Assured (Soul Serenade #2) (21 page)

“Never fucking felt like this,” he vows. He stops moving as his lips capture mine. I immediately open for him. I get lost in the kiss as his tongue stokes mine. He’s all consuming.

Breaking away from this kiss, his lips trail down my neck nipping and sucking along the way. When his warm mouth captures a nipple, I arch my back off the bed.

“More,” I plead. My hands grip his ass as I try to pull him into me. He releases my nipple with a pop and moves right over to the other, giving it equal amounts of his attention, ignoring my plea. I’m on fire. I can feel every stroke of his tongue, the touch of his fingers as they dig into my hips, his weight against me. He’s turning my body into liquid fire, lava.

“Cole,” I whimper.

He pulls back and stares down at me. His eyes, dark brown pools of desire lock on mine. “So fucking sweet,” he whispers as his lips once again descend on mine.

My heart literally skips a beat. I’m overwhelmed with emotions—fear, elation, passion and desire. All of them because of the man above me.

“Are you with me, sweets?”

“Yes,” I say, gripping his back. Holding on for the ride. One I know I’ll want to experience over and over again.

Cole locks his fingers at the top of my head, his weight resting on his elbows as enters me slowly. Each thrust of his hips is calculated and sure. His eyes never leave mine as he gives me exactly what I’ve been begging for, more of this, more of him.

Closing my eyes, I try to hide from the intensity of his stare.

“Open your eyes, Stacy. I want to watch you. I want you to watch me. I want you to remember this moment, remember who’s inside of you.”

I should have known that I couldn’t hide from him. Cole doesn’t hide he’s a “what you see is what you get” kind of guy.

“There you are,” he murmurs. Leaning down his lips softly caress mine.

“Cole.” His name is but a whisper on my lips.

“I can feel it,” he rocks his hips. “You’re close,” he sways his hips in a move that causes my entire body to tremble.

“Close,” I pant.

Cole doesn’t say anything. His eyes remain locked on mine. Resting all of his weight on one elbow the other hand cups my cheek. His eyes darken as I bite my lip; his hips jolt forward, his thrust growing faster, a constant steady rhythm that is pushing me toward the edge.

Just as my eyes are about to roll back in my head, he thrust deep and slams his lips over mine. He swallows my cries as we both fall into the abyss of pleasure that we have created.

He kisses me, his lips fused with mine until the last tremor has left our bodies, slowly he pulls his lips from mine. His eyes watch me searching my expression, looking for I don’t know what.

“Regrets?” he asks softly.

“No,” I murmur. “You?”

Leaning down, he kisses my forehead. “Could never regret you, baby.”

Five words. Those five words have a direct line to my heart. The one this man kicks into overdrive whenever he’s near. The one that just melted into a puddle of goo at five little words. Those five words mean more to me than any declaration of love or feelings. Cole is a man who doesn’t hold back; he’s always blunt and honest to a fault. He knows I want more than just a fling, knows how I feel about it. He also knows I was willing to set that aside to be with him. Those five words tell me that this really does mean more to him.

We’re in this together.

That both excites me and scares the hell out of me. This isn’t his thing, being attached to someone. Although, I’ve yet to see his attention anywhere but on me. I agreed to try, and that’s what I’m going to do.

“Where did you go?” he asks, smoothing hair out of my eyes.

“Just taking it all in.” I smile.

“Don’t move.”

He climbs off the bed and I instantly miss him, the warmth of him pressed against me. I close my eyes, running it all through my mind on repeat. We’ve been dancing around this for months, and I’ve imagined it more times than I care to admit, but I never, not once, thought it would be like this. With Cole saying he wants there to be an us.

My eyes pop open when I feel a warm cloth between my legs.

“Sorry, sweets. Didn’t mean to startle you,” he says, tossing the towel back toward the bathroom. He stretches out beside me on the bed, pulling me against his chest. Reaching down, he grabs the covers and tugs them over us.

My head resting on his chest, I can feel the thunderous beat of his heart. Neither one of us says a word as our breathing syncs and we both relax.

Cole has one arm holding me tight against him, and with the other he runs his fingers through my hair. “I’ve never done this before,” he admits.

“Changing your mind?” I ask hesitantly.

“Never.” He tightens both arms around me and holds me tight. He gives me a gentle squeeze. “I’ve never . . . cuddled after sex.”

Noted. I try to pull away, but his hold is like a vise.

“Stop.”

I do what he says.

“I didn’t say I didn’t want to do it, Stacy. I said I’d never. I’ve never wanted to. I’ve never had the desire to stick around, to bask in the feel of a naked body against mine. I’ve never cared enough to make sure she’s comfortable.”

It’s a bit awkward hearing about his time with other women, but that’s Cole. He doesn’t hold any punches, and I know his history.

“Fuck, sweets, I never want to let you go. This feeling—your skin against mine, your head on my chest. It’s one I never want to let go of.”

Me either. I want to tell him that I’m onboard, that my thoughts are in line with his, but I hold back. This is still so new, and I admit that I’m still scared as hell. If I let sweet Cole in, will he break me?

