by Diana Nixon
“I do. I’ll read you one of my favorite fairy tales later.”
“Fairy tales?”
The sparks in his look told me those were never allowed to be read for kids.
“You will love it. Trust me.”
“Okay. What other plans do we have for today? Apart from reading I mean.”
“First of all, you need to rest. I know how exhausting long flights can be. Then I’ll give you and Jazmine a city tour, then we will have dinner in one of my favorite restaurants. Finally, we will come back home to help Jazmine get ready for the party. I’ll take her there and return to dedicate the rest of the night to you.” He stepped closer and wrapped his arms around me. “Which part of the plan sounds like the best one for you?”
“Dinner.”
He smirked. “Why am I not surprised to hear that? Are you still angry at April for answering the door for me?”
“Do all your cousins wear your shirts when staying at your place?”
“She wasn’t staying here. She stopped by to bring me something I ordered from her gift shop yesterday. Turned out her dress was ruined by the glitter from the wrapping paper and she couldn’t go back to work like that. She asked if she could use my washing machine and I said yes. I also let her take one of my shirts. Does it sound like a believable story?”
“Pretty much.”
“Good. Now kiss me already, goddamnit. I’ve been waiting for it for what feels like forever.”
He leaned closer and captured my mouth with his, giving me one of the most seductive kisses ever. At the back of my head a thought about postponing the city tour lingered. What would he say if I offered to stay and check the bed first?
“Great idea, but we will do it later. I promised Jazmine a tour.”
“How do you know what I was thinking?”
He chuckled into my lips, making the sound vibrate on their surface. “Because this is exactly what I’m thinking about right now.”
“Good to know that we are on the same page.”
“Always. Except those times when you pretend we are not.”
“It’s because if I say yes to everything you offer, I might never remember about anything but you.”
“I like the sound of it. And even more when you say yes to me.”
His lips teased mine, giving and taking just enough to make me want more, a lot more.
“Sorry for interrupting, love doves.” Jazmine stepped into the room, with one hand covering her eyes. “I’m not watching, so go ahead with whatever you have been doing here before I entered. I just wanted to ask if I can go to April’s shop for a while. She said she has a perfect present for Romeo.”
“Sure,” Cole replied, still holding me tight in his embrace.
“Make it quick,” I added. “You don’t want to miss a city tour, do you?”
Cole spoke again, “Take your time, Jaz. Harlee and I will find something to busy ourselves with while you are gone.”
“No doubt,” she said through her laughter.
When she left, I stared at Cole. “Did you really need to say that?”
“What? It’s not like she doesn’t know we are old enough to do whatever we want to do. She’ll be doing it soon too.”
“Ugh, don’t say it again, please.”
“She’s a beautiful young woman, Harlee. You can’t keep her away from boys for the rest of your life. Besides, Jazmine is a clever girl. She won’t do anything reckless.”
“Hope you are right. I still don’t like the idea of letting her go to that party tonight.”
“Your little Cinderella promised to be back by midnight. I’ll ask my driver to bring her home.”
“Thank you.”
“I wonder how far your gratefulness can go…”
He swept me in his arms and carried me to the bed.
“We are leaving!” I heard April say from the living room.
“Shut the door!” Cole said in response.
She and Jazmine giggled – loud enough for us to hear them. No doubt, it was intentional.
With my back pressed to the bed, I looked at Cole and I knew I would remember this moment forever. The look in his eyes was full of adoration and… I would call it love, if I didn’t know that Cole Griffin never fell in love after Carol.
Whatever it was, I took a moment to imprint it in my head, so that when he wasn’t there with me anymore, I could live through this memory many times.
“What are you thinking about?” He asked all of a sudden.
“About you. As always.”
“I was right after all – you can’t stop thinking about me. Were you thinking about me when writing that article about sex toys? I liked it, by the way. Especially the paragraph about furry wristbands. It looked like you really enjoyed talking about all the ways to use them in a bed game. Wanna play one with me?”
“Now?”
“Why not? We are all alone here. And the entire floor is mine. No one will hear us if we get a little loud.”
“Actually… I was going to pretend I wasn’t interested in playing games with you, except for the city tour.”
“Did you really believe I would let you stay untouched that long?”
Then he grabbed my jeans and pulled them down, in one swift motion leaving me without them.
“That was fast.” I laughed.
“You know so little about me, Harlee… I can take things slow, very slow… But if I want to take them fast, all you need to do is to enjoy the ride.”
Next second, his head was in between my legs and his fingers were sliding beneath the fabric of my panties. He barely touched my skin, but the sensations it sent through me were amazing.
“What if Jazmine returns sooner?”
“She knows she doesn’t need to hurry. Which means I have plenty of time to make you come.”
Shivers ran up and down my spine. I closed my eyes and just let them take me away.
