Page 15

EDEN

T wo days later…Seattle

See you tonight. Don’t let Sophia turn you into a Revenge fan.

After we fell asleep together, I woke up the next morning in Cole’s bed, alone. His side of the bed was still warm, and it didn’t escape my notice that he’d tucked the comforter around me. Or that I had wrapped my body around him and had the best night of sleep in a really long time.

Hyper awareness, in all its fun and glory, invaded every aspect of my life since middle school and when the messages started, they were just another thing I had to deal with. Conceal, and keep to myself so that no one saw the things they would say were out of the ordinary.

Cole changed that, layer by layer, and gave me permission to just exist. To not worry if I wasn’t smiling or if I wanted to stare at the sky. Sit in the rain. Or stop trying to please everyone by fitting into the mold of what they expected of me.

I caught a flight in the afternoon to Seattle with Zoe and Gus, who laughed when I asked if he had a crush on me now, while Cole flew with the rest of the team a few hours earlier. The seven plus hour ride was the longest one I’d ever taken, but as soon as we landed, Cole texted me, and the lines we started dancing around the last few days blurred even more.

Bags and carry on luggage in hand, we weaved through the crowds of families and travelers running to catch connecting flights. Gus walked behind us, and every so often, I glanced back to see his eyes scanning the crowd. He’d wink and Zoe’d nudge me to keep moving.

The car dropped us off at the same hotel the team booked, but we’d arrived after so I did not expect to hear from Cole because it was close to ten at night and the time change meant the guys were probably trying to adjust and get to bed early.

Expectations were not my strong point, especially with this man.

COLE: If Gus texts me before you again, no more presents.

Zoe was staying in the room across from me with Brett, and Gus refused to let me carry my bags which meant my hands were free to swipe the key card and read his message.

I rolled my eyes, and started to type out a response. “Traitor,” I said with narrowed eyes at the burly head of security.

Gus chuckled. “I could still probably take him out, but if he got the whole line on my case, I’d be in trouble. You, I can just bribe you with cookies.”

I laughed. “Next time, I’ll bribe you with cookies.”

“Sounds perfect, Just don’t tell. And I’ll be next door if you need anything. Cole and Noah are the only players on this floor other than Coach. The other rooms are my families. And you have to have a key card for the floor, so no worrying allowed, Eden. Let me do it all.”

I thanked him, and figured out Cole or the police must’ve decided to keep an extra eye on things. My money was on my stepbrother.

Door shut, I stared at my phone. The dots danced, stopped, and started.

COLE: EDEN.

I read the words, and heard the growl as if he were standing right in front of me, demanding. This time, he wouldn’t be wearing a mask. This time, there would be no doubt of who was ordering me to run.

In one stride, I went to the small table next to the bed and flipped on a light. A soft glow filled the room enough that I could see, but not enough to hurt my eyes or chase away the night.

On the bed, sat another bag like the one he gave me a few days ago. This one contained another off the shoulder sweatshirt, this time with his number emblazoned on the back. No name. Along a box of Junior Mints.

COLE: It’s curfew, so I technically can’t leave my room.

EDEN: I am fine. All tucked up in my room with my Junior Mints. I didn’t know they were your favorites, too.

COLE: They’re not.

I wrinkled my brow.

EDEN: Then why do you have a case of them in your house?

COLE: You mean the ones you stole?

If he knew I took them, why didn’t he say anything?

EDEN: I didn’t steal exactly. I hid them, but then you never said anything.

COLE: Because I bought them for you.

EDEN: But, you had them before you met me. Well, without a mask. And you were eating a box that first night.

The dots dance for what felt like forever until…

COLE: Because I wanted to know what you tasted like again.

And the line was so blurred I wasn’t sure it existed any more.

There was a knock but not from the door I had entered my room from.

A rapid fire series of knocks were coming from a door…on the wall inside, which meant…

Holy hell. Cole and Noah were in a connecting room to mine. I walked over to the door, flipped the latch and opened it to find Cole standing there. Gray sweats. Shirtless. Abs and man chest and forearms and did I mention the pants were slung low so that the V action was going strong?

“You shouldn’t have opened the door, Eden. What if I was-”

“Some crazy stalker who wanted to break into my room by booking the one next to me that the head of security already assured me the floor only had you, Noah, and a few families plus Zoe is across the hall with your Coach? I think the probability of having more than one stalker is pretty slim.” His jaw clenched and I recognized the look. Before he could chastise me I asked softly, “Why does your room have a door to mine?”

He glanced behind him, and I peeked over his shoulder, thinking Noah would be there, but the room was empty. “Eden-”

“Is Noah in the shower?”

He shook his head. “No, he has his own room.”

“He..does? But I thought you were roommates?”

“We are, for the rest of the trip. But, we thought you would feel safer if I was close by, and Noah agreed to stay in the room on the other side.” He pointed to the other wall behind where a flat screen sat on a dresser. “And I told him I got the door because I’m your-”

“Brother”, I finished.

He stepped in closer. “Step.” The air crackled with the same intensity it had the first time we met, and all the thoughts of pushing him, making him see me, and not a relative, but the girl he chased and made feel so alive that I’d been only half alive around him since.

“Cole?”

“Mhmm? ”

“Tell me why you…please.”

I didn’t dare move because I didn’t know if I could survive another shut down. Another moment of him walking away because it was better for me.

