Everything seemed to freeze around us as Cole’s glittering gaze stayed locked on mine. He lowered himself to his knees and slid his hand over my leg while his other cupped my cheek. I leaned into his touch. “You really know how to get a guy’s attention . . . between that hair and the proposal . . .” He grinned.
I curled my fingers around his wrist. “Was that a yes?”
He tugged me toward him and I braced my hands on his chest. “Even though you stole my thunder . . .” He nodded and pressed a soft kiss to my lips. “Yes, Shannon.”
Euphoria swept over me as Cole kissed me again, this time long and hard. I kissed him back with abandon, barely even aware of the laughter and celebration of his family all around us.
* * *
My fingers curled into the bedsheet and I gasped, my head falling back against Cole’s shoulder as he moved inside me. We lay on our sides, my back to Cole’s chest.
It was intoxicating—like he was all around me, inside me, a part of me. His scent was everywhere, his heart beat at my back, and his hand caressed my breast. I was aware of everything—the roughness of the hair on his legs brushing against the soft skin of mine, the sound of his breathing as it quickened, the thick, all-encompassing sensation of him inside me.
Overwhelming.
Pure.
True.
In a way nothing ever had been before.
When I came around him my pulse throbbed so hard it reverberated in the base of my throat.
“Shannon,” Cole panted. “Oh, f-fuck,” he stuttered out as he tensed seconds before he cl**axed.
Damp from sweat, I found it a small kind of relief when Cole bunched my hair in his hand and lifted it off my neck so he could kiss me there. Since our return from Joss and Braden’s and our reconciliation/engagement, we’d gone at each other like lust-starved teenagers. First he pinned me against the wall of his hallway; then he carried me to his bed, where we’d screwed each other’s brains out.
Finally our urgency eased as we silently reassured each other. We’d made love slowly, leisurely, and somehow it was the most erotic part of the whole evening.
Cole shifted as if to pull out of me and I put my hand on his hip to stop him. “Stay,” I whispered.
“Inside you?”
I nodded, grabbing his arm and tugging it around my waist.
Catching on, Cole took me with him as he moved to switch off the light. He then settled, spooning me.
My eyes were just drifting closed when he spoke into the dark. “You were right. What you said about me trusting you. I didn’t even realize it until you said it.”
Fully alert, I ran the tips of my fingers along his forearm. “It’s okay.”
“I need you to understand something. I need you to understand why I reacted the way I did, why I didn’t give myself time to think. See . . .” His voice grew low. “All those years ago on Scotland Street when I stepped out of Ellie’s door and you turned around, I thought—” He cut off abruptly, subconsciously tightening his hold on me.
“You thought?”
“I don’t know how to say it without sounding like a cheesy idiot.”
“I just proposed to you without a ring or an actual plan in front of your whole family. There’s no judgment here.”
He laughed, his breath puffing against my neck. “True.” He kissed me again. “When you turned around, it was like you’d . . . I don’t know, like, you’d been conjured from air or something just for me. I can’t explain it. I just knew that you were meant for me,” he confessed. “To me it was like you were there to make up for all the bad stuff that had come before you. But then just like that you went away and I guess I believed that made more sense than anything good ever could. At the time anyway. I grew up and grew out of that broody shit.” He gave me a squeeze and I wondered if he could hear how hard and fast my heart was pumping in my chest.
“And then you walked back into my life and I wanted you. Because I felt drawn to you still. It was, and is, powerful, Shannon. I’ve never felt like that with any woman.
“Jo, Hannah, Liv, all of them are special to me and I’ve always had reasons to trust them. But you . . . Someone tried to break you, take you away from yourself, and in a way take you away from me. I guess I’ve just been waiting for you to stop trusting me because it doesn’t seem possible that I get to keep this dream.” He leaned over and I turned my head to meet his gaze, feeling so much more for this man than I’d known it was possible to feel. “I’m sorry if I let you down lately.”
“No.” The tears came and I let them fall. “Cole, you could never let me down. Do you know what it means to me that you see me that way? Don’t you get it? You’re the most beautiful man I’ve ever met—you’re kind and smart, loyal and compassionate, and strong and talented and brave and forgiving. You’re everything I ever wanted from life, and that you feel the same way back . . . All my life I’ve been scared and I never knew why.” I smiled through my tears. “I’m not scared anymore.”
He crushed my lips beneath his, his groans of joy surrounding me like everything else about him.
Once he was finished showing his appreciation for my words, my confession, I settled back, clasping his arm tight to my br**sts, and I promised him, “I meant what I said. I’ll never choose anyone over you. My family should care enough not to put me in that position. I’m going to see them next week and that’s exactly what I’m going to tell them.”
I felt Cole’s hesitation and he didn’t even have to say what he was thinking. I just knew.
“Don’t worry. This is what I want. Logan wants this for me too. The contention between me and my family doesn’t need to affect my relationship with my brother.” I relaxed deeper against my pillow. “Cole . . . they’ve never given me what you’ve given me. Not once. You’re worth it.” I smiled into the dark of our bedroom. “You’re worth every bad thing that’s ever happened to me, because going through them led me to you.”
“Shannon.” He pulled me closer, his voice gruff, thick with emotion.
I decided to stop there. Cole finally got it.
I wasn’t going anywhere.
Why would I when I had the best seat in the house?
* * *
“I guess this means I need to start being nice to you again?” Rae wrinkled her nose.
Cole and I had just been ambushed. We broke the news of our engagement to Rae and Simon that morning before clients started appearing, and it had been received with enthusiastic congratulations, followed by whispering and secretive, mischievous glances.
