Resisting Her (15 page)

They dined on tacos, guacamole, and salsa.
Deb had ordered a pitcher of margarita’s and pushed glass of the
icy mixture toward. Savannah. After a few sips she was giggling
more than he’d ever seen and knew the tequila was getting to her.
Levi used the opportunity to sidle up closer to her. Cole kept one
eye on her while he ate, and found that her gaze caught his every
few seconds as well.

***

His watchful eyes settled on hers, calming
her, providing confidence. She tried to pay attention to Levi, she
did, but Cole, trying to delicately eat his grilled shrimp tacos,
was too distracting. She’d never really known it was important, but
she found herself noticing and appreciating Cole’s good table
manners. Levi, in comparison, seemed like he was competing for a
speed eating title, cramming a large burrito in his mouth and
trying to engage her in conversation at the same time. Cole took
his time, pausing to participate in a conversation with Deb,
dabbing his mouth with a napkin. Savannah wasn’t sure why, but
seeing Cole outside of his home was fascinating to her.

Deb leaned close to Cole, stealing a tortilla
chip from his plate. She leaned in a second time, grazed his neck
and told him he smelled good.

Mine
. The thought jumped into her
mind, unbidden. Savannah tried to focus on her food , but her mind
kept wandering to later when she would have Cole all to herself.
She wondered if they’d have a repeat of last night. She couldn’t
stop her gaze from admiring his mouth, remembering how soft it’d
felt against hers.

***

By the end of the meal, Cole was ready to get
out of there. Between fighting off Deb and watching after Savannah,
he was on edge. He’d never had a table piss him off so bad, but he
couldn’t see where the fuck Levi’s hands were. And the beginning of
a headache was piercing his temple.

He paid the bill for the table and stood.
“Ready?”

Deb huffed and slugged back the rest of her
margarita. “Fine.”

Once they got home, he walked through the
hall with Deb, ahead of Savannah and Levi, allowing them some
semblance of privacy before he took her home. Which he would be
doing. He would not stand by and watch Levi try to muscle his way
in. Over his dead body.

Once they were finally alone, Cole closed the
door while Savannah picked up Cuddles and buried her face in her
fur, murmuring baby talk. Cole stood there with a smirk, watching
her. Savannah froze, then lowered Cuddles to the ground. His gaze
was heavy, and the air crackled between them with the same
intensity as last night. He wondered if she was remembering the way
he devoured her, flicking his tongue across her swollen pink
flesh.

He muttered something about taking Cuddles
out for her, and he grabbed the dog to keep from grabbing Savannah.
When he came back inside, Savannah had changed into a pair of his
sweatpants and a baggy T-shirt and was lying on the couch curled up
in a ball, hugging a pillow between her knees.

“What’s wrong?”

“My stomach…” she groaned.

“Is it something you ate? Maybe the Mexican
food didn’t agree with you.”

“No. It’s not that. I think it’s cramps.”

“Cramps?” Oh. Cramps.

He stared at her for a few minutes, wondering
what he could do to ease her discomfort, but for once he was
totally out of his league. He pulled his cell from his pocket and
dialed Marissa, ducking into the bedroom. “Hey Rissa.”

“Hey there. You guys go on your double date
tonight?”

“Yeah. That worked out fine; but listen, I
need your advice. Savannah’s lying on the couch and says she has
cramps. I thought maybe it was the Mexican food, but she says it’s
not that.”

Marissa laughed. “She has cramps — like PMS.
She’s probably going to start her period, Cole. How long has she
been staying with you?”

“About a month.”

“That’s what I thought. Okay, here’s what
you’re going to do. First, I put some pads and tampons in her
bathroom, so make sure she knows they’re there.”

Cole listened, pacing his room as Marissa
used words like
heating pad, ibuprofen, warm bath, chick
flick
and
ice cream
.

“You got all that?”

“Not really,” he admitted.

“Be nice to her Cole. Being a woman sucks
this time of month.”

“Dammit Marissa. No. You talk to her.”

She laughed again. “Nope. You can handle
this.”

