I managed to nod.
“Stay here,” he ordered.
“What? You’re leaving?” I askedincredulously.
“Wes, Tag,Xander,you’re with me,” he ordered instead of answering me. “Sal, Axel stay with thewomen,” he barked, his anger palpable.
My body was shaking from the shock ofbeing shot at. The fact that Cole was leaving to head directly into the sourceof danger did nothing for my nerves.
Cole turned to me and stooped slightlyto meet my eyes, his hands cupping the sides of my face. “Stay here, listen toSal. Once all’s clear someone will take you home if I’m not able to.”
A calm resolve came over me as Inodded. I knew with crushing clarity that he needed me to be strong and toaccept his directive with no question. If I was going to stand beside him as Iwanted to with all my heart, than at times like this I needed to be a source ofstrength for him rather than a drain on his reserves.
Wes stalked over and grabbed the backof my neck with surprising force. “Take care of Connie, okay?” We both lookedover and it was clear that Connie was falling to pieces. “You’re not evenshakin’,” he muttered. It was obvious that the last thinghe wanted to do was leave. Giving me the responsibility of taking care of herwasn’t done lightly, and I didn’t take it for granted.
“I promise,” I nodded, meeting hisfierce gaze. Kat looked better than Connie but not by much. It was clear that Ineeded to step it up and I fell into my role with ease.
I gave Cole an assuring look to lethim now I had it under control, and I walked off toward my girls offering beersand a promise of a rom-com marathon.
“She’s got this,” I heard Wes rumblewith confidence as they grabbed their jackets and made a rapid exit.
“She does,” I heard Cole reply as theystrode out the door, his tone filled with fierce adoration and a confidencethat I was determined not to betray.
After two movies and more chocolateice cream than beers, the three of us started to drift off. Sal and Axel hadtaken their job as protectors extremely seriously and they stayed discretelyarmed and took frequent laps of the small property. Sal had shown an unusualamount of affection toward Kat, clearly worried about her. When he wasn’twalking the property or talking on the phone outside of hearing range, he hadan arm around his girl. Despite the evening’s events I was glad to see it.
“Scarlet,” a deep voice rumbled wakingme from my uncomfortable slumber on the leather couch. “Time to go home.”
I woke up and groggily peered up tosee Wes hunched down over me. “Where’s Cole?” I asked, my voice raspy withsleep.
“He’ll be a little while longer,” heanswered, and I knew he didn’t plan to elaborate. I also knew not to ask anymore questions and I rose silently to follow him to his bike.
“Connie’s okay,” I told him quietlywhen we’d parked at the curb in front of Cole’s house.
“Thank you,” he answered gruffly. Despitehis rough demeanor his gratitude was undoubtedly sincere.
I’d grown to really like Wes.
He did a very thorough walk-through ofCole’s place before gesturing for me to go inside. It occurred to me that Iwished we had a guard dog at times like this so I wouldn’t have to be alone.But in the end, I was too tired to be worried and I fell into a deep sleep soonafter Wes left the house to park himself out front until Cole got home.
What felt like minutes later, butcould have been hours, I woke up to tingles shooting straight to my toes and anarch in my back. Cole was settled between my legs and I moaned coming fullyawake as his tongue worked magic at my core. He brought me nearly to the brinkbefore he moved up and sunk fully inside of me.
“Cole,” I breathed as he pulled out andglided back in. This wasn’t his typical punishing rhythm. It was slow andsweet. “Love you, Cole,” I moaned, feeling the momentum build inside of me.
He kissed my neck and brought his lipsto my ear. “Unpack, babe,” his voice was low and full of promise.
“Cole…” my voice trailed off.
“Life’s too short, babe.Unpack,”he demanded, holding himselfstill inside of me when I desperately wanted him to move. “And I’m not talkingabout for a few weeks. I’m talking permanently,” he added.
“This is sexual coercion,” I arguedbreathlessly.
He reared up, his arms braced ateither side of my head. His eyes glimmered with intensity as they stared downinto mine. “Scarlet, I love you. I want us to share a roof. Unpack,” he saidagain.
“Okay,” I agreed finally. There justwasn’t any arguing with him, not that I truly wanted to anyway.
“Okay,” he whispered, pressing hislips to mine. I didn’t know what happened that night, but something sinisterhad transpired. I could see it in his face and in his clear need to keep meclose. He began to move once more, this time faster and with more determination.It wasn’t long before we were both moaning out our release.
He rolled off of me but pulled meclose into the crook of his arm. “You can’t take it back you know,” he pointedout, his tone mildly teasing.