She felt Cole’s eyes on her as though he were touching her from across the pool.
“After wrestling with you in and out of my bed and then in this pool, my desire for a nice slow night of making love has suddenly disappeared.” He moved his arm, so he could run a hand through his hair. “Plus, there’s something extremely sexy about you trusting me, and it makes me want to get close to you.” He paused and licked his lips. “Really fucking close. Now, talk.”
Cole wasn’t lying. He did want her, but first, he wanted words. He needed to know what chased her from her sleep every other night. He kept his eyes on the nearly naked and half-submerged woman pressed firmly against the tile wall. Her dark hair was sleeked back from the water, and even though he could see hints of red through it, this was the first time she looked completely natural. She looked vulnerable.
“I met Ben when I was seventeen,” she started.
“Seventeen?” Cole couldn’t stop himself from commenting. When her eyes came to him, he shrugged. “Sorry, I didn’t realize. Go ahead.”
Looking away from him, she continued, “It was the night I graduated, and Mason and Josh came home from college to see me. The graduation ceremony was over, and I was planning to go to the after-party with them.”
“But you didn’t?” Cole questioned, keeping a close eye on her.
“No, I didn’t,” she replied, shaking her head.
“Why?”
Turning to him, she asked him directly, “Do you promise not to get weird or pissed off?”
Cole was surprised by the question. He didn’t have a clue as to why she thought he would get mad at her about something that happened years ago before they had even met. She seemed to need the answer though, so he nodded, wondering what she was about to reveal.
“I…well, I had a huge crush on Josh all the way through high school.” She paused and glared at him, daring him to respond.
He had already suspected that there was history between her and Josh, so it wasn’t that big of a surprise, but it was interesting information just the same. When he remained impassive, she pressed on.
“Well, I was going to go to the after-party that night, but I overheard someone talking…Lisa…”
She seemed to hiss that name, so Cole couldn’t help himself. “Who was Lisa?”
She rolled her eyes and then tartly replied, “Josh’s idiot girlfriend.”
Realizing this was not a good time to laugh at her continued dislike of a girl from her teenage years, Cole remained silent.
“Anyway, she started talking about how amazing the…well…” Rachel stopped and bit her lip. Then, she blurted out, “You know what I mean.”
“Sex? How great the sex was with Josh?”
Cole couldn’t believe he was having this conversation about his business associate and friend. He would probably never look at Josh quite the same, but it was obviously very important to Rachel, so he tried to listen objectively.
“Yes. I got upset. It’s stupid now, but back then, the thought of her with him pissed me off.”
Although he knew the answer, Cole interjected there, “Does it still bother you?”
She turned so quickly he could have sworn her head almost flew off her neck.
“Definitely not. Josh is like a brother to me. That night still bothers me for many reasons, but none of them revolve around Joshua Daniels.”
Cole nodded, believing her one hundred percent. “So, what happened?”
“Well, I went to a different party. I was determined to forget about the boy who broke my heart, so I did what all girls do to forget.”
“Eat ice cream?” he quipped, trying to keep her from becoming too upset by her story.
“No,” Rachel replied caustically. “I drank way too much.”
Cole felt his stomach tighten as he thought about Rachel at seventeen—alone, heartbroken, inebriated, and meeting this Ben guy for the first time. “And then what?” he urged.
Rachel slid down the wall a little until half of her hair was in the water and her chin was touching the surface. “Then, I met Ben.”
Cole told himself to stay where he was and keep his mouth shut. She just needed a moment, but it was quickly becoming apparent that his patience was running thin. He needed to let her know what he wanted. And god, I want it.
Softly, he encouraged her to continue, “Tell me your secrets, Rachel. I need to know you.”
Rachel turned her head to look at the naked man submerged in the water. All she could see were his broad shoulders and head as he leaned against the pool ladder. His eyes were focused on her with such ferocity that she felt he was pulling the information from her through sheer force of will alone.
“Ben was older than me,” she found herself divulging.
“How much older?”
“I was seventeen, and he was twenty,” she confessed.
“He had sex with you when you were seventeen? I’m going to beat this guy’s ass.”
Rachel couldn’t help the small smile that tugged at her lips. “Relax over there, would you? We didn’t do that until I was eighteen…a week later.”
Cole showed his teeth in a fierce scowl. “That does not make me want to kick his ass any less.”
“Oh? And how old were you when you lost your virginity?”
“We are not discussing me,” he pointed out in a surly tone.
“Well, maybe we should.”
“Stop stalling, Rachel. Tell me about Ben.”
She nodded and took a deep breath, and suddenly, she wanted to be closer. First, she had wanted distance, but as she thought about the cruelty of Ben, she found herself inching closer toward Cole, closer toward safety.
“Everything started out fine, like normal. When we met, I was trying to forget about Josh, so I flirted outrageously with Ben. I hadn’t dated anyone else, so I pretty much threw myself at him, and he took what I offered…over and over.”
“Yes, I get the point Rachel. Move on.”
As she got closer to him, she could see his eyebrow twitching, and she knew he was exercising immense control and patience.
“Things were great for a while. He was older, smarter, and to me, he was perfect. Plus, he made me forget about Josh until…” She paused, realizing she was now only an arm’s length away from Cole.
“Until?” he asked.
Rachel looked him straight in the eye as she confessed softly, “Until he started to hurt me.”
Cole wrapped his hands around the metal rails of the ladder. He had guessed it was something along those lines, but to hear the words come out of her mouth, entering the space between them, made him want to find the cowardly fucker and kill him.
She continued looking at him, and the significance of her moving closer was not lost on him. All of a sudden, he wanted to wrap her in his arms and promise her that no one would ever touch her again. That he would take care of her. That he would never let her go.
It was only the skittish look in her eyes, like she was about to bolt, that had him holding his tongue.
Gingerly, Rachel reached out as though she needed something to anchor herself. She placed her wet small palm against his chest and looked up into his eyes. “At first, it was for fun.”
Cole looked down at the woman staring at him and tightened his fingers around the rails. If ever there was a time not to touch, this was it. He didn’t know what he wanted to do—shake her and say, No, you were completely wrong, or hug her close and never let her go.
“At first?” he asked.
She attempted a flirty smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “You know, in the bedroom. I’m sure you’ve—”