Now. Right here. Hot and wet and frenetic on the kitchen table. No, the table was too far. The counter. He leaned in and covered her mouth again. His hands worked under the hem of her dress and up to the top of her panties and tugged. Down to her ankles they slid.
"Cole," she groaned. "I need to ask you something."
"What's the matter?" he murmured heatedly as he raised her dress to her waist and lifted her bare bottom onto the counter. "Don't you want your husband?" In a twinkling he had her dress unzipped and the clasp of her bra undone.
"Yes, more than anything, but—"
"Good."
He pushed the sleeves and straps off her shoulders, baring her breasts, then bent to lock his mouth around a pointed tip. Rini gasped and pulled his head tightly to her. The nipple lengthened on his tongue, and he gently stroked it. He wanted her so badly his throat ached. He moved down her body, taking pleasure in licking and sucking and nipping her into a writhing, panting mass of frustrated need.
Need for him.
He felt her fingers in his hair, grasping and tugging. "Cole, please—"
"I'm coming, baby." He yanked down his zipper, struggled to release the snap at his waist.
"No, you don't understand." She pushed at his shoulders, breathing heavily as he jerked his jeans down his hips.
"What?" He could hardly think at all for the piercing agony of need and desire pulsing between his legs. He parted her thighs and stepped between them. His sex was perfectly aligned, with the wet, silky sheath he sought so desperately. "Put your legs around my waist," he rasped.
He grunted in satisfaction when her legs hooked around him despite a hesitation. Circling an arm behind her soft, round derriere, he moved closer, pressing the length of him against the burning hot woman's flesh at the juncture of her spread thighs. He rubbed up and down, stimulating the hard little point he knew would give her the greatest pleasure. "I want to make love with you," he urged in a gravelly whisper, adding his thumb to the persuasion.
She moaned, letting her head fall back for a moment. "Why?" she asked the ceiling, her voice strangled.
He paused, the physical torture mounting unbearably at her unaccountable resistance. He clamped his jaw tightly. Why couldn't she just melt in his arms? "Why what?"
"Why do you want to make love with me?"
Cole steeled himself against the urge to just ram home. What a question! He resumed moving his trembling thumb in a slow circle around the pearl of her desire. "Come on, baby. Let it go." She quivered and grew wet, but her eyes sought his, the question in them burning slightly brighter than her hunger for him.
He would not enter her without permission. But he was likely to cripple himself if she didn't give in soon.
"Answer," she whispered.
He pressed his thumb a little harder, patience hanging on by a thread. "Because I want to make you explode with pleasure. And if you don't let me, I'm going to explode with frustration. I need to be inside you, Rini. Now."
Her eyes went limp and liquid. Shoving him aside, she lurched off the counter and stumbled away. "I can't do this anymore. I just can't."
Frustration had him crackling with anger. "What is your problem?"
"You! You're my problem!" She wrapped her arms around her middle. "You don't love me!"
He stared at her incredulously. If he'd had a less harrowing day, or his head hadn't been throbbing quite so badly, or if he hadn't been denying himself the pleasures of her body for more than a week, he might have been able to deal with her declaration more rationally. Known what to do. Taken her in his arms and soothed her with words he'd already planned to say.
As it was, he snapped, "Don't be ridiculous, Rini. I can't deal with this right now."
She sucked in a sharp breath. "That's it. I have to leave."
"Fine," he growled with an oath, and started to stalk away. "I'm taking a shower."
"I'll send for my things later."
His whole body went into red alert, his heart clutching as if grasped by a powerful fist. He spun back to her. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Dr. Redcloud offered me a job at Rincon. I'll—"
"What!?" Anger roared through his veins.
"At the health service. You can see Chance on—"
The full impact of her statement hit him like a locomotive. His hands clenched into fists and he slammed one against a cupboard door so hard the glasses inside shook. "You're leaving me?" he shouted, unable to think of anything but her taking a job—and his son—that far away. "How can you do this to me?"
