After quickly re-dressing, she came out and found Cole had done the same, now in a quarter-zip sweater over a t-shirt. “Okay with walking?” he asked. “It’s only a block, and I could use the air.”
“Sounds good,” she agreed, moving close and tucking her fingertips in his waistband, tugging him tight against her.
With a growl in his throat and a heated smile, he drew her into his arms.
“By the way,” she said, tilting back and sweeping her hair off her shoulders with the motion. “This skirt is more forgiving, so I changed into black lace.”
He growled playfully and swept his hand up her back under her shirt. On instinct, unable to resist, she leaned in and melted into a cozy kiss that melted her from the toes up.
“We are really, really late now,” she murmured.
“They’ll understand,” he said.
Grateful for the reprieve from the rain, she grabbed her fleece zip-up and denim jacket and they headed out.
Theweddingwasshortand sweet, as promised, and more of a relaxing evening with friends than a fussy event. But Trace had never been happier to leave. Over the course of the evening, the rain had started back up again. A trickle at first, now a downpour.
Those who had driven offered rides back to those who had walked, but with one look from Cole, the wickedly curious curve of his mouth, and she craved the raw rush of nature at its finest. Trace held her jacket tightly around her, stomping in puddles as they dashed across the street, her tall boots proving to be waterproof, as advertised.
As the evening evolved, so had Cole’s bruises. His knuckles had been raw, now they were swollen. His injuries had made such progress since he’d been back home, but his limp was flaring worse with each step toward the hotel.
“Cole?” she asked as they crossed the side street, nearly back to the hotel.
“Yeah?” he asked, stopping and turning back toward her. Rain washed over them both, his hair wild from it, and she knew hers was rapidly getting curlier.
Freezing in the wind, she lifted her hand and traced the mark that grew darker under his eye. “What if they come back with more than you can handle? That was just one guy. What if they send more?”
Tongue firmly trapped between his teeth, he clenched his jaw and shook his head subtly.
“You won’t stay out of sight until this is over?” She rubbed her thumb over his bottom lip, resting her palm on his jaw. “Will you really make yourself a target?”
He fluttered his gaze down, slowly lifting it back to her. “To get my life back? To keep you and Jeremy and Ellen safe? Fuck. Yes. I’ll do whatever I have to do.”
Her stomach rolled, realizing he wouldn’t blink, and that he would literally give his life for theirs. Because that’s who he was, who he had always been, and her father had known it all along. A softy, yes, but her dad read people well. “What does that mean?”
Heavier, denser, rainwater flooded the parking lot, as much splashing off the asphalt as fell to the ground. “If anything happened to you, to Jeremy or Ellen, because of me? I shouldn’t have come back. I guess I thought I could live in a fantasy, and it was stupid of me to try.”
She gripped his hand and drew him closer. “Nope. Don’t do that. This isn’t a fantasy. This is real life. Yours and mine.”
He huffed a mirthless laugh and shook his head, looking vaguely into the distance.
“Cole,” she said, framing his jaw in her hands.
He shifted his gaze back to her.
She rose to her toes and touched her lips to his. Drenched from the rain, the heat of him instantly warmed her to the core.
Tipping his forehead against hers, he murmured, “I’ve pissed off a lot of people. What if others find me?”
“Then we’ll deal with it.”
She kissed him again, and he kissed her longer this time.
“You should stay away from me,” he said before he kissed her again, harder. “You knew I’d run.”
She fiddled her tongue over the back of her teeth. “Hear me out, okay? I’m sort of seeing this guy who’s really good at this stuff. He’s, like, worked as a bodyguard, among other less advertisable jobs. I trust him, more than anyone else, to protect my family. I wish he’d let someone else do the dirty work, since he shouldn’t have to anymore, but he won’t, and I’ve got his back anyway.”
Cole smiled in shock, looking at her with such curiosity.
