“I am so sorry,” I apologized again when I finally stopped laughing long enough to speak. “That has never happened before.”
"You don't break the nose of every guy that goes down on you?" He smirked at me, making me flush. "Now, I feel special."
"I don't think your nose is broken, but you should put some ice on it." I pressed the ice pack to his face, and he jerked, digging his fingertips into my still bare hips, causing me to flinch. I'd forgotten I was naked from the waist down. He pulled his hands away.
“Sorry.” Cole curled his hands into fists and placed them on his thighs.
“No, it’s fine.” I placed the hand that wasn’t holding the ice pack on top of one of his fists, making my heart race and briefly reminding me how we ended up like this in the first place. “I think I forgot I wasn’t wearing pants.”
"Did you want to…" He trailed off, motioning to my pajama pants and panties, lying in a heap on the floor.
“No, I can wait a minute until I’m done here.” I paused. I wasn’t sure exactly how to express this, but I missed the feeling of Cole’s large warm hands on my bare flesh. “Unless you want me to…” I trailed off, raising my eyebrows.
“No,” he said quickly, making me chuckle. “Um, as long as you’re okay with it. I’m fine.” He shrugged in an unconvincing act of indifference.
I moved the ice pack and began dabbing at his face again. He winced, and his hands, once again, flew to my waist. Instead of letting go, he only loosened his grip and looked at me, eyebrows raised in question. I gave him a small smile and the tiniest nod. His hands stayed in place.
“So when I said that's never happened before, I meant no one's ever gone down on me before.” I bit my lip and scanned his face for a response.
“Seriously? Never?” he asked. As if what happened on his counter was an everyday occurrence. I briefly wondered how many women Cole had spread out in his kitchen before me. There was no way he’d never done that before. It was too… I quickly refocused.
“No,” I replied and began dabbing again, maybe a little too forcefully.
"Ah, easy!" He winced again. "So, you didn't know that you weren't supposed to knee me in the face because you haven't been taught propercunnilingus courtesy.”
“Are you really teasing me right now?” I giggled, pulling my hand away and placing a fist on my hip.
“Um…” He pointed to his nose and glared at me pointedly. “Yes.”
I laughed even harder. Cole responded with the adorable lopsided smile I'd been trying to protect myself from for the last couple of weeks. I was clearly failing miserably.
“So, none of the other guys you've been with have eaten you out?”
"Well, there's only been two. There was my husband and—" He cut me off before I could tell him about the terrible drunken one-night stand I'd had six months ago.
“You're married?” He loosened his grip on my hips.
"Ex-husband," I said in a sigh. "Our divorce was finalized almost a year ago. It's still weird to say 'ex.' We were high school sweethearts, married after I graduated from college, and were happy for a few years until we weren't." I shrugged and continued to clean his face.
“I'm sorry.” He sounded like he really meant it.
"You know, I asked him to go down on me once, and he said no because he thought it was disgusting." I had no idea why I was suddenly confiding in Cole, but it felt comfortable. I'd never discussed the intimacies of my marriage with anyone besides a therapist.
“Are you serious? Did you ever go down on him? If you don't mind me asking.”
“Yes. Every year on his birthday and sometimes when I had my period.”
“Damn. I hope you don't mind me saying this, but your ex sounds like a selfish asshole.”
“Well, he cheated on me and left me for a younger woman, so I'm inclined to agree with you.” I held the ice pack to his face again.
"Younger? How old are you? Shit. I'm sorry. That was rude. You don't have to tell me."
I laughed again. “I did knee you in the face. I think you could ask me anything at this point.” I smiled. “I'm twenty-nine.”
"Twenty-nine, like actually twenty-nine or twenty-nine like my mom was twenty-nine every year until she had aforty and fabulousparty?"
I laughed again, even harder, and Cole grinned in response. He seemed to like to see me laugh, and it gave me a warm feeling. "That sounds awesome, but I'm twenty-nine, like actually twenty-nine. How old are you?"
