Bye-Bye Baby

By Morgana Phoenix

Love has no expiration.

The morning Beth packed her bags and walked out of Cole’s life was the day he swore the only girl for him would be the six year old who called him daddy. He didn’t have time for love, not between raising his baby girl and trying to figure out what the hell he was going to do with his life. But fate has a funny way of coming around and kicking you when you least expect it. Cole’s new life was no exception.

As a product of a severely broken home, Beth Doan knew better than to ever get married. She’d seen what that commitment did to people and she loved Cole McClain too much to let marriage destroy them. But the minute she boards that bus she knew she was making the biggest mistake of her life. Only maybe she wasn’t, not when she goes running back home to the only man she ever loved and finds him in the arms of another woman.

When an unexpected accident throws them together four years later, the last thing either anticipated was to become responsible for a little person who needs them a whole lot more than they need their bitterness and hurt feelings. Can Cole and Beth forgive and forget long enough to save the life of a child neither one of them predicted falling in love with?

Or are some wounds just too deep to heal?

Bye-Bye Baby ©2015 by Airicka Phoenix

www.AirickaPhoenix.com

This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical,

Photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without prior written permission of the copyright owner and/or the publisher of this book, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Editor: Kathy Eccleston

Beta Readers: Jaime Radalyac & Krystal Marlein

Illustrator: Airicka’s Mystical Creations

Interior Design & Formatting: Airicka Phoenix

ISBN-13: 978-1505682021

ISBN-10: 1505682029

Published by Airicka Phoenix

Also available in eBook and paperback publication.

As Airicka Phoenix

Games of Fire

Betraying Innocence

TOUCH SAGA

Touching Smoke

Touching Fire

Touching Eternity

THE LOST GIRL SERIES

Finding Kia

Revealing Kia

REGENERATION SERIES

When Night Falls

As Morgana Phoenix

THE BABY SAGA

Forever His Baby

IN THE DARK SERIES

My Soul For You

Kissing Trouble

SONS OF JUDGMENT SAGA

Octavian’s Undoing

Dedication

My Readers,

For helping keep my dream alive.

Acknowledgement

I want to start this acknowledgement off by thanking my readers. It’s because of you that this book exists. Thank you all so much for taking the time to read and love Forever His Baby. Please enjoy Bye-Bye Baby as my thank you for being so incredible.

More thank yous go to Katherine for squeezing in time for me, no matter how crazy the deadline. You are such an amazing and generous friend.

Jaime and Krystal, you ladies never fail to make me feel like a rock star. Thank you for always having my back and for being as strange as I am.

My online family, the girls in the dark court, thank you for never letting me fall, but always helping me soar.

My real life family, thank you as always for loving me. All of me. The love I have for you, there is no word for it in the human language. It is beyond this world.

Please enjoy and thank you again.

Love always,

~Airicka

Chapter One ~ Cole

There is a fine line between patience and murder.

At least, that was what his college professor had always told him. Cole had never understood the terminology until moving back to Willow Creek and remembered why he’d been so adamant to leave in the first place.

“Mrs. Boyce, I can’t sue your neighbor just because he likes to water his grass early in the morning,” he explained through gritted teeth for the ninth time with all the patience he could muster without shattering his jaw. “He can water his lawn whenever he wants.”

“But his hose is so loud!” Mrs. Boyce stressed. “It sounds like a horse is taking a piss in my begonias.”

While the image made Cole want to recoil, he forced a smile and decided to take a different route.

“Why don’t I talk to him and see if we can’t come to some type of arrangement?”

The heavy creases around her gray eyes deepened when she squinted at him. “Well, that’s all I asked you to do.” She shuffled to her feet, barely able to see over the desk as she pried open the top of her clutch purse and rummaged inside. Cole started to tell her not to worry about paying him; after all, it wasn’t like he actually had to do anything. But she pulled out a peppermint candy and set it down on his desk. She smiled fondly at him.

“For being such a good boy.”

Cole simply smiled and waited until she was out of his office before dropping his forehead against his desk with a tortured groan.

It was noon on a weekend and Mrs. Boyce had been the only person to pass through those doors in over two weeks. The deafening silence of his office was beginning to grate on his nerves. Even the tiny radio he’d brought in to fill it seemed only to agitate him with useless noise. Every stitch of paperwork had been filed, refiled, and then filed again, just to keep his mind from going insane. Yet, nevertheless, he would return the next day, and the next, feasibly until the day he died, because at some point during his short few years in law school, he had sold his soul to the devil and purgatory was now his new home. Which meant he would be trapped in that closet sized space, tucked into the very far corner of an even smaller building forever. And, possibly as a joke, someone had lined his room with paisley red wallpaper, so not only did it feel like hell, but it looked like hell, or some scene from The Shining.

He was still hunched over with his eyes closed when the door opened and the sweetest sound in the world filled the room.

“Daddy!”

Cole’s head jerked up. He blinked back the blur across his vision and focused on the tiny blonde person bounding past the empty reception’s area, straight into his cramped little office.

“Hey!”

He lunged out of his chair, ignored it when it rolled back a foot and slammed into the filing cabinets behind his metal desk, and hurried around just as Calla leaped into his outstretched arms. Her thin ones wound around his neck and she held him with all the strength in her tiny body. Her riot of curls the color of spun gold smelled of strawberries and he breathed it all in with his eyes closed.

A shuffling alerted him to the second person stepping into the room. His eyes opened and he grinned at the tiny blonde woman grinning back at him.

“Hey, stranger.”

Lily McClain, sister-in-law, baby mama, and all around best friend in the world, raised a fine, blonde eyebrow. “Hey, yourself.”

She was a tiny thing with sleek blonde hair and a thin face. Her eyes were a wide brown that reminded him of a doe’s. Looking at her, it was impossible to tell she’d had two babies. Her silhouette was slender beneath the heavy coat and jeans. Calla, the love of Cole’s life was the one they shared together thanks to a very stupid pact six years ago involving an old condom and their virginities. Finding out they had a daughter hadn’t changed the dynamics of their friendship. Lily, who had been in love with Cole’s brother, Sloan, her entire life, had gotten married to the man of her dreams and Cole had gotten a beautiful daughter. Cole couldn’t have been happier with the outcome.

He glanced down around her legs for the second small person that should have been with her.

“Where’s pipsqueak?”

Lily and Sloan’s daughter, Willa, was two years younger than Calla and the exact opposite of her sister. While Calla was bald and loud, Willa was shy and pensive. Cole guessed that Calla had gotten that streak from him, while Willa was the miniature version of Sloan with his ever brooding demeanor.

“With my mom baking cookies.” Lily moved deeper into the room. “Calla wanted to come see you since we were already in town shopping. I hope that’s all right?”

Cole propped his daughter onto his hip. “Of course it’s all right. I’m always happy to see my girl.” He tweaked her nose and earned a giggle. “You’re getting heavy.”

“Uncle Sloan says I’m almost big enough to help him move people,” Calla announced proudly. “Willa’s still too small.”

Cole nodded. “He could be right. I’d have to see your muscles to be sure.”

Face bunched into one of comical toughness, Calla raised a bony arm and tried to make her biceps bulge beneath the puffy material of her jacket.

Cole made the appropriate sounds of awe and wonder. “Would you look at that?” He squeezed the soft muscles with his free hand. “You’re practically He-Man!”

Blue eyes bright with excitement, Calla looked from her mother to her father. “Who’s He-Man?”

“Someone before even your father’s time,” Lily muttered with amusement.

“Hey, I’ve seen posters.” Cole replied with feigned outrage. “So where are you guys headed after here?”

“Mommy says I need shoes,” Calla said, jutting out a foot so he could see the worn tops of her sneakers.

Cole frowned. “Didn’t mommy buy you shoes a couple of weeks ago?”

Calla nodded with all the seriousness of a six year old. “Uncle Sloan says I play like a boy.”

“I believe it,” Cole replied, gingerly setting her down. “I have four more hours here, but I can swing by after supper and pick you and Willa up. We can go out and get ice cream, if it’s okay with your mom.”

Calla’s eyes widened. “Is it, Mom?”

Lily nodded. “Sure, but why don’t you come over for supper, Cole?”

“Because I had supper with you guys yesterday, and the day before that.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “So?”

“Well, I do have my own apartment with a functioning kitchen.”

Lily frowned, her lips pursing. “Yes, but I don’t like you being there by yourself. You really should consider moving back.”

Cole burst out laughing. “Move back?” He laughed harder. “In a two bedroom house with four other people?”

“It’s not that funny,” she grumbled. “We can move the girl’s playroom from the basement, or … I don’t know, build another room, or something.”

Cole raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

She threw her hands up. “We can figure it out.”

Stepping around their daughter, he pulled Lily into his arms and kissed the top of her head noisily. “Will you stop fussing? You’re giving yourself gray hairs.”

She smacked his chest. “Shut up.”

Chuckling, he drew away.

Lily eyed him, her expression sad and he knew what was coming before she even opened her mouth. “It’s been four years, Cole. Maybe it’s time you—”

“I don’t want to talk about it, Lil,” he cut in sharply. “I need to get back to work.”

She looked like there was more on her chest she wanted to get off, but reluctantly relented and set a gentle hand on Calla’s shoulder.

“Will you at least come for supper? Please?”

“Yeah! Please, Daddy?” Calla chimed in, doing a little bounce on the balls of her feet.

His heart softened at the sight of his baby’s big, blue eyes and puckered bottom lip.

“Yeah, I’ll be there.” He ruffled her curls fondly. “But no Brussel sprouts!”

“Yeah! No Brussel sprouts!” Calla recited with verve, pointing a stubby finger at her mother.

Lily glowered at him. “Brussel sprouts are good for you!”

“They smell like feet,” Calla complained.

“You smell like feet,” Lily muttered with a teasing grin as she poked Calla in the nose.

The two giggled and the sound was pure, unduplicatable magic.

Cole watched them with his own mouth twitching.

When they left with a final hug and kiss from Calla, he just stood there, staring at the ugly red wallpaper and brown, wood trim and wondered if the devil would sprout out of the walls if he set the fucking place on fire.

Policer and Warner Law Firm was owned by Stan Policer and Gabe Warner. The pair were old as dirt and were usually off spending their remaining days fishing, which had been awesome when Cole had first signed up. All he had to do was sit there and wait for someone to come to him with a case. Cole hadn’t minded being the only person there in the beginning, but as time went by, the vast amount of free time had begun to drive him batty; there weren’t many actual legal cases in a town as small as Willow Creek. There was the occasional divorce, the odd neighborly spat that was resolved over homemade cookies before the ink dried on the file and once in a while, someone came in asking if they could use his phone. It was any wonder he made any money at all. Stan and Gabe paid him—thankfully—biweekly, or he’d never make ends meet, or help pay for the many number of sneakers Calla seemed to go through in a month.

When he’d gone to college to become a lawyer, he’d always pictured himself in a fancy top floor office with wall to wall windows and thousand dollar suits. That dream had nearly become a reality, then he learned about Calla and all that changed. And while he didn’t regret his decision, he couldn’t help wondering what his life would have been like if he had stayed on course, if he had gotten that junior position at Barkley and Boyd and moved into the city.

Maybe then, she wouldn’t have left him.

As quickly as the thoughts resurfaced, he squashed them. He had no right thinking that way. He had a beautiful little girl that he wouldn’t give up for anything. Thinking otherwise was a betrayal of the unconditional love she had for him. Plus, thinking what if did nobody any good. Beth was gone. She left him. There was nothing he could do about that.

With the all too familiar weight of grief, anger, and disappointment settling in the pit of his stomach, Cole finished his work. He closed up the office and made his way the two blocks to his apartment to shower and change. Autumn had fallen over Willow Creek and everything held the crisp scent of approaching winter. Several people waved to him in passing. They asked how he was, how Calla was, and if he’d heard anything about what was going on with the Porters. Cole had no answer to the latter. The Porters kept to themselves and he wasn’t the sort to care one way or another if they were having marital problems. Although, if they were, maybe it would finally give him some work.

At home in his two bedroom apartment, Cole showered and switched his navy blue suit for a pair of jeans and a sweater. He drew a light coat on and headed out to his car.

The old farmhouse Sloan had bought years ago looked nothing like Cole’s childhood memories of the place. It had been freshly repainted and the summer blooms that Lily religiously planted every summer had been dug up and the soil had been turned over for next year’s planting. There were toys strewn across the lawn, a bicycle was propped against the stairway, and one of the girls had drawn colorful people with chalk on the path to the front door. Cole climbed the steps and helped himself inside without knocking.

The beautiful sound of chaos greeted him first, followed by the warmth and the sweet smell of something rich and creamy. He shrugged out of his coat and snagged it on the hook marked Cole. His shoes went on the plastic mat and, in his sock clad feet, he padded into the sitting room.

The TV was blaring. A series of colorful ponies were running through an apple orchard. Calla sat on the floor, head bent over a coloring book, frantically rubbing a pink crayon down to a nub. Willa was on the sofa, mouth slightly gaping, as she watched whatever was taking place on the screen. Her hair, a shade darker than Calla’s, was in a messy ponytail that left tendrils framing her rosy cheeks. Her tiny feet twitched every so often, like she wanted to jump up and gallop along with the ponies on TV.

Cole smiled. “Hello darlings.”

Calla’s head jerked up first. Her face lit up. “Daddy!”

Pink crayon forgotten, she bolted across the room and threw herself at his midsection. It took Willa a second longer to wiggle off the sofa, but she followed her sister and latched on to Cole’s other side with an elated, Uncle Cole!

“How’s my two favorite girls?”

He scooped Willa up into his arms, took Calla by the hand and led both girls back to the sofa. He sat with Willa in his lap while Calla described the pink mess on her pages.

“Then they popped him with a needle and pink goo went everywhere,” she finished with flourish.

“That is very interesting.” He remarked carefully, still not sure why the butterfly had eaten all the pink flowers, or why anyone would pop him with a needle. “Where’s Mommy and Daddy, Will?”

Head resting on his shoulder, Willa pointed towards the kitchen. “Kissing.”

Cole rolled his eyes. “Of course they are.” He planted a smacking kiss to Willa’s nose before dumping the girl onto the sofa and getting to his feet. “I better go in there before they burn the food … again.”

Both girls giggled.

At the kitchen doorway, he paused and called, “I’m coming in! You better be dressed.”

There was a stretch of silence, followed by a series of hushed whispers, then Lily’s voice calling his name.

“Is it safe?” he asked.

“Of course it’s safe,” Sloan muttered. “The girls are awake.”

And yet, when Cole walked into the room, there was a dark flush on Lily’s face, her lips were wet and swollen and her clothes looked like they’d been pulled together in a rush. Sloan just looked irritated, which was normal whenever Cole interrupted their make out sessions.

“Get a room, you two,” he teased.

“This is a room.” Sloan answered as he always did. “How was work?”

Cole rolled his eyes. “Long. Tedious. Normal. You?”

Sloan shrugged his wide shoulders. “About the same.”

After the death of their mother, Sloan had taken it upon himself to buy out a dying moving company with whatever was left of the insurance money after he’d bought the house. While he didn’t rake in the big bucks, he made a good living, but moving wasn’t something Cole was ever good at. Hard, manual labor, sweating, and lifting and bending made him shudder. He was more of a sit and work type of person, which was why, when Sloan had offered him a place in his company, Cole had refused, to which he had a feeling Sloan was secretly relieved.

Spatula in hand, Lily ventured to the stove and began stirring whatever was boiling there. “Is no one going to ask how my day was?”

Cole dumped himself into one of the chairs at the table. “How was your day, Lil?”

She smiled. “It was fine. Thank you for asking.”

Sloan went over to possibly help. Cole wasn’t sure, but his hands found their way on Lily’s hips instead and the two forgot all about him as Sloan went on to nuzzle the curve of her neck.

“You know, you two really know how to bring a guy down,” he said, only half teasing. “I mean, not all of us have women we can freely grope, and no, that wasn’t a request to find me someone.”

With a giggle that had nothing to do with Cole’s statement, but the fact that Sloan had been nibbling on her ear, Lily pulled away from her husband and turned to face him.

“You need to find someone,” she told him. “There are tons of girls in town.”

Yes, but he didn’t want a ton of girls. He wanted one girl. Unfortunately for him, she didn’t want him.

“I’m done with girls,” he stated simply. “I’m swearing off them forever.”

Lily scowled at him. “That’s ridiculous. You can’t swear off women.”

“Sure I can. I already have a kid so I don’t even need to worry about someone not carrying on my lineage.”

The look on Lily’s face told him he was an idiot. “You are not serious. What about sex?”

Cole snorted. “Unlike you two who fuck like bunnies on crack every chance you get, I can wait, or if I really need to, I can take matters into my own hands, or I can—”

“Okay, oh my god, stop!” Lily covered her ears. “That is a disturbing visual. Thanks.”

Cole shrugged. “You asked.”

Shaking her head, she went back to stirring. “You need someone, Cole. You’re twenty-five years old. You can’t be alone for the rest of your life. I mean, yes, Beth left you, but that doesn’t mean you can just swear off women forever.”

“She didn’t just leave me, Lily,” he muttered, feeling his good mood literally drain out of him. “I asked her to marry me and she all but passed out, and it wasn’t out of joy. I honestly didn’t think a person could turn that shade of green.”

“Okay, so she’s not the marrying sort, but that doesn’t mean—”

“I don’t have anything to give anyone else, Lil. Everything I had, I gave her, and she never gave any of it back.”

Lily turned, her brown eyes unusually bright. “Oh Cole…”

He looked away. “I’m not going to put myself through that again.”

Thankfully, Lily knew when to drop a topic. Discussions about Beth were shoved back into the closet, possibly for another day, and the subject turned to the new batch of photos Lily’d taken earlier that morning. They talked about her small photography business that was mostly big online and the new picture Calla had drawn in school that was pinned to the fridge along with all the others. When it was time to eat, Cole helped set the table, got the girls to wash their hands, and joined his family in eating supper. Most of the conversation was kept up by Willa and Calla telling everyone about all the things they did that day. Cole didn’t know what it was, but he could sit there for hours and hear those two chatter on. He loved hearing their stories, no matter how big, or small, or horribly embellished they may have been.

After supper, he bundled the two up and drove them into town for ice cream. He made sure they took their time, knowing full well his brother and Lily would need at least an hour to finish whatever they’d started before he’d arrived.

Sure enough, the moment they stepped into the house—to which Cole made sure to make as much noise as possible—the two were still breathless, disheveled, and grinning like lunatics.

Cole shook his head at them. “You two need help.”

Lightly smacking his arm, Lily turned to the girls. “Time to wash up and then bed.”

Their groans filled the house as the three of them went through the motions of putting the girls to bed. Hair and teeth were brushed, pajamas were donned, and both crawled into Calla’s bed so Cole could read them a story.

Willa passed out first, her head on Cole’s abdomen, her tiny, four year old body twisted at an odd angle that couldn’t have been comfortable. Cole called for Sloan, doing his best not to be too loud. Sloan must have been in the bedroom across the hall; he appeared almost immediately and scooped Willa up into his arms. He carried her to her bed across the room and gently tucked her in. He smoothed her hair off her face and kissed her cheek before moving back to Calla’s bed.

“Good night, love,” he murmured, bending down and kissing her on the nose.

Calla wiggled deeper under her pink blankets. “Night, Uncle.” She turned sleepy eyes towards Cole. “Night, Daddy.”

Cole bent at the waist, slipped one arm around her and nuzzled the side of his daughter’s face. “Love you, baby. Goodnight.”

Sloan was gone when Cole slipped off the bed and moved to Willa’s bed. He kissed the side of her head, tucked the blankets more securely around her and left the room, shutting the door quietly behind him.

Lily and Sloan were in the living room, bathed solely by the warm, golden light of the lamp. The two were entwined in each other. Lily had her face tucked beneath Sloan’s chin as he moved them slowly to whatever music only the two of them could hear. He murmured something into the top of her head and she lifted her face to his. Her mouth moved, and even though Cole couldn’t hear the words, he knew what they were; love you, too.

Irritation that had nothing to do with them flared through him. His temper edged him towards the door, careful not to disturb them.

“Cole.” Lily’s voice caught him mid escape. “Are you leaving?”

Careful to keep his face impassive, Cole turned. “Yeah, I have work to finish for tomorrow.”

Such a lie, but they didn’t need to know that.

She broke away from his brother and moved towards him. Her arms lifted and anchored around his shoulders. She hugged him tight.

“Love you.”

He squeezed her back. “You too.”

He pulled away, gave Sloan a brief nod goodbye before turning on his heels and leaving the house.

Frigid night air greeted him, forcing him to zip up his coat all the way to his throat. His breath came out in a fan of white as he fished into his pockets for his keys. They jingled loudly in the silence. His hands shook as he wedged the key into the lock and threw himself into the crisp, cold leather. He grunted his displeasure as the chill seeped through his pants and froze his balls.

He had just turned onto the main road when his phone buzzed in his pocket. Shooting the numbers on his dashboard a glance, he frowned as he dug his phone out. With both eyes on the road, he hit talk and mashed the device against his ear.

“Hello?”

There was a moment of silence as though, by answering, he’d somehow surprised the other person. Then a soft, female voice filled his ears.

“Mr. McClain?”

Bemused, Cole nodded, even though the other person couldn’t see him. “Yes?”

There was another pause.

“Cole McClain?” the voice verified.

“Yes. Who is this?”

Something rustled in the background. It sounded like papers. Something else beeped noisily and a voice echoed through a loudspeaker. Cole recognized all those sounds from when his mother was in the hospital, just before she died. It was a sound that had haunted him for months before she died and even long after. It was the reason he never went to hospitals, why he couldn’t even watch a show with doctors. It was the sound of his own personal hell and it was filling all his senses.

“Who is this?” he asked again.

The woman returned after a full heartbeat. “This is Vancouver General Hospital. We have a patient who was admitted earlier today. You are listed as her emergency contact.”

His heart plummeted, falling like a chunk of ice into his writhing gut. Automatically, his mind reminded him that he just left Sloan and Lily. They were fine. The girls were fine. Nevertheless, his fingers tightened on the wheel.

Unable to think straight, let alone drive, Cole pulled onto the shoulder of the road, his entire body trembling uncontrollably. There was a strange metallic tang in his mouth and he couldn’t seem to catch his breath.

“Who … who is it?”

“Bethany Doan.”

Chapter Two ~ Beth

The doctors promised that the pain would eventually fade. They weren’t so sure about the scars. The burns, they told her, were extensive and odds were that there would be minor scarring.

Beth didn’t know what that meant. About ninety percent of her arms were mummified, along with her legs and her sides. How could she possibly walk away from that with only minor scarring? At least the fire hadn’t touched her face and had only singed parts of her hair; she could feel the ends crackle where they flaked off onto the flat hospital pillow. Yet, the worst part of it all was her inability to eat her green jello, and, while she had no real love for the stuff, she was starving. The thin slivers of turkey, gravy, and mashed potatoes they’d given her nearly six hours earlier were long gone and had barely scratched the surface of her hunger, and they refused to bring her anything else. One sour-faced nurse had actually told her to wait until breakfast, which would have been fine if the wait period hadn’t been in the double digits.

“Bastards,” she mumbled to the dark, quiet room, eyeing the tiny plastic cup.

The single, florescent bulb above her head flickered over the smooth, glossy surface, giving the taunting substance an almost ethereal glow. A plastic spoon lay next to it, a sick mockery of her disability. Her bandages, while each finger was individually wrapped, went from shoulder to fingertips, making movement nearly impossible. Picking up a spoon seemed like an infinitely unmanageable task when moving her arms at all pierced her through with unimaginable pain. So she sat there, having a silent showdown with her food, wondering if she could somehow bring it to her mouth with the powers of her mind.

The hospital was quiet. It hummed with the familiar echo of machines, the buzz of lights dying, and the occasional cough from somewhere down the hall. She was too used to that sound, albeit, it was usually broken by the wail of new born babies, but all hospital floors were blessed with the same brand of near silence in the wee hours of the morning. Four AM, to be exact.

The morphine the doctor had prescribed against her will had run out hours ago. The nice nurse, before her shift had ended, had smiled kindly and told her to just ring the front if she needed more. But Beth hadn’t. She wouldn’t. While it had served its purpose while she was too helpless to stop them, she wouldn’t willingly inject herself with the stuff. She had seen what it did to people who became too dependent on their numbing relief. She wouldn’t let it add her name to its list of victims.

So she sat in the still night, having a face-off with a cup of jello while the pain screamed through her. The skin beneath the bandages throbbed with a heat that made her want to forever sit submerged in a tub of ice water. A very large part of her wanted to call the nurse down with bags of ice, or cooling pads like the ones they’d used when she’d first come in to dull some of the throbbing. But she didn’t. Not because she was too tough to let pain hold her down, but because a part of her felt like she deserved it. While the fire hadn’t been her fault, everything about it screamed retribution for the things she’d done, things she would never forgive herself for.

Gingerly, she reclined, gritting her teeth against the chafe of tender skin against itchy fabric until she had her head on the pillow and her arms down straight at her sides. The jello was ignored.

She closed her eyes and willed her mind to overlook the discomfort and shut down for a few hours.

The dream started as it always did with him stroking her face with rough fingertips. The warmth of his skin felt substantially hot against the curve of her cheek. The air around him thrummed with the scent of sandalwood and soap. Clean. He always smelled so clean, and safe. It wasn’t surprising at all that he would be there, comforting her as he used to. It was also how Beth knew it was a dream, because those fingers hadn’t touched her in years. Too many years.

“Beth?” His low murmur washed over her, a calming balm over her injuries.

She whimpered, needing him to touch her more … everywhere.

Bits of crispy hair was brushed away. A palm rested over her cheek.

“Beth!”

Stop yelling! She wanted to snap at him. But something in the tone had changed. The vibration of it was crisper, louder, no longer the fuzzy echo that usually accompanied a dream.

Her eyelids fluttered open. The world swam a blinding white of spilled milk. The blur made her blink and squint as a dark shape hovered over her.

Dr. Patterson.

She thought of the resident on-call doctor before the haze of sleep could fully lift. She opened her mouth to tell him she was fine and to go away for a few more hours, when his features slowly swayed into place. Dominating blue eyes bore down at her from a face blessed with sharp cheekbones and a strong jaw. Hair that she remembered as mussed and unruly was sheered short, darkening the normally pale strands. Full, generous lips were set in a grim line that mirrored the concern reflecting in his eyes.

Beth’s breath caught. She tried to blink, but her mind feared the image would go away if she did. Part of her wondered if one of the nurses had drugged her up again. It was the only explanation why he would be there, standing over her hospital bed in rumpled clothes and a day’s worth of growth darkening his jaw.

“Cole?”

Something in his face softened. It wasn’t his eyes, but maybe the lines around them. His nostrils flared with his deep inhale.

“How are you?”

Beth tried to push up. The effort had her elbows grinding into the stiff mattress. The burn as tender skin tore beneath the bandages sent her back against the pillow with a cry of pain. The spot throbbed, a new and louder injury that refused to be muffled.

“What is it?”

Cole’s hands reached for her and she didn’t know what was worse, nearly getting burned to death, or the possibility of getting touched by him.

He didn’t touch her. His hands came close, mere inches, but they curled into fists instead and dropped down to his sides. Beth told herself the feeling deep in her chest was relief.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded through the tight clench of her teeth.

“The hospital called me,” he said, watching her. “I’m apparently your emergency contact.”

Beth mentally kicked herself.

It hadn’t occurred to her to change that after she left. It hadn’t occurred to her that she would need to; she had never been hospitalized for anything and the whole thing had been mostly as a precaution, something she’d scribbled down years ago when she filed her nursing forms. When she had switched from Willow Creek Memorial to Vancouver General, and they’d asked her if everything on her form was still correct, she had said yes, because she had completely forgotten that part.

“I’m sorry,” she said for lack of anything better. “They shouldn’t have done that. I’ll get them to take you off.”

He nodded, the motion slow and tense. Somehow it only fueled the pressure thickening the oxygen around them. Despite the reasonably normal size of the room, she felt suddenly claustrophobic and wished he would leave.

He remained, somber and filled with careful scrutiny. He seemed so focused, like he were trying to pull every thought from her head. The idea was unnerving, made more intimidating by the fact that there had been a time he could almost read her mind just by looking at her.

“Why did you come?” she blurted before she could hold the question back.

Nothing on his face changed, not a muscle. “They told me you were in the hospital,” he said, as though that explained everything. “What was I supposed to do?”

Not come, she thought to say.

She hefted herself up a second time, careful not to put any pressure on her arms when she did so. “You didn’t have to.”

“I know.”

Someone had taken away the table with her jello. It had been pushed to the wall next to the door, as far away from her as humanly possible. And there was a tray on it.

Food!

Her stomach moaned longingly. Memories of her hunger had not faded since the previous night. If anything, they seemed adamant and angry.

Cole shifted, reminding her he was still there. She jerked her gaze away from her breakfast to focus on the man moving away from the bed. For a split second, her heart plummeted when she realized he was headed for the door. Just as quickly, she scolded herself for caring—hadn’t she wanted him to leave? But her mental battle was momentarily white-flagged when he didn’t leave. Instead, he was pushing the table over to the bed.

Beth nearly whimpered in gratitude.

“Thank you!”

He inclined his head and watched as she struggled to remove the lid. The blisters on her fingers stretched the skin when she tried to move them.

Damn it!

With agile fingers, Cole lifted the lid and set it aside. Then he pushed away her table, ignored her weak gasp of protest and perched himself on the bed next to her hip.

Beth stiffened. Her eyes went wide with wonder and confusion as she watched him pluck up the tray and hold it against the flat of his palm. He used his free hand to puncture bits of egg on the end of the fork. Then the fork was brought to her mouth.

Her gaze flew up to his. He returned it calmly.

“Open,” he ordered. “Open!” he repeated a bit more forcefully when she continued to gawk at him.

Tentatively, her lips parted of their own volition and the fork slipped inside. Her mouth closed and it was drawn out, void of eggs. Something in the pits of his eyes pulsed. It was so quick, she almost missed it. The cold crumble of eggs passed her dry esophagus to tumble heedlessly to her stomach, untasted. The second helping was done in the same manner. Beth chewed and swallowed almost automatically, all the while, tumbling herself into his eyes. It was only when he gently smoothed a bit of egg off the corner of her mouth with the knuckle of one finger that she jolted out of her daze and remembered why she needed to keep her head around him.

She jerked back from his touch, the spot stinging worse than the injuries on her arms

“Why are you here?” she demanded a second time.

He seemed to have realized he’d done something wrong. His fork bearing hand dropped to his lap and he regarded the silver instrument with something akin to accusation.

“What did you expect I would do, Beth?” He raised his head and his blue eyes penetrated straight through her. “Nothing? Hang up the phone and stay home?”

So you drove six hours to see someone you haven’t seen in four years?

Instead she asked, “What does Cora think of you being here?”

His brows crinkled together, forming a deep groove between his eyes. “Cora? Why would—”

Dr. Patterson appeared in the doorway, her chart in his hands. The pale, morning light sparked off his bald spot before he raised his head. He smiled.

“Good morning!”

Cole rose off the bed, taking her breakfast with him as the doctor took his place at Beth’s bedside.

“How are you feeling?” he asked kindly.

Beth wanted to tell him confused, surprised, and sad, but she had a feeling he wasn’t referring to her emotional wellbeing.

“I’m fine,” she lied.

The doctor studied the clipboard in his hand. “No pain?”

“A little, but it’s mostly itchy.”

He nodded, raising his head. “That’s perfectly normal. Has anyone come to see you about the bandages?”

Beth shook her head.

He scribbled something down on the chart. “I’ll make sure a nurse comes in to help you. Unless…” He flicked the top of his pen and turned twinkling eyes towards Cole. “Your friend would like to do it?”

“Oh he’s not—”

“I’m not—”

Tension followed their automatic response and the doctor’s eyebrows went up. He rapped his pen on the clipboard and regarded them quizzically.

“I can do it if someone can bring me the cream,” Beth said finally.

The right side of the doctor’s mouth lifted into a grimace. “I’m afraid it’s a two person job. You’re not just doing one arm and your hands are burned too badly for you to wrap them up properly on your own.”

Cole took a step forward. The tray made a clanging sound when he set it down on the table.

“How badly?” he demanded.

The doctor blinked. “Well, the areas vary, but between first and second degree burns. It shouldn’t take too long to heal with proper care. It’s worse around her hands and wrists where she reached into the fire—”

Blue eyes shot like razor sharp daggers in Beth’s direction. “Why the hell would you reach into the fire?”

The doctor seemed startled by the degree of Cole’s outrage. His gray eyes widened and darted between them.

“I … I thought you knew…”

Cole folded his arms and Beth couldn’t help noticing just how much he’d filled out over the years. His lanky frame had expanded across the chest and along his arms where the fabric of his coat bulged around his biceps. Part of her wondered if he’d started working out, and for whose benefit that was.

“I knew there was a fire, but the nurse didn’t tell me anything else.” He told the doctor while never taking his sparking gaze off Beth. “Care to enlighten me?” This was said to Beth.

“It was nothing,” she muttered, not understanding why he cared.

If that was supposed to appease him, she was sorely mistaken. If anything, his features only seemed to darken further.

“Nothing doesn’t give you second degree burns!” he shot back. “What the hell did you do?”

Her own temper crackled to life. “How is that any of your business?”

He took a step forward. “You made it my business the minute you put me down as your emergency contact.”

She threw up her hands in exasperation—a big mistake. They struck her lap and she nearly blacked out as the pain momentarily paralyzed her. Her fingers screamed beneath the wrapping. The world swayed, flickered between black and color before she squeezed her eyes shut tight and doubled over, cradling her trembling hands closer to her as though she could shield them from the white hot spears of agonizing ache.

“Beth?” Cole reached her before the doctor could. But he didn’t touch her. “Do something!” he snarled at the other man, not that he had to.

The doctor was already skirting around the bed towards the door. “I’ll get the morphine!”

“No!” Beth struggled through every breath. “No morphine!”

“You’re in pain!” Cole snapped at her.

She shook her head wildly, brittle locks flying around her face. “No morphine. I’m okay.” She forced herself to straighten. “It was nothing.”

Cole looked like he was ready to punch a hole into the wall. “You’ve always been a stubborn, pigheaded woman, but goddamn it!”

She glared at him, but spoke to the doctor still standing in the doorway. “No morphine. I’ll be fine.”

Neither Cole, nor the doctor looked convinced, but neither pushed her. The doctor returned to the bed and began the process of checking her vitals. He tried to be cheerful, but it was hard to do when the other man in the room was filling the space with his roiling fury.

“I believe you’re well enough to go home,” he said carefully. “So long as there’s someone there who can help you.” He looked to Cole meaningfully. “You won’t have full function of your hands for a while and it’s crucial you keep them clean and properly wrapped.”

“Is there someone at home, Beth?”

The question was a double edged sword. She could say no and remain in the hospital, or she could say yes and lie just to save face. It was her pride that spoke.

“Yes.” She was careful to keep her gaze locked with the doctor and not the figure looming larger than life across the room. “There’s someone.”

The doctor smiled at her kindly and told her he would sign her release papers. She could go home within the hour. Then he left and Beth was alone with her demons, or demon as it were.

“I guess that’s everything,” Cole said after a long stretch of silence. “You seem to have it all under control.”

Beth nodded, studying her mummified hands. “Yeah.”

She felt rather than saw him move to the door.

He left without a word.

The cab ride home was a single shot down Twelfth Avenue.  Her squat little building seemed to loom suddenly amidst the houses. Its white walls gleamed in the sharp afternoon sun as Beth climbed out and stumbled her way inside.

The place still smelled of smoke, burnt plastic, and chemicals. She knew without having stepped into her apartment that all her worldly possessions would be embedded with the stench, possibly forever. But at least, unlike the other four suites that had been destroyed by the inferno that had run rampant through the building the night before, hers had been spared by sheer luck. The fire department had arrived just as the flames had started consuming the flat next to hers, the one that belonged to four year old Meggie Fletcher and her mother, Rosie.

Rosie was a nurse at the old retirement home eight blocks away. It was how she and Beth had bonded. Meggie was usually left at home with Rosie’s eighty year old grandmother while Rosie worked nights. Most nights, when Beth was home, she took Meggie; but that night, Beth had to work and Jean had been watching the girl. It had been some kind of miracle that propelled Beth to go home early.

It had been Beatrice, actually, Beth’s shift supervisor, but the timing was just too good not to think some holy intervention had taken place.

Beth had arrived just as people were screaming and leaving the building. Her first thought had immediately gone to Meggie; Jean often took her medication and passed out watching Jay Leno. Nothing short of a nuke ever woke her up and if that were the case, that little girl was still up there.

One frantic glance over the frightened faces crowding the lawn like disembodied spirits told her what she already knew: Meggie wasn’t there.

Dropping everything, Beth shoved her way past the mob pushing their way out. The foyer was already thick with the stench of smoke. People were coughing, some were crying, but they were all scared. No one tried to stop her when she bypassed the elevators and took the emergency staircase to the second floor.

The smoke was thicker here. Flames licked the corridor walls like hungry tongues, leaving black streaks in its wake. She couldn’t tell from there just how far the fire had spread through the walls, but she knew she needed to move fast.

Fishing into her pocket, she dug out her keys and flipped to the one Rosie had given her. Her hands shook. Her vision blurred behind the sharp sting of tears. She coughed and tried to keep her chin tucked against her chest like that could somehow protect her from inhaling.

“Meggie!”

The door gave easily once unlocked and Beth stumbled into the apartment. She slammed the door shut behind her, hoping that would keep the fire at bay long enough for her to find the little girl.

Jean was reclined in the velvet armchair, her breathing fast and erratic as half the apartment was devoured by a wall of flames.

“Jean!”

Torn between finding Meggie and waking the other woman, Beth did the only thing she could think of, she turned on her heels and bolted towards the back of the apartment, screaming for Meggie.

The apartment was laid out mostly like Beth’s, but with two extra rooms whereas Beth only had the one. She knew from memory that Jean’s bedroom came first, then Rosie’s. Meggie’s room was all the way at the back, a fact Rosie told her once was deliberate to protect the girl in case of a break in. Something told Beth Rosie hadn’t thought of fires.

“Meggie!”

She slammed into the door. Pain splintered up her shoulder, but that was nothing compared to the backlash of smoke that rose up and slammed into her like a demon rising from hell. The entire wall behind the bed was blackened. The pretty purple wallpaper was reduced to smears of char. The fire hadn’t passed through yet, but it would. Soon.

Coughing and gagging, Beth reared back. Her arm shot up to protect her face.

“Meggie! Where are you?”

For a moment, all she could hear was the sound of her own heartbeat and the shriek of fire alarms. Then, like the quietest mew of a kitten, she heard it. The sob.

Whirling on her heels, she pushed through the door across from Meggie’s room.

It was the wrong thing to do. The backdraft sent the flames lunging into Beth’s face. Her scream was suffocated by the fist of heat that slammed into her windpipe. She doubled over as the soft tissues of her esophagus were seared. The burn combined with the sharp sting of smoke nearly sent her to the floor. It was the soft cry of her name that propelled her up.

Tiny in her pink pajamas, Meggie looked up at her from the tub. Her fluffy white bunny was blackened, but as unharmed as she was. She was coughing. Her clothes were singed. Her cheeks smudged with tears and heat. She peered at Beth through the wall of flames that separated them, her blue eyes enormous.

“Beth!”

Straightening off the wall, Beth took a step forward, mind reeling. “It’s okay, baby. I’m right here. I’m coming. Just stay where you are, okay?”

Meggie nodded obediently.

Thinking quickly, Beth knew what needed to be done and prayed she was right.

“Meggie, turn the water on. The blue one,” she said, pointing as far as she could to the knob with the bright, blue rubber gripper. It was the only nozzle Meggie was ever allowed to touch.

“I’ll get wet!” Meggie protested.

Beth nodded. “That’s right. Go on. Turn it on.”

Uncertain, but scared, Meggie turned the nozzle and the shower burst to life, dosing her, soaking her. Her squeak was muffled, but Beth heard it.

“Just keep it turned on, okay?” she told the girl as her gaze swung over the room. She spotted the towel hanging off the rack. The corner had caught fire, but she snatched it up, smacked the flames out and threw it at Meggie. “Get that nice and wet and wrap it around yourself. Over your head, okay?”

Meggie did and sat in a small, wet huddle on the floor of the tub, waiting for Beth to save her. And Beth saw no other choice.

“Okay, now hold still, okay?”

Not waiting for a response this time, she took a deep, smoke filled breath and reached through the flames. Her hands closed around the girl as the fire claimed strips of her skin. She snarled through the pain, but gave her mind no chance to catch up as she hauled Meggie free, whipped her over the flames and staggered out of the bathroom with Meggie clasped to her chest.

“Okay?” she asked, never stopping as she sprinted to the front of the house where the fire had consumed one entire wall, including their path to the door.

Meggie’s head bobbed against Beth’s chin. Relived, Beth tugged the dripping towel more securely around the girl.

Jean was still in the armchair, still lost in her medication induced sleep. Every so often, her body would shudder around a cough, but otherwise, she was out. Beth growled deep in her raw throat.

Carefully, she set Meggie down, pulled the towel more tightly around her face and mouth and turned to the older woman.

“Jean! Jean, wake up!”

The woman slept on.

Desperate, terrified, and seeing splotches of black as her brain was deprived of oxygen, Beth did the only thing she could think of; she drew her hand back and smacked the woman with all the strength in her. The sharp sting blazed a white hot path of agony up her hand and arm, making the burned areas scream, nearly making Beth scream. But Jean bolted upright. Her gray eyes widened as the room came into focus. She cried out and lunged from her chair, much too fast for a woman brushing so close to a hundred. Her mouth opened as though about to speak, but Beth cut her off with a shake of her head.

“Stay with her!” she shouted over the roar of the fire.

Jean seemed to only then notice the tiny bundle standing quietly next to them. Her gnarled hands reached for the girl and she was drawn into her grandmother’s side.

Leaving them, Beth ran to the window. It was roughly fifteen feet to the soft incline of grass at the bottom. Further down towards the front of the building, she could make out the small cluster of people, but they were too far to call upon for help. It was up to her.

Dragging the window open, she popped the screen out. Then she ran around the room, grabbing cushions, pillows, and blankets and tossed them through, aiming them on top of each other the best she could. Someone must have noticed, because several people ran over.

“Arrange them!” she called down to them. “Hurry!”

There was a frenzy of motion as the cushions were laid out in a square followed by pillows and blankets. Some included their coats and whatever else they could find. Realizing it was the best she could do, Beth turned to the two watching her.

“Her first,” she said, pointing at Meggie.

Jean nodded and pushed Meggie over to her.

“No…” Meggie whined.

Beth grabbed her before she could back away too far. “It’s going to be okay. I’m going to be right behind you, okay?”

“No!” Meggie began to cry.

“Sorry, baby. You’ll thank me later.”

Scooping her up despite her thrashing and screaming, Beth marched with her to the window, took a deep breath, prayed to God she was doing the right thing and tossed.

Meggie’s scream shattered the night like the crack of a gun firing. Then there was silence as she struck the pile dead center, bounced once, then lay still. Beth’s lungs closed.

Oh God! Oh God!

A woman scrambled onto the mound, grabbed Meggie and wrenched the towel off her face. Meggie’s wide, tear filled eyes blinked up at her. A collective sigh of relief washed over the crowd.

“She’s okay!” the woman called up while dragging a frantic Meggie off the pile.

Nearly crippled with relief, Beth turned to the other woman. “Okay, you next.”

Jean shook her head. “You.”

Beth almost sobbed. “Not you too. I can’t pick you up!”

“You go,” Jean wheezed, her voice muffled behind the hand she had pressed over her mouth and nose.

“Get out the fucking window!” Beth snarled, having had enough.

It was harder getting Jean’s weight up on the window ledge. But the woman teetered a second before heaving herself out into the night. She hit the mound on her side and lay there a moment trying to catch her breath, and possibly assessing for damages. Those few seconds were enough for Beth’s lungs to shriek in panic. It was enough for her knees to buckle and send her crashing to the hardwood, gasping for air. Something struck her temple. The pain sparked the entire one side of her face. She blinked and found herself face down under the window. The room was a bright orange like the first splash of color against the morning sky. It even had a certain sort of beauty to it.

But just when she was about to succumb to her fate, there was a crash from somewhere across the room. At first, she assumed the ceiling was caving. Except that didn’t explain why a shadow was peeling through the fire and moving towards her. Then there was nothing until she woke up in the hospital cocooned in a level of pain that she didn’t think was possible. They had her hooked to an IV and oxygen tank. Her arms were wrapped in gauze and held down by ice packs. By far, it had been the scariest experience of her life, but she had survived.

Now she just had to find a way to get into her apartment without her keys, the ones she must have dropped at some point in her rush to get Meggie out of the building and that were no doubt lost forever.

Chapter Three ~ Cole

Cole got as far as the city limits before the guilt consumed him, restraining him from going any further. Images of Beth lying pale and hurt on that hospital bed tormented his every thought. They speared through him like knives, until the pain wrenching through him was nearly physical. In that moment, he didn’t give a shit that she’d broken his heart. He didn’t care that she had walked away and started a life without him. He loved her. He would always love her. That kind of love left no room for anything else.

His gaze flitted to the clock on his dashboard. It was after four. She would have been released from the hospital. She would be home. That was the direction he faced his car.

While he wasn’t sure what he would say when he got there, he had to make sure she was all right. It didn’t even matter that there was a possibility that another man might be there. Okay, it mattered. It mattered a lot. In fact, the very idea of another man touching her, being with her filled Cole with an anger that swallowed him whole. The sheer hatred he felt for this faceless person terrified him. But he would be civil. He would be the bigger man. He would not break his fist into this other man’s face. He wouldn’t.

He would try.

The apartment building sat in a low, three story crouch amidst a street full of houses. The white exterior was scarred a violent smear of black. Windows were shattered outward from the heat. Debris and a small mountain of cushions littered the lawn. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize this was where Beth had injured herself.

He walked to the door and peered at the panel. He knew which one was hers; her name was written in a neat script next to it. He traced it with his finger. It was such a small thing, yet it kicked him hard in the gut.

Get a grip!

Pulling his hand away, he took a step back. Then another. He was about to turn away, when the door opened and a small, blonde woman smiled at him.

“Is it not working again?” she asked.

Cole blinked. “Sorry?”

She gestured with a narrow chin towards the panel. “The intercom,” she explained. “It hasn’t been working very well since the fire. Are you here to see someone?”

“Beth Doan.” Her name poured out before he could think twice about it.

The woman’s smile brightened. “Is she a friend?”

A friend? The thought almost made him laugh.

“We go way back,” he said instead.

Nodding, she stepped out of his way. “She’s in apartment two-ten.”

Thanking her, he ducked around her before he could give in to his temptations and bolt. His feet carried him up the stairs to the second floor landing and the seemingly endless corridor looming long and narrow ahead.

The place reeked of a campfire. The walls were charred about halfway before the fire had been put out. Water squished beneath his boots as he started forward. The keys to his car jingled a nervous beat at his side. His gaze darted from door to door, counting down the numbers until he found himself facing hers. His palms dampened. His stomach writhed. He started to turn away.

A knock sounded. It was so unexpected, Cole jumped in surprise to find it was his hand rapping against the wood. He stared at it in horror. But it was too late to do anything now, except wait and pray to God it wasn’t a guy who answered. Cole wasn’t sure he could stand it.

His prayers were answered.

The door wasn’t opened by a man. It was opened by Beth … clad in nothing but miles of beautiful, flushed skin and a towel. Her generous breasts swelled up over the top where her bandaged arm pushed them up while holding the scrap of fabric in place around her. They teased him, reminding him just how the nipples were the exact shade of pink rose petals and how sweet they tasted when he had them in his mouth. But more than anything, he remembered how perfectly they fit in the palm of his hands. How perfectly she fit under him with her legs around his ribs and her walls a tight fist around his cock. Those were memories he had sworn never to revisit. Yet one glance at her in a towel and his pants were several sizes too small and he was cutting a hole in his cheek trying to stifle the groan lodged in his throat.

“Cole?”

Her low murmur drew his gaze away from her chest to brush over her full, pouty mouth and he was shot through with the memory of them wet and swollen from his kisses, or ravaged by her own teeth as he slid his way down her hot little body to the place between her sprawled thighs.

Shit this was a bad idea!

“What are you doing here?” she was asking him when his mind finally crawled out of places it had no right to venture again.

He stuffed five fingers through his hair. “I came to see if you were okay.” He shot her an accusatory glare. “Do you normally open the door in a towel?”

She met his frown with one of her own. “I was waiting for someone.”

The boyfriend, Cole thought with a sour taste in his mouth. Who else would she be waiting for in a towel?

He took a step back. “I won’t keep you then.”

“Cole—”

Whatever she was about to say was abruptly cut short by the shrill of the phone somewhere deep inside her apartment. She muttered a curse and darted a quick glance over her shoulder, then back at him.

“Come in,” she said hastily before darting out of sight.

Cole hesitated, but curiosity got the better of him. His need to see her life without him propelled him in.

The foyer opened straight into the sitting area and the calming hues of powder blue and soft cream. There was a kitchen immediately on his right and a small alcove on his left that held a glass, clutter bowl perched on a small table and an ornate mirror behind that. Further in, the polished hardwood became a plush carpet that spanned the length of the sitting area. The cream color of it matched the sofa, loveseat, and armchair that sat in a circle around a glass coffee table. Sunlight spilled through the single wall of windows and sparked off framed photos of Beth with her friends. One that sat on an end table caught his eye and Cole moved to it without thinking. He was only barely aware of Beth’s murmuring voice drifting from the other side of the long counter separating the kitchen from the rest of the room. The person was on speaker phone, but he couldn’t hear what they were talking about, and it didn’t matter.

The frame was simple, black with a fine, gold trim. Inside, behind the stubbornly polished glass, Calla sat in her pretty pink dress, her blonde curls pinned at the sides by little sparkly butterfly clips. The fake background of trees made her look like a fairy princess. But that wasn’t what puzzled him. It was the fact that this was a school photo. It had only been taken a month ago. And there were others, scattered throughout the place of Calla and Willa. There was even one of Sloan, Lily, and the girls, the same one Lily had given Cole a year ago. What the hell were they doing there?

“Lily sent them to me.” Beth stood behind him. He hadn’t heard her getting off the phone.

Cole stared at his daughter’s smiling face a moment longer before gingerly setting it back down.

It made sense. Beth and Lily had always been close, and just because she wanted nothing to do with him, didn’t mean that friendship went away.

“I like talking to the girls,” she murmured quietly. “I miss them sometimes, and Lily.”

What about me? He wanted to ask.

Instead, he moved away from her to wander the rest of the room. There were several framed photos on the wall, photos he recognized as Lily’s pieces. He stopped when he got to the open doorway of her bedroom. He paused to stare at the unmade bed. The walls were a soft purple, offsetting the pale gold of her comforter and the tan brown of her sleigh bed. He couldn’t help wondering if she’d had other men in that bed. If they had held her down as they rammed inside her, making her wail and beg for more. The possibility of it had him turning away and he found her watching him, studying him the way he was studying her new life, like every inch of it was a clue to the person she had become.

“How did you find me?” she asked after a moment.

A week after she had walked out of his life, a card had arrived in the mail for one Bethany Doan. It declared that her mail was to be redirected from his address to one in Vancouver. Cole had stared at the thing for so long that the address had permanently burned into the back of his eyelids.

“Change of address card,” he mumbled, feeling only slightly ashamed.

She looked neither upset nor surprised, simply pensive. “Oh.”

“Are you happy here?” he went on, needing to know.

Rather than answer him, Beth nibbled on her lip and turned towards the kitchen. “Are you hungry, or thirsty?”

“Beth…”

“Yes.” She gave her head a shake, her shoulders a little too tense. “Yes.”

God he wanted nothing more than to slip up behind her and pull her into his arms like he used to. He wanted to bury his face into the curve of her neck and just stand there with her pulse beating against his lips. The world had always felt like a safer, better place when he did.

But those days were over and gone. She wasn’t his anymore.

“I should go,” he decided at last.

Her quiet inhale filled the silence as she turned slowly to face him. Her eyes were weary, like the whole process of standing there was exhausting her.

“Thank you for coming,” she said. “You didn’t have to, but you did and I appreciate that.”

The prim and proper way she said it made him want to grab her and shake her. It infuriated him that she would ever think he wouldn’t. That he could ever know she was hurt and not run to her. How could she not know how utterly lost he was when it came to her?

I love you, damn it! He wanted to scream at her. I will always love you.

But like the coward that he was, he gave an inclination of his head and started for the door. His gut knotted tighter with every step he took away from her. The voice in his head growled in frustration, screaming at him that he should never have come. The pain had nearly been gone. He had worked so hard to perfect his mask, like her leaving hadn’t shattered everything in him. Four years of pretending to be happy destroyed in a single day and all because she had buried herself so deep within the folds of his soul that dislodging her would severe the thread keeping him alive. She had managed to enslave him so completely that the thought of not loving her anymore devastated him. Meanwhile, she had moved on without a single shred of effort.

His pride hurt. His head hurt. But more than both, his heart hurt.

Desperate to escape, Cole wrenched open the door and nearly ran into the pint-sized woman standing on the other side. Enormous brown eyes blinked behind bright, red glasses. Lips the same shade of crimson as her dress, hair and shoes parted into a surprised O. Clutched to her hand, a girl of four also peered up at him with eyes the vast blue of the ocean.

“Rosie!” Beth hurried around the sofa to join Cole at the door.

Rosie’s eyes went from Beth still in her towel to Cole and back again. “Uh, we can come back if…”

“No!” Cole and Beth said in unison.

“Cole was just on his way out,” Beth added.

“Cole?” Rosie’s head tipped to the side, reminding Cole of a very bright bird. His name seemed to finally register something in her mind, because her eyes widened behind her glasses. “Cole!”

He wasn’t sure he liked the entertained way she said his name.

“Rosie, come inside,” Beth prompted quickly. “Hey, Meggie.”

The little girl waved, but said nothing.

“She’s still adjusting,” Rosie hissed in a low whisper as she led herself and the girl past Cole towards the sitting area.

Beth clicked her tongue, her eyes a velvety green filled with sympathy. “I have some cookies in the cupboard if you like?”

The girl shook her head.

Rosie gave Beth a look that said very clearly, see?

Beth sighed.  “I have everything ready in the bathroom.”

Rosie waved her comment aside with a flick of her red tipped fingers. “No rush. I’m staying with Robert and his … friend, and the less time I have to spend there, the better. I swear, the only reason he even offered was because of Meggie, which I know I should be grateful about, but seriously, we were married for five years. Doesn’t that count for something?”

Beth touched her friend’s arm with a bandaged hand. “I’m sorry, sweetie.”

Rosie shrugged. “Whatever. So, anyway, I’m going to set this little pipsqueak up somewhere and come help you.”

Smiling, Beth moved away from her. “Thanks, Rosie. It won’t take long.”

She hurried towards the bedroom without a single glance in Cole’s direction. It was only after she had left that Cole realize he had been dismissed.

Bottling back his hurt and annoyance, he turned to leave.

“So you’re Cole.” The words were said with an accusing sort of drawl that had him pausing.

“You’re Rosie,” he countered, turning to the woman.

She nodded once. “Yup, and that’s Meggie. We live … lived, next door.”

It was Cole’s turn to nod slowly. “I’m sorry about what happened.”

Rosie eyed him a moment before turning her attention on the girl still clinging to her hand. “You know where Beth keeps your things, don’t you, Megs?” At the bob of the girl’s head, Rosie relinquished her hold. “Why don’t you go play? Mom needs a word with Mr. Cole.”

Meggie examined him with eyes much too mature for her age before turning her back and wandering off towards the windows and the tiny cabinet tucked away in the corner. She sat and opened a drawer, but pulled nothing out.

“Is she okay?” Cole wondered.

Rosie exhaled loudly. “She hasn’t been the same since the fire. I’m just so thankful Beth was there, or…” She broke off with a hitch in her voice.

Cole frowned. “Beth?”

“Yeah,” Rosie looked at him. “Meggie was trapped in the bathroom. Beth jumped into the fire to save my baby.” Her shiny, bright eyes went back to the little girl. “I owe her everything.”

That explained the burns and why they were so severe around her hands.

“She almost died doing it, too,” Rosie went on. “She got Meggie and my mom out through the window, but got caught herself. The place was entirely up in flames by the time the firefighters got to her.”

Cole’s heart gave a jolt of panic at the words. His insides iced over at the thought of being called for her body instead. The very idea of a world without Beth sent the room spinning and his vision blurring. His ears rang as the coppery tang of bile rose up into his throat. He stared at the little girl, disgusted with himself for hating her; it would have been her fault if Beth had died in that fire.

But she didn’t, the voice in his head reminded him. Beth was alive. She was only in the other room.

Rosie was still speaking, oblivious to the torment she was inflicting upon him.

“I just feel so bad that I have to leave her like this after everything she’s done.”

Cole blinked, bringing his mind back into focus. “Leave her?”

Rosie shrugged. “It’s not intentional or anything. Robert, my ex, lives in Maple Ridge. We’re staying with him until our place is repaired, which could be months. The commute is just too far for me to make every day to see her.”

“Is there someone else?” he wondered.

“I suppose,” Rosie murmured. “But I doubt she’ll call any of them. She’s so stubborn.”

That was his Beth.

“What about her boyfriend?”

Rosie blinked. “Her boyfriend? What boyfriend?” She snorted what could have passed for a laugh. “Does it look like she has a boyfriend?” She waved a hand in the direction of all the photographs scattered throughout the room.

