Bound Temptations: Stories of Temptation and Submission (8 page)

That was when Cole noticed
something else—two white envelopes on the counter. Clayton tapped
them with his pen and glanced at Rocki. "I'll call around, see what
I can find out. But you need to come in, at least fill out a
complaint about this. You know that."

She glanced at Cole. With a
tired smile, she said, "Maybe that official date is going to have
to wait."

"Maybe. But I'll drive you
to the police station."

That tired, strained look on
her face pissed him off, Cole thought a few minutes later as he
wove in and out of the early evening traffic, following Clayton
Morgan to the police department. Pissed him off, and worried
him.

Reaching over, he caught her
hand where it lay fisted in her lap.

"This won't be so bad. You
just answer some questions and sign your name in a few places. And
since you know the cop, he'll probably be able to speed things up,
too."

"I know." She rolled her
head on the seat and gave him a weak smile.

Something about her tone
made him think she did know, too.

Hmmm.
Okay. He was asking. Damn it, he
was asking. Because whether they had their date tonight or not, he
was already in far too deep with this woman and he needed to know
what in the hell was going on. Assuming she told
him.

"Somehow, I don't think that
‘I know' is just a vague, empty comment." He rubbed his thumb along
the back of her hand, noting how tightly she had that fist
clenched. So tight her hands must ache from it, he mused. "Somehow,
I think that ‘I know' is said from experience."

As he slowed down for a red
light, he turned his head to look at her.

"Am I right?"

Rocki had her eyes closed.
In the faint light coming into the car, she looked pale, too pale.
And still so amazingly beautiful. Scared, too.

Somehow, he didn't think
scared was her normal. He wanted to gather her up against him and
hold her close, stroke her until that tension faded.

"You're right," she
whispered. She opened her eyes, staring straight ahead. "Yeah.
You're right."

The light turned to green
and he focused on the road once more, but continued to hold her
hand. "You maybe want to tell me about it?"

"I don't know." She blew out
a shaky breath. "But I can't right now. I need to keep it together
and that's taking a lot out of me."

Cole nodded. He could see
that easily enough on his own. "Okay." He wouldn't push. Not yet.
But he wanted to know what was going on, what kind of unhappy
secrets had darkened her lovely eyes.

This was an unexpected
complication.

But oddly enough, he wasn't
the least bit inclined to walk away.

"And that's it. I ran
outside, didn't see anybody. I came back inside and called
you."

Damn it, this was hard. Even
though Clayton was here, this was still hard. Clayton had been a
friend of hers for years—since college. Lacey used to tease her
that he'd had a thing for her. Rocki didn't know if that was true
but she did know he'd always been there. Always. And he was here
now. But this was still so hard.

She sat perched on the edge
of the chair, her hands wrapped around the coffee. She'd asked for
it more to warm her hands than to drink it, but she'd had a few
sips. The caffeine was already zinging through her system, and she
wondered if it would be possible to sleep.

She didn't know.

She didn't know if she
wanted to sleep. A split second later, she decided she probably
didn't.

Off to the side, Cole stood
silently, his face expressionless, his golden eyes unreadable. A
lawyer. She wouldn't have guessed it. She didn't have the knee-jerk
dislike for lawyers that Clayton obviously had, but still, she
would have thought she'd be able to peg one.

It didn't matter, though.
Not to her. She'd meant it when she said it earlier and she still
meant it. She was glad he was here. Glad she wouldn't have to drive
back to the shop alone, although she wasn't so glad about spending
the night alone at home.

Morosely, she stroked a hand
down the silky black sleeve of her new corset and decided it hadn't
mattered what she wore. She wasn't really going to be able to put
it to good use, anyway. Not that she'd planned on doing much more
than seeing if he appreciated her efforts, but still.

"Rock?"

Glancing up, she saw Clayton
staring at her, his brows arched, an expectant look on his face.
She sighed and lifted a hand, pressed her fingers to her forehead.
"Sorry, Clayton. My mind is wandering."

"It's okay." He reached out
and tugged on a lock of her hair, much as he'd done when they were
younger. And she reached out, swatted at his wrist, much as she'd
done. It was a familiar thing, something that settled her, soothed
her. "You've got plenty of reasons for your mind to wander. But I
need you think, to focus."

He slid a look toward Cole.
The way he was sitting, it wasn't very likely Cole would have
noticed, but Rocki saw it. "I've got a few more questions to ask
you. Would you like for me to do it privately?"

Way to be subtle, she
thought tiredly. But she just shook her head.

She'd already decided she'd
tell Cole. Why? She wasn't sure. But she just felt like she should.
She felt like he needed to know—like she should tell
him.

"Just go ahead and ask." She
looked at Cole, their gazes connecting. If he didn't feel casual
about her, then he needed to be aware she came with a bit of
baggage, she figured. If he couldn't deal with that, then better
she know early, right? "I plan on telling Cole later on,
anyway."

Clayton stilled.

She looked at him, saw the
way his eyes narrowed, the way his mouth tightened. "Is that so?
Things that serious with you two already?"

In her peripheral vision,
she saw Cole push of the wall. Quietly, she said, "That's not
exactly your concern, is it, Clayton? You're my friend. That
doesn't give you license to inquire about my personal life." She
glanced at Cole and then away. "Come on. Whatever you need to ask,
get it done."

"Shit, Rocki." Clayton
grunted and shoved a hand through his hair.

"Fine." He shoved off the
desk and started to pace. "How likely is it that this is connected
to...before?"

Before.