I was wet enough without his touches, but the moment his fingers opened my hairless lips and he ran his tongue across the newly exposed spot, I almost cried in pleasure. So good it was to feel him touch me this way. It would never get too old with him; every touch and kiss was new and somehow better than the previous one.
His knowing mouth kept exploring me, driving me more and more insane with every stroke his tongue did around my clit, while his skillful fingers pushed in and out of me. He knew how to make my body tremble in need for him. I was about to explode, and he knew it, making his pushes and strokes faster with every heartbeat.
I opened my eyes and found him watching me. The look of intensity was disarming. Combined with the things his moves made me feel, I very soon knew I couldn’t hold it back any longer.
My back arched and I moaned quietly, drinking in every second of bliss caused by Cole’s lips.
“God, I want you to be inside me now,” I said in a whisper.
“I’ll be there, baby. Later.”
He made me fall apart and then kissed me with a long, deep kiss.
Perfect.
“You can’t even imagine how much I love making you come for me. And even more I like feeling your tight walls stretching around my cock. I feel like no deep is deep enough to thrust into you, to make you go wild with me and loose a touch with reality. But I’m hoping to catch up on everything we have to postpone for later.” He gave me his best warm smile and kissed me one more time. “If you need a shower, it’s behind that door.” He nodded to the one on the right side of the room. “You’ll find clean towels on a shelf near the shower cabin.”
So much for my ability to resist him. One kiss and I forgot about everything I promised myself not to do. Including letting myself lose my head over him.
“I’ll be right back.”
I stood up and grabbed my jeans from the floor.
Shaking my head, I said, “If I knew they wouldn’t stay on my body for long, I would have shown up naked.”
“I’d love that.” He winked at me.
“Bring my bag, I
need to get changed.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
As predicted, his bathroom was as organized as everything else about Cole. Every towel was carefully ironed; every bottle in the shower cabin was in its place. The mirror was crystal clear, and the robes were hanging on a separate hanger each. I wondered how much he paid his housekeeper for making everything around the place look so fresh, clean and untouched.
I took one of the towels, dropped the little clothes I still had on me to the floor and got into the shower. My skin welcomed the warm water and my body started to relax. Considering I didn’t have much time to enjoy it, I tried to make it as quick as possible, and by the time I returned to the bedroom, Cole brought my bag and put it on the bed.
“What shall I wear for a city tour?” I asked, going through my things.
“Nothing… That would be perfect,” Cole said leisurely. He was lying on his bed, with his hands under his head. His eyes slowly slipped down my towel. “Remember the first time we met?”
“I thought you promised to never talk about that morning again.”
“I lied.” The grin on his face was so boyish.
Damn, I couldn’t believe one smile from him was enough to make me crave him.
I pulled out a pair of pale blue shorts and a simple white shirt.
Cole nodded approvingly at my choice. “You can dress up here. I’ll gladly watch you do it.”
“If I do it here, you will need a shower too. A cold one.”
He sighed. “I already need it. As cold as ever. But I don’t want to freeze my balls. So, I’ll wait until it’s time for you to return the favor.”
“It’s gonna be a very long day for you, Mr. Griffin.”
“The reward is worth every damn second, Miss Bennet.”
With a smile on my face, I took my clothes and went back to the bathroom to get ready for the city tour.
As it turned out later, it was going to be really entertaining.
First, we went to see the Hollywood walk of Fame and Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. Jazmine took hundreds of pictures of everything she saw around her.
“Mom will be asking questions about the trip, and I can’t tell her it was all about surprising Romeo on his birthday.”
“What did you tell her about Romeo?”
“Not much. She thinks he’s just a friend and that we are here because you couldn’t wait to see your Cole again.”
The mentioned man gave her a high five.
“You can’t be serious. You told mom this trip was my idea and not yours?”
“Yep. I also told her you needed me to keep an eye on you, because you are so weak in resisting his charm.”
“Tell me you are kidding.”
Cole spoke for her, “She is. She wouldn’t stop smiling. Which means she’s teasing you. Right, Jazmine?”
“Relax, Harlee. I know that more than staying in a dark room with Cole, all alone, you are scared to tell mom you are dating him.”
“We are not dating.”
“We are,” Cole said.
“Since when?”
“Since the night you stayed in a dark room with me, all alone.”
Jazmine giggled. “You two are adorable. Do you know that?”
“As noble as I am,” Cole pointed to his chest. “I now need to marry you.” He wrapped one arm around my shoulders and smiled broadly at me.
“You just divorced, remember?”
“That’s right. I’m free to do whatever I want. Including marrying you.”
“Do you even care to ask for my opinion on the matter first?”
“You don’t want to marry me?”
“I don’t.”
He looked offended. “May I ask why?”
“You haven’t proposed.”
“It’s not a problem.”
“You are not ready for another marriage.”
“How the hell do you know that?” It looked like the more I said why I didn’t want to marry him, the angrier he got.