She was going to leave him!
Staggering under the cripplingly familiar pain of abandonment, he stalked to the opposite side of the kitchen, afraid to be within touching distance of her. "You said you loved me!"
"But you didn't!" she yelled back, and stormed out of the kitchen.
Didn't what? His mind reeling with numbing hurt, he stared after her, unable to wrap his brain around her nonsensical parting words.
How long had she been planning to leave him?
He grabbed the sides of his head, sure it would splinter from the pain. He leaned his forehead against the cool, solid wood of the cabinet in despair. Anguish clawed at his heart, rending it into shreds.
So much for the beginning of his new life and the new Colton Lonetree. So much for the man who was confident of his place in the world. The man who was not afraid to love.
He yanked his jeans closed, covering himself from deceitful eyes. Eyes that had gazed at him so lovingly, while all the while planning to use and then discard him.
He had to get out. Go somewhere and think. Lick his wounds, and decide what to do.
* * *
Rini ran into the bedroom and slammed the door, then turned and locked it for good measure.
She flung herself onto the bed and lay staring at the ceiling, arms crossed tightly over her midriff, hot tears running down her cheeks onto the pillow. For a long time she couldn't move. The thoughts kept whirling in her head.
How had this happened? She hadn't meant to leave him. Not like this, anyway. Certainly not today, which should have been a celebration of everything she'd worked so hard to achieve. And not in the accusatory manner in which she'd done it. He'd had such a bad day, and she'd been so unfair. She should have been calm, rational, given him a chance to respond calmly and rationally.
The situation struck home with sudden, searing pain. She'd told him she was leaving.
Oh, Lord. What would she do?
* * *
Cole steamed up the stairs to his office, craving the peace and solitude of his private sanctuary. He opened the outer door and ran right into Lindsay Walker.
"You!"
"Hi, Cole. Can we talk?"
"This isn't a good time, Lindsay."
"Please?" She looked up at him, and he noticed the red rims around her eyes. "I really need a shoulder."
"This really isn't a good time."
Her gaze dropped. "I met with Jeff."
Jetting out a breath, Cole shut his eyes for a moment. Damn. "All right. Let's grab a cup of coffee." Maybe listening to someone else's troubles for a few minutes would let him put himself back together.
They walked to a nearby café and chose a table for two at a window in the back. "So what happened?" he asked.
She stared into her coffee. "It was awful. He accused me of all sorts of things." Her shoulder lifted imperceptibly. "All of which were true, of course."
Cole leaned back and fingered his coffee cup. "Ouch."
Her eyes flitted to his, then around the room. "Sort of got me thinking, I guess. That maybe you were right."
* * *
Rini finished her tea and rinsed out her cup. She had to admit, she felt better having forced herself to relax and observe the ritual of afternoon tea. Surely, she hadn't blown it nearly as badly as she feared.
Gathering up Chance, she resolved to find Cole and talk things over. Maybe he'd convince her he really did love her, even if he couldn'
t say it.
Then again, maybe not.
Maybe she should take the opportunity to go away for a while. Just to see how she really felt about him. About whether she could go on living with a man who didn't love her. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to take Dr. Redcloud up on her offer, if only for a few days or weeks.
But whatever Rini did, she needed to talk to Cole first.
Figuring he was probably at his office, she drove straight there.
"Sorry, he hasn't been in today," Charlie told her.
"Any ideas?"
"Nope." He went back to his keyboard, his long braid dangling over one shoulder. She felt like yanking it. Lord, he was uncommunicative. And far too loyal to his boss.
Tamping down her aggravation, she hoisted Chance on a hip and headed for the door. Where to now?
Walking to the car, she scanned the street, looking for his truck. It was difficult to see for all the traffic, but there it was, about half a block up. She shifted Chance to the other hip and looked around again, noticing the large, plate glass window of a café on the opposite corner. That seemed as good a place as any to start. She made her way across one street and waited for the light to change so she could cross the other.
