He chuckled at his thought.
“What’s so funny?” she asked, her voice muffled as she curled into his chest.
“I was just thinking that you’re a naughty little minx.”
Nudging him with her palm, she answered, “I beg your pardon. I am not.”
He could hear the smile in her voice and feel her lips quirk up against his skin.
“Oh, really? I will have to call bullshit on that one, missy. I was just innocently stopping by to check on my officer last night when you seduced me and put me under your spell. I’m a helpless victim in all of this if you really think about it.”
This time she laughed. “A helpless victim? Give me a break, sir. It was not I who crossed the room and crushed my mouth against yours.”
“Do you have proof of this alleged kiss? I think not. It’s my word against yours. I say you seduced me. And since technically I outrank you, you automatically have to side with my version of the events. By default, if nothing else. It’s only the right thing to do.”
She lifted her head and looked up at him. Her smile spread across her whole face, from her lips, to her cheeks, and up to her eyes.
“I see. Well, should I apologize for said seduction?” she asked.
He raised his brows at her. “Well, yeah, you should.”
Disappoint etched her face. “I should?”
“Yes. Just what in the hell have you been waiting for? Damn, woman, do you have any idea how much time we’ve wasted? If you were waiting for me to make the first move, Lord only knows how long that might’ve taken. If I wasn’t teased by you last night I might not have made it.”
Smiling, she added, “Oh, yeah? I wasn’t alluring enough to make you take that leap of faith?”
“Oh, no, you’re alluring enough, all right. Hell, your level of sexiness should be outlawed. You’re going to make all the other women feel inadequate. But men are stupid. Seriously, ask around and anyone will tell you. Short of you tying me up and hitting me over the head with a frying pan, I might not have ever noticed the signs you were giving. Or should I say not giving me.”
“I avoided you as much as possible. Surely you must have realized there was a reason for all of that.”
“Yeah, I noticed, and it pissed me off. I thought you were sick of me.” He gave her a sad, pouty expression.
“I was. I was sick of being so close to you and not being able to touch you. Speaking of, can we get back to the tying up part? That sounds kind of interesting. Did you bring your cuffs, Chief Bottego?”
“Oh, hell no. You are not tying me up, cuffing me, or restraining me in any way shape or form, woman. If anything, I’ll be tying you up.”
Her eyes glinted as he said it, and he saw another part to her that he was just beginning to learn. For years he had only seen Dex’s little sister. Then, as she grew older, he’d gotten to know Leah the person. Now, as she lay on top of him, their dampened bodies sweaty from sex, he was seeing the woman look back at him.
“I love you, baby. I’m sorry I didn’t see it sooner.”
“Cole…”
He interrupted her and lifted his head to kiss her. His lips met hers, but this time softly and with a tenderness that surprised even him.
“Mmm…Well, maybe I will forgive you,” she teased.
“Maybe, huh? Just what, pray tell, would I have to do to ensure that I will not have to suffer the wrath of an angry woman my whole life?” His words struck him by surprise as he said them. His whole life. It had been an unconscious thought on his part. They were just beginning and hadn’t discussed their future, but he knew she was it. There would never be another woman for him.
“You could start with food. It’s been a long day, and I’m starving.”
He laughed at her simple request. She never was one to ask for much, always happy with whatever was given to her.
“Food, huh? Hmm…Pizza? Chinese? How about some wings?”
“How did I know you would only choose things that could be delivered? God forbid you actually cook. But I’ll take what I can get. Wings sound good. Something hot and spicy maybe?”
He tickled her sides when she waggled her eyebrows at him enticingly with her last sentence. “I’ve got your hot and spicy right here.”
They both laughed and held onto one another. Their bodies were still connected, and he wanted to squeeze her so tight and never let go.
She started to get up despite his protests, and he forced himself to follow suit. If she would have let him, he would have stayed that way for a very long time. Maybe forever, but of course his princess needed food.
