Perfect Fling (19 page)

For Cole, sex had fulfilled a basic need. Until he caught sight of Erin in a light purple bridesmaid’s dress in Joe’s Bar. She’d forever altered the course of his life. He just didn’t know what to do about his feelings for her and the only life he’d ever known.

She watched him, her eyes warm and focused on his face as they lay in comfortable silence. His hand remained on her belly and she didn’t seem inclined to ask him to move it, instead pressing it against the small baby bump, practically willing him to feel the kicks.

“I guess you can turn off the light,” she finally said in a low voice, sounding as disappointed as he was that he hadn’t been able to feel their child.

He reached over, turned off the lamp, plunging the room into darkness.

“Are you okay?” she asked him.

He knew she meant about Jed, not the baby. “Normally I’m pretty accepting about whatever life throws at me, but Jed’s heart attack caught me off guard.” And knocked down every wall he’d erected to protect himself from his father.

“Hopefully he’ll come through fine,” Erin said. “Then maybe you two will have a chance to repair the relationship.”

Cole groaned. “Don’t hold your breath for that to happen.” He wasn’t. And he didn’t want her to be hurt when her hope for reconciliation didn’t work out.

She shifted, obviously trying to get comfortable. “Babies can work miracles,” she said into the darkness. “Or so people say.”

He didn’t know about babies, but he was starting to believe in Erin. As the minutes ticked by, he listened to her breathing even out. Knowing she was finally falling asleep, Cole ached to pull her into his arms and feel her soft, sleepy body curl into his. He missed her warmth, her smile, her happiness aimed at him.

It took everything in him to stay on his side of the bed, but he did. Because he’d promised himself he wouldn’t send her mixed messages, and taking advantage of her being there when he needed her would be all kinds of wrong.

Although wanting to hold her didn’t feel wrong, but instead felt all kinds of right.

Erin woke in Cole’s arms, warm, comfortable, and
safe, feeling as if she was exactly where she belonged, with the father of her baby and the man she loved. And that was the thought that had her slipping out of bed to shower before he awakened.

Last night had been a precious gift, one she hadn’t expected, but would always appreciate. They hadn’t had sex, yet they couldn’t have been more intimate if he’d been inside her body. He’d touched her belly, tried to feel their baby kick, had been as invested in the moment as she’d been.

He hadn’t made a move on her, but she had to admit that if he had, she wouldn’t have resisted or turned him away. She’d have grabbed that one final moment with him, and probably regretted it later. Which was why she hadn’t been the aggressor. Last night was about Cole, his pain and what he needed from her.

He’d given so much to her these past weeks, putting his life on hold to watch out for her, take care of her, and she was grateful for the chance to give back. She didn’t blame him for not being able to offer more—he’d made no promises. She’d done what she needed to do, tried to see if
they
could be more, and had come to accept his limitations.

He might not realize what a special man he was, but Erin did. They’d bonded and that would help them do what was best for their child’s future. But now, Erin had to rebuild her walls and prepare for the time when Cole walked away.

A couple hours later, Erin sat in the hospital waiting room, staring at the clock on the wall, unable to believe the time could pass so slowly. Even knowing ahead of time how long the wait would be, the seconds, minutes, and hours crawled by. An optimist by nature, Erin believed in her heart that Jed would be fine, and she’d keep believing unless and until the alternative broadsided her. In the meantime, she needed to keep Cole’s mind occupied and off what was going on in that operating room.

Just when he appeared ready to climb the walls, her brother Sam strode into the room with a Victoria look-alike by his side. Having seen her stalker up close, Erin could definitely see the difference in the twins. There was something off in Victoria’s eyes, while Nicole’s were here and present.

“Thank you so much for coming,” Erin said, rising from her chair.

“Any word?” Sam asked.

Cole’s jaw was set tight.

“Not yet,” Erin said. “But it’s way too early to expect news. The doctor said it’s a long surgery.”

Sam nodded in understanding. “Erin, this is Nicole Farnsworth.”

Erin approached warily. Cole stopped her by snagging her waist. Okay, so he wasn’t any more sure of this woman either. “Nice to meet you,” Erin said.

Nicole’s smile was awkward, and Erin realized the other woman wasn’t any more comfortable than she was. “I wish I could say the same, but if my sister weren’t making your life miserable, neither of us would be here.”

Erin admired her candor, and her smile for the other woman grew wider.

“I’m sorry about your father,” Nicole said to Cole. “Officer Marsden told me why we have to meet here.”

“Sam. You can call me Sam,” Erin’s brother said, sounding as if he was repeating a refrain.

“Thanks,” Cole said to Nicole. “Any word? From your sister?”

She shook her head. “I’m sure the fact that I led you to Victoria’s hideaway didn’t sit well with her.”

