It was strange to her that she felt sorry for a young man who was only a few years younger than she was, a man who had entered a school with a sawed-off shotgun with the sole intention of hurting and killing people. In law enforcement they were taught to protect and serve the innocent and use empathy when warranted. For all intents and purposes, Jesse was a criminal who was guilty of several counts of attempted murder. At least that was how the courts would see it.
Still, she did empathize with him. How could she not? Despite his age, he was just a kid. A kid who’d been given a crappy life and then been continually made to feel that every action was his fault, even when he knew it wasn’t.
When the pivotal moment of their confrontation occurred and she had no idea if he was going to shoot her, shoot the women, or himself, she’d actually felt pity for him. In the moments she had stood in front of him with her hands raised as he leveled the barrel at her, she’d wanted to take the gun from him and hug him. At a time when her thoughts should have been of trying to survive and not getting killed by the assailant, she wanted to cry for him. She wanted to cry with him. The pain she saw in his eyes was so real it was like she could feel it for him.
Jesse wasn’t a bad kid. Yes, he broke laws, big ones at that, but if he had been given a good homelife, he might not have gone to the desperate measures that he did. Once she had calmed him down, he handed her the gun and sat down with his head in his hands. She hadn’t realized at first what he was doing. Once his body started to shake and she heard the quiet whimpers, she understood.
Tears had finally broken through his tough exterior, and he allowed himself to feel. When she had removed the shells from the shotgun and set it on the other side of the room, she knelt beside him and hugged him. The boy who sat there and sobbed in her arms hadn’t come there to kill people. If he had, those students would all be dead.
A sawed-off shotgun did immense damage to the body, especially at close range. Every one of his victims had minor injuries. The only danger was their blood loss. It was something she was sure he hadn’t considered.
He hadn’t wanted to hurt anyone. All Jesse wanted was a fair shake at life. Once he felt cornered, he’d panicked and did the only thing he thought he could.
When she was holding him, it was then that his intended target had begun to cry with him. Apologizing over and over again, she kept saying that if she could, she would take it all back. Leah had done her best to silence her, not wanting any information to come out that her attorney could later claim was inadmissible. Still she had persisted. The sincerity in her voice coupled with the desperation in Jesse’s eyes was what had given her the idea to voice record their conversation after she had read the woman her rights.
Constance Williams was only a few years older than Leah. Growing up in a fairly middle-class family and community, she had been given the same opportunities many of her peers were. Despite those chances in life, she was close with her cousin, who had since passed. Her cousin and she had grown up like sisters. Both of them close in age and then went to the same school. Still her cousin had been more susceptible to the gang life and sucked Constance right in with her. It was that alliance, fueled by stupidity, that got her involved with her boyfriend of several years, Jonathon Delmitrius.
Delmitrius was no stranger to the gang scene and was well known amongst the local and state police forces. He was suspected of running various dealer organizations and was thought to fuel the fire between neighboring hostile gangs just for his own amusement. Despite all that she had put Jesse through, Leah also found herself feeling pity for the woman who had tried several times to rid herself from Delmitrius’s clutches, only to be met with threats and abuse. She even lost her unborn child a year earlier.
It struck her as odd that, really, she could have turned out the same way those two did. They’d grown up in the same area. All of them were only a few years different in age. Their generations had met with the same peer pressures. The only real difference between all three of them was that Leah had been given two parents who loved her unconditionally and stopped at nothing to support and encourage her through life.
Jesse might have had money and material possessions, but that wasn’t what he needed. What he had needed more than anything was love. Constance may have had opportunities to live a normal life, but it only took one monster to suck her into a world of crime, with no chance for escaping. Leah knew that the woman’s agreement to turn state’s evidence against Delmitrius was a surefire way to get a hit put on her head. Still, after seeing what her actions had caused Jesse, she insisted that she must, claiming it was the right thing to do.
It pained Leah to wonder how many troubled kids were out there who were only victims of their circumstances. She wished there were more safeguards in place for youth today. Even with all the different choices they were given in life, sometimes they still needed someone there to help guide them. Lord knew society couldn’t depend on parents to help mold their children. If she’d learned anything from today’s incident, it was that being a parent didn’t automatically give you the nurture-and-love gene.
She let out an exhausted sigh and sat down on the toilet lid. With brush in hand, she let her hair fall from the towel and began brushing it. It was a wonder with the stress she’d felt today that it wasn’t coming out in clumps. She continued to brush, removing the snarls and smoothing it back.
When she was done, she rose and wrapped another towel around her, tucking it together around her breasts while her thoughts once again went to Cole. She wished he had called her. It wasn’t that she was mad. She knew how busy he was and how much today’s events had filled his plate. The desire to hear his voice was just tugging at her heart. She might be a cop and never expected anyone to treat her differently because she was a woman, but right now all she wanted was to curl up in his arms and forget about the day.
