Love, Again, page 13
“Stop teasing me,” he growled.
I bit his lip back, sucking it between my teeth. “You started it first.”
He bit me back. “You win, sunshine.” I lifted my hips and allowed the tip of his cock to graze my opening. By the grip he had on me, I knew I was in for the ride of my life.
Slamming me down over his cock in one thrust, he stopped and held me there, maintaining eye contact. I loved being stretched to the point of pain, and seeing the passion in his eyes. His fingers dug into my hips and he squeezed, holding me still, as he began pounding into me with short, fast thrusts, his breaths coming out quick and shallow. His mouth came down on my breasts, which were teasing him by bouncing in his face.
His body was so hot around me, burning my skin, but it was nothing compared to the heat between my legs. I was so close to losing control…
“Oh fuck. I’m gonna come, baby,” he groaned, his teeth teasing my nipple. His arms wrapped around my body and he pulled me into him as he pushed his hips into mine. My insides tightened and I screamed out my release as his body spasmed and jerked. After I milked him to completion, his body trembled beneath me and he rested his forehead on mine.
“Let’s fly out to Grand Teton tomorrow. It’s on your list.”
I’d been dying to go there. It was going to be a lot better with him by my side. I grabbed his face and kissed him. “This makes me happy. I’ll book our flights tonight.”
He returned a smile. “I love you so much.”
Still connected, I looked into his eyes. “Just don’t forget it.”
“Not even possible.”
Chapter 19
Aubrey
GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK, WYOMING
It was peak time in Wyoming to see the leaves in their fall colors. I’d never seen anything as glorious as all the different shades of fall. We’d been in Jackson Hole for almost a week, and I was nowhere near tired of it. We were on our last day of hiking in the majestic Grand Teton National Park to Taggart Lake, where we’d decide on our next travel destination.
I’d used up several memory cards taking a gazillion photos. Of all the places I’d been over the years, Wyoming was by far the most beautiful state I’d ever seen. We heard rushing water up ahead, and a small bridge came into view. Cole stopped on the bridge and waved me over. “Come on, I know you’re going to want to take a picture of this.”
He winked teasingly and I smiled. “I can’t resist a sexy man and a waterfall.”
I took his picture, and then a selfie of us both with the waterfall behind us. My phone rang as I was about to snap another one of the cascading water. I’d just talked to Emilia that morning, so I knew it wouldn’t be her. She was still in Oklahoma with Bennett, enjoying every second with him. I tried not to think about what it was going to do to Bennett when she left, but I had to remember he was a big boy. He knew what he was getting into.
When I pulled out my phone, it wasn’t her. It was Vance, the producer who wanted me for the movie. Cole stepped to the side and nodded. “Go ahead and take it if you want.”
With a heavy sigh, I blew it out slow and answered. “Hey, Vance.”
“Good morning. How are you?”
I looked up at the towering mountains. “Great, actually. I’m in Wyoming on vacation.”
“Ah yes. A lovely place indeed.”
“That it is. What can I do for you this morning?” I already knew what he wanted. It probably killed him not talking to me for the past week.
He cleared his throat. “I’m calling to see if you’ve thought about my offer. I haven’t talked to you in a while, but I wanted to make sure you were still considering it.”
My thoughts immediately went to Cole. He’d been so supportive of me, and offered to come with me to Hollywood, but I didn’t know if he’d truly be happy doing that. I didn’t want to be selfish.
“I am,” I replied. “I just need more time. I promise I’ll give you an answer before the two months are up.”
Vance breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s all I wanted to hear. I promise I won’t bother you anymore for the time being. Have fun on your vacation.”
“Thank you. Talk soon.”
I hung up, and Cole turned back around to face me. “He really wants you back, doesn’t he?”
A laugh escaped my lips. “It’s killing him to not have my answer. I just wish I knew what to do.”
I slid my phone into my pocket, and Cole reached for my hands. “It’s a simple question, sunshine. Do you want to direct the movie or not?”
That was the million-dollar question. There was something I’d been pondering all week, but I wasn’t ready to tell him just yet. Shrugging, I grabbed his arm. “Yes, and no. I’ll figure it out soon.”
When I tried to pull him with me, he stood firm. “Aubrey, seriously. Nothing is holding you back. You know I’ll go with you.”
I looked up at him. “I know that, and it means more to me than anything. It’s just I’m trying to figure out a middle ground.” If what I’d been thinking of could come true, it would be the best of both worlds. I smiled. “Trust me, Cole. Things are going to work out the way we both want.”
His brows furrowed, but I wasn’t about to go into detail. If my idea was possible, I wanted it to be a surprise to everyone. I took his hand, and he walked with me down the trail toward Taggart Lake.
“What’s been your favorite part of Wyoming?” I asked him.
He squeezed my hand. “Besides being with you?”
That made me smile. “Yes.”
Chuckling, he let my hand go and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “Let’s see…I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the nights.”
I elbowed him playfully in the side. “Is that all you can come up with?”