It hadn’t occurred to him earlier, but there were no pictures of Beth with another guy. Not one. And somehow, that knowledge lifted the weight crushing his chest.

“What about you?” Rosie prompted. “Where’s your girlfriend?”

Gaze fixed on the open frame of Beth’s bedroom, Cole answered almost absentmindedly. “I don’t have one.”

“Really?”

He wasn’t given the chance to react to the interested purr when Beth returned, still clad in her towel and bandages. She gave a visible start at the sight of him.

“Cole?”

Feeling like an intruder, he opened his mouth.

“I thought you were leaving,” she said when he could think of nothing to say.

“That’s my fault,” Rosie piped in. “We were chatting.”

“Oh.” Beth murmured before turning her attention to her friend. “Ready?”

“Should you be getting your arms wet?” Cole blurted without thinking.

Beth motioned towards Rosie. “That’s why I asked Rosie here to help me.” A small smile curled the right corner of her mouth. “I smell like a chimney after Christmas.”

That tiny gesture pulled on every one of his heart strings. It made him want to go to her and trace that smile with his fingers, then his mouth.

He quickly looked away. “I should—”

“Would you mind staying?” Rosie blurted. “It’s just that I don’t like leaving Meggie alone after what happened. I would really appreciate it.” She looked towards Beth, missing or ignoring the look of stunned horror on her face. Cole guessed the latter. “You don’t mind, do you?”

Beth’s mouth opened and shut several times in rapid successions, but nothing came out. Finally, she just snapped it shut and shook her head.

Rosie beamed. “Thank you!”

She hurried off to where her daughter sat, idly picking at the items inside the drawer but making no effort to draw anything out.

Cole watched her a second before his gaze drifted to the brunette across the room. He wished to God she would put a damn robe on already. Seeing so much of her was doing nothing to help his control. Instead, it made him wonder if it was deliberate. If she was intentionally toying with him, because there was no way she couldn’t sense just how much danger she was in.

His gaze roamed up, tracing every soft curve until he had her trapped. The look in her eyes was helpless, and the animal in him moaned with pleasure.

She dropped her gaze first.

“Okay, ready?” Rosie was beside her then.

Beth spared him one fleeting glance before allowing her friend to lead her back into the bedroom.

Cole stayed by the door a minute longer, studying the spot she’d occupied and wondered what the hell he was doing. He should leave. All sense told him that that was the logical thing to do, the safe thing. But another part of him, the one he had fought so hard to suppress and ignore, thrashed anxiously with the need to stay. Now that she was so close once more, the idea of leaving again made his insides hurt.

Across the room, Meggie pulled out a Barbie with bright purple hair and a sparkly pink dress. She held it in her hands and simply stared at it as though willing it to speak.

Cole abandoned his spot and moved carefully over to her. He crouched down and crossed his legs.

“Hey.” He offered her his best grin. “What’s her name?”

Meggie peered at him. Her features sorrowful and broken. Cole ached to do something, to fix it. But all he could do was sit there and wait for her to answer. He thought of Willa and how shy she was. The only person she really opened up to was Calla. But this little girl had no one.

“It’s going to be okay,” he told her quietly.

Meggie went back to staring at her doll, as mute as the plastic in her hands.

Cole was still sitting on the floor next to Meggie when Rosie emerged, flush-faced and slightly out of breath. Crimson strands had escaped the ponytail and clung to her temples. Her mascara had run from the steam and smudged beneath her eyes. She smiled when she spotted them.

“How are things going?” she asked.

“Just chilling,” Cole answered, trying to sound nonchalant.

“Yeah?” Rosie walked around to kneel at her daughter’s other side. “Did you guys have fun?”

Meggie kept her head down and remained quiet.

Cole met Rosie’s eyes over the child’s head. Neither said it, but they both knew something was horribly wrong.

“How about a sandwich?” Rosie said with too much false cheerfulness. “Beth’s just finishing up so she’ll be out in a bit.”

“I could use a sandwich,” Cole said, eyeing Meggie. “How about you? PB and J?”

Meggie never moved.

“Peanut butter and jam is Meggie’s favorite!” Rosie chimed in with enthusiasm. “I think I might be able to find some bananas, too.”

When Meggie continued to remain mute, they got to their feet, left the girl where she was sitting and moved towards the kitchen.

Rosie skirted the counter, hands wringing anxiously. “I keep telling myself she’ll get over it in a few days, but what if she doesn’t?”

“She will,” Cole assured her. “But it’s only been a few hours so give her some time.”

“How much time?” Rosie’s brown eyes met his. “What if it’s too much time, or not enough time?”

Cole had no idea.

“Maybe take her to a doctor if you feel so concerned. They’ll know better.”

Rosie nodded, red mouth pulled down at the corners. “I just wish I’d been here. I feel like this is my fault.”

Cole arched an eyebrow. “Did you set the fire?”

She blinked. “What?”

His shoulders rolled in a shrug. “Well, it’s not your fault unless you set the fire.”

“But I should have been here!” A tear slipped down her cheek and she quickly turned away to wipe it. “I’m sorry.” She sniffled. “I don’t even know you and I’m blubbering all over you.”

“I don’t mind.” And he didn’t. Maybe it was the lawyer in him, but he had a knack for listening to other people’s problems.

Rosie said nothing as she rummaged around the kitchen as though she’d done it a million times. Jars of jam and peanut butter were lined up on the counter next to a loaf of bread. She unearthed a butter knife and began putting sandwiches together.

It was around that time when Beth emerged, clad in shorts and a camisole. Her arms were once more enclosed in gauze, but she looked alert and almost cheerful, even when she spotted him.

“What are we making?” she asked, pulling herself up on the stool next to Cole and peering over the counter at the piece of bread Rosie was slathering with jam. “Ooo, PB and J!” She glanced over to where Meggie sat with her hunched little back to them. “I think I might just eat all of them myself.”

Meggie didn’t seem to care.

Rosie sighed.

“I’m sorry, Rosie.” Beth turned to the other woman. “This is my fault.”

“How?” Rosie muttered. “You saved her life.”

“I also threw her out a window,” Beth mumbled. “If anything, I’m probably the cause of this.”

“Hey!” The butter knife was pointed at Beth, the look on Rosie’s face fierce. “She’s alive because of you.” She dropped her gaze and smacked the knife down on the counter. “She’ll be okay. I’ll make sure of it.” She pulled in a deep breath and forced a smile. “So what are you planning to do?”

Beth’s shoulders dropped, her expression becoming agitated. “Rosie…”

“Well, you can at least ask.”

“Ask what?” Cole chimed in.

“Nothing!” Beth snapped, glaring at her friend.

“Damn it, Beth!” Rosie shot back. “I swear, there are days I want to stab you in your sleep!”

The threat must have been a normal one, because Beth never reacted to it, at least not the way most normal people would.

“I’m still not doing it.”

“Fine.” Rosie tipped her chin up. “I’ll ask him.”

“Rosie, don’t you—”

But Rosie had already turned her focus on Cole and the words were thrown into the universe.

“Beth needs someone to help take care of her.” She folded her arms the way a teacher would when giving a lecture. “Meggie and I won’t be around and there is no one else. Do you think you could do it?”

“Damn it, Rosie!” Beth hissed, and was ignored.

While the question was an obvious one, it scared the shit out of him.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea…”

He saw the flicker of hurt in Beth’s eyes, but it was quickly masked by her sharp laugh. “See?” Beth waved a hand towards Cole. “I told you.”

Rosie wasn’t as accepting of his cowardice. “Look, you just need to help her with her wraps. The doctor said it would only be a few days.”

“He can’t, Rosie!” Beth’s snarl almost made Cole jump. In her corner, Meggie squeaked and dropped her doll. Beth sighed and lowered her voice. “He has a job and a life back in Willow Creek. He has a daughter. He can’t just pack up and stay here with me just so he can change my bandages.”

Rosie seemed to think about this a moment and Cole was a little afraid of how loudly the wheels in her head seemed to be churning.

“What if you go with him?” Rosie ignored Cole’s sputter of protest and Beth’s outright shout of outrage. “Why not?” she demanded. “You have three weeks off to heal. You don’t have any kids and your apartment smells like burnt dog shit. I don’t even think that’s safe to breathe in, never mind actually live in. You need a place to relax and get better. Plus, weren’t you telling me just the other day how you miss those little girls, what were their names?”

“Willa and Calla,” Beth muttered grudgingly.

“Yeah.” Rosie smiled. “This gives you a chance to see them and I don’t have to worry about you.”

Beth shook her head. “That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Going six hours away just to have someone bandage my arms is stupid. I can just as easily get one of the girls at the hospital—”

Rosie folded her arms and raised a finely penciled eyebrow. “You’re going to go to the hospital twice a day, every day to wait for someone to find the time to do that for you? What about washing your hair and helping you get dressed? Be the sensible person I know you are, Bethy.”

“I—”

“I’ll do it.”

The words left him without a single shred of control. It hummed through the sudden silence like a gun misfiring in the darkness. Rosie and Beth both peered at him with varying degrees of disbelief and approval.

“What?”

Cole gave himself no time to reconsider, no time to retract his statement. He rose off the stool and faced her with all the determination coursing through him.

“Come home with me.”

Chapter Four ~ Beth

The man is insane, was Beth’s first thought. Or he was playing a really twisted game. Maybe he was being sarcastic. Yet his features gave nothing away. They were so solemn, so calm, like he took helpless women home to care for every day.

Maybe he did.

“You’re not serious.”

Cole returned her disbelief with a mild tilt of his head and the narrowed squint of his eyes. “Don’t I look serious?”

“No!” she blurted. “You look…” Beautiful. Gorgeous. Breathtaking. “Like you’ve lost your damn mind,” she finished hurriedly. “We can’t…”

“We can and we will.” Everything from his rigid posture to the fire behind his blue eyes warned her not to argue. “Go pack your things, or I will.”

Beth felt her heart hammering like a caged animal in her chest, frightened and desperate to escape the walls closing in all around her.

“You can’t force me to go!”

He seemed to consider her words carefully before speaking again.

“You’re right,” he mused. “I have never forced you to do anything you didn’t want to do. I won’t force you now. If you want to stay, so be it.”

He dug into his pocket and drew out his phone.

Beth exchanged bemused glances with Rosie. The other woman shrugged.

“Who are you calling?” Beth asked.

Cole punched in a number and brought the phone to his ear. His blue eyes met hers.

“Work,” he said simply. “I’m taking a temporary leave of absence.”

“What?” Beth sputtered.

He jerked one shoulder. “If you won’t come with me, then I’ll stay here with you.”

“Stop!” She darted around the kitchen counter and tried to grab the phone from him. “Cole, please.”

“I’m not leaving you here alone, Beth,” he said, pulling out of her reach. “I might not be the person you want to see, or be around, but I’m not leaving you.”

He didn’t say it and nothing in his face implied it was what he meant, but she felt the jab straight between her ribs. It infuriated her. The whole matter pissed her off. There was just so much happening and he wasn’t giving her the chance to wrap her head around any of it, which was nothing like the man she remembered. Cole had always valued and respected every decision she made. He never strong-armed her into doing anything she didn’t want. But the man in front of her now was a complete stranger, everything from his features to his attitude.

“Going anywhere with you isn’t a good idea,” she said slowly, careful to keep her voice controlled and level. It was the voice she used on the frantic women who came into the maternity ward, frazzled and panicked about having their babies. “You know it’s a bad idea.”

Rather than see the very sensible picture in her logic, Cole stared at her as though she’d just flicked him on the nose. But when he spoke, he wasn’t talking to her.

“Hey Stan. It’s Cole. There’s been an emergency and I won’t be able to come in to work for a little while. Let me know when you get this.”

Still, without taking his eyes off her, he lowered the phone and disconnected. Then he punched in a new number and the phone was back at his ear.

“Now who are you calling?” she demanded, exasperated.

“Hey Lil,” he said without answering Beth. “Yeah, everything’s fine. Yeah, she’s here. She’s fine. Has some burns. I’ll let her know. No, I’m going to stay here for a while, help out if I can. Yeah, tell her I’ll call her every night before bed. No, that would be really great. Thanks. Okay, I’ll see you then.” This time, when he hung up, the phone was tucked into his pocket. “That’s everyone.”

Beth simply stared at him. Her heart cracked in her chest, each one loud enough to make her head hurt.

“You’re not staying here!” she burst out at last, her frustrations and panic finally suffocating her.

“Fine,” he said with a quick nod of his head. “I’ll find a hotel somewhere nearby.”

“Jesus Christ!” she swore viciously. “Why are you doing this? Have you not done enough already?”

He seemed to grow with the question. His already tall frame expanded so it was as though he were taking over the entire room. The anger crackled behind his eyes, bright and violent. He glowered at her with the same fury and betrayal she felt clawing through her.

“And what exactly have I ever done to you?” he bit out savagely. “I wasn’t the one who walked away, Beth. That was you.”

It boiled on the tip of her tongue to throw his past mistakes back in his face, to hurt him as much as he’d hurt her. But humiliation became a thick past, lodging the words in her throat. Her rage and pain vibrated through her, making her tremble as she struggled beneath decision.

“Get out.” Those two simple words tore like razor blades being vomited up.

He scoffed, disgust shimmering in his darkened eyes. “Whatever.”

With a shake of his head, he left. The door slamming resounded like a thunderclap through the small apartment. It punched her in the chest as surely as if he’d used his fist. She nearly staggered under the blow. Her breath whooshed out, harsh and brittle.

“Beth?” Rosie’s hands were gentle against the small of her back, guiding her to the sofa.

They sat. The room suddenly seemed so bleak, like someone had turned the wattage down on a bright, sunny afternoon. The abrupt withdrawal of heat sent a carousel of chills swirling through her and Rosie pulled the throw Beth kept over the back of the sofa around her shoulders.

“I’m sorry, sweetie,” Rosie murmured. “This is my fault. I shouldn’t have pushed.”

Beth shook her head. “No, this is me. I…” She broke off, her tears too persistent to ignore. “I just need to lie down.”

Not waiting for Rosie to stop her, Beth rose, patted Meggie on the head and shuffled, throw and all into the bedroom. She shut the door behind her and let the tears fall.

Rosie and Meggie were gone when Beth finally emerged. She hadn’t been sleeping when Rosie had rapped lightly on her door, telling her they were heading out. She had been staring absently and unblinkingly at the looming space across her bed, wondering why it had been empty for so long. It wasn’t as though she hadn’t had options. Yet, every guy who had ever asked her out seemed so bleak in comparison to the love she’d had for Cole. Just looking at them had broken her heart, because she had known she would never be as happy has she had been. Part of her blamed her own stupidity for the emptiness, but it hadn’t been only her. He had broken a piece of her that, ironically, he had helped mend. That too was her foolishness. She had given him the power to break her and he had. She let her guard down, let him climb over her walls and now she stood amongst the rubble, cold, empty and alone.

What did that say about her?

Outside the window, through the lace curtains, the world dimmed. Inside, silence was an ice-cased blanket draped over her. Her apartment, her place of safety and sanctuary, felt endless and cold. And nothing felt familiar. The very air felt alien.

Get a grip! The voice in her head hissed. You got over him once. You can do it again.

But had she? Had she really? Would it hurt as badly as it did if she had moved on? The last four years felt like she’d been on standstill, going through the motions of life, but not really being part of it. It hadn’t really dawned on her until he had walked back into her life. Now it was all she could think about.

After circling her apartment for the eighth time, Beth stopped. She glanced at the fridge and wondered if there was anything she could eat that didn’t require the use of her hands. She knew she had fruit. She could make a smoothie. But she had to open the fridge door, then the crisper. Then bring down the blender, a cup, and find a straw. That was a lot of hand requirement.

She sighed.

Maybe she’d just starve. It seemed like the easier of the two options.

Resigned, she dropped down onto the sofa and stared at the crystal bowl filled with colorful stones, trying not to think of food. The setting sun shimmered across their smooth surface and glinted off the curve of the dish itself. The stones reminded her of grapes.

Her stomach whimpered.

“Damn it!”

Mumbling, she got to her feet and shuffled reluctantly to the fridge. She eyed the handle, stalling while bolting down her courage; small pain for sustenance. It was a fair trade, right?

She took a gulping breath.

Reached.

A knock on the front door saved her.

Curious, she craned her neck towards the door, mind flipping through all the possibilities and drew a blank. Aside from Rosie and the occasional greeting in passing, she didn’t really know the other people in the building. Not well enough to anticipate surprise visits.

Forgetting about food and the fridge, she edged towards the foyer. Her gaze flittered to the lock. She rolled her eyes; Rosie hadn’t locked it.

“Who is it?” she called out.

There was a split second of hesitation, then, “It’s me.”

Her heart rocketed even as her palms turned sweaty. She stared at the door with a new kind of dread.

“It’s open,” her mouth said while her brain continued to deliberate just how quickly she could lock the door before he could come in.

It opened before she could decide. Cole’s lean figure eased into her apartment, still clad in the same jeans and sweater as earlier. But it was the two large, square boxes steaming in his hands that perked Beth’s attention.

The mouthwatering scent of melted cheese, fried meat and baked dough made her want to sob. It was the last shred of her dignity that kept her from lunging at him.

“I thought you might be hungry.” The one corner of his mouth lifted. “I guess I was right.”

Beth quickly checked her chin. No drool.

He snickered as he moved deeper into the space towards the sitting area. Beth followed like an obedient puppy hoping for a bite.

“I brought two,” he said as he set the boxes down on the coffee table. “I wasn’t sure if your friend was still here.”

Beth shook her head, hypnotized by the food. “They left.”

Nodding, Cole peeled back the lid and Beth all but swooned. Extra-large, fully loaded, just the way she liked it. He pried one slice away from the others. Gooey cheese clung and stretched. He turned towards her.

“Maybe we should get plates,” he decided.

Beth felt her head gave a sharp jerk from side to side. “Don’t need a plate.”

“It’s pretty loaded, you could drop pieces onto the carpet.”

“It’ll come out.”

He hissed contemplatively through his teeth. “It’s tomato sauce. It stains.”

“I’ll buy another fucking carpet. Give me the damn pizza!” she snapped, her hunger overcoming her pride.

It was only when she tore her gaze away from the delicious morsel he was holding inches away from her to peer into his face that she noticed his grin.

“Asshole!” she grumbled, feeling her own mouth twitch.

Still smirking, he held it out, only to jerk it away when she reached for it. Thinking he was toying with her again, she started to tell him off.

“Open.”

Startled, Beth blinked. But her mouth opened automatically. The slice was placed on her bottom lip and her teeth sunk into the sea of vegetables, meat and sauce. The tangy flavor exploded across her tongue. Her stomach moaned its pleasure. Her eyes closed and she whimpered.

“So good!”

Something feather light brushed over her bottom lip and her eyes flew open. She watched as he wiped away a smudge of sauce off his thumb onto his jeans. She started to tell him he was going to wreck his pants, but the pizza was back and any concern for his wardrobe was forgotten.

“I can feed myself,” she said after she’d demolished three slices.

“I know,” he murmured. “But I like how you eat.”

Embarrassed, Beth chuckled nervously. “How do I eat?”

“Like you’re having incredible sex.”

The single bite she’d taken lodged in her throat. It cut off her sharp intake of air. She coughed as a swell of molten heat climbed up her throat to flood her face. She turned away from him and stumbled her way to the kitchen.

Cole was there, turning the faucet on and filling a glass with water. Then he had one hand cupping the back of her head while resting the cup gingerly to her lips with the other. She swallowed greedily before the morsel dislodged and she could breathe again. The cup was taken away and set aside.

“Okay?”

Breathing hard, Beth nodded.

“I’m sorry.”

It was only when his quiet murmur whispered over her burning cheeks like a cool breeze that she became aware of his closeness, of his hand stroking her hair, his chest brushing against hers. She was aware of his scent twisting through the heat pulsing off him and swirling around her, and the hand resting lightly on her hip. It was so much like how it used to be that for a moment, the last four years felt like a nightmare, one she had finally awakened from and was back in his arms. So lost in the delusion, she nearly closed that speck of space and nuzzled his throat. But commonsense prevailed.

She pulled away.

Without allowing herself the chance to change her mind, she hurried back to the living room and the pizza boxes. Her hands shook as she used the back to close the lids.

“I didn’t think you were coming back.” Despite her attempts to remain cool, her voice wavered.

“I wasn’t going to.” Maybe it was her imagination, but she could have sworn his voice was about as unsteady as hers. “I started to drive back.” He paused to chuckle humorlessly. “I’m beginning to feel like I live on that road.”

“Why did you turn back?”

She heard him move away from the sink and circle around the counter.

“I got hungry,” he confessed. “Thought maybe you were hungry, too.”

Ignoring the flip-flop of her heart in her chest, Beth dodged his approach by moving to the window. The sky was a flawless stroke of dark blue, bleeding into a crisp black that spilled inky shadows across the world below. Lights had begun to pop to life below, splashing the sidewalks with halos of pale yellow. A girl strolled beneath the one under Beth’s window. Her golden mane caught the light and shimmered. For a moment, just a second, Beth thought it was Lily. But the girl cast quick glances up and down the street before jogging across. And there was nothing left to distract her from the man taking up all the air in her apartment.

“That’s a long way to come back to deliver pizza.”

His reflection in the glass paused at the coffee table. He seemed to hover there a moment, considering something before folding himself onto the sofa.

“I figured your friend would be leaving soon, if she hadn’t already.” His head lowered to study the tight clasp of his hands dangling between his knees. “You’d be alone.”

There was nothing left to say. It was hilarious because they hadn’t seen each other in four years, one would think there would be something, yet the silence was a noose tightening around the room. Beth’s heart cracked with a viciousness that should have been concerning. It was the palpitation of someone who couldn’t breathe and panic had set in. Why wouldn’t he go away?

“Beth?”

She hadn’t realized she’d been gasping until he was there, holding her against him, holding her up.

“Air,” she choked out.

“Okay, hold on.”

Without giving her a chance to ask him what he was doing, he scooped her up effortlessly into his arms and marched with purpose to the door. In seconds, they were clambering down the stairs and out the front doors of the apartment building into the crisp night air.

Beth almost laughed, would have, if she hadn’t been greedily sucking every ounce of oxygen into her lungs.

“You could have opened a window,” she said at long last. “You can also put me down now.”

He was walking with long, casual strides down Twelfth with her still clasped to his chest.

“You don’t have shoes on.”

She hadn’t realized that. But that was the least of her problems. Her desire to breathe seemed like such a stupid thing now when she was trapped in his arms with no way to escape. That close, there was no room for anything else, except to huddle rigid against the wide berth of his chest and count the sharp spikes of his lashes, the handful of freckles across his regal nose that he hadn’t outgrown and listening to his slow, even breaths.

How was he not panting?

His jaw was dark with growth, darker than it had been that morning. The stubble circled his full, generous mouth and Beth couldn’t stop herself from staring. His mouth was the most beautiful part of him. In the wee hours of the morning while he still slept, she would lay beside him and study that mouth. She would run her fingers over the curves and marvel at how soft they were.

“Are you cold?”

She hadn’t realized she’d shivered until she was being placed gently down on a bus bench. His jacket was shrugged off his wide frame and gingerly folded around her shoulders. The sweltering heat of his body clung to the fabric and burned her skin. His scent mashed with hers and she knew she would never get it off. It had taken months before he had faded off her skin, off her things after she left.

His knee popped as he crouched in front of her. His hands were ten strips of red hot iron pressing into her knees and she hissed low in her throat.

“Okay?”

The night hadn’t erased his perfect profile. If anything, his eyes were a magnetic blue that compelled her to stare into them forever and his hair glistened under the streetlamp. Why couldn’t he have gotten fat and ugly?

“I don’t think I can do this, Cole,” she murmured. “It’s just too hard having you here after … after everything that happened.”

“It’s not easy for me either,” he replied. “But we have a history. We had something that was … that I thought was special. I can’t just forget that. Forget you.”

“I didn’t forget,” she said. “But I’m trying to move on.”

There was sadness echoing in the depths of his eyes, and even when he cocked his head to the side and regarded her with a half-smile, it was still there.

“How’s that working out for you?”

Beth swallowed. “I’m trying.”

His shoulders lifted and fell in a slow breath. He raised a hand and gently brushed away a strand of hair that had blown into her face and caught the corner of her mouth. His fingers skimmed her cheek and she almost moaned.

“This doesn’t have to mean anything.” He let his fingers slide away, taking their warmth with them. “Two friends helping each other out. Once you’re healed enough to do things on your own again, I’ll leave.”

In the cavity of her chest, her heart cracked a fraction.

“That could be weeks,” she murmured despite the pain.

Cole nodded. “Which is why I’m hoping you’ll reconsider coming back to Willow Creek with me. I haven’t been away from Calla for this long since finishing college.”

She started to shake her head. “Where will I stay?”

“You can stay with me,” he answered before she could finish. “I have a small two bedroom apartment. I’m using one as an office, but you’re welcome to my room for the time being. I’m not there much, so you’ll have the place to yourself mostly. When you’re healed, I’ll drive you home.”

“And that’s it?”

He shrugged. “I guess.”

It wasn’t the route she would have willingly taken. But if there was anything Beth was good at, it was survival, and in that moment when her hands were useless to the point where she couldn’t even feed herself, she knew this was her only option.

“Okay.”

Chapter Five ~ Cole

It shouldn’t have made him so happy seeing her in the passenger’s side of his car. But it did. For a few minutes, he could actually pretend they were in college again, driving down to see Lily, Sloan, and Calla. The only difference was that she wasn’t laughing, or talking. She wasn’t telling him about her crazy professors, or the insane homework assignments she had to finish. She wasn’t humming along with the radio, or even telling him he drove like he was being chased by cops.

Instead, she sat somber in the seat next to him, watching as miles of trees and hills raced passed. Neither had said anything since that morning when he had driven up to her house. Her bags had been packed and waiting by the foot of her bed, unzipped.

“I can’t zip it!” she’d told him, infuriation vibrating through her words.

He had done it for her, hoisted the bags up and took them down to the car. Then he’d gone back up to help her change her wraps. She was waiting on the bed for him, her things set neatly next to her. She had somehow pulled on a sweater and sweats over the shorts and camisole Rosie had helped her into the night before. He figured the bagginess of the outfits had made the task of dressing simpler, but he didn’t ask. Part of him had been relieved not to have to strip her.

Cole had burned himself enough times to know what a burn mark looked like, yet even he hadn’t been prepared for the violence her torn flesh invoked in him. Her skin was a jagged mess of blistered tissue. Her hands were torn and a shade of red that was angry and enflamed. His gut wrenched with horror and fear, and a small dose of relief. If this was all, as bad as it was, it could have been worse. He could have lost her forever.

“Do they hurt?” he had asked, attempting to keep his voice calm.

She had shaken her head, but there was pain in her eyes when he dabbed cream over the wounds and wrapped them back up. Even his best efforts not to hurt her caused her to flinch. Every moan and whimper she fought to hold back slashed at him. It was a struggle not to bring her hands to his lips and kiss them. To kiss her.

“Are you hungry?” he asked her as a sign zipped past announcing the next exit and a Tim Horton’s.

Beth shook her head. “No.”

“You should eat something,” he said. “We never stopped for breakfast.”

“I’m not hungry,” she murmured in the same listless tone.

“What’s wrong, Beth?”

She said nothing.

“I’m here to help you,” he pressed. “I can’t do that if you don’t tell me—”

“I didn’t sleep last night,” she said, cutting him off. “My hands were throbbing.”

Cole frowned. “Didn’t the doctor give you something for the pain?”

She went back to not speaking.

He sighed. “You need to take them, Beth.”

“I don’t take pills.”

He knew that and he knew why.

“This is different,” he stressed. “You won’t get better if—”

“If what?” She turned her head to him. “If I feel the pain?”

Cole sighed, the sound ringing with his own exasperation. “What kind of nurse refuses to take medication? I just don’t understand that.”

“The kind that doesn’t want to be dependent on drugs,” she shot back at him. “I’ve seen what it can do to people.”

“Yeah, but not if you take it when you’re supposed to.”

She shook her head and turned her face back towards the window. “That’s how it always starts.”

Her past was the cause of all her insecurities and fears. He knew that. He knew her mother had been addicted to prescription medication after her father had left them. He knew later on, she had upped to harder drugs until it had eventually killed her. But it didn’t seem to matter to Beth how important it was to take medication, because she never would. Not even aspirin. When they had first started dating, Cole had worked so hard to get her to trust him, to make her see that he loved her no matter what, that whatever happened before was in the past. It made no difference. There were some things even love couldn’t change.

“Do they hurt now?” he asked.

She looked down at her hands lying palms up in her lap. “A little.”

He was considering making her take one of the pills. He knew he was stronger than her. He knew she wouldn’t be able to stop him if he forced her. But he also knew she would never forgive him.

“Are you taking your antibiotics at least?” he asked, as he scanned the road ahead for what he needed.

She hesitated a split second before she nodded.

Cole narrowed his eyes. “Beth…”

“I am!” she snapped. “I’m not stupid, just cautious.”

He didn’t push her again. He’d seen what he was looking for.

Carefully, he turned the wheel and slid into a free parking spot in front of a gas station. Beth frowned, but didn’t ask as he left the engine running and climbed out of the car. The temperature had dropped, a sure sign that winter was approaching quickly. He gritted his teeth and hurried to the store.

A teenage boy of roughly eighteen stood behind the counter. He bobbed his head in greeting when Cole ducked inside. Neither spoke as Cole moved to the freezers in the back.

Beth had her head back, her eyes closed when he returned. She gave a start when he knocked lightly on her window before yanking the door open. He set his items down on the floor and reached for the zipper of his coat.

“Lift your hands,” he instructed.

Brows drawn in confusion, Beth raised her hands. Cole quickly shrugged out of his coat and folded it into her lap. Then he gingerly took her by the wrists and set them palms down on top.

“What are you—?”

Rather than answer, Cole grabbed the first bag. He folded the handles up and over around the small pack of ice until it was a neat bundle and set it gently over the back of her hand. He did the same with her other hand.

“There.” He pulled back slightly. “That should help a little.”

He raised his head and was startled to find her already watching him, studying him with those cat-like green eyes. There was contemplation on her face, a narrowness of her eyes that suggests she’s not really certain what to make of him. But beneath that, hidden under layers upon layers of doubt, uncertainty, and pain, there was something that made his breath catch.

“Thank you,” she whispered at last.

Damn it, baby, I’d fucking do anything for you! He wanted to snarl at her, to shake her until she saw that.

Instead, he inclined his head and pulled back. Gravel crunched beneath his feet as he made his way around the car to his side. Neither spoke for the remainder of the drive. Not until they broke through Willow Creek and came to a rolling stop in front of his apartment.

“You moved,” Beth murmured, peering through the windshield at the three story building.

“Yeah,” was all he could think to say, because telling her being in their place for the last three years without her had been like being in hell, slowly roasting alive. He also didn’t tell her that he had left everything behind, except his clothes. That everything in his apartment was new and untainted by the memories of her touch. She would find out soon enough.

Unlike the homey arrangement of her apartment, his was simple. Basic. The walls were red bricks and the floor hardwood. The only splashes of colors were the pictures the girls had colored and were pinned everywhere. His furniture was simple, worn, but comfortable. There were books, papers, and the occasional piece of clothing strewn throughout the place, but it was reasonably clean.

“It’s nice.” She said quietly. She scanned the walls. “Do you still have the painting of the blue bird?”

The blue bird had been one of the most ridiculous paintings of some bird type thing anyone had ever seen. But she’d seen it in the window of the pawn shop across the street the morning they’d moved into their apartment together and had instantly fallen in love with it. She had brought it home and hung it over the fireplace. It had been the first item to get brought into their home.

Cole didn’t have a fireplace in his apartment. He didn’t have the blue bird.

Rather than answer her, he hauled her things across the room towards the narrow hallway in the back and the three sets of doors.

“The bathroom is through there.” He motioned with a jerk of his head towards the door at the very end of the hall. “My office.” He gestured to the door on his left. “The bedroom.”

He kicked open the door on the right and trudged through. He set the bag down on the bed to save her from bending down and quickly scooped up the discarded bits of clothes he’d left lying around. Beth was in the doorway when he turned to her, arms laden with dirty laundry.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “I wasn’t expecting company.”

He stuffed the bundle into the hamper and quickly examined the room for any boxers he might have forgotten. Satisfied there was nothing else, he looked her way and was caught off guard by the ghost of something excruciatingly painful reflecting behind her eyes.

“Beth?”

Her gaze shifted away from the bed to him. Her lips twitched in what was probably meant to be a smile. Instead it trembled and fell flat.

“Everything’s different,” she murmured with broken enthusiasm.

Cole said nothing.

“It’s nice,” she whispered, taking a tiny step deeper into the room.

Guilt twisted his insides like spaghetti on a fork. The pain crippled his words. He didn’t know how to apologize when he didn’t know what he was apologizing for. It was becoming impossible to remember she had left him. Didn’t he have a right to move on?

Avoiding her eyes, Cole moved to step around her and escape. “I’m going to call Lily and let her know we’re back.”

She didn’t stop him.

Cole stalked into the kitchen and leaned against the counter. His hand shook when he raised it to cover his face.

This was a place he had built to forget her. Now she was there, destroying him all over again.

He made roast chicken pasta salad for supper. The apartment was quiet despite there being two people present. Beth had stayed in the backroom for most of the afternoon. He assumed she was either resting, or keeping out of his way. He didn’t try drawing her out. He wasn’t ready to face her there in his space. Not yet.

He was in the process of dumping the freshly cooked pasta into the bowl of ingredients when the phone jingled. He dug into his pocket and fished the thing out.

“Hello?” He mashed it between his ear and shoulder while shaking the last of the pasta into the bowl.

“Hey!” Lily’s cheerful voice filled his ear. “What are you doing?”

He set the pasta pot aside. “Making supper. What are you doing?”

“I was just about to hang your daughter upside down by her ankles from the ceiling fan.”

Cole made a humming sound. “Again? What did she do this time?”

“She told Willa that drinking a cupful of hot sauce would give her super powers.”

His eyebrows went up. “A whole cupful? That seems excessive.”

“Cole!”

Biting back his snicker, he cleared his throat. “You’re right. She’s a terrible child. We should trade her in.” He couldn’t see it, but he could feel her hot glare through the phone. “Is Willa okay?”

Lily sighed. “Yes, she’s fine. Thank God Sloan caught her before she could actually do it. He’s upstairs with Calla now, talking to her about not tricking her sister like that.”

“Especially not with hot sauce,” Cole mumbled, tracking down a wooden spoon. “That stuff’s expensive.”

There was amusement in her voice now when she spoke. “You know, she’s just like her father. Remember the time you put vinegar in Sloan’s Sprite?”

Cole burst out laughing at the memory. “Aw, his face was priceless. And what do you mean you? I recall you holding the Sprite bottle while I poured.”

“I don’t recall that.”

“Of course not.”

Now even she was laughing.

“So, how are things going over there?”

Spoon in hand, Cole shot a glance towards the hallway and the closed door leading into his bedroom.

“Okay,” he mumbled for lack of anything better.

“You guys okay? Do you need anything?”

A bigger apartment with separate sections. But he didn’t say as much.

“No, I think we’re okay. Probably going to eat and get some sleep. I have to work in the morning.”

There was a pause in which Cole could have sworn he could hear her ravaging her bottom lip. Her concern was a palpable force oozing through the phone.

“It’s fine, Lil,” he said before she could speak.

“I know,” she lied horribly. “I just worry about you. I know how hard it was for you last time…”

“It won’t be like last time,” he mumbled. “This is only until her hands heal. Then I’m taking her home. That’s it.”

“Cole…”

“What was I supposed to do?” he said a little sharper than he’d intended. “Leave her there with no way to take care of herself?” He willed his temper to calm down. “It’s fine.”

Her sigh echoed between them.

“You know I love both of you, I just don’t want to see either of you getting hurt again.”

“I won’t, because I know better this time.”

He heard a shout in the background, then the sound of piercing shrieks and giggles. Lily sighed again, but it was light and hid a slight laughter.

“I think the talking to has ended. I better go finish up on supper. Call me later, okay?”

Promising that he would, he disconnected the line and set his phone down. The spoon sunk into the creamy mixture and he was about to stir when a movement caught the corner of his eye. Having lived alone for so long, there was a quick moment of surprise before he remembered why there was someone else in his home.

She stepped lightly into the room, still clad in her sweats. The sleeves covered her bandaged arms all the way to the knuckles of her hands. She offered him a smile that looked forced and painful.

“Hey.”

He gave her a nod and went back to finishing up supper.

“You learned to cook,” she realized with a slight grin. “No more microwavable dinners, huh?

Cole shrugged. “I had to eat.”

He knew he was being curt, even rude, and it had been his idea for her to be there, but he hadn’t thought just how hard it would be. Seeing her there, with him, in the same place, it was a reminder of everything they’d once had. Everything she had just walked away from for no reason. It infuriated him. Not just at her, but at himself for being so stupid.

From his peripheral, he saw her shift away, back towards the bedroom and he inwardly cursed.

“Beth.” He raised his head and forced himself to look into her face. “I’m sorry.” He set the spoon aside and pressed his palms down flat on either side of the bowl. “I wasn’t expecting this to be so hard.”

He expected her to get annoyed by his indecision, by his rapid flip of emotions, but she gave a resigned sigh and nodded.

“I know.” She mashed her lips together. “Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea.”

It was a way out. It wasn’t too late. He could take her home, get her out of his life again, and continue where he’d left off. He could do it. He would certainly try.

“No,” he said more to himself then her. “We just need to adjust. It’ll take some time, but we can do it.”

He turned away from her and reached for the cupboard. He drew down bowls. She was still standing in the same spot when he divvied up the pasta. He slid one bowl over to her and motioned for her to take the stool on the other side of the counter.

She wavered, her apprehension a thick coil wound tightly around her. He could see her thinking, the wheels grinding behind her eyes. Part of him almost hoped she would be the strong one to put her foot down and demand he take her back.

But it turned out that she was as weak as he was.

She sat.

Cole released the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and it wasn’t out of relief. Not entirely.

“How’s your hands?” He took his time retrieving a fork from the cutlery drawer.

“They’re okay.”

The utensils rattled when he slammed the drawer shut. He walked around the counter to her side and claimed the stool next to hers. His fingers closed around the bowl and he dragged it the rest of the way to him.

“How many times did the doctor say you needed to change them?”

“Twice a day,” she murmured.

He nodded. “We’ll change them after your shower, before bed.”

For someone who knew her routine like his own, it hadn’t really clicked until that moment that he was in charge of bathing her. The realization struck him simultaneously like a quick, double jab that left him temporarily winded.

“I can do the shower myself.” She must have seen the, oh fuck on his face.

It was a relief, but he also knew she was lying. How could she possibly scrub all that thick, glorious hair when she couldn’t even bend her fingers enough to grip a spoon?

“We’ll figure it out,” was all he was willing to give her. “Open.”

He fed her first, then, while she strolled around the sitting area, he polished off his bowl and dumped both into the sink.

“How long have you been here?” she asked while he doused their dirty dishes with hot water.

Cole didn’t glance up, unable to meet her eye when he answered. “A year.”

“What made you move?”

The fact that I waited three years for you to come back, and you didn’t. And that place was suffocating me.

“Rent’s cheaper,” he lied.

“I remember passing by this place on my way to the hospital,” she mused. “Never been inside though.”

He said nothing while concentrating with a little too much focus on scrubbing the dishes clean and putting them away. He ran a cloth over the counters and rinsed the inside of the sink. It was the most cleaning he’d ever done at once. Normally, he didn’t even wash his supper dishes until the next day, simply because he would take his supper into the office and forget his dishes there until he needed something, or ran out of spoons. But the mindless task helped calm him.

“We probably shouldn’t submerge your hands,” he mumbled after a minute, coming to terms that ignoring the elephant in the room wasn’t going to make it go away. “I can draw you a bath and…” wash you. Touch your naked skin. Somehow the rest of that sentence seemed to lodge itself in his throat.

It clearly wouldn’t be the first time he’d seen her naked. He’d more than seen her naked. He’d touched, kissed, and licked every inch of her at some point or other. He’d held her, hot and damp with sweat as he drove them both over a very steep cliff into a whirlpool of colors. He knew her body better than he knew his own. In all reality, he should be immune to it, yet the prospect drowned him in a wave of lust.

“I don’t really feel like having a … a bath tonight.” Her voice quivered. “I’m actually kind of tired. But I could use some help with my teeth.”

Relief and disappointment tangled together and Cole shoved both aside.

He nodded and followed her to the bedroom. Her suitcase sat where he had placed it on the foot of her bed. He carried it for her to the dresser and set it down on top and pried it open. The flower printed toiletry bag was tucked in the corner as it always was. He pulled it free and motioned for her to follow him into the bathroom.

She stood with her hip against the counter while he ran the soft bristles of the toothbrush around inside her mouth. When she was satisfied her teeth were properly clean, he held a cup of water to her mouth and stepped back as she rinsed and spat.

“Okay?”

Straightening, Beth nodded. “Yes.”

He grabbed a towel off the handlebar and lightly dabbed at her mouth and chin. That close, he could smell the peppermint on her breath. It made him anxious to lean in and taste her, to slide his tongue over the smooth surface of her teeth and delve deep into the hot crevice of her mouth.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“Welcome.” He grabbed his own toothbrush. “Is there anything else you need?”

She shook her head. “Just to change my bandages and I need to take these off.” She tugged on her sweater. “It shouldn’t be too hard.”

Setting his brush down, Cole grabbed the little box of bandages off the back of the toilet. The process was a whole lot simpler the second time around. It was hard to strip her without letting his hands shake.

Gingerly, he wrapped his hands around the hem of her sweater and hoisted the material gently over her head and down her arms. He reached for her sweats next, hooking his fingers into the waistband and tugging them free. Both were done quickly, methodically, without giving himself a chance to really register the act. He didn’t even look at her once she was clad in her shorts and camisole.

“Better?”

She seemed to hesitate before answering. “Yes.”

Still avoiding her eyes, he turned back to the sink.

She was gone when he finished assaulting his gums. The bedroom door was partially shut and he figured she’d gone to bed. Grateful for the escape, he took it and locked himself up in his cluttered little office.

The room was smaller than the bedroom, but it had enough space for a metal desk, a swiveling chair, a trio of filing cabinets and a futon. There was already a blanket and pillow heaped on top from the countless number of nights he’d spent there when Willa and Calla slept over on weekends and took over his bed. It wasn’t the most comfortable pieces of furniture, but it did the trick most nights.

That night, he kicked off his shoes, chucked off his pants and top and crawled under the blankets without bothering with anything else. His mind and body were, for the first time, in complete agreement—both were too exhausted to give a flying fuck about anything, except getting some sleep.

It was the stench of burning toast that jarred him awake after what felt like mere minutes. For one horrific second, he wondered if the stress was finally giving him a stroke when the fire alarms shrilled to life.

Mind still lost between sleep and reality, he tumbled off the futon. The blankets formed a noose around his ankle, hindering his attempts to regain his footing. Half hopping, half stumbling, he threw himself at the door and out.

Black smoke formed a heavy fog across the ceiling. It thickened the air, making it impossible to breathe. Certain that the apartment was on fire, He slipped and slid his way down the hall, shouting Beth’s name.

She stood in the kitchen, frantically waving a dish rag in the air the way motorsport marshals waved their flags at a race. The sink was running, drowning his toaster, yet the thing continued to billow black smoke into the air.

“What…?”

Beth turned at the sound of his voice, her expression one of absolute guilt and horror. “I am so sorry!”

Bemused, but semi-conscious of the fact that there was no fire, Cole ran to the windows and began yanking them open one by one until the late autumn chill filled the apartment and the smoke curled out into the cloudy morning. Moving quickly across the room, he grabbed a chair and dragged it under the blaring fire alarm. Climbing up, he yanked the device down and tore out the batteries, catapulting them into a blissful calm that was broken solely by the rush of water.

He hopped down and faced the only other person in the room.

“What happened?” he demanded, dropping the fire alarm down onto the counter.

Rag still in her hands, Beth flinched. “I was making toast?”

He glanced down at the ruined machine in the sink and raised an eyebrow. “Was there a bomb inside the toaster?”

She smacked the faucet off with her forearm. “I must not have checked the dial,” she confessed. “I put the bread in and went to read a book and the next thing I knew, there was smoke everywhere and the alarms were going off.” She raised her green eyes up to his, her face twisted in a sheepish grimace. “I will get you another toaster.”

Cole rubbed the tips of his fingers over his brow, more to try and erase the headache brewing behind his temples than anything else.

“What time is it?”

Her hesitation spoke before she did. “Five?”

Of course it was, because waking up at a normal hour was just asking too much.

“Okay, house rules.” He raised his head and pointed a finger at her. “You are not allowed in the kitchen. Apparently, you still haven’t learned how to cook.”

“I can cook!” she protested.

Cole gave her a dry glower. “My toaster would disagree.”

“Well, who sets the damn temperature so high? It was at like ten.”

“People who like their toast a little crispy,” he shot back. “Also, people who pay attention not to burn the house down.”

“I was right there.” She waved a bandaged hand towards the sofa. “I wasn’t expecting your toaster to burst into flames.”

Cole was no longer listening. His attention had been caught by her hands.

In two quick strides, he was around the counter and right in front of her. He took her hands gently by the wrists and turned them over. The bandages had been frayed, blackened and singed around the edges as though she’d burned her hands all over again.

“Jesus Christ, woman!” he swore loudly.

Without waiting for her to comment, he scooped her into his arms and marched with her to the sofa.

“I can walk!” she muttered at him grudgingly.

“You can’t be trusted to do anything!” he retorted sharply as he set her down on the cushion and knelt at her feet. “Look at what you did to your hands.”

“The toaster was on fire,” she said. “Your apartment would have—”

“I don’t give a shit about the apartment!” he shot back, hurriedly unwinding the ruined gauze while still being careful not to hurt her. “Are you hurt?”

She shook her head. “I think the wraps got the worst of it.”

“Yeah? You think so?” He shot her a venomous glower. “And what if the fucking things had caught fire, huh? Then what?”

Her lips pinched together, not in anger, but in realization. Something akin to fear shimmered in her eyes and Cole mentally kicked himself.

He softened his tone. “Just … be careful, okay?”

She gave a barely perceptible nod.

With a sigh, he bent his head and examined her palms. The skin was still red, still slightly swollen and blistered, but they were wounds from before. They weren’t new.

“I think you’re okay,” he murmured, resisting the urge to run a finger over the heel and down the center; the injuries still looked so angry. “We should clean and rewrap them though before they’re infected.”

He raised his head and found himself caught in the shiny surface of her gaze. He only then noticed she was still in her sleep shorts and a light pink camisole. Her feet were bare, the nails a powder blue. Her knees were inches from the bare expensive of his abdomen. In the chaos of the morning, he hadn’t even realized he was clad only in his boxers and socks. Their near undress sent a crackle of fire coursing through him. It made him think of sliding his hands under her knees and parting them to accommodate his hips. He’d spread her open wide, push away her shorts, her panties and…

“Cole.”

Jerking back from the daydream, Cole blinked. He shook his head to clear it of the insanity and focus on the woman watching him with the same hungry eyes. The pink flush in her cheeks and the innocent part of her lips stirred the beast inside him to a new level of frenzy. Her skin was warm where he still cradled her hands in his palms. The material of his boxers stretched to accommodate the painful growth of his erection and he wondered if she could see it. She certainly couldn’t miss it.

“I’ll get the bandages,” he blurted before he could do something he’d regret later.

Her throat muscles bobbed. “I … I left them in the washroom.”

With a nod that he understood, Cole shot to his feet and stalked in the direction of the bathroom. He paused once to scoop up his pants from the office floor and yank them on before making his way to the last room.

The second he was inside, the need was impossible to ignore. His hand was slamming the door shut and locking it before he could give himself time to think. The denim was soft from too many years of wear and slipped comfortably around his knees. His feet parted on either side of the toilet, one hand braced against the wall behind it while the other moved to ease the four years of frustration throbbing like an open wound between his legs. Cole liked to think he was a patient, attentive lover who always put his partner first, but with the exception of his first time with Lily, Beth was the only woman he’d ever been with. Even after four years, hopes of her return followed by avoidance of women kept him from finding another.

He came quickly and without a single shred of satisfaction. Hot come sprayed the inside of the bowl in ropes and floated through the water before he smacked down the handle and flushed it all away. He watched the water drain and rise with a deep sense of disgust.

Was that what his life had been resorted to? A hasty jerk off in the bathroom while the object of his lust sat waiting on his couch? He needed a damn woman. He needed a hot, yielding body bowing beneath him as he drove into it again and again relentlessly. Four years was a long time not to fuck someone, especially when he and Beth could have given Sloan and Lily a run for their money.

Their hunger had been insatiable, wild and dangerous. It had been carnal. Maybe that was why he never bothered to find someone else, because he knew another woman would be like his feeble attempts at masturbation, unsatisfying.

No. The woman he wanted to lay open wide and pound into mercilessly was in the next room and self-preservation refused to allow him the risk.

Chapter Six ~ Beth

What are you doing here, Beth? The little voice was relentless in its question, screaming it over and over again inside her head until she wanted to jam a spike into her ear to make it stop. But it was right. What the hell was she doing? Surviving starvation and dying in her apartment smelling of BO seemed like such a small price to pay compared to the mental anguish of being with a man who made her insides liquefy. Maybe she was a closet masochist. Somehow the more painful the punishment, the more she craved it.

Cole returned with the plastic box filled with her ointment and wraps. Beth straightened as he slid around the sofa to perch on the corner of the coffee table directly in front of her. His knees were drawn far apart to cradle hers between them. He’d pulled on jeans, but remained topless and she couldn’t help wondering if that was deliberate. If so, it was just mean. How was she supposed to focus when all she could see was the hard grooves and valleys of his torso, the way the gray autumn light filtered through the windows and spilled like liquid silver over the wide berth of his shoulders? He still wasn’t as big or broad as Sloan, but his chest was firm, the muscles taut and perfectly indented in all the important places, like the square cuts of his breasts and the deep depressions of his abdomen. For a lawyer, he hadn’t lost his athletic physique, which raised the question: did he work out?

“Beth?”

Blinking rapidly like an owl awakening for a night of hunting, Beth stiffened. She fixed her gaze on his face and found him already watching her, waiting.

“Sorry?”

“I asked if you were sure you don’t want a bath first before I put the new bandages on.”

She was dying for a bath. Bathing was her biggest weakness. She couldn’t go without having at least one in the morning and one before bed. But then that would mean having him assist her and she couldn’t trust herself naked with him. Not that she thought he would take advantage of her, but more because she would want him to. Having him touching her hands and arms was bad enough.

“I’m okay,” she lied.

His lashes lowered, concealing whatever he was thinking while he concentrated on digging out the cream.

Beth watched his hands, watched the veins move and ripple beneath the pale skin. The knuckles were sharp edges capping long, agile fingers. They were powerful and strong, not slender pianist hands, but the hands of a man who knew how to use them, and use them well. The nails were clipped and slightly uneven, but that only added to the appeal. There was always something about his hands that made her stomach flutter and her skin prickle with heat. Maybe it was because they could be so gentle when he touched Calla, but possessive and controlling when he would flip Beth onto her stomach, pin her wrists to the mattress and drive into her, taunting her to take it. Those memories were the ones that kept her up at night, wet and desperate.

Yes. She definitely loved his hands. Her strange fascination with them bordered on obsessive, but she didn’t care. It wasn’t like she would ever tell him.

“Are you hungry?”

For you? God yes!

“I’m okay,” she mumbled instead.

In the process of taking her right hand, Cole glanced up. His blue eyes met hers, deep and searching.

“How about coffee?”

Despite the tremors in the pit of her stomach, Beth felt her mouth pull apart, bowing into a wide smile that drew a laugh from her. Something flickered in his gaze, but it was quick and disappeared a second later.

“I did notice you didn’t have any here,” she said.

He lowered his head once more and concentrated on lathering her palm and the back of her hand and each finger with cream. “I usually grab a cup on my way to the office.” He worked his way up her wrist, dabbing and gingerly rubbing each blemish along the way. “I’m not here much.”

Carefully, he set aside the cream and reached for the gauze. His fingers deftly twisted the wrap into place from shoulder to fingertips around her arm. Then he started on the next arm.

“I was thinking about heading over to Lily’s place today,” she said, needing to break the silence drowning them. “Since I’m here and all. Calla’s probably at school, but it’ll be nice to see Willa … and Lily.”

He nodded slowly. “I can drop you off on my way to work.”

“Oh you don’t have to do that,” she said hurriedly. “It’s not a far walk and it’s completely out of your way.”

He never looked at her, not even when he spoke. “Yeah, wouldn’t want the lineup of people waiting to get in to have to wait.”

Something in his tone gave her pause. Maybe it was because they’d been together since they were nineteen, but she could always sense when something was wrong.

“Is something wrong at work?” she asked tentatively.

“It’s fine,” he mumbled. “I just always thought that when I became a lawyer, I would be able to do some good in the world. Help people. Instead, I’m a glorified secretary who sits in an empty law office all day twiddling his thumbs. I’ve had two cases this entire year and both were just ridiculous. I guess I just … I don’t know. I can’t leave Willow Creek, not when Calla’s here, but I can’t make a damn thing of myself here either.”

Beth thought about this a moment while he spread Polysporin across the arch of her thumb. Anger and frustration tensed his shoulders and cut through each of his words like they were poison. It hurt her to see him like that.

“Have you considered doing something else?” she asked.

“Like what?” He turned her hand over lightly to get her knuckles. “You know this town, it has one streetlamp and it’s been broke since before I was born. Everything around here is either family owned, or made for teenagers looking to score a quick buck.”

“Well, Sloan did it,” she pointed out. “He opened his own moving company. Maybe you just need to see what the town really needs and go from there.”

He didn’t respond. She didn’t expect him to.

When he was finished, he returned the leftover items back into the box and rose to his feet. His gaze went to the clock in the kitchen.

“I have to shower and get ready for work.” He lowered his head and met her eyes. “But I’ll help you get dressed when I get out and take you to Lily’s.”

She started to tell him it was fine, she didn’t need help, but she did. Dressing had become the hardest thing she’d ever had to do. It had never dawned on her just how much a person used their hands until they couldn’t. The sweats and sweater she’d worn the day before had taken her nearly an hour to pull on and that was with her constantly stopping to moan and whimper as her skin burned all over again beneath the bandages. It was a pain she refused to deal with again if she could avoid it.

“Okay?”

Realizing he’d been waiting for a response, Beth nodded. “Okay.”

He left her fretting on the sofa and disappeared into the bathroom. Beth rose the moment the door shut and hurried into the bedroom. She pulled out random articles of clothing from inside the suitcase with hooked fingers and tossed them onto the bed. When she got to the undergarments, she faltered. Her stomach flopped over. She willed herself to simply get it over with and waited anxiously for Cole to finish in the bathroom.

He was clad in only a towel when he stepped into Beth’s room. Light from the window caught the droplets of water clinging to him and glistened. His hair shone and the two day old growth on his face had been cleanly shaven off, leaving his face smooth and smelling of shaving cream and spicy aftershave. Beth had an inexplicable need to drag him over to the bed and lick the droplets off his skin while liberating him of the towel and sinking him deep inside her.

“I’ll move my things into the office,” he told her, possibly mistaking her stunned silence as outrage over walking into the room she was using.

She shook her head. “I don’t mind.”

He drew out clothes from the dresser and left with them held against his chest. The bathroom door closed a second later.

Beth exhaled. She closed her eyes and willed her body to calm the fuck down. It wasn’t like it was sex deprived. She may not have had another man since Cole, but she had done her best to taper the fire thoughts of him always invoked. She had even bought a toy or two to make the whole experience more pleasurable, but found them impersonal and distracting. No amount of rubber and batteries made up for the actual weight, smell, and power of a man driving her into the mattress.

She was still sitting on the bed waiting for him when he returned, dressed in black slacks and a crisp dress shirt. He was swinging a black blazer on when he stepped into the room.

The sight of him in a suit made every naughty part of her whimper. It was clearly one designed specifically for him, for his frame. The lines were clean cut, the material perfectly fitted. It hugged the width of his chest and curved with the narrow taper of his waist. The pants were formed to the lean lengths of his legs. He was hot. Delicious. Every woman’s fantasies brought to life. Shit she wanted him.

Busy tugging the lapel on his blazer down and shrugging the material into place around his shoulders, Cole missed the hungry clamp she had around her bottom lip until his head came up and his gaze locked with hers.

The hands she loved so much froze on the button of his jacket. Something fierce and wild leapt across the surface of his eyes and burned clean through her. Against the fabric of her camisole, her nipples tightened, becoming tight points aching for him to sooth with his mouth. The thin strip of material between her legs rubbed wet and sticky against her swollen mound. She was so ready, she could almost feel him stretching her around his hard girth.

“Beth.” There was warning in the tone, in his eyes, in the way his nostrils flared. But there was something else as well … a challenge.

Shit.

Say something! The voice in her head hissed. But there were only two words cutting into the tip of her tongue and neither was going to make the throbbing stop.

Fuck me!

She wondered if he could see it in her eyes. If he could sense it in the air. He had always been so aware of her arousal, always knowing even before she did, like their desires were somehow linked.

He had to know.

Pivoting on the balls of his feet, he turned his body in her direction the way a wolf moved at the sight of its prey. His movement was graceful and agile when he claimed the first step. Then the next. Beth nearly gasped in wonder and horror when her body gave the first tremor of an orgasm, and he hadn’t even done anything.

Frantic and mortified, she struggled to push off the bed, away from anything that could brush against her seizing clit before she really embarrassed herself. But he was there. His hips were thrusting apart her knees, filling her thighs. Then his hands were on her waist. And she came with a low whimper. Her cries were muffled by the front of his shirt. His arms gripped her to him as her body convulsed completely on its own.

