Cole reached down to adjust himself. With my eyes on him, I popped the button on my jeans and slid them down my legs. I let out a squeal as my back pressed against the seat and stones were thrown from the back tires as Cole sped back onto the road.
Exit after exit passed and for one moment, I thought he wouldn’t pull over. I thought about taunting him some more, at least until he put his blinker on for an exit that definitely wasn’t ours. He took us down a few more streets before he turned down a trail, hidden from sight by the trees.
“Where are we?”
“I used to come here to hike when I needed to burn off extra energy.”
I pushed my jeans to the floor and climbed over the center console to straddle his lap, his erection hard as it pressed into me through his jeans. “Let’s burn off some energy then.”
I slipped my hand under his shirt, tracing my fingers over the crease of his abs. He ran his hands around my hips to cup my ass. “You’re playing with fire.”
“I really want to play with something else.”
Sweat formed on his brow as I reached between us, running my hand over him. He gripped the fabric of my panties and gave it a tug. “Then you better get rid of these.”
In a flash, I had them off and tossed them onto the floor with my jeans. In all my teasing I’d gotten myself more than a little worked up, and the sight of Cole pushing his pants down his legs, freeing his dick, had me clenching my legs together. He slipped a condom on and I moved back into position, slowly sliding down on him.
“Mari,” he moaned.
I covered his lips with mine, swallowing the rest of the sound. His tongue slipped into my mouth as I lifted up, only to slam back down again. The car was hot, the windows fogging from our panting breaths. And it still wasn’t enough.
“Take me,” I whispered against his lips.
He wasted no time grabbing hold of my hips, hard enough to leave a mark, and held me above him as he started to thrust. My heart pounded in my chest as Cole took me higher and higher. Our tongues tangled, our bodies joined. All I needed was him. Each powerful stroke pushed me closer to the edge. So close I could almost feel it.
The fear of getting caught and the ways he moved was enough to make my muscles begin to quiver and tighten. And suddenly I was falling. Pleasure pulsed through me, taking over. Cole held me to him as he reached his own climax. Panting filled the air and I opened my eyes to see his green ones illuminated by the dashboard light. One after another, emotions passed through his eyes, until wonder finally settled in.
“I’m not sure how I got you, but I’m never letting you go.” He kissed me one more time and my heart soared.
I wasn’t sure when it happened, or how for that matter, but each day I found myself falling a little more for Cole. He was the breath in my lungs, my light on a cloudy day. Thoughts of “I love yous” filled my head.
But while I might have been feeling it, I wasn’t ready to put my heart on the line just yet. Maybe it was wrong, but I needed to hear the words from his lips first.
CHAPTER 23
Cole
“I have a surprise for you.”
Mari plunked her hands on her hips as I stepped inside her front door. “And what would that be?”
Sawyer was bent over the table, guitar in hand, filling in sheet music. “New song?” I asked, nodding to the paper.
“Been working on it all night.”
He wasn’t kidding. The bags under his eyes looked full enough to travel around Europe for a few months. “Do you need Mari? I know you guys have a day off today.”
“I tried to help him last night but he wasn’t having it and sent me to bed.” She held her hand out toward him. “I found him in exactly the same spot this morning.”
“Whatever, Mari. Like you haven’t done the same.” He put the pencil behind his ear and glanced at me. “And no, I don’t need her. I have three more bars to write then I’m heading to bed to sleep until tomorrow.”
I wrapped my arm around her waist and brought her flush against my body. “That means you’re all mine today.”
“Mmm, I like the sound of that.”
Sawyer stuck his fingers in his ears and closed his eyes. “Not in front of me. Take that shit elsewhere, I’m trying to concentrate.”
Laughing, I followed Mari down the hall to her room. As soon as she shut the door behind us, she jumped into my arms, her perfect ass in my hands and legs wrapped around my waist almost making me forget all my plans for the day. I captured her lips with mine, loving the electricity that came every time our lips touched. Every day I fell a little harder for the woman in my arms. It was like being on a runaway train. I knew there was no way to slow down or stop, but I was too afraid to even try. After the rocky start to our relationship, all I could hope for was a clear and easy track to follow. Nothing to crash into along the way.
I disentangled her legs from my waist and set her feet on the floor. “Not interested?” The flirt knew she was messing with my head, especially when she ran her hand along my already straining erection. My pants felt a little too tight, but I wouldn’t be deterred.
“Oh, I’m interested, but we’ll have plenty of time for that later. Right now, I want to take you somewhere.”
“You won’t tell me where?”
“Nope. Now get ready.” I crossed my arms over my chest and watched her eyes move down to my biceps. She stared for a moment before looking back up.
When she realized that I wasn’t going to budge, she blew out a breath and went to her closet to pull out something to wear. Not that she didn’t look sexy as fuck in the sleek, black yoga pants, but I knew she’d never leave the house like that.
“Any suggestions on what I should wear?” she called over her shoulder, digging through the mountain of clothes she owned.
“Not really.” I gestured at my jeans and Henley pullover.
