fifty
Rory
Needingsomedistanceformy own peace of mind I decided to try and find a place to get some air.
Gulping in my first real breath since Silas walked away. My mind was spinning on an endless loop.
He wasn’t enough.
Is that what Cole thought of himself deep down? Is that why he wouldn’t let me in all the way, throwing me little snippets of the real him? He didn’t believe he was enough.
Silas had said Cole couldn’t save his mother, but he’d also said how they were more alike than I realized. What did he mean by that?
Weren’t we all deep down encrypted that way? Running from our parents’ mistakes. Not willing to make the same tragedies for ourselves.
I was at a loss.
Drying my hands, I head back into the main area after dabbing some water on my neck. I didn’t feel any less unsettled inside, but the coolness of the liquid calmed my flushed skin.
What the—
Butterflies swarm my belly. A familiar pair of arms snaking around my waist. I would know those hands anywhere. Them knowing parts of my body no one else has. My skin warms at the memories.
Cole’s strong limbs latch on to my hips, pulling me back into his chest. My muddled thoughts before replaced now with him. Always him.
I feel his smile on my cheek as if he can sense where my mind has gone. His breath tickles my ear, tucking his chin down farther into my shoulder.
“In case no one’s told you tonight, you look absolutely gorgeous,” he murmurs, not in a hurry to move.
My blood curdles. My legs like jelly falling back into him when he starts to work slow circles along my lower back. Loosening the tense muscles with his thumbs.
I fight back a grown. Holding my breath, fully distracted by his touch.
The strain I felt after talking with his father washing away with every small rotation. Cole doesn’t say it, but I knew he had seen us together. He always knew where I was.
Is that why he’d come to find me? I was afraid to ask but I was more afraid to move. If I did, shifted even the slightest bit our mouths would be touching.
He lowers his nose and my throat hitches as it travels down my chin to my exposed neck. Goose bumps break out when he gives me a featherlight kiss there.
Cole was being different tonight. Teasing and being borderline provocative in our small alcove. It was doing things to me.
I should tell him to stop but I don’t want him to. This felt too right, perfect.
“Dance with me?” he asks, voice like velvet.
My eyes spring open. The question coming out of nowhere, catching me off guard.
Iceman must sense my hesitation because he’s speaking again. “You may have caught everyone’s attention tonight princess, but you’ve had mine since the beginning. Since that first summer,” he says softly, barely above a whisper.
The muscles in my stomach constrict, somersaulting against my ribs. A tangled set of emotions running through my head.
I could feel his heartbeat against my back. The irregular pounding matched my own. At least I wasn’t alone in that fact. I was affecting him as much as he was me.
“Don’t make me ask again.” He lowers his voice, sounding more determined. “Please,princess.”
My breath hitches at the desperation in his tone. That one word sounding foreign on his tongue. Cole never asked for anything, he claimed it.
Right now, he was doing that to me with a single word.Please.A tingling sensation overwhelms me. Shooting through my arms down to my legs.