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thirty-five

Cole

“I can’t take you seriously when you’re wearing a damn Santa hat,” Ari laughs from the other end of our video call.

“It’s called being festive, dick,” I chide, stirring the pot of sauce.

“It’s called trying-to-impress-your-girlfriend,” he chuckles. “You’ve been together for like two days, and you’re down badder than bad.”

“It’s been five days, thank you.” Ari just rolls his eyes and laughs under his breath. “Aren’t you supposed to be helping me with this?”

“You thought I’d be able to help with it. I can’t help you with spaghetti sauce, man. I only know how to cook Korean food.”

“You grew up in the United States. How can you only cook Korean food?”

“Because Tom Morgan doesn’t cook. I never got a home-cooked meal from him. Learned all of that from my mom.”

“Sounds like I’m on my own with this, then,” I sigh. “The sauce seems fine so far, and I don’t think I can fuck up boxed noodles.”

“No, but you can fuck up the garlic bread,” Ari smirks as I take note of the smoke coming out of the oven.

“Goddammit!”

His laughter is raucous as I grab an oven mitt, pull out the tray of now-burned garlic bread, and fan the smoke away.

“See,” he says, “you wouldn’t need to go through this if you said ‘fuck love’ like I do.”

“You’re going to meet a woman one day that undoes all that shit you tell yourself, and I’m going to be the smuggest bastard when it happens.”

We’re interrupted by a knock at my door, and I smile widely. “Starlight just arrived,” he says.

“She did,” I grin. “I’m hanging up now. I don’t really want to give you a show later.”

“Hey, I’m down for a show. I haven’t had any action in weeks now.”

“That’s what your hand is for, bro. Take care of yourself.”

Ari laughs heartily. “Be safe, Pierce. Don’t forget to use protection.”

I smirk at him. “We get by just fine without it.”

Rory knocks again, so I finally hang up with Ari and walk over to the door. I swing it open, and my breath catches in my throat.

God, she’s so fucking beautiful.

Her black dress is skin-tight, and the thigh-high black boots she paired it with are so sexy. Every curve of hers is accentuated by the fabric, and I have to bite my lip to keep from ravishing her right now.

“Merry Christmas, Sparrow,” she says brightly, her warmth filling up the room.

“Merry Christmas, Starlight,” I reply, taking her bag from her as she shrugs off her coat.

Rory walks into the kitchen, and I follow after her. “Did you make dinner again?” She eyes me curiously.

“I did,” I reply, sheepishly rubbing the back of my neck. “Spaghetti tonight. I did try to make homemade sauce, and I’m hoping it turned out well. But the noodles are boxed, and the garlic bread is burnt.”

She rears her head back and laughs. “I should’ve gotten you cooking lessons for Christmas, apparently.”

I wrap my arms around her waist, pulling her in close. “You didn’t need to buy me anything for Christmas, baby. I’ve already got my gift right here.”

“Whoever would have guessed Cole Pierce is such a romantic?” She smiles at me so sweetly, and I melt just a little bit inside.

“Only ever been that way for you, Rory girl,” I admit, stroking my thumb across her cheek. “Let me finish dinner, and then we can get the rest of the night started.”

Dinner tonight turned out much better than I anticipated. I can’t cook much, but apparently, I can cook spaghetti sauce.

Rory puts the last of our dishes into the sink, and I wrap my arms around her, pulling her back flush against my chest. I start humming a song, and we sway to the tune before she finally realizes what it is.

“Are you humming Invisible?” she asks, turning her face up to look at me.

“I am. It’s been stuck in my head since the wedding.”

“Because you got to dance with me?”

“Almost certainly,” I smile. “But I didn’t get to dance with you quite how I wanted.”

Rory turns around now, draping her arms around my neck. “And how did you want to dance with me?”

I pull her against me and press my forehead against hers. “Just like this. Close enough for everyone to know you’re my girlfriend, not just a friend.”

She sighs. “I’m sorry we have to keep this secret.”

“Don’t be sorry. This is how it has to be for now. And if it means getting to have you, I wouldn’t change a damn thing about it.” I kiss her softly before I start swaying us again. “But I can dance with you now.”

“We don’t have any music playing, Cole,” she laughs.

“I recall you telling me before that I could sing for you anytime.”

So that’s what I do.

I sing the song we danced to at the wedding, but now I get to hold her as close as I want.

I can kiss her as often as I want.

I can spin her around my kitchen as much as I want.

And with Rory, I want, want, want .

I want everything.

Rory is straight out of my dreams, made just for me.