She examined my outfit for a moment, then went back into the closet. How would I know what she should wear? Guys clothes included a few common staples: button-down shirt, jeans, pullover, and, if you’re really lucky, dress pants. Other than that, most of us didn’t worry about clothes, as long as we were comfortable.
She emerged a few minutes later, dumping the contents of her arms onto the bed. She stared for a few minutes more before pulling on a pair of black leggings, boots, and a tunic-style shirt.
“Give me a minute to fix my hair.”
She already looked perfect to me, but I knew she wouldn’t hear it. “I’m gonna wait in the living room with Sawyer.”
Watching them create new music was fascinating. I loved seeing how their minds worked. The more I examined it, the more I understood it wasn’t much different than creating plays for the field. Both the play and the song had its own beat, and if anything was out of rhythm, things wouldn’t work. The receiver wouldn’t catch the ball and the music would sound like shit.
“Is it weird switching instruments?” I asked Sawyer, who was scribbling something down on a piece of paper when I walked back into the living room, tucking the pencil behind his ear before picking the guitar up again. I took the seat next to him on the couch. I didn’t know much about the creative process, but it was amazing to me that a drummer could just pick up a guitar and play.
He lifted a shoulder. “A little, but creating the melody is impossible on skins. At least I learned how to play the guitar. Some drummers never learn anything outside percussion.”
Ahh. That made sense.
“So the more instruments you can play the better?”
“It’s kind of like learning how to catch the ball but never learning how to block the defense for another receiver.” It still amazed me how well he understood the game I loved. Then again, there was nothing to say someone couldn’t love football just because they were good with music.
I nodded. “Fair enough. You’d lose the game if you never bothered to block for any other receiver.”
He pulled the pencil from behind his ear, pointing it at me.
“Exactly. And without learning another instrument, a drummer can never create their own songs.”
“You like writing your own songs?”
He jotted something down in his notebook. “I do. Not as much as Monty does, though. The guy may be a fucking nut, but the way his mind wraps around music stuns me. And yeah, there’s nothing like hearing your song played.”
That was exactly how I felt when the kids pulled off some crazy-ass play I’d come up with. And when it led to a touchdown? Even better.
“Where are you stealing Mari away to today?”
I peeked over at the hall to make sure she wasn’t trying to listen in. “I got tickets to the new rock exhibit at the History of Music Museum?”
Hi eyes went wide. “Fuck, that’s awesome. She’s gonna flip her shit.”
“I hope so. They were a bitch to get. Apparently, the exhibit’s been sold out every day since it opened.”
He set the guitar on the table, leaning back into the couch. “That’s what I heard. Damn, to think about the band being included in something like that.” He closed his eyes, probably imagining what the exhibit would look like.
“Ready?” Mari stood at the end of the hall, hands on her hips. When she spotted Sawyer she winced. She lowered her voice and asked, “Did he fall asleep while you guys were talking?”
“I’m not asleep,” he mumbled.
She walked over and taking his hands in hers, pulled him up to standing. “Come on, off to bed for you.” She wrapped an arm around his waist. “I’ll be right back. If I don’t get him to bed, he’ll end up sleeping on the couch then bitching about his neck hurting for the next week.”
It still bothered me with how touchy-feely the two of them were together. I don’t think I’d ever seen two people find so many ways to touch each other when they weren’t in some sort of relationship. I bit my tongue and waited.
A few minutes later, Mari came back into the living room. “Ready?”
“Yeah.” The excitement I’d had when I showed up was gone. I told myself to stop being a dick, but always seeing Sawyer’s hands on Mari or vice versa was getting to me. Not for the first time, I wondered if Sawyer actually wanted to be more than friends with Mari.
She ran her small hands up my chest and around my neck. “Everything okay?”
Taking her hips in my hands, I held her body close. I gave my head a brief shake, trying to push the negative thoughts creeping up on me out of my head. “Yeah, sorry I zoned out for a minute.”
Her discerning eyes stayed on me for a minute, most likely attempting to figure out what I was hiding. But nothing good would come of me showing her that deep down was a jealous asshole, which meant hiding it.
“Okay,” she said, dragging out the word, then smiled. “Then let’s go. Since you won’t tell me where we’re going, I want to get on the road.”
That made me chuckle. “Antsy?”
“Yes, now let’s go.”
Mari practically shoved me out the door and into my truck. About halfway to the end of the road, she moved in her seat to lean her back against the door and face me. “You really won’t tell me where we’re going?”
“Nope,” I said, popping the “p.” “But how about you tell me how your conversation went with your mom.”
Mari hadn’t talked to her mom since the release of the record. She knew nothing about me. Well, that wasn’t true. I was pretty sure she knew plenty about me. We didn’t grow up in a small town, but someone making it to the pros from our area was a big deal. My name had been plastered everywhere at one point. But that wasn’t what worried me. I had no idea how much Mrs. Cosmann knew about the me from high school. The last thing I needed was for Mari’s mom to convince her to kick my ass to the curb.
I knew how lucky I was to get a second chance at knowing the woman next to me. Considering our history, I knew not everyone would see it that way. Mari shifted in her seat.
“Umm . . .”
“You didn’t tell her,” I muttered.
