"Cole."
Jerking out of my thoughts, I cleared my throat and realised I had missed part of the conversation. "I'm almost home. See you in a couple of minutes okay."
Silence again. Then I heard the call end tone instead of hearing some kind of verbal response.
Shit. I was in trouble.
~~~
Jasper
My laptop lay open in front of me as I tried to work on editing the latest photos I had taken during an exclusive, high-class party in Finale Ligure. These needed to be ready by early tomorrow afternoon although Cole's latest antics had blown my concentration for most of the day.
My eyes kept drifting to the time shown at the bottom of the laptop screen. 11 p.m. Where the fuck was he?
That was when I heard footsteps outside the door, the sound of keys jingling and despite my irritation, my heart softened at the sight of Cole entering the living room. He threw his keys on the kitchen counter carelessly which acted as a divider between the living room and where all the cooking took place. Then he shrugged off his jacket and headed to the fridge for a drink. I pretended to get back to focusing on the laptop again, waiting a few seconds.
As expected, Cole shut the refrigerator door with a sigh. "Did we run out of lemons?" he called out.
I leaned back against the couch and watched him through narrowed eyes. "No. Why?"
He frowned slightly then shrugged. "Nothing," he muttered, his lips thinning before he stalked off into the bedroom.
I ran both hands through my hair then, my head falling back against the couch and I closed my eyes feeling like my world was slowly slipping through my fingers. Why was he acting like this? I had been noticing it for about two weeks now. He seemed absent-minded and came home later than usual. He never rose to the bait and fought with me when I tried to get under his skin. I was losing him. I was fucking losing him and the thought made me sick to my stomach. Why wouldn't he just tell me what was wrong?
I heard the volume of the TV being lowered and then felt a hand clamp on my shoulder. Opening my eyes, I saw Cole glancing down at me with a tender look in his eyes, now having changed into sweats and a t-shirt.
"You coming to bed?" he asked me gently.
I let out a heavy sigh. "In a minute."
Nodding slightly, he disappeared into our bedroom again and I snapped my laptop shut before walking into the kitchen, my determination to stay mad at him fading at the mellowed way he had chosen to deal with my anger. Cole was in bed reading a book when I placed a glass next to his bedside table before starting to undress. He glanced at the chilled lemon juice which he loved so much, especially when I made them from fresh lemons and then grinned at me. I threw him a frown just to show him this did not change anything before getting in bed.
Putting the book away, Cole took a sip from his glass and smacked his lips at the tangy, citrusy flavour. "Thanks, wifey."
"Shut up. I'm not in the mood," I grumbled. He always liked to tease me about being the feminine part of our duo since I worked from home and liked to cook for us which was just so sexist and ridiculous because we both knew I was the very definition of alpha male.
I heard the thud of the glass on the table and then the mattress dipped some more as Cole lowered himself next to me.
"There's pizza in the fridge," I could not help but say even though I knew he usually ate something on the way whenever he was late coming home.
"I'm not interested in the pizza," he told me in a low voice before pressing his chest into my back.
He had taken off his shirt and the feel of his hot skin against mine after hours of being apart was too much. I turned abruptly, grabbed the back of his head and clamped my mouth on his in a rough, absolutely brutal and completely desperate kiss, my tongue meshing with his furiously.
When I finished, I drew back and pinned him with an intense look as he breathed heavily from my assault.
"What the fuck are you hiding from me?" I growled and for a second, he looked guilty. Then he laughed a little and grabbed my hair so that he could kiss me this time.
"I've had a really long day, Wells. You can either put me to sleep by questioning me about something that's just you being paranoid or you can fuck my brains out so that we can both go to bed satisfied," he said, not really giving me a choice as he started grinding his lower body slowly but deliberately against mine, his green eyes flooding with lust. We were both hard and panting with need by now.
I found it hard to think then. He was all that mattered. Him and this moment where he only wanted to be consumed by me. Maybe I was just being paranoid and reading too much into his exhaustion from work. Maybe we just needed a change of scenery to get things back on track.
Yeah, that was probably it. Cole would always belong to me. He has from the moment we met six years ago and nothing was going to change that.
~~~
Chapter 2
Skye
Mateo served me an iced mocha, presented me with
