What the hell was going on?
Sitting up, she turned to plump her pillow by beating the crap out of it, then lay back and tried to get comfortable. He’d been rude to Brian when the guy was only trying to help. His pride had obviously taken a hit—that much was clear. But it still didn’t explain why he hadn’t come to her last night, why he obviously had no intention of coming tonight, either.
Her thoughts cut off when her phone rang on her bedside table. Her pulse did a kind of racy, fluttery dance, and her belly clenched. Anticipation fired through her as she put it to her ear. “Hello?”
“Piper?”
All the racing, fluttering, and clenching came to a screeching halt at the unfamiliar voice. “Um…sorry, who is this?”
“It’s Gerald.”
Gerald?
As if sensing her confusion, he added, “Gerald Clark, we had dinner the other night.”
“Oh, Gerald. Sorry, I was distracted.” She’d really hoped to never hear from the guy again.
“Look I know our date ended…well, abruptly, but I wondered if I could pop by sometime, or take you out for a coffee? I’m right around the corner actually. I could be there in a few minutes, if you’re not doing anything now?”
A few minutes? Who did that? This guy needed a copy of Dating For Dummies ASAP. “I’m actually having an early night tonight. But thanks for asking, Gerald.”
“Maybe another time? Tomorrow? I really think there’s something between us. We had a connection. I know you felt it, too.”
Eeek! Time to tell him straight. Hopefully without hurting his feelings. “Gerald, you’re a great guy. A really, really…great guy. But I don’t think we should see each other again.”
Silence.
“Gerald?”
“You don’t want to see me again?” he whispered.
“I’m sorry if I somehow made you think otherwise.” He breathed heavily down the line for a few minutes, and she started to get weirded out. “Gerald…”
“BITCH!” he screamed, then hung up on her.
She pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it in disbelief. Really?
Okay, maybe it was time to admit Alex and Rusty had been right. Gerald was obviously a nut. A nut who she’d brought home. Suddenly, she didn’t feel so bad that Cole had thrown him on his ass.
Cole.
Yep, now he was back in her head.
Putting her phone down, she grabbed her book, gave her pillow another beating, then settled back and tried to focus on the words. Anything to get him out of her head. Anything to stop her body from remembering the way he’d touched her, the way he’d looked at her the last night they spent together, when he laid her down on the table outside and sent her crashing over the edge. That piercing, intense gaze hadn’t left hers, hadn’t faltered as he’d taken her hard, like something had possessed him, like a man who had everything he wanted, everything he needed underneath him.
He’d finally opened up to her. Told her a little about the accident he’d been in. Why was he now trying to put distance between them?
She shook her head. Stop it, Piper. Read your damn book.
“Argh!” Shoving back the sheet, she stomped out to the kitchen to get a drink. It was impossible to lie there with everything spinning around in her head. Leaning against the bench, she sipped her water and stared out the window—across the lot to his apartment. The lights were out.
He was more than likely sleeping like a baby.
While she paced around her house like a crazy person. “Well, screw that.” She wouldn’t let him give her a piece of himself, then pull back. Putting her glass in the sink, she grabbed her robe from her room, slipped it on, and stepped out the back door.
The asphalt felt warm under her feet, still holding heat from another scorching day, and she winced when a stone dug into her heel. But she wasn’t going back for shoes. She might chicken out if she did.
Jogging up the stairs to his apartment, she knocked on the door. Nothing. She knocked again, but all remained silent beyond the door.
Crap.
Her foot bumped into something when she tried to peer in the window—the potted plant Alex had bought and kept by the door. The sad-looking thing’s sole purpose had been a hiding place for her spare key. Her friend had a habit of losing them, a lot. Lifting the pot, Piper smiled when a key gleamed up at her from the saucer beneath.
Sliding it into the lock, she opened the door and stepped inside before she could change her mind. She knew the layout like the back of her hand, so she didn’t bother with lights and moved further into the apartment.
“Cole?” She called his name several times on the way to the bedroom. The guy was an ex-cop after all, she didn’t want him freaking out and pulling a gun on her or something.
A low moan drifted through the quiet apartment, and she froze in her tracks. Another followed, but this time accompanied by a thumping sound. For one horrified moment she thought he had someone with him. But his was the only voice she heard, and the next sound he made was so full of agony she knew he must be dreaming.
She pushed the door to his room open and stepped inside. Moonlight streamed in through the small window above the bed, lighting up the room. Cole lay on his back, chest bare and glistening with sweat, body straining and thrashing. The sheet had tangled low around his hips.
Moving on autopilot, she approached the bed, calling his name as she went. But he couldn’t hear her, lost in his nightmare. She sat on the edge of the bed. “Cole? Wake up.”
His body tensed, his thrashing and moaning eased, but he was still asleep, still fighting his dreams.
What should she do? She couldn’t just leave without waking him first. That would be totally weird, right? Weirder than sneaking into his apartment while he slept?
Not wanting to startle him, but wanting to end the nightmare haunting him, she touched his shoulder. His skin was hot, slick. “Cole, wake up,” she whispered again. His fight eased further.