He smirked and smacked her ass. “You’re so spoiled with your whole ‘I’m starving’ bit. Don’t you know that after sex the woman is supposed to feed the man?” He held up his hands in a “don’t shoot me” motion when she gave him an exasperated look. “Easy now, I’ll just go grab the menu.”
“Yeah, you do that.” She smiled back at him.
He fought the urge to grab her and pin her to the bed once more. Just seeing her curvaceous body standing before him, still damp from their wild lovemaking, caused his cock to twitch in anticipation.
Begrudgingly, he slipped on his boxers and headed to her kitchen where she kept all their favorite takeout menus on the side of the fridge. He would feed them both, give them sustenance and strength, and then he would ravish her again.
He felt like a complete caveman, wanting to feed his woman and do bad things to her in his cave. Hell if he cared though. He was a damn happy man. It wasn’t like he was going to club her over the head or anything.
Once he rounded the corner he flicked on the light switch so as to not trip in the darkened room. Instantly his sight caught the front of her refrigerator. His heart sank a little when he saw the picture magnets staring back at him.
Leah always had a habit of taking her favorite snapshots and having duplicates made so she could turn them into magnets. She’d even given a few to her mother over the years. He had one, the same one she’d made for herself and was currently right there looking back at him.
Dex.
He could almost feel his best friend’s eyes glaring at him, boring holes right from the image and through his soul. It was fucked up on so many levels to have any kind of relationship with the little sister of a brother-in-arms. It broke about a billion different codes in the guy handbook.
Still, how could he help himself? It was Leah. He might not have known it until yesterday, but he was in love with her. She wasn’t just some little hottie that he was hooking up with for a good time. Although, it definitely was good. Hell no, what was he thinking? It was better than good. It was fucking fantastic.
“Shit, man. Don’t look at me like that,” he said to Dex’s picture.
The man who was more than his fellow marine, more than his brother-in-arms, but instead like a true brother in the deepest sense of the word had asked him to watch over his baby sister, and he had. For years he’d kept his word and made sure Leah was always taken care of.
The truth of the matter was, he never saw it as a duty. Leah was so much like Dex in her personality. She was fun and easy to be around. It was no great sacrifice on his part to spend his time with her. Though, somehow along the way he didn’t even realize that he had pushed all other women aside in lieu of hanging out with only her.
If he wasn’t such a dumbass he might have realized long ago that she was all he really cared about. He knew he loved her. There was never any doubt of that, but he had to admit the knowledge that he was in love with her sure was one hell of a surprise.
He stared at Dex’s photo and tried to make him understand. “I love her, man. I know it’s killing you that you can’t come back here and kick my ever-loving ass to hell and back, but I swear to you I will never hurt her. I would sooner die than let her know one ounce of pain.”
He let out a sigh as a mixture of remorse and happiness confused his overwrought senses when he recalled the day the picture was taken. The two of them had
two weeks of rest and relaxation so they’d spent a week on the sunny beaches of Florida and then the last several days visiting Dex’s family.
It was hard not to smile at the memory of how excited Leah had been to see her big brother. She had just gotten her driver’s license and was begging to take them out driving. Dex had teased the shit out of her, claiming he hadn’t survived war and several deployments only to die behind the wheel at the hands of his pip-squeak little sister.
The memory of her car accident a couple years after that day flashed through his mind, and he quickly rejected the painful recollection of seeing her face bloodied as her battered body lay there in that hospital bed.
Later that day, after dinner, she’d taken them on a drive down to the lake where they had fished together for many years. Since she had her brand new cell phone with her she insisted Dex stand in front of the water just as the sun was setting. She claimed it would be a perfect picture of him.
Little did any of them know, it would turn out to be one of their family’s favorite photos of him. It was one of the few they had which didn’t show him in uniform, whether it be his dress blues or fatigues. He was just wearing jeans and a T-shirt. That day he wasn’t Marine sniper, Dex Allbright. He was Dex the son, Dex the big brother, Dex the best friend a fellow Marine could have ever asked for.