It was nice seeing his fun-loving side. There weren’t many people he let see that. When I first got into town, I thought that side of him had been lost forever, and it would’ve completely been my fault.
“Okay, fine,” he said, turning serious. “My favorite part of the trip has been the hiking. Hidden Falls was by far the best trail.”
I couldn’t argue with him there. “That it was. I think I took over a hundred pictures that day.”
Cole slowed his pace. “I always thought you’d do something with photography along with your directing. Hell, you could’ve been an actress with all the plays you performed in at school. You were always so creative. I used to love hearing about your time at all of those filmmaking camps you went to in New York.”
My chest ached. “Feels like such a long time ago.” Photography was one of my passions, but it was bringing my vision to life that I craved more. “I can’t imagine the shock you felt when I wanted to move away,” I murmured. “Being in show business was something I never thought I’d actually be able to pursue.”
With a heavy sigh, Cole stopped and faced me, his eyes full of regret. “Even though you never mentioned anything about moving to Hollywood, it didn’t surprise me when you left. I saw it in you; I just always hoped you’d never leave.” Taking my hand, he held it close to his chest. “I was selfish, Aubrey. I wanted to be enough for you.”
And that right there split my heart in two. Hot tears fell down my cheeks. “You were too good for me, Cole. Leaving you was the hardest thing I ever did. I’m just thankful we found our way back to each other.”
Eyes locked on mine, he moved closer and kissed me. “So am I, sunshine.”
We continued on our way, and when we reached Taggart Lake, the breath whooshed out of my lungs. The water was as clear as glass. You could see the rocks and boulders on the bottom. Even the mountains had the perfect reflection in the water. I snapped a ton of pictures, and hopped along the huge boulders that rested in the water. Cole sat down on one, and I joined him.
“As much as I hate to say this, I don’t think anything on my list is going to top this,” I said.
Cole’s lips tilted slightly, and he shrugged. “I don’t know about that. We still have a lot of things on that list to do. You also haven’t added the things I want to do.”
It just so happened I had the list in my backpack. I pulled it out along with a pen. “You’re right, I haven’t. Let’s see what you got.”
Grinning, he rested his elbows on his knees and looked up at the mountains. “All right, here we go. I already went skydiving, but if that’s something you want to do, I can always go again.”
A surprised gasp escaped my lips. “You did? When?” It saddened me to realize how much we’d missed of each other’s lives over the years.
Cole turned his attention to me. “Bennett and I did it about a year after you left. It was in-fucking-sane. I’ll never forget that feeling as long as I live.”
I wrote skydiving on the list, but it wasn’t a top priority. The thought of jumping out of a plane terrified me. “Tell me other things you want to do.”
A mischievous glint sparkled in his eyes. “I want to visit the Woodchuck Cider House in Vermont, and while I’m there I want to jump off one of the covered bridges.”
I stared at him like he’d lost his mind. “Really? That’s on your bucket list?”
He chuckled. “What? I love my hard ciders.”
“That’s not what I’m concerned about. What is it with you and your fascination with jumping from the butt-ass top of things?”
He burst out laughing. “It’s because I know it drives you crazy.”
Rolling my eyes, I focused back on the list. “You’re too much. What else do you want to do besides jumping to your death?”
With a sly expression, he met my gaze. “I think I’m going to hold off on answering that. I want there to be some surprises along the way.”
“Great,” I answered sarcastically. “Can’t wait to see what you come up with.” I slid the notebook into my backpack. “So where are we going next?”
Cole pulled out his phone and typed away. “Don’t you worry about that. I got it all handled.”
Chapter 20
Cole
NORFOLK, VIRGINIA
OUTER BANKS, NORTH CAROLINA
At first I was going to fly us up to Vermont, but it wasn’t the right time for that. The temperatures were too cold for what I had in mind to do there. We had plenty of time to take a trip there later. However, there was something I’d wanted to do for years. In all my thirty-two years of existence, I’d never seen the East Coast. What better way than to explore the Outer Banks. I like the idea of Aubrey’s bucket list, but sometimes you just needed to go where the road took you. I’d never been able to live like that, but for the next month and a half I planned on living life to the fullest.
We flew into the Norfolk airport in Virginia, and I rented us a Jeep so I could take Aubrey out onto the beach to see the wild horses. She used to love her mare, Buttercup, more than anything. I still remembered the day I found her dead in my barn. It fucking killed me having to give Aubrey the news, but Buttercup had been sick for a while. We knew it was going to happen. Still, she was the last horse Aubrey had given her heart to. I was going to buy her another one as a wedding present, but I never got the chance.
We were almost to Kitty Hawk, and I kept sneaking glances at Aubrey to see if she’d figured out where we were going. She stared out the window with a smile on her face, so I had to believe she knew.
“Any clue?” I asked her.
Gaze narrowed, she bit her lip, still grinning wide. “The beach?”
I placed a hand on her leg and squeezed. “Not just the beach, sunshine. We’re going to drive up and down the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I’ve wanted to come out this way for years.”
