by Goda, Julia
“You did good,” I heard a low voice utter beside me. I looked over and gave Jimmy a smile.
“We all did.”
“Yeah, we all do our piece, but you go above and beyond the call of duty, Liz. The kids see that and respect you for it. They trust you. Look at them. Since you started working here, our numbers of kids who actually stay and accept our help has more than doubled and that’s all you.” Tears started pooling in my eyes at his words.
“Stop, Jimmy. Crying like a baby is gonna make me lose my street cred.” He chuckled, then gave me a quick hug and wished me a Happy Thanksgiving before he rejoined the group on the couch to watch the game. I took a deep breath to control my girly tears then grabbed my stuff from the office and met Jesse and Chloe by the door.
Cole was sitting on the couch watching the game when I came home. When he heard the door open, he turned his head to look over the couch and smiled. “Hey, baby.” He got up and walked towards me.
“Hey,” I replied, then lifted up on my toes to give him a small kiss on the lips.
“What was that?” Cole asked, amused, when I stepped back.
“What was what?” I was busy taking my boots and coat off and going through my to-do list in my head, so I didn’t see him getting close. He hooked an arm around my waist and gently pulled me to him until he could wrap both arms around me. I looked up at him in confusion.
“Baby, kiss me like you mean it,” he murmured before his head descended toward mine and he took my mouth in a long kiss that left me a little dizzy.
“Everything good at the shelter?”
“Yeah. They have a lot of kids there, but they’ve got it under control. Marie is on her way over. I should probably get started on the turkey,” I informed him while extricating myself from his arms and moving toward the kitchen. “You stay out of the way and go follow Thanksgiving tradition. I’ll be slaving away in the kitchen. You’re on door duty.” I heard him chuckling behind me and smiled to myself, happy and content, then I got to work immediately.
The turkey was almost ready to go in the oven when Cole came in to get a beer. He stopped in the doorway and looked at me, then smiled and came over to where I was standing at the counter. When he got close, he leaned down to murmur in my ear, “I like this. Watching you work in our kitchen to make a holiday dinner for our friends. It’s very sexy.” I giggled.
“Watching me with my hands up a turkey’s butt is sexy, huh?”
He chuckled low. “You have no idea.” I giggled again.
“You happy?” He looked deep into my eyes.
“Yeah,” I whispered.
“Good. Me too,” he whispered back then headed to the fridge to get himself a beer. I watched him as he did this so I could appreciate his butt as he walked out of the room, and felt so very, very lucky that that ass and everything attached to it was mine.
Marie showed up ten minutes later and Katie and her boyfriend, Chris, five minutes after that. The women came straight to the kitchen, where I poured us all a glass of wine.
“Good God, woman. Now I know why you’ve been hiding that hunk of a man. Please tell me he can be an asshole or is really bad in bed,” Marie said, fanning herself and making me laugh.
“Yes to the first, no to the second,” I informed her through my hilarity.
“He can be an asshole?”
“Yes, but he’s never one to me. At least not on purpose.”
“It’s about time he got his head out of his ass. I honestly didn’t think he had it in him,” Katie chimed in.
“What do you mean?” Marie asked.
“He’s been in love with Liz since they were kids but was too busy screwing around to see what was right in front of him all these years.”
“Ah, here comes the asshole part.”
“It wasn’t like that, Katie,” I tried to defend Cole.
“No? What was it like, then? Every party he was at he hooked up with a new random girl, but made sure that no guy ever came near you, or God forbid, touched you. Every guy in town was too afraid to even ask you out on a date, scared they would have to endure the wrath of Cole, even after he left for college. Tell me, how many dates exactly did you go on during high school?”
“Boys didn’t ask me out on dates because I lived on the wrong side of town. It would have tarnished their reputation.”
“That’s bullshit, Liz. Every guy in high school had the hots for you, but Cole kept a close eye on the situation. He was the school king even after he graduated and made it very clear to everyone that he considered you his. Nobody wanted to mess with him. That’s why no guy dared to come near you.” I stared at Katie, completely dumbfounded. My whole life I thought the boys I went to school with treated like a pariah because of where I came from, because of who my mother was. I couldn’t wrap my head around what Katie just said.
Boys had been interested in me?
Katie saw the shocked expression on my face and her tone gentled. “I confronted him about it once. He told me he was just looking out for you, that he didn’t want any of those pigs using you or breaking your heart. I’m sure that’s what he was telling himself he was doing. But not all of those guys were bad news. There were a few good ones that would have treated you right, given the chance. Like Scott, for example.”
She was right.
Scott had been one of the good guys. After that fateful night at the party when my world came crashing down, when I knew that Cole and I would never be a couple, I had opened myself up to the idea of dating and had hoped that Scott would ask me out. He was the nicest guy in school, good looking, always helpful and friendly, polite. We had been partnered up for one of our science assignments and had spent a good amount of time together, just the two of us. He had made me laugh and seemed to be genuinely interested in me and what I had to say, which made me forget about all that crap that was going on in my life. I had caught him staring at me a few times during class and in the cafeteria, and had thought he might be into me, but when he never made a move on me, I thought I had imagined it or read too much into a friendly look. We had stayed friends during high school and still sent each other messages and talked from time to time. Now Katie was saying that the reason he hadn’t gone for more was because he was afraid he’d have to deal with Cole?
