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“But if it reminds you of something bad… If it—”
“It doesn’t,” she said quickly. “I left all that behind. And I can’t be soft, but I have to find some way to bend.”
Cole didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know how to take back something they both wanted, but it killed him to think he might hurt her in ways he hadn’t realized. “You’re soft right now,” he whispered as the room finally went fully dark. “The softest thing I’ve ever felt.” She was. Her skin was hot beneath his hand, her limbs a languid line against him, and everywhere he touched was like silk.
“That’s old light, Cole,” she murmured.
“No. No, it’s not. It’s new. It’s for me.”
Whatever she said, he knew that was true. In public she was on guard, a bundle of tension and wariness and sharp claws. But in his bed, afterward, she was small and soft and warm. And so vulnerable it made him hurt for her. Not that he’d ever tell her that.
“What were you like as a kid?” he asked.
“Me? I don’t know. Skinny and wary and restless. What about you?”
“Skinny and loud and covered in dirt.”
She laughed. “I bet.”
“So you’re still skinny and wary and restless. Nothing’s changed. You haven’t gone supernova.”
“You, on the other hand… You’re not skinny and loud anymore.”
“But I am filthy.”
“Yes, you do still have that.”
They subsided into comfortable silence for a while, the darkness settling around them. It was only ten, but he was already sinking into that weightless space between wakefulness and sleep when she spoke again. “I’m ready to change. To give myself a chance. I need to start over and make a life for myself. Settle down and stop running away. Stop living like I don’t have anything valuable to lose.”
The thought that she might stop fighting him and they could see where this might lead… Cole would never say it to her or anyone else, but that seemed like something he could hold on to. Something that might see him through the next few weeks.
She was so damn strong. She’d been through a hell of a lot more than he had, and she was still going, still fighting the world. But maybe he could help her leave the battle behind. At least with him.
He’d never tell anyone else she was soft. He’d keep that secret safe. He’d even let her pretend she didn’t need anything but sex. But there was no mistaking the way she curled into him. Or the way she sighed when he pulled her closer still.
Grace Barrett was soft for him, and getting softer every minute. He didn’t want to go to sleep and miss it. “You want to watch TV? A movie? Anything?”
Her eyes opened. “What do you have?”
“Darlin’, I was on bed rest for quite a while. I have everything. Cable, pay-per-view, Netflix, some sort of streaming contraption. You name it, I’ve got it.”
She watched him for a long moment, and then she smiled. “Do you think you can get The Outsiders?”
“Is that a movie?”
“Only the best movie ever made. Assuming you like rumbles and hair grease. You’ve never seen it?”
He shrugged and grabbed the remote. “Nope.”
Grace bounced up to her knees, a grin taking over her face. “All right, cowboy. You find the movie. And I’ll…” Before he
realized what she was doing, she raised her hand and smacked his naked ass. Hard. “I’ll find some snacks. Do you have popcorn?”
“Jesus!” He rubbed a hand over the sting.
“What? I thought that was how you dismounted around these parts.” Laughing, she walked naked toward his kitchen, flashing a smile over her shoulder that Cole would never forget. If he had anything to say about it, he’d make her smile like that every day from now on.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