“I didn’t even touch you.” His words were a hoarse murmur in her ear when she could think enough again to hear.

“Oh God!” she gasped, wishing she would just die already.

He ignored her moan. “How long has it been?”

Certain she’d heard wrong, she dared a peek up at him. “What?”

His eyes were twin pits of hell, hot and ravenous. “When did you last have a cock inside you?”

Fuck, she loved when he talked like that. Yet at the same time, the question filled her face with liquid heat.

“Four years,” she whispered into the third button of his dress shirt.

The arms around her tightened, nearly cutting off her oxygen. One hand fisted into her hair. His breath rushed against her temple.

“Why?”

His lips grazed the side of her face, traveled the length of her jaw to nuzzle the curve of her neck. Beth shivered involuntarily. Her stomach muscles jittered with a delicious sort of longing she hadn’t felt in a hell of a long time. A moan hitched in her throat.

“Why?” she parroted breathlessly.

The hand in her hair tugged. Her face was thrust back, her jugular exposed to the assault of his teeth.

“Why has there been no one else?” he questioned.

His breath was so hot. It burned the places it brushed. Beth numbly wondered if she would have any skin left, or if it would all be melted away.

“I … I don’t know,” she admitted honestly.

He pulled back. The damp curve of his bottom lip rested ever so lightly over hers so their every breath tangled together. His smelled of peppermint toothpaste.

“I know why I waited,” he whispered.

Her idiot heart flipped in her chest, an excited little twist that made her feel momentarily lightheaded before the full weight of his words crushed it to powder.

She jolted back with such speeds that his grip in her hair tugged strands out by the roots. Cole blinked in surprise, quickly relinquishing his hold on her.

“Beth?”

“No!” His mouth dropped in surprise, his eyes widened in stunned shock when she planted her forearm into his chest and shoved him back. “No, you’re lying!”

Scrambling out from under him, Beth stumbled to the other side of the room, towards the door, away from him. He followed her movement, turning his body, his face still a mask of astonishment.

“What?”

Beth rocked her head rapidly from side to side as all the cold in the world seemed to seep through her skin, straight into her marrow.

“You’re lying,” she said again, her voice giving the slightest tremor.

Cole gawked at her for so long, she wondered if he’d been frozen in place by the same chill paralyzing her. His disbelief was a much slower shake of his head.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Pain twanged through her the way sound vibrated through metal when it was struck with something heavy with a resounding clang.

“I saw you.”

Chapter Seven ~ Cole

Every fiber in Cole’s body ached with the need to go to her, to draw her into his arms and smother the pain coiling off her like heat waves. The raw anguish drawing her slender shoulders up around her ears cut at him in a way that should have been impossible. His mind spun with possibility after possibility of all the things he could have done to make her look at him as though he’d singlehandedly torn out her heart. Yet he could think of nothing.

“Saw me … what?” he said at last. “What did I do?”

Her lips trembled before she mashed them together. Green eyes shot past him to the bed before bouncing back. Then she turned on her heel and hurried from the room in a flurry of dark hair and pale skin. Cole followed her, refusing to let the matter drop.

She stood in the sitting room, arms a tight shield wrapped around her midsection. She had placed the sofa between them and he stayed on his side.

In the kitchen, his phone chirped, alerting him it was time to head out the door if he was to make it to work on time. He ignored it.

“Beth, talk to me,” he urged.

Whatever nightmare was plaguing her, kept her from meeting his gaze. She looked at everything but him. The bright shine in her eyes kicked him in the gut.

“I came back,” she whispered finally in such a whisper that it was no more than the movement of her lips forming the words.

“What?”

He dared himself a single step closer. He told himself it was because she was talking too softly, but he knew it was because his heart was cracking too loudly for him to hear her properly.

Green eyes finally rested on his, bright with accusation and sorrow. “I came back,” she repeated, a touch louder. “That day. I came back.”

Cole felt as though someone had torn the rug out from under him. “What?”

She averted her eyes to the lamp on the end table. “I took a cab to the bus station and I waited in the terminal for five hours. There was a storm that day and the buses were running late. I sat there, watching the door for five hours waiting for you to come get me…” Her bottom lip quivered and his insides wrenched. “When the bus arrived, and you didn’t, I got on. There was an hour delay because some tree had been torn down by the winds and it was blocking the road. I sat there, looking out the window at that crappy motel across the street from the bus station.” She raised her attention to him. “You know the one we stayed at that summer when we came up to see Lily?”

Cole knew. He nodded.

She nodded as well. “I remembered how we raided the candy machine and spent the whole day in bed, and how you made me laugh with the stories of you and Lily as kids.” Her eyes darkened wistfully. “I sat there asking myself why? Why was I leaving when I loved you so much? So, I got off the bus. I took a cab home, expecting you to be there. But you weren’t.”

Cole’s stomach soured even before she finished, before she met his gaze with barely suppressed anger. He knew what was about to come next and he felt physically sick.

“Mr. Cartwright from downstairs told me he saw you head over to Billy’s,” she went on, her voice louder, tighter. “So that’s where I went. I had this whole speech prepared in my head. I was going to tell you I love you and I wanted nothing more than to marry you and spend the rest of my life with you.”

“Stop.” The single plea tore from him in tatters.

She ignored him. “Do you know what I saw when I got there?” She didn’t even wait for him to answer. “Cora Kennedy straddling you.” She broke off, her jaw muscles tense. “I wasn’t gone a whole day and you were already tongue-locked with another woman.”

“That’s not what happened.” His voice sounded pathetic and weak even to his own ears.

An eyebrow rose in feigned disbelief. “You weren’t kissing her?”

“Yes.” He quickly put his hands up when she opened her mouth. “I kissed her. I’m not going to lie to you, because I have never lied to you. But when you left, I was pissed and I was hurting bad. I felt like you just tore my heart out and stomped all over it and I didn’t deserve that. And then you just left, like the last two years had been nothing. I went to Billy’s that afternoon fully intent on drowning myself. By three o’clock, I was wasted and still pounding ‘em back. That’s how Cora found me, and when she kissed me out of sheer pity…” He lowered his head, guilt a heavy mallet hammering into his gut. “I let her. I might have even kissed her back. But it didn’t go further than that. It barely lasted a minute. I couldn’t do it. All I could think about was getting home and praying you’d be there. I somehow wound up at Sloan’s instead. Lily fixed me up a bed on the sofa and I spent the night there.” He paused, searching the suspicion on her face. “You can ask anyone. Ask Cora. Ask Lily, or Sloan. Hell, ask the whole damn town. There hasn’t been another woman since you.”

The anger was gone, but the empty uncertainty was somehow infinitely worse.

“Am I proud of what I did? No. Would I change it if I could? Yes. But I waited for you, Beth. I waited for three years before I moved in case you ever came back. I still haven’t changed my phone number in case you decided to call. I never gave up on you the way you gave up on us.”

A tear shivered on her bottom eyelid before tumbling down her cheek.

“You never came for me, either,” she whispered.

Exasperated, Cole threw his arms open wide. “What do you want from me, Beth? Why can’t I ever do anything right when it comes to you? I tried for two years to prove to you that I’m not your dad. That I’m not your mom, or that fucking douche bag, James. I loved you, respected you, and cherished the ever loving fuck out of you. All I wanted was for you to let me spend the rest of my life with you. Maybe that was just too unbearable. I don’t know. Maybe I was the only one stupid enough to think I couldn’t live without you.”

“Cole…”

He put his hand up, stopping her before she could say another word. “I get it okay? I made a mistake. But you walked out first. You broke my heart first.”

He left before she could stop him. Maybe it was weakness, but damn if he cared just then.

The streets were lined with people on their way to work. Most waved and Cole offered them a barely perceptible nod in return as he hurried to the office. He’d forgotten his coat and the cutting chill of approaching winter slipped beneath his blazer to freeze his shirt against his skin. Cole mentally kicked himself for acting so rash. Everything he needed, his keys, phone, and briefcase sat on the counter at home and he was too much of a coward to go back and get them.

“Hey, Cole!” Lisa Fields smiled widely from behind the glossy counter of Ma’s diner. “Coffee?”

Exhaling deeply, Cole crossed the worn expensive of the room to perch on the stool overlooking the register. It wasn’t the greatest seat in the house, not even the second greatest, but it was elbow to elbow with the pastry display.

“Yeah.”

Lisa dug out a clean mug, all the while eyeing him. “Everything all right?”

Knowing better than to ever discuss his personal life with people not in his family, Cole gave her his best smile.

“Sure thing.”

Her smile was sweet as she slid his cup to him. “You sure? You seem down.”

He said nothing as she poured him coffee. He drew the steaming substance of life’s greatest meaning to him and inhaled the dark roast.

“I’m just wonderful,” he lied fluidly. “Must be the weather outside.”

Her brown eyes lifted over his head and she scanned the span of gray stretching far over their tiny town. She clicked her tongue.

“I can understand that.” Her focus returned to him. “Want a slice of pie?”

Cole laughed. “Too early for that.” He bit his lip, tapped a finger over the rim of his mug. “Wouldn’t say no to a piece of cake, though. To go.”

He sipped his coffee idly while she boxed up a sliver of his favorite chocolate cake. People came and went and he continued to sit there, nursing his lukewarm drink and contemplating just how to go about his day without going home.

“Lisa?”

In the process of refilling the coffee machine, Lisa looked up. Her brown eyes were wide with question as she dusted off her hands on her apron and hurried over.

“More coffee?”

Cole shook his head. “No, thanks. I was actually hoping I could use your phone.”

Blinking in surprise, Lisa shrugged her round shoulders. “We’re not really supposed to, but…” She reached under the counter. “If you don’t let Ma see you, I don’t see why not. She’ll have my hide if she knew I let a customer use it.”

“I’ll be real quick,” he promised as she slid the clunker over to him; the thing still had a cord attaching the receiver to the base.

True to his words, his phone call took all of five minutes. Yet it took Lily an hour to walk through the doors of Ma’s, Willa in tow and his briefcase, keys, and phone in her hand, with a glower darkening her face.

“Would you care to explain why you couldn’t go to your own apartment?” she snapped, slamming his things down on the counter in front of him.

She lifted Willa up onto the stool next to Cole and continued to stand, watching him, waiting for an explanation.

Cole nudged his cake box over to the girl, only to have Lily slap a hand down on it and thrust it back.

“It’s eight in the morning, McClain. You are not giving my daughter chocolate cake for breakfast.”

Cole frowned at her. “It’s noon somewhere.”

“Not here it ain’t,” she shot back. “Now are you going to answer me, or do I have to beat it out of you?”

Cole rolled his eyes. “I wish I could say you weren’t always this bossy.”

An accusing finger jabbed him in the shoulder. “I have things to do today. I don’t have time to be running around doing your crap.”

“I’m sorry, all right?” He slouched low over his mug. “I just couldn’t go back.”

Her eyes narrowed. “’cause of Beth?”

For several hard heartbeats, he did nothing but stare at his own forlorn expression rippling at the bottom of his drink.

“I fucked up, Lil.”

They walked together to the office. Cole let them in and shut the door behind them. Lily hoisted Willa up onto the sofa in the waiting area and pulled out a ratty old coloring book and a Ziploc bag of crayons from her purse.

“Wait right here, okay?” she told the girl, brushing a kiss to the top of her head. “I just need a minute with Uncle Cole.”

Willa nodded and tore open the bag.

Lily quickly locked the front door, brushed a quick hand over her daughter’s hair, and moved into the back where Cole was rounding his desk. She left his office door open as she took a seat and stuffed her purse into her lap.

“Okay, spill.”

When you’ve been best friends with someone for as long as Cole had been friends with Lily, it was a rare thing to keep secrets. There had been one between them in their twenty-five years of friendship and that secret had been Calla. There had been none since, or before. The incident with Cora was never a secret. He hadn’t kept it quiet just to save his own skin. But the moment he had pushed her off him, it hadn’t mattered. It hadn’t filled him with relief or passion. If anything, it had left him feeling empty and cold. Not telling Lily wasn’t intentional.

“You kissed Cora?” Lily blurted in outrage.

“I was drunk,” he stressed. “I was pissed and I was hurt, okay? I didn’t set out to do it. Also, she kissed me.”

“What the hell were you thinking, Cole?” she snapped. “No wonder Beth’s furious with you.”

“I wasn’t thinking,” he said. “I was drunk, remember? I love Beth. You know that.”

“Then why didn’t you go after her? Stop her from leaving?”

It was the same question he’d asked himself a million times and every time, he got the same answer.

“Because I didn’t want to stop her.” His chin brushed his chest as he stared down at his lap. “I was so fucking angry. Every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was the way she had jerked back like I just smacked her. I have never felt so rejected. Truth be told, if she hadn’t left, I probably would have.”

“Cole…”

He shook his head. “But I never hated her. Not even then. When I went to Billy’s, all I wanted was to forget the whole fucking thing. Cora asked me why I was drowning my sorrows at three in the afternoon. I think she kissed me out of pity. How the hell was I supposed to know Beth would come back?”

“So why won’t you go back to your apartment?” Lily asked.

“Because I can’t face her after what I did.”

He didn’t need to look to hear the frown in her tone. “So you’re just going to run?”

Cole’s head came up, his brows furrowed. “What the hell am I supposed to do, Lil? I did exactly the one thing I swore I would never do to her.”

“And what’s that?”

“Cheat. Betray her. Abandon her.”

“That’s three things.”

He knew she was trying to make him feel better, but the tease bounced straight off the thick wall of guilt cocooning him.

“Her dad used to cheat on her mom,” he murmured quietly. “Like all the time. She refused to leave him. Instead, she turned to prescription drugs. Beth was ten. When she was fifteen, her dad left. Her mom was strung up on cocaine by then. Beth was completely alone to raise herself. It was around that time she met a boy at school, James. He promised her the one thing she never had … love. Only the minute he got what he wanted, he pretended she didn’t exist anymore.”

“Bastard!” Lily hissed through her teeth.

Cole nodded. “Yeah, well, that was the same year her mom OD’d. She came home from school to find her dead on the kitchen floor. She was taken into foster care for the next three years. Then she met me.” He drummed his fingers on the table, restless, needing to get up and pace, but having no room. “I swore that I would never hurt her like that. That I would never leave her. I wouldn’t even sleep with her for the first seven months, determined to show her that that wasn’t all I wanted. Then I went and did exactly what I promised never to do.”

“That’s not fair, Cole.” Lily reached across the desk and set her hand over his. “Yeah, what you did was really stupid, but it’s not entirely your fault either. Beth has to know how much you love her.”

“Doesn’t matter.” He withdrew his hand out from under hers. He scrubbed them fiercely over his face. “She won’t ever forgive me.”

Lily sat back a moment. Her chair creaked with the shift in weight. She studied him through narrowed eyes, her head tilted ever so slightly to one side. Then she rose, her purse in one hand. Cole blinked in surprise by the sudden movement.

Without a word of warning, she reached out with her free hand, snatched up a folder off his desk and smacked him upside the head.

“Hey! What the fuck?”

The folder was waved at him menacingly. “That’s for you being such a baby!”

“What—?”

“Shut up!” she snapped at him, making him instantly snap his mouth shut. “Now you listen to me, McClain. Are you listening?”

He glowered at her. “You told me to shut up.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “Don’t be a smart ass. This is serious. I will not have such a sissy as a best friend, do you understand? That girl out there.” She whipped the folder to the front of the office. “If she’s the one you love as much as you claim, then you need to fight for her. You need to prove to her that she’s the only girl in the world for you and that you will never, ever do anything that stupid again. I’m not finished!” she barked when he opened his mouth. “Beth loves you. It was clear the minute I went to the apartment to get your things. She was a mess. A girl doesn’t get that way over a guy she doesn’t care about anymore. So you are going to do the right thing. You are going to fix this.”

Cole waited a heartbeat before raising an eyebrow. “Am I allowed to speak now?”

Lily straightened. She lowered her folder wielding arm. “Yes.”

He rose so they were both standing. “I’m not sure I want her back, Lil.”

It was as though he’d just declared something impossible and ridiculous. Her head jerked back and dropped to one side as she regarded him through squinted eyes.

“I don’t understand.”

Of course she wouldn’t. This was a woman who was insanely in love with the man she married, who was happy and couldn’t imagine a different life.

“She recoiled when I asked her to marry me,” he said softly. “Literally flinched like I just asked her to take a shit on my chest.”

Lily cringed. “Oh God! Ew!”

Cole waved a hand at her. “Exactly like that.”

Lily shook her head. “Okay, so she doesn’t like surprises. But she came back. She probably just needed a minute to think.”

“Six hours,” he corrected. “She was gone six hours.”

“So what?” Lily threw her hands up into the air. “The girl has the right to think about making life altering decisions like that. But the point is, she came back to you.”

Cole shook his head. “I don’t want to just live with her. I want to be with her in every way possible. I want to have a family with her.”

“And you can’t do that without getting married?”

“That isn’t the point, Lily.”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry.” She sighed. “Getting proposed to is a big deal for a girl. It all depends on the situation, on the atmosphere, and the way it’s delivered. We’re picky like that.”

“How did Sloan propose to you?”

Lily raised an eyebrow. “The first time, or the second time?”

Cole frowned. “How many times did he propose?”

She shrugged one shoulder. “Twice. The first time was in the bathroom right after I finished throwing up. I was appalled. I told him hell no and walked out.”

His mouth twitched, picturing that perfectly. “And the second time?”

The humor died on her face. The lines became soft. Her eyes glimmered with a happiness that shone only when his brother was involved.

“It was Christmas. He had this amazing speech prepared. It was beautiful. One of the best days of my life.” She grinned. “Like I said, timing.”

A soft knock sounded on the front door and Lily cursed softly. She turned and hurried to the front. Willa glanced up only once as her mother undid the lock and let Sloan in.

His brother was a big man, tall and lean in a way that seemed imposing and sometimes threatening. In the cramped little space of Cole’s office, Sloan radiated strength and confidence. He rubbed a hand through his pale hair and peered down at the woman in front of him the way some men eyed treasure, with wonder, greed, and desire. There was always something sexual and privately intimate about the way the two looked at each other that Cole couldn’t help feeling jealous over.

Sloan touched Lily’s face with one finger, said something that made her nod and then turned to his daughter.

“Hey sweetheart.”

Willa smiled brightly. Crayons rained into her lap when she raised her book for her dad to see. “It’s a purple frog,” she said proudly.

Sloan smiled with such love in his eyes it hurt to look directly at it. “Best damn frog I’ve ever seen.”

Lily elbowed him lightly. “Language!”

Sloan grimaced. “Oops.”

Willa giggled.

Ruffling her hair, Sloan peered through the short space to where Cole continued to stand. “Hey, everything all right? Lisa said you guys left in a hurry.”

Cole nodded. “Fine.”

“Uncle Cole was being a sissy,” Willa declared. “Mommy hit him.”

“Oh, well.” Sloan bent down and scooped the girl up into his arms. “I was just on my way to Grandma’s house to fix the lock on the kitchen window. Want to come and be my helper? I’m sure Mommy wants to hit Uncle Cole a few more times.”

Lily laughed. “I think we’re done here. I want to see my mom before I head out to Newburry.”

Cole frowned. “What’s in Newburry?”

“The apple orchards.”

Cole shot a glance towards Sloan before eyeing Lily again. “Aren’t the apples already harvested?”

“Yes,” she said simply. “But I want pictures of them.”

Cole just shook his head, not fully understanding the need to take pictures of bare trees, but then, he wasn’t the photographer in the family.

“Well, drive carefully. Most of the roads are iced over.”

Lily nodded. “Sloan put new tires on the Mustang, but I’ll be careful.”

They said goodbye and Cole watched them leave. An orange crayon under the sofa caught his eye. He tucked it into his pocket, making a mental note to return it next time he got the chance. Around him, the office emanated with a low, hollow echo of deafening silence. The gloom from outside mixed with the dark wood walls, navy blue carpets and the clutter of furniture squished into a hole in the wall made the entire place feel suffocating. Cole stared at the framed photo of Stan and Gabe on a rickety old rowing boat, holding a giant salmon between them.

The two had been friends and lawyers for as long as most people could remember. Cole had a feeling the only reason they hired him was so they could take weeks off at a time to go fishing. There was never any business to speak of. It was a wonder they hadn’t gone under ages ago.

But this wasn’t the life Cole wanted. He didn’t want to be stuck in a stuffy office all day, staring at dark walls and leering salmon while hoping the door would open and give him something to do. He deserved better. He earned better.

He thought of what Beth had said earlier that morning about finding something the town needed and offering that. But what could he possibly offer? There wasn’t much when the town shied away from change. It was why Willow Creek was so small and almost backwards in its way of thinking. Despite being one of them, anything he brought to the table might only make people turn away. Then where would he be?

Exasperated, Cole wandered his way back to his desk and sat and waited for something to happen.

Cole stopped by Produce and More on his way home. On impulse, he grabbed Beth’s favorite coffee, several boxes of pop tarts, apples—the red ones, because the green ones made her stomach feel funny—and sourdough bread because it made the best toast, in her opinion. The store was full of women and children hurrying about trying to get items for supper. There was the odd man in the lineup, a six pack and chips on the counter. Cole paid for his items and hurried home.

“Beth?”

The apartment was quiet. Someone, probably Lily had shut all the windows he’d thrown open earlier to let the smoke escape and he felt a stab of guilt for having forgotten to close those. If Lily hadn’t gone to get his things, Beth would have probably been freezing and all because he’d been in such a hurry to get away from her.

“Fuck,” he muttered to himself as he moved deeper into the apartment.

Floorboards creaked beneath his weight, shattering the near silence as he listened for sounds of other life. Something about the quiet wrenched in the pit of his stomach, sending cold chills down his spine.

Had she left again?

Abandoning his groceries on the kitchen counter, he hurried towards the bedroom. The door was slightly ajar, the gap in between a dusky bluish black, like a bruise.

She lay on the bed, her hair a dark cascade of ribbons across the pillow. She was on her side, one hand curled lightly by her parted mouth. She didn’t stir when he padded across the room and drew the blankets around her. His finger smoothed the hill of her cheek. The skin there felt satiny and warm against his touch.

Maybe Lily was right, he thought. Maybe it hadn’t been the right time. The fact that she had returned, mind changed, said something. Maybe there was still a chance and he just needed to convince her. Clearly the sexual heat between them hadn’t frizzled out. Her phantom orgasm and the way she stripped him with her eyes was evidence of that. She still cared about him and that was all the foundation he really needed. He was a determined man if nothing else and if there was even a slight chance they could be a family again, he would do anything.

Leaving the room, he shut the door behind him quietly and tiptoed down the hall. He stowed away the things he’d bought and started on supper with only one thing on his mind: getting Beth Doan to love him again.

Chapter Eight ~ Beth

Beth woke to the rich scent of baked potatoes and herbed chicken. The lack of food in her stomach instantly brought her upright. Her mind craned as it had earlier that morning to pinpoint her exact location, and why there would be someone in her kitchen, cooking. But as the fog lifted, reality quickly took hold and she started.

Cole.

Casting aside the blanket she couldn’t recall tossing over herself, she slid off the bed and hurried across the room. The door she had left ajar was closed shut and she knew he’d been in there to check on her. Mentally, she cursed him as she fought to twist the knob between her hands without physically touching it. Giving up, she kicked the bottom of the door with sock clad feet.

“Cole!” She gave it another kick. “Cole!”

There was silence, then the hurried shuffle of feet. The doorknob rattled and then the door swung inward. Beth jumped back a step, barely avoiding a broken nose.

She glowered at the figure darkening her doorway. “You locked me in.”

Cole’s head tipped an inch to the side. “It doesn’t have a lock.” His eyes widened as realization finally dawned. “Oh! Damn it. I’m sorry.

Letting it go, Beth peered at him. “You made it home. I thought maybe after you sent Lily to get your things, you’d forgotten where it was.”

His gaze flickered to the ground, but when he spoke, he had the decency to look her in the eye. “I needed to think.”

It annoyed her that she actually understood. A part of her had been relieved when Lily had walked through the door and not Cole. She hadn’t been sure she was ready to face him so soon. Not after his confession had rocked her. What had scared her most was the slight warp in the titanium steel doors she’d built like a fortress around herself the last four years. It made her wonder what if and nothing good ever came from that.

“I need to brush my teeth,” she said instead.

He took a steady step back. “I’ll go turn the stove down. Just gimmie a sec.”

He was gone before she could tell him that she needed to do it herself. She even stepped into the bathroom and shut the door behind her, hoping it would deter him. But the moment she tried to curl her fingers into a simple pinch around the plastic handle of her pink toothbrush, she knew it wouldn’t be that easy.

The scarred skin on her knuckles stretched. The sting made her instantly relax her fingers. She sighed, looking down at the things she had taken most for granted—her hands.

A quiet knock alerted her to his return. She took a step away from the door before granting him access. He stepped inside, said nothing about the door being closed and reached for her toothbrush.

“I’m sorry about today,” he murmured, while squirting a glob of toothpaste onto the bristles. “I shouldn’t have left like that.”

Beth shook her head. “It was just as well. I’m not even sure what any of that changes.”

Sapphire blue eyes rose up and met hers with quiet contemplation. “Don’t you?”

“Well, it can’t, so I don’t see how—”

He brought the brush to her lips, silencing her. The gentle scrub of her teeth filled the small space with its sound. But it was the patter of her heart drumming loudly between her ears that deafened her.

Something in him had changed and every fiber of her body could sense it.

When he’d helped her the night before, he hadn’t held her so close his clothes whispered over hers. He hadn’t gripped the back of her head. He hadn’t kept such a tight hold on her gaze so looking away became a game of wills. Even the slow, gentle glide of the brush moving inside her mouth felt somehow intimate and sent tendrils of heat coiling in all the places their bodies touched. He held her captive in every way that mattered and all he was doing was brushing her teeth.

When he finished he scooped her hair off her neck as she rinsed her mouth. Shivers wormed up her spine to prickle in her cheeks at the simple brush of his fingers grazing her skin. He dabbed lightly at her chin and mouth with a towel when she straightened, taking a second longer over her lips. His free hand was still locked in her hair and the weight of it pulled her head back.

“Better?” he murmured.

Strands caught when she tried to nod. “Yes,” she said instead.

“Hungry?”

She didn’t bother trying to move her head this time. “Yes.”

He released her and she was startled by the protest that rose up in her throat. She wrangled it back as he turned away.

He led her to the kitchen where the delicious scent of food was stronger. She was motioned into a stool as he finished flipping the strips of chicken breasts in the pan and took the baked potatoes out of the oven.

“Fancy chicken.” She laughed.

The corner of Cole’s mouth twitched. “Only you have ever called plain ol’ chicken fancy.”

Beth grinned. “Well, it’s the way you make them,” she explained as she had explained a hundred times before. “Rubbing all those spices and fancy oils into the things. Never seen anyone put so much effort into a piece of meat before.”

“It’s all in the seasoning, you know.” He snapped off the element and lifted the pan off the stove. “Nothing tastes good without the proper amount of everything.”

Gingerly, he placed a piece of chicken on each plate. The pan went into the sink where it hissed in protest and issued steamed. The potatoes were done next. The tinfoil was peeled back just enough to cut a slit into the skin. White steam billowed from the gash. The inside was cut up with a fork and filled with seasoned butter. Then the tinfoil was refolded, letting the butter melt into the core. Each plate got a potato and a ladle full of steamed vegetables.

Beth watched him, watched his face, watched the concentration darkening his brows. His large hands moved with such ease over the items, arranging them just so on each plate. When he turned his back to grab cutlery, she let her gaze wander the width of his back beneath the cotton material of his dress shirt. It was still tucked into the waistband of his trousers, but the sleeves had been rolled up to his forearms and the first three buttons had been undone to show smooth, pale skin. Part of her wondered what happened to the boy she’d met in college, the one who lived in his ratty jeans and t-shirts. He hadn’t started wearing suits until he got the job at the law firm, but even then, it hadn’t been like this. Maybe it was the years of not seeing him, but there was a strong confidence around him that made her insides flutter almost girlishly.

“Are you hungry?”

Swallowing the thick puddle of saliva pooling inside her mouth, Beth nodded. “Starving.”

Cole moved around the counter with only one set of fork and knife in hand. He took the stool next to her. One foot rested on the bottom rung of her seat. The other on his. The position placed her between his parted knees. But apparently that wasn’t enough; he reached under her stool and took hold. She was reeled to him like a fish on a hook, and like a fish, she was powerless to do more than gasp and brace as she was drawn high between the V of his legs.

“Okay?”

Cotton-mouthed, Beth gave a jerky nod even though it was so far from okay.

This was not how he’d fed her the night before.

Unfazed by the rigid lines of her body, he stabbed a cauliflower with the fork and brought it to her mouth. While she took it and chewed, he cut up her meat into neat sized bites. And all the while, while she studied him, he concentrated on the task. Every so often, he would pause to offer her a piece of vegetable, but would go straight back to cutting her chicken.

“What did you do today?” he asked, finally offering her a piece of meat now that the slab was diced to perfect, even cubes.

Beth shook her head. “Nothing. Your apartment doesn’t give room for much and I couldn’t open the door to go anywhere.”

He paused mid feed and eyed her. “What do you mean?”

She licked her lips. “Well, you don’t have a TV, or a radio … you don’t even have any books, except law textbooks. This place is … empty.” The minute the words were out, Beth grimaced. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean … I’m not judging—”

His attention was drawn to the plate. He chased a broccoli from one end to the other with a look of deep contemplation and a dark frown.

“I’m not here much,” he justified quietly.

“Cole, I wasn’t—”

He raised his head and the look on his face was somber, but hard. “I’m usually at the office, or I practically live at Lily’s with the girls. I only sleep here. Occasionally, I eat here. But I don’t really live here.” He brought the caught broccoli to her lips, quieting her when she started to speak. “I can’t let this place be home.”

The morsel in her mouth slid down her throat like a lump of stone. It struck the bottom of her stomach and lay there, making her insides grumble in protest.

“Why?” she whispered.

The light graze of his fingers over her chin and across her mouth took her by surprise, made her jump. The area felt singed.

“You know why.”

Her heart flip flopped in her chest. “Cole—”

He pulled back and it shattered the conversation as easily as though he’d torn a knife through it.

“Do you still walk after dinner?”

The question derailed her. Her mind fumbled, taking too long to accumulate words.

“Sometimes,” she mumbled at last. “When I’m not working.”

“Do you feel like going for one after?”

She said yes, because the opposite of that word eluded her. She said yes, because he was giving her no chance to keep her feet balanced.

He finished feeding her, shoveled a few forkfuls of chicken into his own mouth, then led her to her room to dress.

“I’ll be a perfect gentleman,” he promised when Beth hesitated over her suitcase. “I’ll even do it with my eyes closed if you like.”

Beth tried not to flush.

“It’s not like you haven’t already seen me without clothes,” she murmured, more to put herself at ease.

Cole’s head moved in a slow, thoughtful nod. “Still do every time I close my eyes.” The low, gravely purr of his voice sent shivers rocketing under her skin.

The unadulterated confession hissed through her veins the way the hot pan had after being put in the sink. Her blood heated and her heart raced. But it also terrified her. He terrified her.

“Are … are you playing a game, because I don’t—”

Like he had all night, he distracted her by reaching past her into the suitcase and tugging out a soft, purple sweater.

“I always really liked this color on you,” he said, tossing the sweater onto the bed. “It brings out the green in your eyes.”

Laughter bubbled at the back of her throat, but he was reaching for the hem of her camisole. His long fingers were slipping beneath the material, bunching it, hiking it up over the waistband of her shorts. A fine strip of skin was revealed, littered with goose bumps. Beth’s breath stuttered in her chest. Knuckles dragged over her abdomen, bumped over each rib, climbed up the swell of her breasts. The nipples tightened to sharp points of desperation, straining for even a whisper of contact that never came.

His hands changed directions. The fabric was rolled up and over her head and along her arms without disturbing her bandages. The chill in the room whispered on hot flesh and stole a shiver from her. And not once did his gaze leave hers. The crystalline blues shimmered in the semi darkness of the room. They watched every flicker of emotion dance over her face and reflect across her eyes with an unblinking focus that was slowly killing her.

“Bra?” he asked in a murmur that was nothing more than a husky rumble.

Beth tried to regulate her breathing, praying that when she spoke, he couldn’t hear just how affected she was.

“Top flap.”

He moved away to unzip the inside flap of her suitcase. He reached inside and unearthed a white bra. He stepped around her. His chest came up against her back. The bra was brought around her. Her arms were slid through the straps and the undergarment was drawn up to her chest. It brushed the sensitive peaks and she involuntarily moaned. Against her shoulder blade, his chest gave a kick that splashed a wave of hot, ragged breath across the bare column of her neck and along her shoulder. Between her legs, her clit gave a twinge of warning and alarms sounded in her head. The crack of her heart escalated several notches faster. Her breathing quickened. She squeezed her eyes closed and begged her body not to succumb to the orgasm she could feel tightening the pit of her stomach, not a second time in a matter of hours. That morning’s betrayal had been mortifying. To fall apart when he’d done nothing but pull clothes on her … the humiliation would probably kill her.

His fingers brushed the rigid bumps of her spinal column as the bra was hooked into place. His touch was scalding and much too slow pulling away. It slid to the elastic band around her hips and hooked. He was still behind her. His every shallow breath burned her skin. He was so close, she could have turned her face and kissed that delicious mouth of his. But fear and anticipation kept her frozen in place. Her brain warred against wanting more and wanting less. She was breathing so fast her head was becoming light and rational thought was abating. Her body had become her only conscious sensation.

Her shorts gave a tug as the weight of his hands dragged around the seam to settle over her hipbones. His fingers closed, bunching the material up. The seam pulled over the swollen crest of her sex and the alarms screamed.

“Cole!” Her choked gasp burst out of her in a breathless rush that was followed by the violent quake of her body.

One hand dropped away to splay across the quivering expanse of her abdomen when she doubled over. The other stayed securely fisted in the fabric of her shorts, keeping her teetering on the edge. Sweet pain washed over her in a warm caress that had her eyes squeezing shut and her hips rocking against the approaching promise. She was so close.

“Jesus, Beth!” His snarl vibrated across the span of her back to burn against her ear. “That’s not fair.” Yet, his hand gave a tug of her shorts and she swore violently as the seam pulled against her clit. “You can’t ask me to behave and then fall apart every time I touch you.” His hips surged forward to slide the thick width of his erection between her ass cheeks through the fabric of both their bottoms. “Tell me what you want.”

It was too late to back out. She had let herself reach the point of no return and leaped straight over. Whatever happened, she would worry about the consequences later. It was all about the relief only he could bring her and nothing else mattered.

“Fu—”

His hand closed over her mouth. The action was so sudden, it forced her head back. The rest of her words hit the wall of his palm and died a muffled death.

“Don’t,” he warned quietly against the side of her face. “If you say it, I will throw you down on that bed and beat four years of sexual frustration into that pussy of yours and you’re not ready for that. You’re still hurt and I’d never forgive myself if I hurt you even more. But when you’re better and you can handle the things you know I’m capable of…” He ran his lips along the curve of her cheek to her ear. His voice dropped to a husky whisper. “I will make you forget how it feels not to come and come hard often.”

His hand slid away from her mouth to clamp around her arched throat, keeping her head back. The other hand, the one still giving tormenting little jerks of her shorts, released.

“Let’s go take a walk in the cold.”

When she could think of nothing to say past the steady hum between her ears, he grinned and took a step back, but not far. One hand remained on her waist while he reached for her clothes. He helped her into them, never taking his eyes off hers. He did all of it, even tied her shoelaces without ever breaking eye contact. Yet somehow, that was even more intimate than his fingers moving inside her.

Finished, he moved her to the bed and gently sat her down before going to the dresser and pulling out jeans and a sweater for himself. They landed on the bed inches from her, sounding like bombs hitting land.

He began to undress, starting with the buttons on his shirt. With each release, smooth, taut skin was exposed. The V grew larger, deeper the lower he got, until she was staring at the light sparking off the silver buckle of his belt. The metal jingled as the leather tongue was fed through and left open. The button went next. Then the zipper was yanked down with a hiss. The rubber band of his gray boxers peeked into view.

He shrugged out of his shirt and tossed it across the foot of the bed. He chucked his pants off next so he stood before her in nothing but his underwear and a very hard outline leaning just a little to the right. Beth found herself tracing the familiar swell with her eyes, remembering all too well the weight and smooth texture of it resting in her hand as she shimmied down his body to suck the head between her lips. Cole had always liked it best when she started at the top and worked her way gradually to the base in slow bobs. But it was his low groan of her name as he sprayed into the back of her throat that always made her wet.

“He missed you, too, baby.”

Mortified, Beth couldn’t look away fast enough. “I should wait outside.”

Now that her brain was back, she couldn’t get out of the room fast enough. It screamed at her like an enraged mother catching her child doing meth and all she could do was pace and agree with the scolding. What she’d done had been stupid. She should never have let things get that far. What the hell was the matter with her?

Sex depravation, she realized with mock disgust. Who knew it made smart girls really, really stupid?

She was pacing the length of the living room when he emerged, dressed and looking as breathtaking as ever.

“What are you doing, Cole?” she snapped at him, her embarrassment tangling with her anger.

In the process of opening the closet, Cole paused. “Getting our jackets?”

“No.” She stalked towards him. “I mean, what are you doing?”

His eyes narrowed cautiously. “Still getting our jackets.”

“Goddamn it, Cole!” She grabbed the door out of his hands and slammed it shut. She wedged herself between him and the jackets. “What was that back there? What was that over dinner and now? What are you doing?”

He never faltered in his answer. “What I should have done four years ago.”

She was no longer standing guard in front of the door, but using it to keep upright. His proximity had changed. The foot between them had become an inch and she was falling recklessly into the heat of his eyes.

“I’m going to make you love me again.”

It was ludicrous. She should have told him so. She should have told him too much had happened, too many years had gone by and she wasn’t the nineteen year old girl he used to know. Instead, all she could do was stand there and let him coax her heart into believing something her head was convinced was a bad idea.

“It’s cold outside,” he said when she didn’t speak.

She didn’t stop him when he reached for the closet once more and tugged out their coats. She didn’t say a word when he held hers open for her and bundled her up. She was still lost in the tender promise of his words when he led her from the apartment with a gentle hand against her lower back.

The fading light was a soft shimmering orange in the distance, painting the rooftops a delicate gold. He’d been right, it was cold. The temperature had dropped and she guessed another week before they got snow. The prospect made her want to groan and crawl into the nearest furnace until winter went away.

“Nothing’s changed,” she murmured, peering at the shops with the same window displays as when she’d left.

“Nothing ever does,” he remarked with a slight hint of a laugh. “Willow Creek isn’t very big on changes.”

She remembered that all too well. While the good folks of Willow Creek weren’t hostile towards strangers, they weren’t overly welcoming either. It had taken two years and the approval of Lily, Sloan, and Cole, plus Lily’s parents, to get Beth finally accepted enough so people at least didn’t eye her like she was some strange science experiment on the loose. The way some behaved, people from the city were meant to be feared and avoided, like they were carriers of some deadly disease. Beth hadn’t minded, because she was from the city and had a tougher backbone than that. Nevertheless, acceptance was always a nice thing.

A few people passed them on the sidewalk. The majority of them knew Cole on sight and extended their greetings in a wave or smile, even an inclination of their heads. But when their gazes landed on Beth, there was recognition, surprise, and then confusion before they ducked their heads and scurried away.

“I did not miss that,” Beth realized.

“It’s only been a day,” Cole said. “Like I said, they’re not big on change.”

He stopped in front of Hidden Treasures, the only pawn shop in town. It had always been Beth’s favorite place to stop in during their nightly walks, mostly because nothing ever stayed the same in there. Rail thin Mr. Hobnish changed the window display at least once a week and the store was constantly getting new items and selling old ones. It was such a drastic change from the rest of the town.

The cowbell above the door clunked once when the door was opened and then again when the door was closed behind them. Beth drew her shoulders down from around her ears and peered at the assortment of things taking up the vast majority of the place. The smell of mildew and age clung to the air in a way that reminded her of a museum, or someone’s attic. The scent intensified the deeper they ventured through the catacomb of discarded items.

Behind a glass case imprisoning rings, watches, cameras, and the odd other sparkly bobble, Mr. Hobnish towered over a prehistoric plastic box that had once been considered top of the line in computer equipment. His small face was bunched so all his wrinkles seemed to fold in on themselves like rows of folded towels on a shelf. His uncharacteristically long nose was bunched, probably to keep the thin wired glasses in place as he squinted at the blank screen. Brown eyes rose when they approached and widened. His long mouth curled into a wide smile.

“Bethany,” he said in a manner a grandfather would address a favorite niece. “I was wondering when I would see you. I heard you were back.”

Beth smiled as she reached the counter. “Hello Mr. Hobnish. I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner.”

The old man waved a long hand. “I knew you would get to me eventually.” He faced them completely. “So what brought you back?” His gaze flicked suggestively past her to Cole. “Did he finally come to his senses?”

Beth laughed. “No, I mean, that’s not—”

“Yes, sir, I did,” Cole piped in from over her shoulder.

“Good man,” Mr. Hobnish remarked, straightening the perpetual hunch in his back that came with being over seven feet tall. “There are some women you just don’t let get away.”

Cole bobbed his head with absolute fortitude. “Yes sir.”

Satisfied, Mr. Hobnish returned his focus to Beth. “How have you been?”

Beth shrugged, rolled her eyes. “Same ol’ same ol’. You know me, I never change.”

Mr. Hobnish dragged his stool over and perched. The dim light over the register skated off the patch of skin stretching from brow to mid scalp. It caught on sleek white strands that were slicked back to curl behind his ears and brush his shoulders. His knitted sweater stretched across his back as he leaned forward, resting his elbows on the glass.

“Change,” he muttered with a grunt. “Eventually, we all change, even if we don’t realize it.”

Beth didn’t comment. Her gaze darted to the blank computer screen squished on a rickety table behind the counter.

“Is there something wrong with your computer?”

Mr. Hobnish snorted a deep rumbling sound of disgust. “That piece of junk. I’m tired of fiddling with it.”

“What’s wrong with it?” Cole wondered.

The older man rolled a single shoulder. “It goes straight to a blue screen when I boot on. Damn thing is older than I am. Maybe it’s time to just toss it and get a new one. Only problem is that I have years’ worth of business on that blasted thing and no way to get it out.”

Cole rested a gentle hand on Beth’s back, a silent request before he shifted around her to peer at the useless lump of plastic.

“It could be anything. The machine itself is an older model. I can’t be certain without opening it up, but…” He flattened his palms on the glass and leaned over to squint down at the tower. “I might be able to get it going just long enough for you to get your files, Mr. Hobnish.”

Mr. Hobnish straightened. His bushy eyebrows the same titanium white as his hair rose high in surprise and interest. “You know computers?”

Cole laughed, leaning back. “Not really. I mean, I took a few computer classes in college and I know the basics, but I’m no expert.” He pointed at the clunker in the corner. “But I’m pretty sure I can transfer your stuff from there to a backup drive, or another computer.”

Nodding, Mr. Hobnish’s thoughtful gaze went to the clutter taking up his shop. “I don’t have another computer at this time. I would have to order something from the city. Might take a few weeks. Will it be okay until then?”

Cole nodded. “Yeah, just don’t do anything else with it and let me know when you get it in. I’ll drop by after work and have a look at it.”

Mr. Hobnish’s face broke into a wide grin. “Well, boy, you might have just saved me a small fortune sending this piece of garbage out to get seen. What would I owe you?”

The look of bemuse was almost comical on Cole’s face. “Owe?”

“Yeah, for getting my things transferred over, and for hopefully helping me set up the new one when it comes in.”

Startled blue eyes shot from Beth to the man across the counter. “I didn’t think…”

Mr. Hobnish silenced him with a wave of his hand. “You will let me pay you. I insist.”

“Well…” Cole rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “We can talk about that when you get your new computer.”

“Well, that was unexpected,” Beth remarked after they’d waved goodbye to Mr. Hobnish and found themselves continuing down the sidewalk.

Cole’s chuckle was tight. “Yeah.”

“I’m really glad you can help him,” she continued. “It was really nice of you.”

He shrugged. “Don’t thank me yet. Like I said, I only just know the basics. I might not be able to do anything, except set the new one up.”

“I believe in you.” She blushed and quickly looked away when he turned his head and caught her eye. “It was still nice of you to offer.”

The silence that followed strained around them like a comfortable wrap, enveloping them in its peace. Beth watched the lights pop on, flooding the streets with their yellow glow. Most of the town’s people were already home, snuggling down to watch the late news and getting ready for bed. Overhead, the sky was a mess, reminding her of an overzealous child painting with too many colors, creating a gross color of gray.

“I hate winter.” She sighed. “It’s so gloomy and depressing.”

“Not always.” Cole smiled down at her, all lopsided and cute like she remembered. “The winter festival.”

Memories of their nights spent at the town hall, dancing and laughing as glitter filled the air and fake fog twirled around their feet, brought a happy smile to her mouth. The whole set up was always cheesy with cardboard stars wrapped in tinfoil and country music from the sixties. Georgia May Hadley had been horrified when Beth had suggested a DJ rather than the clunky boom box they were using. But it had still been strangely magical.

“That was one of the things I missed most about Willow Creek.”

“Yeah?” He searched her face. “What else did you miss?”

Rather than let her answer, he twisted around her and grabbed the handle of the door they were passing. He jerked it open to allow a gust of warm, grease scented air to blow over her. Yellow light spilled from the diner onto the dark sidewalk, illuminating her. Beth almost laughed. Instead, she shook her head in amusement and ducked inside.

Ma’s diner held the lingering few who slouched over mugs of coffee or finished up a late supper. Patsy Cline crooned about falling to pieces through the Jukebox. It was muffled by the low screech of fan blades cutting slices through the muggy air.

Beth led the way to the register and the pretty blonde standing on the other side. She smiled at them, then smiled wider when her gray eyes went past Beth to Cole.

“Hey, Cole!”

Cole offered her a slight grin and an inclination of his head. “Dawn. How’s your evening?”

“Great!” she said with a dramatic plunge of her hands on her hips, which simultaneously thrust out her perky breasts. “How’s yours?”

Dawn had never made it a secret she wanted Cole. A lot of girls did, even before Beth had left. Maybe it was because there were so few as good looking, charming, and educated—in Beth’s opinion—but the female population of Willow Creek seemed to always gravitate towards him.

Beth had never said as much, but it had always prickled her insecurities. Just as it had severely driven her crazy when she found out his best friend was a girl. She wasn’t proud of it, but for all her independence, Beth’s fear that he would leave her for someone prettier had always been a fragile thread between them. Until the night she caught Cora in his lap and that thread had snapped. Watching Dawn try and lure him now curdled something inside her, making Beth want to pull away and distance herself from the two, distance herself from the inevitable. He had found a replacement for her once, what was stopping him from doing it again? They weren’t even together this time. He was a free agent. He could have anyone. He could have someone from his town, someone who was accepted and loved by the people. He would realize that and he would leave her, just like James had left her and her father had left her. Leaving was what the men in her life did. Somehow, she was always replaceable for something better.

“It’s been quiet,” Cole was saying when Beth thought to focus.

He wasn’t looking at Dawn. He seemed genuinely interested in the menu board over the girl’s head, even though it hadn’t changed since Ma opened the diner back in the Stone Ages.

“I think I want pie,” he decided with great affirmation. “Pie and coffee.”

It was the same thing he always picked when they would make their stop at the diner during their walks. He would order coffee and pie. She would get coffee and cake. They would find a corner booth and snuggle before heading back home.

Those memories, the feelings behind them, speared through her chest like a knife. It cut into her oxygen until she couldn’t seem to catch her breath. Her brain flashed a million different images as voices roared between her ears, screaming at her to leave, demanding to know why she was even there, insisting she was an idiot, a useless, worthless idiot with no sense. She didn’t belong there.

“Beth?” Cole was watching her when she muffled the turmoil raging through her. “Cake?”

It was such a simple question and the answer had always been yes, but the impact of it, the reality behind it, crashed into her like a two ton truck.

“I can’t do this.”

Cole blinked. “Do what? Order cake?”

Panic wedged like a tight fist in her throat, stifling all speech process. She could only shake her head and edge toe to heel away from him. He caught on quickly when the gap between them extended.

“Beth, wait—”

“I’m sorry,” was all she could manage to wheeze before her flight or fight reflexes kicked in and she hurried from the diner.

The icy winds slammed into her face the moment she was safely on the sidewalk. It crammed down her throat, up her jacket and stung her eyes. Her cheeks burned where the tears froze on her skin. She tried to scrub at them and only managed to scratch herself instead with her bandages.

“Beth!” Cole jogged after her. His blue eyes seemed to glow in the pathetic lamplight. “What—?”

“I can’t do this!” Her anxiety formed a white plume of smoke between them in a breathless rush. “I can’t just forget the last four years. I can’t pretend nothing happened. I can’t be the girl you remember. I can’t be her.”

For several heartbeats, the only movement from him was the rise and fall of his shoulders, the slight flare in his nostrils as he regulated his breathing. His gaze was a steady force beating against her. There was so much there, so much she wasn’t sure she could face.

“I don’t want her.” He said it so quietly she almost missed it. “I loved her. I will always love her, but she’s not the person you are right now and this version of you is the one I want.”

Chapter Nine ~ Cole

It was the alluring scent of coffee brewing that prodded Cole out of the most uncomfortable knot across the office sofa. He groaned along with every single one of his muscles as he forced them to unfurl and return to their normal length. His vision blurred as vertigo nearly took the floor out from under him.

He staggered blindly to the door and threw himself through. The hallway swung. But nothing short of the apartment tearing in two and getting swallowed into the ground was going to stop him from getting as much of that magical brew into him as possible.

Beth stood framed by the window, clad in nothing but a long, purple shirt and socks. Her hair was a tangled mess down her spine. A mug rested in the cupped palms of her wrapped hands and she was taking careful sips while watching the sun cut a gash in the horizon. The pale, predawn light cast a halo around her, drawing out the natural hints of auburn hidden throughout the dark curls. Even from a distance, he could smell her lavender scent. It was something so familiar¸ that no matter where he was, or what he was doing, the minute he caught weft of it, her face was the image it conjured.

The boards beneath his feet creaked. The spell was shattered. The light behind her turned her into a silhouette when she faced him. But even then, it was impossible not to spot the sharp stiffening of her shoulders, or the sudden jerk of her entire body as if her brain couldn’t decide whether to run or stay.

She stayed.

He took that as a good sign.

“Morning.”

She unglued her feet from the hardwood and hurried to the counter. She set her cup down a bit awkwardly. Some of the coffee sloshed over the rim and soaked into her wrap, turning the salmon colored fabric a dull brown.

Cole took a step towards her.

“It’s okay.” She didn’t exactly run, but her posture shifted away from him. The gesture stung more than he cared to admit. “I’m going to be changing them anyway.”

“How are they? Your hands,” he clarified when she glanced at him.

“They’re all right.” She looked down at her hands. “I still can’t close them, but it doesn’t hurt when I touch things. I guess that means they’re getting better.”

It shouldn’t have made him sad, but it did. Her getting better and finding a reason to leave before he had a chance to convince her to stay built an anxious fire deep in his belly.

“That’s good,” he mumbled for lack of anything better.

She continued to study her fingers. “I, uh, found the coffee.” Her head came up. The light from the window reflected off the surface of her eyes, reminding him of polished emeralds. “And the pop tarts, and apples and the bread.”

“Good,” he said.

“You didn’t have to do any of that.”

Saying nothing, he moved around her and the counter to step into the kitchen. He let the silence deepen as he grabbed a mug and poured himself a cupful.

How was it that since his declaration, the tension had somehow intensified? It had become so thick, he could cut it with a knife. Maybe it had been a fool’s errand. Maybe he shouldn’t have told her. But all he could think about was Lily telling him not all surprises were good and he had wanted to be honest, to let Beth know he was willing to fight for them. Instead, the only thing he’d accomplished was to push her away even more.

“What did you want to do today?” he asked her with his back still turned.

“Take a shower,” she said straight off the bat. The desperate way she said it made his lips curve around the rim of his mug. “Then maybe head over to see Lily and the girls?”

Cole shot a glance towards the clock. “If we hurry, we might be able to catch them before Calla goes to school. But in case.” He reached for his phone and disconnected the charger from it. “You should call Lily and make sure she’ll be home.” He took the phone to Beth and set it down in front of her. “Since she started her studio, she’s impossible to keep track of.”

Beth chuckled, but it was aimed at the phone. “I’m glad it’s working out for her.”

So was he. If anyone deserved good in her life, it was Lily. Lord knew she’d had enough problems and somehow lived through all of them. Aside from her family, her pictures meant the world to her.

“If you’re done your coffee, I’ll start your bath,” he said instead. “Then I’ll drop you off at Lily’s.”

She opened her mouth, possibly to thank him and that thought pissed the crap out of him. Her being polite and all grateful for things, when he would do so much more for her, infuriated him.

He hurried out of the room without meeting her eyes.

He was hiding in his office, straightening out his bed when Beth found him. Her gaze went from him to the futon and back with mild curiosity.

“Why don’t you pull it open?” she wondered.

Cole shook out the blanket he held and folded it in half twice. “The desk gets in the way.” He tossed the blanket down, set his pillow on top. “The room isn’t big enough.”

She didn’t respond to that and he was out of things to fold.

“I’m sorry I took your bed,” she said. “We can switch if you like. I’m smaller so the futon—”

“We’re not switching,” he cut her off. “You’re not sleeping on a futon. This is fine.”

Her mouth closed and he considered that the end of the conversation.

“Okay, but wouldn’t it be easier—”

“I said no!”

Rather than quit, she pursed her lips and frowned at him. “It makes sense.”

“What makes sense is getting you showered and dressed.”

He slid around her and started for the bathroom. He noted she didn’t flinch away. He took that as a sign, as pathetic that as that was. At that point, he’d take anything.

When the tub was filled with water and enough soap to hide as much of her body as possible, he stood and watched as she approached him. Her steps were hesitant, tense. But she made it all the way into the bathroom and only jumped slightly when he shut the door behind her.

Just focus on her eyes! The voice in his head advised as it had every time he helped get her in, or out of her clothes. It was a safe place to fall into. It kept his hands and mind on track.

That was what he did. He traced the contours of her eyes, the slight upturn at the corners and how perfectly proportioned they were on either side of her nose while dragging her shirt up her thighs. He counted her lashes as the material cleared her hips. He skimmed her finely arched eyebrows as it reached her midsection. He looked nowhere else, not even when the shirt passed over her head and slid down her arms.

It was tossed to the corner and forgotten. A moment later, her panties followed.

His breathing became tight and he blamed it on the steam rising off the water. He undid her wraps.

“I tried not to make the water too hot,” he told her, needing to think of anything but how completely naked she was.

“Okay.” Her voice sounded as thick as his.

“But you should still keep your hands out,” he went on. “I’ll do the rest.”

“Okay.” It was a barely perceptible croak.

Settling both hands decently around her waist, he helped ease her into the tub. He kept his hands on her until she was fully seated and covered to the chin in bubbles. Her arms were draped over the sides and she leaned back.

“I’ll do your hair first,” he told her, as he detached the showerhead off the wall. “Close your eyes.”

It took longer than he expected to wash and rinse her hair. Most of that time was spent stalling, avoiding the inevitable. But when it was done, there was nothing left to do but grab a clean facecloth, lather it up in lavender scented body wash and set to work gently rubbing it over her face and down her neck. He changed course and scrubbed the back of her neck, the blades of her shoulders, and the length of her spine.

“It’s okay,” she murmured when he faltered.

It wasn’t okay. He had the mother of all boners and she was asking him to do her front. There was nothing okay about that. But to say no would only further make an awkward situation worse.

Taking in a breath, he ventured upwards, following the curve of her spine to the slope of her shoulder. He didn’t let himself think. His hand traveled down, across her chest. He wondered if she felt the tremor, or if that was her when he passed over her breasts. Cole kept his eyes on the rim of the tub, on the faucet, on anything but her face, or his hand.

They felt exactly like he remembered. Their weight filled his hand perfectly. Even through the cloth, the nipples were hard. A sound left one of them. Beth shifted and he wasn’t sure if it was forward or back. He decided not to linger. Just in case.

He worked down her stomach, over one hip and along one leg and up the other to the junction. The breathy gasp wasn’t his. He was too busy grinding his teeth together. The sound made his cock twitch and his hand turn inward.

It hadn’t been planned. Lord knew he’d done his damnedest to be a gentleman. He’d thought of everything from warts to baseball. But what the hell was a guy supposed to do when her thighs parted around his hand and her hot core was pressed into his palm?

“Cole…” Her low whimper was the end of whatever resolve he had.

“Damn it.”

The cloth floated off somewhere in the water. There was nothing between him and her but a slick center and her heat. God, she was so hot, and maybe it was just a tub full of water, but damn she was wet.

His fingers glided over smooth skin and neatly trimmed patch of hair. Folds were parted and he ran over the magical little bump that made her entire body jerk. Water rippled, rising over the porcelain walls and her. Her breasts rose over the bubbles, shiny with soap and dotted with stray bubbles. His gaze lingered on their dusky peaks, poking up with every ragged breath. Her knees broke the surface. Her legs parted. He was given complete freedom to end her suffering.

His lips brushed her temple. His finger found the tight ring of her center and eased through.

He groaned. “Jesus, baby.”

She felt as inviting as she always had. Her walls shivered around the second finger. He worked up as far as his knuckles would allow and watched with dark hunger as she bowed under his hand. Blood welled in her lips under the tight wrench of her teeth. Her lashes were sooty fans splaying over flushed cheeks.

