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No, the pain she felt was all Cole. It was seeping from his cells, his veins, from his heart
to hers.
On the verge of taking her, he d sudden gone completely still, his fingertips digging into
her hips so hard she knew she d have ten finger-sized round bruises on her skin in the morning.
He moved away so abruptly she would have fallen if not for the table holding her up. She
blinked back tears as she slowly pushed herself up so that she was standing, using the time to
pull her underwear back up and smooth down her skirt to catch her breath. Finally, when she felt
strong enough, she turned and faced her husband.
He d righted his clothes too and now he was standing halfway across the room away
from her his hands in fists, his eyes so dark and so bleak she had to choke back a sob.
 Tell me what you see now. Tell me if they re all blind now, Anna.
She knew what he was doing, that he was trying to force a monster into the room. But
there wasn t one.
 I see a man who knows exactly how to touch me.
His jaw tightened, his biceps flexing as he clearly worked to control himself.  Fuck no,
Anna, I was hurting you.
 We both know you weren t, she countered in a soft voice as she took a small step
toward him.  We both know I was loving, craving your touch. The way I always do. The way I
always will. The way I m craving it right now.
She knew she had to be careful, that the big strong man who hadn t run from anything in
his life was a heartbeat away from bolting. But she was so sick of being careful. She'd spent a
lifetime being careful.
She d taken her first risk on Friday night when she d let Cole kiss her, and then one after
the other since in his arms. Every minute with him the risks grew bigger.
But so did her courage.
 Do you want to know what else I m seeing, Cole?
Instead of answering her, he said,  Don t do this, baby. Don t try to convince yourself
that I m someone I m not.
 Don t you dare talk to me like I don t know my own eyes. My own mind. My own
heart.
And despite the way he was trying to push her away, she knew deep in her heart that she
wasn t wrong about him.
 I know what I see. I see a man who loves his grandmother, who plays for his team with
all of his heart, who treats complete strangers with respect. She took another small step toward
him.  I know what I feel. I feel your innate tenderness. I feel the pure comfort of being in your
arms. And I know, without a doubt, that you re the best thing that s ever happened to me.
His eyes flashed as she repeated his earlier, sleepy words back to him. His barriers had
been down after their lovemaking, so different from the thick wall she was facing tonight.
 I see what you let me see, Cole. But I want to see so much more. I want you to trust me
the way I ve trusted you.
 You know firsthand just how well I can lie, Anna. You shouldn t trust me. Not for one
second, sweetheart.
Did he hear himself call her sweetheart even when he was trying like hell to push her
away? She d given him her body. Now there was only one thing left to give him.
And even though she knew it was the very thing he was fighting against, she couldn t
keep it inside.
She wouldn t.
Not when he d taught her how to take a chance, how to grab his hand and fly higher than
she d ever thought she could.
 I m not an opponent you can tackle to get me out of your way, she told him.  If you
want to try to push me away then you d better be ready for me to push right back. She moved
the rest of the way across the room, leaving only a couple of feet between them.  I thought I was
the one who needed to learn from you. I thought I was the scared one, that you weren t afraid of
anything. I thought you knew more than I did. I thought you were going to teach me crazy and I
was going to learn everything I could. But only about pleasure.
She stopped, held his dark, dangerous eyes with her own. She wasn t scared anymore.
Even though her heart was completely on the line.
Instead, the strength of her feelings for the one man she never would have thought to fall
for in a million years gave her the strength she d always been searching for.
 You are the only person who s ever looked at me and thought that there might be
strength inside. You are the only one who s ever held my hand and helped me fly. She held out
her hand to him.  Let me do that for you, Cole.
His face was completely empty of expression and it took everything in her to keep her
hand from trembling, to keep from backing away from the biggest chance she d ever taken.
It took more strength than she even knew she possessed to hold steady, to know that she
couldn t force him to feel something he didn t feel.
And to still say,  I love you.
Chapter Sixteen
Her bravery stunned him. The sweet girl he d propositioned in Las Vegas was still there,
just as innocent, her halo still hovering over her beautiful hair. But that Anna wasn t the only one
standing in front of him, hand outstretched. An incredibly strong woman stood there, too.
Offering him something he didn t deserve: Love he didn t think he was capable of
returning.
Cole didn t know what the fuck he was going to do about it. All he knew right then was
that he couldn t let her go. Not like this.
Not fucking yet.
It was the fear of losing her that had him pulling his feet up out of the hardening cement,
it was a vision of her dropping her hand and walking away forever that made him reach out and
take it.
Their first night together, he d held her hand, had loved the feeling of protecting her. But
he didn t know who was protecting whom anymore.
He dropped his gaze to their linked hands, turned hers over and stroked his thumb across
the base of her palm, along the very edge of her wrist.
 I 
Cole had lied so many times. Lies had kept him on teams he should have been cut from.
Lies had kept him in beds he shouldn t have been allowed anywhere near. One more lie shouldn t
be so hard. One more lie would keep Anna right here with him.
He lifted his gaze to hers, watching her watching him as blue turned to green, then back
again. The storm was still raging in her ocean eyes, everything swirling together her love, her [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]