“Marissa…” his warning fell on deaf ears as
the phone line went dead. “Dammit all to hell.” He tossed the phone
on his bed.

Cole gathered all the supplies and dumped it
all on the coffee table in front of her. “Here. Pain reliever,
bottled water, a heating pad, uh…these things.” He pushed the boxes
of tampons and pads toward her. “That should cover it.” He stood
and backed away from her as though she was a wild and unpredictable
animal.

Her eyes scanned the pile of supplies on the
table. “What’s all this?”

“For your…situation,” he mumbled, rubbing the
back of this neck.

“Oh, thanks. You didn’t have to do that,
Cole.”

His posture softened. “It’s fine. And I’m
going to run you a warm bath; Marissa said it would help.”

“You called Marissa?”

He nodded.

“Oh.” Her wide eyes followed him from the
room.

He filled his large jetted tub with water and
a squirt of his body wash to make bubbles. Savannah joined him in
the bathroom a few minutes later, watching as he tested the
temperature of the water and set out a fresh towel on the
counter.

“Thank you.” She planted a damp kiss against
his cheek.

He stood stock still as Savannah slipped off
the sweatpants and then her panties. Cole turned to give her some
privacy as her hands went to the hem of her shirt, but even facing
the other direction, her reflection was in full view in the large
mirror. She kept her eyes locked on his as she stripped off the
shirt, and then her bra, letting all the clothes fall on the
floor.

He was secretly glad she had cramps; it meant
he wouldn’t touch her tonight, as much as he wanted to. But she was
undressing in front of him like she had no concept of how little
control he had when it came to her.

Savannah stepped carefully into the tub and
lowered herself into the water until she was submerged up to her
shoulders.

Cole’s feet had refused to budge as he
watched her undress, but now that she was settled in the water,
with her eyes closed and a look of bliss on her face, he felt like
he was intruding. He let out a deep sigh of pent up frustration and
left Savannah alone to relax.

Cole lay in bed that night with Savannah’s
warm body cuddled against him and stared up at the ceiling. They
couldn’t keep living this way. He knew that, yet he didn’t want to
change a thing. He had Savannah here, safe with him, but he knew he
was holding her back. She needed someone to help her experience all
life had to offer, to help her grow, not someone who wanted to keep
her all to himself. Savannah’s breathing hitched and she curled her
body tighter around his. He wondered if she still had cramps, and
absently rubbed a hand across her lower back, kneading the tight
muscles.

Cole made a decision then and there. If he
was selfish enough to keep Savannah, he would help her live life,
give her all the experiences she never had. He knew that if he
really wanted to help her, that meant preparing her to be able to
live on her own. And eventually provide for herself, even if he
didn’t like the idea of her leaving. He wanted her to have the
option. Cole closed his eyes and let out a deep breath, relaxing
into Savannah’s warm embrace and feeling confident that somehow
this would all work out.

Cole woke with a start in the darkened room.
He glanced at the clock. Two in the morning. He scrubbed a hand
across his face and glanced at Savannah. She slept peacefully
beside him. It had been over eight months since he’d had one of
those nightmares. But the girl that he hadn’t been able to save had
filtered back into his subconscious, probably provoked by
Savannah’s rescue. The dreams weren’t enough to force him into
taking the prescription anti-anxiety pills in his bathroom cabinet,
but they were enough to keep him on edge about growing too cozy
with Savannah. He needed to stay focused on his job, and that
included helping Savannah get on her feet. Nothing more.

Not everything was some damn love story like
Marissa thought. Not everyone got their happy endings. He knew that
first hand — look at his parents, or go open any of the case files
on his desk at work.

He still couldn’t help his mind from
replaying a thousand scenarios though — each one with him unable to
reach Savannah in time and witnessing her dying breath, like he had
eight months ago with the other girl. After her death, he’d
researched everything he could about the girl who was in the wrong
place at the wrong time. Only seventeen, she was downtown because
she had a fight with her parents. He closed his eyes and pulled
Savannah close, burying his face in her neck, breathing in her
scent and trying t to escape the vision of the girl from his
mind.

