“Hmm, that feels so good,” Shannon murmured. “You have the most talented hands. When I watched you play tonight and you made your guitar sing, I wanted it to be me. I imagined your hands on my body, making me sing.”
When she opened her dreamy eyes, they were nearly black and so sensually erotic he knew he needed her now. He laid her back on the floor and groaned out as she parted her thighs in welcome, causing him to nearly lose it at the sight of her. “Condom,” he mumbled. Shit, he needed a condom. He scrambled to his backpack and frantically hunted for the box he’d put in there. After putting one on, he covered her body with his and spoke her name as he thrust deep and hard into her wonderfully warm and welcoming body. As they joined as one he knew he would never be whole again without her in his life. This woman he’d known for such a short time, completed him. She was the other half of his soul, and he’d been searching for her his entire life.
He moved slowly at first, pulling out almost completely. His eyes locked with her dreamy ones, and he noticed they became a mesmerizing shade of black when she was in the throws of passion. Reaching for her legs, he wrapped them up over his shoulders and buried himself so deep inside her, he thought he would be lost forever. He wanted to be lost forever.
One more hard push and he felt her body spasm around his and she cried out, “Cole,” over and over again. He finally lost it, his body tensed, then trembled as he came, filling her completely. They lay collapsed together, naked, and on the floor. When Cole crashed back to earth, he managed to mumble.
“Shannon?”
“Hmm?”
“That was better than any dream I’d conjured up these past weeks. But I have something to ask.”
“Ask away.”
“The floor’s hard—can we go to your bed?”
She giggled and kissed his neck. “Why not.”
Cole, in one quick move, scooped her up into his arms and laid her back on the bed, snuggling her into the curve of his body and burying his head into her hair. He loved the way she smelled. He would never be able to smell jasmine ever again without thinking of Shannon. And before he knew what he was doing he breathed out, “I’m so in love with you.” Then he drifted off to sleep, for the first time in forever feeling content and loved.
***
Shannon smiled to herself as she pulled Cole’s arms tighter around her waist. Tears pooled in her eyes and her heart pounded with love for him. Never, ever, had sex been like that for her. This was the stuff dreams were made of, and she hoped this dream went on indefinitely. She couldn’t believe he loved her. He not only showed her with his body, his actions, his tender touch, he told her as well with incredible words that stole her breath away. She knew it must be hard for him to love and trust after what he’d been through with Lindsey. The fact he trusted her with his delicate, once broken, and discarded heart, caused emotions to well up inside her she’d only written about.
She hadn’t known she was capable of feeling emotions this strong or a love so intense. And to know he felt the same only added to the sensations racing through her veins, causing her heart to swell against the confines of her chest.
Feeling the steady beat of his heart thump against her back, the tickle of his breath on her neck, the warmth of his hard body pressed against hers caused Shannon to slowly drift and join him in contented sleep, not to wake until morning.
Early the next day, Shannon slowly awoke and smiled as she remembered Cole’s lovemaking. His warm body still pressed close to hers. He hadn’t let her go even in sleep. He still held her possessively and lovingly, making her heart swell. Regrettably, she untangled herself careful so as not to wake him. After donning her robe, she went downstairs to make certain Cameron was up and getting ready for school. She found him on the couch eating dry cereal and watching the sports channel.
“Are you all packed?”
He hopped up from the couch and put his dish in the sink. “Yup. And by the way, the milk’s bad, and can I have a few bucks for lunch?” he said, his hand in that palm up and out way he did so well when he needed money, which was more times than not. She honestly couldn’t remember the last time he didn’t have his hand out.
She found her purse on the counter and handed him a ten dollar bill. “Do I need to pick you up?”
He pocketed the money in his wallet. “Nope, Tom’s driving me home.”
Just then they heard the beep. Tom arrived on time as usual. “Bye, Mom,” Cameron said as he went out the door.
