Page 10 of Holding On to a Hero
Cole was nodding enthusiastically and he pointed his free hand at me. “Yes! That’s what I said. But Jason is all logical and crap.” He stopped talking and swallowed some brandy. We were no longer pretending to sip. Well, I was sucking, but I was trying not to think of it that way.
“What does logic have to do with it?”
Cole sighed dramatically. B-movie style, not his best work. “Jason says if we’re rescuing a bunch of animals all the time then eventually there will be dogs that need to be rescued too.”
“Ah.” That was indeed logical, I supposed.
“So we shouldn’t go adopt a dog from a shelter or something now, because then there will be less room for the dogs that really need us someday in the future.”
“Shit. So logical.”
He sighed again. “Yeah.”
“And so frustrating.”
“I know!” This time Cole threw his hands in the air. “He’s just so…right all the time. Ugh!” I laughed.
Then his laser green eyes were boring into mine. “What about you? Do you have a partner?”
Once again I managed not to choke on my brandy and drown. “Uh, no.”
“Why not? You’re gorgeous.”
“Uh.” I could barely swallow. Cole Washburn thought I wasgorgeous? “Uh, thanks? I just, uh, stopped dating since, uh, well, for about a year now.”
He looked sympathetic. “Bad breakup? Are you just doing hookups these days?”
Wow, was it the brandy, or did Cole always just come out and say what he was thinking? “Uh, no. I mean, yes. No bad breakup. Occasionally hookups.”
Cole was not satisfied. “But why?” Cole kept looking me up and down like he could find something wrong with me. Was I going to answer this question? I looked at my brandy mug and then at the almost surreal vision of Cole Washburn sitting on the floor next me. Well, what the hell. It wasn’t like he’d really care, and I could always use someone to vent to.
“I was in an, uh, accident. It was bad. People died. But I didn’t. I’ve just had a lot of shit to work through mentally.” I managed to keep eye contact through that, barely.
Cole’s gaze went serious. He reached out and briefly touched my arm. “Oh, that dock thing? That looked awful. I’m so sorry you went through that.”
A wash of icy cold ran through me. I started to scoot back from the couch.Deep breaths, Graham. Deep breaths.It made sense that Cole and Jason – who owned a security company, duh – would have researched me. It made sense, but I felt so exposed.
“Hey, uh, I’m feeling better. I think I need to go see if the porcupine is gone so I can get my stuff and get out of your hair.” I tried to roll onto my stomach so I could leverage myself up, but my back told me that was not happening right now. “Fuck.” I flopped back over and covered my face with my hands.
Cole reached out and grasped my wrist just as his phone rang. I peeked under my hand and he looked at me steadily as he fished the phone off the coffee table. “That’s Jason’s ringtone, so I’m going to answer it. But, Will, I’m sorry we looked into your private life. I want to explain. Please don’t leave.”
His hand was now completely circling my wrist. I was frozen, but it wasn’t like I could get up, let alone walk to the truck. Not to mention I’d had too much alcohol to drive anyway.
“Jason! Where are you?” I heard Jason’s muffled response asking something about me. Cole’s hand squeezed my wrist and he winked at me. Suddenly I felt very warm. All over.
“Sure, he’s fine. He just gave his stuff to a porcupine and came over here for some coffee.” Cole laughed. Jason said something back.
Cole laughed again and said loudly, “Look out for the porcupine!” Then he hung up the phone.
He had never stopped looking at me. His hand squeezed my wrist again and his smile became worried.
“Are you okay? I’m really, really sorry. We didn’t know you, and we just have to be so careful about who knows that we’re a couple.”
Now I felt guilty. “Cole, it’s fine. I understand completely. It’s just, I don’t like to talk about the accident.”
Cole’s thumb started moving back and forth on my wrist. He was still staring into my eyes. The heat from his hand was intense, and my cock was super interested in what that hand might do next.
Cole had no idea what he was doing to me. Or did he?