Cole met Marissa at Liam’s after work for a
quick beer. She’d been bugging him ever since she met Savannah, and
he suspected their visit wasn’t a friendly sibling get-together.
More like a chance get the scoop from him uninterrupted. Liam
automatically brought him a beer and Marissa a glass of white
wine.

“Thanks man.” He raised his bottle to Liam
before bringing it to his lips.

“Sooo,” Marissa drew out the word, smiling at
him. “What’s new?”

“Nothing.”

“How’s Savannah?”

“Good.”

She pouted. He knew his one-word answers
weren’t going to fly, but he didn’t care. He didn’t even understand
what was going on between him and Savannah, let alone trying to
explain it to someone else.

“How was your date with Sali?”

“Fine.” The only thing he remembered about
his date with Sali was what happened afterwards with Savannah. Her
dark smoldering eyes watching him fuck another woman was probably
the most erotic experience of his life. A flush of heat crawled up
his neck at the memory.

“Do you think you’ll see her again?”

Sali?
“Nope.”

Marissa rolled her eyes. “Cole. Talk to me.
What’s going on with you and Savannah? Are you just planning to
support her, or is she going to get a job? Don’t take this the
wrong way because I really like Savannah, but you’re my brother.
It’s my job to look out for you.”

Cole nearly laughed at the absurdity of her
question. “Savannah’s not like that. She’s not after my money — not
that I have much of it anyway—and yes I do plan to support her for
as long as she needs it.” He took another sip of his beer, growing
agitated at where the conversation was headed. He expected Marissa
to probe into his love life like she usually did, not warn him away
from Savannah.

“That’s a lot to ask of you, Cole.”

“She’s not a burden, Rissa.”
Quite the
opposite, in fact.
“I like having her there.”

A knowing smile stretched across her lips.
“What’s really going on between you two?”

“She was completely broken when I found her.
I won’t take advantage of her. Let it go.”

Marissa laughed. “You’re as blind as a damn
bat. I’ve seen the way she looks at you, Cole. I don’t think you
can take advantage of the willing.”

What did that mean? How did Savannah look at
him? “She doesn’t look at me any such way.”
Did she?

Marissa chuckled again, then took another sip
of her wine. “She looks at you like she wants a taste. And don’t
get me started on how she cooks and cleans for you and basically
waits on you hand and foot.”

“You’re reading too much into this.” Savannah
did those things because they gave her something to do, allowed her
to feel useful. That had nothing to do with him, did it?

“You called me in a panic when she had
cramps. You don’t find that …odd?”

He shrugged, refusing to answer and focused
on his beer. He hadn’t thought it was odd at the time, but he could
see how it probably seemed like something a concerned boyfriend
would do.

“Dammit Cole, she’s not the one who’s
broken—you are. I swear you could be in love with her and not even
know it with that thick head of yours.”

Not likely. Cole intended to laugh and brush
her comment off, but his mouth had gone bone dry. He pulled down
another sip of his beer, praying the icy liquid would clear his
brain of all the impossible thoughts.

***

“What would you think about me getting my
driver’s license?” Savannah asked over breakfast the following
morning.

Hot coffee slid painfully down the wrong
pipe. Cole struggled to clear his airway, unable to speak for
nearly a minute.

Savannah set the spatula beside the skillet
of eggs, anchored a hand on her hip, and launched into a speech.
“I’ve driven before. Plenty of times. I learned on the old pickup
truck we had on the compound.”

Setting his mug down and clearing his throat,
Cole nodded. “That’s fine, Savannah. I’ll set up the appointment
for a driver’s ed course.”

With Marissa’s words from the night before
urging him on, and the topic of her future already broached, Cole
considered how to bring up the idea of Savannah getting a job. He
didn’t know what the right thing was, hell, he could pay her for
cooking and cleaning his house, but he knew that wasn’t why she did
those things and didn’t want to insult her. He knew she was good
with animals, baking and cooking. Certainly there were things she
could do, and perhaps even go to school if she was interested.
“Once you get your license, you’ll be able to get out when I’m at
work.” He poked at the second slice of banana bread Savannah had
set in front of him. “Have you thought about what you might want to
do?” He dared a glance up at her.