For Everly (17 page)

“I’m totally getting you back for that,” she said, fighting a smile.

The chase was on. He was a strong swimmer, but she was lighter and sleeker. When he would have powered his way across the pool to evade her, she zipped along beneath the surface and paced him. After several minutes of pursuing him, she cornered him near the waterfall that spilled in from a spa off the far side of the pool. They were both breathless and laughing like idiots.

“I think grabbing my swimsuit to drag me back was playing dirty,” he said as he caught his breath.

“Sure it was. Serves you right.”

“Remind me not to dunk you again unless I want to skinny dip.”

She laughed again. His back was turned to her, the position in which she’d finally caught him. Only then did she register that her arms were still around his waist.

The feel of his body pressed against hers…his taut skin beneath her fingertips…it was—

“Tell you what,” he said, turning around to face her. She didn’t want to move her hands, and since he didn’t try to escape her touch, she didn’t. “That was too easy. I’ll find you with my eyes closed.”

“Oh, yeah? Marco Polo style?”

“Something like that. And when I do, I want a reward.”

She could only echo him as she held his intent gaze. “A reward?”

“Yes, Ms. Wallace. I want a real kiss.”

Chapter 22

Her heartbeat thudded in her throat as she considered Cole’s proposal. The prospect of kissing him both thrilled and terrified her.

Live, Everly
.

“Okay,” she said at last. Smiling to cover her uncertainty, she let him go. “Turn around and count to ten.”

When he did, she went beneath the water and headed for the deep end. She surfaced as quietly as she could and moved slowly along the edge until he reached the count of ten.

“Everly,” he called out.

She quickly caught on. “Cole,” she replied.

He turned in her direction. Her heart raced as he started swimming toward her.

“Everly.”

She continued to move quietly along the edge of the pool, making as little noise as possible. “Cole.”

Once again, he turned toward the sound of her voice. She found it harder to catch her breath. Her heart continued its frantic pace.

“Everly.”

“Cole.”

They continued around the edge, Cole remaining less than ten feet from her. Sensing that he had figured out her strategy, she eased into the middle of the pool.

“Everly.”

“Cole.”

When he turned toward her this time, she realized she had miscalculated. The water reached her chest, making it harder for her to move through it without making any noise. Just as she decided to go under, Cole pushed off the edge and quickly covered the distance between them. She gave it a last-ditch effort, trying to leap for an edge, but he grabbed her ankle and pulled her back.

“Was that a squeal, Ms. Wallace?” he asked, reeling her in until they were once again next to each other. He turned her so the water remained only as high as her chest.

“I don’t squeal,” she huffed. She wanted to laugh, but was afraid it would reflect her nervousness. “I
might
have issued a feminine sound of protest.”

“I see.” He reached up and placed a hand on the side of her face. “And are you going to argue if I want to claim my reward?”

His voice was soft, beckoning. She wanted to lean into his hand as his thumb brushed the side of her face, passing briefly over the corner of her mouth. She could have gazed into his eyes for the rest of the night.

But there was one little hitch.

Okay, not so little. It was huge. Enough to have tears of embarrassment burning the backs of her eyes as she stood in Cole Parker’s arms.

She was nearly twenty-three years old. Young women her age didn’t have this kind of problem. Many of them were married with kids.

Yet the truth of it was, she’d never shared any level of intimacy with a man. She had very little idea what to do.

She looked at his chest. “Cole…I haven’t ever…”

“Will you let me kiss you, Everly?”

Her eyes lifted to his. She saw no judgment there. Just hope and…want. Swallowing hard, she shoved her reservations to the side.

“Yes,” she said. “I will.”

*     *     *

Cole had never had to exercise this much restraint around a female. In truth, the women he’d dated in the past had usually been more experienced than he was. It was rare that he had to make the first move.

It just figured that the one woman he wanted more than any he’d ever been with was as inexperienced as they came. He’d seen Everly’s nervousness when he initially approached her in the pool. It had gone a long way toward curbing his libido, which had slipped its leash while she undressed.

