Collision Force (12 page)

“Then the rest fell into place,” Cole said softly, a statement not a question.

Her smile faded. “It was supposed to be happily ever after…” She bit her lip, swallowing hard against the sudden lump in her throat. Why had she said that?

Cole tried not to stare at her, but she was so stunning it took his breath away. When her expression faltered, his chest tightened.

He pulled her into his arms. She came to him, wrapping hers around his waist. Her skin was soft as his palms brushed her shoulders, bare except for the thin straps of her tank top, and he almost shuddered.

She was so beautiful talking about the man she’d loved. Andi’s blue eyes had been bright, even in the dimness of the room. The jealousy that grabbed his gut made no sense. He wanted her to look at him like that, but he couldn’t compete with a ghost.

“You still love him,” he whispered into her hair. She smelt like strawberries. Cole let his eyes slip closed and rested his cheek against her silken locks.

When he’d walked into the room to see her skimpy tank top and her long chestnut hair loose, falling in waves around her shoulders, his heart had skipped into overdrive. He’d wanted to bury his fingers in it and caress her all over.

He’d sat on her bed without thought. Why hadn’t she kicked him out, or at least demanded he move away from her? She’d done neither, and he’d been so mesmerised by her beauty and candour while she’d told the story about meeting Iain, he’d had to restrain himself from touching her.

Andi looked up and Cole expected her to push him away, but she didn’t. She met his eyes. “I do. Part of me will always love him, I suppose. He gave me Ethan.”

His heart thumped. He needed to kiss her. Andi had just admitted to loving another man, but it didn’t matter. He had to taste her. He lowered his head and captured her lips with his.

She kissed him back, opening for him and
rubbing her tongue against his. He moaned and pulled her closer to his chest. She slipped her arms around his neck and he deepened the kiss, moving his mouth hungrily over hers.

His cock stood at attention, pressing against the soft cotton of his sweats. Cole lowered her to the bed. Andi moaned against his mouth and tugged him closer.

Slipping his hand between them, Cole yanked the blankets away. He cupped her breasts through the thin fabric of her shirt and her nipples peaked under his fingertips.

More.

He needed bare skin.

Trailing hot kisses down her neck, he slid a hand under her top, teasing her nipple with his thumb. Andi writhed and crushed her mouth into his. Cole took control of the kiss and groaned against her heated lips.

His hand travelled downward. Warm, soft and supple, she was driving him crazy. She moaned again as he dragged his fingers across her taut belly. Her muscles shivered under his touch and she moved into his hand, demanding he continue his ministrations.

Kissing her again and again, he devoured her mouth and she clung to him, kissing him back with a fervour that surprised and aroused him to the point of pain.

Cole parted her thighs with his knee and settled into the cradle of her body. He bit back a cry—she was exquisite beneath him, chest to breasts, hips to hips. He pushed his pelvis into hers, rocking against her.

Tracing a path down her hip and around the curve of her buttocks, he squeezed the firm roundness before yanking her against him. Andi gasped as he ground into her, breaking their latest kiss. She undulated under him and Cole almost lost control. They had too many clothes on. He needed to be inside her.

He fused their mouths again and slipped his hand inside her boxer shorts. She wiggled at the first brush of her slick hot flesh. His cock threatened to blow—God, she was perfect. Cole needed to see her, taste her. He tugged, wanting the shorts off her. He needed her naked in his arms, he wanted to watch her as he slipped into her wet core.

“I want you so much,” Cole breathed.

He trailed kisses along her jaw line, stopping to nibble on her earlobe, then down her neck. She trembled in his arms.

“No. Cole, we have to stop.” Andi’s chest heaved as she pushed him away, both palms flat on his chest. Her voice was thick and ragged with need. He hesitated. She couldn’t know what she was saying.

Cole shook his head, pulling away from her completely and rising to his feet. He made a fist, his body screaming a protest. “I never meant it to go that far,” he choked out.

Liar.
He’d have been inside her in less than a minute.

Andi scrambled for the comforter and yanked it up to her chin. She was gorgeous, even though pain raged in her sapphire eyes. She was flushed pink, her hair mussed and lips swollen, her freckles prominent. But the look on her face, hurt and guilt, made his heart drop to his stomach.