Unbelievably, Cole felt the painful sting of tears creep up on him. He blinked several times to fight them.
He wouldn’t cry. He couldn’t cry. He’d promised Dex that day, as he lay in his arms bleeding out from the wounds of the IED, that he would not cry for him. It was a promise he’d kept for nearly seven years now. He couldn’t break his word now.
So why in the hell did he still feel the burn behind his eyelids? Why wouldn’t the pain that was flooding him go away?
His friend had used his last breath to ask of him things he wouldn’t be around to do himself. Despite the years, he could still remember his friend’s strangled voice like it was yesterday.
“Do not cry for me, brother. Be strong and do not shed a tear for me. Promise me that! Tell my mom I love her. Tell my dad, oh shit, tell him that he’s the best damn father anybody could have wished for. Tell them both that I was one lucky son of a bitch to be adopted by them. And Leah, be there for her. Make sure my little pip-squeak is taken care of. Be her shoulder, be her strength. Be there to hold her hand when she’s scared because I won’t be able to. I promised her when she was a baby I would always look out for her. Promise me, damn it! Promise me that you’ll always be there for her.”
It was then, as Cole nodded in agreement, telling his buddy over and over again he would do everything he asked that blood started to trickle from Dex’s mouth. In a final whisper he said, “I love you, man.”
Suddenly Cole realized he couldn’t do it anymore. The knowledge that he had lost someone in his life so important to him and never fully grieved for him hit him like a ton of bricks. His gut ached, and emotions came from places he didn’t even know he had. He could no longer keep from crying for the friend he missed so much. Tears filled his eyes and spilled onto his cheeks as the grief of losing Dex finally hit him full force, nearly knocking the wind out of him.
“Cole?”
He turned to see Leah standing in the kitchen doorway, her petite frame covered only by the thin satin robe that clung to her curves. She was breathtakingly beautiful on any day, but now, following their passion of minutes before, he saw the depth of just how far that beauty went.
“Cole, what’s wrong?” She came to him then and placed her hands on his face.
“Dex.” It was the only word he could muster as sobs ripped from his throat of their own volition.
She looked behind him at the photo and gave him a sympathetic nod. “Do you feel guilty about us? Is that what this is about?”
He shook his head but couldn’t talk. His sadness had taken over, and the simple act of speaking was too much to master.
Leah walked him over to the table and sat him down in a chair. She pulled one close and sat before him. Taking his hands in hers, she asked him again, “Tell me what’s wrong. Please talk to me.”
Cole sat there while her soft, delicate hands tried to soothe his shaky ones. After years of being strong for her and always making sure that she was okay, without warning their roles were now reversed. He looked into her beautiful, brown eyes and wondered if there were even words to explain to her what he was feeling. How could he tell her that for seven years he hadn’t shed a tear for his friend, for her brother?
Struggling with admitting such a heartless fact, he tried to find the words. “I loved him.” He nodded as tears continued to fall freely. “Like an actual brother. I need you to know that.”
“Cole, of course I know that. I don’t doubt that for a second. What’s all this about?” She continued to rub the tops of his hands, gently massaging them.
He shook his head again. Were there words that did justice to the emotions welling up inside of him? Could mere words even come close to describing what he was feeling?
“Tell me, Cole. Please. Nothing you could say would ever make me doubt how important Dex was to you. Nothing.” She put emphasis on her last word as she tried to convince him.
“He made me promise, baby.” He choked out a sob, somehow unable to finish his thoughts despite them being so fresh in his mind.
She sighed. “Oh, Cole. This is about us, isn’t it?” She lifted one of her hands and ran her fingers through his hair, gently resting it on the nape of his neck. “I know this must be hard for you. I’m sure you think Dex wouldn’t like what’s happening between us, but I love you so much. I’ve loved you for so long. Please, can we not dwell on what Dex might have thought about us and just try to enjoy life?”