She walked into her bedroom and jumped about five feet when she saw Cole sitting on the edge of her bed. His head was down, resting in his hands, his elbows resting on his knees. He remained still, and regardless of her audible gasp, he said nothing.
“Cole? Is everything okay?” she asked.
He looked up at her then, pain and sadness in his eyes. It worried her instantly, as she wondered if something else had happened since she’d left the hospital.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen with one of the victims? Did something happen to Jesse?”
Cole shook his head. “No, the victims and Jesse are fine. Everyone is fine.”
Despite his words, anguish clouded his expression. Something had happened. Whatever it was, it worried her with every passing second, and she wished he’d spit it out.
“What is it then?”
“What is it?” His expression changed to exasperation. “Do you have any idea what today did to me?”
“I know. It was intense there for a while.”
“Intense?” He shot up from the bed and came toward her. Placing his hands on either side of her face, he continued. “You were in there, unarmed with an assailant who had all the earmarks of a mass murderer.”
“Jesse is just a messed-up kid who’s been dealt too many bad breaks. I think he’s a good kid who never had a chance.”
“You were unarmed. I didn’t know what was happening. I thought I might never see you again.”
“Cole, I’m okay. I’m right here, and nothing happened to me. Everyone is okay. You said so yourself.”
“You don’t understand. I thought I’d never get this chance. I was so scared I’d never hold you and be able to tell you…” his voice trailed off.
Her heart sank as she listened to the anguish in him. “Tell me what? Cole, I’m right here.”
He pulled away from her. She felt and saw his shaky hands as he did so. He sat on the edge of the bed again, but still didn’t look at her. Time stood still for her. Nerves consumed her as she tried to consider what it was he was struggling to say.
“Come sit with me?” he asked, holding out
his hand.
Hesitantly, she took his hand and sat in his lap when he pulled her close. The warm feel of his arms gave her some comfort, but still she was scared for what was to come.
“Tell me. You’re scaring me, Cole.”
“I’m scaring you? Woman, you have no idea what being scared means. I was scared shitless. I thought the biggest fear I’d ever known was that night you were in the car accident all those years ago. Then I realized that didn’t come close to the panic I felt the other day when I got word you had been shot. As it turns out, I was wrong again. That was nothing compared to what I felt today. Take that and multiply it by a thousand, and you might just come close to what the hell I felt.”
“Cole…I’m okay.”
He gently brushed her cheek with the back of his hand. “I can’t lose you, Leah. I just can’t. I love you.”
Warmth flooded her body. Her heart nearly exploded with butterflies as they fluttered around her insides, wreaking havoc on her belly. A thousand times they had exchanged those words. In moments of innocence, those terms of endearment were spoken between two friends with much different meaning.
This time was different. She didn’t just see it in his eyes or feel it in his touch. She heard it in his voice.
“Oh, Cole. I love you, too.”
“I don’t want to waste any more time, baby. I don’t know how the hell this happened between us, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to waste any more time. I’ll deal with begging Dex’s forgiveness another time. I’ll go to his grave and make him understand. I know that looking down at me right now he wants to kick my ever-loving ass. I’ll even talk to your parents, on another day though. I can’t think about any of that now. Right now, I just need to hold you. I need to hold you and feel that you’re here. That this isn’t some dream. God, I almost lost you. Again. My heart can barely take it, baby. You have no idea how scared I was.”
“Cole, I…” She would have finished her sentence, but his lips pressed against hers hard and fast.
His tongue swept into her mouth as he began to devour her. Breathlessly she held onto him as he leaned back and rolled her to his side. Seconds later he was on top of her, looming above while she felt her damp skin meet with the cool air of the room when he removed her towel.
With their mouths still connected, he struggled with his clothes. Her eyes opened to see a feral look in his. Even with the passion they shared last night, she hadn’t seen such raw intent in his expression. He was hurting inside. She could sense it and feel the pain radiate off of him. All she wanted to do was make him feel better. There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do to alleviate his discomfort.
Once his pants were down his thighs, she reached down and felt for him. When her fingers wrapped around his shaft, she felt the proof of his urgency. The sensation, knowing that it was her that he was hard for, sent her body into fiery heat.
Instantly her nipples puckered, and she spread her legs farther apart. She wanted desperately to feel him slide against her, into her until her body arched under the intrusion. Completely lost in the way his tongue stroked hers, she didn’t notice the trouble he was having getting undressed until his body jerked wildly. She brought her attention to his shirt and helped him get it off while he finished kicking off his pants.
Finally, there were no barriers to keep them from one another. He stopped his kiss and looked down at her. An expression of possession took over. His eyes were dark, smoldering as they pierced her, holding her in place. He surrounded her in that moment, not physically, but emotionally. She was his. It was something she knew for so long and now he was making it so, telling her without words that she belonged to him and no one else.
She was so lost in the dark brown storm of his eyes that she flinched when his long finger slid into her wet slit and flicked across her clit.