“You’re so beautiful, Beth.”

Her eyes fluttered open. Dark pupils extended across the forest of green. They locked with his and all he wanted was to taste her. But common sense prevailed.

He pulled away and quickly rose to his feet. Her sound of confusion tore at him. It whipped at the beast he was fighting to restrain.

“I can’t,” he murmured, whether it was to himself or her, he was uncertain. “I can’t keep touching you and wanting you and knowing that when it’s done, you’re going to push me away.” He reached for a towel. “Go ahead and call me selfish, but I want all of you, not just your body.”

No words were exchanged between them, not while he dried her off, not when he helped her dress, not when he did her gauze and bundled her into his car and drove to Lily’s. Cole didn’t press her. Truth be told, he didn’t think he had anything else to say either. He’d told her exactly where he stood. She had yet to tell him a damn thing.

Lily was outside when Cole pulled up to the house. She was bundled all the way to her eyes, sitting on the front steps next to another tiny, equally bundled person. And neither looked pleased.

Cutting the engine and pocketing his keys, Cole hurried out of the car.

“Lily?” He yanked open Beth’s door, helped her out with only half a mind on the task. But the moment she was out, he hurried to the pair by the house. “What happened? Calla?”

The girl burrowed her face deeper into the folds of her arms, ignoring his concern.

He looked to his best friend for answers.

“Calla doesn’t want to go to school,” Lily said. “Which she is already late for.”

“I’m not going back there!” Calla’s voice was muffled, but the words were clear. “I hate all those people.”

“She won’t tell me,” Lily said when Cole shot her a questioning glance.

He focused his attention on his daughter. “What happened, baby?”

“Can you handle this?” Lily asked, already pushing to her feet. “I have to get Willa dressed and fed.”

Cole waved her on. “Take Beth with you?”

The other woman had come up and was standing at the bottom of the steps. Lily motioned for her to follow and the two disappeared inside.

Cole took the spot Lily vacated. “Tell me what happened.”

Calla said nothing.

“I can’t help if you don’t tell me.”

“They’re all jerks,” she said hotly. “I hate ‘em!”

“Hate is a very powerful word, Calla. You shouldn’t use it unless you mean it.”

Her head came up, her blue eyes shining with tears. “I mean it!”

He gently brushed away a stray tear before it could freeze. “Tell me what happened. I’ll fix it. I promise.”

Her tiny chin wobbled. “They said I wasn’t natural.”

Cole frowned. “What? Who?”

“Damon Comb.” She frowned as though the name tasted disgusting. “He said I was instuous.”

Cole’s confusion only grew with every new clue. “What does that mean?”

“I dunno!” Calla exclaimed. “But the other kids laughed. They started calling me a freak because you and mommy were friends. They said that wasn’t normal.”

“What’s not normal about it?”

She shrugged.

“Baby, you do realize those kids are one too many straws short of a full barrel, right? None of the things they said to you make any sense.”

“Doesn’t matter,” she mumbled. “I’m not going back.”

“Well, you gotta go back. You need to finish your education, and when you’re rich and famous—”

“They think it’s weird that you and mommy had me and then mommy and Uncle Sloan had Willa. They said it wasn’t right and that it was instuous.”

“Incestuous!” Cole finally realized.

“Yeah, that.”

Cole sighed. “Calla, do you know what incestuous means?”

She shook her head.

“Your mommy and I are not related. She’s my best friend and I love her, but she’s not my family.”

“But I thought she was!”

“She is, but…” He trailed off as he realized just what a tricky conversation this was about to get. “She and I don’t share the same blood like you and I do, or Uncle Sloan and I do. Uncle Sloan and I are related. He’s my brother. But Uncle Sloan isn’t your mommy.”

“Ew!”

Cole chuckled. “Exactly. There is nothing wrong with you, or with our family. We’re not like most, that’s true, but remember that talk we had a while back about all the different kinds of people that make a family?”

Calla nodded.

“Now you just need to ignore Damon Comb, because he’s clearly not the brightest tool in the shed, okay?”

Her nod, the second time was reluctant.

“Good.” He kissed the top of her head. “Now, go get your things. I’ll take you to school.”

He followed her inside and shut the door behind them. She hurried into the living room to grab her backpack while Cole ventured into the kitchen where all the adults seemed to be gathered.

“What’s going on?”

Lily turned away from the counter, a steaming mug in hand. Beth and Sloan were seated at the table, cups of coffee in front of both of them.

“How is she?” Lily asked.

“She’s good.” Cole moved to take the cup out of her hand and take a long sip. It was full of sugar and cream. He pulled a disgusted face and passed it back. “Getting her things. I’ll drive her.”

“Thanks, Cole.” Lily sighed. “Did she tell you what was wrong?”

He nodded. “Who’s Damon Comb?”

Lily shrugged. “One of the boys in her class. Why? Did he do something?”

“He’s a little fucker.”

“Cole!”

“He told Calla she was incestuous.”

Lily’s face bunched up in confusion. “Incestuous? How is that—?”

“Exactly.” Cole folded his arms. “He made the other kids laugh at her and tease her.” The more he thought about it, the angrier he seemed to get. “Who’s his father? I’d like a word with him.”

“Cole…”

“No! He needs to put a damn leash on his little bastard,” he snapped. “He’s got no right talking to my kid that way.”

“I’ll deal with it,” Lily soothed.

Cole clenched his teeth. “Yeah, well, that’s not good enough.”

He drove Calla to school, kissed her on the cheek, and told her he’d see her after school. Then he watched his little girl shuffle up the path towards the gray stone building with her head down and her shoulders hunched up around her ears. The sight only intensified the fury coiling like fire through him. His temper snapped and growled the whole day. He was still riding his mad when Luanne Chavez poked her head into the office.

“Morning, Cole.”

Cole looked up from his papers and forced himself to return her smile. “Morning, Mrs. Chavez. Everything all right?”

Her expression turned sheepish as she shuffled up to his desk. “This might sound a bit crazy, but I’m hoping you can help me.”

Cole sat back in his chair and motioned for her to take one of the two across from him. “I’ll do my best. What can I do for you?”

She sat, holding her purse tightly in her lap. “I’m having some problems with my laptop. It’s running real slow and it’s taking ages to get anything done. I went to Mr. Hobnish hoping he’d have a spare I could buy until I could get around to ordering another one, but he seems to be having computer troubles himself.”

Cole nodded carefully, not certain where this was going. “I spoke to him about it last night.”

“Yes.” She smiled widely at him. “He mentioned you were going to help him and I was hoping…” She grimaced sheepishly. “I know this isn’t your usual job, but I was hoping you could have a look at it and see if there’s anything that can be done.”

“Look at what, exactly?” he wondered.

“My laptop,” she said. “It’s not very old and I would really rather not have to pay someone in the city to look at it if there’s a possibility you could fix it. I would pay you, of course. For your time and any parts that might be required. You would really be doing me a great service.”

Surprised, but seeing no harm in it, Cole shrugged. “I can do that. I’m picking Calla up from school later this afternoon, but I can swing by after dinner, if that’s not too late?”

Mrs. Chavez beamed. “No! That would be perfect. Thank you so much. You can bring Beth along with you, if you like.”

He didn’t even bother to ask how she knew that.

“Thank you.”

When she left, Cole picked up his phone and called Lily to let her know he would grab Calla and drop her off at home.

“All right,” she said. “Just make sure she has everything? She forgets if you don’t remind her.”

Promising that he would, he hung up and waited until three when he could see his little girl.

The school yard was a mess of children screaming and running to get as far away from the place of torture as possible. Cole remembered Lily and him being like that. He’d wait for her by the basketball hoops and they’d hurry back to his house for snacks. They seldom went to hers. He always felt bad asking for things when he was over there, because they rarely ever had much more than water. Lily never commented about it, but he suspected she knew why he avoided her house.

Calla’s class was in front. Other parents stood peering through the window, waiting for their spawn to make an exit. Each one was stopped by the teacher at the door and made to point out the person who was taking them home. When Calla came out, her blue eyes brightened and her face lit up when she spotted Cole.

“Daddy!” She pointed enthusiastically with a gloved hand.

Cole bent at the knees and scooped her up into his arms when she bounded towards him and launched herself at him. He crushed her close and nuzzled the warmth of her cheek.

“Hey, baby, how was your day?”

“Okay.” She drew back and he saw it at once, the red rimming her eyes and the streaks of dried tears on her cheek.

His arms tightened even as fury lashed through him. “What happened?”

Her small face crumpled and she quickly hid it in his shoulder. “They were still mean to me.”

His gaze swung over the faces still around them. Each little boy that left the class made him wonder if that was the little bastard whose parents he wanted to kick across the fucking yard for not teaching him better.

“Which one’s Damon?” he asked his daughter.

Sniffling, Calla raised her face and peered at her classmates. “That one.”

She pointed to a boy of six with a head full of dark hair and shrewd blue eyes. He stood next to a man with similar features. The man was saying something to the kid and pointing at a picture while the boy stared mutely at the ground.

“Okay.” Cole patted Calla lightly on the back. “I’m going to take you to the car, and then I’m going to have a word with Damon’s dad. Man to man.”

He took Calla to his car and strapped her securely into the backseat. He turned the heat on, left the engine running and waited for the pair to walk by.

He didn’t wait for very long.

“What’s the matter with you, huh?” the man was saying to the boy. “Are you a faggot, boy? No one colors the sun pink, unless they’re a faggot.”

The boy said nothing. He walked like a miniature-sized shadow behind his father. He paused once to pick something off the sidewalk. He examined it in the palm of his hand before stuffing it quickly into his pocket and scurrying after his father.

“I won’t have any son of mine sucking cock. You just wait until we get home. I’m going to beat the gay outta you, you’ll see.”

Cole stepped in front of the pair. His earlier fury had evolved into something else, something cold and hard. It balled around his fists and curdled in the pit of his stomach. His gaze dropped to the boy who had raised his face after bumping into his old man’s legs. His blue eyes were haunted, standing bright and sharp against the faded shadows of a bruise. There was a handful of freckles scattered across his nose and over his cheeks. His face was unnaturally pale, making the splotches of diminishing yellow all the more visible. Half-moon circles hung in dark rings beneath his eyes. There was a scab on his bottom lip that looked about two weeks old. Cole recognized the signs all too well.

“Got a problem?” the man snarled.

Cole turned his attention away from the boy to meet the other man’s blue eyes squarely. “My father was a man like you,” he said quietly. “A mean drunk who loved kicking the shit out of his kids.”

Something sparked in the man’s eyes. Fear maybe. But it was quickly covered by arrogance.

“What I do with my kid is none of your fucking business.”

Cole gritted his teeth together, stifling the many things he wanted to say. Instead, he replied, “You’re right.” His gaze moved down to the boy who had gone back to staring at his worn sneakers. “It’s not.”

“Are you done, or was there some other fascinating life story you wanted to share?”

“What’s your name?” Cole found himself asking.

The man’s eyes narrowed. “How’s that your business?”

“Because I want to know the name of the man I’m going to destroy if he lays one more hand on that kid.”

Damon’s head came up sharply. His eyes were round with terror as he looked from his father to Cole. All color had been leached from his face. Even his lips were bloodless.

“I didn’t say—”

“Shut up!” The man growled at him before cutting Cole a vicious grin. “You can’t prove shit.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” Cole closed the foot separating him and the man who stood a good three inches taller than him. “I am not the kind of person you want as your enemy, Mr. Comb. I will ruin you, if I don’t kill you first.”

“Is that a threat?”

It was Cole’s turn to fill his grin with all the hatred and anger rampaging through him. “No, Mr. Comb. That was a promise.” Cole took one last look at the boy, was met with those enormous eyes full of pleading, and had to resist the urge to snatch him up, stuff him in the car, and leave. “We’ll meet again,” he said to the boy. “Soon,” he added to the father.

Calla was watching his every move when Cole circled the car and got in behind the wheel. She didn’t say anything, but he could feel her confusion and concern beating against the back of his skull. This was a side of him he was careful to never show her. He couldn’t even recall the last time he’d raised his voice to her. And while his frustration and rage wasn’t directed at her, she had to be a little afraid.

“It’s all right, baby,” he assured her quietly. “Want to take a ride with daddy?”

Her blonde head bobbed in the rearview mirror.

He took one last look at the two walking away and prayed to God he hadn’t just made things worse for the boy.

Chapter Ten ~ Beth

For a four year old, Willa was an unusually quiet child, Beth thought as she watched the girl color feverishly inside her coloring book. Calla was never that calm, she recalled. The other girl had been a whirlwind of activity and noise at four. But Willa was content just to sit and color all day if allowed.

“What are you going to do when Willa’s in school?” Beth asked.

Lily shook her head. The steam from the pot boiling on the stove pushed strands of hair back from her flushed face.

“Sleep in?” She laughed. “I don’t know. I still have to man the office here and there’s my photography, so I guess not much will change.”

Beth nodded slowly. A purple crayon rolled away from the pack and bumped into Beth’s water glass. Willa’s head came up, she stared at it like she wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do, but made no move to take it back. Beth nudged it into place next to the others.

“Thank you,” Willa whispered, and went back to coloring.

Lily was watching them when Beth looked up. “Ever think about having one of your own?”

“A crayon?” Beth teased.

Lily swatted her with a towel in passing. “A baby.”

Beth eyed Willa. “Yeah, a time or two, but Cole was always dead set on waiting until we were married. Like people can’t have children without a piece of paper.”

“Being married isn’t so bad,” Lily said, taking the seat next to her daughter. “It’s actually kind of nice being with the man you know you want to spend the rest of your life with.”

“It doesn’t always work like that,” she mumbled, watching as Willa crudely colored in a bird yellow. “Sometimes it only sounds like a good idea in theory.”

“I’ll be honest.” Lily smiled a little wistfully. “I really thought you and Cole would be together forever. But I guess everything looks perfect from an outsider’s perspective.”

Beth shook her head. “No, I thought the same. And it was perfect. Maybe a little too perfect.”

With a chuckle, Lily frowned. “How can anything be too perfect?”

“When my parents met, my mom was seventeen,” Beth murmured. “My dad was twenty-five. They were crazy about each other. I mean so much so that they defied everyone, including my mom’s parents. It got so bad that they disowned her and threw her out of the house. But that didn’t stop them. They got married when she turned eighteen. A year later, they had me. Everything should have been perfect. They were soul mates, if you believe in that kind of thing. Instead, he started cheating on her and she OD’d. I always wonder, if they hadn’t married then maybe…”

“Aw, Beth.” Lily reached across the table and set her hand lightly over Beth’s bandaged one. “Them getting married had nothing to do with the way things turned out. Honestly, the way it sounds to me, they were young. At least, she was and they stayed together for the thrill of it being forbidden. When that thrill died…”

Beth shrugged. “Maybe, but I’d die if Cole looked at me the way my dad used to look at my mom.”

“Do you honestly see that happening?” Lily gave her half smile. “That boy is so gone over you that I don’t even think he knows how to get back from it. Even after you left, he waited for you. He never said as much, but I knew he was hoping.”

“The day I left, he was already moving on just fine with someone else.”

Lily arched a brow. “Do you mean Cora Kennedy?” She rolled her eyes before Beth could answer. “He told me all about that and I will tell you right now that he came here that night, drunk off his horse. I remember it as clear as I remember this morning, because Cole and Sloan don’t drink, not in all the years I’ve known them and that night was the worst I’ve ever seen him.” Lily pulled her hand back at last. “I’m not telling you to do something you don’t want to do. If you don’t think there’s anything there anymore, then hell yes you should leave. But if the only thing keeping you guys apart is your parents’ mistakes, then I think you need to think long and hard on whether or not you’ll ever find that kind of love again.”

Leaving Beth to think it over, Lily rose and hurried to the pot of pasta boiling on the stove. Willa continued to color with all the focus no four year old should possess. The rest of the house was quiet, but she knew it wouldn’t be for much longer. Any minute now, Cole would arrive with Calla and Sloan would get home from work and the house would be full of voices and movement.

“Lily?”

Rapping the ladle against the lip of the pot, Lily set it down and wiped her hands before turning to Beth. “Yeah?”

“I still love him.”

The blonde grinned. “I know.”

Beth was on the verge of pegging the woman with a crayon for being so smug when the front door opened. Lily’s brows furrowed. Her gaze jumped to the clock on the wall.

“It’s not Sloan,” she mused. “I better check. Could be a customer.”

No sooner had she taken a step towards the door when a tiny voice called out, “Mommy!” and Calla barreled in. She threw herself at her mother’s legs and clung.

“Hey, sweetheart!” Lily scooped her up, backpack and all, and kissed her noisily on the pinkened cheek. “How was school?”

Whatever Calla’s response was, Beth didn’t hear it. Her attention had all reverted to the figure that stepped into the doorway after the girl. Her heart missed a beat at the sight of him a split second before she saw the dark cloud behind his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” She was out of her seat before she even realized she was moving.

Cole spared her a fleeting glance before his gaze went to Lily. “Where’s Sloan?”

Setting Calla down, Lily met Cole’s eyes. “He won’t be home for another ten minutes. What happened?”

Rather than answer her, Cole looked down at the tiny person tucked into her mother’s side. “Can you take your sister upstairs, please? Daddy needs a minute with Mommy.”

Nodding, Calla reached over and prodded Willa hard in the shoulder, jerking the girl’s arm and leaving a streak of green across the page.

“Hey!” Willa wailed.

“Calla, that was not nice,” Lily chided.

“You’re so stupid!” Willa raged, pitching the crayon at Calla’s head. It beaned off the girl’s forehead.

“She threw a crayon at me!”

Lily grabbed Calla by the backpack before she could launch herself at her sister. “That is enough, you two! Calla, take your sister upstairs. Willa, no more throwing things.”

Scooping her things up, Willa stuck her tongue out at Calla before marching from the room. Calla huffed, rubbed her forehead, and followed.

“Calla, hang your things up before you go upstairs!” Lily called after her.

“Maybe one,” Beth mused quietly to herself.

Lily looked at her. “What?”

“I think I only want one,” she decided solemnly.

The two women laughed at the joke. But it died quickly when Cole shifted in the doorway, regaining their attention.

“What do you know about Damon Comb?” he demanded once he had Lily’s focus.

Lily shrugged. “Not much.” She turned to the stove and snapped the element off. “He and his dad live on my old street. You know the one with the broken fence? I’ve seen the father a time or two when I’ve gone to visit my parents. Never spoken to him though. Why?”

“Where’s his mom?” Cole asked instead.

Lily was silent as she strained the pasta and brushed a limp strand of hair off her brow. “Uh.” She blew out a breath and turned to Cole. “Never seen her, actually. She left while Damon was still in diapers. Crack addict, if I’m not mistaken.” Her eyes narrowed. “What did you do, Cole?”

“Nothing … yet,” he mumbled while shrugging out of his coat. He slung it over the back of Beth’s chair.

He refused to discuss the matter after that, stating he wanted to wait for Sloan, which thankfully wasn’t very long. Sloan walked in, ruddy-faced and filthy. His coat was pitched aside somewhere inside the kitchen doorway and he marched straight to his wife without even bothering to notice Beth and Cole. He jerked her into his arms.

“Missed you,” was all he said before his mouth closed over hers.

Lily melted into him with a guttural moan that reverberated with the core of her desire. Her hands slid into his hair, clasping him tighter to her as he devoured her. The sleeve of her sweater rode up to her forearms and Beth blinked at the red welts circling her delicate wrists, like Lily spent her free time being handcuffed. Truthfully, the way the two behaved sometimes, Beth wouldn’t have been surprised if the woman did.

“Ahem.” Cole cleared his throat.

It had no effect on the pair whatsoever. Only when they were good and ready did Sloan lift his head and peer down at the tiny woman in his arms. He said something only she could hear, but whatever it was had the fire in Lily’s eyes darkening. It was the look of a woman two seconds away from taking her man wherever he stood, be damn who saw.

“Promise?” she replied in a throaty murmur that was somehow a whole lot more personal than anything they’d done so far.

Sloan smirked. He touched her bottom lip with his thumb. “Try and stop me.”

“Okay, we’re still right here,” Cole interjected, having been staring at the ceiling the entire time like it had all the meanings to life.

Giving Lily one last hot kiss, Sloan turned to them. “I can see that.”

Visibly relieved that it was over, Cole turned his gaze downward and met his brother’s eyes. “I need to talk to you.”

Sloan’s face tensed. “Everything okay?”

Cole made everyone sit down before he would tell them.

“He’s beating that kid something stupid, Sloan. I know it.”

The chair under Sloan creaked loudly in the silence of the kitchen as he leaned back. One hand was lifted and used to scrub at the dirt and grime marring his weary face.

“Are you sure?” Lily asked.

Cole leveled her with a look Beth had only seen on his face once before, when he’d asked her why she was leaving. It was heartbroken and angry.

“I know that look, Lil,” he said. “I’d recognize it anywhere.”

Sloan lowered his hand and let it drop onto the table. “I don’t know what we can do, Cole.”

“Well, we’ve got to do something!” Cole argued. “He can’t stay there.”

Sloan looked to Lily.

“He’s right, baby,” she murmured. “We’ve got to at least try something.”

“No one did anything for us,” Cole piped in quietly. “Everyone knew, but not one ever stepped in to help. And he’s alone, Sloan. He doesn’t have a big brother to take the beatings. He’s got no one.”

Sloan sighed heavily. “I can call Sheriff Henley. Maybe he—”

Cole shook his head. “I went there after I picked Calla up. Sheriff said if there isn’t a report, or if the kid doesn’t say anything…” He looked down at the table. “He can’t do anything.”

“Where does this guy live?” Sloan asked.

“No!” Lily said at once. “You’re not going to go over there. Do you honestly think that will make it better?”

“I wasn’t going to do anything,” Sloan told her. “Just drive by, make sure everything’s okay.”

Lily narrowed her eyes. “I don’t believe you.” She looked between Cole and her husband. “I know you two. You’ll do something that will make things even worse for Damon. We need to be logical about this.” She glowered at Cole. “You’re a lawyer for crying out loud. Isn’t there something you can do?”

“Yeah, I’m a lawyer, not a damn cop,” he shot back. “If there was something I could do, don’t you think I would have already?” He rubbed a frustrated hand back through his hair. “I hate knowing he’s there right now with that monster. Who the hell knows what he’s going through? Is he hurt? Is that bastard beating him? Where the fuck is his mother?” The last part was said with a vicious snarl that was followed by the slam of Cole’s fist on the table. Beth jumped. “Why isn’t she protecting him?”

“Maybe she can’t,” Beth murmured. “Maybe she’s scared.”

Cole’s eyes sparked with a rage that terrified her. “She’s scared? What about him? He’s just a kid. It’s her job to keep him safe.”

With a growl, he shoved out of his seat and marched from the room. They heard his boots in the hallway and then the slam of the front door.

No one spoke. The hum of the refrigerator filled the silence. Lily rose and went to the pasta turning hard in the strainer. Sloan stared down at the table, his expression as dark and angry as Cole’s. Beth didn’t know what to feel. Her heart hurt for Damon, for the little boy she’d never met, but wanted to gather up into her arms and protect. No child should ever face pain under the hands of the person they were supposed to love and trust. She understood Cole’s frustration perfectly. The same cold sliver was embedded in the pit of her own stomach, urging her to get up and do something.

But what?

There was no sleep for Beth that night. She lay sprawled across the bed, staring at the square patches of light cutting across her ceiling. Beyond her slightly ajar door, the apartment was bathed in silence, the sort that assured her Cole wasn’t sleeping either, or his snores would have been shaking the walls. It was the knowledge that they were both silently suffering in the same way, over the same thing, that propelled Beth out of bed. Her feet made no sound as she crossed to the door and out into the hallway. The light from the bathroom led her to the only other door there.

It was closed firmly. She stared at the doorknob and the hand hovering inches from it, unable to bend. That single inability twisted something in the pit of her stomach and she started to back away.

The door flew open. Beth wasn’t even given a chance to react when a hand reached through the opening, closed around the front of her top and she was dragged inside. The door was shut behind her.

Cole peered down into her upturned face. His hair was mussed from the pillow and a day’s worth of growth darkened his jaw. He looked beautiful.

Neither said a word. He led her to the futon, and still not speaking, he pulled her down with him. His bicep was tucked beneath her cheek, doubling as her pillow. The blanket was drawn around them both and his arm became a comfortable weight resting around her middle, tucking her firmly into the curve of his body. His slow, even breaths warmed her ear. They lifted and fell against her back. Beth closed her eyes as his steady heartbeat pattered against her shoulder blade.

It was unclear when exactly one of them moved, probably her, but when Beth opened her eyes the next morning, she was half draped over Cole’s chest. They were a tangled mess of arms and legs, and she wasn’t even sure which leg was hers. Her cheek was mashed into his chest and his arms were possessive bands around her and one of them, probably him, had kicked the blankets off. But it had been the best sleep she’d had in four years.

“Morning.” The low, gritty murmur rumbled against her cheek before ruffling the hairs at the top of her head.

“Morning.” She shifted, inconspicuously checking for drool before lifting her head to meet his half-lidded eyes. “I’m sorry for squishing you all night.”

Cole snorted. “Are you kidding? That was the best damn sleep I’ve had in ages.”

“I feel bad for taking up both your beds,” she said, rather than admit she felt the same.

One hand unlocked from the small of her back and slid up to push her hair off her face. “You can take as many of my beds as you want, Beth. Besides.” His grin was lopsided and sleepy. “I was on my way to your bed last night. You just beat me to it.”

Beth blinked. “You were?”

He nodded. “I was going to beg you to let me stay the night.”

Her cheek brushed the soft cotton of his shirt as she rested her head back over his beating heart. “You wouldn’t have had to beg.”

His answer was the skim of his fingers up her back, moving to slide into her hair and cup the back of her head.

The early morning calm closed a pale blanket around them. Beth shut her eyes and let herself fall into the familiar peace Cole always brought her. Part of her never wanted to leave.

“I’m going to drive Calla to school this morning,” Cole murmured.

Memories of the previous night clouded in around her moment of happiness and Beth’s eyes flew open. She raised her head and met Cole’s blue eyes.

“I want to come with you.”

His fingertips ghosted the curve of her cheek. “I’d like that.”

He helped her bathe and dress before taking a shower himself and meeting her fully dressed in the kitchen. Beth had started the coffee machine and the scent of it filled the apartment. He poured them each a cup while she took down a box of pop tarts and stared at the empty spot where the toaster used to reside.

Cole burst out laughing. “I guess it serves you right for killing my toaster in the first place.”

Beth glowered at him and set the pop tarts back on the shelf. “Not funny.”

Filled with nothing but coffee, the two left the apartment and made their way down to the car.

Calla was waiting on the front steps when they pulled up to the house. She waved and bounded down the steps. Cole honked the horn three times to let Lily know they’d arrived before rolling out of the car and scooping Calla up into his arms. Whatever he said to her was muffled by the door slamming shut behind him. A moment later, he had his daughter strapped into the backseat and was turning to face the blonde huddled in the doorway. The two waved. Then Cole was behind the wheel and they were off.

“Morning, Calla,” Beth said, twisting around in her seat.

“Morning!” Calla said cheerfully. “Are you going to work with my daddy?”

Beth shook her head. “No, I’m just coming along for the ride. Is that okay with you?”

Calla nodded. “Yup, Mommy says family is always welcome.”

Something settled hard on Beth’s chest, but she didn’t have the courage to tell the girl she was no longer family. Instead, she offered the girl a smile and returned to facing the windshield. She caught Cole watching her and she looked away.

Willow Creek Elementary was like any other school, but smaller. There were two stories of gray stone and about a million windows. Children were everywhere, running and practically trampling all over each other trying to get out of the cold. Cole opened Beth’s door, then Calla’s. The three made their way to the sidewalk to join the other parents and kids.

“Bye, Daddy!” Calla tugged Cole down for a quick kiss before rushing off. She got as far as the classroom doors before spinning on her heels and running back. She threw her arms around Beth’s legs, squeezed tight before letting go. “Bye, Auntie Beth.”

This time, when she ran off, she didn’t come back and Beth was left staring at the spot with a deep ache in her chest.

“Did you tell her to say that?”

Cole never glanced at her. “Nope.”

Lily must have, she realized with a sick sense of dread. She let it go. For now.

“Do you see him?” she asked instead, peering over the many faces all around them.

Cole shook his head. “Nope.”

The gnawing in her stomach grew, becoming a pang that nearly doubled her over. She had no idea what Damon Comb looked like, but she searched for him, begging the heavens he would show up. All she could picture was this tiny person, bloody and bruised, huddled in a corner as the dark shape of a man loomed over him, hands balled, prepared to unleash another round of hell. She’d seen enough of that in foster care for it not to be a full exaggeration of her imagination. She had only been there for three years, but the horror of it was an ugly, smudged handprint smearing the white of her soul. She didn’t wish that sort of punishment on any child, especially not the ones that were left abandoned and alone with nowhere to go but the system, only to have that same system beat them even further. It didn’t ruin everyone, but it had never done her any favors. From the moment she’d returned from school to find her mother a cold, gray heap across the kitchen floor, mouth foaming and eyes filmed over, her entire world had become one giant eggshell. Each day, she had waited for it to crumble out from beneath her and send her spiraling into the same black void that had swallowed her mother, and each day she fought like hell never to let that happen.

Except with James. He had nearly broken her. She had been so certain that he could give her the love she wanted so badly. Instead, he had taken her virginity in the backseat of his father’s pickup and spent the next year pretending she didn’t exist. Leaving him and that school behind was the only good thing about being taken away.

Her father, the only person left who should have loved her, never even bothered to see if she was still alive after he walked out. He left her to the hands of neglectful, hateful, cruel, and abusive foster parents and overworked and underpaid social workers without a single thought. She had been completely alone and afraid with no one to turn to and wondering what she’d done wrong to deserve so much pain.

Then she’d met Cole. He had smiled at her from across the coffee cart and Beth had done the only thing she knew how to do: she’d tried to run. Instead, she managed to dump half her coffee down her front and got a boy she really hadn’t thought she deserved. He was too nice, too charming and funny. He made her feel warm and safe, but more than that, he made her feel like she wasn’t lost. That was still the case and she, despite all her best efforts, was still that scared little girl waiting for her eggshell to crack.

But it wasn’t her own life she was worried about this time. It was Damon. It was fear for him and all the things that could have happened that filled her with a numbing chill.

“Cole…”

His arm slipped around her waist and she was pulled into his side. He turned his head for just a second and brushed a kiss to the side of hers.

“It’s all right, baby. I’ll find him.”

But they didn’t. Damon Comb never showed up that morning.

“He’s hurt,” Beth decided at once as they rode back into town towards the apartment.

“Don’t.” From the driver’s side, Cole unclenched one hand from around the wheel and rested it lightly on Beth’s knee. “Panicking isn’t going to help the situation. I’m going to take you home, then I’m going to make some calls.”

True to his words, Cole parked the car outside the building in his usual spot and helped her upstairs. But rather than let her go, he drew her into his arms. His lips brushed the crinkle between her eyes, smoothing it out.

“I’m going to fix this,” he promised with such conviction it was impossible not to believe him. “I’ll make sure he’s all right.”

Beth gave herself those few precious seconds and melted into him like she used to. Her face nuzzled the freshly shaven skin of his jaw and she inhaled the spicy scent of his cologne until she was drunk on him. But even that wasn’t enough to mask the gnawing sense of dread that refused to dislodge.

“I’ve never even seen him, but I’m so scared he’s hurt,” she confessed. “Does that make me sound crazy?”

He shook his head. “No, it makes you the woman I fell in love with.”

She squeezed her eyes shut tight as his words smoothed over her wounds like healing balm. “Don’t say that.”

“That I love you?”

The matter of fact way he said it, like it was the most natural thing in the world, suffocated her of all other words. All she could do was nod helplessly and wish she was strong enough to pull away.

“I would,” he mused quietly. “Except I do love you, Beth. I’m damn near crazy about you. Not saying it won’t make it any less true.” He drew back, took her face between his warm hands and waited until she had no choice but to open her eyes before speaking again. “Not going to ask you to say it back. I know we’ve got a lot of things to work out, but I’m a patient man, sweetheart, and I’ll be right here waiting for you.”

Not giving her a chance to settle the riot of her heart, he kissed her tenderly on the cheek before leaving.

Alone in the apartment, Beth shut her eyes and tried to prioritize her worries. There were so many that they had become a dark wave repeatedly slamming into her, threatening to take her under and she wasn’t ready to let go. There was still so much she needed to sort out. Plus there was Damon. What she’d said to Cole stood true; the boy was a faceless figure in the vast ocean of all her worries, yet he stood out the brightest, like a beacon, glowing bright against the night. But it wasn’t her safe return to land, but his. She had to bring him home, wherever that was. It made no sense. There was no rhythm or reason behind the sudden obsession, yet it was all she could think about.

Mind made up, she left the apartment after a few minutes of struggling with the doorknob. The car was in its usual parking spot, but Cole had the keys. Not that it mattered. She wasn’t even sure she could steer with her hands and wouldn’t risk the lives of others in attempting to drive.

Instead, she walked. The town wasn’t nearly big enough to worry about getting lost. It was all about following the main road. The paved path was like an artery giving life to all the little veins. The area she was headed into was on the outskirts, tucked away from the town and most of its more … acceptable residents.

She had been to Lily’s parents’ street a few times in the past. The roads weren’t paved even though it came off the main street. The houses were dilapidated and minutes away from being condemned. Lily’s old house was the only one that seemed even remotely kept up to date and that was only because of Sloan. Even in the harsh light of morning, each building was a squat demon waiting to pounce. Beth tried not to think about it as she eased slowly up the street. She squinted at each yard, searching for the one Lily had described the night before. Not many had fences, broken or otherwise. But she found the one she was looking for and stopped in front of it.

The windows were black where the drab, paisley patterned drapes hadn’t been pulled closed. The yard was a mangled mess of upturned earth and dead grass. There was a concrete path leading off the dirt road to the rickety front porch. At some point, someone had hammered down a series of white planks around the front and down the sides. But they must not have done a very good job. Most of it bowed to the house while the other half lay scattered across the lawn. She wasn’t entirely sure she had the right house, but it was the only one with a small broken truck in front.

Nevertheless, her feet refused to take part in her idiotic decision. They remained firmly rooted just before the stone slabs.

What was the worst that could happen? She kept asking herself, her stomach a writhing pit of snakes. I’ll walk up, knock and ask for directions, or to use their phone. I’ll see that Damon’s on the sofa, cuddled under blankets, groggy from a cold and not a broken and bloody mess and leave.

Comforted by her half-baked logic, she willed her legs to move. The wind felt wonderful against the sweat plastering her clothes to her skin as she took her first step. Her heels clicked on stone as she crossed the path to the door. Taking a deep breath, she raised a hand and knocked.

Minutes clicked by one after another before she knocked again. She glanced at the houses around her, expecting someone to be watching, but it wasn’t that sort of neighborhood. The people here didn’t care one bit who was at whose door.

She knocked again, ignoring the sting in her hand from her burns.

“Hello?” she called. “Is anyone home?”

Only the whistle of the wind blowing through the bare branches of the oak tree out front answered her back.

Biting her lip, she stole another peek at the blank windows peering back at her from the surrounding houses. Certain that no one was watching, she left the porch and circled the house, looking for a low window she could peep through.

She didn’t find one. But she did find the rotted pyramid of stairs leading to grimy terrace doors. The boards groaned beneath her weight. She placed each foot gingerly, holding tight to the rickety banister all the way to the top. The window was a smudge of handprints, filth and dirt, but she used her jacket sleeve to clean as much of it off as possible before cupping her hands and peering inside.

The room was dark, but she could just make out the bulky shape of a sofa, a TV, and a coffee table. There was no movement in the place.

Wondering if maybe she had the wrong house, or worse, Damon was hurt so badly they had to take him to the hospital, Beth took a careful step back. Her gaze went to the latch. She stared at it, her heart and mind racing.

It’s now or never, the voice told her.

Wetting her lips with an anxious tongue, she took hold of the handle, ignored the scream of her hands as nearly healed skin tore and jerked.

The window rolled seamlessly along its tracks and Beth found herself stepping over the threshold.

“Hello?” she called again. “Is anyone home?”

Silence greeted her. She took it as a sign and carefully closed the terrace door behind her.

The place smelled of sweat, burned macaroni, cigarettes and stale beer and despair. The latter was more of a feeling than a scent. Beth tried to ignore it as she edged around an armchair towards the doorway across the room. She noted there were no pictures on the walls, no toys or books. It was a man’s house, sparse and ill kempt. There was only one reclining chair facing the TV while the sofa was pushed far against the wall. Anyone sitting there wouldn’t even be able to see the screen. There was a TV tray next to the recliner filled with cigarette butts and beer bottles. A belt lay discarded underneath it and Beth tried not to think what it had been used for.

The hallway was broken into three sections. The left went to the front door. The right opened to absolute darkness and straight ahead was a set of narrow stairs. She ignored the right and started up the stairs. The top landing was a thick coat of black and she was too afraid to turn any lights on. Her heart was a frantic mess in her chest, screaming for her to run, to get out. But she knew she couldn’t until she knew for sure that Damon was all right.

Digging into her back pocket, she brought out her phone and turned the flashlight app on. The harsh, white light spilled over a straight hallway and four doors.

Carefully, she eased forward, ears straining for even the slightest sound. She contemplated calling out, but that was just stupid and she’d already done enough stupid things for one day.

A low cough caught her attention. Her flashlight swung from side to side as though it could somehow point an arrow in the direction of the sound. Her feet quickened, moving past one, then two doors until she was at the last one on the end. A moan echoed the second time and she reached for the doorknob. The light jittered in her unsteady hand.

Please don’t let it be a dog. Please don’t let it be a dog.

Taking a breath, she pried the door open and passed the light through first.

The spotlight hovered over a bed, a dresser and a tiny figure sprawled face down across the hardwood. Something dark was puddled under it that shimmered when the light spilled over it.

“Oh God!”

Pushing the door open wider, Beth hurried inside. The phone was set down, face up so the whole room was cast in a pale glow. She scooped the bundle up, turning him over in her arms.

“Damon?”

His mouth was bleeding. His nose was bleeding. There was a gash at his temple and a litter of bruises across his jaw and around his eyes. His little body was limp. His every breath jagged and raspy.

“Damon!” She pulled him closer, holding him as tightly as she dared without causing even more pain. “Open your eyes, baby. Come on,” she pleaded.

A low, wet gurgle sounded from his throat that could have only been a whimper and her heart shattered. Tears blinded her and she had to bite back her own sob.

“It’s okay,” she whispered.

Bruised eyelids opened to thin slits of listless blue and met hers.

Beth tried to force a smile, but her calm was ruined by the tear that slid down her cheek. “It’s okay,” she said again. “You’re safe now. I’m going to get you out of here.”

His eyes slipped closed and he was limp in her arms once more.

“Damon?”

The uneven rise and fall of his chest was the only response she got. Thinking quickly, Beth gathered him up into her arms and carried him to the bed. She lay him down and drew the blankets around him.

“Don’t … go…” Tiny fingers curled around her hand when she tried to pull away.

Her heart wrenched. “I’m not going anywhere. I won’t leave you.” She gently smoothed back his hair on the side not caked in blood and brushed a kiss to his brow. “I promise.”

He seemed to relax. His fingers released her and she moved quickly to her phone. Snatching it up, she hurried back to the bed, quick dialing the sheriff as she went.

Chapter Eleven ~ Cole

The first thing Cole did when he got into the office was call Luanne Chavez.

“Hello Mrs. Chavez. It’s Cole McClain. I just really want to apologize for not being able to come and have a look at your laptop last night. Some unavoidable circumstances came into play and I just lost track of time.”

“Don’t worry yourself over that,” she said sweetly. “It happens to the best of us. I’m about to head on out myself, but I can swing by your office on my way to the grocery store and drop the laptop off. That way you can work on it when you got some time.”

Cole shook his head even though she couldn’t see it. He started to tell her he’d come to her, it was the least he could do for standing her up, when his cellphone buzzed across his desk. He faltered mid speech as Beth’s name came up on the screen.

“Mrs. Chavez, can I call you right back?” He hung up before she could respond and snatched up the cell. “Beth?”

There was a roar of some sort on the other end. It sounded like wind and raised voices and the strange chatter of people over mics.

“Beth?”

He heard her breath before she spoke. “Please don’t be upset with me.”

His heart dropped like a stone into his stomach. He was out of his chair before he could even process his next move.

“Where are you? What happened?”

“I did something and I think I might need a lawyer.”

He couldn’t think straight by the time Sloan pulled down Lily’s old street. The police barricade only intensified his frenzy as he threw himself out of the Mustang while it was still moving and ran to the ambulance.

Beth hadn’t given him the whole story. She hadn’t told him why she was on that street or why the sheriff was thinking of arresting her, only that she was there and she needed him. It was sheer luck that Sloan didn’t have a job that morning and was at Cole’s office in a matter of minutes to pick him up, because Cole did not trust himself to drive anywhere when all he could see, feel, and taste was sheer panic.

She was standing behind the sheriff’s cruiser, arms folded tightly around her shivering frame. Her shoulders were up and she was staring imploringly at Henley as the sheriff explained something. But it was the blood … so much fucking blood and it was everywhere, on her face, her hands, her clothes … in her hair. Cole’s entire world seemed to tilt for just a second before it all came screeching back. His own breathing roared between his ears. His heart was a wild drum beating out of control. He was barely aware of someone trying to stop him. Then they were gone and he wasn’t sure, but he might have shoved them. He barreled towards Beth.

He must have called her name. Maybe even screamed it. Her head shot up. Her green eyes were wide and bright against her pale complexion. They filled with tears when she saw him. Then her arms were open, waiting for him and he was there, yanking her into his chest.

“Are you hurt?” He jerked her back just as quickly, gripping her shoulders in what was probably a painful hold, but he was scared shitless that she might somehow vanish if he let her go. “Are you hurt?” he demanded when she didn’t say anything.

Her bottom lip trembled. “It’s not mine.”

He thrust her back into his arms, crushing her. “It’s okay. I’m going to make this okay. Shhh.” Planting a kiss to her brow, he turned to the man standing in front of them. “What happened?”

The sheriff sighed. “Ms. Doan here is currently under arrest, Mr. McClain. You can ask your questions, as her lawyer, at the sheriff’s office.”

Cole’s arms tightened around Beth. “What are the charges?”

“Breaking and entering into the home of one Eddy Comb.”

“I’m sorry,” Beth murmured into Cole’s chest.

Cole shushed her gently while he tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together. His gaze roamed over the parked police cruisers and the ambulance taking up the entire street. Then he glanced at the house that seemed to be the object of everyone’s fascination.

It was a dump like the rest of the houses along the road, but he knew exactly whose house it belonged to.

“What did you do, Beth?” he whispered just for her ear.

She didn’t have to answer. The EMTs pulled out through the front door, a gurney between them. A small, still figure was hidden beneath blankets. He was wheeled down the pathway and lifted into the back of the ambulance.

“Wait!” Beth tore out of his arms. “I have to go with him.”

“You are not going anywhere,” Henley told her. “You’re under arrest.”

“No!” She turned those pleading green eyes towards Cole. “Please, I have to go with him. I promised I wouldn’t leave him.” She looked to Henley. “Please. You can arrest me and charge me and do whatever you need to do, but I have to be there when he wakes up.”

“Sheriff,” Cole quickly jumped in, “You’ve known me my whole life, correct?”

Henley narrowed his eyes. “What’s your point, McClain?”

“My point is that you know I’m good for my word. I promise to bring Beth in personally tomorrow morning if you could just see it in your heart to let her stay with the boy until he wakes up. I will take full responsibility for her.”

Henley furrowed bushy eyebrows. “Boy, do I look like some kind of fool? This here ain’t no negotiation.”

“No,” Cole agreed. “But I would consider it a personal favor. You know I can be trusted,” he pressed. “She will not leave my sights for a minute. I swear it.”

Henley continued to glower at him. Then he glanced at Beth. Then at the ambulance.

He sighed. “You got until morning,” he told Cole. “If she’s not in my office at the crack of dawn, I will arrest the both of ya.”

Cole inclined his head. “Fair enough. Thank you.”

Beth threw her arms around the other man’s neck, taking them all by surprise. “Thank you!”

The sheriff frowned at her, but there was no heat behind the scowl. “You just remember that I will hunt you down if you try and run.”

Beth nodded. “I promise. Thank you.”

Not waiting for the sheriff to change his mind, or for Cole to walk with her, Beth turned and hurried to the ambulance. Cole watched her duck inside before turning to face the sheriff once more.

“Thank you again, Sheriff.”

“Yeah well, I got a shit hole father to track down anyhows. Seems a tad bit more important right now.”

Henley muttered something about going soft in his old age before ambling away.

Cole turned to Sloan standing a few feet behind him and exhaled. “Thanks for the ride.”

Sloan nodded. “Let me know what happens.”

With a wave, Cole jogged to the ambulance just as one of the EMTs was about to shut the doors. He took the seat next to Beth.

She didn’t notice. Her whole focus was on the boy. His tiny hand was clutched in one of hers and she was using the other to stroke the side of his face.

The kid looked bad. Someone, probably Beth, had cleaned his face, but there was no scrubbing away the sheer brutality of what had happened to him. Both his eyes were haloed in dark rings that spread across his nose and down his cheeks. His lip was bloody, the skin broken in an ugly gash that would probably need stitches, so would the cut at his temple. Cole couldn’t see the rest of him, but he had a feeling Damon’s tiny body would be a road map of horror.

Just like Sloan, he thought miserably. But Sloan hadn’t been six when their father laid in on him. Sloan had been older. Their mother had stepped between them and their father until she passed. Then there was no one. But Damon was so small. He was so fucking small.

“Is he going to be all right?” Beth raised her head and fixed teary eyes on the EMT sitting across from them.

“Won’t know until we get him checked,” the man answered grimly.

Taking a shaky breath, Beth straightened. She looked towards the front and the windshield.

“Can’t you drive faster?” she snapped at the driver. “Put the damn sirens on or something. Come on!”

Cole took her shoulders lightly and pulled her back into him. “He’s going to be all right.”

She shook her head. “You didn’t see him, Cole. You didn’t see his tiny body all crumpled and…” She broke off when her voice hitched. “He just left him there in a puddle of blood, just … on the floor like garbage. How could anyone do something like that?”

Cole was trying to figure that out himself.

“The doctors will fix him,” was all he could think to say.

“Then what?” Tears slid in endless rivulets down her cheeks to drop off her chin and dampen the front of her jacket. “They’ll put him in foster care? I’ve seen what foster care does to kids. I was older so I got lucky, but the younger ones…” She turned her head to peer down at Damon. “He’s already gone through so much.”

“One thing at a time, baby,” he whispered into the side of her head.

The minute they reached Willow Creek Memorial, Damon was wheeled inside and they were told to stay in the waiting area. Beth paced. Cole let her until she brought her dirty fingernails to her mouth.

“We should change your bandages,” he told her, taking hold of her hands before they could touch her lips.

Refusing to listen to her protests, he led her to a chair and gently removed her jacket. He pushed up her sweater sleeves and began unraveling the wraps.

The burns along her arm had mostly started to scab over, but her hands were smeared in blood from where she’d torn skin. The cracks were shallow and no longer bleeding, but he knew it would only set her recovery back.

“I’m going to find some bandages, okay?” he said. “Just stay right here.”

He found a nurse who gave him several rolls of gauze, some disinfectant wipes, and cream. Cole returned to find Beth still sitting where he’d left her. She didn’t stop him as he cleaned her up, wiping away the blood from her face and hands and rewrapping her wounds.

“Tell me what happened,” he said, hoping to distract her while getting the story. “Why were you at Damon’s house?”

She turned those sad green eyes on him. “I couldn’t just go home and wait for something to be done,” she murmured. “I only went hoping I would see him and see that he was all right. The backdoor was open so I…”

Cole hissed through his teeth. “Beth.”

“I’m not sorry I went!” she snapped. “If I hadn’t, Damon would still be lying there, or worse.” Her mouth set in a stubborn line and she averted her eyes. “I would do it all over again.”

“As your lawyer, I suggest strongly you not to say that to the sheriff.” He was trying to make her laugh, but all he got was a sigh that crushed his heart.

“I’m sorry I got you dragged into all this.” She looked down at her hands lying palms up in her lap. “I feel like you’re constantly running to my rescue lately.”

“Hey.” Cole reached for her chin. He turned her face to him. “I’m not.”

“Not sorry, or not always running to my rescue?”

He grinned. “Sorry. I kind of like being the hero.”

Beth smiled. “I won’t argue that.”

“I’m going to fix this,” he told her. “I won’t let you go to jail.”

“I appreciate that.” Her smile was weary. “I look horrible in orange.”

He flicked her gently on the nose. “Don’t make light of this, woman.”

She captured his hand, drew it across the armrests separating them and held it in her lap. Then she lay her head on his shoulder and Cole said nothing else.

It was nearly an hour before the doctor came to let them know Damon’s status.

“He has a minor concussion,” was the first thing he said. “As well as multiple lacerations, contusions, and swellings. Nothing life threatening that I’d be concerned about, but I do want to keep him a night or two.”

“I’m going to stay with him,” Beth volunteered immediately.

Dr. Partridge peered at her from over the plastic frames of his glasses. “Usually we only allow family—”

“His family is the reason he’s here!” Beth shot back. “He’s scared, hurt, and alone. I’m not leaving! Please, Dr. Partridge.”

Dr. Partridge looked on the verge of arguing, of pressing the policy, but he seemed to come to some inner conclusion and nodded instead.

“I’ll let the nurses know.”

The tension melted out of Beth’s shoulders. “Thank you.” She straightened her spine. “When can we see him?”

The doctor took them to a cramped little room with two beds and a window. A curtain was drawn, cutting the room in half, giving just enough room for the two narrow cots. A large, burly man with several bruises on his ruddy face and gauze around his head glowered at them from the first bed. Beth barely spared him a glance as she hurried to the next one.

Damon was a tiny pale figure on a sea of white. His dark hair was a harsh contrast to his surroundings. It was washed, the soft strands shone in the late afternoon light filtering through the massive bay window overlooking the bed. An IV was threaded through his right arm and more wires hooked him up to the machines recording his heart. There was white plaster covering his forehead and a small stitch on his lip and his small face was a mess of black and blue blossoms, but his breathing was steady and he didn’t seem to be in pain.

Cole turned to the doctor. “Can we move him to a private room?”

“We could, but that would cost extra and—”

“That’s fine.” Cole reached into his pocket for his wallet. “I’ll take care of it, and any other expenses he might have.”

The doctor looked at the card Cole held out to him and sighed. “You will receive a bill in the next week or so that you can pay downstairs at the front desk. In the meantime, I’ll put in a request. It might take a little while—”

“Please make sure it’s for tonight.” Cole glanced at the curtain separating Damon and the surely man on the other side. “I don’t want him to get scared when he wakes up in a strange place with a strange man next to his bed.”

The doctor nodded. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Doc?” Cole stopped him before he could take off. “How bad is it really?”

The grim, downward curl of his lips said it all before he spoke. “It’s nothing out of the ordinary for someone who has suffered a lifetime of physical abuse,” the doctor muttered. “He has fractures on his ribs, a few bones that have been mended crudely due to lack of medical attention. But I think he’ll be okay. I did every scan on him I could think of and there’s no internal bleeding, or anything that might cause me concern. There’s no swelling on his brain, which was the first thing I checked when I felt the bump on his head. From what I can see, he’ll be in pain for a little while, but he’ll be okay.”

“What?” Cole pressed when the doctor abruptly broke off and frowned.

The doctor opened his mouth, closed it, shot a glance to where Beth had dragged a chair over to the bed and sat stroking Damon’s hair. He motioned for Cole to follow him out into the hallway.

“Under circumstances like this,” the doctor murmured once they were alone. “I have to report all incidents that involve children to Social Services. It’s protocol,” he expressed as though afraid Cole might jump him. “Damon’s injuries are clearly signs of abuse.”

“Okay?”

The other man drew in a breath. “Someone will be here tomorrow to take charge of him.”

“A worker,” Cole said.

The doctor nodded. “I didn’t want to say it in front of Beth. She’s clearly very fond of the boy. It might upset her, but maybe you could make her understand that someone is coming to take care of him and make sure he’s safe.”

It was unlikely that Beth would see the news as a good one. Cole was all too familiar with her thoughts on foster care and social workers. But he nodded to the doctor and let him head off. Cole remained in the hall, wondering what to do next.

That was where Beth found him. She walked over and rested a gentle hand on his arm.

“What’s the matter?”

He knew there was no point lying to her. She would find out sooner or later.

“Social Services is coming tomorrow to get Damon.”

Beth snatched her hand back like he’d burned her. “What?”

“You know the drill, Beth!” His own frustrations sharpened his tone. “They won’t send him home after this.”

“They can’t put him in foster care, Cole.” She peered at him with the same pain and sorrow she always got when the subject was brought up. “It will destroy whatever innocence he has left.”

He reached for her. “Maybe he won’t have to go there. Maybe they’ll take him to family.”

“Family?” she spat out. “More people like his father?”

“You don’t know that.”

She scoffed rudely and averted her eyes. “Violence stems violence.”

While the comment wasn’t directed at him, Cole felt the words like a sharp slap.

“Is that what you think? That children of monsters grow up to become monsters, too?”

Beth seemed to realize the error of her words immediately and cursed. Her anger evaporated as she reached for him.

“That is not what I meant and you know it.”

Cole didn’t believe her. “Is that why you left? Because you were worried that I would suddenly become like my father?”

“No!” The fire was back, hotter than before. “I was afraid you would become like mine!”

At least she was honest. That was the thing about Beth, she was always honest, even if it hurt.

“I’m not him!” he snapped back. “I’m not your father, or my father. I’m me. I’m the same guy I was the day we met. I’m the same guy who would walk through fire for you. I will always be that guy, because the only thing that has ever mattered to me was my family and you and I would die for both.” He paused to catch his breath. “The funny thing is that from the moment I met you, every other girl dulled drastically in comparison. To this day, that still hasn’t changed.”

“Until one day—”

“Never!” he cut her off. “You were the first girl I ever fell in love with and I know without a doubt that you are my last. It’s you, Beth. It’s you or no one.”

It was unclear which of them moved, but she was suddenly in his arms, his fingers in her hair, her face lost in the curve of his neck. He gripped her with such ferocity he was certain he was cracking bones, but she didn’t complain and he didn’t relax.

“I love you, baby,” he whispered into her ear. “I love you so much it hurts.”

Her arms tightened around him, choking him. “I’m scared, Cole.”

He shook his head. “Don’t be. I won’t let anything hurt you.”

She drew back to peer up into his face, her green eyes shimmering like gems. It took every ounce of his restraint not to dip his head and taste her slightly parted lips, especially when they were mere inches from his own.

“I don’t want to be wrong again,” she said quietly. “I don’t think I’ll be able to put myself together again a second time.”

He smoothed back hairs off her cheek. “I know what I did was wrong and I don’t blame you if you can never find it in your heart to forgive me again, but all I’m asking is that you give me a chance to spend my life making it up to you.”

Her fingers were cool and soft sliding along the side of his face. She cupped his cheek. He felt the shift of her weight as she used him to arch up on her toes. His arms tightened around her, keeping her pressed to him as her mouth got closer.

“Cole! Beth!”

As much as Cole loved Lily, he wanted to pitch a shoe at her head as she, Sloan, and the girls hurried down the hall towards them. Beth pulled away just as Calla darted away from Sloan’s grasp and threw herself at Cole. He hoisted her up into his arms and perched her on his hip.

“Hey, baby.” He kissed her cheek before turning his attention to his brother and best friend. “What are you guys doing here?”

“We came to see how Damon was,” Lily said. “Sloan told me what happened. I can’t believe his own father would do that to him.”

“You shouldn’t have brought the girls,” Cole said back. “It’s a hospital. Who knows the sort of germs floating around?”

Lily scoffed. “I’m sure it’s nothing compared to the germs they share at school. Besides, we’re not staying long. Mom and Dad invited us over for supper. We just stopped here on our way to see if there was anything we could do.”

Beth shook her head. “He’s sleeping right now, but thank you.”

“What did the doctor say?” Sloan asked.

Cole set Calla down gently before addressing the question. “He’s in a bad way. Bastard did one hell of a number on him. From what the doc said, it’s not the first time either. He’s been taken apart and put together one too many times in his six years.”

Lily pressed her hands to her heart. “Poor baby.”

“Any word on whether or not they caught his father?” Beth asked.

Sloan shook his head. “I talked to the sheriff after you two left and it’s like he’s gone underground, which can’t be too hard to find in a town the size of Willow Creek, unless he caught wind of what was happening and high tailed it outta here. Either way, the sheriff has put out an APB.”

“So, that’s it? They’re not going to go out searching for him?” Beth asked.

“Oh, they’re going to search,” Sloan answered simply. “They’re going to find him, too. I’m going to make sure of that even if I have to hunt him down myself.”

Lily placed a small hand on her husband’s arm, possibly to calm him down. “Will Damon be all right?”

Cole nodded. “The doctor says he’ll recover just fine … physically, but it’s going to be a long road before he’s all right emotionally, or mentally.”

“Can I see him?” Calla peered up at her father. “I made him a card.” She dug into her pocket and unearthed a crumpled and folded piece of pink construction paper. She held it up for Cole to see the brown stick figures next to a square building he assumed was the school. “That’s me.” She pointed to the stick figure with yellow spaghetti coming out of its head. “And that’s Damon.” The second stick figure had a frowny face and was placed as far away from the first figure as possible. Across the card were the words get better in crude, childish print.

