Resisting Her (12 page)

Marissa took a deep breath and squared her
shoulders. “This isn’t about me. Tell me why you reacted like that
to Savannah going out on a date.”

“I don’t know.”

She stepped in closer to him. “I think you
do. Is it because you don’t like the idea of another guy with
Savannah?”

Cole scrubbed a hand across his jaw. “I don’t
want him pawing all over her. She wouldn’t know what to do, how to
protect herself.”

“Cole,” she scolded. “She’s an adult. She can
handle herself. But if you’re so worried, go with them.”

Ha laughed. “Like a chaperone?”

“No, you idiot.” She swatted his shoulder.
“Isn’t Levi’s mom that cougar who wants you?”

He nodded. There was no denying the woman had
been after him since he moved in three years ago.

“So make it a double date. You and the
cougar, and Levi and Savannah. It’ll be good practice for her —
something normal that she can do, and you’ll be close by in case he
gets grabby.”

He smiled at his sister. “And who’s going to
protect me when the cougar gets too grabby with me?”

She laughed. “I have a feeling you can handle
yourself. Besides, maybe you’ll even have fun.”

He supposed it could work. There was just one
little problem. He didn’t like the idea of anyone other than him
taking Savannah on her first date. At least he’d be there for it. A
compromise he supposed he could live with.

Cole and Savannah were enjoying a lazy
Saturday afternoon when a loud buzzing from the intercom system
grabbed their attention. “Are you expecting someone?” Savannah
asked.

Cole shook his head. He didn’t like the idea
of anyone interrupting the private bubble he and Savannah had
created the past several weeks. He punched the button on the wall.
“Yeah?”

Static crackled through the speaker. “Uh,
yes, my name is Dillon James. I’m looking for Savannah.”

Cole whipped around to face Savannah. Her
face had gone pale and her hands were shaking. She slowly shook her
head, bringing her finger to her lips.

How the hell had Dillon tracked Savannah
here? Cole gave a tight nod and pressed the talk button to reply.
“Sorry, no one named Savannah lives here.”

It took everything in him not to go rushing
down the stairs and into the lobby to face this asshole. He turned
to Savannah instead. “You okay?”

Her eyes remained locked on his, full of
intensity.

“He can’t hear us, Savannah.”

She drew a shaky breath. “I just…it’s
probably stupid of me, I just don’t want to see him right now. He
won’t like me living here with you. I don’t want to deal with
him.”

Cole went to her side, placing a hand on her
shoulder. “It’s not stupid. You don’t have to face him. You’re safe
here. Okay?” Her shoulders shook and his hand automatically rubbed
out the tension. It didn’t escape his notice that Savannah was in a
near panic at both seeing Dillon and fear that he’d snap seeing
Savannah with another man. The thought did not sit well with him.
He hadn’t been in a proper fist fight over a girl since sixth
grade, but he wouldn’t hesitate now if the occasion called.

She nodded. “Thank you, Cole. For
everything.”

Cole folded her into his arms, unsure of how
to comfort her. He hated that Savannah had a history with that
creep, and that she had grown up around men with screwed up belief
systems. He wished he could shield her from it all, but he’d settle
for holding her, and for her part, Savannah clung to him like he
was the last tree standing in a thunderstorm. It broke his heart,
and renewed his decision to protect her all at once.

***

That evening, as Cole dressed in dark jeans
and a light blue button down shirt, he knew he needed to tell
Savannah about his date with Sali. He sprayed a squirt of his
seldom-worn cologne onto his neck, and ran his hands through his
hair in an attempt to tame it. He hadn’t thought much of going out
with the girl when Marissa approached him about the idea. And even
though only a few weeks had passed since he agreed to the date,
somehow he felt closer to Savannah. Perhaps it was seeing her with
Levi, or that he no longer fought off her cuddling at night, or
because the other night felt like a date between them, but whatever
the reason, he felt strange telling her.

He found her in the living room, her knees
drawn to her chest on the couch. “Hey Savannah.” She turned to face
him, cradling Cuddles in her arms. “I’ll be going out later. You
don’t need to cook dinner tonight.” He wondered what Savannah would
make of him going on a date . And if he was going to have the balls
to tell her.

