The Road to Rose Bend, Naima Simone [jenna bush book club .TXT] 📗

He craved her.

“Can you give me that?” she demanded, sarcasm as thick as cream.

“Is that what you want from me?” he asked quietly.

For the first time since she’d backed away from the breakfast bar, her anger faltered. And uncertainty, along with a bruising vulnerability, flickered in her eyes.

“Does it matter?” she murmured. “It’s not what you want from me. You’ve made that very clear. A kiss is one thing, but sex? Sharing a bed? Sharing a life? You’ve only desired that with one woman, and she’s not me. That woman is gone.” Her shoulders slumped a fraction, and on a weighty sigh, she turned. Several curls of hair had escaped her bun due to agitated fingers and they sprung around her head, glinting in the sunlight that streamed through the large living room window. “Your heart belongs to Tonia, and we both know that.”

“Sydney, look at me. Please,” he softly tacked on, approaching her.

He should deny her statement, reassure her—hell, say or do anything to get her to agree to his proposal. At some point between him laying out his proposition and her turning him down, it’d become vital for her to accept. He needed to give her this future with primary custody of her daughter.

He needed to protect her.

But as she pivoted and met his gaze, he couldn’t lie to her. Couldn’t allow her to walk into this under false pretenses, believing, hoping he could give her something he was incapable of offering anyone.

“You’re right. Love is not included in this. I can’t...” He ground his teeth together. Man up, a furious whisper hissed inside his head.

“I understand, Cole,” she said. And he sensed that she truly did...and didn’t.

“No, let me finish.” He lifted a hand, but at the last moment, he curled his fingers into his palm and lowered it back to his side. He couldn’t touch her. Not yet. Not while there were things left to be said. “I was with Tonia since we were kids. I loved her so completely that being with someone else was never even an option in my mind. And after she died... Sydney, I don’t want to love someone like that again. Even if it were possible. And yes, I know how much of a coward I sound like right now, but losing her...broke something inside me. Something that can’t be fixed. And I came so close to losing my mind from the pain, the fucking pain.” An echo of it shimmered in his chest, so much that he absently rubbed the burning spot. “I don’t—won’t go through that again.”

“That doesn’t make you a coward.” Her eyes roamed his face. “It makes you human.”

Instead of arguing, he scrubbed a hand over his mouth. “We can agree to disagree, but either way, I don’t want to mislead you about what I’m offering. Sydney, while you’re right about love, you’re also wrong. I want you.” Her sensual demands still rang in his head, and the residual desire flared brighter, hotter, deepening and roughening his voice. He shifted closer, dipping his head to ensure she could look directly into his eyes. See as well as hear the truth. “I may not be able to give you a heart that no longer exists, but I can give you pleasure. Intimacy. Orgasms.” He inched closer until his nose nearly bumped hers, until their breaths mingled. “It would be not just your pleasure, but mine to give that to you, baby girl.”

The echo of their jagged breathing filled the room. For several long moments, they just stood there, neither speaking, neither moving. Shock and an answering lust darkened her eyes, and it required every scrap of his control not to cup the back of her head, grip those curls and devour that sweet, sinfully pretty mouth. Sate himself and finally trace the graceful length of her collarbone with his tongue. Then discover for himself if those beautiful breasts would fill his hand. Determine how heavy they were, how sensitive. Find out if she could break and come for him just from his mouth and hands teasing and sucking her nipples.

He bet she could.

He wanted to test the theory.

“You don’t mean...” she breathed.

“Mean it?” he finished, dipping his head an inch lower. When he spoke his lips ghosted over hers with the merest of caresses. Now that he’d admitted his desire not just to himself, but also to her, he was greedy for her. A leash had been loosed from his restraint. Hell, from his mouth. It was...freeing. “Baby girl, I’m not in the habit of saying things I don’t mean. Especially when it comes to this. I’m asking you to accept this proposal, this plan, this protection for you and your daughter. And I’m offering you my body for whenever you need, for whatever you need. If you want my cock, I’ll give it to you. As often as you want. How you want it. If you need me to warm you through the night and be there for you to hold, that’s yours, too. Let me do all of this for you. Let me be all of this for you.”

“Cole.” Her lashes fluttered, lowered.

“Say yes, Sydney.”

His heart pounded in his chest, mirroring the throbbing in his flesh. Waiting. Waiting...

“Yes.”

Relief poured through him, and like a match to gasoline, it set him afire. With a dark, ravenous growl, he tunneled his fingers into her hair, grasping the thick strands and angling her head back and to the side. Like the night before, she clutched his wrists, steadying herself, bracing herself.

Just before he took her mouth.

Captured it.

Conquered it.

On the tail end of another rumble—or maybe the same one—he thrust his tongue between her lips, claiming her mouth with a lick, a stroke and a suck. And it still wasn’t enough. He couldn’t get deep enough. Couldn’t taste fast enough. Just couldn’t get enough. He was a beast freed from its cage. And he was intent on consuming.

Without lifting his head or removing his hands, he