I’m frozen; I can feel it. I can feel his lust.
“Come back to bed.”
“Shh.” He takes another sip. I am acutely aware that he isn’t quieting me, he is calming, soothing, coaxing. Getting me ready for what’s about to happen. I am so ready. He makes me burn in all the right places. The energy between us is combustible.
I don’t know why from the first time he said my name I felt tethered to him in a way I’ve never experienced with anyone else. Maybe this is just perfect timing, or maybe it’s because he saved me from the alley. Forget his insanely good looks and cool demeanor. The look he gives me makes time stand still. He looks at me like he’s ready to pounce and devour me, and I want him to. He’s making it obvious he plans to take his time. All he does is lick his lips and I’m wet. He stands and walks toward me. My breath speeds up and I can feel the delicious buzz of adrenaline.
When he reaches me, he touches my collarbone ever so slightly. I close my eyes to savor the feeling as he trails his hands down the center of my breastbone. I want to lean in. The heat is too much. Cole turns me around and moves his hands up my waist. When he reaches my breasts he holds still and I can feel his breath quicken on my neck. Kissing is not an accurate description of what he is doing to my neck. He sucks and licks and torments me until I can’t stop imagining that my neck is a preview of what’s to follow for the rest of me. As if he can hear my thoughts, I feel him pulling the straps on my tank away from my body.
Breathe, its fine. Everything is fine. I say this internally, and to my surprise I’m not one bit nervous or afraid. I am only racked with anticipation.
Cole senses my excitement because he goes from baby steps to the deep end of the pool. His hand dips into my panties and his fingers moving at a rapid pace on my clit is exquisite. I am melting…
“Oh baby, you are so wet and ready for me.” He never stops this beautiful torture, even when my legs get weak. A sigh is all I can muster as he rubs my clit, spreading my legs wider using his body as a support. I lie moaning against him as he finger fucks me into oblivion.
“Do you feel it, Mia? Can you feel how your body reacts to me? Do you see how good I can make you feel? You are soaked, baby.” My insides throb, the delicious release is building, closer, closer. I am there, I feel suspended. Unable to grab hold of anything, I sag against him, completely vulnerable, and grind my hips into his hand, harder and faster. I am like an animal, and I need more.
“More, I want more. H-harder. P-please, Cole…”
“I’ve got you baby, let it go. I want to feel your gorgeous cunt come all over my hand. I want you to believe that I am the only man who can make you come this way. Your body was meant for me. You are mine” He speeds up the pace of his fingers and pushes me right over the edge.
“Oh my God, Cole, I’m coming…” I scream with all the air in my lungs, the orgasm so strong it is divinely painful. Cole holds me until my legs completely give out, then pulls his fingers to his mouth and sucks them in. “Mmm, you taste sweet. I can’t wait to get my mouth on that sweet pussy.” Oh my God!
He picks me up and carries me to the bed. I feel spent, not in a sad way, but fulfilled. What has happened isn’t just sex. He has marked me, made me his, and I know that his touch will remove the bad memories and heal my wounds.
As he lays me down and hovers over me, I feel like he’s looking at my soul. “I don’t know how I’ve made it this far without you like this.” He pushes his lips against mine and our tongues dance, quickly gaining a desperate pace. We kiss as if our lives depend on it, everything in my body primed and ready.
Cole moves his hand over my breast, massaging and directing his attention to my nipples. He licks, sucks, and nips at the hard buds, working his way down my body to suck on my hip bones until he reaches my center. He gives me a wicked grin and dives in!
My body bucks off the bed. Cole isn’t taking any prisoners, and I willingly surrender. He licks my folds and hums against my clit until once again my breathing speeds up and I can feel the delicious build. My body is glistening with sweat and the pleasure he’s giving me is so intense that I can’t stop squirming. Cole grips my thighs and eats me with passion, my pelvis lifted off the bed as he wraps his arms under my ass to keep me suspended. “OH MY GOD!” I scream with all the energy in my body as I come on his face. He drops my body back to the bed and wipes his arm across his mouth before grabbing my hips and yanking me down to him. “I’m going to bury my cock so deep inside of you, and when I do I want you to understand that this is it for you, Mia. Nobody ever touches what’s mine again.” SOLD. I am his. It is the easiest decision I’ve ever made. I nod yes. I want to be his, I want every part of me to belong to him and only him.
