Perfect Fling

by Carly Phillips

  Erin didn’t know how long she rocked against his mouth and hand, only that he drew out her orgasm as long as possible.

  “You’re incredible,” he murmured, sliding away from her only long enough to undress.

  She bent, intending to unhook her shoes, but he stilled her with a strong hand on her leg.

  “Leave them on. With those heels, you’re a goddamned fantasy come to life.”

  As if to prove his point, he stood before her, completely naked, his erection rock hard, protruding from his gorgeous body. While raking his hot gaze over her body, he wrapped his hand around his cock, pumping once, then twice, before joining her.

  He bracketed her, one knee on either side of her, as he poised his erection at her damp, pulsing entrance.

  Erin looked up at him, afraid everything she felt for him showed in her eyes. Not wanting to lose him because she was becoming emotionally invested when that wasn’t what he wanted, she drew on bad-girl Erin as she met his gaze. “Fuck me, Cole.”

  His eyes darkened to a stormy black and with a strangled groan, he plunged hard and deep. Erin cried out, taking all of him, feeling all of him as he laid claim to her with a punishing rhythm that somehow felt so very right. Her body, which had been sated seconds before, came alive once more, taking a fast climb to an inevitable end that arrived in an explosion that encompassed everything that was Erin. She held nothing back—couldn’t—as he demanded and took all of her with him when he came.

  • • •

  Cole stood in Erin’s kitchen cooking breakfast. A mundane task he’d begun to enjoy because she appreciated and liked his food so damn much. Another thing he wasn’t used to. Doing things for someone else on a daily basis. Giving and receiving approval for little things. Someone else coming to expect things from him.

  And him learning to rely on things from another human being. Erin had begun to do his laundry, something he’d tried unsuccessfully to prevent. She was doing hers anyway, and since she came home from work and had a routine she followed, he’d started to let her scoop up his towels and things along with her own. She left him the newspaper to read because she only scanned the comics and “Dear Abby,” a weird choice for such a bright woman, but it amused him to watch her small smiles as she read while she devoured his food.

  Little things that he’d miss when he was gone. None of which meant he wanted this psycho to continue to toy with her life. The very thought made his blood boil. Nobody wanted to catch this bastard more than he did, but her brothers were at a standstill.

  To top things off, he’d gotten a couple voice mail messages from his boss, asking when he’d be ready to go back under. Normally the answer was yesterday, but no way would he leave Erin alone when she was being stalked. And with the baby on the way, he admitted to needing time to get his head on straight. Not that he’d tell his superiors any such thing. He wanted space, and after the years he’d put in, he was entitled.

  He’d just served them both and was about to call Erin when the doorbell rang. Knowing she’d learned not to answer, he felt for his weapon and headed to see who was there at ten o’clock on a Sunday morning.

  A look outside and he froze.

  “Who is it?” Erin asked from the top of the stairs.

  “Jed.” Cole didn’t turn around.

  “Oh. Umm, I’ll let you handle it,” she said, and he sensed rather than saw her head back to her room. He appreciated the privacy, since nothing about this visit could possibly be good.

  Cole opened the door and faced his old man.

  “You took your sweet time letting me in.”

  “Good morning to you too. What brings you by? Want to see Erin?” he asked, on the slight chance he could avoid the inevitable confrontation.

  He shook his head. “I had breakfast with Ella and Simon. ’Course I knew you were here playing bodyguard. Despite it all, I figured you’d take decent care of Erin, but damn it all, couldn’t you keep it in your pants?”

  Cole grabbed his father by his good arm and pulled him inside. In a public condo unit, he didn’t need Erin’s older neighbor coming outside and getting an earful.

  “None of this is any of your business,” he said, shutting the door behind Jed.

  His father ran his good hand through his hair. The cast had been removed on his other arm, leaving him with just a sling. “You feeling okay?” Cole asked him.

  “What do you mean, it’s none of my business? She’s the daughter of my best friend, the ex–police chief of this town. Not to mention an assistant D.A.”

