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Or had seen what he’d seen...
Things between them had changed at that moment.
Cole knew a huge part of his childhood had been lost by his discovery...and in keeping his father’s betrayal a secret. “Judge not,” he warned Phillip Senior before walking away with Jillian close at his side.
Hours later, Jillian rolled over in Cole’s bed and found it empty. She raised her head from the pillow and looked around once her eyes adjusted to the darkness. He stood by the terrace doors, looking out at the cold, fall night, still naked. She allowed herself a lingering moment to enjoy the strong lines of his broad shoulders, defined back and buttocks before climbing from the bed. Sharing in his nudity, she crossed the room and wrapped her arms around him from behind as she pressed a kiss to his spine. He covered her arms with his own as if welcoming the comfort she gave him.
The launch and the party had been a glorious success, but she knew their heated interaction with his parents lingered, taking some of the shine from his event for him. Long after they’d returned to his condo and showered, he’d lain in silence in their bed. Not even seeking the explosive sex he usually craved.
“Why did you quit?” he asked, surprising her.
She frowned, now considering that her decision was a part of his worries, as well. “I didn’t care for the structured format, and it was so hard to not be here in New York when I didn’t even like it,” she said, easing around his body to stand in front of him, pressing her back and buttocks to the cold glass. “Not that I couldn’t use the money. It was the reason that I took the job in the first place.”
“What?” Cole asked.
“I never told you, but I tried—and failed horribly—at opening my own restaurant,” she said. “After my ego was blown up by social media and being a private chef to celebrities, I thought I was ready. I wasn’t. And it ruined me financially. I was on a quest to rebuild and recover. And that job afforded me that, plus, I could help my parents with my grandmother’s medical care.”
He looked down at her and the light of the full moon highlighted his eyes. “You never told me that,” he said.
She looked away. “It’s embarrassing. Who wants to admit to crippling debt, a horrible credit score and starting over until I thought I had it all?”
Cole used a finger beneath her chin to tilt her face back to him. “Sowhydid you quit?” he asked again.
To be here with you.
Fear kept her from speaking her truth. At that moment, her actions felt desperate, especially when she’d yet to succeed at getting him to proclaim loving her. But that was how she had truly felt. Lost without him. In a way she had never felt with any other man. Not even for her previous husbands.
Am I a fool? His fool?
“Jillian.”
She avoided his electric gaze.
Cole lifted her body against the glass so that her eyes were level with his own. “Did you come back for me?” he asked, his voice so deep. So captivating. So stirring.
“Yes,” she whispered, pressing her hand to the top of his strong shoulders.
The truth wouldn’t be denied. Not any longer.
“You got me,” he admitted, wrapping his arms around her naked frame and pulling her soft body against his formidable strength.
Her gasp was visceral. The first feel of his mouth on hers sent a thrill across her body as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“You got me,” he repeated against her lips as he carried them to the bed. “My Jillian. My beautiful Jillian. You got me, baby.”
He pressed her body down onto the foot of the bed with his own. His hands cupped the sides of her face as he pushed her hair back and examined her as if cementing every detail to memory. His smile was slow and warmed his eyes as he continued to study her.
The look made her breathless. Anxious. Adored.
“My Jillian. Yougotme,” he kept saying as he pressed light kisses to her forehead then her cheeks, her chin and, finally, her mouth. Slowly. As if to savor.
Never had she experienced anything more exquisite.
Cole deepened the kiss with their eyes locked as she released his sides from her gripping knees to spread her legs and gently thrust her hips upward. A tender urging. To enter her. Fill her. Please her.
He obliged with a slight shift of his hips to find her center with his tip.
“Cole!” she gasped just as he thrust inside her. Swift and deep. So deep.
