Page 84 of Love Me Like You Do

“Yes.” She was so lost in him she could hardly speak, the single syllable coming out on a whoosh of air. “Oh, God, Cole. You feel so good.”

One hand abandoned her breast to seek her clit, and the moment he touched her, she cried out. He jackknifed up to suck on her nipple, and God, the assault of sensations was too much. All three pleasure points—her breasts, her clit, her swollen, wet channel—collided and sent her into a state of arousal she’d never experienced.

“I can’t…Cole, I can’t take it. I can’t…” It was too much, too intense. She couldn’t survive it.

But he was relentless, circling her clit, sucking her nipple, and pounding into her relentlessly.

And when she exploded, the world went white. She hovered in that space of pure elations, letting it flood her until she crash-landed. Realizing only then, that he was coming, too. Hard, wild… Cole was out of control. Sweat glistened on his skin, his teeth were bared, and he grunted and cried out.

She’d never seen him lose control, and it was the most beautiful sight in the world.

Maybe this was as real and special as he made her believe.

Maybe theycouldlast.

ChapterFifteen

On the lastday of school before the holiday break, Cole took Evvie with him to the training center. Since they had a daycare center, she got to be around other kids her age.

But mostly, he’d wanted to give Hailey a chance to work. Ever since her meeting with the Petticoat Rulers, she’d been supercharged about starting her own line, so she’d stolen as many moments as she could to work on her robes. He figured she could use a bigger stretch of time.

With Christmas just two days away, she’d decided to hold off on sending her pitch, which made sense, even though he knew how badly she wanted her job situation resolved.

As much as he wanted to offer help, he kept his mouth shut because he understood that her sense of security came from her own ability to earn a living. Part of that was launching this business—an income stream she could grow while she weathered career storms. The only thing hecoulddo was give her time to work.

After the training facility, he’d taken Evvie into town and gotten hot cocoa from Coco’s Chocolates. They’d listened to the carolers in the town green, visited a toy store so she could buy gifts for her sister and Hailey, and then they’d gone to the library where he’d opened an account for the girls.

The more he set up now, the less anxiety he’d feel when he left. Okay, guilt. He’d feel less guilty about bailing on them. He had an agency working on getting a reliable sitter, and he’d talked to Lulu Cavanaugh, the co-owner of Harley and Lu, about a food delivery service. Whether groceries or prepared foods, he wanted something in place in case Hailey got overwhelmed with work and kids.

He’d checked in with the PI and learned the man was still pursuing Darren’s biological family. And, finally, he’d brought Evvie with him to the attorney’s office where he’d begun the process of starting a trust for the girls.

He should be feeling good, getting all this shit done. When it was time to leave, the girls would be set.

But oddly enough, the idea of leaving didn’t sit right with him.

He wanted to be the one to braid Paisley’s hair. He looked forward to their private time together every night. And he needed to be around for Evvie because he was certain she still had a vision of her parents living it up in Vegas, choosing not to come home to their little girl.

And that just twisted him up inside.

The moment they walked into the house, Evvie wrenched her hand free of his and ran into the kitchen with her library tote bag. “LaLee, Paisy, yook what I got.” The books crashed onto the floor, and he smiled. There was one word for that girl: gusto.

He’d had the presents wrapped, so he went ahead and put them under the bigger tree. But only because they wouldn’t fit under the scraggly one. At this point, after daily art projects, the limbs were dragging on the floor. Most recently, Hailey had printed out photos of the girls with their parents and made frames out of popsicle sticks. They’d glued glitter and pom-poms on them, so they sparkled in the tree lights.

It was fucking awesome.

“Cole.” Evvie shrieked.

Alarms rang in his body, and he broke into a run, practically skidding to a stop in the kitchen where Hailey was pulling a sheet of cookies out of the oven and Paisley was standing on a step stool, licking the beaters.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“Yook.” Evvie danced in place, shaking her booty like an enthusiastic puppy. “Cookies.”

“Oh, Jesus.” He laughed “You scared me.”

Hailey brought the tray to the counter and set it on a trivet. With a spatula, she transferred them onto a metal cooling rack. He hadn’t even known he owned utensils like that.

“I have one?” Evvie asked.