  “Still don’t see where it’s your business,” Cole said, then mentally counted to ten to calm his temper. “Do you think I planned this? And before you ask, of course I used protection, so don’t go there.”

  “You’re still a goddamned moron. Who do you think you are, touching a girl like her?”

  Cole set his jaw. “She’s a woman, Dad. It was mutual.”

  “She’s a damned nice woman,” Jed barked at him. “You should have known better than to lay a hand on her. You’re just going to hurt her when you leave her high and dry.”

  “That’s between Cole and me, don’t you think?” Erin walked down the stairs, dressed for a day at his cousin Nick’s cabin on the lake. “Sorry, Cole, but I couldn’t help overhearing, and there’s no way I’m going to let him pin all this on you.”

  Cole’s head began to throb. “Erin, go back upstairs.” She didn’t need to hear his father beat up on him once again. And he didn’t need her sticking up for him or attempting to fight a battle he’d long since learned he couldn’t win.

  She shook her head. “It’s my house; that gives me some rights. Jed, if you’d like to stay and congratulate us on having a baby, that’s great. If you came to cause trouble, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

  Cole was torn between admiration and frustration.

  “Erin, I’ve known you since you were a little girl. What were you thinking?”

  She tipped her head to one side, eyeing his father as she would a defendant in a courtroom—much like he envisioned her going after a bug she wanted to squash. Cole decided his father deserved whatever he was about to get.

  “I was thinking I couldn’t find a better man than your son to sleep with when I was lonely.”

  Cole didn’t know which admission hit him harder, that she found him a good man even then, or that she’d gone to Joe’s that night because she’d been looking for company.

  He didn’t have time to chew on either, because she wasn’t finished with Jed. “And until you can find it in yourself to see Cole the way I do, you aren’t welcome here.” She stepped around Jed and opened her front door, making it perfectly clear she wanted the older man gone.

  “I see my son’s manners are rubbing off on you. Your mama would be disappointed.”

  “Actually, I think she’d applaud,” Erin muttered as Jed made his way to the door.

  “Now you’ve got a woman fighting your battles,” Jed said, getting in his parting shot at Cole.

  “Go home, Dad.”

  “He’ll break your heart just like his mother broke mine, mark my words.”

  “But I’ll be a better father than you ever were,” Cole said, getting face-to-face with the man who’d fathered and raised him but had never ever liked him. “And I’ll have Brody to thank.” Cole slammed the door behind Jed before Erin could take the pleasure away from him.

  A few intense, quiet seconds passed, in which Cole took a few moments to compose himself, breathing in and out, letting his heart rate return to normal.

  “Cole?” Erin asked softly, placing a hand on his shoulder.

  He didn’t want to have this conversation. If he could change anything about his relationship with Jed, it would be so he didn’t have to suffer the humiliation of confrontations like these in front of a woman like her. Because if anything Jed said had been right, it was that Erin was a damned nice woman, one whom he’d hurt in the end.

  But not only was he tied to her through h
is child; he couldn’t bring himself to walk away from her—from this relationship she was attempting to build with him—yet.

  He turned. “Sorry about that.”

  She raised an eyebrow, a defiant look on her face. “Don’t you dare apologize for his behavior. The one thing you should learn? How Jed acts is no reflection on you. Now, I’m hungry.” She spun around and started for the kitchen.

  “It’s cold by now,” he informed her.

  “That’s what microwaves are for.” She strode into the cheery kitchen with lavender purple accents and picked up both their dishes. “Luckily for you, that’s my specialty in the kitchen.” She shot him a cheeky grin and proceeded to heat their breakfast.

  Conversation about Jed seemingly over.

  But was it?

  Didn’t she want to dig deeper? To poke into his and Jed’s unhealthy and definitely ugly relationship? Wasn’t she worried that Jed’s view of him was somehow right? That maybe their kid would inherit his behavioral flaws? Because Jed might be an emotionally abusive jerk, but he hadn’t made up the fact that during his childhood, Cole was one hundred percent an out-of-control pain in the ass. But since Erin wasn’t bringing it up, Cole didn’t have the stomach to either.

