Tempt Me (15 page)

“
Sure thing.”
He bent over and pressed his lips to Rocki's head. As he
slipped out of the room, she closed her eyes and rested her head on
the back of the chair. Sleep was calling her name once more, but she
wasn't going to sleep any more, not until she was at home. In
her bed.

Out in the hall, there
was a harsh, loud bang. Startled, she jumped. Her right hand smacked
against the bedside table. Pain streaked through her. “Oh,
shit
,” she whispered.

“
Oh, dear...”
The nurse rushed over to her side. “Are you okay?”

Rocki nodded, swallowing
the tears. “Sorry. I'm just a little jumpy.”

From the corner of her
eye, she saw the look on the nurse's face. Knowledge. “I
understand. Would you...well, you might want to consider speaking
with somebody about what happened. After you've rested a bit,
of course.”

Rocki grimaced. She'd
done that bit before. Although this time, she hadn't cowered.
Hadn't hidden. Staring at her broken hand, she said, “Yes.
After I've rested.”

She didn't know if
she'd do it or not. It was a problem that would have to wait
until another day. She wasn't dealing with anything more
complicated today than how to tell Cole where she lived...without
drooling. That was problematic enough.

So pale and exhausted.
The look on her face only made him that much more furious. Cole had
used the few minutes it had taken to drive his car up to call
Clayton, although there was little he could be told yet. Except she
had broken Dwayne Carpenter's nose and given him a concussion
when she drove that bottle into his head.

Not enough,
though...still not enough.

He stroked a hand down
her hair as he opened the door for her. The nurse smiled at him.
“She's going to want to sleep a lot today...that's
probably not a bad thing. Make sure she takes the pain medicine.”

“
I will.” He
nodded as he held a hand out for Rocki, letting her steady herself as
she stood up. She swayed a little and he waited as she rested her
head on his shoulder. “You okay?”

“
Yeah. Stupid drugs
make me loopy.” She eased away and slid into the car, pausing
there and heaving out a breath.

“
I think you're
entitled to a little loopiness, baby.” He caught her uninjured
left hand in his and glanced at the nurse. “We're good
here.”

She smiled at him and
turned away, pushing the wheelchair toward the hospital. He focused
once more on Rocki, waiting for her to swing her legs into the car.

“
Cole.”

He tensed at the sound of
that voice.
Shit
. He'd been ignoring the phone calls all
night. Turning around, he met Mara's icy blue eyes. “Hello,
Mara.”

She shifted her eyes to
look past him. When Rocki went to tug her hand away, though, he
squeezed her fingers gently. And wouldn't let go.

“
So you are here. I
had a call from a friend who said she saw you.” Mara stared at
him, something hard and cold lurking in the depths of her gaze. “Why
are
you here?”

“
Right now, I'm
getting ready to take Rocki home.” He glanced down at Rocki and
smiled. “I need to close the door, sweetheart.”

“
Sweetheart?”
Mara gaped at him. “
Sweetheart
?”

Cole didn't look at
her, just waited for Rocki to ease her legs into the car. “You
good?”

“
I was better about
ninety seconds ago.” She groaned and rested her head against
the back of the seat.

“
Me, too.” He
shut the door and looked back at Mara. “Goodbye, Mara.”

She caught up with him
before he'd rounded the front of his car, her nails digging
into his arm. He really,
really
hated it when she did that.
He'd thrown his coat into the back seat when he'd brought
the car up and other than his sweater, nothing separated his skin
from those acrylics she loved she much. Stopping in his tracks, he
looked down at her hand and then looked back up at her. “I'm
getting tired of telling you that I don't care to have you
digging your claws into me, Mara. Let go. Now.”

“
Why are you
here
with
her
?” Mara snarled, and she just squeezed tighter.

“
I'm taking
her home. She had surgery and she needs to be at home...not sitting
here listening to you have a tantrum.” Out of patience, he
twisted his arm out of her grasp.

She tottered on her heels
and slammed a hand against the car. “She had surgery and called
you
to pick her up? That's fucking pathetic.”

“
No.” He
smiled at her. “She didn't call me. I was there when she
got hurt because we're seeing each other.”

“
Seeing...”
She shook her head. “
Seeing
each other? You're
seeing
her?
Her
?”

Mara turned her head and
shot Rocki an ugly look through the windshield. “You left
me
for that cow?”

Fury twisted inside him,
but he didn't let it show. Continuing his way around the car,
Cole opened the door. “No, Mara. I left you because I don't
love you...I don't even
know
you. Rocki had nothing to
do with it.”

“
So you just
suddenly started dating her right after you broke up with me?”
Venom colored her voice, thick and heavy, just as it froze her eyes,
just as it made her pretty face seem cold, almost alien. “You
want me to think you're actually
interested
in her?”

“
I don't care
what you think,” Cole said tiredly. “But interested
doesn't even touch on what I feel for her. It doesn't
even come close.”

He slid into the car and
shut the door. Mara continued to stand there, glaring at him. When
she didn't move, he sighed and put the car into reverse. “Well,
that was fun.”

“
Wasn't it?”
Rocki had her eyes closed. “It was my fault, ya know.”

“
No. Hell, no, it
wasn't. Apparently one of her friends saw me and called her,
told her I was here, but it wasn't
your
fault.” He
gave her a dark look as he did a three-point turn in the broad drive.
A quick glance in the mirror showed him that Mara was still there.
Still glaring at them.