She lightly stroked his cheek and down his neck, then unable to help herself, she rounded the bed and slipped in behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist. “It’s just a bad dream. I’m here. It’s all right.” Speaking in what she hoped was a soothing tone.
His breathing slowed, and she watched, nerves dancing in her belly, as his lashes fluttered once, then opened. She sucked in a sharp breath when his head turned to her, eyes black in the moonlight.
He stared at her but didn’t speak. He also didn’t tell her to stop touching him.
She traced the jagged scar running down the side of his whiskered cheek to his jaw. He shuddered, and she couldn’t help but carry on her exploration, letting her palm smooth over the hard planes of his bare chest.
His tongue darted out, swiping across his lower lip, dampening it. He slowly looked down, and his nostrils flared, heat filling his inky stare. She followed his gaze. Her robe hung open, the pink satin nightie she wore plunged low, revealing the swell of her breasts and her hard nipples straining against the fabric. She trailed her hand down further, to explore the enticing grooves of his abs, but his fingers wrapped around her wrist. “What are you doing, Piper?”
She looked up at him. “Touching you.” She barely recognized her own voice, husky and low, filled with need.
That dark gaze faltered, but stayed locked on her. “Why?”
Surely he knew. How could he not? She told him the truth. “I can’t stop myself.”
He sucked in a sharp breath, his body still as he watched her. Time seemed to grind to a halt. He was silent so long she thought he might tell her to leave.
But then he lifted a large hand, curving it around the back of her neck. “Then kiss me, sweet girl.”
She could feel his heart pounding beneath her hand, his chest rising and falling with his labored breaths. Leaning in, she pressed her lips to his.
The heat of his lips settled under hers, whiskers tickling, making her skin tingle. His hands smoothed over her hips, her waist, and he pushed her robe off her shoulders.
“God, you’re so perfect, Piper. So beautiful,” he rasped against her lips, then his hands were under her nightie, lifting it up and off.
He rolled her to her back and slid his thigh between hers, covering her. His skin was warm and smelled like clean sweat and the soap he used. She clung tighter, unable to get enough of him. He trailed heated kisses over her shoulder, her neck, while he slid her underwear down her thighs. She shoved her hands down the back of his boxer briefs and tried to do the same, desperate for him.
“Please,” she begged.
He sucked and kissed the skin behind her ear. “Are you wet for me?”
“Yes.” She spread her legs, hugging his hips. “Now, please.”
He made a deep, rough sound, rougher from the sleep still lingering in his voice. “Hang on, baby.” He reached out, grabbed a condom from the bedside drawer, and quickly rolled it on.
Then he was covering her again, smooth and hard and warm all at the same time. His mouth came down to hers again as he pressed the head of his cock to her opening, tongue swirling inside her mouth, tangling with hers as he pushed deep inside.
She arched against him and cried out. So good. Nothing, no one, felt better than this.
The sounds he made were like nothing she’d ever heard from him before, guttural, filled with pleasure and pain all at once. Then he started moving, and she couldn’t think anymore, could only feel as he took her with slow, deep strokes.
He sucked on her bottom lip, then lifted his head. “Look at me, Piper.”
She dragged her eyes open as he rolled his hips, causing her to writhe and whimper beneath him. He didn’t say any more, just held her gaze as he moved inside her, watching her every reaction like he was etching it into his memory.
Her orgasm built slowly. Cole kept her teetering on the verge of ecstasy until she was moaning and panting, clinging to him with all she had. Her hips rolled against his uncontrollably. He watched her the whole time, neither one closing their eyes. She was unable to look away as pleasure stole his features, sharpening the angles of his ruggedly handsome face, turning his eyes hot and dark all at once.
She felt him pulse hard inside her, his low groan lifting goose bumps across her skin a second before she went over, and he collapsed on top of her, wrapping her in his arms.
Chapter Eighteen
Piper rinsed and dried her dinner plate, then slumped against the counter. She didn’t want to eat alone again. It had only been a short time, but she’d gotten used to sharing a meal with Cole. She shook her head. When she’d let herself into his apartment, she’d expected to talk, not for Cole to make love to her. She’d never experienced anything so beautiful, so perfect. He’d woken her around seven in the morning, so she had time to get ready for work before Rusty and Alex showed up, and she hadn’t been able to read him.
But he’d put that barrier back up, had distanced himself. Oh, he’d tried to hide it, but she knew him too well. Would he come tonight?
She put away her plate, hung up the dish towel, and tried to think about something else.
Her work on the Chevy was going well. She was hoping to put in a few hours on it tomorrow morning. There was still a lot of bodywork to do, but the engine had been fully rebuilt and purred like a kitten. Hopefully she could reveal it to Alex and Rusty in the next couple weeks.
Flicking off the light, she moved around the house and shut everything down for the night, then headed to her bedroom…
The sound of footfalls on the back porch had her freezing in place. She tilted her head, listening.
Cole?
She frowned. If that was the case, why would he be out back? He had a key for the front door. She tiptoed down the hall toward the kitchen. It was dark, but enough moonlight illuminated the small room that she could see the door handle being turned, the door given a jiggle, testing the lock’s strength.