He enters me slowly, with a groan, taking his time to savor the feeling. I’m grateful because his cock is gigantic. I can feel him stretching me, that divine pinch of pain melting into a glorious friction that I never wanted to stop.
“Baby, you are so tight, this feels amazing.” He picks up his pace and starts pumping into me harder, my body responding in kind. “Need you, want you,” he growls, “Mia…” I feel my body tightening. “Come with me, Mia, now!”
I let out a primal groan that matches Cole’s as he pushes inside me one last time. I tighten around him, holding nothing back. “Yes, that’s it, Cole…. you are amazing!”
He collapses on top of me, holding his weight off just enough to not crush me. Our chests rise and fall in rhythm, both of us breathless and huffing.
He pulls out of me and I wince. Then he leans down to kiss me. “You okay?”
I smile up at him. “I am so very okay. I may not be able to walk for a week, though.”
“Good, I can keep you here as my sex slave,” he says as he helps me to stand.
“Barbarian.” His response is a slap on my ass as I get up.
“Ow!”
“Let me kiss it and make it better.” He is irresistible, lying on his back, arms behind his head, ankles crossed, and that shit-eating grin.
I walk to the kitchen to get water for the two of us, rubbing my butt from the sting. “Get back in this bed!”
“I’m coming! Hold your horses.”
Whoa. Dejavu. Shit, just as I turn back with the water glasses in my hand, I get a flash.
I’m in the elevator with Carter on the night of Richard’s office holiday party two years ago. Carter tells me he needs to ask me something in private, and hands me a glass of champagne which I happily accept. Then the scene changes and I’m trying to wake up, trying to stop him from removing my pants, struggling to get him off of me, and then, clear as day, there is Cole’s face.
I am startled out of my flashback as the glasses crash to the floor. I feel sick, bile rising in my throat. I don’t understand what I just saw! Why was Cole there?! He couldn’t… no, I can’t even go there. How would it be possible? I run to the bathroom just as he walks out of the bedroom.
“Mia? Is everything okay? I thought I heard glass break.” He sees me running toward the bathroom and catches me in three steps. “DON’T TOUCH ME!” When I scream, his face looks as if I just slapped him. I shut myself in the bathroom and get sick into the toilet. I grab a hand towel and wipe my mouth as I sob. I have to get out of here because I don’t understand, and I cannot take the idea that he played any kind of part in this last awful two years. I only know that I need to get away from him. I feel disgusting!
Cole is pounding on the bathroom door. “Mia! Unlock the goddamned door or I’ll break it down. What’s happening? Did you remember something? Let me in, Amelia!”
Suddenly, another shock. Cole Parker knows my real name? I need to get the fuck out of here.
“Cole! Please stop, don’t ask me to explain. The doctors said the memories can be intense. I just need to call my mother. Please, if you want to help me, just get my purse and leave it at the door!!”
“Okay, but are you hurt? Glass is everywhere.”
Only then do I look down at my feet and see sm
all cuts and blood. “I’m okay,” I lie, “please just get my phone.” I hate this feeling. I can’t trust anything until I make sense of this.
“Okay.” I hear him walk away and my heartbeat starts to settle. When he knocks at the door, he tells me my purse and phone are waiting and he will leave me alone before adding, “I’m here for you, Mia, please come out, baby. You never have to be afraid of me.”
It’s silent for a moment before he walks away. I open the door, grab my purse, and immediately make a call. No answer. I make another.
“Mia?” Says a groggy voice.