“
Sure it is. I was
just thinking earlier than I couldn't handle any more problems
today—that I
wouldn't
. So what do we get?
Problems.” She reached over and covered his hand with hers.
“You know...I think I'm pretty interested in you, too,
handsome.”

He twined their fingers.
“That's good. Because I'm thinking I want to keep
you around for a while. A long while.”

“
Hmmm. We're
rushing things again, aren't we?”

“
Damn straight.”

C
hapter
Ten

For most of the day,
thanks to the painkillers, Rocki slept like the dead.

That was just fine with
Cole. Between the insistent calls from Mara—he ignored
those—and his own rather demanding calls to Clayton, he figured
the last thing she needed was his aggravation waking her up. It
didn't seem much of anything would wake her, though.

But the day was wearing
on and Mara's calls were getting more insistent. When the texts
started coming, he groaned. “Wonder if Rocki's a
drinker,” he muttered as he nabbed his iPhone and read the
little bubble on the screen.

Baby, we need to talk.
Please call me
.

He deleted it on the way
into Rocki's kitchen. And, oh yes...there was alcohol. Spying
the bottle of Patron, he wondered if she'd be pissed. He
ignored it and just mixed himself a Jack and Coke.

He had managed exactly
three swallows when the next message came.

Cole, you're
being childish ignoring me like this. Either call me or I'm
coming over there. I do know where that woman lives.

“
Aww, shit.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “What?” Shooting the
sky a look, he demanded, “Just
what
did either of us do
to deserve this?”

The he dialed her number.
This was ending. Now. The last damn thing she wanted to do was hassle
a damn
lawyer
.

“
I've had
it,” he snapped the second she answered. “You hear me,
Mara? I've had it. You and me, we are over.”

“
Baby...please. “

“
You didn't hear
me. That's fine, I'll say it again. I want to make sure this is
absolutely clear. We are over. It doesn't matter if you've thought
about it. It doesn't matter if you realize where we went wrong. It
doesn't matter if you're sorry. Nothing matters. We are over. Do you
understand that?”

There was a long pause,
and he wondered, if maybe, just maybe, she had gotten the point this
time. But Cole should have known better. Just like always, Mara only
saw what she wanted to see. Mara only heard what Mara wanted to hear.

“
Cole,
listen...when I say I've thought about things, I really mean it. I
thought about it a lot. I wasn't fair to you. I had been neglecting
you while dealing with everything with the store and you felt lonely.
You went someplace where you could get the attention you needed.
That's what all of this was about. I can forgive you. It's okay.”

He closed his eyes. “How
magnanimous of you. That's great. We're still over. Now, will you
stop calling me?”

“
How can you be
like this? We were together for years. Doesn't that mean anything to
you?” Her voice was husky soft. “Don't I mean anything to
you?”

Shit.
“Mara,
can we just not go there?”

“
See? You do still
care. That's why you don't want to talk about this. You still love
me.”

“
No.” The
last thing he wanted to do was hurt her. Yeah, they had been together
for a while, had some good memories during those years. Although he
didn't love her anymore, those years did matter to him. But Cole knew
Mara—if she thought, for even an instant, that they might have
a chance, she'd keep hounding him. “Mara, I don't love you. I'm
sorry. I don't know when it happened, but I don't think there's been
any love between us for quite a while. And once you get past your
wounded pride, I think you're going to realize that you don't love me
either.”

“
This is about her,
isn't it? That bitch. Were you cheating on me with her?” Mara
snarled.

Aw, hell. “No. I
didn't start seeing her until the week after I broke it off with
you.”

“
A week. Wow. You
waited a week. You dump your fiancée, and now you're shacking
it up with that cow. You fucking bastard—”

“
That's enough. You
will not talk about her like that.”

“
Why not?”
Mara laughed. “Seriously, Cole. I would've thought you had
better taste. She must give a really good blow job or something. But
that's okay. You'll get bored with her sooner or later. You'll
get over this freakish fluke and you'll want me back. Maybe, if
you're lucky, I'll take you back.
If
, and that's a really big
if, baby. I hope for your sake it's
sooner
rather than
later
.
That bitch doesn't deserve somebody like you. Don't make me wait too
long.”

“
Yeah, you keep
holding your breath on that, Mara. Here's something to chew on—this
isn't a fluke. I think I'm falling in love with her. Do us both
a favor, don't call again.” With anger pulsing inside him, he
ended the call and tossed the phone down. He bent over the counter,
his fists braced on it.

He had known that
wouldn't be fun. He'd been right.

I think I'm falling in
love with her ...

Eyes closed, Rocki leaned
against the arched entryway that separated the hallway from her
kitchen. The brick felt rough against her bare arms, too rough, but
she welcomed it. It reminded her she was awake. And fairly
clearheaded. So what she had just heard wasn't just a
narcotic-induced hallucination, right?

All these years...a smile
curled her lips. She had spent years wondering whether anybody could
ever make her heart roll over in her chest again. And it had just
happened.

Pushing off the wall, she
took one slow step. Then another. Her legs wobbled a little at first
but then steadied, and by the time she was halfway across the
kitchen, she felt almost normal. Except for the stupid brace thing on
her arm, and the pain throbbing there. And of course, her heart was
racing. She was also shaking something awful. But it was that
exciting kind of shaking—the sort of shakes you got right
before you got on a roller coaster. Terrified and excited, all rolled
into one.

Then Cole lifted his
head. She stilled as he turned around, his whiskey-gold eyes meeting
hers.