I close my eyes, emotion welling within me.  Now it all makes sense.  And my poor heart feels like it might collapse.

When I open my eyes to focus on Cole, I see that his lids are closed.  Closed against the pain, against the memory.  Or maybe he’s savoring those happy times.  Happy times that ended so, so badly.

I get up, hesitating for less than a heartbeat before I step closer to him, drawn by an irresistible force.  A force named Cole. He continues as though I never moved, as though he’d lost in the past.

“I wasted so much time. On alcohol and parties.  On people who never mattered.  Time I could’ve been spending with her.  It…”  Cole sighs and shakes his head like he’s shaking off a bad thought.  “I haven’t touched a drop since she died. Not one. Until last night.”  Another pause.  “Until you.”

I don’t know what to say to that. I feel like I should defend myself, but I don’t know how.  I don’t know what I’ve done or even if it’s really my fault that he fell off the wagon.

“When Jordan told me that Jason didn’t come home the night he came here…when I saw his truck parked here in the morning…Jesus!  I wanted to hurt somebody.  Jason mostly.  The thought of him putting his hands on you…his mouth…”  Cole closes his eyes as though the vision is physically painful.  “I haven’t felt anything in a long time.  Anything.  Except grief and loss.  And that’s the way I wanted it.  I felt like it was…it was…penance almost. Like I owed that to my little girl. Never to be happy again since she couldn’t be here.  But then I met you.”  When he turns, his eyes melt into mine, his lips twisting into a wry smile.  There’s no humor there. Like he said he didn’t want me in his head, I get the feeling that he doesn’t exactly welcome what’s between us.  “You make me feel all sorts of things.  Too many things.  Things I never wanted to feel.  But you just wouldn’t stop.  You just.  Wouldn’t. Stop.”

I take a deep breath.  “I-it’s not like I’ve done this on purpose, Cole,” I say, becoming angry.  Why is he making this out to be a bad thing?  And my fault, no less?  “I didn’t come here looking for anyone either. I just wanted–”

My words are cut off by his finger coming to rest against my lips.  “You didn’t have to do anything. You just had to show up.  With your big gray eyes and that lush mouth.  God, that mouth!  I thought I’d go crazy if I couldn’t kiss you.  Just once.  But then once wasn’t enough.”  His expression turns dire. “I was furious.  With you.  With myself. So I went and got some Wild Turkey from Bailey’s.  Jordan must’ve taken that as a green light because she showed up later with more.  I didn’t say no. I should never have even started.  But I was so…God!”  He runs his hands through his hair again, his eyes fierce.

My stomach sinks.  “So she did stay?  Jordan, I mean?”

“Just for a little while, but then I made her leave.”

“S-so there’s nothing between you?” I ask hesitantly.  I want him to say no so badly.

He looks at me like I’ve grown a second head.  “Me and Jordan?  God no!  She’s sweet, but she’s…just no.”

I shrug.  “I didn’t know.”

“No, you wouldn’t know that you’re the only woman I’m interested in. You wouldn’t know that you’re the only woman I’ve been interested in in a very long time.  That’s why I was so angry about Jason.”  He takes a deep breath, his eyes pleading.  “Please tell me that there’s nothing between you two.”

My heart is pounding so hard I wonder if he can hear it.  It’s thumping in my ears and vibrating in all my fingertips.  “No, there’s absolutely nothing going on between me and Jason.”

He looks visibly relieved.  No less intense, of course, but definitely relieved.  “I don’t think I could stand it if there was.  I couldn’t…just thinking about it…Shit!”

“Well, there’s not, so don’t give it another thought.”

“It was making me crazy. You are making me crazy.”  I know I shouldn’t thrill at his words, but I do.  I do because, in his own way, Cole’s been making me crazy, too.  “Do you think you can ever forgive me for what I did last night?  If I could take it back, I would. You don’t know how much I regret it, Eden. I–”

It’s my turn to shush him with a finger to his lips.  “Let’s just forget about it, okay?”

He nods.

“It will never happen again. You have my word.”

“I believe you, Cole.”

And I do.  This is the man I thought him to be.  This is the man I had hoped was underneath the broken and brooding man on the beach and across the street.  This is a man that could change everything for me.

We stand in silence, practically nose to nose, for at least two full minutes.  I realize as I stare up into his ocean blue eyes that I could drown in them and die a happy woman.

When his gaze flickers down to my lips, I wet them automatically, every part of me yearning for his kiss.  “I don’t have anything to give you, Eden.  I’m broken.  More than I ever thought I could be.  But you can have what’s left of me.  If you want it.  You can have what little I have to give.”

“That’s all I want, Cole.  That’s all I want.”

SEVENTEEN

Cole

OUR EYES ARE still locked as I tilt my head and draw closer to her.  I watch her lids flutter shut just before mine, before my lips meet hers.  When they do, it takes every ounce of my willpower not to go crazy.  The taste of her…sweet Jesus!  It’s the most delicious thing that has ever touched my tongue.  As I sweep along the inside of her mouth, I have to fight harder and harder to go slow.  Every fiber, every nerve, every muscle wants to strip her down and ravage her.  Lick every surface, test every opening, taste every juice.

I can’t remember wanting something this badly.  Not once.  Everything about her sings to me.  Her eyes, her smile, her laugh, her body.  I want to lose myself in her. And I am.  I’m not thinking of anything other than Eden right now.  And the reprieve from my usual pain is almost overwhelming.

I feel her hands come tentatively to rest on my chest.  My pecs flex in response to her cool touch.  I run my fingers into her silky hair and hold her head still as I dive deeper into her mouth, wishing I was already inside her.

When her palms trail from my chest down to my stomach, my cock fills with blood so fast it’s almost painful. I groan into her mouth and she digs in with her fingernails.

I jerk my head up, feeling like I’m about to lose control. “Eden, you can’t do things like that.”

“Things like what?” she asks, her eyes wide and innocent, yet dark and sexy.

“Touch me like that. It’s…it’s been a long time.”

I feel the huff of her breath against my chin as she stretches up to brush her mouth against mine. “It has for me, too.”

She runs her hands around my waist and presses her lips to my throat.  I feel the plush mounds of her breasts rubbing against me and I grit my teeth to keep from doing something stupid.  I feel like a bomb, getting ready to explode and take out a damn city block.

“Eden, I’m serious.”

“I am, too.  I don’t want you to hold back with me.”

“But I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t hurt me.”

“I-I don’t have any protection. I wasn’t planning to…”

“I haven’t been with anybody in a long time. I’m clean,” she tells me.

“Me, too.  It’s been a while.”

“And I have an IUD.”

That one short sentence…holy God!  I feel it like a punch to the gut. Just the thought of being inside her slick heat with nothing between us, just the idea of shooting come way up inside her, of spilling every last ounce of myself into her, is nearly my undoing.

“Eden, give me this one time and I’ll make it up to you.  I promise.  Next time, I’ll go slow.  But tonight…”