“She can’t know you were the one who told us. It’s not like she told you the location in the first place,” Sam reassured her.

“I know.” Nicole glanced away. “Look, I wanted to tell you all I’m sorry. I feel awful about everything my sister’s done to you.” She raised her hands toward them, then lowered them again.

“You aren’t responsible for someone else’s actions, Nicole.” Erin echoed a sentiment she’d said to Cole many times before, and in case he’d forgotten, she stepped closer and slid her hand into his, squeezing him tight as a reminder.

She glanced up at his handsome face, but his expression remained neutral, his mind, she was sure, in the OR upstairs. And she didn’t blame him.

“Thank you for that,” Nicole said to Erin. She hesitated, rubbing her hands against her khaki pants. “The other thing I wanted to tell you is that I have to get back home soon. I took time off from my job to look for my sister. But I’m not getting anywhere and I haven’t heard from her, and . . .” She trailed off.

“Erin has a job, responsibilities . . . and she hasn’t been able to do any of them because your sister could jump out of a corner with a knife at any minute,” Cole said, making Erin realize that his silence hadn’t meant he wasn’t focused on what was going on here. She should have known better.

Nicole winced and Sam stepped up beside her.

“Erin’s right. None of that is Nicole’s fault,” he said, scowling at Cole.

Erin decided it was time to empty out the room. Cole needed time to focus on his father and himself. “Nicole, thank you for coming. I guess I’d hoped you would have some fresh ideas for us on how to lure out your sister, but . . .”

“I don’t. I really wish I did. Helping you find her hideaway was about the best I could do.” Regret shone in her eyes.

Erin touched the other woman’s shoulder. “I believe you.” She’d dealt with enough people through the years, questioned the guilty and the innocent, and her gut told her Nicole Farnsworth was nothing more—or less—than she seemed: a woman worried about her mentally ill sister.

Sam nodded to Cole and met Erin’s gaze. “Let me know as soon as you have news about Jed.”

She smiled, knowing her brother truly cared about Jed. And in her heart, she wanted to believe her brother had come to like Cole as a person, despite the fact that he wasn’t thrilled about the one night that had changed the course of Erin’s life.

Even if she was.

Erin blinked, startled at the realization that if she could go back, she wouldn’t change that night or its outcome. Her hand came to rest on her stomach, on top of the life growing inside her.

Her baby. Cole’s baby.

How could she ever regret that?

• • •

Cole wasn’t sure how many hours had passed when
he jolted awake. Could there be any place more uncomfortable than a hospital waiting room? His neck hurt from leaning the back of his head against the wall, and he realized Erin had stretched out, her legs along the row of chairs, her head in his lap. She hadn’t left him through this whole nightmare, and not because she needed his protection. She could have gone to stay with either one of her brothers for that.

He smoothed her hair with his hand and she shifted, moving her head around, making certain parts of his body even more aware of her.

“Hey,” she murmured, yawning as she looked up at him.

“Hey, yourself.” He smiled at her.

“Any news?” She pushed herself into a sitting position and he missed her warmth pressing intimately against him.

He shook his head. “No.”

She sighed and shut her eyes. He stared down at her beautiful face, making him realize she might appear fragile, but she possessed an inner core of strength he admired.

Before he could speak, the swinging doors opened and the doctor strode through. “Mr. Sanders?”

Cole rose, and Erin stood too. “How’s my father?” he asked.

“He came through the surgery and is in recovery.”

Cole’s entire body nearly collapsed in relief. He hadn’t realized how much tension he’d been holding inside until the doctor had spoken. Erin eased beside him and shoved her smaller body beneath his arm, bolstering him physically as well as emotionally. Sensing his need, as usual.

He swallowed over the unexpected lump in his throat, a dual assault from the news of his father as well as Erin’s unconditional support.

“Thank you,” Cole said to the doctor.

The other man merely nodded. “He’ll be out of it for a while. You should go home and get some rest. Come back in a couple of hours, and you can see him for fifteen minutes the first time.”

Cole nodded.

“Make sure the nurses’ station has your cell number and go on. Leave here for a bit,” the doctor said, then strode off.

Erin turned to him, a huge smile on her face. “That’s great news!” She threw herself into his arms, treating him to a full-body hug. Her cheek touched his, her breasts pressed into his chest, and her lower body settled into the cradle of his hips.

But the overwhelming sense he got from her was emotion and elation.

“I knew you’d get your second chance with him,” she said.

Her words proved right. She was truly relieved Jed had survived the surgery, not just for Jed, but for him.

“It’s over,” she said softly, pushing herself off him. Without meeting his gaze, she brushed the wrinkles out of her clothes.