She held her hands up. “No, but it’s not my fault. I only got to talk to my mom for like five minutes before she passed the phone around to her entire office for everyone to tell me congratulations.”
“And you haven’t called her back?”
She leaned over the center console, her warm breath tickling my ear. “No, because I’ve spent every moment outside of the studio or practice with you.”
The weight of her words settled the annoyance bubbling up. She had been with me; both literally and figuratively. There really hadn’t been another time for her to talk to her mom. “Sorry, I’m just worried she’ll convince you I’m not worth the time.”
“I told you. I didn’t talk to my mom a lot about what went on in school. She obviously knew about the guitar, but I told her it was an accident. My grandmother, on the other hand, knew some of what happened. I’m pretty sure if she saw you now, she’d understand exactly what I see when I look at you.”
“And what’s that?” Even guys needed an ego boost every once in a while.
“A sexy piece of arm candy.” She barely got the words out before she doubled over in mirth.
“Very funny.”
I kept my eyes on the road while she got herself under control. This was one of my favorite sides of Mari; the one that let her inhibitions go and just was. Outlandish things came out of her mouth, and for those few minutes she was simply Mari, not the girl who had the weight of the world on her shoulders.
Her laughter subsided. “I see a guy who’s gone out of his way to prove how much I mean to him. Who still does his best to show how much he cares. He’s fun and charming, not to mention sexy. And for some reason, he wants me.”
I couldn’t help glancing at her, words on the tip of my tongue I didn’t think she was ready to hear. “That guy wants you more than you can imagine and he’s lucky as fuck that you want him back.”
Mari wrapped her fingers through mine, silence descending over the car. It wasn’t an uncomfortable one, either. For a brief moment, we were enjoying simply being together. No words needed to be said.
I turned into the lot for the museum and Mari squealed, grabbing my arm. “The Rock exhibit?” She pleaded with her eyes for it to be true.
“Yep. I got tickets.”
“Holy shit. How? Those tickets have been sold out for like a month. I can’t believe you did this.” The rambling continued, her ass bouncing up and down in the seat.
“The how doesn’t matter. Do you want to go in or not?”
She leapt out of the car and I had to scramble to keep up with her. I’d had a feeling she’d like it, but I didn’t realize just how excited she’d be. Good thing my legs were longer than hers, otherwise I’d never have been able to keep up. I brought the tickets up on my phone, letting the guy scan us into the museum. After that, I let Mari lead the way.
She oohed and ahhed at each display. Every once in a while I noticed someone watching her. Whether her enjoyment of the exhibit was contagious or they recognized her, I wasn’t sure, but either way, no one bothered us as we strolled through the museum.
As we made our way through the exhibit, Mari taught me a ton about music. It was hard not to embrace her excitement. The idea that someday someone could, one day, be screeching and jumping up and down over Mari’s guitar or the outfit she’d worn on stage was humbling. I thought with my experience I knew what to expect, but this was a whole new level. She was on her way to great things, and I was happy to encourage her from the sidelines. This was all about Mari. Anything she wanted or needed I would give her.
We stepped out into the setting sun, when Mari’s small hand slipped into mine bringing my step to a halt.
“Thank you for bringing me here.” She leaned up on her toes and pressed a soft kiss to my lips. The feel was dizzying. “It was perfect.”
“You’re welcome. I’m just glad I got to experience it with you. I have a whole new appreciation for what you guys do. I knew you all worked hard, but the creativity to create
the stuff you do astounds me.”
The lights in the parking lot flickered on. I hadn’t realized how much time we’d spent inside. Time had passed in the blink of an eye, like every moment I spent with Mari. Alone time was at a premium, and with more and more of her hours being spent at the studio, the job coaching at Hayward seemed more and more appealing every day.
CHAPTER 24
Cole
Lesson planning sucked. I’d never figure out why I couldn’t do my job without scheduling each part of my day on a piece of paper and turning it in. The damn things never stayed the same. If the students enjoyed a sport, I refused to move on just because my plans said I was supposed to, which made the whole document nothing more than a torture tactic.
A loud knock on the door brought my attention away from my computer. “Come in,” I called.
A mane of dark-brown hair peered around the door. “Do you have a minute, Coach?”
“Sure, Chris, come on in.” I gestured with my hand to the chair in front of the desk.
He pushed the door open and I was a little shocked to see him lead Kristen inside. Her hands trembled, her eyes darting around the office like she was looking for an escape route.
“Kristen.” I nodded at her. “What can I do for you two today?”
Obviously something had happened. It had taken a lot of courage for her to come back, even though I’d promised I would handle anything else the guys dished out. What I really wanted to know was why Chris had come in with her?
“Coach, we have a problem with Jarrod.”
No shit. Kid’s a complete asshole. “Okay, want to tell me what happened?”
Kristen looked at Chris, her eyes welling up. “I got a text message.”
I waited but she said nothing else. I stayed silent, watching on as she took the phone out of her bag, her hands shaking so badly she had a hard time unlocking it. She handed it over to me and I wanted to crush it in my hand. There were about twenty messages. The first being a dick pic.
Rock Me (Jaded Ivory Book 1) Page 20