She hadn’t been trying to turn him on, he knew. Her movements hadn’t been slow and teasing as she disrobed. They’d been purposeful and a little shy.

Why that sent him into sensual orbit, he had no idea.

But that feeling resurfaced when she said she’d let him kiss her. The moment she granted her permission, there wasn’t anything he’d ever wanted more.

He brought his other hand up so that both framed her heart-shaped face. She put her arms around his waist. For a moment, he just held her gaze. This was her first real kiss. He wanted it to be perfect for her. Slow and steady, he told his raging hormones.

The water kept him from having to bend down to meet her mouth. He simply pulled her closer and touched his lips to hers.

At first, she stiffened. Her lips pressed together when he brushed his against hers. Knowing she needed to get used to the idea of the kiss, he took his time, lightly pressing his lips against hers once, twice, three times. Then again.

Eventually, she began to relax. Her mouth softened beneath his. He allowed his lips to stay connected to hers longer and longer between each contact. Then he gently ran his tongue along her lower lip. She issued a low moan that had his control teetering.

He caressed the side of her face with his thumb as he kissed her, applying the slightest pressure to her jaw. After briefly tensing again, she parted her lips.

Feeling like he’d just been awarded a championship ring, he finally tasted her. She was every bit as divine as he’d anticipated.

Sweet. Sultry. Addicting.

He heard himself issuing sounds of approval as he kissed her. He couldn’t help it. It was the most glorious experience of his life. He was in real danger of losing his control. He needed to put some distance between them.

Then she kissed him back. Her tongue rubbed against his, timidly at first, then with gathering enthusiasm.

Dear Lord
.

He was lost.

Pulling her long legs up to wrap around his waist and bringing her arms up and around his neck, he kissed her again, long and deep. She returned the kiss with equal passion, gifting him with sexy moans that let him know she was enjoying her first kiss as much as he was.

Only when his hands wanted to roam along her body did he force himself to break away from her. A first kiss was one thing. What he wanted to do was quite another.

As they caught their breath, they held each other’s gazes. Then she smiled.

“Wow,” she said breathlessly. “Was that your reward, or mine?’

“It’s all a little hazy at the moment.”

“I’ll say.” Her eyes moved to his mouth. “Wow.”

Issuing a small laugh, he touched his forehead to hers. “If you keep looking at me that way, I’m going to kiss you again.”

“But I don’t want you to kiss me.”

Disappointment and surprise struck him at the same time. Then she leaned forward and captured his mouth.

Ah.
She
wanted to kiss
him
.

He recognized the depth of her passion even if she didn’t. She started slowly like he’d done with her, but it wasn’t long before they were once again exchanging drugging, open-mouthed kisses that made him want to carry her to the closest lounge chair and strip her of her meager clothes. When her lower body inadvertently pressed against him, he thought he might go insane.

Once again, he broke away from her. Only two kisses and he was almost beyond maintaining his control.

She was going to be the death of him.

“Well, thanks for that second reward, Ms. Wallace,” he said, planting his hands on the curves of her hips to keep her a safe distance from his lower body. “But we’d better take a break. All of these rewards are getting me, well, kind of worked up.”

Her eyebrows rose. She looked down between them and let go of him as though she’d burned herself. Since her legs were still wrapped around him, she promptly sank. The reaction made him laugh.

“I didn’t know someone’s whole body could blush,” he drawled as she surfaced.

She sputtered and cleared the water from her eyes. “It’s one of the curses of being a redhead,” she said. Then, after a moment, she laughed, too. “If it wasn’t obvious before that I’m inexperienced, that spaz-tastic move surely outed me.”

He smiled. “I’d say you’re a remarkably fast learner, rookie.”

His eyes kept drifting back to her mouth. He realized his body wasn’t even close to cooling off after their encounter. If anything, he was getting closer and closer to ignoring his angelic inner voice and kissing her again, to hell with the consequences.

“And on that note,” he said, hating that inner voice, “perhaps a change of activity is in order.” He took her hand and pulled her back toward the stairs.