“Oh. Okay. I can eat some of the leftover
pizza from last night. And Cuddles and I will probably just watch a
movie.”

“Okay. Remember to keep the door locked.”

“I will,” she promised. “Cole?”

“Yes?”

“Where are you going?”

He hesitated only a second. He wouldn’t lie
to Savannah. Besides he was free to go on dates. “My sister set me
up on a blind date.”

“Oh.” Her bottom lip jutted out just
slightly. “But I’ll see you later, when you get home?”

“Yes,” he reassured her. “I’ll be back later
tonight.”

It remained unspoken between them, but both
knew they’d be sleeping together in his bed later.

***

He set off to meet Sali at the pub. He’d have
preferred to pick her up, but as Marissa reminded him, girls don’t
let men they don’t know pick them up. He could be some creepy
stalker, and then he’d have her address. He assured her he wasn’t
going to begin stalking her friend from yoga, but that had only
started Marissa on a whole other rant that he obviously didn’t date
enough if he didn’t know the simplest of rules.

When Cole entered the pub he searched out
Liam first. A lot of times he could be found behind the bar,
providing a second set of hands for the bartender rather than sit
alone in his office in the back. And tonight proved no different.
Liam nodded once, spotting Cole across the room. Liam was his last
single friend, but he certainly didn’t lack for female
companionship being the owner of a popular bar. It was meeting
quality girls that he found difficult. Cole knew that if Liam met
the right girl, he wouldn’t be opposed to settling down. He and
Liam had been friends for over twenty years. In college, they had
often tricked girls into thinking they were brothers. They were
both a few inches over six feet, with dark hair and when neither
had shaved for a few days, which Liam often neglected to do, they
took on an uncanny resemblance.

Cole took a frustrated breath. He wasn’t sure
how he was going to find her. He saw two single women at either end
of the bar. One was a knockout blonde, beautiful with legs up to
her tits. His sister didn’t love him that much. The other woman was
plain brunette, a few pounds overweight and glasses so big, they
belonged in another decade. He shook his head, wondering if he
could just slip out before she noticed him. Damn Marissa. She’d
roped him into shit like this before, always using the phrase,
‘
Well I thought she was cute
,’ to clear her conscience.

He took a deep breath. One drink. He could do
this. One stiff as fuck drink. He took one last wistful look at the
gorgeous blonde and approached the brunette instead. “Hi, you must
be Sali.”

Her face pinched in confusion. “No,
sorry.”

His head swung around and he met the blonde’s
eyes as a slow grin spread across his face. Marissa loved him after
all.

He left the brunette staring after him and
approached the blonde. “Please tell me you’re Sali.”

She smiled. “Cole, I presume?”

Dear God, she had an Australian accent. His
sister
really
loved him.

He slid in next to her and they each ordered
a drink. Sali knew his sister from yoga, but Marissa hadn’t
mentioned that Sali was the instructor. They shared some laughs
about Marissa’s clumsy mishaps in yoga, talked about where she grew
up in Australia, and he made her laugh with his poor attempt at an
Aussie accent.

One drink turned into two, and then three.
She was easygoing, flirty and sexy as hell. That accent had him
half hard all night. At first he felt guilty about leaving Savannah
alone, but as the alcohol softened his mood, he figured perhaps
some time apart may do them both good. She needed to gain some
independence from him, and Lord knew he needed to get her off his
mind.

When Sali excused herself for the restroom,
Cole took stock of how the night was going. They were getting along
well, and she’d begun leaning in towards him, placing her hand on
his thigh as she laughed, or finding other ways to brush up against
him, like pressing her breast into his arm when she reached across
the bar for her drink. Cole wondered if she’d be game for
continuing things back at her place.

Sali returned with a fresh coat of pink gloss
on her lips and a seductive smile. Finding that his patience and
manners had disappeared along with that last drink, Cole stood and
pulled her against him. “Let’s go somewhere,” he whispered low,
near her ear.

She smiled a little, her eyes dancing on his.
“What did you have in mind?” A playful smirk tugged on her
mouth.