“That’s real pretty, sweetie,” he said.

“I’ll take you in,” Lily told her, taking Calla’s hand. “But you have to be quiet, all right?”

Beth went with them, tugging Willa along, leaving Cole alone with Sloan.

“Tell me the truth,” Sloan said immediately. “How is he?”

Cole sighed. “I have no idea. The doctor said there was no swelling or internal bleeding, but damn it, Sloan, he shouldn’t be in there.” He ran a hand over his face. “I can’t help but wonder if it was this bad this time because of what I did. Maybe if I hadn’t interfered, Damon would be all right.”

“You know that’s not how it works,” Sloan murmured. “You know people like his father and ours don’t need a reason to get mad. They just always are and it could have been anything that set him off.”

Cole shook his head. “I don’t know.” He ambled over to a row of chairs pushed up against the wall and dropped into the stiff plastic. “I still feel responsible.”

Sloan’s boot buckles jingled as he cross the floor and took the chair next to him. “You’re doing what you can for him now and that’s what matters.”

Cole could only shrug. “Social Service workers are coming tomorrow to determine what to do with him.”

“That’s good,” Sloan said. “Maybe he has family who will take better care of him.”

“Or he has no one,” Cole countered. “And he gets lost in the system like thousands of other children.”

Blue eyes that mirrored his narrowed. “What are you getting at, Cole?”

“I have no idea.”

It was around dinner time when two nurses came in and moved Damon’s bed into a room by itself. Cole stayed with Beth, leaving only to get them dinner and some of her favorite magazines from the gift shop downstairs. She flipped idly through a few, but he knew her heart wasn’t in it. And he had no words of comfort.

Cole was still awake when Beth curled up in the armchair and dozed off, her head pillowed on her arm. He watched the navy blue heavens outside the window and waited for dawn.

It was the low gasp that alerted him first, then the rustle of sheets as the small figure on the bed shifted for the first time since being brought in. Cole’s head whipped around just as Damon’s eyes opened. His body stiffened as his strange surroundings finally set in. Terror and panic darkened his face and Cole immediately got to his feet.

“It’s okay,” he said quietly.

Damon jumped.

Cole cursed himself. He put both hands up, palms out. “You’re safe,” he told the boy. “You’re in the hospital.”

Damon continued to regard him with fear and a mixture of apprehension.

“Do you remember me?”

There was a pause, then Damon gave the slightest nod.

“I’m Calla’s dad,” Cole went on.

At the mention of Calla’s name, the boy relaxed a fraction. The small hands that had balled in the blankets loosened.

“She made you a card,” Cole said, pointing to the piece of folded construction paper on the end table.

Damon followed Cole’s pointing finger. He eyed the card briefly before turning his head back to Cole.

“Where’s the angel?” The question was said in a raspy croak.

Cole blinked. “Angel?”

“She saved me.”

Beth, he realized with a start.

“She promised she wouldn’t leave.”

Cole edged carefully to one side and nodded to where Beth lay, curled into a tight ball. “Her?”

Damon’s face relaxed. He almost smiled. “She wasn’t a dream.”

Cole chuckled. “No, she wasn’t. She also hasn’t left your side all day.”

“Who is she?”

“She’s Beth.” Cole brushed back a curl off her temple.

“Beth,” Demon murmured her name softly, almost like a prayer. “Why was she in my house?” As quickly as the tension had left him, it returned. “Where’s my dad?”

“Easy!” Cole moved up next to the bed. “He can’t hurt you anymore.”

“Where is he?” Pure terror rang through the question.

“I don’t know,” Cole admitted carefully. “But the sheriff is looking for him. He’s going away for a long time.”

“No!” Damon thrashed against the blankets. “No, he’ll find me. He’s going to be so angry I’m not home. I have to go—”

“Whoa! Whoa!” Cole took hold of his bony shoulders and tried to keep him on the bed. “Damon, stop and listen to me—”

“I have to go!” the boy screamed.

Beth jolted. She shot upright, her green eyes wide. They jumped from Cole to Damon and widened even further if possible.

“Damon!” Dodging around the bed, she went to his other side. “Damon, it’s all right. You’re safe.”

Panting, Damon flopped uselessly down onto the pillow. Tears rained down his temples to disappear into his hairline. He stared hopelessly up at the ceiling, his thin chest heaving.

“I have to go home!” he squeaked.

“Shhh.” Beth put her arms around him and pulled him as close as possible without taking him off the bed or dislodging any of the wiring. “You never have to see that place or your father again. We’ll keep you safe. I promise, Damon.”

Even muffled in Beth’s shoulders, his cries were excruciating to hear. His sobs clawed through Cole like knives. When Damon raised his arms and wrapped them around Beth and wept like his heart was breaking, Cole’s own eyes burned. Over Damon’s dark head, Beth’s gaze met his, wet with tears and hot with the same urge he felt prowling in the bowels of his own soul. The driving determination was impossible to ignore, as he silently promised to do everything in his power to make sure her promise stayed true and they kept that boy safe.

Chapter Twelve ~ Beth

The Social Service woman that walked into the hospital room looked like every other worker Beth had ever seen, properly dressed, hair neatly made up, and a hopeless sort of glint in her eyes that was almost mandatory with that type of job. Beth knew that when the woman, who introduced herself as Stacy Barns, looked at Damon all she saw was a number on a file. He was one face in a sea of thousands. One more stop before she had to move on to the next case. She probably felt bad for his situation, felt helpless to do anything about it, but she wouldn’t lose sleep over it, because tomorrow would be another broken child and this one would be forgotten. Beth had seen more workers come and go in her life in her three years in foster care than the change of weather from day to day. She had as much hope that Stacy Barns was going to help Damon as she did that Damon’s father would waltz into the sheriff’s office and turn himself in.

“When Damon is released, he will come with me,” she said in her placating tone.

“Where?” Beth demanded.

The whole thing was a Mexican standoff with Beth on one side of the hall and the social worker on the other, clutching her files the way a knight held his shield while facing a threat. Cole stood next to Beth, arms folded, watching the display with grim weight tugging down the corners of his mouth.

“Well,” the woman said carefully. “He will be placed in a group home until we are able to locate a relative.”

“A group home.” Beth hissed the words like they were something vile. “You mean you’re going to stuff him in a house full of other kids with a family who only sees him as another paycheck?”

Stacy Barns pursed her purple lips. Her lipstick was a striking compliment to her magenta power suit and her dark complexion. Gold glinted from her ears, wrist, and throat. She was a beautiful woman, but that didn’t mean she liked her job. Being forced out of the comfort of the city to investigate a case in the middle of godforsaken nowhere had probably not been ideal. But she had come, because that was what was expected of her to get a kid she really didn’t care about. No doubt she was anxious to get back, but Beth wasn’t going to make it that simple. No one had looked out for her, or fought to protect her. She wasn’t going to let that happen to Damon.

Her dark eyes narrowed. “How long were you in the system, Ms. Doan?”

A muscle ticked in Beth’s jaw, forcing her to relax the clench of her teeth. “Not as long as he will be,” she said evenly. “And I doubt things have changed much since I was there.”

Ms. Barns lowered her gaze to the ground at Beth’s feet and she sighed. “Do you know how often I see this?” She raised her eyes to Beth’s. “A lot. Daily, even. There is a child hurt every minute, did you know that? My job is to take them away from that situation and put them somewhere safe.”

“Those houses you cram them into, they’re not safe,” Beth whispered. “I was in over two dozen different homes before I turned eighteen and each one was worse than the last. I saw more abuse in those safe places then I ever did with my crack head mother or absentee father. Don’t tell me they’re safe.”

Something akin to guilt, or sympathy passed over the other woman’s face, but it was quickly stuffed back behind the cold mask. “This is my job, Ms. Doan. If you will not allow me to do it, I will get the sheriff over here and have you forcibly removed.”

Beth opened her mouth to tell the woman she wasn’t going anywhere and was stopped by the gentle hand Cole rested on her shoulder.

“We respect what you do, Ms. Barns,” he said smoothly. “It’s clearly not a simple job, at least not one I could ever do. But I think we can all agree that Damon is the most important thing here and we all want what’s best for him.”

“Thank you, Mr. McClain,” Stacy Barns said. “I do agree.”

Cole nodded. “Good. So, it’s safe to say that Damon needs a good, stable home, even temporarily, until you can find any relatives he might have out there.”

Ms. Barns’ eyes were watchful now, apprehensive, but she nodded slowly. “Correct.”

Cole looked to Beth, the message in his eyes elusive, but determined. “Why don’t you leave him with us?”

There was a tense moment of disbelief as Beth and Ms. Barns exchanged stunned glances.

“I’m sorry?” Ms. Barns said when it became apparent that Beth was as clueless as she was.

“He knows us,” Cole explained logically. “There’s a certain amount of trust there that could be beneficial to his recovery. He certainly knows Beth, who is actually the one who rescued him. He thinks she’s an angel and asked for her the second he woke up. After what he’s gone through, I think that sort of comfort could really help. Financially, Beth and I both work and make a comfortable living, me as a lawyer and Beth as a nurse. We’re also fairly well known in the community and I think being here, surrounded by the familiar is also important in helping him cope. As for living arrangements, I have an apartment with a spare room. It’s not very far from the school, so driving him to and from would be no problem whatsoever.”

He made it sound so simple, like it was the most rational thing to do. Part of her couldn’t believe he’d come up with all of that in such a short amount of time and was certainly impressed. Even she felt compelled to agree.

Ms. Barns’ dark eyes ping-ponged between the two as though waiting for one of them to crack and shout, fooled you! When neither did, she gave a forced chuckle and shifted her weight.

“That is not how this works, Mr. McClain. There is a process and paperwork. I can’t just give children away to whoever wants one.”

Again, Beth started to tell the woman that that was exactly what she did, but was, once again, silenced by Cole’s hand on her elbow.

“We will supply any documents, or references you might require,” Cole said. “We’ll do whatever it takes.”

The clip of approaching footsteps postponed further conversation. The hall, up until that moment, had been reasonably quiet as the hospital there tended to be. All eyes turned to the two silhouettes moving with purpose in their direction. One was tall and thin, the other, still tall, but bulkier. It wasn’t until they were mere feet away that Beth recognized them.

Inwardly, she cursed.

Sheriff Henley pinned her with his ever watchful eyes, the glint in them dry and unimpressed. He was no doubt on his way to arrest her for evading arrest. Cole too, simply because she refused to leave until she knew what the social worker had planned for Damon.

She opened her mouth to explain the situation, possibly apply to his kinder side, but his gaze shifted away from her to focus on Ms. Barns.

“You must be Ms. Barns. I’m Sheriff Henley.” He offered her his meaty hand. “This is Dr. Partridge.”

Ms. Barns accepted the hand she was offered with a brisk shake. “It’s a pleasure.” She looked to Dr. Partridge and inclined her head in a brief nod. “Doctor.”

The two shook hands as well, then there was silence as their group regarded one another with curiosity. In Beth’s case … guilt.

“What’s going on here?” Henley asked at last.

“We were just negotiating the possibility of Damon staying with us until his family is located,” Cole answered as though having been expecting that very question. “We were just telling Ms. Barns that we’re good, reliable people.”

Reliable. Beth almost groaned. It was definitely not the word she would have used to describe them after they broke their promise about heading straight to the sheriff’s office at dawn.

“And I was telling Mr. McClain that it isn’t that simple, especially when one of the volunteers is being charged for breaking and entering.” She shot Beth a pointed look.

Beth felt her temper crackle up to the surface, ignoring the rational little voice telling her to calm down.

“Has he not already gone through enough?” she burst out. “All his life people have brushed aside what was clearly right in front of them. They ignored his pain. And now, when there are two people who clearly care about him and want the best for him, you’re just going to say no?”

“It doesn’t work like that,” Ms. Barns retorted. “I can’t give a child to someone with outstanding charges, or a record.”

Beth had nothing to say to that and it pissed her off. Who would have thought doing the right thing would come around and kick her in the ass?

“Seems to me like you might have been misinformed, Ms. Barns.” The sheriff adjusted his utility belt ever so slightly over the pudgy of his belly and observed the woman thoughtfully. “Ms. Doan has no charges, at least none with my department.”

Beth started. Her head snapped towards Cole, curious to see if he’d heard it too. He just offered her a small smile and slid his hand down her back to curl gently at her waist. What got to her was the lack of surprise from anyone else, except Ms. Barns, but even she seemed more disbelieving than surprised.

“Did you not put in your report, a report I have right here,” she tapped the files in her arms, “that Ms. Doan broke into the victim’s home and that she was being arrested and charged?”

Henley’s worn face bunched in deliberation, triple folding the many wrinkles crinkling around his eyes. “Now that isn’t how I recall it. Perhaps it was worded incorrectly.”

Ms. Barns’ finely penciled eyebrow lifted, her expression remaining incredulous. “Is that so?”

“I’m certain of it.” Henley scratched his chin. “As I recall it, Ms. Doan heard cries coming from the house and as a concerned citizen, she feared for the safety of the person inside. The door was already open, is that not correct, Ms. Doan?”

It was a struggle to maintain a straight face when all eyes were now on her and everything rode on her brain working double time to keep up.

Licking her lips, she nodded quickly. “That’s what happened.”

Satisfied, Henley motioned to Beth with a wave of his hand. “See? So, no breaking was involved. As far as the town of Willow Creek is concerned, she’s a hero. Saved that boy’s life. We don’t charge and arrest heroes here, Ms. Barns.”

“Uh huh.” Ms. Barns shifted her athletic frame, thrusting out a hip and planting a hand against it. “And she didn’t think to call the police rather than go into a strange house on her own?”

“Time could have been of the essence,” Beth piped in. “I thought with my nurse training, I might be able to help until the EMTs arrived.”

Ms. Barns sighed. “Look, I can see what you all are doing here, but the fact remains the same—”

“You know what?” Henley put up a hand. “Why don’t we discuss this somewhere with coffee? I think the good doctor here has some things he’d like to say as well and we’ll sort this whole matter right up.”

Ms. Barns hesitated. Her gaze shot from the sheriff and the doctor to Beth and Cole, her expression wary. Maybe she thought it was a ruse to get her away long enough to kidnap Damon from his hospital bed, Beth thought with mild amusement. But no way could she refuse.

She relented. “Very well.” She straightened her shoulders. “I have a few questions for both of you and some forms that require your signatures. Also,” she raised those dark eyes towards Henley. “I would like a copy of the actual report.”

Henley smiled. “Of course. We can drive by the station on our way to Ma’s.”

Ms. Barns blinked. “Ma’s?”

“Best chili dogs and fries in the country,” Henley boasted. He checked his watch. “Just about time for lunch anyhows.”

Dr. Partridge, who had yet to say a word, glanced at his own timepiece with deep interest. “I could use a bite.”

Henley beamed. “Lunch it is.”

For a second, a split second, Beth almost felt sorry for the woman as she was ushered down the hall between the pair. But it was quickly overshadowed by her own suspicions.

“What did you do?” She stole a sidelong peek towards Cole.

He said nothing while watching as the trio turned the corner and vanished from sight. It was only when they were gone that he responded.

“What makes you think I had anything to do with any of this?” The right corner of his mouth rose in a half grin. “Lucky coincidence though.”

Her eyes narrowed with wary scrutiny while she searched his face. “The fact that the sheriff didn’t haul me out of here in handcuffs kind of suggest you had something to do with it.”

He made a contemplative humming sound, like her logic was interesting, but otherwise irrelevant.

“I might have called him last night and had a chat.”

Beth blinked. “When did you do that?”

He pivoted on the heel of his shoes and faced her. “Around the time you were sleeping.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

He squinted at her. “You were sleeping.”

She took a calming breath to keep from hitting him. “Why didn’t you tell me this morning?”

“Because I wasn’t certain it would work. Besides.” He slipped his arm around her shoulder and guided her towards Damon’s room. “I had to make sure he didn’t come down here and haul you off in handcuffs. I have this fantasy about getting you in cuffs, but only if I put them on you.”

Despite the tension tightening her limbs, Beth laughed. “Is that a McClain thing?” She poked him playfully in the side. “I think your brother and Lily like handcuffs, too. There were marks on her wrists.”

Cole visibly recoiled. “Ugh! There goes that fantasy forever. Thanks.”

Still laughing, Beth eased out from under his arm and hurried to Damon’s bed. The boy hadn’t stirred.

Beth touched his head lightly. “Do you think she’ll agree?”

Cole moved to stand next to her and peer down at Damon’s slumbering face. The sun shone across the surface of his eyes, making them shine like the surface of a lake.

“We’ll certainly fight for it if it comes down to it.”

“Why do you care so much?” she wondered, once again amazed by the absolute love and compassion that always seemed to follow the brothers around.

Maybe it was because they never had any growing up and loving each other and those in dire need somehow filled that need, but it still never failed to awe her.

“Why wouldn’t I?” He cocked his head in her direction. “Someone needs to.”

The impulse took her completely by surprise, but she gave herself into it, into all the love and passion he brought out in her. She took his face between her hands and kissed him.

The gesture was supposed to be nothing more than a simple brush of their lips to show him how much she appreciated him and how much he meant to her. How much he had always meant to her. Instead, the second his mouth touched hers, it was as though she’d pressed her lips to the underside of a white hot frying pan. It blazed with an intensity that seemed to tear the very seams holding her together. His name broke from her very soul and he claimed it, delving his tongue deep in the recess of her mouth and stroking the fire he’d ignited. Arms wound around necks and waists. Bodies melded, closing in all the places that counted most. Heat sweltered through clothes, extinguishing all the air in the room as greedy hands closed in hair and clothes, grappling, pulling and tearing. Sharp teeth closed around her bottom lip, tugging and nibbling until she cried out. One toned thigh wedged between both of hers and she was lifted. His hands closed on her hips, holding her prisoner to his hard grinds against her center. Her sob was devoured by him.

But just as quickly as he had stirred her entire existence awake, he broke the kiss. It was only his knee and his hands that kept her upright and off the floor. He was breathing as hard as she was. His heart cracked wildly against hers. The black of his pupils had all but swallowed the blue of his eyes as he stared down into her face.

“Damn, I missed that.” He lowered his head, gave her lips a slow, toe curling kiss. “But we need to stop, or we need to find an empty room.”

Despite the heavy fog swirling her thoughts together, Beth chuckled. She lowered her face to nuzzle his chest and try and catch her breath.

“Fire was one thing we were never in short supply of.”

“It’s not just fire,” he said into the top of her head. “Fire eventually dies. What we have is something else, something infinite and unquenchable.”

Beth grinned into the fabric of his dress shirt. “Greek fire?”

Cole chuckled. “Sure, we can go with that.”

Lifting her head, she was met by his mouth again. The sizzle was still there, but it was a slow burn, and she didn’t combust. It was more of a gradual melt. It amazed her how he could scorch her to ashes with one kiss and then change gears just as quickly and melt her to a puddle instead.

“I should take you home to clean up,” he said, when he drew back.

Horrified by the meaning behind his statement, Beth clapped a hand over her mouth. “Does my breath smell?”

Of course it must have. They hadn’t left the entire night. They were still in the same clothes as the previous day. Hers were still stained with Damon’s blood.

“Oh no you don’t.” Cole dragged her back into his arms when she tried to dart away from him. “That’s not what I meant. But I’m sure you wouldn’t mind getting some of that blood off.”

“No, I suppose not,” she murmured, relaxing a fraction. “I just really don’t want to leave Damon right now. What if he wakes up? Or Ms. Barns comes back with news?”

“Well.” He smacked a hard kiss to the side of her head. “Why don’t I run home, get you some things and you can use the bathroom here? I have to go see Mrs. Chavez anyway. I’ve bailed on her twice now.”

Beth turned in his arms, tipped back her head and peered up at him through slitted eyes. “You McClain boys, I swear. How’s a girl supposed to resist you lot?”

He smirked, dark and severely sexy. “That’s the point, babe. You’re not supposed to.”

Her laughter died when Ms. Barns walked back into the room, void of Sheriff Henley and Dr. Partridge. All the happiness Beth had been feeling fizzed out and died in that split instant. Dread formed a cold grip around her gut. Unconsciously, her body shifted, blocking Damon from the woman’s view, like the prim Ms. Barns were somehow personally responsible for his pain.

“At ease, Ms. Doan.” The woman offered her a half smile. “I’m not here to fight.”

Cole splayed his hand gently between Beth’s shoulder blades. “What’s the verdict, Ms. Barns?”

“Well.” She glanced down at the files she still held, snorted a chuckle before facing them once more. “It seems the sheriff and doctor can’t say enough good things about the two of you. You’d think you ran around in you free time saving kittens from trees, or something the way the doctor says it, Ms. Doan. As for you?” She swung dark eyes towards Cole. “The sheriff is all but ready to hand you the key to the city, or town as it were.” She chuckled. “Both swore up and down to my supervisors that they couldn’t possibly find a better home for Damon and they’d be crazy not to give that boy the home he deserves. I have to be honest.” She shifted her stance, clasping both hands around the files. “I’ve been at this job a long time and maybe that means I’m more jaded than most, but I can’t say I’m personally impressed.”

“And what are your reservations?” Cole asked.

“Well, for one, you’re both too young,” she said simply. “While twenty-five is old enough to vote and drink, I don’t know if it’s old enough to care for a child who needs special attention. I also don’t like rushing my work. Our foster parents are rigorously screened. I know sometimes the bad ones slip through the seams, but we do our best to make sure the children are with people who will take care of them the way they need. Nevertheless.” She pulled in a deep breath. “I was overruled. My supervisor feels this arrangement will work just fine for the required temporary bases.”

Beth swallowed audibly. “So what does this mean?”

Ms. Barns closed three steps. “It means you’ve won. My supervisor is sending all the required paperwork even as we speak. I should have them in an hour.”

All Beth’s selective hearing heard was, you’ve won.

With an elated squeal, she threw her arms around Cole. He clasped her back tight with one arm while extending the other to Ms. Barns.

“Thank you for everything, Ms. Barns.”

The woman took it, gave it a polite shake and stepped back. “Don’t thank me yet, Mr. McClain. As I said, I will be monitoring you both very closely. There are also still a few things we have to go over and discuss.”

Still beaming, Beth pulled back. “Whatever we have to do, we’ll do it.”

Ms. Barns put up a hand. “First, you both need to understand that this is temporary. As soon as there’s a home available for him, or a relative is found, Damon has to go. Secondly, there will be visits, some will be planned, others won’t. I also need to do a sweep of your apartment, make sure everything’s up to date and safe. I also need to sit down with both of you separately and talk.”

“Talk about what?” Beth asked.

Ms. Barns shrugged. “Talk.”

“Whatever you need,” Cole said. “I was just on my way home now to get Beth some things, but you’re welcome to tag along.”

The woman checked the pretty gold watch around her wrist. “I have some time. I will be in town for the next week to tie this matter up, but will eventually have to return. That doesn’t mean I won’t drive back up if even the slightest thing seems out of place.”

Dr. Partridge stepped into the room, his smile warm. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt. Just here to check on Damon.”

Beth edged out of the way and the doctor took her place. No one spoke as Damon’s vitals were taken and his bandages checked. It was during the examination that Damon’s eyes popped open. All color that had started soaking into his face during sleep vanished, turning him as white as the sheets drawn around him. His blue eyes became wide pools of terror at finding someone towering over him, touching him.

“No!” With a swing no one saw coming, he slapped away the doctor’s hands and nearly sent himself off the bed when he scurried out of reach.

“Damon!” Beth dove for him. Her hands closed in his gown just as the mattress slid out from under him and his arms pin wheeled in midair. She dragged him back, pulling him to her, careful not to yank out his IV. “It’s okay. You’re okay.”

Damon continued to watch the doctor with apprehension. He wasn’t resisting Beth and she was grateful for that.

“This is Dr. Partridge,” Beth told him in the calmest voice she could muster. “He’s only checking to make sure you’re healing.”

“I don’t want him touching me.”

“He has to,” Beth said. “But how about I sit with you while he does it?”

Damon continued to sit rigid in her arms, eyeing the doctor like he was a chainsaw wielding maniac.

“Please?” Beth coaxed. “When he’s done, I have some good news I want to share with you.”

Blue eyes lifted to her face. “Did they catch my dad?”

Her heart sank. Her gaze shot to Cole and was met with the same misery chilling her veins.

“Not yet,” he told the boy. “But they will. In the meantime, how would you like to stay with us?”

Damon looked at Beth. “With you?”

She nodded, smiling brightly.

“No.” He pulled out of her arms and sat small and alone in the middle of the bed.

His rebuff struck Beth square in the chest. “No?”

Damon shook his head, face hidden behind raised knees. “My dad will find me and he’ll hurt you.”

It felt so wrong that his only concern was for her safety when he was the one in a hospital bed. The sweet innocence that his father hadn’t been able to smash out of him wedged a fist sized lump in Beth’s throat.

“Aw, baby.” She reached for him again and smoothed a hand over his bent head. “No one’s going to hurt me and I’m not letting anyone hurt you, okay?” She touched his arm. “But I do want you to come and stay with me and Cole. We’ll take care of you and keep you safe.”

Blue eyes peeked up over the bony ridges of his kneecaps. “I’m never safe.”

Beth tilted her head and smiled at him. “You are now.”

“I don’t know about this, Beth.”

Cole’s concern had Beth rolling her eyes in amusement. “We’ll be fine. We have enough junk food to make us happy and a TV we haven’t broken in yet. You’re just cramping our style.” Beth chuckled at her own joke and set her hands gently on Cole’s chest. “There’s no point us both being here. You need sleep.”

His arms slipped around her. “So do you.”

Beth snorted. “Damon and I already agreed he’d share the bed with me. We’re set.”

Cole grunted quietly. “Can’t believe I’m jealous of a six year old.”

Laughing, she brushed a kiss to his mouth like it was the most natural thing in the world to do. “Well, if you’re good, maybe tomorrow night, you can share my bed.”

Hot sparks flashed behind his eyes. His hold tightened. “Don’t tease, woman.”

She ran the tip of her fingers across his bottom lip. “Who’s teasing?”

“Keep talking like that I’ll throw you over my shoulder and take you home now.”

Still chuckling, Beth pulled away. “We can also do that tomorrow. Now get, Mister.”

With a resigned sigh, Cole looked past her to where Damon sat, watching them with wide, interested eyes. The boy hadn’t said much after the doctor and Ms. Barns had left. But he was the most watchful kid Beth had ever met. He studied everything with a quiet deliberation that would have made him invisible to most people.

“You watch over my girl, you hear? I’ll come get you both tomorrow when you’re released.”

Damon nodded with far too much seriousness for a six year old.

Chuckling, Cole dropped his gaze back to Beth. “All right, baby. One more kiss for the road.”

Beth narrowed her eyes. “You said that five kisses ago.”

With a growl, he yanked her tightly into him. “Kiss me, damn it!”

She did. Not because he asked, but because she couldn’t stop kissing him. Kissing him, being held by him was like falling into that that first taste of whiskey after being sober for too damn long. He made her drown in every second of it and every long drag was one step closer to absolute freedom. What’s more, it made her feel again. It had been so long since all her senses had come alive, so long since she genuinely felt happy. It was something only he had ever pulled out of her, from the very first day they’d met.

She wasn’t sure what it meant, or what she was doing and maybe it was careless and reckless, but for once, she didn’t want her brain to be the one in charge. She didn’t want to dissect and scrutinize every aspect of every moment.

“Tomorrow,” she promised. “I’ll be all yours.”

He smiled softly. “Can’t wait.” With one final peck on her lips, he drew back and looked to Damon. “I’m off. You two don’t get too crazy while I’m gone, all right?”

With a wave and a last look of longing, he left. And Beth sighed miserably, already missing him. That knowledge irked her. How was it so easy to fall back into him when it had taken her years to … what? She never fell out of love with him. She never forgot him. So was it really falling back when she never stopped?

A quiet rustle filled the room and Beth turned to the other person in the room. Damon sat with his knees pulled to his chest, his chin perched on top and his eyes on her beneath dark, heavy fringes of hair. He reminded her of one of those orphan children from Oliver Twist, all pale and alone with no one. It only tightened her resolve to protect him.

She offered him a smile. “Ready to watch some TV?”

Kicking off her shoes, Beth crawled under the blankets. She grabbed the remote off the roll table piled high with their snacks and snuggled in.

“What should we watch first?”

At that hour of the night, there were very few channels appropriate for children, but Halloweentown was on and Damon seemed to enjoy it. Beth slipped an arm around him carefully and let him cuddle into her side as he watched the screen mounted to the wall with wide, enthralled eyes. Every so often, she’d coax him to nibble on a chip, or cookie, but each time, he would stare at the item a long time before raising a hand to accept. Then he’d look at her, as though expecting her to snatch it back. When she wouldn’t, he would stuff it into his mouth.

“Is there anything you like to watch?” she asked.

His thin shoulders moved in a shrug. “I never watched TV.”

Beth said nothing, but drew him in tighter and brushed the top of his head with her lips.

“Damon? Where’s your mom?”

His hand stopped midway to his mouth, a chip pinched between his small fingers. “She didn’t want me. I made her sad. She left.”

It was the almost monotone way the words were said that made Beth suspect that it was something fed to Damon … repeatedly. A reminder that he was unwanted and unloved, so much so that his own mother hadn’t wanted him. It had no doubt been beaten into him his entire life. It only made Beth hate his family all the more.

Damon fell asleep with the TV humming in the background and a mess of broken chips scattered across the bed. Beth tried to shake as much of it off as she could before tucking the boy in the blankets and brushing his hair off her eyes. Satisfied that he was comfortable, Beth did a quick sweep of the room, tossing away their discarded soda cans and chip bags. She shut off the TV and the lights, grabbed the extra set of blankets and pillow off the foot of the bed and made herself comfortable in the armchair. She knew that wasn’t what she’d told Cole, and Damon had agreed to share the bed, but he didn’t really know her and she didn’t want him waking up in the middle of the night and panic that there was a strange woman holding him. Plus another night in the chair wouldn’t kill her.

With her legs curled under her, she plumped the pillow, rested it on the armrest and pulled the blanket around her shoulders.

It was still dark when her eyes flew open. In the tight confines of the room, Damon gave a jerk on the bed. His whine pulled her groggily upright. Her hand reached blindly for the bed.

“It’s okay.” Her voice croaked with sleep. “Damon? It’s…”

The light from the hallway flickered. The movement was blurred and she had to blink to make out the shape silhouetting against the doorway.

“Cole?” No. The figure was too broad. “Dr. Partridge?”

The blankets tangled around her legs when she lowered them to the floor. Sharp needles spiked up the bottom of her feet, making her movement slow.

“Damon?”

The figure was next to his bed now. Damon whimpered again in his sleep.

“Hey!” Beth struggled to her feet, ignoring the pain rocketing up her legs from being squished in one position for so long. Her knees wobbled and she hit the side of the bed. “Stop! Who are you? What are you…?”

Something was pitched aside. The plastic tube caught the light.

Damon’s IV.

The blankets on him were next, pitched to the foot of the bed.

“Stop!” Beth tried to grab the hands jerking Damon around like a rag doll. “Stop it!”

Her screams jolted Damon awake. His blue eyes were luminous in the dark. They blazed a startling blue against the shadows. His breathing quickened. He scrambled to get away. But the hands had him, large and bruising. He was ripped away before Beth could grab him. Her hands closed around air and panic punched her in the gut.

“Beth!”

With a scream, Beth launched herself onto the bed, bounced once before lunging heedlessly at the bulk. Damon hit the ground, but Beth didn’t stop. She latched on to the hulking mass twice her size, punching, kicking, and clawing every inch she could reach. Adrenaline pounded through her with a viciousness that would have scared her if all her focus hadn’t been on protecting Damon.

“Run, Damon!” she screamed.

The boy stayed on the ground, a tiny pale ball curled under their feet.

“Damon!”

Distracted by concern, Beth twisted towards Damon. Her hands missed their mark and the figure took his opening. The backhand sent Beth crashing into the side table. Items tumbled off, striking her head and shoulders as they rained to the ground. Everything hummed, twisting like barbwire around the ringing already shrieking in her ears. The room swam, dividing everything into two. She was only vaguely aware of boots marching away from her to stand over the bundle that was Damon.

“No!” Her voice was a weak slur that barely reached her own ears. “Damon…”

Rolling over, fighting her stomach’s urge to vomit, Beth grabbed the first thing her hands closed around. She hoisted it up and hurled it with all her strength.

The phone rebounded off a broad back and crashed noisily to the ground. The remote went next, then an empty cup until there was nothing left to pitch. The figure didn’t seem to notice the assault.

Damon was lifted off the ground like a baby kitten and Beth knew she needed to do something, or Damon would be lost forever.

Using the bed, she hauled herself up, ignored the tilt of the floor and threw herself at the man’s back. Her arms slung around his neck and she held on and screamed, making sure to do so right in his ear. Her fingers clawed at his face, dug into his eyes and nose, anywhere she could reach. With Damon in his arms, he could do nothing but twitch and thrash. At one point, he slammed her into the wall, but her adrenaline was too high. The pain was minimal as she kept screaming and squeezing her forearms across his windpipe.

The sound of raised voices and running feet thundered down the hall. Beth took the man’s momentary distraction to release her grip and grab the back of Damon’s hospital gown. She ripped the boy out of the man’s arms and ran.

“Here!” she screamed. “Help!”

Figures appeared at the end of the hall. Beth ran for them, clutching Damon like a baby koala to her chest. Nurses and security guards darted forward, but were scattered like bowling pins when the man charged out of the room and ran in the opposite direction. The guards took off after him and disappeared around the corner.

Throat raw, panting and sore, Beth doubled over wheezing. Her heart beat in a frantic tempo with Damon’s and she closed her eyes in silent prayer.

“Damon? Damon, look at me.”

He stayed huddled with his face buried in the side of Beth’s neck.

“It’s all right,” she panted, rocking gently. “He’s gone.”

Two nurses rushed over to them. Questions were thrown and completely missed by Beth.

“No!” She dodged the hands reaching for Damon. “Don’t touch him.” With Damon still clinging to her, Beth shuffled back to their room now that the threat was gone. She sat on the bed with Damon cuddled in her lap. “Open your eyes, baby.”

Her gaze landed on her cellphone, the only object that had not been thrown off the end table. She reached for it with one hand and punched in Cole’s number.

He answered on the second ring, almost like he’d been expecting the call.

“Beth?”

“We’re okay,” she told him straight off, trying to keep her voice even for Damon’s sake. “We had a small incident, but Damon’s fine. He’s safe.”

There was a pause, one that seemed to crackle with a tension that should have been impossible to feel.

“I’ll be right there.”

He hung up. Beth did the same and set the phone down next to her. She was vaguely aware of the nurses hovering across the room, uncertain of what to do, but knowing they needed to do something.

“It’s okay,” she told them with all the calm her training her provided. “Please get the doctor.” She didn’t wait to see if they would do it. She focused on the small person clinging to her like she was his last thread to life. “Damon?” She stroked his back in soothing circles. “Can I take a look at you, please? I just want to make sure you’re not hurt. Are you hurt?”

The thin, bony back under her palms shuddered in the first of many heart wrenching sobs. His arms tightened around her and she drew him in even closer.

“Shhh,” she whispered into his ear. “I’m right here. I’ve got you. You’re safe.”

Dr. Jefferson rushed in, followed by one of the security guards and the nurse that had run off to get him. He yanked off his stethoscope and hurried to the bed.

“Damon?” Dr. Jefferson placed a gentle hand on Damon’s back, and Damon flinched. His frail body convulsed like the touch had somehow electrocuted him. Dr. Jefferson immediately snatched his hand back. “Damon, I’m Dr. Jefferson. I’m here to help, okay? Can I have a look, please?”

Damon stayed in his confined position buried in Beth’s arms. He was trembling with such force it broke Beth’s heart.

“I’m going to be right here,” she promised him. “Please let Dr. Jefferson take a look.”

Damon stayed where he was.

“I need to check him,” Dr. Jefferson said. “If he won’t let me, I’ll have to sedate him.”

“No,” Beth said. “Let me talk to him. He’s scared.”

Dr. Jefferson pinched his lips, but shrugged and took a step back.

Carefully, Beth straightened and shifted Damon’s position. The tight coil of his legs around her waist made that hard, but she nudged just an inch of space between them.

“Damon.” Her hands slid under his arms and she gently pried them off her neck. “The doctor needs to check and make sure you’re okay. I need you to be really brave for me, okay? Once he’s done, I’ll hold you again. I promise.”

Damon didn’t fight her. He let himself get placed on the bed. His small feet dangled over the edge. He sat with his head down and his hands curled into the mattress.

Dr. Jefferson moved forward and started his examination. He talked to Damon, telling him what he was doing and what a great sport he was being. Damon didn’t seem to care.

“Nothing seems to be broken,” Dr. Jefferson said at long last. He tossed the stethoscope cord around his neck and stepped back. “Aside from the bruises, I think he’ll be fine. Do you know if he hit his head?”

Beth shook her head. “It was too dark and everything happened really fast.”

The doctor turned his head to her. His gaze settled on the throbbing welt across her cheek.

“You should get checked as well.”

“I’m fine.”

No sooner had she spoken when raised voices filled the hallway. All heads turned to the door just as a figure filled the frame. Another joined it a second later.

“That’s my family in there!” Cole snapped at the guard trying to keep him from entering.

“It’s okay.” Dr. Jefferson hurried over. “He’s fine.”

The guard eyed Cole, but didn’t stop him when Cole shoved his way through, breathing hard, eyes a murderous blue scanning the disaster that was Damon’s room. He took in the mess across the floor first before lifting his gaze to Damon. Then he finally found Beth and immediately honed in on the bruise marring her face.

“Cole…”

The temperature in the room seemed to drop somewhere below zero and all the air and space seemed to vanish as his anger became an unstoppable force consuming everything into its vast rage.

“Where is he?” His lips barely moved to form the question.

Beth took a tentative step forward. “Cole—”

“Where is that son of a bitch?” he snarled.

“Gone,” Dr. Jefferson said. “He got away, but the sheriff has been called.”

Those same blue eyes left Beth to pin the doctor with their fury. “How did this happen?”

Dr. Jefferson shook his head. “We don’t know, but we will be reviewing the security tapes when the sheriff gets here.”

Cole shook his head, it was slow and his gaze never left the doctor. The look in them said very clearly he blamed the hospital for what happened.

“They were supposed to be safe here.” He said. Then, rather than wait for a response, or an excuse, he crossed the room. His hands framed Beth’s face, tipping it up so he could assess the damage. His thumb smoothed gingerly over her unnaturally hot cheek. “I’m going to kill him,” he said so softly Beth nearly didn’t hear him.

“I’m fine,” Beth promised. “It doesn’t even hurt.”

Something sparked behind his eyes. “That isn’t the point.” Moving away from her, he went to the bed and knelt at Damon’s feet. “Are you hurt?”

Damon never so much as moved.

“Damon?” He reached out a hand to the boy’s leg and quickly snatched it back when Damon flinched. “Is he okay?” he demanded of the room.

“Just a bruise on his leg where he was dropped,” Dr. Jefferson supplied.

Cole raised his head and twisted it around to peer at the doctor from over his shoulder. “Dropped?”

“He grabbed Damon,” Beth said. “It’s my fault. I jumped on him and I think his grip slipped—”

“You what?”

She had the full force of his fury now.

Beth licked her lips. “He was trying to take him from the hospital,” she explained. “I couldn’t let him. I knew that if he left, Damon would be lost forever.”

Cole unfurled from his kneeling position like a cobra getting ready to lash out. He raised a hand and lightly brushed it over Damon’s bent head once before reaching past him to the bundle of blankets. He pulled them around Damon’s stooped shoulders, swaddling him tightly before hoisting Damon up against his chest. The boy didn’t fight him.

“We’re leaving. I’m taking you both home right now.”

“I strongly advise against—”

Cole turned on the doctor and the other man instantly ceased speaking. “Oh, I don’t give a shit,” he said with deadly calm. “I’m not letting them stay here another minute so you better go get whatever forms you need signed, because we’re leaving.”

“Cole, please—”

“That bastard got all the way to the second floor without anyone noticing,” Cole cut her off. “He could have killed you both and no one would have known until morning so don’t tell me I need to be reasonable, or rational, or whatever else. I am not losing either of you because this place has shit security. So get your things, Beth. The car’s in front.”

“Now hold on a minute.” Sheriff Henley stepped into the already crowded room. “Why don’t we all just calm down and sort this out. I still need to know what happened here.”

Cole turned, Damon still in his arms. “What happened here is that you didn’t catch that son of a bitch and he nearly got the people I care about,” he retorted. “Now I’m taking them home where I can keep an eye on them myself. So whatever questions you’ve got, you can ask them quickly right now, or back at the apartment, because that’s where they’ll be.”

Maybe it was because he looked scary as all hell and no one wanted to mess with that, or maybe it was because they agreed the hospital wasn’t a safe place for them, but no one argued with him. Beth told the sheriff everything quickly while they waited for the nurse to bring in Damon’s release paper. Then Cole bundled Beth and Damon into his car and drove them home in the wee hours of the morning. The horizon had a pale gash where sky met land as dawn punctured its way through. The rest of the town slept on, oblivious of that night’s events, but Beth knew they would all know by morning, or whenever Georgia May got up. Knowing that nosey bitch, she was probably on the phone even as Cole pulled into his usual parking spot.

The first thing Beth noticed when Cole let them into the apartment was that the desk that was in his office was shoved into the corner of the living room, along with his filing cabinets, making a cluttered mess. She realized why when Cole carried Damon into his office and the only thing in there was a laid out and made up futon.

“You’re giving up your office?” Beth asked.

Cole set Damon down gently on the mounds of pillows and blankets. “I don’t need it. He does.” He crouched down in front of the boy, but turned his head over his shoulder to fix Beth with his blue eyes. “Can you get us a glass of warm milk please? I think I might even have some cookies somewhere in one of the cupboards.”

Beth felt her mouth twitch. “Mm, milk and cookies. I hope I’m allowed to join.”

She pushed away from the doorframe and walked into the kitchen. She took her time pouring exactly three cups of milk into a saucer and setting it on the stove. It was only when she was turning the dial on that she noticed the blood on her hands and under her nails. She was almost certain most of it wasn’t hers.

Gingerly, she unwound the ruined gauze and ran her hands under cool water. She could see what the doctor had meant about scarring. The skin was shiny along the back. Most of it had scabbed over, but some parts were still red and flaking. It certainly didn’t look as bad as it had felt. But she knew she wouldn’t be hand modeling any time soon.

She left the wraps off, giving her injuries air to breathe. Truthfully, it felt better without the restraints. The skin on her fingers and the back of her hands didn’t sting as badly without the fabric rubbing against them, or worse, getting caught.

She didn’t let the milk fully boil before pouring out three mugs. She set them down on a tray already occupied by a platter of chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies. Her knuckles stung when she curled her fingers around the handle, but it wasn’t unbearable. Just uncomfortable.

“He hurt her,” she heard Damon whisper when she got to the office door. “I said he would.”

“I know he did,” Cole murmured back. “But that wasn’t your fault, Damon. Beth and I, we’ll do whatever it takes to protect you, do you understand that? You’re not alone anymore.”

“He’ll come back.”

Beth edged closer and peered inside. Cole was still kneeling next to the bed. Damon was sitting cross legged on the mattress, the blankets wrapped tightly around him. There were tears on his cheeks.

“Hey.” Cole lightly nudged Damon’s knee. “He’s not going to get to you, or Beth. I’m here now.”

Damon said nothing for a long time, and just when Beth thought it was safe to intrude, he raised his small face and looked into Cole’s eyes.

“Why?”

To anyone else, they would have been confused by the randomness of the question, but Cole knew exactly what he was asking.

“Because when I was little and my dad used to hit me, my brother would protect me. But no one protected him.”

“Your dad hit you?”

Cole nodded. “All the time.”

“Do you hit Calla?”

Cole shook his head. “Never. I love my baby girl. I don’t ever want to see her cry.”

Damon lowered his chin to his chest. “I made her cry.” He peered fearfully up at Cole. “Are you going to give me back to my dad?”

“No.” Cole raised a hand slowly and reached for Damon the way one would a frightened dog. He touched the boy’s head. “But I would like for you to stop making her cry.”

Damon nodded. “I promise.”

Cole ruffled his hair. “Thank you.”

Beth cleared her throat and stepped into the room. “Hope I’m not interrupting.”

Cole rose and took the tray from her. He looked down at her hands.

“They’re okay,” she assured him. “I think I actually like them better this way. I mean, I’ll wrap them at night, but it’s nice to get some air on the burns.”

Cole nodded. “As long as you’re okay.”

“I am.”

They all climbed up onto the futon. Cole placed the tray in the middle and nudged the plate of cookies closer to Damon.

“So what were you boys talking about while I was gone?” Beth asked.

Cole shrugged. “Just man stuff, right?”

Damon gave them the first real hint of a smile at the wink Cole shot him. “Yeah.”

“That’s no fair.” Beth pouted. “I’m getting outnumbered.”

They sat and talked and munched on cookies until the sun painted the windows a pale orange. By then, Damon had already passed out. Cole helped Beth clean up their mess and then started for the sofa.

“Where are you going?” Beth asked.

“Sleep,” he mumbled. “I’m exhausted.”

“The bedroom’s this way,” she reminded him, her heart pounding a little faster at her own implication.

Cole raised his head, his eyes dark. “I don’t mind crashing on the sofa.”

“I know.” She shrugged. “But the bed is big enough for both of us and…”

“What?” he pressed when she faltered.

“And I kind of might want you there.”

Cole raised a brow. “Kinda, huh?” He closed the space between them. “I hope you’re not thinking about seducing me, Ms. Doan.”

Beth chuckled. “Not tonight, Mr. McClain. I can barely keep upright.”

“Fair enough.” Bending at the knees, Cole swept her up into his arms and carried her bridal style into the bedroom. He dumped her on the bed. “Want to wrap your arms?”

Too tired for anything but sleep, Beth peered down at her hands, tempted to just say forget it. But the last thing she wanted was to accidently get blood on the sheets.

“Maybe just my hands?”

Cole left her and returned a moment later with clean gauze. He wrapped her hands. Then tumbled fully clothed into bed with her and they both fell right to sleep.

Chapter Thirteen ~ Cole

It was reaching across the sheets and immediately finding her that brought Cole out of his dreamless sleep. It was the realization that she was there, in his bed that had him anchoring an arm around her middle and drawing her back to him, back to the curve of his body that was made to fit her.

The movement had her twisting around to nuzzle into his chest. Her groan was filled with despair and early morning crankiness.

“Don’t make me get up,” she groaned.

Cole chuckled. “It’s still early.”

That was all she needed to hear. One leg was forced between his, her arm was tossed over his middle and she was out in a sprawled position across his chest. Cole didn’t move a muscle. He held on to her and watched as the dawn painted across his ceiling. Early morning traffic roared beneath the window, breaking the otherwise peace. He wondered how long he had before he would be forced to untangle himself and get ready for work.

Five minutes.

That was how long it took for someone to knock on the apartment door, propelling him to make his decision early and slide out from under Beth. She didn’t seem to notice, or care. She latched on to the heat he’d left behind on the sheets and continued sleeping.

Shaking his head in amusement, he drew the blankets around her and went to see who would be at his door at that hour.

“Sloan?”

His brother stood taking up most of the doorway. He offered Cole a raised eyebrow and a quick once over.

“Sleep in your clothes?”

Cole glowered at him as he moved aside to let him in. “We had a long night.”

Sloan nodded and stepped inside. “We heard and wanted to make sure you guys were all right.”

Cole left him to shut the door and wandered towards the kitchen for coffee. “You know, they have this magical thing called a phone…”

He got a literal kick in the butt for his smart mouth.

“Is that anyway to thank your brother for his concern?”

Rubbing his bruised backside, Cole glowered over his shoulder. “Bite me.”

Unperturbed, Sloan heaved his frame onto a stool and watched as Cole brought down coffee and mugs. “I’ll leave that to Beth.”

Cole felt himself smile at the mention of her name.

“You two seem to be getting along pretty well.”

Cole shrugged. “We’re working on it.”

“Does that mean she’s staying?”

Hitting the on button on the machine, Cole turned to his brother. “We haven’t discussed that yet.”

Sloan nodded. “Just be careful, eh? The fall out wasn’t too pretty the last time.”

“Maybe it won’t be like last time.”

“Maybe.” Sloan turned his head towards the hallway. “How’s the kid?”

Taking a step forward, Cole folded his arms on the counter and leaned in. “Shaken. The fucker got all the way to their room.”

Sloan shook his head. “Nothing like that is supposed to happen in Willow Creek,” he mused. “It’s the town where people leave their doors open, because they trust their neighbors.”

“Yeah, well, I could have lost them both last night.” He rapped his fingers hard on the counter. “Every time I think about it, I want to hunt that bastard down and break my fist in his face.”

With a sigh, Sloan rubbed his jaw, then dragged his hand back through his hair. “That was my thought this morning when I heard the news. Lily’s beside herself. She’s on her way here once she drops Calla off at school.”

Cole nodded slowly. “I was thinking about working from home for a while. I don’t like the thought of leaving them alone again.”

“You can send them over to my place,” Sloan suggested. “You know we’d make room for them until he’s caught.”

Grateful, Cole smiled at his brother. “Thanks.”

The coffee machine chimed and Cole turned away. He didn’t bother asking if Sloan wanted a cup. He knew his brother wouldn’t say no.

“We have company.”

Sloan’s quiet murmur had Cole glancing over and around. At first he saw nothing but the corner where the counter curved to separate the kitchen from the rest of the apartment. Then he saw them, the pair of blue eyes just peeking over the edge.

“Morning.” He gave Damon a half grin. “Hungry?”

Those same wide eyes darted from Cole to Sloan.

“Don’t worry about him,” Cole said, moving to yank open the cupboard and rummage around for something breakfast worthy. “That’s my brother, Sloan.”

Damon continued to eye Sloan. There was a quiet deliberation in his eyes, a sort of contemplation that looked odd on the face of a six year old. It was just too wary.

“Hey kid,” Sloan said. He shifted his weight around on his stool and reached out to pat the one next to him. “Climb up.”

Damon continued to scrutinize him from afar.

Sloan didn’t push.

“Hey, I found cereal.” Cole yanked out the box, a little surprised himself at the sight of it.

Sloan chuckled. “How long’s that been there?”

Cole shrugged. “I have no idea.” He reached into the box and pulled a handful out. He ignored Sloan’s grimace of disgust and shoveled it into his mouth. He chewed. “Still tastes okay.”

“That’s so wrong,” Sloan mumbled. “Don’t give the kid that.” He hoisted his massive frame off the stool and ambled around to the fridge. He yanked it open and peered inside. “You got eggs.” He hauled the carton out and set them on the counter. He pulled a bowl and whisk out next. “Will you get out of my way?” he muttered at Cole.

Putting his hands up, Cole circled the counter and took his brother’s spot on the stool. “He’s so bossy,” he mumbled to Damon and just caught the hint of a smile still smothered behind the counter.

They watched as Sloan broke the eggs into the bowl and added the salt and pepper. He turned his head and peered over at Damon.

“Mind grabbing the milk for me?”

Damon’s gaze darted to Cole, silently asking permission.

Cole shrugged and nod. “You heard the man.”

Bewilderment drew his small brows together, but he edged away from his hiding place and padded lightly around the counter. His bare little feet made hardly any sound as he passed Cole. His hospital gown rustled. Cole made a mental note to grab the kid some clothes.

He and Sloan both watched as he struggled to yank open the fridge door, putting all his weight into the motion before the rubber seal gave way. He staggered slightly before catching himself and reaching inside.

The milk sat on the top shelf in its jug. Damon had to go up on his toes to grab it, then bring it to his chest as he backed up. He relinquished one hand to shut the door and the jug slipped. Cole saw it happening before it even happened. The plastic struck the linoleum with a crack and milk burst out in all directions in a white spray. Cole leapt up, but the damage had been done.

Milk rained from the fridge door, the counter, and the floors and off Damon as he stood in the puddle, his complexion in competition with the liquid dripping off the hem of his gown. He stared at his tiny hands, like he couldn’t believe they’d betrayed him. Then his head came up and his eyes darted from Sloan to Cole.

“I’m sorry!” he blurted, his voice barely audible around the sheer terror turning his eyes glassy.

His entire body seemed to be vibrating, counteracting with the quick, shallow breath he seemed to be struggling to take. A dark stain appeared around his midsection, widening and trickling down to stain the milk. The stench of urine punched through the apartment like a fist.

“Hey.” Sloan took a step towards him and Damon flinched back so hard, he slammed into the fridge. His foot slid out from under him and he hit the floor with enough force to make Cole feel it.

Cole was next to him in a heartbeat—his first mistake. Damon shrieked and scuttled backward, cramming himself into a small ball in the corner with his arms over his head. A strange, almost animal sound shook through his entire frame that was a tossup between a whine and a wail. His terror was a physical backlash that seemed to sweep off him like an infected wound.

“It’s only milk,” Cole murmured quietly. “No one’s angry, Damon.” He stepped around the puddle and knelt next to the boy. Carefully, he reached out a hand and lightly touched Damon’s arm.

Damon sobbed harder like the touch burned him. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

Not sure what to do, feeling powerless, angry, and scared, Cole ignored all his better instincts and dragged Damon into his arms.

“Stop!” he hissed into the top of Damon’s head. His own voice wavered and broke. “No one’s going to hurt you. Do you hear me, Damon? I won’t let anyone hurt you ever again.”

“What’s going on?” Beth shuffled into the room, blurry-eyed and sleep tussled. But all that vanished the second she caught sight of Damon. “What happened?”

“Had an accident,” Cole said in his best nonchalant tone. “But we’re fine.”

Beth looked from him to the rigid figure in his arms, then down at the puddle around Cole’s feet. She seemed to realize immediately what had happened.

She edged towards them. “Hey, how about a bath?”

Damon was still breathing hard, but he wasn’t wheezing, or apologizing. He didn’t speak either.

“That sounds like an awesome idea,” Cole agreed for him. “When you come out, we’ll have breakfast, okay?”

Damon didn’t say anything, but he allowed Beth to take his hand and lead him out of the room.

Once they were out of sight and the soft click of the bathroom door shutting filled the silence, Cole slumped against the cupboard. His knees lifted and he buried his wet eyes behind his hand. The cupboard next to him thumped as Sloan slid down next to him. Neither spoke for what felt like hours.

“Do you know what got me through those nights?” Sloan broke the silence.

Cole sniffled and shook his head.

Sloan paused, then said, “You.”

Scrubbing away evidence of his own emotional breakdown, Cole looked at him. “Me?”

Sloan grinned humorlessly back at him. “You,” he repeated. “You’d come into my room after each beating and I’d be lying there in bed, hurting like a mother fucker and you’d crawl in with me and tell me it was okay. That tomorrow you’d take my place so I wouldn’t get hurt again.”

He remembered that.

“You never let me.”

Sloan frowned at him. “The point is you kept me together. You were my reason to keep going. That’s what he needs. He needs a reason to believe not everything in the world is evil.” He pushed to his feet and reached for the mop. “He needs a reason to keep going.”

Cole watched him as he dragged the roped fabric over the mess.

“Where do I find that?” he asked.

His brother shrugged. “You don’t. He needs to find his own.”

Cole frowned. “I need something now! I need to make him stop hurting.”

Sloan ceased mopping to face him. “Things like this take time and patience. As much as I wish I could make his pain go away, it’s not going to happen overnight. At this point, all you can do is love him and show him that not everyone is going to turn away from him.” He set the mop aside. “I’m going to run to the store and grab milk.”

Cole didn’t stop him. He stayed on the floor, in the corner where Damon had gone for sanctuary and prayed for the first time in a very long time for help. Not for himself, but for Damon. Although, he did pray for himself. He prayed for the power to fix what felt infinitely unfixable and the wisdom not to make it worse. He wasn’t sure if it worked. He hadn’t prayed since his mom had died, which was around the time he also stopped going to church and believing there was anyone out there listening to people like him. How could there be when he and Sloan suffered so much and no man or God ever stepped in? Damn, but he needed help. He wasn’t sure he was strong enough on his own.

The front door opened.

“Hello?” Lily’s hesitant voice muffled the rush of water from the bathroom.

Two set of footsteps filled the apartment. A moment later, Lily was standing on the other side of the counter, peering down at him. Her brown eyes blinked, then widened with concern.

“Cole?” Her purse hit the counter and she was running to him. She stopped halfway and her head snapped up and around. “Where’s Sloan?” Her voice had risen an octave with alarm.

“Gone to the store,” Cole muttered with just a hint of annoyance. “Thanks for caring, by the way.”

Relief softened the creases between her brows. “Of course I care. Are Beth and Damon okay?” Her gaze washed over the streaks of milk running down the fridge door. “What happened?”

Cole started to tell her when a small, round face poked out from behind her legs. Willa blinked her big blue eyes at him before coming forward to crawl into his lap.

“Uncle Cole?”

Cole pulled her to him, needing to hold someone. “Yeah, baby?”

“Why are you sad?”

Cole opened his mouth to respond when he remembered he was still wet from holding Damon and hurriedly nudged the girl back onto her feet.

“I’m going to change,” he told her. “But then I’ll be back, okay?”

Willa just stared at him.

Cole rose and side stepped the puddle and Lily. No one stopped him when he walked into the bedroom and shut the door. In the next room, he could hear Beth’s voice. She wasn’t singing, but it sounded like she was telling Damon a poem, or nursery rhythm. The water wasn’t running anymore, but every so often, water splashed as she bathed the boy.

Cole dressed quickly and left to find Lily.

She stood behind Willa as the girl sat on a stool, coloring. Her brown eyes lifted when he walked in.