I narrowed my eyes at the living room.
“Yeah, I see it’s sinking in,” Katie murmured.
Yes, it was definitely sinking in.
“Well, the way I see it, if they didn’t have the balls to go for it despite Cole, then he was right and they weren’t worth your time in the first place.” This came from Marie. I turned my head to look at her.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, a man or a boy who will be a man, at any age, if he wants something, he’ll go for it, no matter if someone is threatening him or warning him off. He’ll take the threat head-on if he thinks what waits for him at the end is worth the effort. And seeing that none of them went for it proves that Cole was right. They weren’t good enough for you if they didn’t think you were worth the effort of taking him on.”
“Huh. I’ve never looked at it that way. That kinda makes sense in a roundabout way,” Katie mumbled, then took a sip of wine and looked towards the living room with a thoughtful look on her face. My irritation with Cole dissipated at Marie’s words. I agreed with Katie. They did make sense in a roundabout way.
“Anyways, from what I’ve seen and heard, he has claimed you now and has no intention of ever giving another guy a chance of even considering making a play for you. He's gone whole hog and made you move in with him after a few weeks of dating. No man does that unless he’s found what he wants and is going for it, no matter the consequences. Actually, after what you’ve been telling me, I’m surprised he hasn’t tattooed his name on your ass to show his ownership.”
“Whose name tattooed on whose ass?” Cole’s voice came from the door. I lifted my eyes over Marie’s shoulder to see Cole waltzing into the kitchen with empties. Marie turned
around and filled him in.
“Your name, her ass,” she said, pointing first at Cole, then at me.
Cole’s eyebrows shot up, then his face split into a grin. “I like that idea.”
“See? Told you,” Marie looked back at me and gave me a pointed look.
I looked over at Katie and watched her take in what Marie had said. Her eyes were on Cole, still thoughtful, while she twirled her wineglass in her hand. They followed him as he got close to me to softly kiss my temple, and kept following him as he retrieved more beer from the fridge, until he disappeared back into the living room. Then her eyes came to me and she gave me a small nod and a smile.
“Marie is right. Doesn’t mean I won’t still keep an eye on him,” she said as she put her wine aside and went to work at rolling out the dough for the pie. Fair enough. Still a little shocked by what I had learned, but also, strangely, even happier than I was ten minutes ago, I went back to work.
Our dining table was filled to the max with eight people around it. Dinner was delicious and conversation was constant and filled with laughter. Katie and Chris entertained us with tales about their last vacation to England, where apparently they’d had some difficulties conversing with the locals, believe it or not. You would think that English would be English no matter where you were in the world, but according to them you needed a dictionary if you wanted to understand any of their slang terms, like ‘dog’s bollocks’ meant something great, or how when someone said, ‘have a butcher’s’ at something meant to go and look at it. Marie, Sophie, and I were in tears the more Katie and Chris got into it.
Sophie was Daniel’s girlfriend and she and I bonded over Cole’s mother’s hatred for us. The stories she told me about how she had been treated by her were kind of intimidating. Daniel had refused to ever have anything to do with his aunt again for any reason, that’s how bad it was. I wasn’t looking forward to ever officially meeting her as Cole’s girlfriend.
“Don’t worry, Liz. What can she really do to you? Cole will have your back and she won’t go up against him, especially now that he is actually richer than them,” she tried to reassure me.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you know, because his grandfather left all his money and assets to Cole instead of his own son when he died last year. Shocking, but apparently, he never liked his son or his daughter-in-law very much, but Cole he was close to. So he left everything to him.” That was news to me. Wow. I just stared at Sophie, not knowing what to say. Her eyes grew big at the realization that I hadn’t known any of this.
“You didn’t know, did you?” she asked, concerned now. I shook my head at her. I wasn’t sure what to make of this. I didn’t care about money, Cole knew this, and neither did he. We had that discussion when he wanted to buy this house. So did it really matter that he was even richer than I thought? Not really. But he could have told me. I hadn’t been able to go with him to his grandfather’s funeral last year, but I had known he had been very upset. His grandfather had always supported him and taught him the life lessons that his father had been too busy to teach his son. They had been close; I knew that, even though they had only seen each other a few times a year because he lived in California. When Cole was fourteen, he spent his whole summer break there. It had been the longest and loneliest summer of my life. But when he came back, he had told me how awesome his grandfather was. How he was different from his own father and that he wished he could live with him all of the time. That thought had terrified me.
But I hadn’t known that he had left all his money to Cole. That must have caused some serious tension with his parents. I couldn’t imagine they liked the idea of being skipped over in favor of their son who was so different from them and whom they didn’t like very much. I wondered why he hadn’t told me about it. I would have to ask him about it. But not now when we had a house full of guests.
Determined to put his family out of my mind for now, I gave Sophie a small smile to let her know it was okay and changed the subject.
Daniel and Sophie had to leave right after dinner. They had promised his parents, who also lived in Boston, to stop by their house for dessert and a nightcap. Sophie had her arm hooked through mine as we followed Cole and Daniel to the door.