Terror hit
her. Images flickered through her mind. Hands hard and cruel. A
low, ugly whisper...She swallowed the bile churning its way up her
throat and blinked away the dots trying to crowd in on her
vision.
No, damn it—you're not controlling
me like this, bastard. Not now. Not again-

Taking a
deep, slow breath, she closed her eyes. She wasn't helpless. She
hadn't been then, she wasn't now. Closing her hands into fists, she
opened them, flexed her fingers.
Breathe,
Rocki...breathe...

As the black dots faded
away, she looked at Clayton. "Honestly, I don't know. It's been
years. Eleven years. You know that. Would he still be out there,
trying to freak me out?"

"He had an obsession for
you. You tell me."

Rocki shuddered. "Hell. I
don't know. I just don't know."

Clayton nodded. "Okay. Well,
he's going to be the first person I check out." He sighed. "Go on.
Get out of here. Get some rest." Then he added, "And damn it, be
careful. Anything else happens, I want to know.
Immediately."

Chapter Six

The walk to his car was
quiet. Snow came down around them in a gentle, steady fall. Already
their tracks from just a short while ago were nearly covered. Rocki
grimaced and kicked at the ground.

"I'm getting tired of
snow."

Cole muttered, "Me, too." He
glanced over at Rocki, felt his heart stutter at the sight of her.
There were snowflakes in her hair. She had her head tipped back,
and even though she was scowling, there was a smile on her lips.
"You know, for somebody who claims to be tired of it, you aren't in
any rush to get out of the snow."

Rocki sighed. "Well, maybe
I'm tired of it in theory. Maybe only partially tired. But there's
something peaceful about it, too. I could use some peace right
now."

"You're safe, you know." He
brushed her hair back from her face. He meant to push it back
behind her ear. Really. But he found himself rubbing the dark,
thick lock between his thumb and forefinger. Tearing his gaze from
her hair, he looked into her dark eyes and said, "You can
relax."

She scowled. "I don't think
I remember how."

"Try." He forced himself to
let go of her hair. "Come on. It's cold. We can enjoy the peace
from inside the car, too."

Moments later, they were
doing just that. As the car took to the roads, Cole glanced over at
Rocki, saw that she was staring out at the falling snow, still
smiling.

"I moved to Asheville from
Florida when I was in high school," she said, glancing at him out
of the corner of her eye and. "Never got to see snow until then. I
always used to dream about a white Christmas. Every now and then, I
can actually have one. Mom used to complain about it, telling Dad
they should have picked a different spot in North Carolina. She
hated the snow. I don't always mind it, I guess."

Her smile.

Damn it, what was it about
that smile of hers? It hit him like a punch, straight to his gut.
It didn't matter if it was the mischievous sort, or the pensive,
thoughtful kind. Every time she smiled and her dark eyes crinkled
up like that, it just got to him.

Clearing his throat, he
said, "You want me to take you to your car? I'm following you home,
just so you know. So I can either take you home now, or follow you
home, it doesn't matter, but..."

She reached over and laid a
finger across his lips. "I'm hungry. How about you take me to get
some food, instead?" She glanced around and said, "Assuming the
snow hasn't shut the city down."

He caught her wrist. "Nah.
This place doesn't shut down that easily."

He really should take her
home. She was tired—the bruised look under her eyes more than told
him that. And she looked fragile, even though he knew she was
anything but.

But he wasn't about to pass
up a chance to spend some more time with her.

"Although, you realize, this
doesn't count as a date. This is just getting food. You still owe
me a date."

"Typical lawyer," Rocki
sighed. But she was smiling.

"So what happened with you
and Mara?"

She had a heaping bowl of
Irish stew in front of her, a glass of Harp, and a fire crackling
not too far away. As far as she was concerned, it was the ideal way
to spend a Friday night—providing she didn't think about
earlier.

She hadn't expected him to
take her to Molly Flanagan's, but the sight of it had made her
smile. She loved this place. The Irish-style pub was packed, too,
all but bursting at the seams as they made their way
inside.

Cole had gone for a Guinness
and a burger, and glanced at her now as she snatched a few of his
fries. He scowled at her. Rocki decided then and there that they
really did need to have a second date. It felt too right not
to.

If everything else went
okay.

"Mara..." Cole sighed. He
wiped his fingers on his napkin and lifted his Guinness, but didn't
drink. Instead, he studied the half-empty glass, as though it held
the answers to the universe. "Have you ever known somebody who
could go from being one thing to being something
else...completely?"

Rocki lowered her gaze. Her
heart bumped against her ribs.

“
Maybe."

"It wasn't a quick thing.
Quick...well, that probably would have made me leave sooner, and it
wouldn't have been so hard, maybe. Might have gotten ugly at first.
But..." Scowling, he studied his drink. Long moments passed before
he finally shifted his gaze up to meet hers. "She didn't used to be
so miserable—I'm not talking outright mean, because she could
always be a bitch when she wanted. It's just that lately, she just
wanted to be a bitch more often than not. She never used to be that
way. She used to be happy. Or happier, or least. I don't know when
that started to change."

"It makes you
sad."

"Yeah." He sat the glass
down and leaned back into his chair, turning his head to stare into
the fire. They were tucked into one of the smaller alcoves and it
was mostly quiet, rather private. They could hear the muffled music
and the roar of other voices, but nothing distinct. "It's not that
I have regrets about ending it, because I don't. Maybe I only
regret not seeing this sooner. But I hate that somebody I used to
love is so unhappy now."

Then he shoved a hand
through his hair. "Not exactly good dinner conversation,
considering I plan on convincing you to go on another date,
right?"