It was then she saw them. Seated at a cozy window table, were Cole and the woman who'd kissed him at the powwow.
* * *
Cole mostly remained silent, letting Lindsay take the time she needed to tell him the whole story of her meeting with Jeff. He was torn. His sympathy was completely with the son, but seeing the anguish on his ex-wife's face, to his surprise, his feelings softened a little toward her.
"There wasn't much I could say to defend the choices I've made in my life, but there was one thing I could do." Shakily, she lifted her cup and drank.
"And what was that?" he asked.
"I told my parents about Jeff."
He sat up straight. "Holy crap. How'd they react?"
"My father is nothing if not predictable." She groaned and covered her eyes with her hands.
"Hell, Lindsay." Cole shook his head. He'd once hated her for what she did to him in their youth, and had come close again these past few months on her son's behalf, but now his heart went out to her. Nobody deserved to lose a parent's love over something like this. "I'm really sorry, hon."
She looked up, her eyes glistening with tears. "You're a good man, Cole. The second biggest mistake I ever made was tricking you into marrying me."
His mouth twisted in a wry grimace. "What was the biggest? Jeff?"
"No. Letting you go."
His brows rose in momentary shock, then he relaxed in ironic laughter. Reaching out, he tapped the end of her nose. "Don't get caught in the nostalgia, darlin'. It would never have worked, and you know it."
That won a smile from her. "Yeah. I know." She put her hand over his and held it between them on the table. "You've found the love of your life, and it isn't me."
She had to remind him. He shook his head. "Found and lost."
"Lost? Did you have a fight?"
"She's leaving me."
"Oh, Cole." Lindsay took his face in her hands and stroked his hair away from his face. "Why?"
He braced himself against the hollow pain of Rini's betrayal. "Seems she no longer needs me. She graduated today. Got herself a new job and a new life. Without me."
Lindsay gazed at him contemplatively. "I don't believe it for a minute. You're too good a man to throw away like that. There has to be another explanation."
He snorted. "Right."
"Go to her, Cole. Tell her you love her and have no intention of letting her go. You do love her, don't you?"
He lifted a shoulder. "She doesn't care how I feel."
"She cares. Believe me, your wife cares."
He frowned to hear his own words quoted back at him. He searched Lindsay's face, wondering how their roles had suddenly switched. "Maybe. Will you be okay?"
She smiled. "Yeah. I'll get through it. Dad'll come around. Both of them will."
"Sure. Give them time. Look, if you ever need anything…"
"Don't call you, right?"
He chuckled. "But do let me know how it goes with Jeff and your dad."
"I will." She looked up. "Cole?"
"Yeah."
"Thanks." She leaned over the table and kissed him lightly, her expression one of coming to terms with something she had been struggling over for a long, long time. "For everything."
* * *
As the traffic light turned green, then red, then green, then red, Rini watched her husband and the woman in growing anguish. They talked intimately, their heads bowed together over the café table.
Rini clutched Chance to her, hurt tearing into her breast. This was not some product of misplaced jealousy. This was real. She had told Cole she was leaving, and he'd wasted no time in running straight to the comfort and sympathy of another woman. It was all Rini could do not to flee.
With leaden legs, she forced herself to move down the line of parked cars, stopping directly across the street from the pair. Now they were holding hands over the table. Through her tears, Rini watched as the woman put her hands to Cole's face and tenderly caressed it. Far from objecting, he caught her hands in his fingers and held them. This must be his Obsession.
A strangled moan escaped her. She couldn't take any more. Whirling, she fled back to the corner. The only thing that kept her from plunging through traffic to the other side, away from her husband's betrayal, was Chance in her arms. Forced to wait for the light, she turned for one last look. Cole and the woman stood with their arms around each other.
When they kissed, Rini's heart shattered completely.
