to part with the collection for reasons all her own, she had made sure each item had been securely wrapped in blankets and bubble wrap, not wanting anything to be injured on the trip back to its maker. When the movers had dismantled the bed, her favorite item of all, it had nearly killed her.
“That’s why you returned everything I gave you, right?” Pulling Shaun away from the bittersweet memory of Cole’s magnificent collection, he pointed to the line at the end of the article that read, “All pieces available for purchase,” with Cole’s contact information.
Shaun cleared her throat, loosening up the pathway for her coming words. “Yeah, so?” She shrugged, attempting to disguise her true remorse. He had already torn her check up; she steeled herself for a similar reaction regarding the magazine article. Another hand-out. “I thought you could use the help. It didn’t seem like you intended to continue working for Robert.” Shaun paused and caught herself chewing her lip again. “Did anyone call?” She hadn’t had the courage to ask Becky when they’d spoken a month ago. Hoping Cole’s mother would offer the information, Shaun had called under the guise of needing her chili recipe. Shaun never cooked. She used the silverware drawer next to her stove to house take-out menus and only turned her oven on to heat leftovers.
“Yeah. So many it turned into a bidding war.”
Shaun suppressed the invisible punch to her gut. Her treasured possessions, which he’d selected for her and her alone, were most likely gone for good.
“Dammit, woman.” Cole shook his head and let out a frustrated groan. “Come with me.” He crooked his finger and led the way to a half-opened sliding door off the workshop. A storage closet of sorts, perhaps, in its previous life.
Shaun followed, her mind at war with the onset of disappointment and the glorious view of Cole from behind. She didn’t understand the unrelenting pull she felt toward him or how being near him churned her insides. She’d always privately marveled at his backside, made even more delectable when paired with the belt of tools tugging down her attention like a bull’s-eye. Her gaze popped up to the proper level when he turned to catch her looking where she shouldn’t.
With a knowing smirk, Cole widened the door opening with his back and motioned for her to go inside. “Go on.” A touch hesitant, she slipped past him and entered a much smaller room that looked recently redone, with walls painted a creamy white. Light spilled in from tiny square windows lining the high ceiling, and random shapes hid beneath scattered drop cloths. When Shaun spotted what Cole wanted her to see, her heart stuttered in disbelief.
“You kept the bed?” She spun to find Cole grinning as he slid the door closed and secured the latch.
“I kept everything, Shaun. Hoping to soon return them in person.”
She inched closer to the queen-size bed, her fingertips grazing the blanket on top, the moving blanket she remembered from his pickup truck. The very blanket Cole had spread over the flatbed when they had made love in the rain. Not just sex, but love, wrought with numerous emotions. Shaun felt the heat of color deepening her cheeks. Truth was, she hadn’t wanted to part with any of it and had felt like the movers had rode off with a huge piece of her soul that day.
“Do you sleep here?” Closing her eyes, Shaun felt Cole move behind her, his hard chest against her back. His scent of wood, oil, and earth enveloped her completely. No overpowering designer cologne for him. He wore the fragrance of a clean workingman, and Shaun wanted to wear that scent all over herself.
“Sometimes. But I use this room mostly to store some of the small, fragile pieces awaiting delivery. And there are a few personal items in here I’m just not ready for anyone else to see yet.” Shaun’s breath started to race, pulling more of Cole’s scent into her airway. “Dammit, Shaun. If not for you, I would never have had the guts to do this for real.” His palm skated along the curve of her hip. “As long as my father’s lumber company existed, I wouldn’t have had the heart to leave it behind.” His hand moved to rest over her midsection, radiating heat throughout her body. Her skin tingled for his touch, reaching toward his palm for more. “Thank you for the article.”
She nodded, not trusting her vocal chords to function without causing her embarrassment. Leaning into her, Cole pushed her hair behind her ear with his nose and whispered, “God, I missed you. Not one day goes by that I don’t think about you. Us.”
The lump forming in her throat made it nearly impossible to swallow. Words she’d secretly longed to hear since the day she had thrown him out of her office. A day made worse when the one person she had wanted to confide in, cry to, had confessed secrets of deception, stripping her bare.
“Then prove it.” The demand left her lips with an ease she hadn’t expected. Pride gave way to desire.
Two hands gripped her biceps and spun her around. Shaun shut her eyes when velvet lips met hers, her clutch dropping to the floor. The kiss started soft, gentle, a reacquainting of sorts, but far from enough.
