Almost as though he hadn’t realized he was doing it, he frowned. “Huh. I suppose so. I’ve never really thought about it. Now, you say you start over at Exquisite when?”
“I didn’t, but I start at six.”
“Right. Well, I’ll be there at six thirty.”
Rachel laughed incredulously. “What? Why?”
When she realized he wasn’t laughing with her, she noticed he was instead looking at her very calmly as though he had come to some master plan.
Rachel shook her head. “No.”
As he walked back toward her, she started to shake her head more furiously.
“No, Cole. You are not going to come and eat at the restaurant every night. That’s insane!”
Stopping before her, he did something she had never seen him do before. He shrugged, and she thought it was completely out of character for him.
“I don’t care. It’s the best plan there is,” he said.
“No, it’s not,” Rachel stressed. “It’s the worst plan there is.”
“Why?”
“Why?” she repeated back to him.
“Am I talking in another language?” he questioned, crossing his arms.
Rachel glared up at him. “Ugh, you are so frustrating! Why? Because Mason will be there, which means Lena is there, and that’s usually followed by Shelly and Josh being there, too.”
“Ahh, yes, the two ladies from the club. That’ll be fun to explain.”
“There will be no explaining. This has only been something for two nights. Why are you determined to tell everyone about this? First, Josh, and now, you want to just turn up at the restaurant.”
“Why are you trying so hard to keep it a secret?” he countered.
“I’m not!”
“Yes, you are. What’s wrong, Rachel? Do you think I’ll embarrass you?”
“No!” she denied as she thought, I’m more concerned with how I will react to you than anything you will do.
“Then, what is the problem?”
“Nothing!” Rachel fumed as she stalked past him over to the couch.
Grabbing her dress, she was about to storm into the bathroom and change when his voice cut through the air, halting her as effectively as his hand.
“Where do you think you are going?”
Looking at him over her shoulder, she hated the fact that he looked so damn good standing there.
“I’m leaving. You’re nuts.”
“No, I’m not,” he told her calmly as he undid the button on his jeans. “And you’re not going anywhere. What are you so afraid of?”
Rachel clutched her dress to her chest as he unzipped his jeans. While moving toward her, he reached over his shoulder and pulled the T-shirt up and over his head, baring his upper half to her greedy eyes.
Dumping the white cotton on the floor, he tilted his head to the side and ran his eyes over her, examining every inch of her. For one crazy moment, she thought that it was quite possible he was seeing right through her.
“It’s not me you’re running from. We’ve established that. Your past maybe? But that doesn’t explain why you don’t want everyone to know about us. Or maybe you’re just running from yourself?”
When he stopped directly in front of her, he bent down, so they were eye-to-eye. “It’s a little bit late to worry about all that, don’t you think? By now, I’m sure that Josh and your brother know all about this. Put down the dress, Rachel, and come with me.”
Cole held out his hand to her and waited. Her wary eyes met his as she finally relented and placed her palm in his hand. Without another word, he tugged her along behind him as he walked down the hallway to his room.
When they reached the cream rug in the center of his room, he let go of her hand and moved around to the right side of the bed. After turning back the covers, he looked over to the rigid spine of the complicated woman in his room.
He hadn’t been lying. She intrigued him, and he wanted to know all of her. That’s only part of it though, Cole thought. As he moved back over to her, he now found himself fighting another need that was clawing at him. I need to look after her. I need to protect her.
When he stopped before her, he started to undo the buttons of her shirt. He kept his eyes fixed on hers until he reached the top. Sliding both his hands along her collarbone, he removed the material from her and let it fall to her feet.
In the moonlight that was shining through the window, Cole thought Rachel had never looked more desirable. Completely naked and one hundred percent vulnerable, she left him speechless.
Reaching out to the script that was written along her ribs, he finally read the passage: At any given moment, you have the power to say this is not how the story is going to end.
That was when everything started to make sense. This woman—with the loud hair and the even livelier clothes—was sad.
Removing his finger from her skin, he pushed his jeans off his body, baring himself to her in the same fashion, as he held out his hand. “Let go, Rachel. Let go, and lie down with me. Close your eyes, and forget everything. Tomorrow will be here soon enough, and you can argue with me then.”
When she placed her fingers in his, he squeezed them and led her to his bed where they both got in quietly. Moving in close behind her, he wrapped an arm around her, placing it under her breasts, as he formed his body against hers. We fit like two pieces of a puzzle finally coming together, he thought.
As her body gave in and relaxed into sleep, Cole closed his eyes and wondered how to go about making Rachel his.
12
“I think tonight went well, don’t you?” Rachel asked as she removed her hat and unbuttoned her coat.
Ben pushed in through the door behind her, closing it with a lot more force than was necessary. “What part exactly were you thinking went well? The part where your brother asked me a million questions about our plans? Or the part where your father glared at me all night?”
Rachel chuckled as she shrugged out of her coat. She had known Ben had been uncomfortable, but she didn’t realize just how upset it had made him.
Poor guy. Meeting the family for the first time is always hard.
“Oh, come on, Ben. You can’t be serious. Mase was just trying to be polite, and…well, dads always glare at boyfriends.”
Ben spun around to face her as he threw his jacket on the couch. “Just how many boyfriends do you have, Rach?”
Rachel pulled off her gloves and smiled as he walked closer. He knew she hadn’t dated before him. He was being ridiculous. She tilted up her head, thinking he was about to tell her he was kidding. Instead, his hand whipped out, strong fingers gripping her chin.
“Ouch! Ben, you’re hurting me,” she told him, trying to tug her chin free.
Rather than releasing her, Ben tilted her head back farther and leaned down toward her. “I don’t care how many guys you dated before me, and I don’t want to hear about them either. You might find it amusing, but I don’t.”
“Ben,” Rachel pleaded. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“Then, why say it?”
Releasing his grip with a cruel flick of his wrist, he turned away from her. As he walked to their bedroom, the last thing Rachel heard him mutter was, “Stupid bitch.”
Rachel awoke with a start.
Sitting up in a panic, she scooted up to the headboard, clutching the sheet to her chest. As her eyes locked on the bedside table clock, she saw that it was two forty-five.