Shannon hummed and danced to a BlackJack tune around the kitchen as she made coffee and toast, then put the fireplace on to shake the morning chill. She curled up on the sofa with her toast and coffee, snuggled under a fleece blanket as she watched a Boston news station. Only, the television might as well have been off. Her mind was busy replaying last night in minute detail. It had been well worth the wait. She hugged her quivering body as it reacted to her memory, and her eyes drifted closed. Cole was an incredible lover, selfless, giving, gentle at the right times and not so gentle when she didn’t want him to be. It had seemed as if he could read her mind. He knew how to play her body in all the right places, and boy did he make her sing.
As for the noise bet? She definitely lost it. He’d caused her to scream out dozens of times. The only disappointment was she’d not been able to explore his body, and she planned on remedying that the first chance she got. She wanted to hear him yell out as she tortured him with her fingers, mouth and tongue as he’d done to her.
A short time later, she headed back upstairs to shower. She didn’t want to disturb Cole, so she crept softly into the room as he slept soundly on his back. One arm out from the covers, the one with the fascinating tattoo, and her heart lodged in her throat at the sight of him sleeping in her bed. She’d dreamed about this for nearly two weeks. It was hard to believe it was real, that their coming together as one finally happened. He looked so young in the relaxing state of sleep that she found it difficult to picture this warm, loving, caring man spending fifteen agonizing years in prison. Her hand clutched her suddenly aching heart, and she wondered how had he ever survived? It was several minutes later before she forced her eyes off Cole and entered the bathroom. She dried her hair and dressed in jeans and a sweater. After putting on a warm jacket, she headed down to the beach, but not before she left Cole a note on her pillow.
“Down at the beach. There’s coffee in the kitchen. Love S.”
Chapter Nine
It took Cole a moment after he’d awoken to realize where he slept. He spent so much time on the road lately, one hotel room looked like the next, but the minute his eyes focused he smiled and his heart picked up a beat as he knew exactly where he was and whom he was with. Shannon. His now wide-awake mind replayed in vivid intensity last night’s lovemaking. He felt his blood flowing to the one special place south of the border, and his cock strained against the covers. It wanted out. It wanted Shannon’s delectable body wrapped around it. It throbbed for her and her alone.
He groaned and turned toward her side of the bed, his hand reaching out and finding it cold and empty. After spotting the note and reading it, he smiled again, then got up, showered, dressed and went out on the balcony to look for her. His eyes scanned the beach until he spotted her down on some rocks, looking deep in thought. He frowned, hoping she was thinking good thoughts and not having any regrets over last night.
Grabbing his beat up and battered black leather jacket he’d had forever, he meandered down to the beach. The closer he got to her, the faster his pulse soared. When she looked his way and saw him approaching, she climbed off the jetties and her face broke out into a beautiful smile. Instantly putting his runaway thoughts to rest.
“Good morning,” she said, her face flush from the cold and her eyes warm with love. Cole walked up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, and held her tight. Shannon leaned back against his hard chest and placed her arms on his. He kissed her neck and spoke softly into her ear. “Good morning to you. It’s beautiful h
ere. How long have you lived here?”
“Five years.”
“I thought you hired a bodyguard. I don’t see him. Is he that good at his job he stays hidden amongst the sand dunes?”
Her body flinched. “I did while I travelled. I don’t believe I need one here. I had no privacy.”
“You need one. Especially when I’m around you. He isn’t going to attack when I’m gone, only when I’m with you. He wants to accomplish two things. The first one is your death and the second is my going back to prison. Please let me make a call?”
“No. I’ll call the same agency I dealt with before.”
“Today.”
“Yes. I’ll call today.”
***
“Now that that’s settled, please tell me, besides your ex, do you have family nearby?” he queried as his warm breath tickled her ear, causing her body to tingle from head to toe and everywhere in between.
“My parents live on the Cape, my two sisters both live here in Standish Bay and my brother lives in Back Bay. I’m the oldest.”
