by Frost, Sosie
“I love you, Cole.”
I couldn’t speak. Hell, I couldn’t match anything as sweet and beautiful as her words.
I’d show her instead.
I opened the door wide and welcomed her inside. My apartment wasn’t much. The team said it was just something to “get me by” until I found a home.
Except nothing felt like home anymore.
Not without Piper. Not without Rose.
I led her to the spare bedroom and turned on the light.
The nursery was all white, accented with pink pillows and blankets, frilly little curtains and a fairy tale decoration. It was nothing fancy, just a crib, changing table, dresser, and rocking chair, but everything was ready for a baby.
For Rose.
“They asked me what I would need to furnish the apartment.” I couldn’t look at Piper, but seeing the baby was just as hard. “I told them I wanted a nursery. I don’t know why I said it. I don’t know what I thought would happen—”
Piper didn’t let me finish. She stood on her tip-toes, tugging me closer, wanting me to touch her.
I couldn’t leave a lady waiting.
I kissed her, and that gentle warmth coursed through me. Not fierce. Not raging. Just perfection.
We pulled away as Rose started to fuss. The kid was groggy and only half-awake, but her eyes widened when she saw me. She squealed, reaching for me.
“Cole!”
My heart stopped.
Holy shit.
Piper smiled as she handed Rose to me. I hoped to Christ I had the strength to hold her.
“She said my name.”
“Just learned it.” Piper rubbed Rose’s back as she nestled against my chest. “She’s been saying it all week. I didn’t realize that she was asking to see you.” She cleared her throat. “Really, this visit was all her idea.”
“Was it?”
“Well…she instigated.”
“And pounding on my door until I relented?”
“It’d worked before.”
“I don’t think I could keep you out even if I wanted to.”
She bit her lip. “Do you want to keep me out?”
“Not anymore.”
Rose was asleep. I laid her in the new crib, and Piper handed me her bunny from the stroller. I tucked Rumpleass by her hand and pulled the pink blanket over her.
And I just stared, watching her sleep.
Piper took my hand. How was it possible two minutes with both of them healed every wound, every pain, and every ache from the past month?
“We have to talk,” I said. “Will she be okay?”
“She’ll be better than ever…now that she’s back with you.”
These were promises I’d fight to believe and die to keep.
I left the door open a crack in case the baby woke up. I wasn’t sure why that part of my life felt so natural now—bed times and cuddles and sneaking away with a proud momma who stared at me like I was every reason for her and Rose’s happiness.
That was a blessing a man could get used to.
I pulled her to my bedroom, the only place where I could prove to her the honesty in my words. She sat on the bed, and I knelt at her feet.
I looked up at this woman—this beautiful, gentle woman—and had no idea how I had gone so long without touching her, kissing her, confessing to her.
“I can’t promise you a happily ever after,” I said. “Fuck, I’m still working on this once upon a time. Everything still feels like the beginning—something new. I’ve never experienced anything like it before.”
Piper took my hand as I grazed her cheek. “For me too.”
“I want to take care of you. I want to be that man you can depend on. But I have no idea if it’s in me. I have no idea what’s inside me, but I know it’s changing for you. Because of you.”
I couldn’t resist her parted lips. I took her in my arms, gripping her hair and hips and tasting everything of her in a rough and possessed and terrible way.
I kissed her, swirled my tongue over hers, then pushed away.
I hated the growl in my words. “I can’t trust myself to be gentle with you.”
“Who says I want gentle?”
“You can’t like what I do to you.”
“I love everything you’ve done to me.” Piper pulled me close, taking her kiss. “I love it rough. I love it gentle. I love it fast and hard and so intense I cling to you to save me from the pleasure. I love it slow and tender, feeling you inside me, with me, over me. Cole, I just love you. Man and beast. Rough and soft. Raging and calm. I want you.”
And she could have me.
All of me. Any part of me. Always.
I pushed her onto the bed, nipping at her lips and loving every kiss. She groaned and tugged at my shirt. It was the first to go, but Piper hesitated as she touched the bruises I’d forgotten. Her fingertips warmed over the soreness, but it did more than harden my cock. It eased me. The aches and pains faded with her caress.
This beauty healed me with her kiss, made my body forget its ails.
And it was time to repay that kindness.
I didn’t rip her shirt, and I didn’t tear through her jeans, but Christ, she never needed to wear clothes around me again. I undressed her, teasing her every exposed curve with a flick of my tongue.
Her back arched, offering me a delightful path between the hollow of her neck and shoulder. She shivered with each touch.
Good.
I wanted her shivering.
For too long I’d imagined her writhing, wanting, waiting for me. I feared it’d forever be a fantasy, my own fairy tale unanswered and lost in foolish dreams.
Not now.
Her skin was scented with citrus, caressed soft like velvet, and contrasted the white of my comforter with dark temptation.
Her curves enthralled me, and she encouraged my every ravenous nip with fingers tangling in my hair. I took her nipple into my mouth, and the beast bit. She gasped, but the princely swirl of my tongue banished the sting. She liked that. I liked that.
A blending. A pairing of rough and gentle, animal and gentleman.