* * *
"Rini, where are you?" Cole flung open the door and called out. "Honey, we need to talk!"
He needed to find out what the hell was going on. Maybe Lindsay was right and he'd gotten it all wrong.
Again.
But the sound of silence reverberated through his house like the bars clanging shut on a prison cell.
"Rini?"
Oh, God. She'd already left.
He tore through the house, shouting her name and cursing. He slammed back the closet door and lost his breath when he saw it was nearly empty of her few belongings. Her toiletries were gone from the dresser.
Running to Chance's room, he nearly stumbled on a roll of garbage bags on the floor. No suitcases, he thought, a strange calm settling over him. He inspected the diaper table and jerked open the small chest of drawers. Bare.
He sat heavily on Rini's four-poster and buried his face in his hands. A thick, icy darkness slithered over him, wrapping itself around his heart, numbing his mind and deepest emotions.
So it was true.
It had happened again.
Sitting there, feeling completely alone in the world, he just couldn't believe it. Perfidious woman! How could he ever have trusted her? How could he have been so stupid? The sun hadn't even set on her graduation day and she'd already abandoned him and taken away the child of his heart.
"Oh, Rini, Rini, how could you have done this to me?"
* * *
Rini swiped at a rogue tear streaking down her cheek, and quickly stuck her handkerchief back into her white uniform pocket. It wouldn't do to be caught crying her first day on the job. Again.
Determinedly, she returned her attention to checking the charts Dr. Redcloud had requested for tomorrow morning's appointments. But with a will of its own, her mind wandered back to Cole and the ache in her heart. Tears threatened in earnest.
She was plagued with doubts. She missed him terribly and was miserable over what she had seen in that café. But the traitorous thought that she had surely gotten everything all wrong—just like last time—wouldn't leave her alone.
Yet even if she was wrong about the woman in the café, would it really make a difference? He still didn't love her.
"Rini, are you still here?" Gloria Redcloud stopped in front of her desk.
Ri
ni dashed her hand surreptitiously at her damp cheek. "I just wanted to go over tomorrow morning's charts. I'm done now."
"You go on home to that little baby of yours. He's such a cutie."
Rini smiled. "Yes, he is. I'm so lucky Mrs. Padilla is willing to watch him while I work. She's wonderful."
"I'm sure Lanie's thrilled to get the opportunity." Dr. Redcloud leaned against the edge of her desk. "How does Cole feel about that arrangement?"
"Cole?" Rini busied herself closing up a chart and straightening the stack. She hadn't exactly told the whole truth when she'd shown up at the health service yesterday. "I, uh… He's caught up in court this week. I haven't been able to talk to him yet."
Dr. Redcloud studied her for a moment before heading for the lab. "Well, good luck," she said over her shoulder.
"Thanks," Rini mumbled, watching her retreat. She didn't have time to ponder the odd comment, because at that moment Tanya burst through the door.
"Hey, Rin!"
"Hi, Tani." She gave her a hug. "What are you doing down here on a weeknight?"
"Had something to deliver to Mom, and I had to see for myself if the rumors were true."
"Uh-oh. Do I get a lecture or comfort?"
Tanya gave her a compassionate look. "Bit of both?"
Rini smiled wistfully, grabbing her purse. "Comfort, please. I don't need you to tell me what a fool I am. I've already started to realize that."
"Yeah. A fool for thinking Cole doesn't love you."
Her smile faded. She shook her head as they walked to their cars. "Lust isn't the same as love."
"Tell me about it."
"And I saw him with another woman."
"Cole?" Tanya stared at her dubiously. "It wasn't what you think."
"They were kissing."
"It definitely wasn't what you think. I don't care what it looked like."
She sighed, knowing in her heart that Tanya was probably right and she was just letting her insecurities get the better of her again. It was tough to conquer issues she'd carried for a lifetime. "How can you be so sure of him?"
Lucky 7 Bad Boys Contemporary Romance Boxed Set Page 72