“So, what happened?”

Cole told her everything. By the end of it, Lily was spitting mad.

“I want to run him over with my car!” she hissed. “Then back up and do it again. I can’t believe he has the gall to think he has any sort of right to that boy after what he’s done. Oh I wish I could get my hands on him!”

Cole chuckled. “Calmed down, Xena. You’ll hurt yourself.”

The bathroom door cracked open. Low murmurs as Beth guided Damon into the bedroom filled the apartment. A moment later, Beth appeared in the hallway entrance, eyes bright with tears.

Cole stiffened. “Beth?”

She shook her head. “I’m okay.” Yet her voice cracked and her face crumpled. A tear escaped to trace the curve of her cheek. “I just don’t understand how anyone could do that to a baby. There’s nothing to him. He’s a bag of bones wrapped in skin and his whole torso is just … there’s not a spot…”

Cole went to her, pulled her into his arms.

“It’s like someone took a boxing glove to him,” she rasped into his collar. “I don’t know how he survived so long with that monster.”

“He’s not there anymore,” Cole told her. “He’s never going to face that again. I swear it.”

Beth just rocked her head from side to side while Cole smoothed his palms down the rigid length of her spine. She only seemed to pull herself together when the bedroom door clicked open. She drew herself up with a deep inhale and smiled brightly when Damon shuffled into the room, wearing one of Cole’s t-shirts.

“Hey, it fits!” she said enthusiastically.

“Better than it fits me,” Cole agreed.

The Metallica shirt hung past his knees the way the hospital gown had and slipped off one shoulder. The sleeves alone went nearly to his wrists. He eyed both of them like they were crazy.

“Mommy?” Willa tugged on her mother’s arm. “I’m hungry.”

Lily smoothed her daughter’s hair back off her round face. “I’ll get you something in a minute.”

“I have a box of mystery cereal if you like,” Cole teased, trying to annihilate the sadness that had taken residency in the air.

Lily snorted. “You would. But speaking of food…” She turned to face him and Beth. “Why don’t you guys come over for supper tonight? You know I always make too much and it’ll be nice to have the whole family there.”

Cole glanced at Beth, who shrugged.

Turning, he peered down at Damon. “What do you think? You up for a whole lot of vegetables?”

Lily smacked him on the arm. “Vegetables are good for you!”

“God, woman!” He rubbed his arm.

The front door opened then and Sloan ambled in, several grocery bags and a box in hand.

“You’re worse than a woman,” Cole remarked. “You go in for one thing and come back with half the store.” He barely dodged the double swats from Beth and Lily. “What is with you women and hitting me?”

Damon burst out laughing. The sound was such an unexpected thrill of happiness that everyone in the room ceased moving. He wasn’t sure what had made the boy smile, he didn’t care. Cole grinned.

Uncomfortable, Damon drew the collar of his shirt up around his mouth. But his eyes continued to twinkle.

Cole went to him, moving at a pace that was just slightly slower than usual and scooped the boy up gently. Damon didn’t stiffen or pull away and Cole took that as a sign as he took him into the kitchen and set him down on the counter with his little legs dangling over the side.

“Hey, how about a little help here?” Sloan pitched a box of Shake N’ Bake at him that Cole barely caught against his midsection.

He pushed away from the counter and delved into the bags. There was everything from fruits, to vegetables and meats piled inside. There was so much of everything that Cole was certain he wouldn’t have to go shopping for a month.

“Are you trying to tell me something?” Cole asked, as he stocked the cupboard with dried goods.

“Yeah,” Sloan replied simply. “You’ve got a stick of butter and two dried plums in your fridge.”

Cole squinted at the box his brother was tearing open. “Is that a toaster?”

“You don’t have one,” Sloan answered.

“I did have one!” Cole waved an arm towards Beth. “She set it on fire.”

“Well, now you got another one.”

There was a moment during breakfast where Cole was certain Damon thought his plate was haunted, because every time he finished, it would mysteriously refill. It was entertaining to watch, especially since Lily and Beth had taken it upon themselves to distract him just long enough for the other one to scrape more eggs and bacon into his plate. After the third, or forth refill, Damon nudged his plate back and simply stared at it with wary eyes.

In the stool between her mom and dad, Willa chattered on about the fort she and Calla made in the basement the night before. The way she claimed, it was a hundred feet high and could fit a dragon.

He and Sloan had spent the better part of a month renovating the place for the girls, putting in walls around the stone and insulating the hell out of it to keep out the chill. The carpets were the worst, in Cole’s opinion. Then putting barricades around the boiler and heater to make sure the girls didn’t get hurt. By the end of it, Cole wanted to live down there himself it was so nice. His own daughter said no.

“It’s our playroom, daddy,” she’d said, and he really never could argue with her.

“Calla said we’re going to put a moot in when she gets home from school,” Willa finished.

“A moat, baby,” Sloan corrected. “And I hope it’s an imaginary one, right?”

Willa blinked blue eyes rapidly. It was her silence that made Cole snicker into his coffee.

“Don’t laugh,” Sloan warned. “Or you’ll be down there helping me clean it up.”

Cole was ready with a response when a soft knock sounded and all heads turned in the direction of the door. Cole set down his mug and went to answer it.

Stacy Barns peered back at him from the other side. Her dark hair was twisted up into one of those fancy knots only women could pull together. Her lipstick was the same shade of purple as the day before, but her suit was a sharp teal that shimmered. In her arms, she carried Damon’s folder.

“Good morning, Mr. McClain,” she said, when Cole only stared.

“Ms. Barns.” He quickly stepped aside. “Would you like to come in?”

Inclining her head, she slipped past him into the apartment.

She’d been there the day before and he’d given her the tour of the place, assuring her that all the fire alarms worked and, yes, he did have a fire extinguisher under the sink. She had taken a great deal longer in Damon’s room, checking the light fixtures and the sockets until Cole promised the room would be ready by the time Damon was brought home.

“I went to the hospital,” she said. “Imagine my surprise to learn you had, against the doctor’s advisement, signed Damon out early.”

“It was a special circumstance,” he explained. “His father—”

Ms. Barns nodded. “I’ve already spoken to the staff at the hospital as well as the sheriff. I understand your reasoning, but you can’t release a child without the doctor’s consent.”

“Damon’s fine.” Beth stepped up next to Cole. “We’ve been keeping a very close eye on him and if anything was wrong, we would have taken him right back.”

“But he needs to be under observation.”

“The doctor said he only needed a day or two at the hospital,” Beth countered. “When we left the hospital, it was already the next day, which would have made it three days there. The doctor would have released him in a few short hours—”

“Ms. Doan, you can’t just make up rules on your own! We’re talking about Damon’s safety.”

“Exactly!” Beth said. “And he was not safe there, not after his father found him. We left to protect him.”

Ms. Barn’s eyes moved past Beth to where Damon sat on a stool, watching the transaction with those big eyes of his. She seemed to spot the other three as well.

“Hello.”

Cole, took the opening to change the subject. “This is my brother, Sloan, his wife, Lily, and my niece, Willa.”

He stepped back as Ms. Barns shook hands with Sloan, then Lily. “You and Mr. McClain also share a daughter, is that correct?”

Lily nodded. “Calla. She’s at school.”

“And she’s in Damon’s class?”

Again, Lily nodded. “Yes.”

Ms. Barns nodded as well and turned her focus on Damon, who shrank a little in his seat.

“Hello, Damon.” She gave him a gentle smile. “Do you remember me?”

Damon shot Cole a quick glance before nodding.

“How are you today?”

Again, Damon looked to Cole, as if waiting for permission to answer.

“It’s all right,” Cole told him.

He bunched the hem of Cole’s t-shirt around his small fists. “Okay.”

Ms. Barns eyed his still full plate. “What are you eating?”

“Eggs,” Damon mumbled. “And bacon and toast.”

“Mm.” She smiled at him. “That sounds good. Doesn’t it taste good?”

Damon nodded.

“Aren’t you hungry?”

Damon shook his head. “Not anymore.”

Ms. Barns cocked her head to the side. “Why not?”

Damon glared at his plate like it couldn’t be trusted. “The plate keeps getting full again.”

Cole smothered his laugh behind a cough.

Ms. Barns turned to him. “I was hoping I could get a few minutes to talk to you and Ms. Doan this morning, if you have time to spare.”

“I was actually going to ask Lily to go clothes shopping with me today,” Beth said. “Damon can’t live in Cole’s clothes forever.”

Ms. Barns nodded. “Absolutely. Have you decided yet which school he’ll be going to once he feels better?”

“Well…” Beth looked at Cole, then at Damon. “There’s only one elementary school in Willow Creek so…”

“Oh.” She pulled out a pen from her pocket and scribbled on the back of her file. “I wasn’t aware of that.”

“Is that a problem?” Cole asked.

“No, not normally.” She raised her head. “But since his father has not yet been arrested and it’s clear that he’s trying to get Damon back, that maybe it would be wise to take him somewhere else.”

“Well, I’d be taking him every morning,” Cole said. “And I’d pick him up.”

“Or I can,” Lily chimed in. “I pick up and drop Calla off every day. It wouldn’t be a problem.”

Ms. Barns turned to her. “It’s good that Damon has the support of such a close knit family. I think that is good for his recovery.” She fixed her gaze on Lily first. “What is it you do, Mrs. McClain?”

This seemed to take Lily as much by surprise as it did Cole. “Oh, I’m usually at home,” she explained. “I man the phones for Sloan’s moving company. I’m also a photographer in my spare time.”

“And you raise two children,” Ms. Barns added. “You’re quite busy.”

Lily chuckled uncomfortably. “Not really. Sloan helps me out a lot.”

“But not Mr. McClain … Cole?” she clarified.

Lily frowned. “Well, of course Cole helps. He’s always there for Calla … and Willa.”

Ms. Barns scribbled something down on the back of her folder. Complete, she raised her head and fixed those dark eyes first on Cole, then Sloan, and finally on Lily again.

“Was there a reason things didn’t work out between you and Mr. McClain?”

Lily squinted at her. “Do you mean me and Cole?” At the woman’s nod, Lily chuckled. “There was never anything between me and Cole. We’ve been friends since we were babies.”

“But you have a daughter together, so at some point you must have had … relations,” She finished.

Lily’s cheeks darkened. “Whatever Cole and I had that gave us Calla is not a topic I’m willing to discuss in front of my four year old.”

The social worker didn’t seem fazed by the tightness in Lily’s tone. “I’m assuming your husband is aware of the circumstances? There’s no pent up hostilities?”

“He’s my brother,” Sloan said before Cole could speak. “She’s my wife. I am perfectly aware of the events that brought us Calla. As for Calla, I may not have had a hand in her conception, but she is my girl as much as Willa is.”

Ms. Barns nodded and scribbled on her folder. “And she calls you what?”

“I’m sorry,” Lily interjected sharply. “How is any of this your business?”

The woman lowered her pen. “I apologize if my questions come off nosey and insensitive, but you are Cole’s family. Given the closeness of your relationship, sharing a daughter especially, I must decide if this arrangement is a good fit for Damon. If Mr. McClain is in fact a good fit as a parent.”

“Cole is an amazing father!” Lily hopped off her stool, her cheeks a hot, angry crimson. “He adores Calla. He changed his whole life for her and still bends over backwards to make sure she’s taken care of and happy. And you know what else, Ms. Barns—”

Sloan stepped up behind his wife and gently encircled her middle with his arms. He drew her back and murmured gently into her ear.

Lily was still breathing hard, her eyes flashing, but whatever Sloan said to her had her calming down a notch.

“You’re right, Cole and Beth won’t be doing this alone. We may not be your usual family, but we are a family and we take care of each other. Damon is now a part of that for as long as he’s with us.”

Chapter Fourteen ~ Beth

The molten tension that wove through the otherwise frigid air beat against Beth like the blunt end of a sledgehammer. The reverberating fury wafting off Lily could have kept a small apartment warm, and truthfully, Beth couldn’t blame her. Ms. Barns’s questioning had left a sour taste in even Beth’s mouth. Even while she tried to understand, she disliked having her life and the lives of those she loved bared to a complete stranger. Nevertheless, she knew it was a necessary evil, one she had to endure if she was to keep Damon.

Walking nearly shoulder to shoulder with her, Ms. Barns and Lily marched mutely on either side of her through the sparsely packed streets. Her gaze slid from the quietly calm Ms. Barns to a rigid and furious Lily and she sighed. It was strange that the social worker couldn’t feel the glares Lily kept shooting her, like nothing short of the woman’s death could bestow world peace. But unlike Lily’s willingness to alienate the woman, Beth couldn’t afford to piss the woman off.

She took hold of Lily’s wrist and tugged her to a stop, letting Ms. Barns fall a few steps ahead.

“Will you stop?” she hissed low under her breath.

Lily’s brown eyes, still snapping from her shouting upstairs, shot to Beth’s. “I hate her!” she retorted.

“So do I,” Beth assured her. “But Cole and I really need you to calm down. This isn’t about us, or our feelings. This is about Damon and keeping him safe.”

The harsh lines bracketing her mouth softened and Lily closed her eyes. “You’re right.” She opened her eyes and fixed Beth with a look of absolute misery. “Damon’s what’s important here. I’m sorry, sweetie.”

Beth pulled the other woman in for a hug. “It won’t last much longer once she gets what she needs.”

Lily nodded as Beth drew back.

Ms. Barns was studying the fluffy cakes in the display case of Delicate Designs, the town’s only bakery. It was also Beth’s favorite place to stand for no reason at all except to relish the delicious aroma and pray she didn’t gain weight simply from sniffing the sweet, candy scented air.

“The clothing store is just another block up.” She moved away from Lily and started walking once more.

Cole had suggested they take the car since he would be staying home with Damon, but being confined with Lily and Ms. Barns in an airtight compartment even for five minutes made Beth want to hyperventilate. Instead, after Cole had helped her shower and dress, she had suggested they walk. Cole’s apartment was situated more or less in the center of town, making getting around much simpler. The place they shared together was more towards the outskirts, a twenty minute walk to get to the stores. Plus, Beth had thought maybe the cool air would help her relax. It hadn’t yet.

Danny’s Dime A Dozen was the only store that sold clothes that were reasonably priced and not second hand. The place was filled with steel tables and racks promoting everything from clothing to shoes to household items. Wall to wall windows brought in a flood of natural light to illuminate the bright plastic signs showcasing discounted wear. The vast majority of Willow Creek did their shopping there, but the store was remarkably empty for so early in the afternoon.

Beth grabbed a cart by the door and eyed the selection.

“I’ve never shopped for a kid before,” she told Lily.

Lily chuckled. “Well, Damon is Calla’s age and I usually get her a size six, but he’s tall, so I would aim for a seven.”

Nodding slowly, Beth pushed the cart forward.

Lily selected the bulk of the items. Beth let her, occasionally nodding or shaking her head when a piece was shown to her. Everything Lily picked seemed all right, but it was hard to buy clothes for a kid she knew nothing about. What if he didn’t like green? Or he preferred race cars over normal cars? What if he was allergic to cotton, or corduroy? It didn’t help that she could feel Ms. Barns’ eyes watching her every move, silently judging her competence.

“We should probably get him a jacket and some socks,” Lily was saying as they made their way around the store. “Oh, and underwear. Sloan prefers the boxer kind, you know? The ones that are more tight than baggy.”

Beth blinked, jerking out of her thoughts. “I did not need that visual.”

Lily laughed. “I’m sorry. You’ve been so quiet that I was beginning to think you’d fallen asleep.”

“Trust me,” she mumbled. “I wish I were sleeping.”

“Ms. Doan?” Ms. Barns stepped up on Beth’s other side. “Can you tell me why you and Mr. McClain broke up and what brought you back?”

Beth glanced at Lily. The other woman gave her a sympathetic smile before moving away to rifle through a t-rack of sweaters.

Seeing no way to avoid the question, Beth turned to the social worker. “There was a fire.” She held up her unwrapped hands. “Cole’s taking care of me.”

“That’s nice of him,” Ms. Barns remarked. “Not many exes would go through that sort of trouble, especially not after the way you two broke things off.”

Beth frowned. “How do you know how we broke up?”

Purple lips bowed without a trace of arrogance. “Small towns are abundant in information when asked.”

That struck Beth square in the chest. “You’re asking around town about me?”

The woman never batted an eyelash. “It takes months, even years before we issue a family the right to foster a child. You and Mr. McClain are bypassing a very long line and I need to be thorough in my investigation. While you might have the sheriff and the hospital supporting you, it’s my job to make sure there are no skeletons in your closet that could potentially harm Damon.”

“We would never hurt Damon,” Beth hissed.

“And I am inclined to believe you, however…” She folded her arms, crushing the files to her chest. “There are questions I still need answering.”

Beth mirrored her posture, crossing her own arms and glowering hard at the other woman. “Ask them. Neither Cole, nor I have anything to hide.”

Ms. Barns inclined her head. “Very well. Why did you break up?”

Beth felt the sharp sting of her nails gouging half-moons into her upper arms. “Cole asked me to marry him.”

“And that scared you?”

Beth stiffened unconsciously. “I wasn’t ready.”

“Would you say you’re ready now?”

“I don’t think that’s any of your business.”

“It is when I need to know if you’re the sort of person that gets bored quickly, Ms. Doan. Is this just another fancy before you move on to something else?”

Fury boiled up the pit of her stomach. “Cole was never a mere fancy, Ms. Barns. I loved him. I still love him. We were together for three years.”

“And yet when he proposed spending the rest of your life with him, you left.” When she got nothing for that, she switched gears. “How do you feel about his daughter?”

Beth blinked, taken aback. “I love her, just like I love Willa, Lily, and Sloan.”

“After you left, did you stay in touch with any of them?”

“Damn right I did!” she hissed. “I called them every weekend and video chatted every chance we got.” She took in a deep breath. “I may not have been with their uncle anymore, but I will always be their auntie and those little girls mean the world to me.”

It took longer for Ms. Barns to ask her next question, and when she did, it took Beth even longer to answer.

“Are you and Mr. McClain getting back together?”

“I don’t know.”

Damon, Cole, Sloan, and Willa sat in a circle in the middle of the living room, a board game open in front of them when Beth, Lily, and Ms. Barns returned from shopping almost two hours later, laden down with enough bags to open their own department store.

Cole and Sloan hurried to their feet and eased the bags from Lily and Beth. Cole dumped his on the sofa and took the bags from Ms. Barns.

“Did you buy out the store?” he teased, poking through the bag with shoes.

“We kind of weren’t sure what Damon would like so we grabbed a few of everything in different sizes,” Lily said, slightly breathless. “Plus we got him some school things, a backpack, lunch bag, a pair of gym shoes.” She blew a strand of hair out of her eyes. “Oh and a jacket that came with ski pants, which I thought was just great since we’re so close to winter.”

Cole dropped down next to Damon. “I think we might need to get you a bedroom set to put all this stuff into.”

Damon hadn’t moved since their return. He sat staring at the pile high on the sofa with eyes the size of saucers. His small fingers twisted in the hem of his shirt. His apprehension worried her.

“Something wrong, Damon?”

Blue eyes flicked from her back to the clothes. He shook his head.

“You sure?” Cole ruffled his hair. “Don’t tell me you’re growing attached to my clothes.”

A soft chuckle escaped Damon that in no way eased the uncertainty dancing behind his eyes.

“If you don’t like something, we can take it back,” Beth assured him. “You can even come along and pick whatever you want instead.”

That only seemed to bunch his thin shoulders higher around his ears.

“Hey, why don’t we go try some of this on?” Lily suggested. “I know I’m dying to see you in them.”

Damon peeked up at Cole.

“Only if you want,” Cole told him.

Lips pursed, Damon studied the bags again, then Lily. The war seemed to continue for a solid minute before he pushed himself up. He stepped around the game board and followed Lily into the bedroom.

For several seconds, no one said anything. Willa seemed to be the only one unaffected by the tension in the room. She kept rolling the dice even though she had circled the board twice.

“While I understand Damon’s needs for clothing and proper bedding, I hope you are both aware that Damon is with you on a temporary bases,” Ms. Barns broke the silence. “He could be relocated at any time.”

Cole leaned back on his hand, raised one knee, and propped his other arm on top while studying the woman evenly.

“That doesn’t mean he can’t take the clothes with him. Lord knows he’d probably prefer these to dragging along clothes with memories attached. As for the room, I’d been meaning to fix it up for the girls anyway, in case they ever wanted to sleepover. Damon might as well make use of it while he’s here. For however long that may be. There is nothing we’re doing for that boy that we would ever take back. He’s a McClain. This is his family, for as long as he needs us.”

Ms. Barns said nothing, but she scrutinized Cole for several heartbeats while Beth did the same for a whole other reason.

She wanted to jump him. She wanted to throw herself at him and kiss that gorgeous mouth of his. He’d said many things to her in the past, some sweet, some dirty, some just normal, but what he just finished telling Ms. Barns was probably the thing that made her fall in love with him all over again. Not just the toe she’d let nudge the water, but soaked to the bone wet, like she’d dove off a board, straight into the deepest part of the ocean. It was this very thing that had pushed her over from the very beginning, his absolute selflessness. Maybe he’d learned that from Sloan. Maybe he didn’t. Wherever it came from, it was as true as the color of his eyes. Damon Comb was nobody to him, just some kid he’d met a handful of days ago, yet Beth knew Cole would fight tooth and nail for him. Was there anything sexier?

“I have a meeting in the morning,” Ms. Barns announced. “I will return later in the afternoon to finish our interview, Mr. McClain.”

Cole inclined his head. “I look forward to it, Ms. Barns.”

With a nod towards Sloan, Ms. Barns turned on her heels and started for the door. Beth followed her, relishing in snapping the lock behind her.

“Damn woman,” she mumbled to herself once the door was securely in place between the social worker and the people Beth loved.

The bedroom door creaked open as Beth was walking back to the sofa. All heads turned to watch as Lily stepped out. A moment later, Damon followed in dark jeans and a green polo shirt with white stripes. His hair had been combed out of his eyes and he wore the runners Beth had picked out.

“Look at you!” Cole got to his feet. His biceps bulged beneath the sleeves of his t-shirt when he folded his arms. “Looking pretty handsome there, mister.”

“Do you like it?” Beth asked Damon.

Still staring at the ground, Damon nodded.

“It’s okay if you don’t,” Beth assured him.

Damon dared a peek at her, then at Lily. He mumbled something, but it was so low that even Lily, who stood right next to him, had to lean down to hear it.

“Oh!” she said, straightening. “Why didn’t you say so?”

“What?” Beth asked.

Lily chuckled. “He doesn’t like green.”

“Oh.” Beth looked at the mountain of clothes still piled on the sofa and snorted. “I’m sure we can find something you like. What’s your favorite color?”

The color dissolved from Damon’s face and was replaced by a green tinge. His Adam’s apple bobbed rapidly and Beth was certain he was about to get sick.

“Are you all right?” Lily started towards him.

“Don’t,” Cole warned quietly, freezing Lily to the spot. “Don’t go near him.”

Eyes wide, Lily shifted back slowly.

“Damon.” Cole edged a single step forward. “Why don’t I take your things into your room and you pick whatever you want, okay?”

He said nothing, nor did he move when Cole grabbed the bags and hauled them into his room. Cole kept a safe distance from him the entire time, even when he led Damon to his room and walked out without him.

“What was that?” Lily asked in a hushed whisper.

“You can’t go near him when he’s like that,” Cole told her.

“Daddy, look, I winned.” Willa held up the dice, both face up on six.

Sloan peered down at his daughter and smiled. “You certainly did.”

Pleased with herself, Willa scrambled to her feet and hurried to Damon’s room. She poked her head inside.

“I’m winning!” she told Damon. “What are you doing?”

She disappeared inside.

Beth, Cole and Lily hurried to the door to see as well and found Damon sitting huddled in the corner, still clad in his new clothes. His knees were drawn up to hold his elbows as he clutched at his hair with both hands. Willa was on her hands and knees in front of him, her face inches from the gap between Damon’s forearms.

“Are we playing a game?” Willa asked in a soft, conspiratorial whisper. “Can I play?”

Damon lowered his arms and frowned at her with red rimmed eyes. “Stop it.”

Willa drew back. “You’re sad.” It wasn’t a question. She wiggled closer. “Don’t be sad.”

“Go away,” Damon mumbled.

Willa’s little face fell. Beth started forward only to be stopped by Cole’s hand on her wrist.

“Wait,” he said.

Willa continued to watch Damon, her four year old mind busy trying to decide what to do next. Damon studied her back. Willa smiled. Damon blinked.

“It’s okay,” she whispered.

“What is?” Damon asked.

Willa leaned forward and rested her chin on his knees. Their faces were mere inches apart. Damon didn’t pull back, not that he could. She had him cornered.

“I’ll be your friend.”

A muscle moved in his cheek. “Why?”

Her sweet little face broke into the biggest smile. “Because I see you.”

It was a process getting Damon back into school. It took nearly a week of paperwork and phone conversations between Ms. Barns, the principal, Beth and Cole. The social worker had to make the school aware to watch for Damon’s father and that the only people allowed anywhere near Damon were Cole, Beth, Lily, or Sloan. The school had to get a report from the police, another one from the social service worker, and a medical record from the hospital. But in the end, Damon was finally allowed to return to his normal routine. The only person who didn’t like the new arrangement was Calla.

Since the moment Damon walked into Lily and Sloan’s house for dinner the very first time, Calla had taken it upon herself to make him as unwelcome as possible. She had refused to talk to anyone, until Damon was sent away. It didn’t matter what anyone said, she was dead set on alienating him. Willa, on the other hand had fully embraced and accepted Damon into the family, which only seemed to infuriate Calla all the more. Damon seemed unperturbed by Calla’s hostilities. Maybe because he was used to it, or maybe he knew there was nothing he could do about it, but he kept away from her and focused all his attention on Willa every chance he got.

Every day, Beth and Cole woke Damon up for school. Cole drove him before heading off to work. In the evening, they both came home. Beth helped Damon with his homework at the kitchen counter as Cole made supper. Afterward, the three of them would find something on the TV Cole had ordered for the sole purpose of killing aliens—a past time that was rubbing off on Damon—and watch it together until bed. Beth noticed the change in Damon with every day that passed. He no longer jumped at every noise, or shut down when someone moved too quickly. Most days, he even spoke without being prompted. It wasn’t a huge drastic change all at once, but gradual. It was more obvious when Willa was around. The girl hadn’t lied to him about being his friend, and while Beth knew he had friends at school his own age, she knew it wasn’t like the friendship he shared with Willa. There was something deep there, something that wasn’t easily describable. But whatever it was, she was grateful for it.

By the third week, just when things had finally settled down and everyone was getting comfortable, Beth got a call from work, asking her when she would be returning, a reality she hadn’t wanted to dwell on, because she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. She knew she couldn’t leave Damon, not when he was as much her responsibility as Cole’s. But she wasn’t sure if staying was the right option either. The conflicted emotions were in constant turmoil. So much so that sleep had become an issue, even with Cole’s arms a secure knot around her. More mornings than not, Beth found herself wandering the apartment, her mind a mess of questions. The biggest one being: what if she ruined things again? Aside from being her biggest fear, it was her biggest weakness, because in the days since moving in with Cole, she had come to realize something; it hadn’t been Cole’s fault they hadn’t worked out. It had been her. She was to blame. Cole had never hurt her. Never intentionally. If anything, he had all but smothered her with love, attention, and respect. In the end, she’d been the one to hurt him. She’d been the one to push him away. She was the one who had been so thoughtless with something so perfect. How could she ever ask him to forgive her after that?

“Hey, you’re up earlier than usual.”

Watching the gold and orange bleed through an ink spill of black, Beth gave a start. She turned away from the window to blink at Cole’s silhouette hovering in the hallway opening.

He looked painfully endearing in his flannel bottoms, white t-shirt, and bare feet. His hair was sleep tussled, slightly flattened on one side, and his jaw was a field of stubble her palms actually itched to touch. He offered her a lopsided grin.

“Morning.”

Beth tried and failed to smile back. “Morning.”

“Something wrong?”

Beth glanced at her phone sitting on the counter, next to her lukewarm coffee mug and sighed. “Just thinking.”

“Yeah?” His feet made no sound as he crossed to her. “Anything you want to share?”

She saw no point in hiding it. She would have to tell him eventually.

“My work’s been calling,” she confessed. “They want to know when I’m coming back.”

He nodded slowly like he’d expected that. “What did you tell them?”

Beth shrugged. “That I had family issues I had to deal with. My shift supervisor gave me an extra two weeks, but she told me to handle it, or don’t bother coming back.”

“She said that?”

The look of stunned horror on his face made her laugh.

“No, but that was the gist.”

The floorboard creaked with his slight forward step. His hand lifted and brushed a lock off her cheek.

“What do you want to do, Beth?”

“I can’t leave Damon—”

“No.” He took her chin in his fingers when she tried to duck her face. “What do you want to do?” He tipped his head ever so slightly to the side. “Do you want to stay?”

Every part of her, even her ever sensible brain, begged her to say yes, to stay and try again. Every part of her ached for what they had. Having spent the last three weeks curled up in his arms had filled that place inside her that had been empty the last four years. It felt so right. Being there, being with him felt right. Leaving meant giving all that up again.

“I want to stay,” she murmured truthfully.

“But…” he urged.

Beth shook her head. “No buts.”

His eyes narrowed. “You sure?”

She closed the space between them and touched his face. “I’m sure.” She nibbled nervously on her bottom lip while she studied his. That close, there was no chance to second guess her decision. Being in his arms only intensified the desire. “I want to fix things,” she admitted. “If you’ll forgive me for being so stupid in the first place.”

It was as though her words had the power to remove the weight pushing down on him. His entire body seemed to relax. His eyes softened. His beautiful mouth bowed into a gorgeous smile that made her insides shiver. Sunlight caught the pale gold in his hair and shimmered like a field of wheat when he cocked his head an inch to the side.

“On one condition.”

Beth nodded. “Anything.”

His arms enfolded her. “No more running. If there’s a problem, we talk about it.”

It was her turn to smile. Her arms rose and circled their way around his neck. Her toes arched, forcing all her weight against him.

“I can definitely do that.”

Grin broadening, Cole took hold of her hips and she was lifted. Her legs automatically wound around his hips, anchoring her to him as she was carried back to the bedroom.

“I think we should notarize that promise.”

Chapter Fifteen ~ Cole

Word of his computer knowledge and dirt cheap prices had become wildfire, spreading across town with a vengeance that shocked and amazed Cole. A month after helping Mr. Hobnish’s prehistoric machine, every person in Willow Creek had found their way to him at some point. The office doors had never seen so much action. It barely closed. Cole knew he should mind—he was a lawyer, not a technician—but he didn’t. If anything, he loved it. It finally gave him something to do. He was no longer spending his days watching the clock countdown to five, or three as of lately since he had to go pick Damon up from school.

Maybe his new found passion wasn’t the only cause for the skip in his step. It certainly wasn’t the thing that came to mind when he thought of something that made his heart smile. Lately, it was Beth and Damon. It was the thought of going home and seeing their faces. It was the sound of Damon’s laughter when he picked the boy up and tossed him into the air and the smile on Beth’s face when he walked around the kitchen counter to kiss her waiting mouth. It was eating supper while listening to Damon tell them about his day and the routine of bedtime as he and Beth got Damon ready. It was standing in the doorway of Damon’s bedroom as Beth snuggled in with their little guy and read.

Most of that wasn’t new for him. He’d spent the last six years doing those things with Calla. It was something he missed. Even though he made it out to see her at least once a night, he hadn’t tucked her in since Damon’s arrival. There was just no way, not when Damon’s bedtime fell at the same time and while Lily hadn’t said as much, he knew Calla was taking the change pretty hard. She had been the center of his world for six years. Now, not only was there someone her age taking up his time, but it was the boy who had ridiculed her. He couldn’t imagine that being easy for her, but he didn’t know what to do about it either.

“What’s wrong?” Beth murmured, from her side of the bed.

Cole stepped into the room illuminated by the light he left on in the bathroom for Damon and the lamp lit on Beth’s side of the bed. Floorboards groaned as he made his way to the bed and crawled in.

“Just thinking about Calla.”

“Something wrong?”

He shook his head and pulled the blanket up over his legs. “I used to be there every night to put her in bed and I haven’t since…”

“Since Damon,” she finished. “Did Lily say—?”

Cole shook his head. “No, but I called earlier today and Calla wouldn’t come to the phone.”

“Maybe she was busy?”

“She was never too busy before to talk to me.”

Beth was silent for several seconds.

“Well…” she started finally. “Then maybe you need to go over there tomorrow and talk to her in person.”

He had been thinking the same.

“Want to come with me?”

Beth shook her head. “I think you should go alone this time. Calla needs to see she hasn’t lost you, without me and Damon there to remind her that things are changing. She’s only a little girl. All of this has to be very confusing for her.”

Cole went to Lily’s straight after school. He let himself inside as he had done a million times before and stepped into the living room. Willa looked up from the puzzle she was doing on the coffee table and her tiny face lit up. Her blue eyes darted past him as they always seemed to do lately and searched for the person who wasn’t with him.

“Sorry, babe.” Cole crossed to her. “Damon’s not here.”

Her smile slipped along with her shoulders. “Why?”

Cole crouched down on the other side of the table and examined the Disney Princesses puzzle. “Because I came to see my girls.” He picked up a pink piece that looked like it belonged to one of the blonde princesses. “I thought maybe we could get some ice cream after supper and finish our book.” Willa said nothing as he slid the piece into its proper place on the board. He looked up. “Is that okay?”

One tiny shoulder jerked in a shrug. “I wanted to show Damon my puzzle.”

“You can show him another time,” he suggested. “I’ll talk to your mommy and daddy and see if you and Calla can’t come over for the weekend.”

He wasn’t sure his offer made any difference to her. Her drawn expression didn’t change.

“Can Damon come?”

“For the sleepover?”

She shook her head. “For ice cream.”

“Don’t you want it to be just us?”

Wisps of dark blonde fluttered around her face when she shook her head. “I like Damon.”

Cole sighed. There was no winning this, he realized. “Let me ask Calla first, okay?”

“She’ll say no.” Blue eyes filled with tears. Frustration and sadness darkened her cheeks and her little lip trembled.

“Aw, sweetie!” He reached around the table and pulled her into his arms. “Don’t cry.”

“I want Damon.”

Footsteps on the stairs had him looking up. Sloan reached the landing. His gaze went from Cole, unsurprised to find him sitting in the middle of his living room, to Willa and his gaze sharpened.

“Will?”

At the sight of her father, Willa broke down. Her arms lifted and she was immediately lifted into a tight hug.

“What’s wrong, baby?”

“Calla won’t let Damon go for ice cream,” Willa cried into his shoulder.

“Ice cream?”

Cole got to his feet. “I was thinking of taking the girls after supper.”

Realization dawned across Sloan’s face. His large hand skimmed Willa’s back.

“Don’t you want to go just with Calla and Uncle Cole?” he asked her.

Willa shook her head, her face still buried in his neck. “I want Damon to come, too.”

“I told her I would ask Calla if that was okay,” Cole said.

“She’ll say no!” Willa protested. “She’s going to be mean because she doesn’t like him.”

“Then I guess that means she won’t be able to go,” Sloan justified. “Damon is part of this family now and we don’t turn our back on family, right?”

Willa nodded vigorously.

“Good.” He wiped at her cheeks. “Finish your puzzle. Supper will be ready soon.”

Willa didn’t protest when she was set down.

Cole followed Sloan into the kitchen. “Where’s Lily?”

“Upstairs resting.” Sloan crossed the floor to the stove and the steaming pot. “She’s not feeling well.”

“Something wrong?”

Sloan shook his head. “Head cold.”

Cole nodded. “It is that season.”

Sloan nodded as well as he dragged the pot off the stove and snapped the element off. “So, where’s Beth and Damon?”

“Home.” He pulled out a chair and sat. “Beth thought it would be best if Calla didn’t have to face them when I talk to her.”

Wiping his hands, Sloan turned, his brows furrowed. “I think Calla needs to realize she can’t always get what she wants.”

Cole frowned. “What do you mean?”

Tossing the rag down onto the counter, Sloan took the chair opposite him. “I know she’s very young and this is a lot of change, but she needs to realize life is full of changes and she can’t throw a fit every time something doesn’t go her way. One day, you are going to have other children, ones whose situations won’t be like Damon’s, who will be with us forever and she has to accept that you have enough love for her and them. Do you remember when Willa was born?”

Cole groaned at the mere memory.

Sloan nodded. “Exactly. She was a complete nightmare, screaming, throwing things. Remember when she tried to mail Willa to the North Pole? I know we’re as much to blame for the way she was raised as anybody, but I think she’s now old enough to start accepting that our family isn’t going to stay this small forever, starting with Damon.”

Anybody else, Cole would have socked them in the nose. This was his baby girl being called a nightmare and spoiled. But it was Sloan and if there was anyone Cole respected, it was his big brother.

“I’ll talk to her.”

Sloan rose. “Good.”

Cole walked out to find the pint-sized blonde. He paused outside Lily’s bedroom door, contemplated knocking and then thought better of it; if she was sick, she would need her rest.

He moved instead to the next door, his old bedroom door and nudged it open.

Calla sat on the floor, facing her dollhouse. Tiny, wooden furniture, dolls, and doll clothes littered the ground around her. She hummed as she brushed the hair of one of the dolls.

“Hey, you.”

Calla jumped. Her head snapped around and for a split second, her eyes lit up. Then, just as quickly, they narrowed.

“You brought him, didn’t you?”

Cole pushed deeper into the room. “If you mean Damon, then no. He’s at home.”

Relief and satisfaction relaxed the tension in her shoulders. “Good. He doesn’t belong here.”

“That’s enough, Cal. I don’t want to hear that.”

“He was mean to me, Daddy!” she protested, throwing down her doll. “He made all the other kids laugh and make fun of me. I hate him.”

Carefully, Cole sat next to her. “I know things were bad before, but he’s changed, hasn’t he? He’s not mean to you now, is he?”

Calla looked away. “Doesn’t matter. The other kids still pick on me because of him.”

“Calla.” He pulled her reluctant body into his lap. “Sometimes, we have to forgive those who have done us wrong. Not just because Damon is part of the family now, but because it’s good for your soul.”

“My soul doesn’t want to forgive him,” she retorted. “My soul wants to hit him.”

Cole smothered a grin into the crown of her scalp. “Well, baby, you’re just going to have to talk to your soul and make it understand.”

“I don’t get why everyone likes him,” she mumbled. “Even Willa, who is my sister. She should be on my side.”

“Willa’s still just a baby. She doesn’t understand.”

“Then she shouldn’t like him. I don’t understand spinach, but I sure won’t try and like it.”

Realizing he was getting nowhere, Cole pressed a kiss to the side of her head. “I was thinking we could get ice cream after supper and then finish our book. That is, if you’re up for it.”

“Yeah!” Calla lunged to her feet and whirled around to face him. “Can we go now?”

“Have you had supper?”

Her smile drooped into a sulk. “No…”

“Then no.” He tweaked her nose. “But afterwards, we’ll get into the car and take a drive into town.”

“Yay!” she cheered, doing a little hop on the balls of her feet. “Is Willa coming?”

Cole nodded. “Yup, and Damon.”

All enthusiasm vanished off her face. “Why?”

“Because it wouldn’t be fair.”

“But we’re your kids, not him!”

“He kind of is my kid, Cal. I’m the one raising him right now and I care about him.”

“More than me and Willa?”

“Cal.” Carefully, he took her small, balled fists and massaged the stiffness from them until they unfurled and splayed across the width of his palm. It never failed to amaze him how small she was. “The love I have for you two doesn’t even exist in any language. But that love has room for others, like your mommy, and Uncle Sloan, and Beth—”

“And Damon?”

He thought of the rare grins Damon would occasionally give him and the tightness it always brought to Cole’s chest.

“Yeah,” he said at last. “And Damon and any other brothers and sisters you may or may not have in the future. That is what family is, Cal. It’s loving someone, even when you’re angry with them.”

“But he’s not family!” Calla protested. “He’s nobody.”

“Everyone is someone, Calla. Everyone.”

Lily didn’t come out for supper. Sloan got the girls fed and ready for Cole to take out. Willa bounded down the steps with all the enthusiasm of a kid on her way to see Santa. Calla dragged her feet down every step like she was being marched to the electric chair. Cole made no comment as he buckled both girls into the back. He got behind the wheel and pulled out his phone.

Beth answered on the second ring.

“Hello?”

“Hey.” He pushed the keys into the ignition, turned it to get the engine warmed up. “I got the girls. We’re on our way home to grab you and Damon.”

“Us?”

“Yeah, you guys like ice cream, don’t you?”

There was a pause where he knew she was frowning at the phone.

“I thought we agreed—”

“Change of plans.”

Beth sighed. “Okay, I’ll ask Damon if he’s up for taking a walk. We were in the middle of an alien invasion. You might have just ruined earth’s chances of survival.”

Cole chuckled. “Tell him I’ll make it up to him.”

They said goodbye and he pushed down on the gas.

Beth and Damon were waiting for him in front of the apartment building when he pulled up. Beth had bundled the kid from head to toe so all anyone could make out were his intense blue eyes and the annoyance in them.

“Damon!” Willa scrambled out of the car and bolted across the sidewalk. Her tackle hug nearly took them both to the ground. “We’re getting ice cream!”

Cole offered his hand to Calla and was ignored. The girl slid out and glowered hard at the ground. Cole left her to it. He slammed the door shut and motioned her to join the others.

“You know it’s not exactly winter yet,” he teased Beth, nodding towards Damon. “You probably could have waited on the boots and ski pants.”

Beth grimaced sheepishly. “I don’t know how this kid thing works. I didn’t want him to get cold. And honestly, who gets ice cream in November?”

“We do.” He slipped an arm around Calla. “It’s a tradition.”

“And the walnut one is good, too! Oh and rainbow!”

Cole stepped around Willa and her excited chatter to kneel in front of Damon. “What do you say we take some of this off?”

Damon nodded enthusiastically.

Cole helped him take everything off except the jacket, gloves and hat, and since he had no other shoes with him, his boots. He bunched the rest up and tossed them into the backseat of the car.

About thirty pounds lighter, Damon visibly relaxed. He fell into step alongside a skipping Willa, who resumed her animated babble about all the different ice creams. She held on to his hand as they walked, something Damon didn’t seem to mind.

“Uncle Cole lets me get two scoops,” she told him. “But we’re not supposed to tell Mommy. She says I’m too little for two scoops. Hey!” She peered up into his face. “Maybe you can get three scoops ‘cause you’re bigger than me.”

“Two scoops,” Cole said. “You graduate to three scoops when you’re a teenager.”

Willa pursed her lips regretfully. “Sorry.”

Damon didn’t look to care how many scoops he got. He seemed pensive and a little uncertain.

At Grandma’s Second Scoops, Cole yanked open the door and ushered the others inside. Calla was last, scuffling up behind the group like a stray puppy. Cole didn’t rush her. They’d had their talk, badgering at her would only make matters worse.

“You know what you want?” he asked the girl when she was over the threshold.

Calla said nothing but she ambled over to the second display window housing an assortment of flavors and colors. It was also the display case Willa and Damon weren’t at.

“She okay?” Beth slipped her arm through his.

“She will be.” He eased his own arm around her shoulders. “She just needs to get used to the idea.”

“I remember you bringing her here every Saturday and she’d pick whatever you were having.”

Cole chuckled. “Yeah, things were simple then. Now she’s all about expressing her feelings and finding out who she is. Funny thing is, I love her all the more for it, for becoming her own little person.”

“I know what I want!” Willa spun around, finger stabbing at the glass.

Cole untangled himself from Beth and moved in to see what had the girl all excited. It was such a treat seeing her spark to life, even if it was something as small as ice cream. Willa was usually the wallflower next to Calla and only seemed to come to life when Damon was around. At the same time, it was only around Willa that Damon seemed the most at ease. He wondered if that was because Willa was so small and fragile, or because Willa was always genuinely happy to see him, but Cole wasn’t about to question any of it.

“Butterscotch pecan,” he read out loud. “Good choice.” He settled a gentle hand on Damon’s shoulder. “See anything you like?”

The shoulder rose and fell under his palm in indecision.

“Well, what’s your favorite flavor?”

Damon slipped out from under Cole’s hand and edged back. His hands disappeared into his pockets and he glowered hard at the square slabs of stone beneath his feet.

“I don’t want any.”

Cole blinked in surprise. His gaze shot to Beth and got a shrug of confusion in return.

Beth moved towards Damon. “Why not?”

His head came up, his eyes livid. “I don’t!”

“Hey.” Cole put a hand out to stop Beth’s progression. “If you don’t want any, that’s fine. Beth doesn’t like ice cream in the winter either.”

Damon didn’t say anything in return. He went back to glaring at his feet.

Cole left him there and moved to the other display and an equally annoyed Calla. Was he ever going to win?

“Hey, know what you want?”

“I want him to go away!” She speared a finger towards Damon. “He doesn’t belong here.”

“Calla!” Cole’s sharp growl was broken only by Willa’s, “Don’t say that!”

“He’s not family!” Calla screamed over both their cries of outrage. “He’s a stupid jerk and he should just … die!”

“Damon!” Beth’s exclamation jerked Cole around just as the boy darted out of the ice cream shop, slamming his tiny body into the glass and disappearing into the night.

The sharp tinkle of the bells over the door muffled Willa’s weeping and Beth’s cry of Damon’s name. Cole’s feet pivoted, torn between turning to his daughter and running after Damon.

His mind made the decision.

“Take them home!” he barked out before hurrying out after Damon.

He was at the end of the block when Cole caught up to him. Despite his very aggressive pace to get away, Cole easily managed to scoop him up into the air and drag Damon into his chest.

“Hold on!” he shouted over Damon’s thrashing. “Just calm down for a second, Damon!”

“Let go!”

“I will, but don’t run, okay?”

Damon didn’t respond. The fact that he stopped struggling spoke for him.

Cole gently set him down on a low wall separating the park from the street. He sat next to him.

“It’s not true—”

“Why did you save me?”

Cole frowned. “What—?”

His head came up, his face scrunched with more anger than someone that small should ever possess. “Why didn’t you let me die?”

“That’s not even an option, Damon.” He started to put out a hand, but the quick tension in his small frame had Cole jerking his hand back. “Calla’s just upset. I know she didn’t mean the things she said.”

“She’s right! I don’t belong here. I don’t belong anywhere.”

Cole bent his head to the side. “Why would you say that?”

“Because I’m not a good person.” He looked down at his knees. “I’m just like my dad.”

“Damon.” Cole ignored the boy’s flinch and gently touched his shoulder. “You’re six years old. The only person you can possibly be like is yourself.”

“I hurt people.”

Cole shook him gently until the boy looked up. “That too is your choice. You can choose to be that person who hurts people, or you can choose to be someone who helps others, someone who grows up to be a good, kind man people respect.”

“Like you?”

“No.” He let his hand slide away. “Like yourself. I know you’re a good kid. I’ve seen you with Willa. She adores you.”

Damon shook his head. “I told her to stay away. She doesn’t listen.”

Cole chuckled. “Yeah, she’s stubborn like her mother.”

“She needs to stay away.” His hands balled against his thighs. “I’ll just hurt her.”

“Do you want to hurt her?”

“No!” Damon’s head came up so fast, it was a miracle he didn’t give himself whiplash. “She’s the only person who doesn’t think I’m a worthless little fuck.”

“Whoa! Hey there!”

Frustration and something else darkened across his face and he looked away. “I shouldn’t have been born.”

Getting off the wall, Cole knelt in front of the boy, putting himself in his line of vision so he had no choice, but to meet Cole’s gaze.

“Now you listen to me.” He waited until he had Damon’s full attention before speaking again. “What your father did, the way he hurt you, that is not on you. You did nothing to deserve any of it. But he’s gone now and whatever choices you make from this moment on, it’s on you. You can be a better person, or you can be like him. But I’ve seen the good in you and I believe that you will be one hell of a young man when you get bigger, if you let yourself.”

A tear caught the streetlamp behind Cole and slipped down Damon’s cheek. Cole gently brushed it away and kept his palm against the side of Damon’s face. He smiled up at him.

“Now, what do you say about that ice cream?”

Damon dropped his gaze. “I’ve never had ice cream.”

Cole blinked. “Never?”

The boy shook his head, his cheeks pink from more than just the cold.

“Oh, well, we cannot have that.” He snatched the boy up, swung him around and hoisted him up onto his shoulders. He marched back towards the ice cream parlor. “If you are staying in this family, you need to love ice cream. It might be the only deal breaker. I personally vote for mint chocolate chips. But we’ll try them all until you find the one you like.”

“Cole?”

“Yeah?”

“Do … do you think I could try the pink one?”

“You mean strawberry?” Cole shrugged. “Why not? It’s a good place as any.”

“That’s okay?”

“Sure. Why wouldn’t it be?”

Damon was quiet for a moment.

“My dad says pink is for faggots.”

Cole stopped so abruptly, Damon grabbed his face to keep from getting thrown off. He reached up, grabbed the boy and gently lowered him down onto his feet. Then he knelt in front of him.

“Your dad…” Cole bit back the many, many things he would have liked to say. “Was wrong,” he finished tightly. “If you want pink ice cream, we’re getting you pink ice cream.”

Damon’s hands opened and closed rapidly at his sides with his hesitation. “I … I like pink.” The confession was followed by a twitch in his face, like he was fighting between standing his ground and flinching back.

Cole straightened. “Why wouldn’t you?” he asked in an even, matter of fact tone. “A lot of really great things come in pink. Cotton candy, candy hearts … Oh! Girls!”

Damon’s brows contracted in a frown. “Girl’s aren’t pink.”

Cole grinned. “But they like pink. Close enough.”

The boy’s face softened into an almost grin. “Willa likes purple.”

Nodding, Cole slid his arm around Damon’s shoulders. “Another really nice color.”

Beth and the girls were gone when they returned to the ice cream parlor and got Damon his very first cone and two large scoops of strawberry ice cream. The boy held it in both hands and stared at it for the first block before giving it the tiniest lick with just the tip of his tongue. Cole watched him from the corner of his eye and bit back his grin with every flicker of new emotion on the boy’s face. Neither spoke, and that was fine too. The silence was soothing.

The car was gone when they got to the apartment building. Cole jingled his keys inside his pocket as he contemplated what to do next.

“Want to make a stop with me?”

Damon looked up, his chin, cheeks and most of his mouth covered in pink. “Okay.”

He dug out his phone and texted Beth quickly to let her know he got Damon and they were heading out just in case she got home before them. Then he placed an arm around Damon’s shoulders and led him to Danny’s Dime A Dozen.

They beat Beth home. Cole and Damon were sitting on the couch killing aliens when she shuffled through the door. She dropped her keys on the kitchen island, tossed off her coat, and crawled on Damon’s other side. Her arm eased around his shoulders and he leaned into her side without a single prompting.

She smoothed a hand over his hair and brushed a kiss to the top of his head. “Okay?”

Damon nodded. “I got strawberry ice cream.”

Beth smiled down at him and brushed a dried smudge of the treat off his cheek. “I see that. Did you get any of it inside you, or are you wearing most of it?”

Damon grinned. “I ate it.”

Chuckling, she kissed his head again and lifted her face to peer at Cole. “Hey.”

“Hey yourself.” He leaned over and met her mouth over Damon’s head for a kiss. “How’d it go?”

She shook her head sadly. “Calla was upset the whole way. Willa was worse. I feel so bad for Sloan right now.”

Cole sighed. “I’ll…” He checked his watch. “It’s still early. I could probably be there in time for bed.”

Beth nodded. “I think that would be good.”

Rubbing a hand over his face, Cole got to his feet. “Maybe I should call first. Lily’s sick and it’s probably enough of a mess over there without me joining in.”

Leaving Beth and Damon on the sofa, he moved to the kitchen, dialing Sloan’s phone. He pressed the device to his ear while he threw open the cupboard and searched for snacks. It rang four times before his brother picked up.

“Hello?”

“Hey.” Cole grabbed out a bag of chips off the shelf. “How are things over there?”

Sloan sighed. “A disaster.”

He set the bag down. “Need me to come over?”

“No, I got the girls in bed early. I think they’re both exhausted and just need to sleep.”

“I’m really sorry, Sloan.”

“For what?”

“For not handling the situation better.”

Something groaned and Cole guessed it was the ratty chair in Sloan’s office. “Between Willa, Calla, and Beth, I got most of the story and I’ll be honest, I’m not wholly impressed with Calla’s behavior, but I’ll let you deal with her in the morning. I’ll be dropping her off at school, but I think you should grab her after.”

Cole nodded. “Yeah, okay.”

He hung up and left his phone on the counter. His mind was still replaying the events of that evening as he dumped the chips into a bowl and returned to the sofa.

Cole dressed the next morning in gray trousers and a gray tie over the pale, baby pink dress shirt he’d bought the night before on his outing with Damon. He deliberately left his blazer off when he left the bedroom to find Damon sitting at the counter eating dry cereal and Beth packing his lunch.

Damon saw him first. His blue eyes bulged and the mouthful of cereal he’d taken lodged in his throat. He coughed and nearly slipped off his stool.

“Are you all right?” Beth hurried around the counter and steadied him, her hand patting him on the back.

Damon said nothing, but his watery gaze remained fixed on Cole’s top. They only flittered away once to peek at Beth, then back again.

“What?” Cole grinned at him. “Did I miss a spot shaving?”

Damon shot a glance towards Beth again, as if waiting for her to say something. But Beth stared from him to Cole and back again with absolute bewilderment.

Moving closer, he draped his blazer over a stool and smoothed a hand down his tie. “Like my new shirt? Damon helped me pick it out.”

He could have tossed Damon into a pit of alligators for the way the boy’s face paled. He started to shake his head, but Beth didn’t seem to notice.

“I love it. It looks amazing with the gray.” She went to Cole and adjusted his collar. She smoothed her hands over his shoulders before sliding them around his neck. “Is there a reason you’re looking so hot this morning?”

Not expecting that turn in topic, Cole wasn’t quick enough to answer, which seemed to amuse Beth. She leaned up with a chuckle and kissed him deeply. The seductive bow of her body curving into his sent all the blood from one head to the other, tightening his pants and making him want to forget everything, except hauling her back into the bedroom and ending both their suffering.

“That is not fair,” he groaned into her ear. “I’ve been trying so hard to be a good boy.”

She nipped playfully at his bottom lip. “Well, who told you to go and do a thing like that?”

His hands were on her before he could wrap his head around it. He dragged her to him. His mouth closed over hers and he kissed her with every ounce of pent up frustration and lust tightening the pit of his stomach. He’d spent the last five weeks fighting the urge to tear off her clothes and plunge recklessly into her willing body. He hadn’t been wholly ignorant to the looks she’d been giving him, or the way she’d press into him at night. But it hadn’t been his lack of interest that kept him firmly resistant.

It was fear.

It was the crippling uncertainty that once they completed the deed, she would leave. Like the only thing keeping her there, keeping her with him was reaching that moment. And while he was in enough pain to make a lesser man weep, losing her was infinitely worse.

“I need to get little man to school and get to work myself.”

He saw the flicker of confusion and hurt dance behind her eyes even as he pulled away. But he didn’t let it draw him back. He couldn’t.

Instead, he put all his focus in getting Damon ready and off to school.

Sloan dropped Calla off at school and waited for Cole to do the same with Damon. Willa beamed at the sight of the boy. She tugged free of her dad’s hand and scurried off to catch Damon before he could duck into class.

“How’s Lily?” Cole asked.

“Miserable,” Sloan said. “I’m going to drop by the pharmacy on my way home and see if I can’t get her something to relieve the pressure.” He eyed Cole. “How are you?”

Cole shrugged. “Nothing new here. I got a few more requests for computer repair, which I find massively entertaining. I busted my balls to become a lawyer only to spend about ninety-nine percent of my time fixing computers.”

“Maybe that’s your calling.”

Cole snorted. “Could be at this point.”

Sloan nodded. “It’s something to think about.”

Willa came trotting back, her cheeks pink from the early morning chill. “Daddy, when do I get to go to school?”

Sloan scooped her up. “Next year. Until then, you get to be my little buddy.”

Willa hooked her arms around his neck. “Okay, for one more year.”

Sloan frowned. “Hey, you told me forever!”

The girl giggled and kissed his cheek roughly. “You’re funny.”

Sloan squinted at her, then at Cole. “Not sure how to take that.”

Chuckling, Cole smacked his brother on the arm, planted a kiss to Willa’s red nose and stepped away. “I got to head into work. I’ll grab Calla today and drop her off. Tell Lily I hope she gets better.”

With a wave the group parted. Cole fished out his keys. There were a couple of places he had to stop before settling in to fiddle with the Parker’s desktop. The thing needed a motherboard, possibly more ram, or new ram. Cole hadn’t had the chance to look at it properly the day before. It also made him think that if he was going to help people, he needed to get some kind of shipping service set up to order parts. He also needed space. His office was getting too crowded and there was really nowhere to set up at home.

His first stop was the bank to see about getting a loan for a small business. He knew there was a process. He needed to put together a plan, make a proposal, and prove opening a computer repair business was what the town needed. But he walked in without an appointment anyway. Mr. Mitchell Goode, the bank manager, had known Cole’s family since Cole’s parents were small and if anything, maybe he’d tell Cole this was a bad idea.

The two tellers were both open, but only one had an occupant. Cole recognized the chestnut brown hair and sleek dress suit even before Georgia May Hadley turned around. Her crimson red lips bowed into an almost feline smile.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Cole McClain.” She abandoned her purse and checkbook on the counter and made her way to him. “I’ve been meaning to drop by your office.”

