Tempt Me (9 page)

“
Hell.
I
don't much care for her these days,” he muttered. Then,
he shot Rocki a quick look. “The woman I fell in love with...I
don't think she exists anymore. I don't know what
happened to her, but she's not the one I've been living
with the past few months.”

Silence fell over the
table for a few minutes, broken only by the rest of those in the
crowded pub. Rocki, her appetite all but dead, tried to figure out
just where to start. She needed to tell him. Even if he didn't
ask, she realized. She needed to talk. But ...

“
You ever going to
tell me what was going on earlier?”

Slowly, she lifted her
gaze from her plate, staring at him in the dim light. That light
managed to make him look even more beautiful than he already was,
flickering across the planes and hollows of his face, making that
gilt hair gleam like burnished gold.

“
Eleven years ago,
I had a stalker.” She stared at him, watching the way his
lashes flickered, watching the knowledge flash through his eyes.

Slowly, he leaned back in
the seat, crossing his arms over his chest. His eyes, thoughtful,
considering, narrowed on her face. “Eleven years...that's
a long time.”

“
Seems like it was
just yesterday.” She sighed, leaning forward.

It wasn't always
the most demure posture in a corset. Especially if one had...assets.

To his credit, Cole's
eyes barely dipped below her neckline...at least for longer than a
second. Rocki chuckled. “You know, I wore this thing wanting to
look nice for you.”

“
Ah...” He
closed his eyes. “You succeeded. Although I'm trying to
concentrate and I'm having a hard time reminding myself I'm
not a twelve-year-old boy.”

She grinned at him. Then,
still grinning, she eased back from the table, although she was so
damned tired, all she wanted to do was rest. Against something. Or,
in this case,
someone.
“Yesterday,” she reminded
him, steering the conversation back to the unpleasant topic at hand.
“It could have been yesterday. It was just postcards at first.
Then the flowers started, although they weren't
so...interesting then. It wasn't until the phone calls began
that I told anybody.”

She licked her lips and
looked down, absently studying her hands. She'd called somebody
then. But even then...She closed her eyes. “I knew who it was.”

“
You knew?”

She lifted her gaze to
his. “Yes. It was an ex-boyfriend. One who didn't want to
be an ex.” Lifting a hand, she absently touched a hand to her
chest. “One who would have had ten different fits if he'd
seen me wearing something like this. It wasn't just the way I
dressed, though. It was everything. If I didn't get home when I said
I'd be, he got angry. If I wanted to go out for a movie with friends,
he freaked—shoot, he used to follow us. Once, a girlfriend
started flirting with these guys and he came rushing up…”
She sighed and shook her head. “I got tired of it. I broke it
off. He...”

Rocki turned her head.
Shit. Why was this still so hard? She
knew
all of this, damn
it. She
knew
it. She hadn't grown up in an abusive home,
and she wasn't one of those women who'd been made to
believe she was just supposed to
take
abuse.

“
The day I broke it
off, Dwayne acted like everything was fine. We'd still be
friends. I packed up my things, took it all over to Lacey's.
Went to work...I worked part-time for a theater company, then—did
the costumes, that sort of thing. I was working on designing some of
my own stuff, but it was a private thing. Never made anything, never
showed anybody.” Her hands were sweating. Damn it. He wasn't
going to do this her again. Not again. Swiping her palms down the
front of her jeans, she looked back at Cole, making herself look him
straight in the eye. “I was leaving work when he attacked me.
He knocked me down, wrapped his hands around my neck, started
screaming at me.”

She could still hear him.
No fucking bitch leaves me
—

“
I tried to fight
him, but then, I just didn't know
how
. I kicked, I
screamed as loud as I could. But I passed out. Somebody from the
theater heard me, though. Called the cops. There was a beat cop close
by, and thank God for that...because if they'd been a minute or
two later...”

Rocki shuddered.

A hand touched her
shoulder. Tensing, she looked up and realized Cole had left his seat
at the booth and was now crouched by hers. She scooted over on the
bench, disturbed by how desperately she needed that contact. As he
settled down next to her, she rested her head against him. A strong
arm came around her. Rocki groaned, sinking into the warmth of his
embrace. She'd missed this...just having somebody there to hold
her. Somebody she could trust. Somebody she liked and had a
connection with.

And God help her...she
had it with Cole.

“
The cops showed up
while he was still trying to get my clothes off,” she said,
needing to get the words out. “He took off running when he
heard the sirens, and I woke up with my shirt ripped open, my jeans
unzipped. I hadn't been awake, but I swear, I could feel his
hands all over me.”

She swallowed and then
looked up at him. Cole lifted a hand, brushed her hair back from her
face, then stroked his thumb over her lip. “Then what? You knew
who it was, right?”

“
Yeah.” She
looked away. “But I wouldn't press charges. Not then. The
notes started coming next. Then the flowers. Then he started calling
and I knew I had to do something, or he might try to kill me next
time. I warned him that I'd press charges if he kept it up. He
just laughed, said I hadn't done it before, I wouldn't
this time.”

“
So did you?”

“
I went to the
police station. Filled out the report, did everything I was supposed
to...and the officer in charge was an ass. Told me they couldn't
promise they'd get results. I'd need to be careful of my
whereabouts. And maybe I should dress differently.” She made a
face. “I had on a fucking T-shirt and jeans. Damn, I was
furious. I stormed out of there, so mad I could barely see...and
crashed right into Brant.”