“I was rather enjoying that one.”

“So was I. Way, way too much.” They reached the stairs and began ascending. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her give his body another scan.

“Oh.”

He reached for the towels and handed her one. “Sorry to cut our swim short.”

“Well, at least I know it wasn’t because I bored you,” she said with a cheeky smile.

Shaking his head, he began toweling himself off. She did the same. He looked at the wall and tried to think of anything except for her near-naked body. It wasn’t working.

“We’re going to have to come up with something to do that will occupy my mind,” he said, “or I’ll have to stand out in the sleet for a while.”

She wrapped the towel around herself. It didn’t make her any less alluring. In fact, it just made him try to imagine her without anything on underneath it.

This was going to be the longest night of his life.

“All right,” she said, patting his upper arm. His body perked right up at the friendly touch. “Didn’t you say you have
Iron Man
in your theater?”

“Sure,” he said. “We can watch
Iron Man
. Hell, there’s even some irony in there somewhere. And, hey, Pepper Potts is a redhead.”

While he babbled, she turned to gather her things from a nearby lounge chair. He finally got a good glimpse of the tattoo on her left shoulder. It was the number thirty-five in navy blue outlined in white with a tilted gold halo hooked around the top of the three. He knew from what he’d read in the news stories that it was an homage to Aiden.

He returned his focus to drying himself when she walked back over to him. It took her a couple of seconds, but she finally brought her gaze to his.

“Cole, I want you to know that I’ll never forget what we just shared. You gave me the first kiss that every girl dreams of, a kiss that I’ll dream about for years to come. I hope that helps offset some of your…discomfort now.”

Her words filled him with unmistakable pride. Putting an arm around her shoulders, he said, “You know what, Everly? Being the subject of your dreams is more than enough reward for me.”

Chapter 23

Cole ignored his angelic inner voice enough to sneak in a few more kisses with Everly during the movie. Those kisses made him realize that his reaction to the first couple hadn’t been an anomaly. If anything, the first kisses just lit his fuse.

After the movie, since Everly had to be at one of the sports rehab centers she volunteered with early the next day, they went to bed. Regretfully, she was in the guest room instead of his. Still, he fell asleep with the memory of her taste on his mind and a smile on his face.

Waking, however, was a different matter.

The sound of the gate alarm being deactivated only vaguely registered in his brain. Margaret was the only person outside of his immediate family who had his gate code. She always arrived at seven on Tuesdays because it was the day she did the heavy cleaning and the laundry. He didn’t do more than glare at the security console to make sure it was Margaret before falling back asleep.

Less than an hour later, he woke again…this time to the sound of female voices. Only then did he remember that Everly had slept over.

Springing up in just his sleep shorts, he sprinted out of the bedroom and hurried to Everly’s room. He found her door already open. Wincing, he went back into his bedroom to throw on a T-shirt before making his way back toward the kitchen.

“…best I’ve ever had,” he heard Everly say when he got within earshot.

“You’re gonna turn this ol’ lady’s face red, Ms. Everly,” Margaret replied.

What were they talking about? He hurried the rest of the way to the kitchen in hopes of performing some damage control. When he rounded the corner, he found Everly sitting at the kitchen island eating a plate of blueberry pancakes. She smiled when she saw him.

“Good morning, Sunshine,” she said.

Margaret looked up from the griddle and caught his eye. She raised an eyebrow and glanced knowingly at Everly. He felt his shoulders hunch in discomfort.

“Good morning,” he said, running a hand through his bed-head. “So, uh, you met Ms. Margaret?”

“She sho’ did,” Margaret said, her focus on the pancakes. “I woke the po’ girl up when I went into the guest room to dust it.”

Everly snorted on a laugh as she skewered another piece of pancake and brought it to her mouth. “I needed to get up, anyway,” she said before she ate the bite.

“I’m sorry,” Cole said. He just stood there staring at Everly. Why was watching her eat suddenly so arousing? “I, uh, forgot that today was Tuesday.”