She stood there enjoying the feel of Cole’s arms around her and the sound of the surf. Can life get any better than this?
“What about your family Cole. You’ve never spoken about them?” He never had, and she was a little more than curious. Very curious actually.
It took a while for him to answer. She tried to be patient. It paid off when he finally spoke.
“My father was an American who fell instantly in love with my mother during a backpacking expedition across Europe. They married three weeks later, and my father took his new bride back to California with him. One year later I was born, four years later, my parents divorced and my mother took us back to Wales, to her family. My father stayed in California. I never saw or heard from him again. I don’t honestly know if he’s alive or dead. I had a stepfather, but he died when I was seventeen. My mother died when I was in prison. I have two younger sisters who live in Wales. They’ve never left Great Britain and I’ve not seen them in, oh God, in well over fifteen years. I’m not sure I would recognize them if I saw them.”
She heard him sniffle then clear his throat.
“I wish I could go home, not to my house in Malibu, but to my home back in Wales.”
“You can’t?”
He groaned. “No, not while on parole. I can’t leave the country. My lawyer’s been trying to work out something, but, well it isn’t happening. My sentence was twenty years. I served fifteen and got out early for good behavior. I still have five more years of parole until I’m truly free.”
“Thank God you got out for good behavior or we might not have met.”
***
Cole closed his eyes. Yes. Thank God, or they wouldn’t have met. The thought sent a chill up his spine and he snuggled Shannon closer to make it go away. He opened his eyes and watched the surf crash on the beach and the sea gulls hunt for their breakfast. They were nasty creatures as they fought and nipped each other while fighting over the same dead crabs on the sand. Then he reached for her hand and led her back to the warmth of her house.
Cole wanted to make Shannon up one of his special omelets for breakfast. Not many people knew it, but he was an exceptional cook. However, when he looked into her refrigerator he outwardly cringed. One sniff of the milk and his nose wrinkled up. The eggs were old, the shells probably so thick they would never crack open. The onions were practically frozen solid and the peppers she had in the vegetable crisper were rotten and moldy and had seen better days. “I think you need to go shopping and buy some edible food,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief.
“I know. I will later today. We won’t starve. We have bread for toast and leftover chili for lunch.” She walked up to him and kissed him, long, wet and hot enough to engulf him in flames. “Besides.” She winked. “We have each other.” She went to move away, but he pulled her back and gave her his most provocative grin. “Not so fast, I’m starving.” He crushed her mouth to his and feasted to his heart’s content. Even nibbled her ear and neck for a little extra nourishment. “Hmm, that should do me for a while.”
“Hmm, you think?” she countered.
“Actually. No,” he replied as he slipped her sweater off in one quick swoop. “I think I missed a few spots.”
***
Before she knew it, he swept her up into his arms and gently laid her down in front of the fireplace. They proceeded to have breakfast, lunch, dinner and desert all in one sitting.
Shannon finally got to explore every incredible muscular inch of Cole’s body. And when she took him into her mouth, she took great pleasure in causing him to squirm. And when he fed her, she didn’t miss a single drop.
Snuggled under a fleece throw, satiated from lovemaking and enjoying the heat from the fireplace, Cole and Shannon talked about nothing and everything until the doorbell rang.
Shannon sprang up. “Shit! What time is it?”
Cole forced his eyes away from her naked body and looked at his watch. “Eleven, why?”
“Oh my God! I forgot my sisters were coming by.”
She ran around like a mad woman gathering Cole’s clothes and throwing them at him. She quickly dressed, running her hands threw her mussed hair as she ran down to get the door.
When she opened it, her two younger sisters stepped in with bags of food. Rachel was the first to go up the stairs chatting away. “We brought food because we know what you’re like, there’s probably not an ounce...oh.”