Well, mostly animal.
I doubted most refined men would ever lose themselves within their woman’s pussy like a starving beast.
I spread her legs wide. Something about exposing this beautiful woman excited me. She rested on the bed, torn between cupping her breasts or hiding her nudity from me in that delicious bashfulness.
It was probably a little of both. Wanton and shy. Desperate and timid.
Not for much longer. Piper said she wanted me? That she wanted to be a part of my life? That she loved me?
Then hesitance had no place in our bed.
I sunk upon her, feasting on her silken, heated pussy. I had almost forgotten how hot she could get, how wet and delicious and sweet.
Piper arched, gripping the sheets with both hands and muffling her cry with a bit lip. A special kind of torture. I licked her again, dipping my tongue inside her tightness. She whimpered.
I needed to taste her desire. Sloppy. Wild. I dove upon her and licked, ate, and feasted like a rabid, lust-crazed monster. Piper twisted under me, eager to escape and desperate to push harder against my lips.
My beauty was even more lovely when in complete agony, but I wasn’t a total animal anymore. All because of her. I knew the easiest way to prove how generous and caring of a man I’d become.
I sucked on her swollen nub until her body convulsed, shook, wetted. She cried my name in shocked bliss. Her legs pressed hard against my ears, muffling what little whimpers she gave. The sweetness of her excitement coated my lips in a delicious gratitude.
I wasn’t a good man, but at least I could be a tamed beast.
Except I wasn’t done with my hunt yet.
I stood, unbuckling my pants and stroking a hardness that only thickened when presented with a stunned beauty shivering in desire before me.
I didn’t let her speak. Didn’t let her move. Didn’t let her touch
me or kiss me.
I wanted only her unconditional surrender before I gave her mine.
Piper arched as my cock slid into her, forced into that blinding tightness. She stretched, and her excited gasp gave me the opportunity to grip her hips, shove in as deeply as I could, and slam into her soul.
I kissed her, nibbling on her lip, struggling to hold myself up and not give in to the urge to fuck her and fuck her hard.
Not yet.
First she had to know. Had to feel. Had to understand.
“I love you.” I rasped a growl, but it wasn’t meant to frighten her. My words were a vow of protection and promise. “I’ve never loved anyone before, beautiful. You’re the only one in the world who understands me and what I need and what I’d give to just…”
I folded my hand in hers, resisting my instinct to mindlessly rut in passionate bliss.
Piper groaned, and every shiver of her body clenched me tight. “Take me, Cole.”
“You’re too beautiful.”
“Take me.”
“I want to treat you right.”
Her voice cracked. “Then take me.”
I wasn’t leaving a damsel in distress.
I thrust, hard. Her breasts bounced, a beautiful sight. I gripped them, holding tight and squeezing as my hips slammed into hers.
Piper loved it. She arched, begged, and bumped her own hips so she could meet me in furious rhythm.
It wasn’t dominance or ugliness, nor was it gentle and timid. I pierced her, and Piper met every punishing thrust with a gasp of pleasure. She stared at me, eyes heavy-lidded, lips parted and breathing the sweetest words.
She submitted to me and dominated me in the same breath.
I grabbed her, rutted her like and animal. I bit her neck.
And she caressed my arms. Murmured my name.
Whispered her love.
It was a balance I never knew was possible. She understood me—every part of me, even the darkness I tried to hide. That monstrous aspect worshiped her, fucked her, but it abandoned the violence and rage and aggression in the comfort of her arms.
I offered everything that was me to her, and she accepted it.
So did I. For the first time. Not the last time.
I lost myself in her, and we clutched at each other in sweaty, perfect bliss.
“Cole…” Piper’s body tightened, and she squeezed her eyes shut. “Please…”
She didn’t have to ask. I was there with her, in perfect sync as our bodies slammed, crashed, and surrendered to each other.
She came for me, whispering her love.
I came for her, but my words choked in my throat.
I had to prove it instead, thrusting hard and deep until that pulsing crest paralyzed my body and slammed me completely against her.
Usually my mind blanked when I came.
Not this time.
This time, I pumped inside her, and I imagined a life where this bliss happened every day.
Where I could have Piper. Hold her with me. Take her every night. Wake with her every morning. Let her soothe the beast. Live with her. For her.
Marry her.
Build a bigger family with her.
Live happily ever after with her.
She kissed me as I gasped for air. I didn’t pull from her—couldn’t, not while everything in life revealed itself to me in such simplicity and passion I had no idea what was real or fairy tale.
But I knew I wanted it.
All of it.
I kissed her, earning her smile as she brushed her fingers against my cheek.
“I love you,” I whispered. “Stay with me.”
“You asked me that once before. Are you sure?”
“You tell me.” I kissed her again, softly. “Do you think you can handle living with a beast?”
“I don’t see any beast here.”
“No?”
“I only see the man I love.”
24
Epilogue - Piper
Ten Months Later
My phone rang for the fifth time since I put Rose down for her nap.
I answered it with a growl. “Lachlan Reed, I swear to God—”
“Just one last question.”