“I just know it. Your life is perfectly planned. You have a schedule for every damn second and I have an endless to-do list that grows every time I remember I forgot to add one more thing there. I like being spontaneous. I can change my plans for the day ten times and always chose multitasking over taking one step at a time.”
He frowned. “You think I’m over organized?”
“I think you are okay with what you have now – a life all for yourself. You don’t need me in it. You are fine without me.” I looked at Jazmine, who was taking another picture and added quietly, “Have amazeballs sex once in a few weeks is one thing, getting into a relationship – is something completely different. Besides, we live in opposite parts of the country.”
“It’s just a six-hour flight away from each other.”
“Exactly. You hate planes.”
“It’s not a big deal. I can move to New York.”
“For Harlee?” Jazmine looked genuinely surprised to hear that.
Cole shrugged. “Yes. Why not?”
“Wow, that’s what I call a desperate man.”
I chuckled. “Indeed.”
“Does that mean you will think about marrying me?” Cole made the most innocent face ever. But no matter how cute it was, talking about marriage did weird things to me.
I got scared.
Scared to ruin everything he and I shared now.
“Let’s talk about it when you are ready to make a real proposal.”
He was about to protest, but I stopped him with a kiss. His shoulders fell and he gave up. “Fine. I’ll find the most beautiful ring for you.”
I pretended I didn’t hear it. When in reality, I couldn’t stop thinking about what he said for the rest of the city tour.
Until we finally got to the ocean and Jazmine ran to the water, as if we were shooting the second part of Blast from the Past.
Cole stood behind me, with his hands wrapped around me.
“What are you afraid of?” He asked.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s not about me, or the fact that I just divorced, is it?”
Thank God, he couldn’t see my face now. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Ever?”
I took a deep breath and turned to see his face. “You are right. It’s not about you. It’s about me, okay? I am the very person here who isn’t ready for…anything.” I lowered my eyes and stared at the top button of his shirt. “I don’t believe in fairy tales anymore. And despite how much I want to kill you at times, what’s going on between us does feel like a fairy tale.”
“With a pain-in-the-ass prince and a stubborn princess?”
I smiled. “Exactly.”
“You know… I always loved reading. I’ve read enough books in my life to know that not all fairy tales become real. And I’ve been through enough shit to know that life can be anything but a fairy tale. But I also know that what I have in my arms now is the most valuable of things I have ever touched... I don’t want to let you go, Harlee. Stay, stay with me and give us a chance. Is it too much to ask for?”
***
CHAPTER 15
Cole
Tears glistened in Harlee’s green eyes. I just now realized they were not green, not really. It was like a new life was growing in them; like the first green of spring that breathes a new beginning into the tired of winter cold earth. It was the green that filled your lungs with the fresh air, and even in the darkness was it the light that showed you the way to the only place where you always wanted to be.
And I wanted to be with her…
I guess it was the very moment I knew I was falling in love with Harlee. No, scratch that - it was the moment I knew I had been in love with her for an awfully long time, maybe even before I met her…
Because in her, I had finally found everything I’d been looking for my whole life – my true self, my dreams, my hopes, my beacon that for the first time ever showed me the right way home.
She was my home now, a hom
e for my heart and my soul. There was nothing else I could wish for.
And I wanted her to hear all about it…
But where else could I open my heart to her if not where it had been hidden for years – the ocean.
“Come with me,” I said, taking her hand in mine. “Take off your shoes!”
“What?”
I kicked off my sneakers and waited for her to do the same with her sandals.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Jazmine watching us. There were other people on the beach, but I didn’t care what they might think of us swimming in our clothes.
“No, no, no!” Harlee cried, as we got closer to the water. “You are not making me swim, are you?”
I swept her in my arms and stepped into the water. “This is exactly what I want to do now.”
Harlee laughed and I walked even deeper into the water, with her in my embrace.
She shut her eyes and said, “Don’t let me go, I’m scared!”
“Of what?”
Now that we were shoulders-deep in the ocean, I loosened my grip on her, but she kept her hands wrapped around my neck.
“Everything… You, me, my wishes, your closeness, the ocean…”
With the gentle waves flowing around us, I cupped her cheek and said quietly, “There’s nothing to be scared of, baby. It’s just love that we are swimming in.”
I knew that if there was nothing for us in the future, this incredible moment would stay with me forever. Though I still hoped it would be her to stay with me, and not just the memories. They would never give enough credit to what she made me feel or complete me the way she did.
“This is crazy,” she said, breathless.
“I know. And I love it. And I love you, Harlee Bennet…”
The waterfalls of emotions splashed in her eyes. I couldn’t figure out which one of them was the strongest – fear or relief. For a second, I thought she wanted me to take my words back, but then…
“I love you too, Cole Griffin. So much, my heart is about to break into two, because I want a part of it to beat for you.”
“Does this mean you will finally say yes to whatever I ask for?”
“No.”
“No?”