He felt a loss that was somehow more than physical and he watched her carefully. “Erin?”

“Hmm?”

“Something wrong?” he asked, going with his gut that this Erin was different from the one who’d held him close before and during his father’s surgery.

She shook her head. “Not a thing,” she said too brightly. “Let’s do what he said and go home for a little while. We can eat something, rest in a bed, and come back in a few hours.”

“Sure. There’s nothing more we can do here.”

“Good.” She picked up her purse and started for the door.

He called her name once more and she turned, her eyebrows raised.

He swallowed hard. “Thank you. For being here during all this.” He didn’t think he could have gotten through it without her.

She inclined her head. “You’re welcome.” Her tense smile did nothing to reassure him. “That’s what friends do for each other, right?”

Friends.
The word left a foul taste in his mouth, as once again, his gut proved on target. With his father out of imminent danger, Erin was pulling away.

• • •

The sun still shone bright when Erin walked out of
the hospital, Cole not far behind. She walked quickly, trying to outrun the emotional closeness of the last twenty-four hours. She felt too much and wanted way more than she’d ever get from Cole, and now that his father was out of surgery, it was time for a little self-protection to return.

She sprinted through the parking lot on another unseasonably cool day, trying to remember where they’d left the car so many hours before.

“Erin! Slow down,” Cole called out to her.

Knowing she couldn’t distance herself from the hurt or disappointment no matter how hard she tried, she slowed her steps and turned back to him just as the sound of a gunning car engine ripped through late-afternoon silence.

From the corner of her eye, she saw a dark sedan barreling toward her. Everything next happened in slow motion.

Cole shouted her name and sprinted forward. Acting on instinct, Erin dove between the nearest cars, hitting the pavement. Ignoring the jolt of pain shooting through her on impact, she immediately pulled her knees to her chest and curled into a tight ball, her only thought to protect the life inside her. Erin heard the deafening crunch of metal as the oncoming vehicle crashed into the cars surrounding her and felt the vibration of impact on the car next to her, while shards of glass sprayed around her.

She wasn’t sure how much time passed before she allowed herself to become aware of her surroundings again. Cole was shouting her name and she pushed herself to her knees, gathering her breath. “I’m okay!” she called out to him.

She braced a hand on the car next to her, using it to push herself to her feet. She could walk through the other aisle and find Cole, she thought, ignoring the pain in her side.

She took one step forward when she was stopped by the sound of a woman’s shriek.

“Liar!” Victoria stumbled into Erin’s only way out.

“You said you and Cole weren’t together, that you didn’t want him!” the clearly unhinged woman screamed at her.

“We’re not! I don’t!” Erin swallowed over her fear, forcing the words out of her bone-dry mouth.

Suddenly Cole stepped behind Victoria. Relieved, Erin let out a
whoosh
of air, though she didn’t acknowledge him, knowing he needed the element of surprise.

“Liar! You’re with him. You’re always with him!” She ran a shaking hand through her disheveled hair. “You need to go away and leave us alone.”

“She will,” Cole said in a perfectly calm voice.

Startled, the other woman jerked around to face him. “Cole?” Her voice softened.

He nodded. “Let’s talk,” he said, gesturing for her to step closer.

“You slept with her. You got her pregnant,” Victoria said, her voice full of betrayal and hurt.

Erin leaned harder against the car door, the knifelike pain in her side suddenly robbing her of breath.

Cole caught her gaze, his eyes widening at the realization something was wrong. Erin shook her head. He needed to focus on Victoria.

“It was a one-night stand. It meant nothing,” he assured the other woman.

At this moment, Erin knew he’d say or do anything to calm Victoria and subdue her. She’d been prepared to hear the worst on that night at Joe’s, but that hadn’t happened. Now she was unraveling from the stress of the last twenty-four hours, oh hell, from everything. The last thing she needed was to listen to Cole dismiss her and everything they’d shared.

“But you moved in with her,” Victoria said, her voice shaking.

“Because you left me no choice. You had her shot, right?”

“I told him to scare her, not to shoot her!”

Erin closed her eyes at the admission.

“But the more you did to Erin, the more I had no choice but to protect her, because that’s my baby she’s carrying. It was about the baby, not
her
.” Cole’s warm, imploring gaze settled on the crazy woman. He held out a hand to her. “Come here. Let me hold you and calm you down, okay?”

“You really don’t want her?” Victoria shot a triumphant look over her shoulder at Erin before refocusing on the man who was her obsession.

“Not at all.” He beckoned to her with a gesture and a look, and Erin’s stomach curled with unwarranted and unreasonable jealousy.

“Come.”

Victoria finally broke and flew into his arms. He whispered in her ear, while slipping his arms down until he finally grabbed her wrists, pinning her against the nearest automobile.