Page 119 of Sneak Attack

Selma stood at the front of her SUV in Cole’s driveway and gave me a wave.

I had no idea what happened to Selma after that day in the bathroom. I didn’t know if she’d been hit with a wave of guilt that while she was cornering me to get me away from Cole, Marley was dying and that was a wake-up call, or if her parents had another brutal talk with her after word of her behavior reached them. Word around town was her parents told her to get her butt into therapy or she’d lose any inheritance they’d ever promised her. Maybe, she finally realized the truth that she’d never have Cole and started trying to move on. I assumed Cole moving me into his house the night Marley died gave her a speed course on that reality. He refused to let me stay at Marley’s house alone so he took me to his, and after that first night, I’d never wanted to return to Marley’s house. Or Florida.

Shortly after Marley’s funeral in October, Selma put her house on the market and before it sold, she’d moved to Nashville.

She switched to the labor and delivery floor, getting a day shift. She and Cole reworked their custody arrangement. We had Jasper with us during the week to make getting him to school easier and she had him on weekends. Because of that, Cole gave her more time with him during holidays and a few extra weeks during the summer. Surprising both of us, she hadn’t asked for an increase in her child support. She and I didn’t get along, and she never came to the door to let us know she was there, but if I was the one who sent Jasper to her, she’d give me a wave before whisking Jasper away.

I closed the door to stop Bongo from sitting there and whining like he did every time Jasper left and gave him a good rubdown. “It’s okay, big guy. You’ll have too much fun at BarkTown to miss him while we’re all gone.”

Cole came around the corner of the kitchen, bottle of water in hand and a smile on his face. He was already dressed in his travel clothes, his suit and tie, and it was a shame he had to get to the airport because every time he put on a suit, I wanted to strip it right off him.

“Everything packed up and ready to go?”

“Yep. My plane lands an hour after yours and I’ve already gotten confirmation from the concierge service.”

Cole was preparing to fly to Dallas for his first ever Thanksgiving Day game start. I was meeting him there, flying commercial while he flew with his team. The game wasn’t until Thursday, but Jasper didn’t have school all week, so I was heading out today with him where I’d join him in the hotel while he had practice tomorrow and after his game on Thursday, we were flying out to spend the weekend in the Dominican Republic.

He prowled toward me with that look in his eyes that made my toes curl and didn’t stop until he had his hand at my lower back, was pulling my body toward him and his mouth descended on mine. “Have I told you today how excited I am to marry you?”

I laughed against his mouth. “Only once before our shower and again during.”

“Good. Because I don’t want you to forget.”

He slid a ring on my finger last weekend, on the one-month anniversary of Marley’s death. The ring wasn’t an extravagant diamond. It was a two-carat ruby ring Darryl had given Marley on their twentieth anniversary. She’d bequeathed it to Cole in her will, along with a note that said,“You’ll know what to do with this.”

Every time I caught a glimpse of it, I laughed, knowing how happy she was with herself for being so right about Cole and me. We were getting married once his season was done, eloping to the Caribbean with only a handful of friends, including Jasper, my parents, and his brother, Graham.

As far as his season, he and Raleigh were tied for first in their division. Both were having incredible seasons, each only losing one game, Raleigh to Nashville in their first match up with the second coming up to be played right after Christmas. That game would probably decide who ended up as the division champions if you went by what the announcers kept saying every weekend.

I was pulling for Nashville and now proudly sat at every home game wearing Cole’s jersey next to Jasper with his parents behind us.

“We need to get going,” I reminded him as his hand drifted from my lower back down to cup my backside.

“I have a few minutes yet.”

A flutter of excitement rolled through me. “And what do you plan on doing with those few minutes?”

“Eat my dessert first.”

He crouched, grabbed my ass, and lifted me. I squealed in surprise and was quickly plopped down on the kitchen counter where Cole was already working to shimmy down my underwear from beneath my dress and stepped in between my spread legs.

“Lie back.”

His hand came to my chest, and he lowered me down, so I was spread out on the counter, toes curled around the cool marble.

Cole didn’t waste time, sliding his hands up my inner thighs, finding me already wet and ready for him. I always was. Every time the man walked into the room, I couldn’t wait to get him alone, and this time was no different. He kissed me while his fingers slipped inside and slid his mouth down my body, plucking my nipples with his other hand while he worked me into a frenzy, quickly, powerfully, and by the time he settled his mouth at my sex, I was dripping, shaking for him and I could do nothing except slap my hands on the counter and cry out his name while he sucked my clit and used his fingers.

“Fuck, you’re delicious,” he muttered, sucking the taste of me off him.

“You’re so good at that.”

I laughed, and he helped me redress, smoothed out my dress as I sat up.

“We need to go.”

“You can walk with that?” I pointed to his bulge.

“I have no doubts you’ll take care of me once we get to the hotel.”

He was right. Absolutely, I would.

But better than what the hotel would bring was the fact Cole knew I wouldn’t just take care of him there, I was committed to living out every single one of Marley’s last wishes for me.

To love him with my entire heart, to have a life of laughter, and absolutely no regrets.

And I’d honor those last words of hers until my own dying breath.

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