He eased to his side and she hopped up from the bed, flitting into the bathroom. How he loved watching her lovely rear end bouncing along in close proximity. He hadn’t merely missed Dani. He’d been starved for her. She made him feel more than alive. She made him feel invincible. This high was something he hadn’t felt in six years. He hadn’t felt this good for even one minute since she left.
That meant he needed to get his priorities straight and figure out what he wanted from her. They couldn’t just sleep with each other and walk away—there was too much between them. Too many secrets. But then again, would he ever get her to tell him the truth about her sons? She’d kept things hush-hush for so long.
Dani stopped in the doorway of her bathroom and leaned against it, trailing her finger up and down the jamb. “I almost hate to say this, because I don’t want to feed your ego, but you look spectacular in my bed.”
“Consider my ego fed. That’s the best thing anyone has ever said to me.” Laughing, Cole peeled the covers back, offering them in invitation. “Please. Join me in looking spectacular.”
Dani climbed into bed and placed a soft and delicate kiss on his lips. Her breasts pressed against his chest, sent the all-hands-on-deck signal straight to his groin. No question this would be his shortest recovery ever. And damn, he wanted another chance at everything they’d just done together. He couldn’t wait for more.
Dani slipped her leg between his, rocking her thigh against him. “Ooh. Again?”
He was so hard it nearly made him dizzy. “Yes. And maybe again after that.”
Dani didn’t hesitate to straddle his hips and take his erection in her hand, guiding him inside her. She sank down onto him, and his eyes drifted shut as her warmth enveloped him. She dropped down and kissed him hard, bouncing her hips in a rhythm that had his head spinning. He curled his fingers into the velvety flesh of her bottom. Tension coiled tightly in his groin and hips. He needed the release again. He thrust more forcefully, lifting her off the bed. She was grinding her hips into his and he could tell from her breaths that he was hitting the right spot. Just when he thought he couldn’t take it much longer, Dani called his name and buried her face in his neck. The pleasure rocketed right out of him in waves while Dani let her full bodyweight rest on his, a feeling he’d always loved.
She rolled to his side and curled into him. “So was that a line about not being with any other woman since me?” she asked, still a bit breathless.
Cole pulled her closer, loving the feel of her silky skin against his. “What if it was? Would you be mad?” If only itwasa line.
“No. I mean, I’ve fallen for worse, for sure. And you certainly made it worth my while.”
“But? I’m sensing a but here.”
“But nothing. I’m just surprised. I don’t know how often you look in the mirror, but I’m trying to figure out how you stayed out of the beds of every last woman in Royal during that time.”
He placed a kiss on her forehead. “Thank you. That’s sweet.” If he looked back, it seemed impossible, but at the time, he hadn’t seen any other way but to stay single. He wasn’t about to pull another woman into his orbit. He was damaged goods. Had he looked at women and wanted them? Sure. But his heart hadn’t been in it. He didn’t see the point. But things were different with Dani, and not just because they had a past. Not because it took no effort at all to want her. She knew the Cole he had been before the glioma was discovered. She knew the old him, the person he wished he could be again.
Trouble was, that was the guy she’d loved, too. And that guy no longer walked the earth.
“I wasn’t trying to be sweet. And I already knew there was no other woman when you broke up with me. Megan told me.”
He lifted a brow. “How does Megan know the details of my personal life?”
“You’ve said it yourself a thousand times. This is a small town. People talk.”
Cole sucked in a deep breath. Maybe it was time to come clean on this one point. “Yes, I lied about there being someone else. And I’m sorry about that, but I had my reasons.”
She shook her head in disbelief. “Just like you had your reasons for waiting until after I left town to quit the Rangers, even when I’d begged you to quit?”
“Would you quit your job if I begged you? That wasn’t fair, Dani. I would never ask you to leave behind something you loved.”
Dani sat up and cast a look of deep anger at him. “I was trying to guarantee our future together. A long life. I was hoping to grow old with you, Cole. But you threw all of that away.”
That stopped him dead. How could he tell her that the thing she’d once hoped for was something he could never give her? Not even now. “Can’t we take a break from the past? Just for one day?”
“I don’t see how we can, especially when you don’t want to talk about it.”
From downstairs, the sound of children’s voices filtered into the room. Dani slapped the bed and gathered a chunk of the comforter in her hand, narrowly missing Cole’s thigh. “The boys are home. You have to get out of here right now.” She flew out from under the sheets and began flinging his clothes at him. His shirt hit him square in the face.
“Slow down a minute.” He scrambled out from under the covers and started putting on his boxers, hopping on one leg to do it. “I have a good reason for being here.”
“Not in my bed, you don’t. They’re little boys, Cole. They ask lots of questions. You need to put your clothes on right now.” Dani was furiously making the bed. Naked. It was the best view ever, but he had zero time to enjoy it.
Dammit.
Cole was turning his shirtsleeves inside out when the boys’ voices grew louder. The door was closed, but who knew who long it would be before they burst through it.
Dani raked her dress from the floor and scampered into the bathroom. “Get in here,” she whispered to him, loudly.