Our relationship may be a secret from most people, but I’ve still never been happier than I am right now with her wrapped in my arms.

Right where she’s meant to be.

We sway together until the song is finished before making our way to the living room, plopping onto my sofa right in front of the decorated Christmas tree.

I watch her in the glow of the soft white lights as she spreads our gifts between us, clearly excited as she does. Once the boxes are set, Rory takes a seat right beside me, and I throw my arm around her shoulders.

We alternate back and forth between gifts.

Rory’s happiness is evident when she opens up a brand new set of art supplies from me.

I smile when I open up a drawing of the Stars’ stadium from her.

She laughs when she opens a telescope from me so she can see the “starlight” anytime she wants.

I howl when I open a pair of sparrow-covered pajamas from her.

“This box is pretty big,” Rory says as she takes off the wrapping paper from my next gift. “I still can’t believe you can wrap so neatly.”

“Blame my mom,” I chuckle. “I can’t wrap without having perfectly straight lines now.”

“Better than anything I can do.”

I smile, but she’s right. She’s cute as hell, but she can’t wrap for shit.

“Finish opening it,” I say, urging her to rip off the damn paper already.

“Fine, fine,” she laughs. Once the paper is finally off, she inspects the box before smiling. “A chai tea maker?”

“It is,” I say. “I know chai lattes are your favorite. But this is for you to keep at my place, so you can have your favorite drink when you stay with me.”

“Trying to get me to stay over more often?” she teases.

“Hell yes, I am. And if this helps me with that, then it’s a wise investment.”

Rory leans over and kisses me sweetly. “Thank you, Cole. This is perfect.” She hands me my next one, and her excitement is apparent on her face. “Open this one now!”

“It must be good if you’re that happy.” The package is square but thin, with little weight. Once I have one end of the paper open, I slide the contents out.

Laying on my lap now is a vinyl copy of one of my all-time favorite albums— Eyes Open by Snow Patrol.

“This is awesome, Rory. I didn’t realize this was on vinyl.”

“I managed to find one, and this one is special.” She points to the top corner, where there’s a signature in black marker.

“This is autographed by Gary Lightbody?” I look at her, and she nods. I put the record down and wrap my girlfriend up in a tight hug, pulling her into my lap. “This is fucking incredible.”

I press my lips against hers, kissing her tenderly.

Well, it started tenderly.

But it doesn’t take long before need floods through us both.

Rory moves to straddle me, pressing her thighs on either side of mine as she slides her hands under my henley, tracing over the definition of my abs. I slip my hands under her dress, lightly squeezing her legs.

“Wait,” I pant, lips ghosting over hers. “I still have another gift for you.”

“It can wait.”

I chuckle. “I think you’ll want to open this one first.” Rory eyes me curiously as I reach down by my feet, grabbing a gift bag I hid from view earlier. “This isn’t quite the same as the others.”

She bites her lip, already anticipating what she’s going to find inside. She takes the tissue paper out, tosses it to the ground, and then peers inside. “Somebody visited the sex shop without me.”

I wrap my arms around her, palming her ass. “I’ll bring you next time. You can pick out whatever you want, baby girl.”

Rory coyly smiles at me. “So what do we have then?” she asks, reaching into the bag and coming out with the first item. “A rose clit sucker. Those are supposed to be very nice.”

“Only the best for my girl,” I smile.

Rory laughs before kissing me again. She looks at me cautiously when she pulls out the next item—a set of plugs in three different sizes. “Oh.”

“You sure liked my finger the other night,” I whisper against her ear, causing her body to involuntarily shiver. “These will help get your ass ready for my cock, baby girl. I meant it when I said I’m going to fuck it one day.”

“You can fuck me wherever you want, Daddy.”

She grinds against me, and my dick is now painfully hard, straining against the denim of my jeans. “One more thing. Get it out so I can fuck you already.”

“I love how desperate you are for me, Cole.”

“Right now, I’m desperate for you to finish opening your gifts so I can sink inside your wet cunt. Put me out of my misery, Rory girl.”

“So impatient,” she chides, no bite to her tone. She finally reaches in and grabs the last item. “What is this one?”

I slide my hands further up her dress now, grazing my thumbs over the undersides of her breasts. “Couple’s vibrator,” I answer, placing wet kisses up her neck as she inspects the box of the somewhat U-shaped item. “The top goes against your clit. The thinner part goes inside you. And since it’s meant for couples, I’ll be inside you as well.”

“I’ll have both you and a vibrator inside me?” I nod. “We’re trying that out. But I have one more gift for you first…”