  • • •

  A few hours later, after a stop at The Family Restaurant to pick up the cake Erin had promised Nick she’d bring with her today, they pulled up to Nick and Kate’s cabin on the lake. Serendipity Lake was located on the edge of town. Many of the wealthier residents owned summer cabins, and some had been renovated.

  Erin was surprised when she’d heard Nick had built his permanent home here, but she knew he was a builder, having inherited his father’s business when he passed away. She’d figured he’d bought a rundown place at a good price and fixed it up.

  Except that as they approached, it became clear Nick’s home wasn’t a renovated cabin—this was more like a state-of-the-art luxury home.

  “Wow,” Erin murmured as they pulled up the paved drive. The other homes they’d passed had gravel-lined paths for cars to take.

  “It’s something, right?”

  “Amazing!” Erin loved the house on sight.

  Nick had maintained the rustic feel, so the house wasn’t completely out of place in the area, but it had a newer, more modern look on way more than one lot of land.

  “Nick put his heart and soul into building this house. He planned it for years and worked during slow times, when he could get his crew here.” Cole parked behind a Ford F-150. “Inside and out. He even carved a lot of the furniture.”

  “Impressive,” she murmured.

  “Nick doesn’t like to brag, though. He doesn’t show off.”

  Erin nodded. “Kate’s not like that either. I’ve always liked her.”

  Cole met her on her side of the car. She took a few steps forward, only to realize he wasn’t beside her.

  “Cole?” She turned back to face him. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” He took two steps forward and she stopped him, putting a hand on his arm.

  “Tell me.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “How do you read me so damned well? I’m an undercover agent, for God’s sake. I’m good at hiding things.”

  She grinned, pleased he thought she could get past any facade he tried to erect. “I’m just good at knowing you. Now talk.”

  He let out a groan. “I don’t do this. See family. Hang out with friends. Just . . . be.”

  Her heart twisted at his hesitantly admitted words. “I know. Just try it. If, after a little while, you want to leave, just get my attention and tug on your ear. I’ll take the hint and make an excuse to go. Fair?”

  “More than fair.” He slid his hand over her cheek, cupping her face and holding her in place for a kiss that was rich for all he didn’t say, but there was a wealth of feeling behind it.

  He knew she got him in a way no one else ever had, or he wouldn’t be so surprised. Or touched. Progress, she thought, was a heady feeling.

  • • •

  Friends and family. Cole might not know from them, but he spent the day surrounded by both. Nick had invited everyone from his mother and sister, April, to people Cole hadn’t seen or spoken to in years. There were the three Barron brothers: Ethan, whom Nick remembered from high school, his brothers Nash and Dare, and their wives. Cole recognized some of the women too, including Ethan’s wife, Faith, who’d grown up in that mansion on the hill, and whose father was spending life in prison for a monster Ponzi scheme rivaling Madoff’s. Others were new to town, like Nash’s wife, Kelly, whose smart-mouthed teenage sister, Tess, joined them midway through the day. Dare, another cop and a friend of Erin’s, had married Liza McKnight, an architect.

  Then there were the babies and toddlers running around, whose ages Cole couldn’t remember, never mind which kid belonged to which parent. Nick and Kate opened their home, happy to have everyone hanging out together, neither seeming the least bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of people or the noise level of the screaming, laughing, sometimes crying kids.

  Cole expected to feel so far out of his element, his skin would itch with the need to get back to what he knew—pretending to be someone else, living a lie, the pretense manageable because he was doing what he did best, doing his job for the greater good. And because he didn’t know how to do things any differently.

  Today was giving him a glimpse of what he was missing. Hell, the last few weeks with Erin had been doing that too. And despite everything he’d once believed about himself, he couldn’t deny the appeal of his cousin’s type of life. The same one he was currently living. Except Cole’s current situation, just like his undercover one, was a pretense built on necessity. As soon as Erin didn’t need his protection anymore, Cole could go back to his old existence, which suddenly didn’t hold as much interest as it used to.