“This is more, Stacy,” he states firmly, as if he can read my mind.

“Not just sex,” I say, snuggling closer. I’m going to soak up as much of him as I can. I’m going to take my clues from him and let the chips fall where they may. I want to believe he’s changed, that he changed for me, but my heart is hesitant. It’s his simple “this is more” that has me going all in I’m not going to let my fear of a broken heart keep me from enjoying every second that he claims to be mine.

“No, not just sex. Look at me,” he commands.

Taking a deep breath, I lift my head from what I like to think of as my spot on his chest and look at him.

His face is serious, more serious than I’ve ever seen. Those chocolate eyes bore into mine. “We made love, Stacy. I could never just fuck the woman who owns me. We’ll fuck, that’s a given, but there will always be emotion involved—there’s no other way with you. However, what we just shared, that was more than sex.”

Love. That one word among the many that fell from his lips is the one I’m stuck on. I bite my tongue, not wanting to blurt it out that it was more than making love—it was falling in love as well. That my heart is invested. Sweet Cole has cast a spell on me, and my heart was all too eager to succumb to his advances.

“Stacy.”

I pull myself together and focus on him.

“Tell me you get that?” His voice is pleading.

“I do,” I murmur. “We made love,” I rasp out.

He nods and I lay my head back on his chest, breaking the intensity of his stare.

“I want to wake up like this,” he says on a yawn.

This man. No one would believe me. If I told them about sweet Cole and the things he says to me, the way he holds me firm yet gentle. No one would believe that rocker Cole Hampton, lead guitarist for Soul Serenade, is the man holding me tight, vowing to do so all night long.

I like that.

I like the idea that I get the real Cole. A side of him the groupies and the fans don’t get to see. I get all of him—the cocky rocker, the loveable uncle, and the man who goes out of his way to make sure I know he just made love to me. Something we both know is another first for him.

I get my Cole.

“Morning, beautiful,” Cole’s sleepy voice rasps in my ear.

I slowly open my eyes and search for his. As promised, I’m still in his arms. “Morning,” I say, placing my hand over my mouth. I don’t want to knock him out with morning breath.

“Where are you going?” He holds tight when I try to get up.

I can’t help but laugh at his expression. He looks worried. “I have to pee and brush my teeth.”

“I need a kiss,” he begs. Yes,
begs.
It’s cute as hell, and no one would ever believe me.

“After I brush my teeth.”

“Now.”

He reaches for me, but I quickly roll away from him and climb out of bed. “Trust me on this one. This is new to you. Morning-breath kisses are not something you want to experience.”

“It is if it’s with you,” he pouts.

I just shake my head at his antics and rush to the bathroom before I lose control of my bladder. Just as I finish washing my hands, Cole barges into the room. He relieves himself as if I’m not even there.

I leave the bathroom to find my suitcase, but the luggage isn’t there.

Shit.

I stalk back to the bathroom. I’ll just have to use my finger with the sample that the hotel gives you. I find Cole at the sink, doing that very thing. He flashes me a grin.

“I wonder what the hotel did with our luggage,” I say, picking up the toothpaste.

“I’d say the others have it.”

“Why didn’t they call or bring it to us?”

He winks at me. “They know we’re together. They saw you hand everyone a key but me.”

I was so wrapped up in Cole that I didn’t even think about the others and what they might be noticing.

“It’s no big deal. We’re solid.” He slaps me on the ass as he leaves the room.

I finish brushing my teeth as best I can before joining him. He stalks toward me and, before I have time to resist, his lips are on mine. Gentle yet firm, he kisses me until there is a knock at the door.

“The newlyweds have our luggage,” he says against my lips. He pulls away and tosses his phone on the bed. “Sweets, you need to either hide in the bathroom or throw on a robe or clothes or something.” He runs his fingers through his hair, gathering it together and pulling it into a knot at the back of his head.

The knock sounds again. “Cole, you said you were awake,” Kace calls through the door.

“Hold your damn horses,” Cole yells back. He turns to me, “Stacy, you need to get moving.” He smirks.

He knows I was checking him out. Nothing but his jeans on, and unbuttoned at that. His ripped chest on display.

“I’m just going to get in the shower.”

“Don’t come out until you know they’re gone.”

“It’s not like. . . .”

“Not with you. No one gets to see you but me.” He kisses me hard one last time and smacks my ass for the second time this morning. I yelp in surprise and scurry off to the bathroom.

It’s hard to believe that there are only four weeks of the tour left. I spent the first four chasing my girl and the last four enjoying every minute of her being mine. This week, we have a show in Cincinnati. Luckily, we have three days off after, so we’re going to spend some time at Logan and Kacen’s house here before hitting the road again. Logan is beaming that she gets to see her family. I guess Jase, her younger brother, is coming home from college for a few days. Apparently, he explained to all his professors that his sister, who is married to a rock star, is coming into town. Not that they would give him shit anyway; he’s the big man on campus, football star and all. We need to make it to a game sometime. I need to mention that to Kace; I’m sure Logan would be thrilled. Of course, with the baby due in just two months, not sure if it will be this season.