God, he wanted to crawl back into her bed, to touch her, hold her and wipe that look away. He wanted her, but that expression was
his
fault.

“Just go, Cole,” Andi begged. Tears began to roll down her cheeks.

Oh, hell no. He’d made her cry. Cole’s heart stuttered, his stomach roiling.

He took a step forward, but she put her palm up to stop him from coming back to her.

“Just go…please… Just go…”

“Andi… I’m really sorry.” Cole ran his hand through his hair and shut his eyes. There was so much he needed to say to her, but words deserted him. He gave up, slipping from the room and closing her bedroom door behind him.

He went straight out of the front door, resisting the urge to slam it. Why couldn’t the temperature outside be twenty degrees cooler? His cock was as hard as rock, no change in sight. He throbbed with a need that could only be assuaged by the woman he’d just left.

Cole wasn’t angry with Andi—hell, she’d just admitted how she felt about her husband, dead or not. Why had he kissed her? Something about Andi MacLaren made him lose control. She affected him like no woman ever had before.

God, how she’d responded to him. Her kiss branded him. Cole licked his lips and tasted her there. Her hands on him had been better than anything he’d dreamed up or imagined about her touch. The shower incident paled in comparison to the real thing.

Andi had been hot and wet, and damn… He had never
wanted
so badly in his life.

He’d been torn between comforting her and pushing her down onto the bed, taking what he wanted, what they both wanted. Even though she’d pushed him way, there was no doubt she wanted him. The way she’d kissed him back wasn’t a lie.

But the guilt on her face and her tears? What the
hell
did she have to feel guilty for? Her husband had been dead for three years.

It smarted…no,
more
than smarted to be passed over for a dead guy.

Cole growled. No. She
couldn’t.
Nothing had ever been so right for him. Cole didn’t just want her body, he wanted more.

More? No
way.
A sexual relationship was all he wanted, all he had ever needed. It was the same with her…like it had been for years. Nothing had changed.

“I need to go for a run,” he muttered to the empty porch.

He stretched quickly, then shook his limbs out, jogged down the three steps, and jumped up and down. Physical activity would get his head back in the game. Maybe it would get rid of his hard-on, too.

“A run will do it,” he whispered.

Talking to himself, really? Maybe he was going nuts.

He was the same Cole Lucas he’d always been. He wanted Andi, yes, and he’d have her. But even after he had her, he would be the same man. That chestnut hair, those freckles and those big blue eyes wouldn’t change him.

She was the same as every other woman he’d ever lusted after. He’d get into her pants a few times then she would be out of his system.

Cole repeated those words like a mantra as he took off down the street, starting with a jog before settling into a comfortable run.

Maybe by the time he got back to her house he’d have even convinced himself.

Chapter Ten

Andi peered around the door to her bedroom, her gaze darting down the hallway. She paused, listening hard. The guest bathroom shower was running. Good—she didn’t have to face Cole just yet.
Coward.

After scooting into Ethan’s room, she woke him. He rubbed his eyes and yawned with his morning greeting. She grinned at her son in spite of herself. She was tempted to snatch him up, stuff him into clothes, rush out of the house in her own vehicle and feed him a fast food breakfast on the way to day care.

“Damn, all that to avoid Cole? I really
am
a coward,” she muttered, shaking her head.

“Mama?” Ethan asked as he hopped off his toddler bed.

“Get dressed, buddy. You want pancakes for breakfast?”

“Yeah!” He jumped up and down and she laughed.

Ethan would keep her
normal.
She would make sure he stayed between her and Cole at all times. But what would Andi do when he was safely at preschool and she was stuck with a certain FBI agent
all day long?

She gulped and bit her bottom lip, trying to forget him and the previous night as memories danced through her mind. His lips on hers. His weight on her body. His hands caressing her bare skin, brushing over her most private places. Andi shivered, made a fist and clenched her thighs.

No.
She wouldn’t remember. She couldn’t. And she
did not
want it—or more—to happen again.
Damn him
.