Her mouth dropped open, and she gasped. “Oh my God, you still haven’t seen the East Coast, have you?”
I shook my head. “Never got the chance.”
A look of guilt passed across her face. “I’m sorry.”
“Why?”
“I guess I feel bad because I’ve been able to travel the world and see things that you haven’t had the chance to.”
I shrugged. “There’s nothing to be sorry for. It was my choice to work as much as I did. If it wasn’t for you, I’d still be doing the same thing.”
“Are you sure Bennett and your dad are okay with running the farm all by themselves?”
That made me chuckle. “They’ll be fine. If they can’t deal without me for two months, then there’s something wrong.”
We reached Kitty Hawk, but instead of going south toward Nags Head, I headed north to Corolla, where we could drive out onto the beach to see the wild horses. I had a house rented for the next two days that was guaranteed to have horse sightings.
“What all do you want to do out here?” Aubrey asked. “I’ve heard it’s beautiful.”
I grabbed her hand and brought it to my lips. “Anything you want. I figured we could spend a couple days in Corolla, then head down south through Nags Head, Rodanthe, and Ocracoke. From there, we could take the ferry to Cedar Island and drive up to Raleigh to catch a plane to wherever we want to go next.”
Her eyes twinkled. “Sounds perfect to me.”
The forty minutes it took to get to Corolla passed by quickly. The house I’d rented required a four-wheel-drive vehicle to access it. It took all I had to hide my smile as I watched Aubrey’s eyes widen when we turned off the main road onto the sand. I drove straight down to the water and parked. I’d seen the ocean from the other side of the country when I was twelve years old and my parents wanted to visit Oregon, but the East Coast was something else entirely. It had a different feel to it.
“Are you sure we’re supposed to be doing this?”
I looked over at Aubrey and smiled. “We’re not going to get to the house if we don’t.”
“What?” she gasped. “Seriously? There’s not a road?” She stared off down the beach where there wasn’t much but dunes, the ocean, and a handful of houses. Ours was the one on the very end, away from the others.
“Nope.” Chuckling, I put the Jeep in gear. “Hang on. It’s going to be a little bumpy.”
The sand was thick as we headed away from the water. She held on to the roll bar as we bounced around. There were horse tracks in the sand, but Aubrey was too mesmerized by everything else to notice.
We pulled up at the house, and I got out and grabbed our bags from the back. Sighing, Aubrey shut her door and gazed out at the water. “It’s beautiful here. As much as I love my home in Malibu, it has nothing on this place.”
The mention of Malibu struck a chord in my chest. “Do you miss California?” I asked.
She kept her eyes on the water. “Things were a little more fast-paced there. I loved the restaurants, and working with celebrities.” A smile lit up her face as she turned to me. “It was different. I got to experience a life I’d only dreamed out. Unfortunately, it came at a cost.” A horse whinnied off in the distance, and her head jerked to the side. “Did you hear that?”
The sound came from the back of the house, and I nodded for her to walk up the porch stairs. “Go look around there.”
I followed her up the stairs, and around the wraparound porch. She gasped and stopped abruptly, her face lit with excitement. “Oh my God. Look at them.”
I set our bags down and joined her. “Thought you’d like it.” A group of four horses were slowly making their way across the dunes to the high grass. They were all brown, but the one walking behind had a white patch on its neck.
“I’m pretty sure I heard there were wild horses out here, but I guess I forgot.” She leaned against the porch and watched them disappear from view. As soon as they were gone, she sat beside me on the swing. The wind had picked up, making the waves crash harder against the shore.
Wrapping her arm around mine, Aubrey moved in closer. I breathed her in, loving the way her hair smelled like the same raspberry shampoo she’d always used before. It was like nothing between us had changed.
“Apparently, the horses like this area. We should see them a lot more over the next couple of days,” I said.
She held me tighter. “I need to get pictures of them. There’s nothing more serene than seeing wild horses on the beach.” A heavy sigh escaped her lips. “It brings back memories of Buttercup.”
I kissed the top of her head. “I know you miss her.”
“You have no idea. My heart broke the day I lost her.”
Soothingly, I rubbed a hand over her leg. “I know. I was going to buy you another horse as a wedding present.”
Her body froze, but then she slowly let me go to look up at me, her eyes misty with tears. “You were?”
I brushed her hair to the side and nodded. “There was a mare in Tulsa I was going to look at, but you left the day before I was supposed to go.”
A tear slid down her cheek and she looked away. “Cole, I’m so sorry. That would’ve been an amazing gift.”
Taking her chin, I turned her back to me. “It still can be. If you decide to stay in Oklahoma, we’ll find you one. That is, if you ever want to ride again.” She hadn’t decided yet on her plans once our two-month adventure was up. I wasn’t going to lie—staying in Oklahoma was where I knew we belonged—but I wasn’t about to lose her. I’d move to California in a heartbeat to be with her, and I sure as hell was going to do it if that was what she decided.
She kissed me and touched her forehead to mine. “I’d like that. Riding our horses together was some of the best times of my life.”