“Cole!” she squealed his name.
“Tell me, baby. Tell me what you want.” His voice, low and guttural, was not asking, but demanding her to do as he asked.
“I want you, Cole. I want you to take me, mark me, and make me yours.”
Admitting the words aloud enticed her desire. She was lost to him, completely hopeless, and at his mercy.
He spread her legs wider apart and rubbed the head of his cock against her wetness. Sliding up and down, he coated himself with her juices as she thrust her hips into him, desperate to stop his teasing and have him fill her.
Looming over her, he looked into her eyes and whispered, “Jesus, you’re so beautiful.”
His words caressed her skin, gently soothing her into contentment at the same moment that he forced the thick cap of his head past her lips and squeezed into her entrance. He didn’t hesitate like he had the night before. His quick thrust filled her, his size stretching her tightness. The burn of his invasion quickly subsided as her insides wrapped around him, trembling at the intense familiarity of his shaft.
Taking her wrists and placing them above her head, he dipped his head down and took possession of her mouth. His tongue and cock were sliding in rhythm with one another, entering and stroking her in unison.
His chest rubbed against her nipples with every thrust. The friction was agitating their ache, and she wished desperately that he would lick or suck on them. Just the thought of it made her insides tremble with anticipation as warmth continued to spread throughout her body.
Tiny fires formed in her deepest parts. Sparks flew around, leaving embers to settle and cause new ones to ignite. His whole body covered hers, and his hands kept hers constrained above her head. The way he was pumping in and out of her body in an almost animalistic way. There was nothing slow or romantic in his movements. This was an act of raw necessity and sheer survival.
Minutes went by as his heavy breathing flared through his nostrils. Their tongues still tangled while her hips lifted with every thrust to meet his invasion. For every time he pulled away, she ached in that second, only to feel so full and complete in the next as he reentered her. His cock served as the medicine to her affliction.
The spreading flames somehow found a way to connect with one another. The many tiny fires now became one raging inferno fighting for control over her body. Heat unlike any she had ever felt rushed through her body. Sweat beaded her skin, and her lungs lost the ability to breathe in oxygen.
In a single moment, a flash coursed through her body, striking all her nerve endings at once. Her body jolted and tensed. Then it happened, and intensity took on a whole new meaning as her body begged for release.
A rush of euphoria shot throughout her. She opened her mouth, and a scream tore from somewhere deep inside her. The pounding of Cole slamming into her just as her muscles contracted around him made him feel even larger than he had moments before.
Just as quickly as her body tensed, it began to tingle and shake as the orgasm took over. Her insides opened the floodgates to her soul and allowed the proof of what he did to her to spill out onto his cock. She coated him with her wet heat, and her body flushed from head to toe as she continued to soar and coast on the overwhelming pleasure which had taken hold.
He cursed something unintelligible under his breath and slammed into her one last time. His balls slapped against her heated flesh as she felt him swell inside her. His scream came out different than hers. She looked up in amazement as he braced his arms on either side of her. His head arched backward and lines of pleasure and pain creased his forehead.
A warm flood of his seed filled her. Her body was still trembling when he released all that he had. His thick, creamy orgasm felt like hot oil was being spread through her insides as he massaged her into sated relief.
For several moments, he stayed in that position. Every few seconds, his body jerked with aftershocks over what he’d just experienced. As she lay there looking up at him, she saw more than a mere man who had aroused her on so many occasions. He was more than a masculine creature to be admired from near or afar. He looked beautiful.
Cole.
His name echoed
in her head. His body had filled hers in an act of possession that went deeper than the physical. Everything about their connection in that moment touched her in the deepest recesses of her heart and soul.
She was his. Always his. No one had ever come close to claiming her. No one ever would.
She belonged to him and him to her. Always.
Chapter 13
Cole fell to the side, grabbing Leah in his arms as he went down hard on the mattress, causing her to land on top of him. There was no way he wanted to break the connection they shared in that moment. The night before when they had made love, he knew he’d given in. He’d lost a battle he had no chance of ever winning. His desire for her had snuck up on him. He hadn’t seen it coming until it was staring him in the face. Then it bitch-slapped him and knocked him on his ass.
Where the hell had he been? Asleep at the damn wheel?
Leah was amazing. She was beautiful, smart, had a good heart, and was more tenacious than any woman he had ever known. Their relationship had changed over the course of the past couple months, and despite all his years in the military being trained to see all of his surroundings, regardless of obstacles in his way, he hadn’t seen this coming at all.
The knowledge of this was oddly ironic and somewhat amusing to him. He’d spent years spotting for Dex. After years of working side by side, they had a way of speaking to one another without words. Sometimes hand signals or mere gestures told the other what needed to be done. His friend was the only man he had ever trusted in his life. Leave it to his little sister to be the one so sneaky that she was able to swoop on in for the kill without him being the wiser.
When Promise Meets Passion Page 12