“You okay after what I dropped on you earlier?” she asked in a low voice that only I could hear.
“I’m fine. It’s not really a big deal. Don’t worry about it.”
“Okay. Let’s get together soon. I have a feeling we’re going to be great friends.” I would love that. Sophie was great and lots of fun. It would be nice to have another girlfriend. I didn’t have too many of those. We made arrangements to meet up for coffee the following week.
“Glad to see you finally got your shit together, bro,” I heard Daniel say when he gave Cole a man hug. “You’re lucky nobody snapped her up before you came to your senses.”
“Believe me, I know exactly how lucky I am,” Cole replied after he released Daniel and looked at me. Daniel nodded. When he hugged me, he whispered in my ear, “He’s been in love with you all his life, you know?” Yes, I was starting to believe it. Cole had said it when he came to apologize after our fight and again when he took me out to dinner; Katie said it tonight; and now Daniel. “I love him, too,” I whispered back. Daniel gave me a squeeze before he let me go, but held on to my shoulders, studying me closely. “I see it.” Then he turned to get Sophie’s coat and Sophie moved in to hug me goodbye.
Katie and Chris left shortly after. They were going home to Katie’s parents for brunch the next day, so they had to get up kinda early in the morning for the drive out to Ashford. After some more TV for the men while Marie and I cleaned up the rest of the dishes and shared some more wine in the kitchen, our last two guests called it a night as well. Marie had had too much to drink, so Steve volunteered to give her a ride home. She would come and get her car tomorrow.
I was undressing in the bedroom when Cole came upstairs after closing down the house. Too tired to worry about my clothes, I dropped them on the floor, crawled to bed in only my panties, and collapsed on my stomach. Soft kisses on my naked back made me shiver and I sighed contentedly.
“Tired, baby?”
“Mmh.”
“This is what I’ve been thinking about all day. Having you naked underneath me to do with whatever I please. Completely at my mercy.” One of his hands was joining the action and wandered up and down my side, lightly touching the swell of my breast before it went down and over my hip to my ass, all the while his lips kept slowly and softly exploring my back. His hands felt like magic on my skin, making every single cell of my body come alive with need. His fingers found my sex and started playing, gently gliding through my folds. I tipped my ass slightly up to give him better access. He chuckled.
“Never too tired to play. Always so hot for me. I can’t get enough of you, Liz.” His words in that low raspy voice turned me on, and I started circling my hips with the movement of his fingers. Then one finger entered me, left me again, and went back to circling, spreading the wetness his movements caused. I moaned and pressed into his finger. A few minutes of playing and he already had me where he wanted me.
Needy and ready to take him.
I started to turn around to face him, but his body came down on mine, keeping me in place.
“No, baby. I want to play a little longer. Be good and don’t move.” He lifted up off me. I stayed where I was and was immediately rewarded with two fingers entering me, stroking lazily a few times, then leaving me again to press and circle. His other hand moved my hair over my shoulder so that his mouth could explore the back of my neck with soft kisses and gentle touches, driving me absolutely crazy. I wasn’t very good at submitting, so we both knew I wouldn’t be able to hold still for very long. The feel of his jeans against my almost naked ass was unbelievably sexy when he leaned into me, letting me feel his hardness against my backside.
“Cole,” I whispered. I wanted him so badly that the need of feeling
him inside me made my body shiver.
“Shh, baby, soon. Just a little longer. I love your back, your ass, your neck,” he whispered, his lips on me, fingers playing, hips gently thrusting against me. I clenched my fingers in the sheet and held on, breathing hard. Finally, I could feel his other hand between us at his jeans, unzipping them, pushing them down, and then he was there, rubbing his hard cock through my folds, coating it, before he slowly entered me from behind, inch by slow inch, holding me in place with his weight on top of me, so all I could do was wait for him to give me all of him.
Torture.
Slow torture until finally he filled me completely.
“God, Liz. Every time. You feel so good every time I take you. Gripping me so tight. I’m gonna take you slow, baby, so slow. Gonna drag it out until you can’t take it anymore and beg me to fuck you hard. You feel this, baby? This is you and me. Perfect. Absolutely perfect.” He took me slowly, making love to me, pushing in a bit then pulling back out, back in a little more, then grinding, in a bit more, back out. Over and over and over again. I could feel his body shaking above me with the effort of holding on to his control. His mouth kept at my back and my neck, making me shake and shiver all over while he kept slowly thrusting and grinding. I wanted to push back into him, demanding more, but his hips held me firmly in place.
“Liz, baby,” his breathing was labored now, his voice growly. I couldn’t take it anymore.
I started begging, “Please, Cole. I need more.”
He thrust in a little harder and faster but it was nowhere near hard enough.
“Cole, please!”
With almost brutal force he slammed into me, hard, fast, driving me up to climax with a speed that left me reeling. His hands were pulling my hips back to meet his thrust for thrust. After only a few minutes, I was there, and my sex started spasming around him. I knew there was no chance of holding it back and I came on a loud groan, bucking my hips against his until he groaned my name with his own release.