“Yes, please don’t ask questions. I need you to come and get me.” Hearing the panic in my voice, my only hope answers quickly. I send the address and clean my feet. I look in the mirror, trying to figure out this insanity. None of this makes sense. I can’t believe Cole was there! I refuse to believe he hurt me, my heart knows better, but he is somehow connected to that horrible night, and I feel betrayed. I told him everything and he never said anything. He never confessed his truth. He let me bare my soul to him and kept me at arm’s length, and he knows my name. Nobody that I just met knows my name.
After that night, I insisted everyone call me Mia. I haven’t been able to bear my name since hearing Carter saying it. That one memory I’ve had has been the way he said my name over and over.
It is now painfully apparent that Cole is not a new acquaintance. I need to know more, so I gather my resolve and open the door to see him wiping up the last of the glass. He stops and looks at me, eyes wide with fear. Lies have a way of producing fear. He approaches me cautiously. “Mia, please talk to me.”
I hold up one hand to stop him from getting too close and try and look him in the eye, but I fail and look to the side. “I had another moment, a memory, they seem to be increasing since we met. How do we really know each other, Cole?”
He looks at me like he feels sorry for me. His brow furrows and he holds up his hands as if to calm me. “Mia…” I cross my arms and level my stare.
“Don’t you mean Amelia? How do you know my name?”
I can see the worry on his face. He rubs his hands down his cheeks and looks up to the ceiling. Letting out a deep breath he says, “Amelia, since that night, nothing’s been the same. There is so much I want to say to you, but we thought to ease you in or just let you remember on your own would be the best choice. I was selfish and stupid tonight. I’m so sorry, baby. I know you’re confused but I love you and everything will be okay.”
My breath comes out in a rush. “What. The. Fuck?” My mind is reeling. He just admitted that he knows me from before. He also said “we…” which means I’ve been right, they are all trying to coddle and control me! My mother, Richard, even Alex, and now Cole? I can’t do this. I start to back away from him.
“Mia, let me explain, please!” His words are pleading and his voice is cracking. I feel like I’m going crazy. I’m a stranger in my own life.
“What do you mean, since that night… and what do you mean, you love me?” The end comes out as a scream and I realize I am consumed with anger. I have finally hit my breaking point.
Timing is a funny thing, because it’s always really bad. The phone rings. We stand looking at each other, neither of us moving. The ringing stops and then starts again. We both remain motionless. By the third time, Cole yells, “Fuck!” He walks over to pick up the phone and his eyes fix on me as his jaw tightens. “Send him up,” he growls and slams the phone down, destroying any chance of using it again.
Cole walks to the couch and sits casually. I know what he’s doing, so I take the opportunity to go and gather my things from the room. When I come out, the elevator doors open and out walks Jack. “Where is she?” He yells. “Mia! Mia!” I round the corner to see relief wash over his face.
I find myself standing equal distance between them, looking back and forth. Cole interrupts the irony by holding my clutch in his hand. I’d left it on the end table earlier. I walk over to snatch it up and he holds his grip. “Stay,” he growls. “Stay and I can explain. I can help you, Mia.”
Irritated, I bark, “I think I’ve had enough of your help tonight.” He stands but still keeps his grip on my purse.
“Have you really had enough of me?” His voice is suddenly different, intimate, familiar. It’s more than sensual. As he moves closer to my body, I look up at him and can’t help wondering if I should stay and listen. I don’t know what the vision meant, but I don’t know if I can trust him. Deep down my hearts says I can, but it all makes no sense. Why is he lying? Maybe it’s myself I don’t trust.
“Keep the stupid purse.” I let go of it and turn to Jack. It’s not right that I called him, but Alex didn’t pick up when I tried her first, and when you are forced to realize that everyone close to you has been lying and manipulating you, Jack is the only one who feels sincere right now, and I knew he would rush to rescue me. Jack likes to be a hero. When I walk across the room and reach him, he comforts me and kisses the top of my head.
“Get your fucking lips off my girl!” Cole is beside himself.
Jack levels his stare and says, “Your girl is my girl. She doesn’t look like she needs you anymore.” This is not happening right now! This isn’t what I wanted, I should have known better than to call Jack. I don’t want these two egos fighting over me! I see the look on Cole’s face and know I better put a stop to this before he kills Jack. There is no doubt in my mind as to who would win this fight. I owe Jack enough to not let him die tonight.