Not because he thought he wasn’t good enough. But because he didn’t want me seen as something less. Ever again. Because this man saw all the dark, silly, romantic parts of me that I hid from everyone else without me having to even show him.

“I just…needed to. There’s no other choice for me, Eden.”

The space between us closed, and I wasn’t who had moved closer but I didn’t care. Neither of us backed away. Every nerve in my body ignited, every breath I took came from him. My skin tingled with awareness. Heart pounded faster and faster, my lungs battled to draw in adequate oxygen. The room spun. “But you still won’t–”

“We can’t do this, Eden.”

His navy eyes bored into mine, our breaths mingling in the dark. The back of the bed, only a piece of furniture moments before, now a place where we could lose ourselves. Lie while the lights were out and the sun asleep. The moon high in the night sky, stars sparkling. And reality seemed so far away. For me, at least.

“But,” I licked my lips, “we already have, C-”

“That was before.”

“Before what? We’re still the same people as before we knew.”

Cole didn’t move away, but I could feel him closing off to me even as his eyes said otherwise.

Before I could lose my nerve, I brought my hand up to his chest. He covered it with his own, the frantic beating of his heart mirrored my own. “I only know that I don’t care. ”

“You will.”

My head went side to side, so fast the room spun even more. “No. I have spent way too many years changing who I am to let it happen any more. I don’t care if anyone says anything. We didn’t even know each other. We never slept in the same house until you decided to protect me. Protect me. Not change me or try to make me into someone I’m not. The candy, the movies, the wine? You did that all because I like them. You didn’t get things that you thought I should like. You. See. Me. Cole.”

One second, I was terrified he’d walk away and then the next, he let out a growl, and yanked me into his arms, kissing me with a ferocity that both thrilled and scared me in its intensity. But I needed it after so many nights sleeping in the same house, a few feet away, then in his arms.

It wasn’t gentle or delicate. It was a claiming that had started all those nights ago and nothing or no one would stop it. He swallowed my moans, taking more and more until I was breathless and begging for his touch.

He pulled back, fisting my hair. “Fuck, Bunny, I’ve been dying not being able to touch this body. Bury myself inside you. Take whatever I want for far too long. I am going to fuck you, do you understand me, Eden? Hard. And I don’t fucking care who hears the screams you’re going to make because of how I use you. Last chance, Bunny.”

I licked my lips, full well knowing my panties were soaked and the minute he touched me I’d lose any semblance of control because I knew, remembered with an aching realness, how he made my body his. How I’d loved every second and wished for it since. No one would ever be what he was to me ever again. I knew it in the haunted house, and I knew it now.

“Yes. ”

With a primal growl, he scooped me into his arms. My legs locked around his waist and I hated not taking my clothes off because I needed to have his body against mine with nothing between us. He spun, and I was in the bed getting my pants pulled off so quickly I was sure they were ruined, along with my panties, which were torn off. I tried to prop myself up, clumsily lifting my shirt over my head. When I became trapped in my franticness. Cole yanked it the rest of the way off. I made quick work of my bra before he tore that, too.

Naked before him, breathing like I’d just run a marathon, my skin flushed under his gaze. Part of me screamed to run, but the other part knew it would be useless.

And there was time for that later. His erection looked bigger than I‘d remembered, straining under the gray fabric. He hooked his thumbs in the waistband and tugged them down. His cock bobbed, thick and hard, precum already leaking from the tip. He grabbed my ankles, pushing my legs back, my thighs against my chest. “You’re mine, Eden. No one else’s. I’m done. And I’m going to take your pussy the way I’ve been thinking every time I’ve fisted my cock while you slept in my house. My personal little fuck toy to use and play with. Hard.”

His crown teased at my entrance, and even though my panties had been soaked, my body wasn’t ready for his size or the intensity of being held open. Exposed in every way. My cheeks heated and I nearly wept with the onslaught taking over my body as he thrust in, Stretching me. I yelped, and his eyes flared but I only said, “Please.” The single word the only thing I could coherently get out before he narrowed his eyes and buried himself inside my body.

I panted, unable to focus on anything other than Cole taking away every thought, every worry, and using my body and the sounds filling the air. It was freeing and every thrust, every inch he claimed, pushed me over the edge.

My body exploded as he growled, sweat coating our bodies. Back arching, I felt the waves of pleasure in a nonstop rush. The room spun as I came, his grunts and hands and cock suddenly too much and I didn’t know how much more I could take.

I barely had come down before he flipped me over and pulled me up onto my knees, his hands gripped my hips, holding me up when my body would have let go. Again, he took me, filling me, the sounds of skin slapping skin over and over as he took and took.

“MINE,” roared as I came again, and I felt him fill me, over and over until I finally collapsed. His body on top of mine, drenched and boneless.

Our breath slowed down, and suddenly, I giggled.

He propped himself up on his elbow and glowered at me as I turned my head so I could see him. “What’s so funny, Bunny?”

“Nothing.”

“Tell me or-”

“Or what?’

His fingers skimmed my ribcage and I giggled again. “No! Okay! Just don’t tickle me!”

Blues eyes darkened.”But what if I like the sounds you make?”

I giggled again, happy and tired in the best way possible. “Then I definitely won’t tell you, grump.” He glared. “This is totally a forbidden trope. And I don’t care. In fact, I love it. And you are even hotter than I remember, ghost hockey daddy.”

Cole rolled me over, still caging me in. “Oh, Bunny. You haven’t seen anything yet.”