Page 25 of Unlocking Hope

Sex is messy and such in a good way.There was nothing she would change about her first time with Cole. It was equal parts dirty and passionate.

When Cole caught his breath, he captured her lips and kissed her long and hard before slowly pulling out. She whimpered.

Cole swore, “I’m sorry, Zoey.”

She looked at him puzzled.

“We didn’t use protection.”

She turned to the side. “I have an IUD, and I haven’t slept with anyone in a long time. I’m clean. Not saying we should always skip protection, but we are fine as long as you are clean.”

He leaned in and gave her a long, slow kiss. He pulled her tighter against his body. “I’m clean, and it’s been a long time for me, as well.”

Something stirred in her stomach about the fact that he hadn’t been with anyone. She was falling for him hard and fast.

“Sleep,” he whispered.

Zoey turned so her back was to him, and he pulled her in closer. Their skin touching, they fell asleep. Zoey went to bed, feeling like the luckiest woman on the planet. Cole woke her three times throughout the night to make love.

11

COLE

Cole and Ian stood on the steps of the Bexar County Courthouse. Six days had passed since they had drinks with Brock and Ian. Zoey had started her new job on Monday, and she was so excited every day to tell him about work. He didn’t’ understand everything, but he enjoyed listening to her. Cole missed her during the day while he was at work. He liked listening to her hum a different tune while she worked. Everything had been going well until he received a call from Brock on his way to the courthouse.

“You mean those assholes think you will meet with them as long as they go through Brock?”

“Yes,” Cole responded angrily.

“You want me to come with? There is no reason to go to the meeting alone. Tell me when you’re meeting, and I will come.”

“I need to handle this. If, for some reason, Brock thinks it’s a setup, I will call you, but until then, let me deal with this,” Cole told Ian.

“I don’t understand how they got the whole hunt for the Senator shut down, and the video never came out. No one had even mentioned the funeral or a memorial for the man. Howdeep in the CIA are your brothers, because a lot of strings needed to be pulled to stop the media?”

“Never crossed a CIA agent I trusted,” Cole said. “But I need to take the meeting to make sure Zoey is still safe. I owe my brothers a moment of my time, as I was the one who left them. Don’t get me wrong—I plan to come fully loaded to the meet.”

A smile stretched across Ian’s face. “You’re going to pay them back for their little stunt. Oh, after the meeting, they will never pull a gun on her again. Now are we going to buy a house or keep talking about my situation?”

An auctioneer walked out onto the steps of the courthouse, and everyone gathered around. Bella wasn’t with them. She was at the house inspection for the home they’d just finished. Bella had showed it to a few people before listing it, and the place was under contract before it was even officially on the market. They weren’t expecting any surprise with the home inspection, and the closing was likely to be finished in the next couple of weeks.

“Two hundred,” Ian shouted out above the crowd.

Cole smiled when a few people groaned and glared in their direction. They usually won the houses they wanted. A few people would way overbid because they wanted the home for themselves and weren’t looking to make a profit.

“Sold to Bidder Twenty-Six,” the auctioneer yelled.

There were two other homes on the block today; Cole and Ian wanted to see what they went for. If the price was right, they might pick up the other two. They had hired a few more men and planned to start doing multiple projects at once. They had Bella trying to find them an apartment building to turn into a rental instead of a flip.

“Eighty thousand,” the auctioneer announced.

When no one bid, Ian raised his hand. “Well, that was way less than I thought it would go for.”

“The place needs a total rebuild,” Cole grumbled. He wasn’t entirely excited about the second house, but they could still make a profit.

“You going to tell Zoey about the meeting?” Ian asked. “She’s going to want to come with you.”

“I figured she would. I plan to tell her afterward.”

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