She stopped dead in her tracks, and Shannon could well imagine what Rachel was thinking. “Who is this incredibly gorgeous man with long blond hair, jeans slung low on his narrow hips and a Rolling Stones T-shirt showing off well-formed muscles in her sister’s kitchen?” If it wasn’t for the shopping bags Rachel carried, Shannon imagined her sister wiping the drool from her mouth.
“Hi,” Rachel said in her usual deep, hoarse voice she perfected years ago, knowing it drove men crazy.
“Hello.”
“Oh my God, what a voice,” Rachel crooned.
By now, Bridget stood beside Rachel, staring at Cole as well. He quickly and carefully took the bags from their arms and placed them on the counter before they dropped them on the tile floor. Shannon joined Cole at the counter gently touching his arm.
“Rachel, Bridget, I’d like you to meet Cole Jackson. Cole, these two women staring at you with their mouths open are my sisters. Please forgive their manners,” she added with lightness in her voice.
He held out his hand and Rachel took it first. “Nice to meet you Cole. Are you the Cole Jackson?”
He laughed at her query. “The one and only…I think.”
He shook Bridget’s hand next. She stared with detached interest and more than a little contempt. Cole got the impression this sister didn’t like him much. Some people had strong preconceived notions about him and this little lady was one of those people. And he knew from experience nothing he did or said would change those preconceived feelings just like Shannon’s ex. But what the hell, he could try.
“Nice to meet you Bridget,” he said with a warm smile he hoped she couldn’t tell was forced.
“Glad to meet you Cole. I’d forgotten you and my sister knew each other.”
Glad, Cole mused, that’s a good one. She was clearly anything but glad to meet him.
Shannon gave Bridget a warning look as she emptied the grocery bags. Rachel stepped up to help as Cole excused himself and went up to Shannon’s bedroom.
He stepped out on the balcony, sat on the chaise lounge and proceeded to freeze his ass off. He wanted to give Shannon time alone with her sisters, and he didn’t want to hear what they had to say. Rachel wasn’t a problem, but Bridget was not too happy to see him here. Could he blame her? Hell, if one of his sisters started dating a convicted killer, whether he claimed innocence or not, he’d be none too thrilled either.
Being able to see two sides of the coin didn’t lesson the pain and anger he felt when people disapproved of him or were truly
afraid of him. Afraid he might kill again, even though he never killed in the first place.
He groaned out his frustrations and once again proved to himself he should have waited until he cleared his name before seeing Shannon again. But shit, there was no guarantee he’d ever clear his name. So what was he supposed to do? Put his love life on hold because some people didn’t approve of him dating her? Hell, all that mattered was Shannon’s opinions and feelings for him. Fuck everybody else’s. If only it were that simple. Cole cared what people thought of him, which angered him even more. He wished he had enough confidence and self-esteem that nothing anyone said would ever bother him. But no, he had a soft heart and a caring nature, and what people thought about him mattered. It may not have during his heyday, but it did now. And he certainly didn’t want to add more problems to Shannon’s life. Her ex-husband being dead set against him caused enough trouble. Her sisters were another. How could they have a relationship with so many people trying to pull her away from him?
***
Once Cole was not within hearing range, Bridget let Shannon have it as Shannon knew she would. Out of the three of them, Bridget was the opinionated one, and she sometimes spoke first and thought later. She was thirty-one years old and had never been married. Bridget was the petite sister with short blonde hair, green eyes and an incredible body. She worked in Plymouth at a fitness and tennis club as a personal trainer. She was secretive about her dating life. Shannon had no idea if she had found the one yet.
Rachel, on the other hand, stood tall like Shannon. She had black hair at the moment and green eyes. She was twenty-seven and worked in a small beauty salon in town. Also single, but as long as Shannon could remember, she had a string of guys vying for her attention. She was probably the prettiest of them all, but sometimes it was hard to tell with her constantly changing hair color, excessive makeup and unusual style in clothing. But, she was a sweetheart, and a little bit on the flaky side. Shannon sometimes referred to them as, Shannon the introvert, Bridget the serious one and Rachel the flake.
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