Hunger tore through them both, and the kiss turned fierce. Teeth nipped, tongues danced, mouths drank in the unrelenting fervor that still coursed between them. Shaun’s fingers clawed at his belt buckle but Cole shackled both her wrists with one hand against his chest. His vo
ice labored, struggling for the breath that also evaded her lungs. “Shaun, I don’t have a– I wasn’t really expecting, well … you.”
“It’s okay. I brought…” Shaun pointed to her discarded handbag on the floor. A condom was secured inside the same pocket the check had been in. Cole lifted one questioning brow, startling Shaun’s shaky confidence. Maybe she was too late. “If there is someone else, I’ll understand.” She didn’t want to think about Cole being with another woman, but from the way things had ended between them, she would be a fool to expect him to remain celibate for three months for her.
“No.” Cole smiled and kissed her nose. “No one else. I just think I should give you a hard time about assuming I’d be so easy.”
Shaun’s mouth opened, ready to rebut, but Cole silenced her with a quick kiss. She pulled away and rested her forehead on his chest, strong hands still around her wrists, while relief washed over her in refreshing waves. “Remember at the restaurant when I said there was always something missing in my relationships?”
He buried his face in her hair. “Mm-hmm.”
“It was me. I always hid the not-so-put-together side of myself from the people I dated, not wanting to show any sliver of vulnerability.” She lifted her head, meeting his gaze. “But, I didn’t– I don’t want to hide anything from you.”
Cole acknowledged her revelation with a nod, no words needing to be said. Eyes locked with hers, he chose to undress her first. Slowly. Agonizingly slowly, while errant fingertips brushed her here, a careful palm caressed her skin there. Her body felt doused in the flames of his touch once he was finally through, he being the extinguisher he playfully kept out of reach. Cole lifted her, naked and wanting, setting her gently down on the bed, where she watched him painstakingly reveal every inch of his magnificent body. A body she had locked into her memory, unsure she would ever get the chance to enjoy it again. Cole started with the tool belt, unclasping the belt loop. The worn leather and instruments dropped to the floor with a loud thud. Never in her life had she found carpentry tools sexy until now. The rest of the striptease was a blur.
Shaun smiled her approval when he retrieved the condom from her clutch and then pumped his palm down his hard length once, twice, before sheathing it with the latex. He positioned himself over her, his muscular frame sliding between her parted legs. Shaun thought she would drown in her river of need if he didn’t fuck her now.
“When I sketched out the design of this bed, I thought of nothing but you, exactly like this.” Rising up high on his knees, he gripped the weathered headboard with one hand, a satisfied grin on his face.
“Uh, that’s borderline creepy,” she said, smirking, but in truth aroused by the idea.
“You love it,” he teased, using his knees to push her thighs farther apart.
“I’d really love it if you would get on with fucking me already.”
In silent reply, Cole shifted his hips, and the tip of his cock rubbed her sensitive cleft. All humor vanished with a gasp from them both. Shaun shivered in anticipation, as if this were her first time. Their first time.
Sliding her palms down his back, she stopped to cup the perfect shape of his ass, encouraging him to continue. A long finger parted the slick seam of her sex. Toying. Teasing. “This,” he whispered, slipping one finger inside. “This is mine.” His finger curled, applying pressure right where she craved it most.
“Cole,” she whimpered, too desperate to play. There would be time for that after. Right now, she needed him. Needed the connection.
“Tell me your pussy is mine,” he growled, caressing her deeper, a ferocious hunger in his eyes.
Never once had she entertained the idea of being possessed. She needed to be in control. Needed to be the one demanding what she wanted. Until now.
“My pussy is yours,” she repeated as told.
With a wry smile, Cole looked down at her, then answered her earlier plea with a forward surge of his hips, his rigid length sinking deep down to the root. Grasping the headboard with both hands, he plowed through her again and again, the wood groaning from the force. Shaun raked her nails down his back, holding on for dear life. Afraid that this was somehow all a dream and she would wake to find herself alone in her empty Mason apartment, like so many nights before deciding to come here.
Cole alternated his pace between long, slow strokes and quick, pounding thrusts that had her head touching the frame he gripped. Long-bridled emotions bubbled over, and hot tears sprang free from her eyes. Tears of passion. Tears of anger. Tears of heartache.