“Somewhere we can be alone.” Without waiting
for her to answer, Cole took her hand and pulled her outside of the
club. They waited on the sidewalk, Sali’s arms wrapped around his
middle.

“And here I thought you were a nice guy. Your
sister had you pegged to be some saint. I thought tonight was going
to be totally dull.”

“It doesn’t have to be.” He leaned over and
pressed a soft kiss on her mouth, testing her. She wrapped her
hands around his neck, pulling him even closer. Fuck he needed
this, needed the distraction before he did something with Savannah
he’d regret.

“I have roommates. We can’t go my place,” she
whispered.

“It’s okay, we’ll be quiet,” he said between
kisses. Well he would, he couldn’t say the same for her, since he
was hoping to make her scream.

She pressed a hand against his chest. “I
can’t, sexy. I share a room with Jenny. She’ll kill me if I bring a
guy home again.”

Again?
He wondered how often she did
this, but let it go. Cole supposed he had a roommate too, though he
had no idea how to explain Savannah.

“Let’s go to your place,” Sali suggested,
placing a hand over the already hard budge in his jeans and gave
him a squeeze.

Cole reluctantly agreed. Well, not all that
reluctantly. The thought of getting laid and pushing Savannah into
the back corner of his mind, if only for thirty minutes or so,
sounded too good to pass up. He only hopped Savannah wasn’t in his
bed. He’d do a sweep of the apartment first, and hell if necessary,
he’d fuck Sali in his truck.

Cole realized he was in no shape to drive.
“Okay, come on We’ll grab a cab.”

Sali spent the ride in the cab licking his
neck and gripping the hard ridge in his jeans. He knew he had a
freaky girl on his hands. The thought made him both deliriously
happy and nervous since the last thing he wanted to do was hurt
Savannah. He warned Sali that he had someone staying with him right
now, and they’d have to be extra quiet. In between nibbling on his
earlobe, and licking his neck, she said no problem.

They staggered from the cab into the
stairwell, kissing and groping each other as they went.

“Remember, extra quiet,” he reminded her when
he unlocked the door.

Rather than answering, Sali worked her hand
into the front of his jeans and gave him a gentle squeeze. He
closed his eyes, imaging briefly it was Savannah’s hand around him.
His eyes shot open. Where had that thought come from? He would
never be with Savannah. Not like this. He pulled Sali’s hand from
his pants and asked her to wait in the kitchen.

The living room was empty, which meant
Savannah was in bed — but he had no idea if that meant his bed or
hers. The door to the guest room was closed. He continued past it
and into his own bedroom. It was empty. He breathed a little sigh
of relief. God, he was so on edge about Savannah finding out about
this, he wondered if he should just usher Sali out before this blew
up in his face. But when he turned, Sali was already standing on
the threshold of his bedroom.

“Weren’t going to get started without me,
were you?” She grinned and stalked towards him.

He swallowed and watched her lean, lithe body
cross the room. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t want this. His
dick was already straining against his jeans, only he didn’t know
if it was because of the thought of Savannah discovering them or
because of Sali’s long legs wrapped around his waist.

She closed the door behind her, flipped off
the lights and shoved him down onto the bed. His back hit the
mattress with a thud. Sali straddled him and pulled off her shirt.
Maybe he could just make this quick and get her out of the
apartment. Cole moved through the foreplay faster than he liked to.
“Are you ready for me?” he asked, nuzzling her neck with
kisses.

He usually liked to make sure the girl got
off at least once, and was nice and wet before he sunk into her.
But something told him Sali wouldn’t mind moving onto the main
event. She pulled her panties aside and pleasured herself while he
watched, then brought her fingers to his mouth. He opened
obediently. “See I’m already wet,” she whispered.

Good. Let’s get on with it.
Listening
to his inner dialogue was like having an angel on one shoulder, a
devil on the other. Half of him wanted to fuck her senseless, to
lose himself in the pleasure, and the other half wished he’d never
brought her home so he could be curled up next to Savannah. But
God, it wasn’t like he and Savannah were in a relationship. He
should be dating other women. But sleeping with them in the
apartment he shared with Savannah? That part was questionable.