“
Brant. Your
husband.”

“
Yeah. Although,
not then.” Absently, she plucked at a loose thread on his
sweater, then let her hand fall to his thigh. When the muscles under
her hand bunched, she felt a blush settle low her breasts. But she
didn't move her hand. “Brant...ah, well, he was a
gentleman, through and through. Saw that I was upset. Asked around.
Had another officer take the report again. Then he walked me to my
car.”

“
But that wasn't
it.”

“
No.” She
smiled. “A few days later he showed up at the theater and asked
me how I felt about dating cops, mentioned he'd almost taken my
case himself but that wouldn't have been right...because he had
every intention of asking me out. We were married within six months.”

“
One of those
love-at-first-sight stories.”

“
Pretty close.”
She lowered her gaze, staring at her hand. The muscles under it were
still tense. She really should move. But she couldn't. Just
couldn't.

“
What happened with
the ex?”

“
I chickened out.
Couldn't press charges. A few more cards came. Two more calls.
Then they stopped.” She closed her eyes. “I won't
ever know, but I suspect Brant paid him a visit...scared the shit out
of him. Dwayne never was good at standing up to anybody who proved
they could dish it back.”

“
Possible ethical
issue there.” His hand rested low on her spine.

She shivered as his
fingers grazed the scant bit of flesh left bare on her back by the
corset.

“
Abuse of
power...hell, I might have bought him a drink.” Cole rubbed his
cheek against her hair. “You should have pressed charges,
though. Bastards like that never stop until you make them.”

“
I know. Now, I
could. Then, it was a different story.” She sighed. “It
may or may not be him now. I just don't know. The cards started
a few weeks ago. I've gotten four—they aren't the
same. It's just pictures of me, no notes or anything. The
flowers today...that was a first.”

“
If it is him...?”

“
If it is, if it
isn't, no matter...once they have a name, anything I can go to
court with, I'll press charges.” She stared down, not
seeing anything. “I won't be that victim again. Not
again.”

He nuzzled her temple.
“I'm sorry. Nobody's got the right to do this to
another person.”

“
No. And I won't
let it happen to me again.” She blew out a breath. Closed her
eyes. Then she smiled. “It feels good to get that out, you
know. Not too many people know.”

He remained silent, his
hand stroking her back. Rocki stared at her hand on his thigh and
tried to tell herself she needed to just finish up her meal. Have him
take her home. They could set up their
real
date and then see
what happened.

Except she couldn't
think about anything but the feel of his hand on her back, of his
thigh under her hand. His warmth. The way his mouth pressed against
her brow.

“
Cole?” She
tipped her head back, studying him. “You know, I should
probably just get this out. It's been a while since I've
dated and all. But I don't sleep with men on the first date.”

“
Ah...” A
muscle jerked in his jaw. “Well, I don't think we'd
really even gotten to that point, right? This isn't a
real
date.”

“
Right. So when you
take me home—to either your place or mine—and we sleep
together tonight? Just to be clear...we haven't had a date.”

He hadn't heard her
clearly.

Cole closed his eyes,
replaying her words in his head, but they still sounded the same.
Lust did bad, bad things to a man's ability to think clearly,
that was all he could figure out.

“
Okay, at the risk
of sounding like an idiot...what did you just say?”

That smile of hers—oh,
hell, it did bad, bad things to his ability to think
at all
.
She tightened her fingers on his thigh, her nails biting lightly into
his skin, even through the sturdy denim of his jeans. “Oh, come
on now, Counselor...that's what they call lawyers, right? I
think you heard me.”

“
I heard you.”
He dropped his gaze to her mouth—that wide, sexy mouth—and
thought he just might die if he didn't get to kiss her,
seriously kiss her, and soon. “The problem is I think I heard
something completely different from what you just said.”

“
And what do you
think I just said?”

“
It had something
to do with the two of us going back to your place, or my place. But
that couldn't be what you said.”

Rocki scraped her nails
along his jeans. “But it was.” She curled her free hand
around his neck. “So. Which one sounds better to you?”

In reply, Cole reached
into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. Blindly, he pulled
out some money and glanced at it. Without bothering to do another
thing, he threw it down on the table. “Please tell me you're
ready to go now.”

The smile on her face had
nerve endings exploding. Cole stood up and hoped to heaven, hell and
every place in between that his hands weren't shaking as he
offered one to her. She uncoiled from the seat, placing her hand in
his. The firelight danced off the pale skin displayed by the
unbelievably fucking sexy top...corset...whatever it was that she
wore. Unable to keep from touching her, he reached out and trailed
his fingers along the smooth skin that rose in a swell above the
gleaming black silk.

“
You are so damn
beautiful,” he muttered.

Rocki reached out and
curled her hands around his waist. “You're not so bad
yourself.” She swayed closer, pressing her mouth close to his
ear. “Can we go?”

“
Hell, yes.”

C
hapter
Seven

Earlier, she'd been
cold.

So cold.

But now, even the heavier
fall of snow couldn't manage to cool the burning in her blood.
Part of her brain was whispering,
This isn't smart. You need
to just go home
.

The rest of her, heart,
soul, and body—oh, damn, her body—demanded,
Go home?
To that empty, lonely bed...again
?

After five years of being
alone, she'd met somebody who made her not
want
to be
alone. That was what she'd been hoping for. Brant hadn't
wanted her to live the rest of her life missing him. She didn't
want to grow old alone. But nobody had ever reached inside her soul.