The Virgin's Night Out (26 page)

Silence fell over the table for a few minutes, broken only by the rest of those in the crowded pub. Rocki, her appetite all but dead, tried to figure out just where to start. She needed to tell him. Even if he didn’t ask, she realized. She needed to talk.

“You ever going to tell me what was going on earlier?”

Slowly, she lifted her gaze from her plate, staring at him in the dim light. That light managed to make him look even more beautiful than he already was, flickering across the planes and hollows of his face, making that gilt hair gleam like burnished gold.

“Eleven years ago, I had a stalker.” She stared at him, watching the way his lashes flickered, watching the knowledge flash through his eyes.

Slowly, he leaned back in the seat, crossing his arms over his chest. His eyes, thoughtful, considering, narrowed on her face. “Eleven years...that’s a long time.”

“Seems like it was just yesterday.” She sighed, leaning forward.

It wasn’t always the most demure posture in a corset. Especially if one had...assets.

To his credit, Cole’s eyes barely dipped below her neckline...at least for longer than a second. Rocki chuckled. “You know, I wore this thing wanting to look nice for you.”

“Ah...” He closed his eyes. “You succeeded. Although I’m trying to concentrate and I’m having a hard time reminding myself I’m not a twelve-year-old boy.”

She grinned at him. Then, still grinning, she eased back from the table, although she was so damned tired, all she wanted to do was rest. Against something. Or, in this case,
someone.
“Yesterday,” she reminded him, steering the conversation back to the unpleasant topic at hand. “It could have been yesterday. It was just postcards at first. Then the flowers started, although they weren’t so...interesting then. It wasn’t until the phone calls began that I told anybody.”

She licked her lips and looked down, absently studying her hands. She’d called somebody then. But even then...She closed her eyes. “I knew who it was.”

“You knew?”

She lifted her gaze to his. “Yes. It was an ex-boyfriend. One who didn’t want to be an ex.” Lifting a hand, she absently touched a hand to her chest. “One who would have had ten different fits if he’d seen me wearing something like this. It wasn’t just the way I dressed, though. It was everything. If I didn’t get home when I said I’d be, he got angry. If I wanted to go out for a movie with friends, he freaked—shoot, he used to follow us. Once, a girlfriend started flirting with these guys and he came rushing up…” She sighed and shook her head. “I got tired of it. I broke it off. He...”

Rocki turned her head. Shit. Why was this still so hard? She
knew
all of this, damn it. She
knew
it. She hadn’t grown up in an abusive home, and she wasn’t one of those women who’d been made to believe she was just supposed to
take
abuse.

“The day I broke it off, Dwayne acted like everything was fine. We’d still be friends. I packed up my things, took it all over to Lacey’s. Went to work...I worked part-time for a theater company, then—did the costumes, that sort of thing. I was working on designing some of my own stuff, but it was a private thing. Never made anything, never showed anybody.” Her hands were sweating. Damn it. He wasn’t going to do this her again. Not again. Swiping her palms down the front of her jeans, she looked back at Cole, making herself look him straight in the eye. “I was leaving work when he attacked me. He knocked me down, wrapped his hands around my neck, started screaming at me.”

She could still hear him.
No fucking bitch leaves me
—

“I tried to fight him, but then, I just didn’t know
how
. I kicked, I screamed as loud as I could. But I passed out. Somebody from the theater heard me, though. Called the cops. There was a beat cop close by, and thank God for that...because if they’d been a minute or two later...”

Rocki shuddered.

A hand touched her shoulder. Tensing, she looked up and realized Cole had left his seat at the booth and was now crouched by hers. She scooted over on the bench, disturbed by how desperately she needed that contact. As he settled down next to her, she rested her head against him. A strong arm came around her. Rocki groaned, sinking into the warmth of his embrace. She’d missed this...just having somebody there to hold her. Somebody she could trust. Somebody she liked and had a connection with.

And God help her...she had it with Cole.

“The cops showed up while he was still trying to get my clothes off,” she said, needing to get the words out. “He took off running when he heard the sirens, and I woke up with my shirt ripped open, my jeans unzipped. I hadn’t been awake, but I swear, I could feel his hands all over me.”