Not Cole. He would use his key or knock. Not try to scare the crap out of her. She felt rooted to the spot, a cry of alarm trapped in her throat as a dark figure moved to the windows above the sink and stopped. Still, she couldn’t move, not even as hands lifted to the glass, and whoever was out there pressed his face to the pane, trying to peer inside.
Ohgodohgodohgod.
Could he see her?
They both stayed like that for what felt like hours. Then he pulled back and moved away.
Maybe he was lost, or thought this was someone else’s house? Yeah, because normal people pressed their faces up to strangers’ windows in the middle of the night all the time.
Then the windows in her bedroom rattled vigorously. She jumped and stumbled, a shriek of alarm exploding past her lips. The living room window shook next, and whatever held her glued in place dissolved under her terror, releasing in one long, earsplitting scream.
...
Cole took a sip of his beer and screwed up his face. Warm.
Jesus, he couldn’t even get drunk properly. He’d only managed half the bottle, then had forgotten about it. Putting it down, he slumped back on the couch. Probably because he’d spent the whole evening staring into space thinking about Piper.
She affected him in a way no one else ever had. One look at her, the feel of her hands on him, and he’d lost it. Totally. He’d tried to stay away, but she’d come to him, and he’d made love to her. Probably the last time he would ever have her in his arms. He’d memorized every minute of it, of the way she felt, the way she moved. The sound of her voice.
Shit.
Letting her go is for the best.
Yeah? If he truly believed that, why had he put the spare key he’d found in the kitchen, the one she’d used to get into his apartment, back under the potted plant at the door? Because he wanted her to come to him again, dammit.
No. She was better off with someone like Brian, someone who wasn’t completely fucked up. Someone who could give her the life she deserved.
He stood, shoving his fingers in his hair, limping to the kitchen. The thought of another man with her, touching her, twisted him in knots, made him want to hurt the idiot dumb enough to try.
She’s not yours. Not anymore.
His phone rang on the bench beside him. Piper’s name flashed up on the screen, and he all but fell on top of the thing, answering on the second ring. “Piper?”
“There’s someone outside,” she breathed down the line. “Oh God, they’re trying to get in the window.” Her voice rose to hysterical levels, and she let out a shriek.
He was already at the door and halfway down the steps. “I’m on my way.” The phone disconnected, and he moved as fast as he could across the parking lot.
As he rounded the house, he saw someone at Piper’s bedroom window. The guy spun toward him, then took off. He tried to go after him, but his leg was still stiff from overdoing it earlier in the week. And even if it wasn’t, he still wouldn’t be able to catch anyone. Not anymore.
All he could do was stand there and watch him run away, dissolving into the shadows. “Motherfucker!”
His keys were in his pocket, and he used the one Piper had given him to get in the front door.
“Piper?” She didn’t answer, and fear coiled around him. “Piper, answer me, baby.”
He rounded the door to her bedroom and clenched his fists tight enough to cause pain. His woman sat on the floor behind the door, phone clutched in a white-knuckled grip, scared shitless. Her eyes were round and full of fear, body shaking.
“It’s just me, Pipe.” He walked toward her and reached down, dragging her to her feet. She went to him instantly, wrapping her arms around his waist. “It’s okay, baby. He’s gone.” He pulled her into him, holding her so tight it probably hurt. But he couldn’t help it. All he could think a
bout was what could have happened to her. What if he hadn’t been home?
He carried her to the bed and pulled her onto his lap. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and the heat of her skin through her thin tank felt hot, clammy, heart going crazy against his. “Piper? Talk to me, sweet girl.”
She shook her head and burrowed deeper. She was totally freaked. He locked his arms around her. “I won’t let anyone hurt you.” He pulled back so she could see he meant it. “Do you understand?” She stared up at him, and her lower lip quivered. He gave her a reassuring squeeze, trying to fight back his anger and the need to hunt down the bastard who did this and make him sorry. “Did you call the police?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “Right after I called you.”
“Good girl.” He pulled her tightly into his arms.
When the knock at the door came a short time later, he led her to the living room and wrapped a blanket around her before answering the door. Brian and another uniformed officer stood there.
Of course it had to be this asshole. “She’s in here. But I’ll give you my statement first. She’s still shaken up.”
Brian ignored him and walked to Piper, crouching down in front of her. “You okay, Piper?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little freaked.” She smiled at him. The guy looked fucking mesmerized. Yeah, Brian was a better match for Piper, but he still couldn’t just fucking stand here and watch it.
Thankfully, Brian backed off before he lost his goddamn mind and took his statement, then Piper’s. By the time they finished, she looked shattered, and he wanted this guy as far away from her as humanly possible and still be able to do his job.
“Did you get a good look at him through the window?” Brian sat forward, taking her hand. Cole nearly went for him, until he heard his next words. “You think it was Daniel Taylor?”
“I’m not sure. It was dark…”
“What?” Cole moved farther into the room. “What the fuck’s he talking about? Who’s Daniel Taylor?”
Wrecked (Axle Alley Vipers) Page 16
