Page 57 of Ice Cold Heart

The audacity of making a jersey for his roommate’s pet duck with his own name on it appealed to me at a deep level. Cole appealed to me on a deep level. I rubbed the smooth fabric and considered his request.

My first instinct was to push back. The evil little voice in my head insisted if I gave him everything he wanted, I’d be left with nothing. He’d take and take until I forgot what it was like to wish for something different.

But the voice was describing Scott, not Cole.

Cole, who started every conversation asking me about my day. Who’d encouraged me to listen to my body and take what I wanted. Who’d debated with me, without laughing, the likelihood of a serial killer hiding amongst the college population in a small town. More than once.

I put on the jersey. It hung down to my hips, and I definitely couldn’t wear it out without something under it. Luckily, I wasn’t planning to wear it out.

I set the matching duck jersey next to my clothes on his desk and crawled under the covers. No reason to make myself more nervous by standing around wondering what to do with my hands. Besides, his bed was a million times more comfortable than mine.

With the lights off and Cole’s subtle scent surrounding me, I had trouble keeping my eyes open. I checked the final score when my phone buzzed an update, five-zero, then set it aside. He’d won his game, as expected. I was in his bed, as promised. Not naked or waiting up for him though.

Asleep and wearing his jersey would have to do.

22

Déjà vu hit me hard, except this time, I knew exactly where I was and who I was laying on. The room was dark, but I didn’t need to see to feel Cole’s arms snug around me. Like last time, I’d curled up with my head on his chest, and like last time, he wasn’t wearing much.

My leg hooked over his waist, tucked between his, and the telltale rasp of cotton was missing. With the jersey bunched under my breasts, I was naked from the waist down. Goosebumps rippled out from the spot where he caressed the bare skin of my hip.

Unlike last time, Cole wasn’t asleep.

“I didn’t mean to wake you up,” he rumbled under my cheek.

I sat up, and the light coming in through his window helped me see the shadows of his face. “How did you know I was awake?”

“When you’re asleep, you’re a stage five clinger. Awake, you aren’t fully relaxed, like you’re in a constant state of readiness.”

I knew what he was talking about. It wasn’t easy for me to relax, even before Scott and his shit. What Cole didn’t know was I had trouble sleeping most places, except here. In his bed, I didn’t feel like I needed to brace for the next bad thing.

“You can go back to sleep,” he murmured. “I know you’re tired after traveling all day.”

There he went again. Adding another reason for me to be here, with him, instead of walling myself off in my own bed at my dad’s house. I wanted to tell him how much I appreciated the way he put me first—how he was the only one in my life who’d done that, the only one I’d let close enough to try. Words had power though. Giving him those inner parts of me felt dangerous. My heart ached with the need to let go of the hesitation, but I couldn’t force myself to speak past the tightness in my throat.

I could feel him watching me in the dark, waiting for me to lay down again and take the comfort he was offering. Comfort wasn’t what I was after this time.

“Thanks, but I didn’t come here for sleep.”

I threw my leg the rest of the way over him, shifting my weight until I straddled his lap. His fingers dug into my hips as I tilted and stroked the hard length of him with my pussy. No underwear this time. Cole may have told me to go back to sleep, but he’d climbed into bed with me gloriously naked.

In one sudden motion, he flipped me under him. “Nice try, but I distinctly remember promising to make you beg.”

I didn’t repeat my assertion from Christmas, mostly because I wasn’t entirely sure I could back it up.

He grinned against my throat, the movement predatory in the dark. “Want to know a secret?”

I nodded, reaching for him, but he claimed my wrists before I could get past his waist, wrenching them above my head.

“I hope you hold out for a long time because I love the way you taste.”

Before I could reply, he slid down my body until he could lick a wet path up my pussy. Using his long reach, he held me still as he proved his point. His shoulders held my thighs open, and he feasted on me with a laser focus.

I had no intention of begging, but this was Cole. It didn’t take long for him to have me on the cusp of an orgasm. Every time tiny shudders rocked my body, he eased off. No matter how many times I jerked on my hands hoping to speed things along, he held tight.

Cole was absolutely in charge, and I was going to die if he didn’t let me come.

“Please,” I whispered. At that point, I’d have given him anything to take me over.