And he hadn’t known it until now.
Chapter Fourteen
Monday afternoon Rachel headed to the bakery, planning to read a little while she had a cup of coffee and a Nanaimo bar.
Mullin’s bakery wasn’t one of those idyllic, small-town, family-run places that made the best pecan pie or blueberry crumble in the world. It was family-run, but the interior was in need of updating, and while the baked goods were decent, they were nothing special.
She could remember the bakery from her childhood. Because she’d always lived in Georgeville, because there weren’t all that many places to go here. Having a big fight with Shannon in the bakery was one of her earliest memories.
Well. Right now she would eat her Nanaimo bar and escape from Georgeville between the pages of a book.
After paying Mrs. Mullin, she looked up and saw Darrell outside, walking past the bakery’s front window. He glanced in, saw her, smiled, and waved. She smiled and waved back. Darrell hadn’t held much appeal to her lately, but now she remembered her conversation with Cole in bed last night. About her fantasy of a threesome. And as she watched Darrell walk past, his muscular body filling out that black T-shirt just perfectly, she imagined rolling around in bed with him while Cole watched.
She felt her face grow warm.
No, she had to stop thinking about this. She was in a bakery, for fuck’s sake.
She walked to the back of the bakery and nearly jumped backward in shock when she saw Cassie sitting there eating a brownie.
Scratch that. Two brownies.
“Hey,” Rachel said. “You meeting someone? Can I join you?”
“Sure! Of course you can.” Cassie’s cheerfulness sounded totally fake. She was jittery, too, her leg bouncing under the table, which wasn’t like her at all.
“Two brownies? You doing okay?” Rachel slid into the chair across from her friend.
“I’m fine.” But then Cassie looked away, and Rachel thought she could see tears in her eyes.
“Cassie, you’re not fine. You haven’t been fine at all lately.”
Her face crumpled. “Oh, God. Is it that obvious? I was trying to be strong, and I thought I was succeeding, but…”
Those were definitely tears. Rachel walked to the counter and got a few napkins. She returned and handed one to Cassie.
“What is it?” Rachel asked.
Cassie was quiet for a moment. “There was this guy. Can you believe it? It’s never about a guy for me, but he… It was different with him.” She dabbed at her eyes. “I knew it was stupid. I knew it couldn’t last very long. But I couldn’t help myself.”
“Who’s the guy?”
Cassie shook her head. “You don’t know him. He’s not from around here.”
Jeez. Perhaps she was right about Cassie being pregnant, after all. She lowered her voice. “Um… I noticed you were drinking water the other night and—”
“Did you?” Cassie sighed and looked at her plate. “Yes, I thought I was pregnant a couple of weeks ago. Just for a few days. And the most ridiculous thing was, I was happy about it. Happy I might be pregnant with this man’s baby. Full of fantasies about how he’d come back and everything would work out.” She had a bite of one of her brownies. “But I’m not pregnant. I was a few days late, that’s all.”
“A couple of weeks ago… Then why weren’t you drinking last Thursday?”
“Because drinking was like admitting it’s over, and I couldn’t bring myself to do that. I’m crushed that I’m not pregnant, even though I don’t want a baby right now. It was just a way to get him back.” She buried her face in her hands and moaned. “God, I can’t believe this. It’s the first time I’ve ever been stupid over a guy.”
Rachel reached for her hand and grasped it. “If it took until you were twenty-three, that’s pretty impressive. Happened to me ages ago.”
But only once. With Brandon.
“I wish it had happened for me in high school. Honestly, there was only one week when everything was absolutely wonderful with this guy. All this, over one stupid week.”
“Why didn’t I hear about it when it was wonderful?” Rachel asked. “Weren’t you just bursting with excitement to talk about it?”
“Oh, you know me. I’m never bursting with excitement.” Cassie sighed, took back her hand, and broke off a piece of brownie. “And like I said, I always knew it couldn’t last. He doesn’t live in the area, and he was just here for a few weeks. It made no sense. I’ll never see him again, and it hurts so much.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I can’t believe I’m telling you all this.”
“Remember how Brandon winked at me when he was playing catch with his brother? That one moment?”
“Of course I remember,” Cassie said, opening her eyes to roll them. “You wouldn’t shut up about how you knew you’d love him forever and ever.”
“Yeah. It was pathetic. But at the time, I thought it was horribly romantic.”
Rachel took a bite of her Nanaimo bar. She knew how Cassie was feeling. It was a long time ago now, but she remembered what it was like, could understand how one week had completely changed her friend. Brandon had stolen her heart in an instant, then broken it one small piece at a time.
“You want to do something tonight?” Rachel asked. “Come over and we’ll order pizza. I’ll call Jenna—”
“No.” Cassie held up a hand. “I don’t want to see someone who’s happy in love. I can’t deal with that right now. And could we do tomorrow, instead? I just want to go home and curl up in bed. I haven’t been able to sleep for days, and I’m about to fall over.”
“So you were telling the truth about your insomnia?”