She swallowed and then looked up at him. Cole lifted a hand, brushed her hair back from her face, then stroked his thumb over her lip. “Then what? You knew who it was, right?”

“Yeah.” She looked away. “But I wouldn’t press charges. Not then. The notes started coming next. Then the flowers. Then he started calling and I knew I had to do something, or he might try to kill me next time. I warned him that I’d press charges if he kept it up. He just laughed, said I hadn’t done it before, I wouldn’t this time.”

“So did you?”

“I went to the police station. Filled out the report, did everything I was supposed to...and the officer in charge was an ass. Told me they couldn’t promise they’d get results. I’d need to be careful of my whereabouts. And maybe I should dress differently.” She made a face. “I had on a fucking T-shirt and jeans. Damn, I was furious. I stormed out of there, so mad I could barely see...and crashed right into Brant.”

“Brant. Your husband.”

“Yeah. Although, not then.” Absently, she plucked at a loose thread on his sweater, then let her hand fall to his thigh. When the muscles under her hand bunched, she felt a blush settle low her breasts. But she didn’t move her hand. “Brant...ah, well, he was a gentleman, through and through. Saw that I was upset. Asked around. Had another officer take the report again. Then he walked me to my car.”

“But that wasn’t it.”

“No.” She smiled. “A few days later he showed up at the theater and asked me how I felt about dating cops, mentioned he’d almost taken my case himself but that wouldn’t have been right...because he had every intention of asking me out. We were married within six months.”

“One of those love-at-first-sight stories.”

“Pretty close.” She lowered her gaze, staring at her hand. The muscles under it were still tense. She really should move. But she couldn’t. Just couldn’t.

“What happened with the ex?”

“I chickened out. Couldn’t press charges. A few more cards came. Two more calls. Then they stopped.” She closed her eyes. “I won’t ever know, but I suspect Brant paid him a visit...scared the shit out of him. Dwayne never was good at standing up to anybody who proved they could dish it back.”

“Possible ethical issue there.” His hand rested low on her spine.

She shivered as his fingers grazed the scant bit of flesh left bare on her back by the corset.

“Abuse of power...hell, I might have bought him a drink.” Cole rubbed his cheek against her hair. “You should have pressed charges, though. Bastards like that never stop until you make them.”

“I know. Now, I could. Then, it was a different story.” She sighed. “It may or may not be him now. I just don’t know. The cards started a few weeks ago. I’ve gotten four—they aren’t the same. It’s just pictures of me, no notes or anything. The flowers today...that was a first.”

“If it is him...?”

“If it is, if it isn’t, no matter...once they have a name, anything I can go to court with, I’ll press charges.” She stared down, not seeing anything. “I won’t be that victim again. Not again.”

He nuzzled her temple. “I’m sorry. Nobody’s got the right to do this to another person.”

“No. And I won’t let it happen to me again.” She blew out a breath. Closed her eyes. Then she smiled. “It feels good to get that out, you know. Not too many people know.”

He remained silent, his hand stroking her back. Rocki stared at her hand on his thigh and tried to tell herself she needed to just finish up her meal. Have him take her home. They could set up their
real
date and then see what happened.

Except she couldn’t think about anything but the feel of his hand on her back, of his thigh under her hand. His warmth. The way his mouth pressed against her brow.

“Cole?” She tipped her head back, studying him. “You know, I should probably just get this out. It’s been a while since I’ve dated and all. But I don’t sleep with men on the first date.”

“Ah...” A muscle jerked in his jaw. “Well, I don’t think we’d really even gotten to that point, right? This isn’t a
real
date.”

“Right. So when you take me home—to either your place or mine—and we sleep together tonight? Just to be clear...we haven’t had a date.”

He hadn’t heard her clearly.

Cole closed his eyes, replaying her words in his head, but they still sounded the same. Lust did bad, bad things to a man’s ability to think clearly, that was all he could figure out.

“Okay, at the risk of sounding like an idiot...what did you just say?”