  “Hey, you okay?” Nick asked, joining him on a lounge chair beside his, overlooking the lake.

  “Fine. Just taking a breather.”

  “Yeah, it can all be a bit much,” the other man said, laughing. “Where’s Erin?”

  Cole tipped his head toward the pier Nick had built near the shallow part of the water. She, along with some of her friends—Macy included—were with the toddler-aged kids. Erin was holding one child beneath her little arms, despite the round tube encircling the girl’s stomach. Shrieks and laughter would occasionally reach his ears.

  One thing was for sure—she looked . . . happy. No stress of a stalker anywhere in her beautiful face. Cole couldn’t tear his gaze from her bathing-suit-clad body. Though she’d chosen a one-piece that covered her stomach, it was cut high enough on her thighs and low enough on her cleavage to entice him and make his mouth water. Her long legs beckoned, reminding him of how they felt wrapped around his back as he slid into her hot, wet body. Shit, he thought, shifting in his chair to conceal what that thought did to him.

  “Someone’s got it bad.” Laughing, Nick handed Cole a cold bottle of beer. “You two seem to have come to an understanding.”

  Cole shrugged, still not used to personal conversations like these. Still, this was Nick. “Erin figures if we’re together right now, there’s no reason to hide it. Once her pregnancy becomes obvious, people are going to know I’m the father anyway.” He took a long pull of brew, which tasted good in the summer heat.

  “Why do I hear a but coming?”

  Cole groaned. Wasn’t it obvious? “But my job hasn’t changed and I’m not here to build white picket fences. I’m not built for that life.”

  Nick raised an eyebrow. “You’re looking pretty comfortable surrounded by the proverbial one right now,” his cousin pointed out.

  “It’s temporary. She knows that. So do you, asshole.”

  Nick snorted. “Yeah, like Erin’s going to be easy to walk away from.” He gestured to the water, where Erin lifted her little charge up high and pressed her lips to the girl’s cheek, causing her to shriek with delight and kick her little legs in excitement.

>   Something warm unfurled in Cole’s chest. He told himself it was that she’d be a great mother to their kid, nothing more. “I do what I do. I’m not going to leave her here wondering when my cover’s over, when she’ll hear from me. Or if she’ll get a call that says my cover was blown and I’m not ever coming back.”

  Cole shook his head, remembering the last guy whose wife had to receive that kind of news. No way would he put Erin through that hell.

  “I still say it’s her call to make,” Nick insisted.

  Cole exhaled hard. “That’s not how it is between us. It’s forced proximity and just sex.” He winced as he spoke the words that felt like a lie coming from his lips and a betrayal to everything Erin stood for.

  Nothing about Erin was just anything. Still, Whatever it is, for as long as it lasts, she’d said, and he’d agreed. If she’d developed deeper feelngs for him, she was smart enough to keep them to herself, because he’d made his future plans clear.

  Nick tipped the bottle back and drank before addressing Cole. “Keep telling yourself that. I’m sure it’ll keep you warm when you’re undercover. I’m through hitting my head against a wall. Did I tell you I bought property on the edge of the lake and built a house on spec?”

  Grateful for the subject change because it meant he could ignore the knot that felt like a ball stuck in his chest, Cole shook his head. “I’m waiting for housing sales to pick up a little before I list it.”

  “That’s great.”

  “Want to take a quick look? I’ve got some time before I have to start grilling burgers.”

  “Sure thing.” Nick was always proud of his finished projects and Cole enjoyed looking at his cousin’s talent.

  He stood and, along with Nick, walked to the water to tell Kate and Erin where they were going.

  Erin met his gaze and lifted a hand to her ear in question.

  He grinned, knowing she was asking if he was feeling closed in and ready to go home. Worrying about him and looking out for him.