Cassie nodded. “I just didn’t want to tell you everything else because it’s so embarrassing.” She curled her hand into a fist and hit her forehead. “I’m such an idiot.”
Rachel pulled Cassie’s hand away from her head. “How about you stop literally beating yourself up over it? I’ll pack up your second brownie and walk home with you, and tomorrow, we’re going to have fun. Hit the town.” As in, they’d go to Lawson’s.
Rachel felt a sudden tug at her heart. It had nothing to do with love, but her longing to live somewhere where there was more than one bar to choose from, where you actually got to decide where to go and what to do because there were multiple options.
She thought of Cole’s mom, younger than Rachel was now, fleeing an abusive relationship, driving from Winnipeg to Ottawa with a young child. It had been much harder for her than it would ever be for Rachel.
The thought helped banish some of the lingering fears she had about making that move.
If his mother could do it, then she could, too.
When Rachel walked up the driveway, Cole was sitting on her porch. Her face heated at the sight of him, at the thought of why he was there. He wanted to take her to bed.
Yes. She wanted that, too. It would wipe away all the thoughts spinning in her mind right now. Thoughts about Cassie and Brandon and how badly she wanted to get out of this damn town. Instead, she could focus on the feel of his hands on her body, slipping between her legs. The way he held her tight, the way his skin rubbed against hers as he moved inside her and took her toward ecstasy.
She wanted to focus on the physical, the rush of being in bed with a hot man.
Or maybe more than one…
The memory of the threesome fantasy suffused her whole body. The way his eyes had darkened when she talked about being with another guy in front of him—she wanted that, too.
Perhaps she should bring up the possibility of doing it for real.
“Come sit.” Cole reached up and tugged her hand when she stopped in front of him.
“Why don’t we go inside?” she said. “And then I’ll sit on your lap.”
“I want to talk to you first, just for a minute.”
He wanted to talk? Shit. That was unexpected.
She sat down. “What’s up?”
“I’ve been thinking…” He looked
away from her and ran his hands through his hair. “I’ve been thinking maybe we could go on a date.” He turned back to face her and curled a hand around hers.
Was he serious?
She blinked and glanced away. “Wouldn’t that require too much social interaction for you?”
“I know, it’s a bit of a surprise. For me, too. But that’s what I want.” He squeezed her hand. “Say yes, Rachel.”
She couldn’t look at him. No. On a date, it could happen—that one perfect moment, like there had been with Brandon. She didn’t want that. She didn’t want to be living for just a few fleeting moments here and there.
After she’d gotten over Brandon, everything was better. She slept with who she wanted to, without the complications of a relationship. She’d taken back control of her life.
Logically, she knew that not every relationship would be like what she’d had with her high school boyfriend. She wasn’t going to swear off relationships forever, even if they made her twitchy.
But now was a terrible time. She didn’t want anyone to tie her to Georgeville. Not even Cole. What if she fell for him and pushed aside her dreams for him, only to be disappointed again?
No, she wouldn’t let that happen.
It had been stupid to let him sleep over last night. She never let men stay over. And then she’d felt the urge to have that little heart-to-heart conversation.
Yeah, she’d been curious about his past from the moment she met him. But talking in bed? While she was lying in his arms?
And now he wanted even more than that.
Great.
Well, he was certainly proving he was different. But this wasn’t what she wanted. No deep conversations. No dates.
And no asking him to make her fantasies a reality.
She cleared her throat. “We don’t have to go on a date just because we’re sleeping together. I don’t expect it.”
She’d already told him she only wanted sex. She’d thought he understood her.
“I know we don’t,” he said. “I know you don’t expect it. And I don’t feel obligated. I’m asking you on a date because I want to take you on a date. It’s that simple.”
“Why?”
He hesitated. “I didn’t think I’d ever enjoy being in bed with someone unless we were having sex. I thought it would be awkward. But with you this morning…it was kind of nice. So, I think we should try this whole dating thing. Who knows? We might like that, too.”
He placed his hand on her cheek and turned her to face him. She squeezed her eyes shut, just for a moment, then opened them. She shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
He sighed as he lifted himself to his feet. “Just thought I’d ask.” He held out his hand. “You still want to have sex? Or have I turned you off with my grand romantic gesture?”
She swallowed. “I want to fuck.”
And forget that you just asked me out. She couldn’t go down that road. Not again. Couldn’t end up like Cassie. Or her old self.
But most important, she couldn’t risk anything that might get in the way of her plans.
“Very well. We’ll fuck.”
The word practically sizzled through her body. She didn’t take his hand, just walked by him and went into her apartment. He followed her inside and closed the door.
“Now strip,” he ordered in a firm voice. “Take off your clothes and bend over the kitchen table.”
Hell, yes. This was what she needed. No emotional conversation. No dates. No mushy, romantic, I-want-to-hold-you-all-night-long sex.
He always knew what she needed.
Well. Almost always.
She pushed that thought aside and did as he’d commanded.
She walked slowly down the hall toward the kitchen, shedding her clothes along the way. First she pulled off her T-shirt, then her jeans. She took a few steps, wiggling her ass, before unhooking her bra and dropping it to the floor. Her panties were last, right at the entrance to the kitchen.