“You don’t understand. Baby, I never cried for him.” He looked up to the ceiling, as if the words would be written above so he wouldn’t have to think of how to say what he needed to.
“I don’t understand? What do you mean you never cried? You held my hand at his funeral. You were there when I needed someone. You hugged my mother and father so tight. I saw you. You were so sad. I know you were. It was written all over your face.”
“Hell, baby. Of course I was sad. But did you ever see me cry? Once?”
He waited for her response. She opened her mouth once or twice to talk, but quickly closed it. Then a look of surprise etched across her face and he knew she realized what he was saying was true.
“You never did. Did you?” he asked.
“No, now that I think about it I can’t remember seeing you tear up once. I remember the sadness in your eyes and expression, but never actual tears.”
“My best friend was dying in my arms. He made me promise to not cry for him. He made me swear to be strong for his family. He was my brother, too. We’re Marines. I couldn’t break my word to him.” He dropped his head when he realized what he’d just said. “But, I did. After all these years, I finally broke my word to him tonight.”
“Cole, honey, he didn’t mean forever. I know my brother. He wouldn’t have wanted you to bottle it up for all eternity. I love him for wanting to put his family first, but you were his family, too. You have the right to grieve just like we did.”
The sweetness just radiated off of her. She sat there trying to reassure him that it was okay to cry. His Leah was being strong for him. Jesus, when had she jumped into that role? It was him who was supposed to be taking care of her and be the strong shoulder she could lean on.
He sniffled and hated how weak he sounded, like some sort of sniveling boy. “You’re something else, Officer Allbright.”
She smiled. “Thanks, Chief.”
He pulled her into his lap and kissed her. Wrapping his arms around her, he held her in a tight embrace, in an act that he wasn’t sure who it soothed more, her or him. All he could be certain of was that having her near him made some of the ache and sadness disappear.
“I love you, Leah. Tomorrow I’m going to talk to your d
ad. I don’t know how, but I need to make him understand that you and I are right together. He’s a good man. I want, no, I need his blessing with us.”
She nodded. “Okay, if that’s something you feel you have to do, I’ll go with you.”
“No, baby. I need to do this on my own.” He shrugged. “It’s a guy thing. I need to look him in the eye, man to man, and explain how this is okay, how we are perfect for each other.”
“You’re sure?” she asked.
“I’m sure. It’s just something I need to do.”
“Okay, but if I can ask just one thing?”
Her serious expression worried him. He was a grown man. A Marine for crying out loud, and he was sitting here, holding her in his lap with tear streaked cheeks and a runny nose. The last thing he needed was something else to send his girly emotions over the edge. “What is it?” he asked.
“Can we please eat something? My God, what kind of man are you? You promised me wings. I’m hungry.” She smirked at him playfully.
He dropped his head back and laughed. Damn if he didn’t love her. There was no way of telling how her dad would react to their news, but one thing was for certain. As long as he had Leah in his life, there could be no bad days.
Chapter 14
Cole pulled up to the Allbrights’ house. He’d already called that morning and asked to stop by for a visit. It was Saturday, so the impromptu get-together wasn’t completely unusual. Granted it had been a while since he had come by, but they always greeted him with open arms on any occasion. He hoped that after today they still would.
He got out of his Tahoe and brushed his palms down the front of his jeans. For some reason he felt like a sixteen-year-old kid going to ask permission to ask a girl to prom. It wasn’t a tradition he partook in, but he’d heard it was pretty nerve racking for young men.
During his walk up the path, he thought of how sweet Leah had been the night before. Showing emotion wasn’t something he was good at. Actually, to be fair, he couldn’t say if he was good or bad at it, more like it was foreign to him. It shouldn’t have surprised him, but it did. She was so tender and understanding in light of the way he had acted. He had always assumed that women were turned off by a pansy-ass man. Leah hadn’t made him feel that way, despite his child- like sniffling and tears. Instead, she’d told him how she understood and insisted that it was okay to cry.
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