Making breakfast helped her focus on routine and she didn’t think about Cole…much. But she did dread his arrival in the kitchen. Ethan was already in his booster seat, talking about colouring with Bella after school yesterday, so Andi concentrated on that, commenting when it was required and smiling at the picture affixed to the refrigerator. Unfortunately, its childish perfection displayed three figures holding hands. One was labelled ‘me’, another ‘Mama’ and the last ‘Cole’. Bella had no doubt helped him form the letters. She groaned.

“Cole!” Ethan’s shout made her jump. She dropped the spatula and bit back a curse.

Andi ignored Cole’s greeting to her three-year-old and released a breath she’d not realised she’d been holding.

“Morning,” Cole said, beating her to the spatula as she bent to retrieve it. He headed to the sink and washed it before handing it over.

“Thanks,” Andi said. His steel eyes were heated as she met his gaze. She ignored how her body warmed, turning away from him. He didn’t move. His body heat radiated, caressing her back as if they were touching. “Hope you like pancakes.” Rushing her words, she was glad she couldn’t read his face.

“I do.”

“I’m hungry,” Ethan said.

“Almost ready, baby,” Andi said, glancing over her shoulder.

“I’ll get him a plate,” Cole said, grabbing Ethan’s favourite plastic dish with Mater, from Disney’s
Cars
, on it.

Before she could protest, Cole forked two pancakes from her done pile onto her son’s plate. He cut them up and poured just enough syrup before heading to the table. A wave of emotion took her by surprise and she swallowed back a lump in her throat.

She blinked away tears and concentrated on the contents of her griddle. Cole and Ethan were talking as Ethan ate. The mix of Cole’s deep voice with her little boy’s much higher one was almost too much to take. Cole laughed at something Ethan said and Andi let her eyes close. Iain would never have the chance to sit and chat with their son at breakfast—or any meal. But Cole was here right now. What was the bigger crime? Her chest ached.

Guilt over the encounter with Cole settled over her. She clutched the spatula until her knuckles whitened. She’d
enjoyed
herself. She
wanted
him, wanted more. He’d made her blood sing, her body throb. Never had she reacted to a man like that. What the hell was she going to do?

“Andi?”

She jumped. She couldn’t look at him. “What?” Her voice cracked and she cleared her throat.

“Do you need some help?”

Not with breakfast.
“No.” Forcing a deep breath, she slapped the warmest pancakes onto the nearest plate in a neat pile before fixing her own plate.

Andi didn’t turn around until she’d got herself together and plastered on a smile. From the expression on Cole’s face, he didn’t buy it. Ignoring him, she dropped a kiss on Ethan’s cheek and took her seat.

“Looks great,” Cole said, his tone friendly. His smile didn’t reach his eyes, his dimples nowhere in sight.

“Thanks,” Andi said.

“More, Mama, please.”

Once again, before Andi could act, Cole cut one of his own pancakes in half and put it on Ethan’s plate. “Here, buddy. Are you sure you can eat all that?”

Ethan nodded and shoved a big morsel into his mouth, holding his small fork backwards. Cole chuckled and admonished him to slow down. Something else that was
her
job. Andi gulped. She stared at the contents of her plate, her stomach in knots.

“You should eat, we have a long day,” Cole said.

Andi made the mistake of looking into his eyes. Tenderness and heat…and promises she wouldn’t acknowledge. She told herself she wanted none of it. A
scathing retort died on her tongue and she nodded. Cole gave her a long look but said nothing, just took a bite of his own breakfast.

* * * *

The ride to the station sans Ethan was awkward. Andi’s stomach would never be normal again. It was currently rebelling against the three pancakes she’d stuffed down and the thought of coffee—usually the delight of her morning—was a definite ticket to vomiting.

Cole put the Challenger in park and paused, his hand on the door. “I won’t apologise.”

Her face warmed and she looked away.

“And I won’t lie to you, either. It will happen again.” The promise in his words brought her gaze around.

“No, it won’t. It can’t.”

He said nothing, just stared into her eyes before settling his gaze on her lips. Cole leaned towards her and brushed his mouth against hers. It was a tease, and not nearly enough. Andi gasped and her body flushed.