Page 127 of Shelter
“Well—” He shrugged, fighting against a smile. “—I’ll admit I want you to take the shirt off, but I promise you’ll be warmer if you do.”
I kept him pinned with my stare. “And if I take it off and I’m still cold?”
Challenge danced in his eyes. “Then I’ll carry you inside and put you in a hot shower.”
A hot shower with Cole sounded amazing. Why couldn’t we just skip the naked swimming part, and jump right to that?
“Why not—”
Cole pressed two fingers over my lips, trapping them. “Let’s try it my way first. I think you’ll like it.”
I had to admit that, despite being cold, clinging to his body, bobbing and buoyant in the salt water had its appeal. “Fine,” I consented with a tiny nod.
His brow quirked with mischief. “Miss Cormier, don’t sound so eager,” he teased. “You’ll get me too worked up.”
My laughter echoed across the surface of the pool, and I felt him snicker against me.
“Here,” he said, wrapping his hand around my nape. “Lie back.”
I didn’t move. “What are you going to do?”
“Elise, my love, just trust me.”
My love.The words pulled spasms of pleasure through me. A sudden assault of bliss. Unable to respond or even close my mouth, I did the only thing I could. I obeyed.
Lying back in his capable hold, water soaked through my hair, and my chest lifted above the surface. The night air seeped through the sopping shirt, chilling me instantly. I glanced down to find the sodden fabric flattened over me like a second skin, every pucker of my taut nipples accentuated in moonlight.
“Christ, you’re so lovely,” Cole muttered, his voice hoarse, almost choked. He braced me in his left arm, my head now resting on his shoulder, while his right hand deftly undid each button in turn. When the shirt gaped open, Cole’s hot mouth closed over my right breast.
I moaned, my eyes closing in surrender. The heat of his tongue was sinful, and I craved more. I slid my hand up behind his neck and wove my fingers through his damp, short-cropped hair, holding him in place.
At my touch, a barely tamed growl issued from his throat. I loved it.
Slowly, with obvious regret, Cole freed my breast and brought his lips to mine, kissing me once before he spoke. “You’re distracting me from my job.” He nibbled my top lip and swept his tongue over the bottom one.
“Job?” I panted.
He nodded. “I’m trying to undress you. I want you to swim with me. Naked.”
He was already naked, and I was nearly there, so his words should not have sent such a thrill through me, but they had. My feet reached for the bottom, and once I was anchored, I drew my arms back and swayed them through the water until the shirt slid from me. I was about to reach for the elastic band of my panties, but Cole beat me to it, snagging them with two fingers and dragging them down my legs. With his free arm, he hooked me low around my back and lifted me just enough so I could kick them away.
I’ll probably never see those panties again.
And with that thought, I felt my nakedness, the keen, half-frightening-half-freeing sense that nothing separated me from the water. From the night. And that I shared this with Cole.
A shock of aliveness clanged through my entire being. I’d never felt so alive.
I looked into Cole’s eyes then and saw him. I saw him as he was right now. Yes, he’d always be the Cole I’d grown up with. The boy who had been my childhood nemesis. The teenager who’d pretended to ignore me while trusting me with his life. The young man who’d made me love him.
But now he was the grown man, too. The man who had confessed his faults in a balls-out letter. Who could read my face and know when I was embarrassed or freaked out. Who’d dressed me in his shirt and given me his toothbrush. Who had said he wasn’t going anywhere.
Who’d called me his.
Out of the eight billion people on the planet, he was the one I wanted to be with. Now and always.
I lunged for him.
Cole caught me in his arms as my mouth claimed his. I kissed and kissed him, wanting to make him part of me, aching to be as close to him as I could possibly get. The way he’d wrapped his arms around me and crushed me to him hinted he felt the same.