Cole, ever a man of manners, offered her his best smile. “Hope everything’s all right with Mr. Hadley.”

Her smile was just a little sharper. “Oh, everything is just perfect. I hear you’ve been having a very busy month.”

Cole shrugged. “No busier than usual.”

“How’s Beth?”

“Beth is just fine.”

Georgia May bent her head to the side like that sounded just adorable. “I am so glad to hear that. I have to confess, when I heard she came back and moved in with you, why, I was absolutely astounded by her nerve. I mean, she left you. But you two have clearly worked things out amongst yourselves. Even started a little family with that Comb boy. Poor thing. I am just appalled something like that happened in our town.”

“Hmm.” Cole nodded. “Amazing how we overlook unpleasant things, eh?”

Georgia May rolled her eyes as though she couldn’t agree more. “I do hope they catch his father. I’ll have you know I haven’t slept a wink since this whole business started.”

“It’s horrible,” Cole agreed.

Head bobbing up and down, she looked him over. “But how have you been, Cole? Being a parent must be overwhelming.”

Cole shook his head. “It’s been wonderful. Damon’s a great kid. Beth and I are delighted to have him with us.”

“So does this mean Beth will be moving back? I know there is no news of her transferring hospitals.”

Annoyance that had nothing to do with her knowing so much about his business flared. He knew Beth had said she wanted to stay, but hadn’t said a word about it since and he was damn scared to death to ask her again without sounding like he was pushing.

“We’re discussing it,” he said instead.

“Of course,” Georgia May agreed. “Things like this take time and careful planning. Last thing you need is for her to get cold feet again and run. I can completely understand your fears.”

Needing to get away from the woman, Cole gave her a tight-lipped smile and edged around her. “Thank you, but I should get along.”

“Well, you take care now.”

With a final smile, she whirled on her heels and flounced back to the counter and the teller waiting for her. Cole took a deep breath, suppressed the urge to roll his eyes, and moved towards the offices in the back.

Mitchell Goode glanced up from behind his enormous oak desk. His round glasses made his brown eyes appear enormous against his small, hawkish face. He blinked rapidly at the sight of Cole darkening his doorway.

“Cole?”

Cole gave him a smile. “Hello Mr. Goode. I hope I’m not disturbing you.”

Mr. Goode waved him towards the chairs facing his desk. “Not at all, dear boy. Not at all. What brings you?”

Cole stepped inside and shut the door behind him. He took the offered seat and faced the man.

“I’m hoping we can talk loans.”

Chapter Sixteen ~ Beth

Beth paced the apartment, occasionally wiping down this and dusting that. But there was barely three things in the whole place and she could only sweep so many times. She finally gave up and showered. She dressed quickly and warmly before leaving the apartment without a goal in mind. Part of her knew she needed to run to the store, they were nearly out of milk and maybe something for supper. Instead, she found her feet moving aimlessly through town, her mind a jungle of doubts over Cole pushing her away that morning. It wouldn’t have been so strange, or hurtful if that had been the only time. But it was all he was doing lately, no matter how hard she tried. There was a small voice in her head wondering if maybe he’d changed his mind about them. He’d asked her to stay and the minute she agreed, he stopped touching her. At least touching her the way she really wanted, which confused the hell out of her, especially when his morning erection was a prominent force between them. She wondered if maybe he was worried about Damon, but she wasn’t asking him to jump her against the boy’s door. They spent the entire night wrapped around each other and she knew how to be quiet from all the times they’d done it in his dorm while his roommate slept a mere five feet away.

It made no sense.

Plagued by her own dilemma, Beth almost missed the figure that stepped out of the post office until she nearly walked straight into them.

“Oh!” The figured jumped aside at the same time as Beth jerked back. Georgia May blinked, as surprised as Beth was to see her. “Beth!”

Every bone in Beth’s body stiffened on impulse. “Georgia May.”

In a town the size of Willow Creek, it was normal to run into people, whether you got along with them or not. But if there was one person Beth would gladly dive behind post boxes to avoid, it was Georgia May.

“Why, it is just the smallest world,” Georgia May cooed. “I’m running into the McClain’s all over town today.”

Beth tried to keep the snide bite from her tone when she spoke. “Well, that’s bound to happen when the population falls below a thousand.”

“Yes,” was all Georgia May purred. “How does it feel to be back?”

“It felt good,” Beth answered, deliberately using the past tense.

If Georgia May noticed, she never showed it. “Does this mean you’ll be staying this time?”

The jab prickled up Beth’s spine. “Cole and I are discussing it.”

“Yes, that’s what he said.”

Beth frowned. “You talked to Cole?”

“Yes,” the woman said for what felt like the hundredth time. “At the bank. He seemed to be on his way to see Mr. Goode. I hope everything’s fine? I know how expensive raising a child can be.”

How? Beth wanted to snap. The bitch didn’t have any hell spawns … thank God.

“Nope, we’re fine. Thank you for caring.”

“Of course!” She settled a hand on Beth’s arm and just as quickly snatched it back when Beth narrowed her eyes. “This town’s like family.”

Whenever Beth thought of family, she always had two versions in her head. There was family the way everyone else in the world saw it. Then there was family the way the McClain’s saw it. She personally preferred the latter.

“I should go,” she mumbled.

Georgia May peeked at her watch beneath the sleeve of her puffy, fur coat. “Oh, so do I. Just getting some errands done before I stop by to see Josie. She and Barty have been having the worst sort of fights. Why, I’m surprised the entire town hasn’t heard them squabbling like children, which is why I must be there. It’s what a friend does.”

Beth felt her tense mouth curve into a smile. “God bless the world for friends like you, Georgia May.”

Beaming proudly, Georgia May wiggled her manicured fingers and trotted away.

Beth rolled her eyes heavenward, shook her head slightly and kept on walking.

It wasn’t until she found herself back in front of the post office that Beth realized she’d made a full circle without a single shred of progress. Her mind was as tattered as it had been when she’d left—she checked her watch—four hours earlier.

Groaning, she stopped and stared at the steady flow of traffic, the hustle of people moving along the sidewalks and the routine of day to day life in a small town. She couldn’t believe she’d wasted all those hours and accomplished nothing.

Turning on her heels, she began to make her way home. Maybe there was something that hadn’t been cleaned that could use her agitated attention.

Cora Kennedy exited the Produce and More, a bag of groceries in hand. Her mane shimmered in the sunlight, a silky rain of chocolate pouring down around her shoulders and framing a perfect, heart shaped face. The light reflected off the gold frames of her sunglasses when she turned her head. Her glossy, pink lips curled upward into a brilliant smile. She raised a gloved hand and waved.

Taken by surprise, Beth didn’t move. She also resisted the urge to look over her shoulder. Not that Cora gave her the chance.

She sprinted over in her soft as butter boots. “Beth! Hi!”

Surprised, Beth blinked a couple of times before finding the sense to respond. “Hi.”

Cora shoved back her glasses, using them to restrain all that beautiful hair. Her hazel eyes glistened.

“I heard you were back, but it is so nice to see you.”

She and Cora had never been friends. In all the years Beth had lived in Willow Creek, they had shared possibly a handful of words. To have a near stranger be so excited to see her was a bit disturbing.

“Thanks,” was all Beth could think to say.

Cora seemed to realize how uncomfortable the situation had gotten, because she grimaced … and even that was perfect.

“I’m sorry,” the woman said. “I know this might sound strange, but Cole has told me so much about you that I feel like I’ve known you forever.”

Something hot and tense frothed in the pit of Beth’s stomach. “Really?” she bit out through her teeth. “You don’t say.”

Cora rolled her eyes. “Well, I mean we talked about other things too, but you were always there.”

“That is just … awesome,” Beth retorted with all the venomous sarcasm she could throw into the word awesome. “Thanks for that. You really made my day.”

Cora blinked rapidly. “Oh, well, good! I’m glad. And like I said, I’m really happy you’re back. Cole really missed you.”

“Yeah?” Beth folded her arms. “Did he tell you this before, after, or during the time you had your tongue down his throat?”

Cora jolted like Beth had reached over and smacked her. “He told you about that?”

Beth laughed sharply. “Uh, no. I had the pleasure of seeing it with my own two eyes when I came back to say yes to the man who asked me to marry him.”

“Oh…” Cora’s pretty peaches and cream complexion turned dissolved from crimson to pale. “Beth…”

“Don’t oh Beth me!” Her temper took hold of her senses like wildfire. “My sheets hadn’t even cooled before you made your move.”

Cora’s eyes darted frantically from side to side. Beth couldn’t tell if she was trying to find a way out, or was hoping someone would jump in to save her. Neither happened.

“That isn’t what happened,” Cora protested. “I was working the day shift and he walked in mad as a wet cat. I poured him a few drinks and he told me what happened.” She peered imploringly at Beth. “The kiss meant nothing.”

“Nothing?” Her growl made the woman jump. “You were straddling his lap like some … some…”

“I wasn’t!” Cora said quickly. “I leaned over and kissed him. It lasted all of five seconds. Maybe ten. But he pushed me away and said something about me not tasting like you. Sean Clarke was there. You can ask him. He drove Cole to his brother’s house and we never talked about it again.”

As good as parts of that made Beth feel, her mad refused to subside. “Do you make it a habit of kissing your customers?”

“Lord no!” Cora said loudly. “Had it been anyone else, I would have just left him to drown in his whiskey. But I don’t think I’d ever seen Cole McClain in the pub. Plus he looked so damn broken. I felt bad for him.”

Beth arched a brow. “You couldn’t have felt too bad considering you were trying to seduce him into your bed only minutes after he proposed to me.”

Cora puffed up like a beautiful chicken. “Now you listen to me, Beth Doan. I ain’t no home wrecker. When I kissed that man, you were on your way outta town and by all means out of his life. He was a single man as far as legotests go.”

As much as she wanted to snatch up a brick and beat the woman bloody, Beth couldn’t help seeing the truth and feeling about two inches tall.

“Logistics,” she mumbled, fire dying.

Cora blinked. “What?”

“I think you mean as far as logistics go…”

Cora frowned. “That’s what I said. Now, I’ll kindly ask you not to go spreading that I went and stole your man, because I am in a very happy relationship with Joey and I don’t want that ruined because of some meaningless kiss I had with a single man nearly a decade ago.”

Beth refrained from pointing out that decade meant ten years and nodded.

“It didn’t mean a damn thing to either of us,” Cora went on. “Cole’s a great guy, don’t get me wrong, but he ain’t the one for me and I love my Joey and Cole’s just about over the moon about you.” She squared her shoulders. “I really hope things work out for you both.”

She marched away before Beth could even open her mouth to apologize. She was still stinging from the tongue lashing when she found herself outside of Cole’s office. There was no recollection of making the journey, yet there she was, staring at the dull, brown sign hanging over the glass door.

Without giving herself time to think, she shoved open the door and stepped inside. The cramped little waiting area was empty. The door leading into Cole’s office stood ajar. She could hear someone moving around back there.

“Come in!” She heard him call out.

Moving through the narrow hall, she stopped just in the doorway and watched as he popped the keyboard off a laptop.

He stood behind his desk, shirt sleeves rolled up. There were tiny screws and other pieces littering his tabletop and he looked completely in his element.

Blue eyes lifted from his task and fixed on her face. They widened in surprise.

“Hey!”

She moved deeper inside and cast an amused glance towards the small tower of computers crammed into one corner. Colorful post-it notes were stuck on each one, labeling them with the owner’s names.

“You need a better system,” she teased.

Cole chuckled. “Tell me about it.” He set down the screwdriver he’d been using to pry off the keyboard. “Everything okay?”

Beth faced him. She nodded. “I was out for a walk. I thought I’d come see how you were.”

He shrugged. “Keeping busy.”

She picked up a heavy, black square with a metallic disk embedded in the plastic.

“It’s a hard drive,” he told her. “I need to get a replacement for it.”

“Oh.” She set it down gently. “You seem to really be enjoying this computer stuff.”

“I guess I kind of am,” he confessed. “It saves people time and money to take it to someone in town rather than ship their stuff off to one of the cities.”

“Maybe you should hang up your lawyer hat for a technician one.”

She’d meant it as a joke, but wasn’t entirely surprised when he nodded.

“I’ve been thinking about it.” He licked his lips. “I went to the bank this morning.”

Beth offered him a grin. “I know. Georgia May,” was all the information she gave when he squinted at her.

“Ah!” He snorted. “Figures.”

Beth moved to take the chair across his desk. “So you went to the bank…”

Carefully, he moved aside the laptop so they could see each other and sat as well.

“I talked to Mr. Goode about getting a business loan, a small one.”

Beth’s eyes widened. “Wow! That’s great. What did he say?”

Cole shrugged. “It’s doable. I have some money saved up, but a loan would help. He wants a plan put together by the end of the week. If he’s impressed with what he sees, I could have a real shot.”

“That is wonderful, Cole!” She got to her feet and circled the desk to stand next to his chair. “I am so proud of you.”

He turned and pulled her to him when she wrapped her arms around his neck.

“You helped.”

Beth drew back. “Me? What did I do?”

“It was your idea I start opening myself up to something new, something I actually like doing.”

Cheeks warmed, she chuckled. “That was nothing. You would have eventually come to the same conclusion on your own.”

“Will you stop raining on my thank you? Jesus, woman.”

Laughing, she bent at the waist and kissed him. “You’re welcome.”

It was unclear how the kiss deepened, but it seemed to ignite like gasoline on lit matches. It exploded, wild and unstoppable. Beth found herself propped on the desk, her jacket discarded somewhere on the floor. Her fingers fumbled with the buckle on his slacks.

“No.” Cole broke the kiss. His hands caught hers, wrenching them away from his pants.

Breathing hard, Beth stared up at him. “We can lock the door.”

He shook his head. “I can’t.”

Her mind raged with this new turn of events, trying to decipher what he was trying to tell her in between pants.

“Because we’re at your work?”

He was staring intently into her eyes, his filled with regret. “I can’t sleep with you, not when there’s a very real possibility you won’t be staying.”

It took her muddled brain a full minute to comprehend what he was telling her. “What are you talking about? I told you I was staying.”

“Then why haven’t you put your transfer in at work? Why haven’t you started making plans to move your things? It feels more to me like you have one foot out the door, just waiting for an excuse to run again.”

His words stung like a slap.

She hopped off the desk and snatched up her coat. She put the desk between them as she threw it on.

“It’s only been a week!” She hooked her fingers in her hair and yanked the strands free of the collar. “Rearranging my entire life takes time. I can’t just uproot and leave in a day. And for your information, I have put my transfer in. It’s not up to me when they actually complete the process and Willow Creek Memorial accepts it. If they accept it.”

This revelation seemed to take Cole by surprise, but he rebounded just as quickly. “What about your apartment?”

“What about it?” She glared at him. “I didn’t realize there was a time limit.”

“There isn’t, but it would be nice to know you’re serious.”

Her arms flung open wide. “I’m still here aren’t I?”

“Yeah, for Damon, but your indecision is making me question for just how long.”

“It’s not indecision and I’m not here only for Damon! I’ve already decided, and why are you rushing me?”

“I’m not rushing you,” he argued.

Her eyebrow arched. “Really? Because that is exactly what it sounds like.”

Not waiting for a response, she spun on her heels and stomped from the office. She hit the door with her shoulder and threw herself into the cold. Her fingers trembled as she fumbled trying to do up the zipper on her coat. Her mad carried her all the way home before she realized she was forcing the key into the apartment lock and shoving her way inside.

The first thing Beth had done after telling Cole she was staying was call Beatrice, her supervisor at the hospital in Vancouver and put in her transfer. Beatrice had emailed her the papers and Beth had done them the same day. She had no control over when it would get faxed to Willow Creek Memorial, or if it would get approved and when, or if they would call her. It was a waiting game at that point.

As for moving her things, the truth was she was dreading the prospect of packing four years of crap. It was the only reason she kept dragging her feet. It had nothing to do with her changing her mind, or waiting for the other shoe to drop. But she could see how it would look to Cole. How her avoidance of work would prickle his apprehension.

Anger evaporated as quickly as it had flared. She stared at the flawless blue stretch of sky looming over the never changing town below. The light glinted off the neatly kempt rooftops, reminding her that the windows needed scrubbing.

She turned away from the view and focused on the rest of the apartment, on the bland, emptiness of it. It wasn’t a home, but a place to exist. While she didn’t hate the place, she couldn’t bring herself to like it overly much either. Their place together had been built with love. Every item they brought through the door had meant something. And even if she brought her things there, it would just be a collection of his things and her things all crammed into a tiny place.

Maybe that was the problem. For so long, it had been their things. Nothing had been labeled as hers, or his. But the biggest problem was building on a place that he’d gotten to forget about her. There wasn’t a single shred of what they’d shared anywhere in the place, like he’d gone out of his way to destroy her completely from his life. Did she really want to start their future together on that kind of foundation?

Rubbing a hand over her face, she wandered into Damon’s room. She’d made his bed earlier that morning, but she puttered around, uselessly moving books and toys and adjusting the pillows. The bedroom set Cole and Sloan had set up for him was cherry wood and matched the bed, dresser, and end table. Sloan had also built him a bookshelf out of plywood that was now filled with books and an assortment of action figures. At first glance, it was evident a boy lived there. Everything from the Spiderman sheets to the stickers of race cars and superheroes on the walls made certain of that. But it was the look on Damon’s face when they’d first revealed the room to him that would forever stay with Beth. It had been the wide-eyed wonder of someone faced with something too unbelievable to comprehend. He had stood just inside the doorway like he was afraid it would all vanish if he so much as breathed. It had taken everything in her not to bundle him up into her arms and make all his hurt and memories go away.

Beth was still standing in the middle of the room, studying the bed when her phone buzzed in the pocket of her coat. Thinking it might be the hospital, or Cole, she dug it out and hit talk without checking the ID.

“Hello?”

“Ms. Doan?”

Not recognizing the female voice, Beth frowned. “Yes?”

“This is principal Hamill from Willow Creek elementary. I have Damon in the office with me—”

“Is he all right?” Beth was already at the door, yanking it open and sprinting out. “What happened? Was it his father?”

“No,” the woman’s voice was curt. “Damon was in a fight during recess today. He broke another child’s nose.”

Standing on the front steps of the apartment building, Beth frowned. “What? No, that doesn’t sound like Damon. Are you sure?”

“I am very sure,” the principal muttered. “Is there any way you and your husband can come to the school?”

“I’m on my way. Cole’s at work, but I’ll call him.”

She hung up with the principal and dialed Cole. He answered on the second ring. She told him quickly what happened, got a pause on the other end, then an abrupt, “I’ll be there.”

Beth had only been inside the school once before when Ms. Barns had taken her and Cole to meet the principal and discuss Damon’s enrollment. The unfamiliar maze was made simple only by the signs hanging from the ceiling, telling her where to go. The office was empty saved for a sour faced woman with a severe bun and glasses shaped like cat eyes. She peered down the length of her thin nose at Beth.

“Can I help you?”

Beth opened her mouth to respond when the middle door behind the front desk opened and Mrs. Hamill motioned Beth forward.

The office was small, made smaller by the trio of bookshelves taking up three walls and the metal desk pushed against the window. Someone had forced two plastic chairs into the space and one was occupied.

“Damon!”

The boy was still in his coat, but the front was drenched and sticky with the same blood that speckled his dirt streaked face. He was staring down at his knees, but she could just make out the black blossom blazing bright against his jaw.

“What happened?” Concern rushed her to his side. She ignored his protest and grabbed his chin, forcing his head up. “Are you hurt?”

“He is fine.” Mrs. Hamill shut the door and rounded her desk to sit. “I can’t say the same for the other boy.”

“What happened?” Beth asked again, this time to the principal.

“Will your husband be joining us?” Mrs. Hamill asked instead. “I would rather get to the bottom of this without explaining it twice.”

Beth glanced at her watch. “I called him. He should be here any minute.” She raised her head. “And Cole’s not my—”

There was a knock at the door that waited for no one to answer before it was forced open and Cole marched in. His blue gaze jumped from Beth to Mrs. Hamill before settling on Damon.

“What happened?” he demanded, taking in the blood wrecking Damon’s coat. “Who did this?” This was growled at Mrs. Hamill.

“That is not his,” the principal stated calmly. “Please close the door.”

Cole did and remained standing, waiting for answers.

“Damon had an altercation on the playground during recess,” Mrs. Hamill began. “From what I’ve gathered from the children that were there, Damon attacked the boy unprovoked.”

“There has to be some mistake,” Beth interjected. “Damon wouldn’t do that.”

Mrs. Hamill fixed her heavily lidded eyes on Beth. “Ms. Doan, with all due respect, you’ve known Damon for all of a month. This is actually quite normal behavior for him.”

“Maybe in the past, but he’s not the same kid he was before we got him,” Cole piped in. “He’s a good kid.”

“I understand that you’re trying to help him—”

“Did you ask him?” Beth cut in.

Mrs. Hamill blinked. “Pardon?”

“Did you ask Damon what happened?”

The principal leaned back in her chair. “I had several eyewitnesses—”

“Who are all children,” Beth said.

“Ms. Doan, I have been principal of this school for a very long time. I know how to do my job, and yes, I did ask Damon. He didn’t respond.”

Beth and Cole both turned to the boy.

“What happened, Damon?” Beth demanded. “Why did you hit that boy?”

Damon stayed buried to the eyeballs in the collar of his coat.

“That’s about as much of an answer as I got,” Mrs. Hamill said. “And since Damon won’t tell me what happened, I have no choice but to believe what I’ve been told to be true. It also pains me to say, but Damon is suspended for the next week.”

“What?” Cole snapped.

“No!” Beth said at the same time. “Mrs. Hamill, please. Is there not another way we can handle this?”

The woman pursed her lips sympathetically. “I wish there were, but we have a zero bullying policy.”

“Bully?” Beth gasped. “Since when is two little boys fighting bullying? Isn’t it normal? I mean, they’re just little boys, for crying out loud!” She took a deep breath. “He can’t be suspended. It will go on his permanent record.”

“He broke the other child’s nose,” the principal said tightly. “His parents are expecting some type of punishment as I’m sure you would if it were Damon in the hospital right now. I’m sorry, but there really is nothing I can do.”

No one spoke as they led Damon from the principal’s office. Cole took him into the boys’ washroom and tried to get as much of the blood off as possible while Beth signed the papers stating she understood why Damon was being suspended. Afterwards, Cole led them to the car and took them home.

“What the hell happened, Damon?” Cole shut the apartment door and turned on the boy. He jerked down his zipper and shrugged his coat off. He tossed it over the back of the sofa, never once taking his eyes off Damon. “Why did you hit that kid?”

Damon said nothing.

“Answer me!”

Damon jumped at the vicious growl, but stayed frozen in place.

“Cole!”

Beth hurried forward and reached for Damon, but the boy jerked away and ran to his room. A moment later, the door slammed shut and then there was silence.

“Are you happy now?” Beth snapped at Cole. “What’s the matter with you?”

“He can’t just go off picking fights, Beth!” Cole shot back. “We’ll lose him if Ms. Barns finds out about this. They’ll think we’re unfit, that we can’t control him. They’re not going to see this as some stupid thing that boys do. They’ll see it as our inability to be responsible.”

A cold cyclone started in the pit of Beth’s stomach, churning until she was sure she’d be sick.

“Okay, so we’ll be responsible,” she murmured, sounding breathless even to her own ears. “We’ll ground him and he has to write a letter to the boy apologizing for what happened and tomorrow, I’ll grab his school work and he has to finish those, too.”

Cole stalked around her and went into the kitchen. He yanked out a cup and filled it with water.

He turned his head towards the window and stared out, the glass forgotten. Shadows played in the hard grooves around his mouth.

“I didn’t mean to yell at him,” he mumbled at last. He set the water down, untouched. “I just don’t want to lose him.”

“Maybe you should tell him that.”

Cole sighed. He turned his head and his eyes met hers. “I’m sorry about earlier, too.”

Beth shook her head. “We can talk about that later.”

With a slow bob of his head, Cole pushed away from the counter and turned his head towards the bedrooms. He exhaled once before making his way to Damon’s room. Beth dumped her coat on top of Cole’s on the sofa and followed.

Damon stood in the middle of his room, still fully dressed in his ruined jacket. He reminded Beth of a small soldier about to face the end. It broke her heart.

“Are you sending me away?”

The tense lines around Cole’s face softened. He crossed the room and knelt in front of the boy. Carefully, he undid the zipper on Damon’s jacket and peeled the wet material off him. Beth took it gingerly by the collar and wondered if there was a way to salvage it.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Cole told him. “Not if we can help it.”

Chapter Seventeen ~ Cole

It was a week after the incident, a week after Beth had called to let her know what had happened at the school, before Ms. Barns returned their call. It came through the morning Cole was getting prepared to meet Mr. Goode at the bank. Beth was bundling Damon up in his new coat. The snow was still a fine powder over the town so Cole was able to talk her out of stuffing Damon into ski pants as well.

It was Damon’s first day back from his suspension and Cole was more nervous for him than he was for his presentation with the bank. He kept double checking to make sure all of Damon’s work was properly done and packed inside his backpack and that the apology letter was tucked away in his pocket to give to his teacher. He wanted so much for Damon and the school to put the whole mess behind them. He didn’t want anything getting in Damon’s way of having the future he deserved.

“You ready, buddy?”

Wiggling into his backpack, Damon nodded.

Beth gave Cole Damon’s lunch bag. “There’s no room,” she said.

Cole eyed the tiny bag compared to the massive weight the boy was struggling under. “Hey, why don’t you take this and I’ll take your pack.”

Damon didn’t argue. He tossed off his bag and took the one Cole handed him.

Beth bent down and kissed the top of his head. “You good?”

Damon nodded again. “Do I have to go back there?”

“Yes, because we don’t run from our mistakes,” Cole told him. “You own up to them.” He settled a hand on his shoulder. “And you face them like a man.”

Damon sighed, but he reluctantly moved towards the door. Cole followed with Beth right behind them.

“Big day for both of you,” Beth said with nerves in her voice. “Good luck and I’ll see you both when you get home.”

Damon walked through the door with a wave over his shoulder. Cole paused to press a kiss to Beth’s mouth.

“You’re going to rock their socks off,” she promised. “Just be calm and confident and tell it just like how we practiced.” She smoothed shaky hands over his shoulders and down his arms. “You can do this.”

Cole chuckled. “Your confidence gives me confidence.” He kissed her one last time. “I’ll call you when I’m done.”

“Wait!” She grabbed his elbow before he could leave. “Do you have everything? Your papers? The diagram?”

“Beth.” He framed her face between his hands. “Breathe, baby. I have everything in the car. I’m ready.”

“I know you are.” She smiled. “I just wanted to make sure.”

With a final kiss, he left. Damon was waiting just inside the lobby when Cole reached him.

“Ready?”

He held open the door and walked them to the car. At the school, he led Damon to the tarmac where the other parents stood waiting for the doors to open. The crowd made it impossible to find anyone and yet, Willa had no problem spotting Damon almost immediately.

The girl came barreling out of nowhere, zigzagging between legs and bodies until she had Damon in a fierce embrace.

“Look at the picture I made!” She jerked back and pulled free a piece of paper from her pocket. The zipper teeth caught the corner and tore the page in half. Willa’s face fell. “Oh no!”

Damon took it from her, gingerly set the two pieces together. “We have tape inside,” he told her. “I’ll fix it.”

Ruffling Damon’s hair, Cole turned his attention on the girl. “Where’s your dad, Will?”

It took a moment for her to tear her eyes away from the drawing to fix on him. “At home.”

“Did your mommy bring you?”

Willa nodded and swung an arm out somewhere in the direction she’d come from. “She’s talking to Calla.”

Curious, he guided the children towards the other side of the waiting area and spotted Lily’s blonde head almost immediately. It was bent low as she talked quietly to the tiny figure huddled on the floor, back against the wall, face buried on the arms folded on her knees.

“Calla?” Cole hurried over. “What happened?”

“I don’t know!” Lily said, frustration hot in her voice. “She been like this all week and she won’t tell me why.”

Cole bent down so he was level with Calla’s tear stained face. “What’s the matter, sweetie?”

Calla raised her blue eyes, her lashes damp spikes. “It’s my fault.”

Cole exchanged bemused glances with Lily before focusing on the girl again. “What is?”

She sniffled and scrubbed at the tears with the sleeve of her coat. Her gaze moved past Cole to settle on Damon. Damon, still holding Willa’s drawing, stared back, his small face dark with anger.

“What happened?” Cole demanded, looking from one to the other. “Damon?”

“Calla, say something,” Lily chimed in.

“It was nothing!” Damon muttered, averting his eyes.

“What was?”

Lily straightened. “Someone better start talking, or so help me…”

“Damon hit Michael because of me,” Calla blurted.

Lily visibly jerked. “What?”

Fresh tears spilled down Calla’s cheeks. “He was shoving me and calling me names and Damon told him to stop, but Michael wouldn’t listen and he hit Damon first.”

“Calla!” Lily knelt in front of her daughter and grabbed the girl’s shoulders. “Why didn’t you say something sooner?”

“Mrs. Hamill was yelling and I got scared. I didn’t want to get in trouble.” Her voice broke. Her face crumpled. “I’m sorry!”

Lily pulled Calla into her arms. “It’s all right now. Shhh.” She stroked Calla’s shiny curls. “But you’re going to tell Mrs. Hamill, understand? You need to tell the truth.”

Calla, face buried in her mother’s shoulder, nodded.

Cole turned to Damon. The boy stood rigid and stone faced.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

His gaze fell to the pavement. “I was trying to be a good person.”

Even as Cole’s heart broke, it also swelled. He studied the little face trying so hard to be tough and he knew, in that very moment, that he loved that little boy with all the intensity, passion, and protective instinct a parent could possibly have for their child. No matter how wrong it was because Damon could be taken from them at any moment, he didn’t give a shit. He would give his life to keep him safe and happy, just as he would for Willa, or Calla. He was a McClain, no matter what anyone said.

“I’m going to talk to Mrs. Hamill, okay? We’ll fix this.”

Damon said nothing.

Cole got to his feet. Lily did the same and the two faced each other.

“We should do it now,” Lily said. “Before classes start.”

Cole checked his watch. There was still thirty minutes before his meeting.

“Yeah.”

Children in tow, they headed around the building towards the front doors. Mrs. Hamill stood in the reception area, an open file in hand. She looked up when they charged in.

“Mr. and Mrs. McClain.” She closed the folder and glanced down at the children, settling on Damon. “First day back, Damon? I hope you will behave more appropriately—”

“Damon didn’t start the fight,” Cole interrupted. “The other kid, Michael, he threw the first punch and actually started the entire altercation in the first place.”

Her chin went up as she drew the file to her abdomen. “That is not the story I got.”

“Damon was trying to get Michael to stop picking on Calla.”

The woman’s eyes drifted over to the girl. “Calla?”

Lily nudged her gently. “Go ahead. Tell Mrs. Hamill what you told us.”

Calla raised her face hesitantly and met the principal’s unwavering stare. “I was on the slide,” she whispered. “Michael pushed me and then he and his friends threw woodchips at me and I told them to stop—”

“Which friends?” Mrs. Hamill cut in.

Calla faltered. “Jared and Anthony.”

Mrs. Hamill set down her folder and picked up a pen and notepad off the reception’s desk. She scribbled down the children’s names.

“Continue,” she promoted, still writing.

Calla glanced nervously at Lily and Lily smiled at her comfortingly and nodded.

“Um … I told them to stop,” Calla murmured. “They wouldn’t. Michael shoved me and I fell…” She held out her hands so Mrs. Hamill could see the scabs and scratch marks along her palm and over the heels of her hands that looked about a week old. “Damon came over and told them to stop—”

“Why didn’t you tell the monitors?” Mrs. Hamill interrupted yet again, getting on Cole’s nerves.

“I … I couldn’t,” Calla whispered.

Mrs. Hamill glanced up. “Why?”

Calla licked her lips. “Because Michael hit Damon and then they were fighting.”

Mrs. Hamill folded her arms. “Why didn’t you tell anyone afterwards? You had a week.”

Calla hung her head, her cheeks as pink as her cotton candy colored jacket. “Because I … I was happy he got in trouble, but I knew it was wrong.” She looked up at Lily. “I’m sorry.”

Lily slipped an arm around Calla’s shoulders, pulled her into her side. “Mrs. Hamill, I think it’s clear that this is just a squabble between children. Damon was wrong to break Michael’s nose, but he can’t be the only one held accountable.”

“Especially when the school has a zero bullying policy,” Cole chimed in. “That was what you said, wasn’t it? From where I’m standing, not only did this Michael kid bully Calla, but he hurt her, repeatedly, and his friends helped. As her parent, I’d like to see some punishment for those responsible as Damon was held responsible for trying to defend another person.”

Mrs. Hamill glanced from Cole to Lily to each of the children, studying their faces before responding. “I will of course handle this matter accordingly, Mr. McClain. You have my word on that.”

“What about Damon? I think this new piece of evidence should at least be enough to remove the incident from his permanent record, at least the part about his suspension. He might not have done the right thing, but he has been punished both by me and Beth and the school. That should be enough considering the situation and the fact that he was trying to do the right thing.”

Mrs. Hamill peered down at Damon, saying nothing for several long seconds. “I will let you know once I have spoken to the other boys.”

“And if they lie?” Cole countered. “It certainly isn’t beneath them since they lied once already.”

“Mr. McClain, I can understand your frustration, but I will do what needs to be done.”

“Which I can appreciate,” Cole jumped in. “But that isn’t solving my problem right now, and that’s removing some of the burden off Damon. I’m only asking that this incident be removed from his permanent record. I think we can all agree that, while yes, Damon had a part in it, he was only defending himself and another student. I’m not justifying his actions, but to put this mark on his future could ruin his chances at a good education later.”

Mrs. Hamill sighed. “I can’t agree to anything until I have talked to the other students. Right now, I have the word of one student who waited a week to come forward, someone who, by all accounts, is in the same household as Damon. I will look into the matter and I will serve punishment as I see fit.”

Lily’s hand settled lightly on Cole’s arm, stopping him from pressing the point. “That’s all we ask, Mrs. Hamill,” she soothed. “We just want to make sure that justice is served fairly.”

“I am nothing if not fair to my school and my students, Mrs. McClain. Now.” She stalked around the counter to the door. She wrenched it open. “The bell is going to ring in a few minutes.”

Cole took Willa and Damon gently by the shoulders and started drawing them back. Damon pulled away. He walked to the counter and reached around the opening.

“What are you doing, Damon?” Mrs. Hamill let the door close.

Damon cast her a quick glance like he expected her to jump at him, strike him. But he grabbed what he was looking for and pulled it forward. With his other hand, he pressed Willa’s drawing to the desk, face down. He tore free several strips of scotch tape and mended the torn strip on the paper. Finished, he returned the tape roll, folded the drawing and passed it to Willa.

“It’s nice.”

Willa smiled. “It’s for you.”

Damon studied the picture, the scribbled affections of a four year old. But while most boys would have been unmoved, even embarrassed by the gesture, Damon folded it neatly and tucked it into his pocket.

Through the halls, the first bell sounded, loud and formidable. Lily and Cole shooed the kids back outside and around the side to their door. They kissed them both and sent them off. Damon passed a boy with fading bruises around the white brace taped to a swollen nose and eyes that were a stark contrast to his pallor. They shared a venomous glare, but neither said anything.

“Michael?” Cole guessed.

“Michael,” Lily confirmed.

“Kid’s got one hell of a right hook,” he said with a touch of pride.

Laughing, Lily turned to him. “Really? That’s what you choose to be proud of?”

Cole shrugged. “Yeah, well, maybe he’ll think twice before being a little douche.” He stole a peek at his watch. “Damn it. I have to go.”

“Your meeting!” Lily grabbed his arm. “Are you late?”

“Not yet, but if I don’t leave now, I will be.”

He bent his head and kissed her cheek, kissed Willa on the crown and hurried to his car. He was pulling up in front of the bank when his phone chimed. Multitasking, he yanked out the keys with one hand, grabbed his phone with the other, wedged it between his shoulder and ear and forced open the door with his free hand.

“Hello?”

He slammed the door shut and hurried to the trunk.

“Mr. McClain? This is Stacy Barns.”

Forcing his keys into the trunk, he yanked it open and reached inside for his charts and papers.

“Yes, Ms. Barns. What can I do for you?”

Items in hand, he slammed the trunk down and sprinted to the bank doors.

“I tried Ms. Doan’s phone, but no one answered.”

Between reaching the door handles and keeping a firm grip on his things, Cole glanced at his watch.

“She must be in the shower.” He jerked the doors open. “Was there something I could do for you?”

“I apologize for not being able to return your call sooner, but this week has just been a circus. I have here in my notes that there was an altercation at Damon’s school and that he was suspended?”

“Uh, yes, but I’m working on getting the school to revoke that from his records. The whole story wasn’t told and there was a lot of miscommunication. Damon wasn’t entirely at fault.”

“I see.” He could almost hear her scribbling away. “Please let me know what becomes of that.” She didn’t give him a chance to respond. “I have actually been meaning to call you with some good news. We might have been able to locate an aunt on Damon’s father’s side. We’re just waiting for her to contact us, but we can have him relocated as soon as she gives us the okay.”

Feeling like the ground had been ripped out from under him, Cole dropped his things carelessly on the glass table in the waiting room and took the phone in hand.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“Doesn’t she need to have a background check, or have her house looked over, or something? I mean why is it so fast?”

“His file will be transferred to someone in that province and they will follow through as necessary.”

“That province? Where does this aunt live?”

“Our records show Newfoundland.”

“Jesus! That’s clear across the damn country!”

“But she is family.”

No! Cole wanted to snap at the woman. He and Beth were family. This aunt person was a complete stranger.

“Does Damon know her? I mean, has she even met him?”

“As I said, we have left her messages and are waiting to hear back.”

“So this isn’t a done deal.” Some of the hope returned. “She might still refuse.”

There was a pause.

“There is a possibility,” Ms. Barns agreed slowly. “But this would be for the best. Damon needs people who are his blood.”

“Not necessarily,” Cole retorted. “His blood left him to die on his bedroom floor. He needs people who love him and want the best for him. Blood sometimes has nothing to do with it.”

“Mr. McClain?” Sue Carrell smiled at him when Cole turned around. “Mr. Goode’s ready to see you.”

Cole thanked her before turning his attention back to the woman on the phone. “I’m just about to walk into a meeting, but please let us know what happens.”

“You will be the first,” Ms. Barns promised before hanging up.

Cole stuffed his phone into his pockets, along with his keys and gathered up his presentation. With them tucked firmly beneath his arm, he took a deep breath and followed Sue to Mr. Goode’s office.

He didn’t call Beth after he finished. He went straight to work and threw himself into fixing the machines waiting for him there. He delivered the ones he was done with and went to Damon’s school a whole hour early to catch Mrs. Hamill before the rush started. The principal actually seemed exasperated to see him.

“Mr. McClain.” She shut her office door behind him. “I would have called you.”

Cole shrugged. “I had an hour free and I don’t like waiting.” He sat in the chair across from her desk. “Did you talk to the other students?”

“I did.” She took the seat across from him. “I spoke to Michael as well as Jared and Anthony.”

“Let me guess, they denied it.”

Mrs. Hamill gave him the ghost of a smile. “Anthony and Michael did, but I got the actual story from Jared. It collaborates with what Calla said happened.”

“Good! Great. So what now?”

“Now, I need to set up meetings with all their parents, let them know what happened. All three will be suspended, as Damon was, for a week. As I said, Mr. McClain, we take bullying very seriously here.”

Cole nodded slowly. “That’s really good to hear. What about Damon’s record.”

“Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do about that. Once it’s in there, it’s in there, but if Damon keeps his head down and his nose clean, one tiny blemish like this will go completely unnoticed by most colleges and universities. They usually don’t look too closely at records this far back. I mean, he’s only in grade one. Children are almost expected to make stupid mistakes. It’s when he hits high school that he really needs to watch his steps.” She offered him a sympathetic smile. “If it makes you feel better, the other three will be getting the exact same note in their files as well.”

It didn’t make him feel better. The whole thing irked him to no end.

“Is there absolutely nothing I can do to fix this?”

Mrs. Hamill shook her head. “I’m sorry.”

He left her office shortly after that and went to wait for Damon. His phone jingled in his pocket and he pulled it out. Lily’s picture smiled up at him from the screen. He hit talk.

“Lil?” He turned his head and scanned the area. “Where are you?”

“I’m running late! Can you grab Calla, please? I’ll swing by to grab her from your place.”

Cole frowned. “Yeah, of course. Everything okay?”

Lily sighed. “Yeah, I was doing some nature shots and lost track of the time. Thank you! Oh! How was your meeting?”

Cole hesitated. “Can you and Sloan come by the apartment tonight? I’d rather tell everyone at once.”

“Oh, Cole, is it bad?”

“Will you stop fishing?” he teased. “Just come by around dinner.”

“Okay, but Sloan might be a bit late. He’s at a job.”

Assuring her that was fine, Cole hung up and watched the door for his kids.

Calla saw him first. Her little face broke into a grin and she bulldozed several people darting across the tarmac to lunge into his arms. It had been so long that she’d done that, that Cole never hesitated scooping her up and crushing her to him.

“Hey, baby!” He nuzzled the side of her neck. “How’s my girl?”

“Good!” She squeezed his neck. “I missed you.”

He held her tighter. “Missed you, too, Cal.”

She drew back to peer down into his face with a crinkle between her brows. “Are you mad at me?”

“For what?”

“For not telling you about Damon sooner?”

He pushed back a curl that had caught the corner of her mouth. “It was wrong, you know that, don’t you?”

Calla nodded. “I know and I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you, but I was just so mad at him for always getting to be with you. You’re my daddy. I don’t want you to be his. I thought if he got in trouble, you’d give him away. But my stomach hurt all week and I had to tell you.”

That statement sounded so much like what Lily used to say every time she felt guilty that Cole almost laughed.

“You owe Damon an apology,” he told her instead. “He did something nice for you and got in trouble for it.”

Her little face bunched in annoyance, like he was asking her to eat slugs, but she reluctantly nodded. “Okay.”

He kept her up in his arms even when he spotted Damon and waved with the arm not tucked beneath Calla. The boy hurried over. Cole ruffled his hair.

“Hey, little man. How was your day?”

Damon shrugged. “Okay.”

“Good.” Cole set Calla down. “Damon, Calla has something she wants to say to you.”

Calla shot Cole a look of betrayal, but she faced Damon with a deep set frown. “I’m sorry I let you get in trouble.”

“And?” Cole prodded.

Calla puffed up her cheeks, rolled her eyes heavenward and mumbled, “And thank you for helping me.”

Damon stuffed his hands into his pockets and frowned down at his boots. He mumbled something into the front of collar of his coat that sounded faintly like it’s okay.

When neither said anything further, Cole stepped forward. “You guys ready to go home?”

“Where’s Mommy?” Calla asked.

“She is running late, so you get to hang out with me for a while. That okay?”

At Calla’s nod, he led them to the car and yanked open the back door for them. Calla slid in first and went all the way to the other window. Cole was helping Damon in when there was a shout from somewhere across the parking lot. Cole turned, one hand on the door.

Parents and children scurried in all directions, rushing to and from their cars. No one else seemed perturbed by the sound he’d heard.

“Cole?”

He turned his head down towards Damon. The boy had one foot in the car, the other planted on the concrete, but he was staring up at Cole with concerned eyes.

Cole patted his back. “It’s nothing.” He grinned. “Come on. Let’s go.”

Damon slid into the seat. Cole waited until both seatbelts had securely clicked into place before shutting the door and turning away. He came face to face with Eddy Comb.

Disgusting in filthy clothes, week old growth and hair that hadn’t seen a shower for probably longer, he stood on the curb a stone throw away, watching Cole through bloodshot red eyes. But it was the crowbar in his hand that Cole focused on.

“The sheriff’s looking for you,” he said with all the calm he could muster while carefully slipping a hand into his pocket and punching the lock button on his remote device. Behind him, the car doors locked with a click. “You should turn yourself in.”

Mr. Comb smirked. “Is that your legal opinion?” He staggered off the curb and wove his way forward a dozen steps. “You got my kid.”

“He’s not yours,” Cole answered smoothly. “You lost him the minute you raised your hand to him.”

The crowbar lifted and was pointed at him. “He’s my kid and you’ll give him back.”

Cole never so much as blinked. “Over my dead body.”

That seemed to please the other man. “We can arrange that.”

He dove at Cole, crowbar raised over his head. Cole just managed to duck out of the path of the swing. He heard it rebound off the roof of his car, heard Calla scream before it was swallowed by the roar of rage that exploded between his ears. Pivoting, he rose, driving the full force of his weight behind the uppercut that sent Eddy Comb’s head snapping back with a sickening crunch. Blood burst from his mouth as his jaw shattered. The metal bar clanged to the ground a second before Comb’s body dropped down next to it on his back.

Cole wasn’t done.

He lunged for the man. His hands closed around the collar of his filthy jacket. He hauled him up so their noses were inches apart and Cole was suffocated in the foul reek of beer.

“I told you I’d destroy you, you son of a bitch.”

The man’s eyes tried to focus, but Cole had already pulled back, body and arm. He punched him, again and again, driving his fist into the man’s face until it was a mess of blood and broken flesh. Comb never fought back. Maybe he was too drunk, or too dazed from the blows, but he hung limp from Cole’s hands, taking it with the occasional grunt.

But it wasn’t enough. He needed to suffer for what he’d done to Damon. He needed to know what it felt like to be powerless as someone bigger and stronger beat the shit out of him. He needed to feel helpless and scared.

“Cole!” It was that small voice that punctured the red haze clouding all other thought. It gripped his rage like hands, stopping him, pulling him back.

He lifted his head and found himself caught in another set of blue eyes, these ones wide with fear as they peered back at him from the backseat of his car. There were tears in Damon’s eyes as he called Cole’s name and slammed his little fists against the glass.

Cole jerked back, stumbling away from the unconscious frame of Eddy Comb. Others had crowded around them, looking on in horror.

He wiped his bloody hands down the length of his thighs. Shame and guilt ate through him. And he knew Damon would never forgive him. It was hard for a child not to love their parents, no matter how much they didn’t deserve it.

“Mr. McClain!” Mrs. Hamill broke through the crowd in her pretty burgundy dress suit. Her wide, horrified eyes went from the torn skin on Cole’s knuckles to the heap that was Damon’s father. “What…”

“He went after the children,” one of the women in the crowd said. “I saw the whole thing. He attacked first.”

Several others nodded, but Cole wasn’t listening. He staggered to the car and pushed the unlock on the car remote. He yanked open the door, breathing hard.

“Damon, I—”

The boy threw himself out of the car and straight into Cole’s legs. His arms clamped around his waist and he mashed his tearstained face into Cole’s abdomen.

Beth barged into the hospital room twenty minutes later like a woman about to take on an army. Her green eyes skipped from Damon and Calla sitting in the plastic chairs in the corner to Cole sitting on the hospital bed with gauze around his hands with barely contained terror.

“Oh my God!” She rushed to Damon first, taking his small, ashen face between her hands. “Are you okay?” She didn’t even wait for an answer before grabbing Calla. “Are you hurt?” Calla barely managed to shake her head before Beth was turning towards the bed. She ran to Cole and suffocated him with her arms. “Oh my God!” She sniffled into his shoulder. She jerked back, hands anxiously running over him. “Where are you hurt?”

“We’re okay,” he assured her.

“Okay?” she blurted loudly, stumbling back several steps like he’d just sworn at her. “I get a call from the hospital saying you’ve been admitted and that there was a fight and Damon’s father…” She broke off, wheezing. “Do you know the sort of images that went through my head?” she screamed. “I thought you’d been stabbed. I thought Damon had been taken. I thought…” She doubled over, hands dropping to her knees as she gasped for breath.

“Hey.” Cole slid off the bed and went to her, only to get punched in the chest.

“Get away from me!” she snarled at him. “I am so pissed at you!”

“Ow!” He rubbed the spot, but backed away. “What did I do?”

“What did you do?” She straightened and somehow managed to take over the entire room with her anger. “You took about twenty damn years off my life, that’s what you did. What were you thinking?”

“He came at me!” Cole protested. “I was protecting the children.”

She didn’t seem to have anything to say to that. But her anger remained, crackling and sparking just behind her eyes. Thankfully, rather than unleash anymore, she turned to the children.

“Are you hurt? Damon? Calla?” This time she waited until they both shook their heads before speaking again. “Thank goodness.” She stumbled over to them and yanked them both into her arms. “Oh thank goodness.”

Cole just stood there, shaking his head.

Beth drove them home, muttering to herself the entire way. Cole remained quiet, as did the children. At the apartment, she charged on ahead, flipping through keys until she found the one to let them into the suite.

“Beth, baby,” Cole tried to speak soft and quiet as she ripped off her coat and pitched it aside. “Everything is fine,” he told her, not fully understanding her anger.

“I know that!” she snapped, whirling around to face him.

“Okay…” Cole turned to the children standing mutely behind him. “Why don’t you two go into Damon’s room and play for a little bit, okay? I’ll be in there with snacks in a few minutes.”

Neither argued, probably relieved not to be around Beth at that moment.

Cole waited until the door had shut before facing the fuming woman in front of him. “What’s wrong?”

Beth paced, which and agitated. “Do you have any idea how scared I was? I mean, I was just sitting here and the phone rings and it’s the hospital saying you’d been hurt.” She rubbed a shaky hand over her face. “I couldn’t breathe. I just kept thinking all these horrible things and…”

This time, when Cole went to her, she collapsed into his chest. Her arms went around his ribs and she squeezed him until a few cracked.

“We’re fine,” he promised into the top of her head.

Her head rocked from side to side. “I thought I was going to lose you. That was all I could think the whole way to the hospital. I didn’t know what the hell I’d do if…”

“Shhh.” He kissed the spot under his lips. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Her body shook with the weight of her barely suppressed trepidation. She clung to him with a desperation that left nail marks in his back.

“Beth…”

His concern for her was ignored. Her arms tightened even more if possible.

“I thought I lost you before I could tell you,” she choked into the fabric of his jacket.

“Tell me what?”

Her breath came out ragged and tight with a sob. “That I love you. That I never stopped, not once. That I will always love you and that I am so sorry I made us lose four years together. If something had happened to you, I would never forgive myself.”

“Stop,” he whispered gently. “Look at me. I’m fine. I have a few cuts on my hands, but I’ll live.”

“Good!” She jerked her head back to glare viciously up at him with a tear ravaged face. “I’ll never forgive you if you die on me, Cole.”

A smile turned up the corner of his mouth. “I’ll do my best.”

Satisfied, she rested her head on his chest. Her breathing had slowed to its normal tempo and she was no longer trembling from head to toe. Cole continued to hold her until she had stopped sniffling.

“Did you mean it?”

She didn’t ask what he meant. “More than I’ve ever meant anything. I love you, Cole McClain.”

The evening continued at a much less eventful pace. Cole started on supper while Beth helped Damon and Calla with their homework at the kitchen counter. The atmosphere was calm, almost peaceful. He watched Beth, watched the way she tucked her hair behind her ear before leaning in to fix a problem. He watched the way she smiled and touched the kids on the back when they got an answer correct. Every movement she made pulled his attention. Thanks to her, he almost burned and cut himself multiple times before their supper of fancy chicken, wild rice and asparagus was finished.

It was around the time he was ladling the meal into plates when Lily and Willa walked through the door.

“Is it true?” Lily demanded at once, paying only half a mind to removing Willa’s coat.

“That I’m still the sexiest man in Willow Creek? Why, yes, yes it is true.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “About … you know.” She flicked a glance towards Damon who was coloring in three of the same shapes. “It’s all over town. Nancy actually stopped me on my way here to tell me.”

“’course she did,” Cole mumbled. “And I don’t know what you heard so…”

“And maybe we should save that talk for later,” Beth interrupted. “I think it’s been a long day for a few of us and we don’t need the reminder.” She ran a hand down Damon’s back in indication.

Lily nodded and motioned Willa to the sofa.

Sloan arrived an hour after that. They put the kids on the sofa, around the coffee table with the TV on while the adults crowded around the kitchen counter. The small talk was idle and almost automatic. He knew they were all waiting for him to say something about the insane day he’d had.

“Did the sheriff question you?” Beth asked at last.

Cole nodded. “I told them everything.”

“Maybe you can tell us everything,” Lily said. “I’m kind of curious to know what happened.”

He told them about his fight with Eddy Comb and waiting for the sheriff to arrive.

“Henley took Eddy Combs to the hospital,” he finished. “But after that, he’s getting sent as far away from here and Damon as humanly possible and the sheriff is going to make sure he doesn’t get out any time soon.”

“That’s it?” Sloan prompted dubiously.

Cole nodded. “Pretty much. I think it helped that several of the other parents saw what happened. I’m also pretty relieved none of them mentioned me going Hulk on his ass. I doubt the sheriff would have been so understanding.”

“I don’t know about that,” Beth said. “I think Sheriff Henley has a soft spot for you boys. I mean look at all the breaks he’s been giving you … and me. How often does that happen?”

Lily, Cole, and Sloan exchanged glances.

“All the time,” Lily said. “Willow Creek has its many faults, but we all know each other. It’s kind of like one really big, dysfunctional family. The sheriff’s a good man. He’s fair and he goes by instinct as well as the law.”

Beth shrugged. “That doesn’t happen in the city. I mean, you break into someone’s house and you’re looking at court hearings for a year, plus community service and a pretty shiner on your record.”

Something in the way she said it had Cole squinting at her. “Care to share with the class?”

“Of course not,” she mumbled.

“Uh huh.” Cole decided to let it slide this one time.

“Well, I’m just glad that bastard’s in jail,” Lily said. “I do, however, wish I could have hit him with my car first.”

“You’re not running anyone over in my baby,” Sloan said.

Cole nodded. “Eddy Comb’s a big guy. You’re looking at least transmission damage.”

Beth and Lily laughed.

Sloan looked unimpressed. “None of y’all are allowed near my baby. No respect.”

Sobering, Lily set her hand over her husbands and squeezed. “I’m sorry, baby. I’ll be gentle.”

Something dark and hungry flickered behind his brother’s eyes as he studied the tiny blonde. Neither said anything, but the look they shared was borderline erotic.

“Okay, you two, take it somewhere else,” Cole said. “There are innocent minds in the room.”

“The kids aren’t paying attention,” Sloan said.

“I meant me,” Cole replied.

Beth choked on her rice. Lily had to pat her back before it dislodged. Cole grinned at her and earned a sharp glare in return.

“So are you going to tell us how the meeting at the bank went?” Sloan interrupted.

Beth and Lily both looked at him, eyebrows raised expectantly, waiting for him to tell them the news.

“I didn’t get it,” he said finally.

“What?” came from both women simultaneously.

“But your presentation was amazing,” Beth said. “Clearly the people at the bank are idiots. I mean, if they can fork over a loan to open a store that sells only stamps, when there’s a fucking post office just down the block…” She blew out a breath that came out in a growl. “They’re morons. We should look into going to a different bank, maybe one in the city who—”

“He’s lying,” Sloan mumbled, still shoveling bits of chicken into his mouth.

Beth choked on her rant. Her green eyes shot from Sloan to Cole. “What…?”

Cole grinned at her. “You are adorable when you get all outraged.”

“Cole!” Lily flung an asparagus at his head. “You’re such an asshole!”

“Children!” he scolded teasingly and was assaulted by Lily’s strangling arms when she scurried around the counter and flung herself at him.

“I’m so proud of you!” she screeched into his ear.

“So, you got it?” Beth prompted.

“Yup.” Cole beamed at her. “They actually gave me more than I asked for.” He squeezed Lily once before gently setting her back. “It’s enough to get a shop, equipment, advertising … and enough to hold me afloat for the next few months while business picks up. There’s still paperwork I need to fill out, but I got it.”

“Aw, baby.” Beth went to him and wrapped him in her arms. “I knew you could do it. I’m so proud of you.”

“I think this warrants a celebration,” Sloan decided. “Why don’t we take Damon tomorrow night and you guys can … do whatever it is you do.”

“You guys don’t have to do that,” Cole protested.

Sloan shrugged. “Well, our anniversary is coming up so you can take the girls. I want to practice for another baby.”

Lily blushed furiously. “Sloan!”

Sloan’s grin danced in his eyes as he regarded his wife calmly. “Do you have an innocent mind, too, baby girl?”

Lily’s blush deepened.

Cole looked to Beth and caught her watching him. Her eyes were dark, the need in them a bold sign. Beneath the counter separating him from the others, his cock swelled. It strained against the front of his pants, begging him not to wait anymore. Fuck, he was tempted to give in.

After dinner was finished, Sloan and Lily left with the girls and Cole helped Beth put Damon to bed. Beth shut the door firmly on the boy’s room and turned to him with a grin.

“So, I have some news of my own,” she teased. “I got a call from Willow Creek Memorial. They got my transfer papers. I start next week.”

“That’s great!”

She peered into his face. “Kind of makes it all official, doesn’t it?” She slid her hand across his chest. “Maybe with all the good news we should have our own celebration.”

He caught her wrist. “There’s still something we need to talk about.” He pulled her to the sofa. “Ms. Barns phoned me today,” he told her as he sat and dragged her down with him. “She tried you, but I guess you were busy.”

“I missed her call by thirty seconds,” Beth said. “I called her right back, but she didn’t answer. I left her a message.”

“I guess she figured I would talk to you,” he mused.

“What did she want?” Beth demanded.

Cole hesitated. “They found Damon’s aunt.”

Beth stiffened. “You didn’t call to tell me? What did she say? When are they coming for him?”

“They don’t know yet. They’re waiting for her to contact them back.”

“Who is this woman? Where does she live? Does Damon know her?”