Cole stared at her, his erection making a not-so-subtle tent in his shorts, and said nothing.
But he didn’t need to say anything. The air was charged with his desire.
With her desire.
No words were needed.
She bent over the table, stuck her ass in the air, and pressed her breasts against the worn wood. She desperately wanted to slip her fingers between her legs, wanted to touch the swollen lips of her pussy before circling her clit and making herself shatter right there on the table.
But she didn’t.
She waited for Cole.
And damn, the man had apparently remembered that she liked waiting, because when she glanced up at the clock after what felt like eternity, a full ten minutes had passed and she hadn’t heard a peep from him.
No words, no footsteps in the hall. Was he just standing there, studying her bent over the table? Stroking his cock, perhaps?
She shuffled to the side, toward the doorway that led to the front hall. When she looked backward, she clenched her thighs and swore under her breath.
He was naked. Every glorious inch of him, from his hairy chest and solid biceps to his feet, was naked. And he was jerking himself off, his hand moving swiftly up and down.
“Hey, stranger,” she said.
Better to think of him as a stranger than someone she’d gotten to know. Someone she liked and felt comfortable with.
Someone she could fall in love with.
She banished the terrifying thought and fastened her gaze on his fist and his cock. “Why don’t you let me do that for you?” she suggested in a sultry voice.
He shook his head. “I’m gonna do it myself the first time. So I can last longer when I’m inside you.” But he took a few lazy steps in her direction. “Though perhaps I could come on you.”
Oh, fuck. She was wet for him, and his idea made her even wetter.
But she didn’t touch herself to feel the moisture dripping onto her fingers.
He was behind her now, his face harsh, his hand stroking furiously up and down. When he tipped his head up and back, she turned to face forward, away from him. He bit out a low growl, and spent himself on her lower back.
Filthy. That’s what she was. Utterly filthy.
And that was good. Bad girls didn’t get their hearts broken.
She took a deep breath. It would be at least five or ten minutes before Cole would be hard again. They’d had enough sex marathons for her to know that.
He smacked her ass.
The first blow shocked her. She yelped as she slid forward across the table.
“Okay?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“I’m going to smack you harder next time.”
Excitement thrummed through her. The second blow came as she was nodding. It stung. A few more smacks and a numb pleasure started to spread through her body, radiating outward from where his hand landed.
Yes, this was just what she needed.
He bent over her, his chest against her back, and whispered, “You let me do whatever the fuck I want with you. Not because you want to please me, but because it pleases you. I love that.”
She trembled, her heart perilously close to breaking open.
No, no, no.
She couldn’t let that happen.
He returned to spanking her, the slaps of his rough skin on her heated flesh coming closer together now. The numbness returned, flooding through her body. All she could think of was what he was doing to her.
Not what he’d asked her earlier.
Certainly not what it meant.
He dipped his hand between her legs and ran his fingers up and down her slit.
“Fuck,” he said, “you’re like a goddamn lake.”
He shoved his fingers in and out of her, faster and faster, until he brought her to climax. She convulsed around him, was still convulsing when he withdrew to smack her ass one final time.
She heard the crinkle of a condom wrapper. She wanted him just as badly as she had before he�
�d gotten her off. That hadn’t been enough. Not even close.
He shoved all the way into her in one stroke, and it felt like he was impaling her even deeper than he actually was. She could feel him everywhere in her body, from her toes all the way up to the top of her head.
He pumped in and out of her at a frenzied pace, his thumb on her clit making it almost painfully intense. She spread out her arms and clutched the edges of the table as he made her come once more.
It was a bit of a blur after that. She had a couple more orgasms, and they weren’t quite as powerful as the first two, but still, the pleasure was exquisite.
Because of him.
He rammed into her over and over, his hand sliding under her body and grasping her breasts, toying with the hard peaks of her nipples. And then his hands were on her hips once more and he cried out.
She wished he would call out her name, but he didn’t.
And really, she shouldn’t even care.
She stayed where she was as he pulled out of her and walked away. When she heard the front door close, she finally stood up, keeping a hand on the table because she felt a bit wobbly.
She felt well and truly fucked, which was good. Exactly what she’d wanted.
Yet…even though she hadn’t been able to see his face when he was inside her, even though he’d never kissed her on the lips, even though he’d treated her so roughly…it still felt like the most intimate sexual experience she’d ever had.
He’d played her body so perfectly, as though he’d been practicing for years.
Damn.
As much as it pained her, she knew it would have to be the last time.
It was too dangerous to sleep with him, when he could fuck her so hard…and still make her feel so much.
Chapter Fifteen
After leaving Rachel’s, Cole went home and heated up some of the food his mom had left for him.
It took him a long time to cool down from having sex with Rachel. It had been the hottest thing he’d ever experienced. No doubt about that.
But what had she thought? What did she think of him? She’d seemed totally unaffected earlier on his porch when he suggested a date. What the hell was that all about?
Tempting Her Neighbor (a Georgeville novella) Page 10