Cole starts toward us and I break away from Jack. “Stop, Cole! I’m not interested in a pissing contest between the two of you. I belong to myself, I’m not anyone’s fucking girl, so both of you pay attention.” I look between them. “I need time to think. I can’t be around either of you to do that.” Cole looks at me like I just ripped out his heart.
“Don’t, Mia, I can’t do this again… I’m not strong enough for this. I need you to choose me.” His vulnerability crushes me. I don’t understand anything but it’s obvious that what I don’t know is a pretty big deal. Jack is still standing there. This whole scene is wrong, and I’ve had it.
“If you need me to choose you, you shouldn’t have lied to me! I told you everything. EVERYTHING! You let me bare my soul when you already knew. You knew and yet you said nothing! Even now, tell me I’m wrong Cole, make me stay.” I’m panting, shaking with anger.
“You’re right. I was there. I know more than I’ve told you.” He looks suddenly exhausted, as if he’s been carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, but for some reason he’s not able or willing to let it go and tell me the truth. Without the truth, I have no reason to stay.
“I would stay with you, Cole, but I choose me.” And with that I walk to the elevator, Jack following.
The car ride is unbearable, I know it was too much to hope for silence. Jack erupts when we get into the car, hurling questions faster than I can answer. I explain the memory recovery to him and when he realizes the trigger was being intimate with Cole, that shuts him up for a good fifteen minutes. When we arrive at the hotel he insists we get a drink in the lobby and talk more. I’m wiped out and furious, but since he came to save me on a moment’s notice, the least I can do is have a drink with him.
“So you are going along with this plan of triggering your memories? Seems dangerous to me.” He takes a swig from his water.
“Dangerous? Dangerous is living without any memory. I want my life back, Jack. Two months might not seem like a big deal to you, but it feels like a lifetime after all that’s happened to me.”
“I just don’t understand why you would want to remember such a horrible event. Seems to me that if it was really that awful, you would be happy to forget.”
I can’t believe he is giving me shit about trying to piece my life together.
“Are you insinuating that I liked what happened to me?” I can feel my heartbeat speed up and I know I am dangerously close to punching Jack in the face.
“NO!
I’m not implying that. Sorry, that’s not what I meant at all. I’m just worried about all of this being awful for you.”
“Look, Jack, I appreciate the ride, but I’m not up for anymore conversation if you don’t mind. That whole episode with you and Cole was enough drama for me for one night. I didn’t expect either of you to be so possessive and jealous.”
Jack looks at me with empty eyes. His gaze moves to my left, over my shoulder, and then he looks back to me, saying, “Karma is a bitch.”
What does that mean? I can’t help wondering if Jack is talking about me, or himself. What I do know, is there is more to Jack than meets the eye.
Watching her walk out the door is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. We were so close, so close. It’s the worst kind of hell, to be given a glimpse into heaven and then denied entry. I had my beautiful love back in my arms, back in our home, and just like that she’s gone again. Not only gone, but with that dip-shit, hanger-on. The thoughts going through my mind are making me crazy. If I find out he touched her, I’ll break every fucking bone in his body.
I pick up my cell phone and dial the only person I know who can help me right now.
“Cole, its 5am..What the fuck?”
“Alex, stow it… She started to remember. The only problem is, she freaked out and that douche, Jimmy, came to get her.”
“It’s Jack, and while I agree on doucheness, he’s harmless. She’s not trying to hook up with him.”
“She was furious, Alex. How do you know this guy won’t manipulate her?” ”You’re overreacting, as usual. She doesn’t want Jack. She called me first, I was just asleep.”
“Damn you, Alex!” It is a relief that at least Mia called Alex first, before that loser.
Alex laughs. “Whoa, buddy, don’t shoot the messenger! Let’s talk about the great part. She’s remembering?”
The Forever Series Page 9