There was never just one last question with Lachlan. He was worse than my toddler.
No wonder Dad pawned the rookie off on me. It was like he knew the first-round draft pick to the Ironfield Rivets would be as easy to manage as a puppy in a mud puddle.
“The contract says no motorcycles…” I could hear his grin through the phone, like he tried to sell me on his next latest and greatest death-defying idea. “What about dirt bikes?”
“No.”
“Really?”
“Your contract is explicit. If you want your ten million dollars; you’re going to behave. No crazy sports. No dangerous vehicles. No extreme activities at all. Believe me, Lach. It’s boilerplate.”
“Okay…what about—”
“No, Lachlan.”
“Lemme finish.” He presented the next idea like he expected me to join him in his quest for idiocy. “A jet ski.”
“No.”
“Oh. So I guess snowmobiles are out too?”
“Yes.”
“Damn. Fine. I’ll sign it.”
“Thank you. Goodbye, Lachlan.”
I ended the call but kept the phone in my hand. I gave him fifteen seconds, just enough time for the baby to decide I hadn’t peed enough today.
“What?” I answered with all the patience a woman in her third month of pregnancy who hadn’t eaten for a day with a toddler who refused to take longer than a ten-minute nap could muster. “Lachlan, they aren’t trying to stop you from having fun. They just don’t want you to crack your skull open anywhere but the football field.”
“I know, I know!”
He was lucky he was cute—that pesky, swat-him-on-the-forehead brother type.
“Okay,” he said. “What about paragliding?”
I sighed. “And how high off the ground would you be?”
Lachlan thought for a second. “Like a hundred feet?”
“And how high is your vertical jump?”
“…About thirty-six inches.”
“Okay, I’ll make this easy.” I forced a smile. “If I see you higher than thirty-six inches off the ground, I’m going to eat you. Are we clear?”
“…Okay.”
I sighed. “If you want something to do, why don’t you just find a nice girl to date?”
“Damn, Piper. I’m looking for an adrenaline high, not a castration.”
“Goodbye, Lachlan.”
I hung up again. This time, he didn’t call back.
Crisis averted.
And I once thought I couldn’t be a good agent. All it took was a tough hand, a couple threats, and Rose teaching me everything I needed to know about managing temper tantrums.
Marrying my biggest client helped too.
Our new house in Ironfield wasn’t as big as Cole’s old castle, but I still couldn’t hear the garage when he came home. He said he liked it that way—more room, more space.
It didn’t make much sense to me. After working-out at night, the big teddy bear spent most of his time cuddling on the couch with me and Rose.
I didn’t mind.
Cole dropped his duffle bag in the kitchen and pulled me close.
“Hey, beautiful.” He kissed me, his hand pressing against my yet-flat tummy. “How’s that baby?”
“Doing good.”
“Did you miss me?”
“I’m still not used to you spending all day at practice…” My eyes fluttered closed as he kissed my neck. “But I don’t mind the way you say hello when you get back.”
“I can think of a better way.”
“Oh, really?”
“Daddy!”
Cole grinned. “Hold that thought.”
He spun and knelt to catch Rose. She flew at him, but my now two-year-old toddler still hadn’t mastered her brakes. That w
as fine. Cole scooped her up, kissed her cheek, and earned her squeal.
“Daddy! Here!” Rose handed him a book she’d swiped from her bedroom. “My story?”
“But I just got home, meatball.” Cole took the book anyway. “Let’s read after dinner.”
Rose gave him a pout—a masterful and calculated look. “No. Now.”
“Daddy doesn’t want to read now,” I said.
“No.” Rose slammed her little hands on her hips. “Story.”
“She’s just like you, beautiful,” Cole sighed.
“We just know how to play you.”
He glanced at her. “Hugs now, story later?”
He drove a hard bargain, but Rose couldn’t resist a hug. She giggled and regaled him with the happenings of her day.
“A B C D E—” Rose chattered at him, twisting the alphabet into a rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star before pointing at me with a winkled nose and wicked laugh. “Lock-In! No!”
Cole laughed. “Dealing with Lachlan again?”
“Uh-oh!” Rose shook her head and mimicked me. “That boy.”
“You guys got a great tight-end,” I said. “But, one day, that man is going to make some lucky woman very…dizzy.”
Rose squirmed off of Cole. She gripped his duffle bag.
“Mess.” She scolded him and amused herself by trying to drag it across the kitchen. When it proved too heavy for her, she surrendered to the clutter and unloaded his clothes and shoes onto the floor. “Mess mess.”
“Never used to have so many people reprimanding me before,” Cole said.
I welcomed him close again, loving the feel of his arms around me. “Never used to have a family before.”
“Got two now, at home and with the team.” He kissed me, his words still possessing that feral edge. “I couldn’t live without you beautiful.”
“You don’t have to. This is our happily ever after.”
“No, it’s not.”
He didn’t let me pull away. Instead, his hand rubbed my tummy.
“I finally have you. Rose. The little one on the way. Happily ever after means this has to end.” His words warmed, and he held me closer…
“And this is just the beginning for us.”
The End
Once Upon A Half-Time