Their behavior started to make sense ten minutes after our last client left and the bell over the door rang. In walked Stu, followed by Tony. Rae and Simon had called to tell them about our news. Stu set off party poppers around us. I got bear hugs from all the guys and finally a tentative embrace from Rae.
“Being nice would be appreciated. If you can manage it.”
“I can try.”
I sighed and offered her a small smile. “Look, I understand you were just being loyal to Cole.”
“Don’t.” She held up a hand to stop me. “I f**ked up, Shannon. I stuck my nose in your business and I made it worse. I’m sorry.”
I raised an eyebrow but decided not to tease her for admitting she was wrong. “It’s in the past. It all worked out, right?”
“Yeah.” She smirked and shot a look at Cole. “Although you did kind of steal his moment proposing to him. He’s the most bloody romantic guy I know, and he didn’t get to propose to his girlfriend.”
I bit my lip, staring at him as he laughed at something Stu said. “Do you think he minds?”
“I think he gets to marry you . . . so no. I don’t think he minds.”
* * *
A couple of hours later we were joined by the twins and Karen, Mike, and a few of Tony and Rae’s friends. People brought beer, food, and champagne, turning the get-together into a full-blown engagement party.
A little tipsy on champagne and wanting the whole world to be as happy as I was, I found myself sidling up to Simon, who was standing brooding in the corner of the studio with a beer in hand. He smiled at my approach. I slid an arm around him and cuddled into his side.
“Are you okay, friend?”
Simon looked down at me. I’d been a little too preoccupied lately with my own stuff to notice the weariness in his eyes. “I will be.”
“The baby thing?”
“Shannon, this is your engagement party. Let’s not talk about it.”
“I want to. I want my friend to be happy.”
He smiled and bent his head to press a kiss to my forehead. “I’m okay.”
“Is Tony?”
Realizing I wasn’t going to stop pestering him until he gave me something, Simon replied, “He loves me. He’s not leaving me.”
“I sense a but.”
“I just don’t want him to end up resenting me.”
“Do you never want to have kids?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I just know I don’t right now.”
“That’s why he’s staying.” I squeezed his arm and pulled away. “Who knows what you’ll want in the future? No one ever does. Tony doesn’t want to walk away from you on a maybe. He loves you, Simon. And you love him. So stop brooding about the future and just enjoy what you have right now.”
Simon pushed away from the wall, his gaze fixed on his partner, who was laughing with Rae and looking exceptionally handsome in a black open-collared shirt and black trousers. Simon couldn’t hide the way he felt about Tony. It emanated from him. He shot me a smile of thanks. “I think I’ll do that.”
I watched as he strode across the room with purpose, coming up behind Tony and placing a hand on his shoulder. He leaned in and pressed his lips to Tony’s jaw. Tony’s eyelids grew heavy and lazy as he turned to meet Simon’s mouth with his own.
“Playing matchmaker?” Cole murmured, wrapping his arms around me and drawing me back against his chest.
I relaxed against him. “Just passing along a very important lesson you taught me.”
“Hmm.” He brushed his lips over my ear. “How about we go home and I teach you a little something else?”
I shivered in anticipation. “Like?”
“Life drawing skills. If I remember correctly you promised you’d let me draw you naked.”
Grinning, I turned around in his arms. “I did, didn’t I?” I pressed closer. “Let’s make it more interesting.”
“More interesting than drawing you naked?”
“Uh-huh. Let’s make a bet.”
“A bet?”
“I bet you that you’ll give in to temptation and score with your nude model within ten minutes.”
Cole gave me an “oh, please” look. “I’ll take that bet. I’ll last at least thirty minutes.”
“So cocky.” I was so going to win this bet. “Terms?”
“If I win I get your mouth first.” He winked.
I laughed. “Dirty boy. Fine. If I win I get your mouth first.”
“Deal.”
I shook the hand he held out. “Deal.”
* * *
I didn’t play fair as a nude model. Let’s just say I was never very good at sitting completely still.
Cole lasted three minutes.
CHAPTER 27
A week later we found ourselves back at Joss and Braden’s home. Ellie wanted us to celebrate our engagement in style. I don’t know how they managed to pull off another get-together so quickly, but the dining table was covered in buffet food, and there were decorations and cake. Everyone had carved time out of their busy schedules. They’d also brought gifts that were now piled in the hallway.
“There you are.” Hannah smiled at us. She approached carrying the tiny bundle that was Jarrod.
Cole’s family and friends lounged in the sitting room in much the same way as they had the week before. I was a little nervous being around them again after they’d witnessed my emotional proposal, but after having dinner with Jo and Cam this week, I at least felt more comfortable around Cole’s big sister.
And of course Hannah always put me at ease.
Taking in Jarrod’s beautiful little face and the blue vest that had the words “I’m so cute I must be Scottish” printed on them, I immediately let go of Cole’s hand. “Can I hold him?”
She chuckled and nodded, passing Jarrod over to me.
I took his solid, warm little weight, beaming into his now-inquiring eyes as he squirmed a little. He settled as I secured him in my arms. “Well, aren’t you the most gorgeous little thing on the planet?” He had Marco’s coloring, although his eyes were dark blue, but that might, and probably would, change as he got older. “Look at you, charming the pants off women already.”
Cole smoothed his large hand over Jarrod’s head and I swear to God my brooding levels hit an all-time high. “Learning from the best, buddy, eh?”
I stared stupidly up at my fiancé. “What?”
Hannah snorted. “She’s having a moment. Leave her.”
Cole quirked an eyebrow. “A moment? A—no.” His eyes grew comically round. “One thing at time, Shortcake. Now, hand the child over slowly.”
I giggled and passed Jarrod back to an amused Hannah. “You’d make a great dad.”
“I’m sure I will,” he said confidently. “And I look forward to it . . . in at least five years’ time.”