That smile of hers—oh, hell, it did bad, bad things to his ability to think
at all
. She tightened her fingers on his thigh, her nails biting lightly into his skin, even through the sturdy denim of his jeans. “Oh, come on now, Counselor...that’s what they call lawyers, right? I think you heard me.”

“I heard you.” He dropped his gaze to her mouth—that wide, sexy mouth—and thought he just might die if he didn’t get to kiss her, seriously kiss her, and soon. “The problem is I think I heard something completely different from what you just said.”

“And what do you think I just said?”

“It had something to do with the two of us going back to your place, or my place. But that couldn’t be what you said.”

Rocki scraped her nails along his jeans. “But it was.” She curled her free hand around his neck. “So. Which one sounds better to you?”

In reply, Cole reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. Blindly, he pulled out some money and glanced at it. Without bothering to do another thing, he threw it down on the table. “Please tell me you’re ready to go now.”

The smile on her face had nerve endings exploding. Cole stood up and hoped to heaven, hell and every place in between that his hands weren’t shaking as he offered one to her. She uncoiled from the seat, placing her hand in his. The firelight danced off the pale skin displayed by the unbelievably fucking sexy top...corset...whatever it was that she wore. Unable to keep from touching her, he reached out and trailed his fingers along the smooth skin that rose in a swell above the gleaming black silk.

“You are so damn beautiful,” he muttered.

Rocki reached out and curled her hands around his waist. “You’re not so bad yourself.” She swayed closer, pressing her mouth close to his ear. “Can we go?”

“Hell, yes.”

Earlier, she’d been cold.

So cold.

But now, even the heavier fall of snow couldn’t manage to cool the burning in her blood. Part of her brain was whispering,
This isn’t smart. You need to just go home
.

The rest of her, heart, soul, and body—oh, damn, her body—demanded,
Go home? To that empty, lonely bed...again
?

After five years of being alone, she’d met somebody who made her not
want
to be alone. That was what she’d been hoping for. Brant hadn’t wanted her to live the rest of her life missing him. She didn’t want to grow old alone. But nobody had ever reached inside her soul.

Until now.

“Second thoughts?”

They’d reached Cole’s car. And he was staring at her. Looking over at him, she smiled slowly. “Not on your life.” Toying with the lapel of his coat, she studied him in the dim, silvery light. It was a strange light, one that appeared only on snowy winter nights. “Your place? Mine?”

“Mine. If that’s okay. It’s only four minutes from here, and I’m going to die if I wait much longer than that,” he said flatly.

Rocki chuckled, but the laugh ended abruptly as he caught the back of her head and pulled her against him. His tongue pushed between her lips and she gasped, caught off guard. The sheer hunger in his kiss had her shaking, left her head spinning—oh, damn. Oh, oh, damn. This was...this. Just this. She’d missed this.

Desperately for more, she moved closer only to have him pull away. “Damn it,
now
. We’re leaving
now
,” he growled. He jerked open the door for her and she stared at him, a little bemused, still dazed from that kiss.

“You’re making my head spin.” Groaning, she slid into the car. She wanted to wilt back into the plush leather, but the bad thing about the corset she wore—there was no wilting. She settled for closing her eyes and resting her hands on her thighs to keep from reaching for him. She was afraid if she did that she might end up trying to crawl all over him in the damn car—with
her
luck, somebody would see them and word would get all over. She’d never live it down.

Even with the snow, Cole made it in good time, although it took longer than four minutes. Close to six, she decided. Six long minutes. The entire six minutes, she was reliving that kiss, the way he’d looked at her, the way her skin buzzed when he touched her. Her body was all but vibrating with arousal by the time his car came to a halt.

She opened her eyes, but the soft, golden glow of lights distracted her before she could look over at him. She did a double-take. “Ah...you live
here
?”

“For the time being.”

She stared. He lived at the Centre. It was like...well, hell, the
rich
lived there. The young rich, generally. Once upon a time, she’d daydreamed about having the money to live someplace that nice. But that had been before reality and life had intruded.

She couldn’t help but stare as a uniformed doorman came out to open the door for her. Oooo-kay.