“When was the last time you were in Alaska?”
“Two years ago. I went up not long before I bought the garage and started renovating it for the restaurant. I spent a couple of weeks up there getting my dad’s advice on my business plan and having my mom help me brainstorm a full menu.”
My hands dug harder into Cole’s neck, working away one of the knots.
“What do your parents do?”
“Dad is a pilot. He has his own business flying supplies into northern Alaska. He’s built it up over the years and has a bunch of pilots working for him now. He could retire anytime, but he loves flying. And Mom is a private chef in Anchorage.”
“Is that where you got your love of cooking?”
I smiled. “Yes. Mom taught me how to cook.” She had passed down her passion for food, while Dad had paid for my business degree from Montana State. They’d both given me the tools to make food my career.
“What about your grandparents?”
My hands moved down Cole’s neck to his shoulders again. With every circle of my thumbs, the tension eased away. “They’re all still in Alaska. Dad’s parents live in the same place they have for fifty years, three blocks away from my parents’ house. And Mom’s parents are in a nursing home. They’re in their nineties now but otherwise in good health. Though neither of them can hear very well anymore.”
He sighed. “It’s nice that you still have all of them. My grandparents all passed when I was younger.”
“I’m sorry.”
Before Jamie, I’d never lost anyone. Maybe that was a tiny part of why his death had been so devastating. So shocking. It had been a wake-up call that the time we had with our loved ones was fleeting.
As if he could feel my moment of sadness, Cole reached up and put his hand over mine, squeezing once before dropping it back to his lap.
I rubbed his shoulders and neck for a while longer until my fingers finally wore out. But I didn’t want to stop touching Cole, so I inched my knees closer. My hands slid up his neck, past his ears and into his hair. “Lean back.”
Cole looked up at me through dark lashes, watching as my fingers massaged his scalp. “Magic fingers,” he whispered, “and beautiful eyes.”
My hands kept working at Cole’s hair as I held his gaze. The intensity between us grew with every passing second that we refused to break apart—refused to even blink.
And in that moment, I opened myself up completely to Cole. Without words, I told him how much he meant to me. How he’d stitched my broken pieces back together. And in his tender gaze—deep in his pale-green irises—he showed me a vulnerability I’d never seen. His eyes pleaded for me to take care of his heart.
I’d protect it always.
The heat between us grew as the seconds passed, but still, we didn’t break our stare. My hands stopped moving as my chest heaved with choppy breaths. Cole sat frozen against me—waiting.
Waiting for my signal.
I blinked before filling my lungs with a jagged breath. “Will you do something for me?”
“In a heartbeat.”
“Kiss me.”
His head came off my shoulder as he twisted. With his arms bracketing my knees, Cole leaned forward, fitting his naked chest against my front. His hands left the bed, traveling up my sides with the lightest touch. Those long fingers grazed the sides of my breasts before running over my bare arms and up, into my damp hair.
The entire time, Cole’s eyes stayed glued to mine.
When his face came closer, I dropped my gaze to his lips. I only had a second to study them before he kissed me. The moment we touched, my eyes drifted shut and my lips parted for his tongue. It touched the tip of mine before darting back out to trace my lower lip.
A greedy moan came from the back of my throat as Cole teased. He nipped and sucked on my lips but he was holding back. My hands, dangling limp at my sides, reached for his waist, but he jerked his hips back, not letting me get a grip.
“Cole,” I pleaded when he broke away.
He was panting as he searched my eyes. “How far do you want to take this?”
The answer came without hesitation. “All the way.”
He leaned back, like he didn’t trust himself to be too close. “Are you sure? Because once we do this, once we cross that line, we aren’t going back.”
I cupped his jaw. “I’m as sure as I’ve ever been. This. Us. I want this. I want you.”
I’d barely gotten the last word out before Cole’s mouth slammed down on mine. This time, there was no teasing. No playing. No holding back. Cole kissed me so deeply that I was lost to anything other than his mouth.
My hands clung to his back as I pulled him closer, needing more. I was dizzy from the throbbing between my thighs and the lack of oxygen, but I just held tight, desperate to consume him completely.
On a groan, his hands left my hair and moved down to my ass, squeezing tight as he picked me up off the bed and laid me on my back, and not once did he break the latch he had on my mouth. As my hips cradled his, his hard length rubbed against my aching clit. I arched up, rubbing myself against the thin cotton that separated us.
Cole’s tongue dove back into my mouth, plundering relentlessly as his hands roamed to my breasts. He squeezed them over my camisole before yanking it down, freeing them so he could fill his large hands.
I arched my chest into his hands, craving a harder touch on my pebbled nipples. And Cole didn’t disappoint. With his palms still cupping my breasts, he used his thumbs to flick and tease my hard buds. Every tug and roll sent my pulse shooting directly to my center. Surely my wetness had seeped through my panties