Cole stopped, the challenging restraint and concern showing in tense lines on his face. “Am I hurting you? Shit, we can stop.”
Shaun curled her fingers deeper into his back to ensure he didn’t pull away. Shaking her head, she reached one hand up, his stubble a welcome sensation against her palm.
“I love you, Cole.”
Her breath hitched, but she silenced his lips with her fingers. She didn’t want him to say the words back. He’d already said them first, in her office before she’d thrown him out. She hadn’t been ready to hear them then, unable to see past her own anger.
“That night at the bar when you offered to pay my tab, I was drawn to you. Curious about the unexpected attraction, I squeezed up next to you on purpose. Not just to piss off Olivia, although that happened to be an added bonus. Just … something inside told me you’d be different. And then, when you acted like a complete ass in my office the next day, you proved you were. No one had ever talked to me like that, and secretly I liked it.” He laughed and nibbled at her fingers. “Soon only my mind needed convincing.”
Still not dropping her hand, she prepared herself for the hard part. “It hurt to learn you kept secrets from me. Lied to me. More than I ever knew possible.” The direction of the conversation felt warped and misplaced while their bodies remained joined so intimately, but the words needed to get out. If they intended to make anything of this, her feelings needed to be expressed. “I understand why, and that’s the reason I couldn’t walk away for good. But please Cole, please don’t ever lie to me again.”
A shake of his head was the only answer he gave. The only answer she needed. Her wounds were still fresh, but shallow enough to heal with time.
The two of them lay still in a tangle of limbs and linens. Both out of breath, both slick with perspiration. Shaun rested her head on Cole’s chest, her eyes half-lidded with exhaustion.
“That last day we saw each other,” she started. He shifted to look down at her, but she continued to stare at the far wall. “It wasn’t what you thought. Yeah, I was with Olivia, but not for that reason. I guess I was still too angry to tell you the truth on the sidewalk.” She couldn’t hold him to honesty unless she met him on the same ground. Olivia had tried to win Shaun back with some cooked-up business scheme chock full of clichéd seduction. Shaun supposed she had humored her ex to a certain degree, in search of answers to a few questions of her own.
Cole relaxed with a contented sigh, his fingers tracing long, gentle lines up and down her spine. “Stay with me here in Sweetwater. At least for a little while.”
Shaun turned her head to look up at him and smiled. “Stay?”
“Yeah, stay.”
Shaun turned away again and considered the suggestion.
“Well?” he asked, lightly tapping the crown of her head.
“Okay.” She bit her lip to stop her smile from taking over. She loved her loft back in Mason, but she hated being there without any chance of running into Cole at work, or after fabricating a reason to stop by his jobsite. She missed him and wanted him near, but the little voice inside told her to exercise caution.
“Really?” He bounced her on his chest, urging her to look up at him. “Hey.”
Shaun sat up and smiled, covering herself with a corner of the blanket. “Probational, and with certain conditions.”
“Conditions? Probational?” His smile fell. “I’m not asking you to hire me.”
“I know
.” She blew out a breath. “I’m hard to live with. Just like you probably have guy habits that would drive me insane. I need to take this slow, have my own space. At least until we get to know each other a little better.” He didn’t respond. Only continued to look at her. “Or not.”
“Fine. If you say so, bossy pants.” Cole’s grimace turned into a grin. He pulled her to him, tickling her sides while she attempted to knock his hands away. When they were both tired and out of breath, Cole rested his back against the headboard, pulling Shaun to his chest. A calm washed over her with the gentle thrum of his heart. A sensation she could get used to. “By the way, I happen to be in the market for an experienced and ridiculously dedicated consultant for my new but very promising business venture. One who can wear the shit out of a skirt suit.” She glanced up at him and he waggled his brows. “Know someone who might be interested?”
Shaun inched her way up his body and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Someone with those qualifications would be foolish to ask for anything less than partner.”
“Hmm,” he replied with a curious smile. “I’ll take that under advisement, Ms. Wright.”
“Oh, you will Mr. Jacobson. If you know what’s good for you.”
Cole grasped her chin and tugged her closer for a quick kiss. “I’m in serious trouble here, aren’t I?”
“Not necessarily,” she replied. “Not if you do as I say.”
He caught her lip between his teeth and sucked, compelling a soft moan from Shaun. “Okay, I’ll do whatever you say, but all business meetings will be held naked.”
Drawn Through You Page 25