Cole sighed. “She’s his aunt from his father’s side—”

“Oh, that is just fabulous,” she exclaimed venomously. “Great. Okay, what else?”

“They don’t know anything about her yet, except that…” he hesitated.

“What?”

He hesitated. “She lives in Newfoundland.”

“What?” Beth lunged to her feet. “That’s across the country!”

Cole nodded. “Yeah.”

“They can’t take him so far away! What if he needs us? What if it doesn’t work out and he’s scared and he has nowhere else to go?” She began restlessly pacing the living room. “What if this woman doesn’t know a damn thing about him? What if she’s like his dad?”

“Beth.” He went to her.

“No!” She backed away from him. “They can’t just take him like that. We’re his family.”

“I know.” He took her arms gently. “But we knew this day might come.”

“But not this soon.”

He pulled her to him and cradled her against his chest. “It’ll be okay.”

“You can’t promise that.”

And that was the problem. He couldn’t.

Chapter Eighteen ~ Beth

Beth spent the next morning packing for Damon’s overnight trip to Lily and Sloan’s. Cole stayed with Damon in the next room, killing aliens and munching on dry cereal—one of the weird preferences the two seemed to share. She could hear them chattering and laughing and her heart died a little more each time when she thought it might be the last time. The very thought that he would no longer be with them cut gashes across her soul, deeper than any possible wound. Every minute felt like an hourglass counting down the seconds until he was taken away. Every part of her wanted to bundle him up and run away.

Instead, she sat cross legged in the middle of his room, gingerly folding his clothes into a bag. The seemingly harmless action had her broken all over; it was only a matter of time before she would have to pack them for the last time.

“Beth?” Cole stepped into the room.

“I can’t do this,” she cried, hugging a blue sweater to her chest. “I can’t let him go.”

“Hey.” He slid up behind her and pulled her to him. “It’s only one night.”

She shook her head. “I don’t mean right now.”

“Don’t think about that.” He kissed the back of her head. “Let’s just take it one day at a time, okay?”

There was nothing to say to that.

“Can you keep him busy?” She scrubbed furiously at her tears. “I don’t want him to see me like this. I’ll finish up and meet you guys in a minute.”

Cole gave her a hard squeeze, kissed her cheek and nodded. “Okay.” He rose. “Take your time.”

Beth finished the packing. She left the bags in the hallway and went to wash her face and reapply her makeup. Cole and Damon were in the kitchen, having a snack when she joined them.

“My boys ready?”

“We are ready.” Cole dusted the rice cake crumbs off his fingers. “We forget anything?”

“Cookies.” Damon pointed towards the top cupboard.

Beth blinked. “We have cookies?”

Cole squinted at Damon. “That was our secret!”

Beth gasped. “Are you guys hiding cookies from me?” She grabbed the boy and dug her fingers into his sides. “You’re betraying me?”

Damon squealed and was caught by Beth when he thrashed against the tickling assault. She hauled him into her arms and kept tickling him until he was begging her to stop. She set him down, but kept him tucked into her side.

“I clearly can’t trust you boys.” Bending down, scooping Damon up, she kissed him hard on the cheek before setting him down again. “It’s a good thing I have my own stash.”

Cole gasped. He looked from Beth to Damon. “Do you believe this? Where is the loyalty?”

Damon was still laughing hysterically when Sloan walked into the apartment. He paused with one hand on the doorknob and studied the scene with a raised eyebrow.

“What did I miss?”

“Only that I can’t trust anyone in this house. They all lie.” Marching around the counter, Cole scooped Damon up and tucked him under his arm like a football. “This one’s a traitor. He gave away information on the whereabouts of the cookies. He can no longer be trusted.”

Wheezing with laughter, Damon could say nothing before he was shoved into Sloan’s arms.

“We’ll toss him into the alligator pit on our way home,” Sloan decided as he twisted Damon up and pitched him potato-bag style over his shoulder. “All ready?”

“Yup, we’ll meet you downstairs.”

With Damon still draped over his shoulder, Sloan left the apartment. Cole grabbed Damon’s overnight bag and motioned Beth to the door.

“Come on, traitor number two.”

Beth walked to the door and out, swinging her coat on. She heard Cole behind her, heard the shuffle of his feet on the carpet, the jingle of the bag zippers. She turned her head and caught his eyes on her backside. Her mouth twitched.

“Like what you see?” she teased, putting an extra little swing in her hips just for him.

Cole let his gaze travel up her spine to meet hers. “Always.”

At the top of the stairs, Beth stopped. She waited for him to catch up.

“Forget something?” But his tone knew better.

“Maybe.”

With a grin, she cupped a hand over the back of his neck and pulled his head down. She kissed him, long and slow, filling it with every ounce of her pent up sexual frustration until it was rolling off them both in hot coils. Against her mouth, Cole’s groan vibrated. The bag hit the ground at their feet. His hands closed in her waist. He raised his head, not far, but enough so their lips brushed lightly when he spoke.

“What are you doing?”

She raised an eyebrow. “I thought I was being pretty obvious.” Never breaking eye contact, she reached between their bodies and cupped him through the stiff material of his jeans. “Is this better?”

“Jesus!”

He swayed into her, into her palm. The swollen muscle twitched, growing harder and thicker at her touch. His hands left her hips to fist in her hair, dragging her head back roughly and claiming her mouth in an almost cruel clash of wills. The cold, concrete wall slammed into her back. Her gasp was swallowed by his raucous snarl, by the hard cords of his thighs thrusting up between hers.

“If you’re testing my control, you know getting caught won’t stop me from taking you when I want, where I want,” he hissed against her mouth.

Core throbbing with anticipation, Beth tightened her fingers. “I don’t believe you. Maybe that was true once, but I’ve all but danced naked in your lap the last month and you couldn’t seem to care.”

One hand closed in the front of her jeans, jerking the tough seam up between her legs with a harsh jerk that made her cry out.

“You seem to forget something.” He closed sharp teeth over her bottom lip and tugged. “You’re—”

“Come on, you two!” Lily stood at the bottom of the stairs. “You can finish later.”

Five more minutes! Beth wanted to beg. She’d been so close.

“You’re mine tonight.” Cole groaned huskily, flicked a tongue over Beth’s lip and pulled back.

With a last hungry glance, Cole stepped away from Beth and picked up Damon’s bag. He offered Beth his free hand and together, they followed Lily outside. Sloan had Damon, Calla, and Willa standing by the Mustang parked in front of Cole’s Mazda. The four looked up when the apartment door opened and the trio stepped out.

“Daddy!” Calla skipped over and threw herself at Cole’s legs.

Cole caught her with one hand.

“Hello darling! You excited?”

Pulling back, Calla shook her head. “But I promised Mommy I’d say yes.”

Cole smothered a grin. “That is very big of you.”

“All right then.” Sloan clapped his hands together. “You three, into the back.”

After many hugs and kisses, the three climbed into the back with Willa going first, followed by Damon, and finally Calla. Sloan shut the door behind them and yanked open the passenger’s side for Lily. Lily beamed at him and paused to give him a hot kiss before ducking into the seat.

“Those two should never be allowed out of the house,” Cole mumbled to himself, but Beth answered.

“I still think they’re the sweetest couple ever.”

Cole frowned at her. “Even more than us?”

Beth snorted. “The fact that they have sex, probably quite frequently … I would say yes.”

“Sex does not make sweet couples,” he mumbled. “It makes horny couples.”

“It makes satisfied, happy, and close couples,” she corrected. “I remember we used to have sex like it was going out of fashion, and as I recall, we used to be damn good at it, too.”

His blue eyes sharpened on her face. His hands closed on her hips and she was pulled to him.

“We were,” he agreed. His breath whispered over her cheek, followed closely by his lips. “I miss it, too.”

“Then why…?”

He nipped on her bottom lip with his teeth to silence her and followed a path along her jaw and down to the erratic little pulse at her throat.

“Because the really good stuff is worth waiting for.”

Beth moaned, head falling back. “I can’t wait anymore, Cole. Damn it, I need you.”

His eyes darkened, but he remained quiet as he took her hand and led her back inside. The apartment felt too big and silent without Damon, but the emptiness also felt nice, especially if it meant finally getting Cole to herself for one night.

Moving away from him, Beth removed her coat with a deliberate slowness. Then her shoes. All the while, she kept her back to him. It wasn’t until she reached the entrance to the hallway that she peeked back over one shoulder and grinned.

He hadn’t moved from his leaning position against the door. His hands were buried in the depths of his pocket and he was watching her with a look she knew all too well, and loved.

“Coming?”

He didn’t move. Didn’t speak.

Beth reached for the hem of her sweater, wrapped the knitted fabric and hoisted it over her head. She let it hit the floor and kept walking, dropping a new piece of clothing all the way to the bedroom.

If that didn’t paint a clear picture of what she wanted, and if he didn’t finally give in, she was out of options.

Alone in the room, she climbed onto the bed, naked except for her bra and panties. Anticipation and dread chilled her skin as she waited with her back against the headboard. Her eyes stayed on the door, wondering if he was about to mortify her by not showing up, or worse, showing up and telling her it wasn’t going to happen.

When the slow clip of footsteps filled the silence, Beth bit her lip. Her heart cracked loudly in her chest, masking the uneven draws of her breath. Her stomach fluttered when his shadow broke the doorway first. Then Cole was there, hands still in the pockets of his jacket.

“Get on your knees.”

The sharp command had her moving quickly to obey. She got up on her knees in the middle of the bed.

“Not there.”

Swallowing hard, Beth scrambled off the bed and lowered herself down on the floor, knowing exactly what he wanted.

He moved across the room in slow, even strides and stopped when his crotch was inches from her face.

“Take him out.”

She didn’t hesitate. Her hands were quick as they tore open his belt, then the snap and zipper. She fished inside and pulled free the heavy weight of his cock.

He was fully erect. The shaft was hot in her palm, the head a thick, purple bulb, shiny from his precum. She licked her lips. Her gaze flicked up to his face, waiting for his next instruction.

“Suck.”

He tasted exactly as she remembered, salty with a hint of sweetness that made her hollow her cheeks and suck him harder. It had taken her months to learn how to take all of him and she was sure Cole had loved every minute of her practicing. It had been a lot of trial and error in the beginning, but once she learned how to relax her throat muscles and breathe through her nostrils, the rest had been simple.

She took him in deep now, tucking him as far back as possible before swallowing and massaging the head with her throat muscles. She hummed quietly as she did and was rewarded by his husky groan. His hand closed in her hair, latching her face over his cock. His hips bucked forward, thrusting him against the back of her throat. Beth pulled back most of the way and flicked her tongue around the head. Her hand glided over the shaft in time with her rapid bobs. The hand in her hair tightened.

“Yes…” he breathed with a grunt. “Faster,” he demanded. “I want to come in your mouth.”

Beth obliged. She quickened her movement and sucked until her cheeks hurt. His release was the only important thing in the world in that moment. It was all she wanted.

When he sprayed with a hiss of her name, she clamped her lips shut around the pulsating shaft. His hot, sticky come drenched her tongue and trickled down her throat. Beth swallowed it all and kept sucking until the last drop was released.

He was breathing hard. His blue eyes were a near black as they peered down at her. The hand in her hair released and moved to cup her flushed face. His thumb skimmed her swollen and damp lips.

“Beautiful,” he murmured, and Beth flushed in pride.

He moved back and shrugged out of his jacket. It was tossed aside. All the while, he kept his eyes on her.

“Get on the bed.”

Beth rose and got on the bed. She lay on the pillows and waited.

Rather than strip and join her, Cole rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and walked towards the closet. Beth watched as he pulled open the sliding doors and reached inside. Her curiosity was perked when he came back with a single red tie.

“Hands up.”

Excited, she did and curled her hands around the wooden bars running lengthwise across the headboard. The mattress dipped as Cole joined her. He straddled her chest and he leaned over her to fasten the tie around her wrists, shackling her arms over her head.

He climbed down her body without a word until he was at her feet, still fully dressed.

“Open.”

Hot waves rushed up her body at the command he’d given her a dozen times since her injuries. Only, he wasn’t talking about her mouth this time.

Beth raised her knees and splayed them apart, lewdly showing him the soaked patch of fabric covering the place she wanted him most. Cole stared, his face a blank mask. Carefully, he raised a hand and traced the seam along the outer edges. For several minutes, that’s all he did. Just up and down from the inside all the way around her hips. To her mortification, she only kept getting wetter the longer he took. The white panties were bound to show evidence of that and that was what he was watching.

“Shit…” she whimpered, body wiggling for even the slightest relief.

“I can almost see through the material,” he said quietly.

Beth groaned and squeezed her eyes shut tight.

His fingers derailed off the stitching and made a firm sweep up the center of her body, stroking every nerve and muscle along the way. Beth’s eyes flew open with a strangled cry that he paid no attention to. He was entirely focused on tracing the little bump straining against the fabric, focused on rolling it beneath his thumb.

Beth’s whole body jerked off the mattress. The board her hands were strapped to creaked above her head as she strained against her binds.

Cole did it again, and again, pressing a little hard each time until her heels were gouging into the mattress and her hips were wildly thrashing into the simple contact.

Then he stopped. His hand vanished.

“No!” her pathetic sob went ignored.

He bent his head and placed kisses along the inside of her right thigh. He moved down slowly, drawing closer and closer. Her body tensed in anticipation. Her pussy muscles clenched. She bit her lip, waiting.

He pulled back.

“Fuck!” she swore venomously.

He smirked, showing his first facial expression as he climbed off the bed and reached for something inside the bedside table. The pale light from the window glinted off the sharp point of the scissors. Beth didn’t flinch. There wasn’t a shred of fear in her as he returned to her side.

“Scared?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I trust you.”

His features softened. The side of her face was brushed lovingly with the back of his fingers. “Good.”

He cut the straps on her bra and pitched the ruined article aside. Her panties went next. He set the scissors down on the end table and went back to the place by her sprawled feet.

He simply sat and studied her, a body he’d done just about everything under the sun to at some point like it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. And she felt beautiful lying there, flushed and aroused.

Slowly, he got off the bed. Beth watched as he removed his clothes with a leisureliness that made her want to scream. When he returned, his cock was stiff against his beautifully carved stomach. The tendons in his arms flexed as he crawled over her. The ripples reminded her of a large cat advancing on a helpless bird. Her legs parted even wider, welcoming him to all of her.

He stopped when he had both hands planted on the pillow on either side of her head. He lowered his head and took her nipples into his mouth. First one, then the other in unhurried sucks. He tugged on them with his teeth and fire lanced through her to spike between her legs. Her frustrated grunts as she tried fruitlessly to grind her clit against the cock hovering inches over her mound filled the room.

“Good things come to good girls who wait,” he said against her breast.

“I have been waiting!” she snapped at him. “Cole, please, I need you inside me.”

“Soon.”

Growling her aggravation, Beth watched the attentive way he pulled the rosy peaks between his lips. They were shiny from his mouth and thoroughly loved. That same beautiful mouth moved over the hill and down the center of her stomach towards her mound.

Yes! Yes! Her mind screamed the closer he drew. She waited with bated breath as he pushed her thighs further apart with his hands to accommodate his wide shoulders. His hands splayed her wet lips to his eyes. His thumb worked the outside to the crest and then down, flicking her clit in the process and sending Beth’s mind reeling and her breath catching in her chest.

“Rubber?”

Beth shook her head. “I … I’m still on the pill.”

He nodded once before rising himself up over her again. “I’m not going to make love to you tonight,” he said evenly, blue eyes clashing with her green ones. “But I am going to fuck you. I’m going to make your pussy remember me every time you sit down.” His words scattered and dimmed when his hand smoothed over her cleft and cupped her. “Do you still want it?”

She didn’t even think about it. “Yes! Fuck me.”

Dark satisfaction gleamed in his eyes. The hint of a smirk feathered over his mouth. But it was the two fingers he worked up inside her that Beth noticed most. It was the way they pushed all the way to the knuckles before drawing back. It was the way they hooked inside her, dragging along her walls. Her eyes widened as realization hit her a split second before the first unbearable punch of pleasure did.

Cole pushed back deep inside her before repeating the stroke and destroying all her senses. Her toes curled. Her back arched. Bells roared in her ears as everything else faded to white noise. And she hadn’t even climaxed yet.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no…”

Her head flung desperately from side to side as the pressure intensified to an unbearable rumble that ripped through her like lightening. Her hips drove against Cole’s hand, her body racing to accept the pleasure waiting for her just on the other side. But every time he moved off her switch, she was left flailing to get him back there.

“No, Cole! No!” she sobbed wildly. “Don’t stop! God, please … I’m so close.”

Cole didn’t listen to her. He continued to torment her until she was openly weeping. The suffering felt like hours long, like whole days had passed when she knew rationally it couldn’t have been. Her walls convulsed and shuddered around his invasion. She couldn’t stop it. The next time he struck the swollen knot of tissue, Beth screamed as she was torn to pieces by an electric current that shot through her entire body. Her legs flailed wildly. Her back and hips lurched off the mattress in awkward jerks that were beyond her control. The ocean thundered between her ears, masking everything but her wild shrieks.

There was a moment where Cole’s fingers vanished from inside her, but it was so quick, she barely had time to determine which side was up when he drove inside her.

The room tore all over again. Her arms yanked against the bindings keeping them restricted, but nothing happened.

“Louder!” Cole hissed into her ear as he pounded into her with the vengeance of a man possessed. “I want the whole building to know what I’m doing to your tight little cunt.”

Beth met every violent thrust with a desperate push of her own. The bed rattled and slammed into the wall. Her tangled wails of pain and pleasure as the waves continued to take her under coiled around Cole’s roar as he rammed scalding hot come up inside her channel. It overflowed and drenched the sheets under them, but he kept thrusting, dragging out every last second of her orgasm until she was begging him to stop.

His plunges slowed to mind numbing drags and Beth was powerless to stop him without her hands. His mouth moved across her throat from ear to ear. He nipped on her earlobe.

“We’re not done, baby,” he breathed tauntingly. “I’m not done.”

To prove it, he pulled out all the way before plunging back through the tight, pulsing ring of her vagina. Beth howled in dizzying ecstasy, her mind grappling with the knowledge that he was already hard. That realization was the thing that spiked a micro orgasm from her that suckled at the erection he was pushing inside her.

“God, I missed that,” she half gasped, half sobbed.

He growled his pleasure against her mouth. “Good thing we have all day and all night, huh?”

Beth woke up the next morning to a steady thrum of pain as every muscle in her body protested any movement. Joints she hadn’t used in years screamed. The place between her legs hummed. And she had never felt so good. Her entire body felt alive and it had only taken almost twelve hours of fucking with breaks in between for food, naps, and the occasional shower. The bed was a rumpled mess of roped sheets, scattered pillows, and tangled blankets. Amongst them, possibly facing the right way, Beth lay in a tangled jumble with Cole. At some point, his body ended and hers continued. It was the sort of morning she missed waking up to. She almost hated having to move, but there were just some things too important to ignore, like using the bathroom … and coffee.

Unraveling herself from Cole, she slid out of bed, scooped his t-shirt off the floor and crept to the door. The bathroom was first on her hit list. The kitchen was next. She was standing over the coffee machine when she felt the air shift against her back. She didn’t have to turn to feel him come up behind her. Her body sensed him before he touched her, before his hands slid to her hips and his mouth found the side of her neck.

“Okay?”

A smile tugged on her mouth. “Very.”

His arms eased around her waist and she was folded against his chest. “Love you.”

The quiet murmur glided the length of her spine, a warm caress that reached straight through her skin to wrap around her heart.

“Love you, too.”

Chapter Nineteen ~ Cole

“I don’t get it,” Damon murmured as he watched Cole set cookies on a plate.

“Well, Santa gets hungry,” Cole explained, earning himself the most skeptical eyebrow lift in history.

“Didn’t he just have cookies in the last house?” Damon rationalized with more logic than a six year old should ever possess.

Cole eyed him. “Beth!”

Putting the final touches on the tree, Beth looked up, eyes dancing with silent laughter. “You’re the one who suggested giving cookies to a stranger.”

Still squinting at Damon, Cole took up the plate of cookies and started towards the living room. “I didn’t realize my motives would be questioned by a six year old.”

“I’m almost seven,” Damon said evenly. “And I don’t believe in Santa.”

Cole gasped. “What kind of kid doesn’t believe in Santa?”

Turning on his stool, Damon watched as Cole set the plate next to the cup of milk on the end table. “I’ve never seen him.”

“I’ve never seen air, but I’m alive, aren’t I?”

Damon gave Cole a look that said very clearly, really?

“Santa is real!” Cole said. “Beth, tell him.”

Beth just laughed, being no help whatsoever.

“Well, you know what?” Cole folded his arms. “You just keep being all negative, mister. But when you get a lump of coal, don’t come crying to me.”

Damon blinked slowly. “So he carries presents and coal in his tiny sleigh, pulled by four tiny reindeers?”

Beth’s laughter grew louder.

“Nine!” Cole exclaimed. “There are nine reindeers. Gah, do they not teach you anything at that school?”

Beth was practically under the tree now, making weird choking noises.

Damon opened his mouth, prepared to answer when something seemed to dawn on him and his eyes narrowed. “No, no they don’t. Can I stay home?”

Now even Cole was laughing. He moved back to where the boy sat and snatched him up off the stool.

“Nice try.”

With Damon still in his arms, he walked to the sofa and dumped the boy down on it. Beth sniffled, wiped her eyes, and went back to tossing ropes of silver tinsel over the branches of their Christmas tree. Cole had wanted to get a fake one, but had ultimately agreed with Beth that Damon deserved a real Christmas, since like most things in his life, this would be his first. It never failed to amaze Cole just how much he’d been deprived, simple things that even Cole had had growing up, like ice cream, pears, and Christmas. It only made Cole all the more adamant to give Damon these things and watch him experience them with wonder and surprise, with the exception of grapefruit. Damon hadn’t been a fan, which Cole couldn’t blame him for.

“Is Willa coming tomorrow?” Damon asked.

Cole dropped down next to him. “No, we’re going to go over for supper.”

“Oh…”

He looked down at the boy, brow raised. “What’s up?”

Damon shrugged, but the dark patches riding high in his cheeks spoke loudly for him. “Nothing.”

Cole glanced towards the tree and caught Beth watching them. She grinned and he knew what she was thinking, that Damon and Willa were just adorable. Cole personally thought it was too soon to be thinking wedding plans; they were still just babies, for crying out loud. Nevertheless, even he couldn’t help grinning a little when the two were together.

“Can I call her?” Damon blurted, so quickly, it was a jumble of words.

Cole peered down at him, puzzled. “Don’t you always?”

“I … I mean now,” Damon clarified.

Cole checked his watch. “She might still be awake…”

He barely got the words out before Damon was scrambling off the sofa and hurrying towards the kitchen counter. He had to climb on the stool to reach Cole’s cellphone, but he hurried back with the thing clutched in his hand. He passed it to Cole and stood waiting.

Biting back his chuckle, Cole punched in two on the keypad and showed Damon. “She’s on speed dial,” he told him. “Just hold two until it rings.”

Damon didn’t seem to be listening. He snatched the phone from Cole and ran from the room. A moment later, his bedroom door clicked shut.

“Remember to say hi!” Cole shouted after him.

Beth chuckled. “I think Sloan and Lily are used to him asking for Willa before remembering his manners. He certainly calls them enough.”

“Calls Willa, you mean,” he corrected.

Beth crushed the box the tinsels had come in and dropped it down next to the other garbage.

“So number two, huh?” She rose to her feet, dusted her backside and grinned at him. “I’m curious who number one is.”

Cole offered her a half smile as he raised his arms and folded them behind his head. “Same person it has always been.” He traced her face. “You.”

The glow in her eyes was tender and filled with more love than he knew what to do with, but refused to live without. She crossed to him and he reached for her. His hands closed around her hips, guiding her over his lap. Her knees fit around his hips and she straddled him. She circled his neck with her arms.

Cole let his hands roam up her back through the soft material of her sweater. He let his fingers comb through the heavy curtain of hair falling around her shoulders. He let himself melt into her scent.

“I have something for you,” he murmured, letting his fingers work the line of her jaw to her mouth.

Beth smiled. “What?”

The thing that could make or break them, he thought, his stomach doing that anxious knotting thing it had been doing continuously for the last two weeks since he made the decision to buy the gift. All he could think was what if their relationship wasn’t ready, what if it wasn’t strong enough and this broke them for good?

“Tomorrow,” he whispered.

The morning that could potentially change everything for them, Cole woke up excited and nauseous. It was Christmas morning and the day he was already anxious to end.

Turning his head down, he nuzzled the top of Beth’s head where it lay across his chest. Her slow even breaths assured him she was still sleeping. That worked fine for him, waking her up had become an almost hobby for him, but it needed to be different this time.

Carefully, he nudged her onto her back and shoved away the blankets. Her beautiful body was already naked from the pre-Christmas celebration they’d had the night before. He took advantage of it by nudging her legs apart and climbing into the space between. His mouth went straight to work lavishing her perfect little slit with open mouthed kisses. He let his tongue dance over the cleft before sucking the muscle into his mouth.

Above him, Beth came awake with a gasp. Her hands automatically went to the back of his head. Her knees lifted and pulled apart.

“Don’t stop…” she breathed, still half asleep.

Cole nibbled on her clit until her slow, steady breaths became shallow pants and the hands in his hair tightened. Gingerly, he pulled back and climbed over her. His cock slid seamlessly home and she bowed beneath him. Her moan stirred the silence. Her quiet yes coursed through him.

He lowered his head and took a nipple into his mouth. He suckled lightly on one while the other was rolled beneath his thumb. His hips lifted and dropped in slow, gentle plunges that earned soft little gasps from her. Her hips rolled up to meet him and he slid one arm beneath her, lifting her to him.

“I love you, Beth,” he whispered against her soft skin.

Her answer was to push him onto his back and rise over him with her palms braced against his chest. Her pale body seemed to glow in the early morning light. Her hair was a riot of dark strands tumbling around her flushed face as she threw her head back and moaned. She rocked over him in a rhythm he knew she liked. Her velvet walls rippled around him. Her hands trembled. A quiet gasp escaped and her back arched.

Cole pushed up on his elbow and took an offered nipple between his teeth.

“Cole…”

“I’m here,” he promised.

Her nails bit into his shoulders. Her body shuddered. She whimpered his name again and again as she shattered around him. He was there to catch her when she slumped forward. He took her body under his and moved against her tightened walls, dragging out the sensation. Beth locked her ankles around his ribs and begged for more.

“Look at me.”

Her eyes opened, black pits ringed by a slender band of green. They met his and held as he came inside her and stayed there, stayed locked deep inside her body with their mixed juices seeping out around the tight seam of her pussy.

Her lips bowed into a sleepy, sated smile. “Morning.”

Rather than respond, Cole bent his head and kissed her, pouring every drop of his love for her into it. He was rewarded by a hum and the tight circle of her arms.

“I love you,” he whispered against her mouth. “I love you so much.”

Beth pulled back and peered up into his face. Her smile was gone, replaced by a frown of concern. Her hand lightly stroked the side of his face.

“What’s wrong?”

He could only shake his head as anxiety pounded at the back of his skull.

“Cole…?”

He kissed her again, harder, a little desperate and scared now. She must have felt it, too, because she tightened her hold on him.

“I love you, too,” she murmured, maybe because she knew he needed to hear it.

Hearing it helped ease some of the pressure twisting in his chest, but it wasn’t enough. It wouldn’t be enough until after tonight.

“We should see if Damon’s awake,” he said quietly. “I was hoping he would wake us up, but I guess he’s still sleeping.”

“Well, he did say he didn’t believe in Santa.”

Cole sighed. “Yeah, I guess. I was just hoping.”

Quietly, they climbed out of bed and dressed. They padded from the room in silence.

“I’ll start coffee,” Beth said. “You grab the kid.”

They parted ways at Damon’s door. Cole nudged it open and peeked inside at the unmade and empty bed. He pushed the door open wider and stepped inside, but a quick search of the room assured him what his gut already knew: Damon wasn’t there.

“Beth?”

He turned away from the room and found Beth standing over the sofa, both hands pressed to her heart. She looked up and waved him over with one finger pressed to her lips. Curious, Cole crossed to her and peered down at the tiny, pale figure bundled beneath the throw he usually kept over the back of the sofa. He lay sprawled on his stomach, mouth hanging open. One arm draped over the side and dangled near the floor.

“I think someone was waiting for Santa,” Beth whispered.

Something tightened in Cole’s chest, a happiness he didn’t realize he needed. “I guess we better not disappoint him.”

Moving around Damon quietly, they put out the presents, stuffed the stockings, ate a couple of the cookies and drank the milk. Only when everything was perfect did they wake Damon up.

He bolted upright immediately. His sleep crusted eyes went straight to the tree.

“He came!”

“I told you he would,” Cole said.

“Why don’t you go see what he brought you?” Beth suggested.

Throwing off the blanket, Damon scrambled around the coffee table to the tree and threw himself down on his knees. His head moved rapidly from side to side as he eyed the small mound of wrapped boxes.

“Which one’s mine?” he panted.

“I think all of them,” Cole mused. “We’re too old for presents.”

Damon’s huge eyes went even wider if possible. “All of them?”

Beth slipped her arm through Cole’s and lay her head against his shoulder. “Looks that way.”

“Are you going to open them, or am I?” Cole teased.

Visibly trembling with excitement, Damon reached for the first box. Beth gave Cole’s arm a squeeze and hurried away to get coffee ready. Cole dropped down on the sofa and watched as Damon opened his very first present.

He knew what was in the boxes. He’d helped Beth wrap them. Some he even picked out. But seeing Damon’s face each time was a thrill even for him. He felt the familiar bubble of excitement one was supposed to get at Christmas and all he was doing was watching Damon’s reactions.

They’d gotten him a small flat screen TV for his room, his own game station, a couple of games, several books, clothes, a few toys, but it was the last present tucked away in his room that Cole was most excited about. It was one he was not letting some make believe man take credit for.

Beth returned with a mug of black coffee. She sat next to him as Damon tore the wrappings off his final gift. He was adorable surrounded by a mountain of wrapping paper, his face still holding marks from his stint on the sofa. Part of his hair was flat on one side and stood straight up like he’d been licked by a cow.

“I got a TV,” he told Beth, breathlessly. “And Alien Universe II!”

Beth chuckled. “He certainly did good, eh?”

Damon peered at her, then at Cole. His eyes were still twinkling, but they held something else, too.

Suspicion.

“I never wrote him a letter,” he said.

Cole shrugged. “He’s Santa. He knows everything.”

Damon continued to study them, looking back and forth like he could read their thoughts, but he didn’t argue. He went back to looking over his gifts.

“There’s one more present,” Cole said after a minute. “It’s not from Santa, but Beth and I hope you’ll like it.” He looked at Beth. “Give me a hand?”

Nodding, she rose with him. They set their coffees down and hurried into the bedroom. He gave Beth all the small boxes.

“Close your eyes!” Beth called out into the other room. She waited a heartbeat before asking, “Are they closed?”

“Yes!” Damon called back.

“I’ll go first,” Beth whispered to Cole before hurrying out.

Cole followed with one hand on the handlebars of the new bike they’d gotten Damon. He concealed it with the back of the sofa and waited as Beth handed him one box after the other, each one containing kneepads, elbow pads, helmet and gloves. Damon stared at each one with confusion.

“Those go with this,” Cole said after the last item had been unwrapped.

Damon looked up just as Cole pushed the bike out for him to see. His jaw dropped. He practically killed himself bolting over discarded wrapping paper to get to his gift.

“A bike?” he screamed, the most excited Cole had ever seen him. “You got me a bike?”

“Every boy needs one,” Cole said. “It won’t do you much good right now that it’s winter, but spring’s just around the corner.”

“I’ve never ridden a bike,” Damon panted. “I don’t know how to…”

“Well, that’s just something we’re going to have to fix.”

They spent the rest of the morning pushing all the furniture to one side of the apartment and showing Damon how to keep the bike upright. The boy was a natural. It took five tries, but he was peddling the thing completely on his own in no time. His turns were shaky, but Cole knew it was only a matter of time before he was riding that thing like a pro.

“I knew you could do it,” he told a flush faced and beaming Damon.

The bike hit the ground with a bang and in an instant Cole had his arms full of a small boy that was choking the hell out of him. Cole held him back equally tight.

“Thank you,” Damon whispered into his shoulder.

Cole closed his eyes and squeezed him tighter. “You’re welcome, buddy.”

They spent Christmas dinner at Sloan’s with Lily and the girls. They took along the presents they’d gotten Calla and Willa and watched as Sloan gave Damon his present, a set of metal bits, screws, and a mini screwdriver that, assembled, made a car. Damon took his present with a thank you and moved off to one corner to try and put it together. Willa joined him and did what women did best when a man was trying to do something, told him how it was done properly. Damon, being a smart man, gave her the instruction sheet and asked her to tell him what piece came next.

“They are so cute together,” Lily said. “Willa’s going to be heartbroken when…” She didn’t say it, but they were all thinking it now; when Damon left to live with his aunt.

Since Cole’s talk with her nearly a month before, Ms. Barns hadn’t said a word about Damon’s mysterious aunt who lived in Newfoundland and Cole had been too scared to ask her. When she did phone to check on things, they mainly talked about Damon’s school, his newfound friendship with Jared Parker, and how he was adjusting. Cole always assured her everything was fine. Several times, Ms. Barns had made noise about driving down from the city and visiting, but that hadn’t happened either, and since they hadn’t told Damon about his aunt, Cole was relieved for her workload and the distance between them. Part of him hoped she would forget about Damon altogether and he would have to stay forever. But he knew that wouldn’t happen. Eventually, their time would run out.

He pushed the thought away, refusing to dwell on the inevitable.

After dinner, he asked Sloan if they could keep an eye on Damon for an hour so Cole could give Beth her Christmas present; his final surprises for the night burned in his pocket and he kept fingering it nervously.

Sloan eyed him the way big brothers do when they know their younger brother was about to do something questionable. While Sloan had no idea what Cole was doing, he knew his brother well enough to suspect.

“You sure about this?”

Cole took a deep breath, forced out a laugh and shook his head. “No, I’m fucking scared as hell.”

Sloan nodded in understanding. He reached out and patted him lightly on the shoulder.

“Take as long as you need.”

Cole knew what that meant, in case Beth said no.

“Either way,” Sloan added reassuringly.

Cole nodded and thanked the other man.

Beth and Lily were in the living room with the kids. Calla was in Lily’s lap, showing Beth the new doll she’d gotten from Santa. Willa and Damon were kneeling next to the coffee table, still struggling to put the car together.

“We’re going to be right back,” Cole told Lily while settling a hand on Beth’s shoulder.

Beth looked up at him. “Where are we going?”

Lily’s gaze flicked past Cole to where Sloan stood in the kitchen doorway, arms folded. His face was tactfully blank, but Cole saw the flicker in Lily’s eyes. Something shifted across her face, concern maybe. But she smiled at him in reassurance.

“Okay,” she said.

While Beth grabbed her coat, Cole bent down and kissed the top of Damon’s head. “Wish me luck.”

Damon’s blue eyes lifted and met his. He reached into his pocket and pulled something out. Cole eyed the bronze little coin curiously when it was held out to him.

“I found it the day we met,” Damon said. “I think it’s lucky.”

He remembered seeing the boy pick something up the day Cole had confronted Eddy Comb. It hadn’t seemed like a big deal, but now it made sense.

Something lodged in Cole’s throat and he had a hard time speaking for a moment. He knelt down next to the boy and took the penny.

“I’ll guard it with my life,” he promised.

Damon offered him a half smile, then went back to fiddling with the car.

Straightening, he tucked the penny into his pocket.

He’d take any luck he could get.

He bundled Beth into the car and left Lily and Sloan’s.

“Where are we going?” Beth asked.

“It’s a surprise.”

She didn’t push him as he drove into the night. They didn’t go far before he pulled over.

“I need you to close your eyes,” he told her. “And no peeking.”

Eyeing him warily, Beth pressed her hands over her faces.

He turned down the road a mere ten minutes away from Sloan’s and cut the engine. Snow crunched under his boots as he hopped out.

“Keep them covered!” he said, and slammed his door shut.

He hurried around to Beth’s door and helped her out. Guiding her forward, he positioned her just perfectly before telling her to look.

He watched her faces as she blinked and focused.

“It’s a house,” Beth said slowly. She looked at him. “Whose is it?”

Smiling with more than a little apprehension, Cole fished into his pocket and yanked out the ring tucked inside. The metal keys jingled noisily in the near silence.

“Ours.”

Beth’s mouth dropped open. It shut and opened a few more times before words finally came out.

“What? How?”

“I bought it,” he said, motioning her to follow. “Practically got it for free. It needs some repairing, but nothing too extensive. The wiring and appliances are up to date. The roof was redone five years ago. Everything is in working order and…” He paused to unlock the door and threw it open. “There is enough room for everyone.”

“Cole, what are you talking about?” Beth turned to him. “Where did you get the money?”

“Well.” He snapped the foyer lights on, flooding the front of the house with a dim, yellow light. It spilled over the two wide doorways on either side, plus the stairway leading to the second floor and the hallway that led towards the back and the kitchen. “I used some of the money I had saved up, plus the loan from the bank—”

“That was for your business!” she said sharply. “It wasn’t for you to buy a house.”

He put up a finger, stopping her. “Why can’t I do both?” When she didn’t interrupt him, he plunged on. “It has four bedrooms,” he told her. “And a basement big enough that can double as my workspace. There’s a door that leads out the side so people can come see me without disturbing you. There are two spare rooms upstairs for … for whatever, but I was thinking we could turn one into a room for Calla and Willa and we can turn the other one into a guestroom. There’s a huge backyard for the kids, big enough that we can get a play structure.” He paused to take a breath. “And it’s close enough so that Calla and Willa are just down the road, a road that barely gets used so Damon can ride his bike all the way to see Willa without us having to worry. The girls can come here anytime they want. You and Lily can spend more time together—”

“What about my job?” she protested. “It’s closer to Lily and Sloan, but it’s still a twenty minute drive to town.”

Cole shrugged. “Take the car. I don’t need it anymore since I’ll be working from here, or hell, we’ll get another car. It doesn’t matter. We have a home! This will be our place, a place we can raise our family.”

He saw it in her eyes before she took a step away from him and he knew he’d lost her. Again.

She turned away from him and moved into what he’d hoped would the living room, dragging his heart behind her.

Had he pushed her too fast again? Was she about to tell him she was leaving? Again! He tried to mentally brace himself. Again. He tried to shield his heart from getting crushed. Again.

Fuck!

“I did it for us,” he heard himself murmur. “If you don’t like this house, we’ll find another one. I don’t care where it is, I just want it to be with you. I want to have babies with you. I want to watch them grow up with you. I want to grow old and sit on the porch with you. I love you, Beth. I love you so much it fucking hurts.”

“Stop.” She stood draped in shadows.

“Damn it, don’t do this again.” He could hear the pathetic plea in his own voice and hated himself for it.

“I can’t.”

He felt the ground shift and realized with surprise that he’d staggered back a step.

Beth turned. The light from the foyer sparked off the tears on her cheeks. She looked back at him and it took him a long time to properly decipher her expression.

“I can’t,” she whispered again. “Not unless you marry me.”

Cole stared at her. Her words rang through his ears while his mind tried to remember the English language.

She walked towards him slowly. “I had this planned out a little better,” she said with a humorless little smile. “I was going to ask you after we’d put Damon to bed, but you’re rushing my plans.” She stopped when there was five feet between them and took a deep breath. “I’ve waited my whole life for you,” she whispered. “And when I finally found you, I was so scared that I would somehow screw it up that I did. I pushed you away. I took something I wanted every day for eighteen years and threw it away, because I was terrified that one day you would wake up and see what everyone else my whole life saw when they looked at me—worthless, someone undeserving of love. It was something I lived with every day we were together. I woke up in the morning and wondered if today would be the day. If today you would find someone else, someone better. It was why I always hated seeing you with other girls. I tried so hard to accept Lily, all the while I secretly hated her because she held a piece of your heart that would never belong to me and I hated myself for it.” She broke off with a wet chuckle. “I must sound like a crazy, obsessive girlfriend.”

All Cole could do was shake his head. She didn’t seem to notice.

“That afternoon when I was sitting on that bus, waiting for the rain to stop, I realized something; I was letting them win. My parents,” she clarified. “And James, and all the people at the foster homes. None of them thought I was good enough. None of them ever cared enough about me to stay. But you did. You not only stayed, but you loved me in a way that I don’t even deserve. I know I was stupid then. I was reckless and scared and I made the biggest mistake of my life, but if … if you’ll have me, I swear I will work the rest of my life to prove—”

Cole closed the space between them in two long strides and hauled her into his arms. He crushed her words with his kiss. His fingers tangled in her hair, gripping her to him as he ravaged the shit out of her mouth until she couldn’t speak.

“You are never getting rid of me,” he growled against her swollen lips. “And don’t you ever call yourself worthless again, do you hear me? I will spank your ass red, I swear it.”

Crying quietly, Beth nodded. “I promise.”

He softened his kisses and tucked her gently into his chest. “Now tell me you’ll stay and have my babies.”

Her chuckle wobbled. “Yes.”

“Yes, what?”

She sniffled and pulled back to peer into his eyes. “I’ll stay and have your babies.”

The noose that had fixed itself around his chest loosened and Cole drew in his first breath in what felt like forever.

“Now, say yes, you’ll marry me.”

Her smile was dazzling. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

He kissed her.

“Good girl.”

Chapter Twenty ~ Beth

“Your turn.” Laura Dixon never looked up from the chart she was filling out when the little red light flicked to life on the call board. “That woman drives me nuts.”

Chuckling, Beth snatched up her stethoscope and slung the ends around her neck. “She’s not so bad. She just had a baby. Isn’t she allowed to be a little … paranoid?”

Laura peered up over her clipboard, her brown eyes narrowed. “It’s her third one. At this point, I expect her not to freak out over every little hiccup.”

Rolling her eyes, Beth set off down the hall. Her sneakers squeaked with her hurried clips. At Mrs. Turner’s door, Beth paused. She poked her head inside and knocked lightly.

“Hey!” she said cheerfully. “Everything okay?”

Melinda Turner sat in bed, her mousy brown hair a riot of crazy around her square face. A tiny pink bundle lay sleeping in her arms.

“Lulu’s been sleeping for two hours,” she said in a frantic little breath. “I know it’s normal for a baby to sleep, but she normally only sleeps for about twenty minutes, or so. I think something might be wrong.”

Smiling indulgently, Beth moved over to the bed. She took Lulu from her mother’s arms and gently placed her in her baby basket. The baby whined, annoyed at being taken away from her mother’s warmth. She opened watery eyes and scowled up at Beth.

“Hey there, sleepyhead,” Beth cooed. “Are you scaring your poor mama again?”

Lulu gave a single shriek that was followed up by the wobble of her tiny chin. Beth bundled her back up and took her to Mrs. Turner.

“She is just fine.”

The older woman smiled and cuddled her baby closer. Beth watched her, feeling a familiar pang in her own chest. She wanted a baby. It wasn’t necessarily a recent self-discovery. She had always wanted a big family to make up for the one she never got. But she knew it wasn’t the time. It had only been a few months since Cole proposed to her in their new home. Their time since had been spent moving, first his things into the house, then her things from the city. Lily had surprised them by bringing over the picture of blue bird she’d somehow managed to salvage when Cole was going through his purge. Beth had almost cried at the sight of it.

“I know how much you loved the thing,” Lily had said as Beth hugged the painting. “I guess I was always hoping you’d come back.”

Beth had hugged her next. She’d never had a sister, but Lily was it for her.

True to his words, Cole had converted one room into the perfect dream room for little girls. Calla and Willa loved it so much, it was near impossible to get them to leave. The other room had been done up for Damon and the final room was left empty, but Beth didn’t miss the subtle hints Cole kept dropping about filling it with a crib. Hell, if she wasn’t tempted.

“Beth?” Laura poked her head inside. “There’s someone here to see you.”

Giving Mrs. Turner a wave, she followed Laura out into the hall.

“Who is it?”

Laura shrugged. “Some woman.”

Beth recognized the snappy, flashy outfits and that dark wave of hair anywhere. Stacy Barns turned to watch her as Beth returned to the front desk. Her dark eyes revealed nothing.

“Ms. Doan,” she said in the way of greeting.

Beth inclined her head. “Ms. Barns.” She stopped in front of the woman. “How are you?”

Ms. Barns nodded like that was an answer. “I was hoping we could talk.”

Beth glanced towards Laura, who waved at her.

“You’re due for a break anyway,” she said.

Thanking her, Beth led Ms. Barns to the cafeteria.

“Do I need to call Cole?” Beth asked.

Ms. Barns checked her watch. “Perhaps that would be best.”

Hands trembling for unknown reasons, Beth tugged her phone free of her scrubs and dialed.

Cole answered on the third ring. He must have run up the stairs from the basement, because he was breathless.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s me. Are you busy?”

“Just installing a motherboard. What’s up? Everything okay?”

“Ms. Barns is here at the hospital and she’d like a word with us.”

There was a pause where she was sure she knew exactly what Cole was thinking: they were about to lose Damon.

“I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

She hung up and stuffed the phone back into her pocket.

“He’s on his way,” she told the woman.

With a nod, Ms. Barns moved to an empty table and sat. Seeing no other choice, Beth took the seat opposite her.

“I’ve been meaning to congratulation you on your many wonderful new changes,” Ms. Barns said. “You must be excited.”

Beth nodded. “I am.”

“How is the new house? And have you set a date for the wedding?”

“We haven’t yet,” she murmured. “We might wait a year to save up for a nice wedding, but the house is great. Cole and Damon just finished painting Damon’s room. He picked pink. It’s not like pink-pink, but a soft, almost white with a hint of pink.”

Ms. Barns raised an eyebrow. “Pink?”

Beth nodded. “It’s Damon’s favorite color.”

“I see,” was all she said. “How is Damon adjusting to the change?”

“Great,” Beth said. “Fine. Willa and Calla are just down the road so he’s always playing with them and his friend Jared lives a few roads over.” She tried to smile, but it fell flat. “The house is full of kids.” Which it wouldn’t be anymore if Damon wasn’t there.

“So Damon is still getting along with the girls, Calla and Willa?”

Beth laughed thickly. “They’re practically inseparable. Willa adores Damon. She calls him every night before bed to say goodnight and…” Her voice broke before she could control it.

“Beth?” It was strange hearing her name come from the other woman. “Is something wrong?”

It was hard to control the tears this time.

“I know why you’re here,” Beth said. “You’re taking him.”

The woman sighed. Her gaze lowered to the table and it was all the answer Beth needed.

“Was … is it the aunt?” She sniffled. “Cole and I talked about this day. We knew it would hurt, but if it’s best for Damon … that’s what we want. That’s all we want. We just want him to be happy and safe.” She wiped at her tears. “We just hope she’ll let us write to him, maybe fly down and see him on holidays, or something.”

Ms. Barns shook her head. “She never got back to us. We’re assuming that means she’s not interested.”

“Not…” Beth broke off. “How can she not be interested? He’s her blood, her family. He’s just a baby!”

The woman shrugged. “That’s how it works sometimes. Most people won’t take kids in after a certain age, that age being as old as Damon is. They want a baby who doesn’t remember the pain and abuse so they won’t have to deal with it. That is why there are so many teens in the system.”

Beth took a deep breath. “So, where are you taking him then?”

“I would prefer to wait for Mr. McClain so we can discuss it together.”

It only took Cole twenty minutes to get there, but it felt like hours. The silence that stretched between her and Ms. Barns wrapped around her like a hot shroud, cutting off her air. She wanted to scream, and then Cole was there and the pain was worse.

Cole took one look into Beth’s tear filled eyes and his body stiffened. His face darkened. He slid into the chair next to her and placed a hand over hers.

“Thank you for joining us, Mr. McClain,” Ms. Barns said. “I know this must be very difficult for both of you.”

“You can’t possibly know,” Cole murmured.

Ms. Barns nodded. “Perhaps not, but what you did for him is no doubt a kindness he will never forget.”

“Stop.” Cole closed his eyes and pressed his thumb and middle finger into the back of his eyelids. “Just tell us when she’s coming.”

“Who?”

He lowered his hand. “The aunt. When is she coming to get him?”

“It’s not her,” Beth whispered. “She didn’t want him.”

Cole looked as appalled as she felt. “What?” He turned his furious eyes on Ms. Barns. “Where are you taking him?”

Ms. Barns put up a hand. “We are not permitted to divulge that information, but it’s mandatory that the child only stay in a temporary home for so long before they are removed to avoid attachment. You’ve already had him for much longer than is allowed.”

“So you’re just going to send him from stranger to stranger?”

“He will be taken to a group home until he is adopted.”

“We’ll adopt him!” Cole burst out. “We’ll give him a home and all the love he can possibly handle. Don’t take that away from him. Please.”

Something akin to sadness passed over Ms. Barn’s eyes. “It is not that simple. Something like this has to go through the courts. It could take months, or years. Not to mention no judge will award a couple of twenty-something year olds the power to adopt, not when there’s a chance they could have their own and just send the adopted child back into the system.”

“We’re not like that,” Beth said. “We love Damon as much as we love Calla, or Willa, or any other baby we might ever have.”

“And we don’t care how long it takes,” Cole piped in. “Tell us how to start. We’ll do whatever it takes. Damon is our son.”

Ms. Barns glanced down at her hands folded neatly on the table. A soft chuckle escaped her and she shook her head.

“I was hoping you would say that.” She pulled out her ever present files and set them on the table between them. Her dark eyes went from Cole to Beth. “I need you both to be sure you’re ready for this, because it’s not going to be an easy road.”

Beth squeezed Cole’s fingers tightly. “Whatever we have to do.”

Epilogue ~ Cole

Three years later…

“Mom!” Damon tried to dodge Beth’s anxious, fussing hands. “I’m good! Stop!”

“Your tie’s crooked!” Beth protested, her voice breaking with every word. “Just let me…”

Cole took her shaking hands and cupped them between both of us. “Baby, calm down.”

“What if the judge changes his mind?” she croaked. “What if he says no because we didn’t dress Damon properly and it shows neglect, or—?”

“He’s not going to say no because Damon’s tie’s crooked,” he assured her. “Besides, this is our finalization with the courts. We did all the paperwork. We went to every meeting, did every medical, criminal, and background check known to man. We passed every one of their inspections, questions, and examinations. We were approved. They’re not going to say no now.”

“We’re just so close,” Beth gasped.

“It only took three years,” Damon piped in as he adjusted his own tie, making the red sash even more crooked across the plane of his white dress shirt.

The road had been long, and most days, it had been unbearable, but all their hard work was about to finally pay off.

“Because Ms. Barns wanted to make sure the judges didn’t say no,” Cole reminded him. “Your mom and I had to grow up a little, prove to the courts we were serious about keeping you.”

Damon glanced from one to the other, his blue eyes barely masking his apprehension and fears. He was still too little, in Cole’s opinion. The doctors assured them he was growing, putting on weight and height just like a kid his age was supposed to, but damn if it didn’t bug Cole.

“What?” Beth jumped on the scent of uncertainty. “What’s wrong?”

A muscle moved in Damon’s jaw. “Are you guys sure about this?”

Beth and Cole exchanged glances.

“What do you mean?” Cole asked.

Damon shifted his slight frame. “You have Toby now.” His gaze flicked over to where the six month old was sleeping in his car seat. “Do you still want me?”

Beth pulled him into her arms. “You will always be my baby, do you hear me? I love you so much.” She drew back and stroked his face. “You’re just as important to us as Toby.”

“But you’re right,” Cole said. “We don’t want you. But we sure as hell need you, Damon. You’re our son, no matter whose blood runs through your veins. Nothing and no one is ever going to change that. You will always be a McClain.”

He was quiet for a moment. Then he raised his head and met his father’s eyes squarely.

“Dad?”

No matter how many times Cole was called that, it still hit him square in the chest.

“Yeah?”

Damon looked from Cole to Beth. “I’m ready.”

A knock followed his statement. The door opened and Ms. Barns poked her head inside.

She smiled at them. “How are we doing in here?”

Beth placed a hand on Damon’s shoulder and pulled him back into her. “We’re ready.”

Ms. Barns’ smile broadened. “There are a few people out here waiting for you.”

Sharing a bemused glance, Beth and Damon followed the social worker out into the grand foyer of the courthouse. Cole turned to his other son. He bent down and fixed his little blue cap, tucked the blanket more securely around him and touched his downy cheek. Toby never stirred. His ability to sleep through anything was just like his mother’s.

“Come on, little man,” he said. “Let’s officially welcome your brother into the family.”

Sloan and Lily were talking to Ms. Barns and Beth when he left the small waiting room. Calla, Willa, and Damon sat on a wooden bench a short distance away. Willa was holding Damon’s hand in her lap. She and Calla had grown just as much as Damon. The pair had gotten taller. Calla’s face had begun to thin out, but Willa’s was still round and innocent. The bond she shared with Damon hadn’t lessened, if anything, the two were practically joined at the hip now that Willa was in school full time. Cole studied his babies and felt that part of him that had been empty growing up fill with more love than he knew what to do with. All his life, it had always been just him and Sloan. Neither one of them ever imagined they would be so happy. At least he hadn’t. Now he had a wife he was crazy about, two sons he adored more than life itself, and two little imps who would always be his little girls. He couldn’t possibly ask for anything else.

“There’s my handsome man!” Lily gushed, swooping down to take Toby from him and scurry off to the bench with the other children.

Calla’s face lit up when Toby was placed down next to her. Unlike her acceptance of Willa and her more reluctant acceptance of Damon, she took to Toby the minute Cole had placed him in her arms. Whenever she was over at the house, Calla spent the majority of her time following Beth around, asking if Toby needed anything. It was a relief to Cole. He didn’t think he had the energy between three am wake up calls, his computer business, and the other three children to worry about Calla acting out.

Sloan chuckled as his wife unhitched Toby from his car seat and cuddled him to her chest. “I told her I’d give her one of her own, but she says it would throw off the balance.”

Beth laughed. “It’s true. We have an even set of boys and girls.”

“Mommy, let me see!” Calla whined, forcing her mother to sit so they could both fuss over a grumpy-faced Toby, who had opened one eye to glower up at the pair.

Next to them, Willa turned her head up towards Damon. She asked something and he shrugged. Willa frowned and rested her head on his shoulder.

“Should be any minute now,” Ms. Barns assured them.

Beth and Cole both smiled at her.

“Thank you for everything,” Beth said. “I know we weren’t exactly … welcoming in the beginning.”

Ms. Barns laughed. “That’s a nice way of putting it, and I won’t lie, I didn’t think this would work. But you two sure surprised me. I’m happy Damon’s getting the family he deserves.”

Beth closed the distance and put her arms around the other woman. Ms. Barns blinked in surprised, but her features softened and she hugged Beth back.

Cole turned to the man next to him. “Thank you for coming today.”

Sloan frowned like that was the stupidest thing he’d ever heard. “I’m his uncle.”

Cole smiled. “Yeah, you are.”

Ms. Barns checked her watch. “Okay, it’s time.”

She held the doors open and every one piled through. Cole waited for Damon. He pulled the boy aside.

“We’ll be right there,” he told the social worker.

Ms. Barns inclined her head and let the door shut.

Cole knelt in front of Damon.

“Do you want this?” he asked. “If you say yes, then you’re stuck with us forever. That means I’ll be your dad. I will love you and support you, but I will also put down the law when I think you need to rethink your decisions. It won’t be easy and I know there will be days we won’t get along, but I will always have your back. That is, if you’ll have us.”

“If I say no?”

Cole gave him a humorless smile. “You’re still stuck with us, because your mother won’t accept anything else. Neither would I.”

Damon broke into a brilliant smile. “I like being stuck with you guys.”

Cole ruffled his hair, then quickly patted the dark strands down before his wife noticed. “Good.” He rose. “Let’s get this over with so we can get ice cream.”

The End

Forever His Baby

The Baby Saga, book #1

(Available in ebook & paperback)

Be My Baby

The Baby Saga, book #3

Coming summer 2015

About Airicka Phoenix

Airicka Phoenix lives in a world where unicorns, fairies and mermaids run amok through her home on a daily basis. When she’s not chasing after pixies and rounding up imps, also known as her four children, she can be found conjuring up evil villains, bad-ass heroines and swoon-worthy heroes to play with.

Airicka is singlehandedly responsible for her greatly anticipated collections, The Touch Saga, The Lost Girl Duology, The Regeneration Series, Games of Fire & Betraying Innocence. She also writes mature paranormal & contemporary romance under the dark guise of Morgana Phoenix. To date, she is responsible for The Sons of Judgment Saga, In The Dark Series, & The Baby Saga.

For more about Airicka and the realm she rules with an iron fist--and tons of chocolate--visit her at www.airickaphoenix.com.

Table of Contents

Bye-Bye Baby ©2015 by Airicka Phoenix

As Airicka Phoenix

DedicationMy Readers,

Acknowledgement

Chapter One ~ Cole

Chapter Two ~ Beth

Chapter Three ~ Cole

Chapter Four ~ Beth

Chapter Five ~ Cole

Chapter Six ~ Beth

Chapter Seven ~ Cole

Chapter Eight ~ Beth

Chapter Nine ~ Cole

Chapter Ten ~ Beth

Chapter Eleven ~ Cole

Chapter Twelve ~ Beth

Chapter Thirteen ~ Cole

Chapter Fourteen ~ Beth

Chapter Fifteen ~ Cole

Chapter Sixteen ~ Beth

Chapter Seventeen ~ Cole

Chapter Eighteen ~ Beth

Chapter Nineteen ~ Cole

Chapter Twenty ~ Beth

Epilogue ~ Cole