He headed back to his own house—restless, aroused, and angry. Kennedy had accused him of abandoning her when nothing had been further from the truth. Had he fooled himself all those years ago that there was something more between them than alleviating a sexual need?
His lion stirred. That was the source of his discontent and anger. The arousal flowed from both him and his other self. Both wanted to pull Kennedy beneath him and revel in her response. The difference was the practical part that was human wanted her on her back with her legs wrapped around him as he pounded into her. The primal part of him that was lion wanted her on her knees so he could mount her from behind, taking her neck in a claiming bite and allowing his barbed staff to repeatedly scrape her inner walls as he drove himself into her.
Cole stood on the front porch of his tiny abode and looked toward the main ranch compound of Koyama'. The night sky was littered with stars and the moon was a ghostly galleon playing hide and seek among the clouds. Its ribbon of moonlight seemed to illuminate the way back to what he most wanted in this life. Kennedy was his bonded spirit. He’d known it in Italy but had also known it was neither the time nor the place to claim her. His plan had been to bring down Mosby’s operation, tell Kennedy everything, then bring her home. He’d felt her call every time he went to Seattle to check up on her, or when he snuck into a courtroom to watch her strut her stuff.
He’d been taken aback that Cash had retained her firm and they’d sent her, but his lion prodded his consciousness, reminding him that she was here now, in his territory, and within reach. It was destiny, his lion argued. They’d kept guard of her all this time, watched over her. Cole snorted and reminded himself that some would call what he’d been doing stalking.
Normally, the human component of a mountain lion shifter had no problem controlling the more primitive part of his psyche, but tonight the lion wanted to rule. Tonight, the lion wanted to claim his mate. Tonight, the lion wanted to ignore the societal norms of humans that said such behavior was wrong. Tonight, the lion wanted to roar… and did, the raw sound so loud, it split the night sky.
For the first time in his life, the lion took over. He felt the electricity in the air as it shimmered all around him. Later, he would question whether it had been as involuntary as he wanted to believe. The fact was that he’d been aroused since opening the door to the study and finding her standing there. He knew this was madness, but it wasn’t only his lion who didn’t care.
He forced the lion to retreat by arguing that showing up naked with a hard-on probably wasn’t going to be the best way to handle Kennedy. In Naples he’d had no choice. He’d done everything to protect her from any fallout of having been involved with him. When that had not proved to be enough, he’d ensured that evidence to clear her had made its way into her attorney’s hands. That had done the trick in some ways. He’d managed to save her from going to prison but having been brought up on charges alone had torpedoed her career with JAG and with the Hague. Cole knew he’d hurt her, but he’d been bound by rules, regulations, and laws to keep his secrets safe.
Cole went inside and packed a small duffle with some boots and clothes he could change into. On his way back out, he closed the door and allowed his lion to surge forward once more. He felt the power and magic flow through his veins as man became beast. Picking up the handle of the duffle in his mouth, he bounded off the porch and galloped toward the main ranch and to her.
Kennedy returned to the guesthouse and tried to put thoughts of Cole aside. She needed to focus on Clay’s case. Having now spent time with Trey, she was convinced Clay was right. They were far better off having her as the lead investigator. Kennedy wasn’t sure Trey could maintain the proper professional distance but having her on their side could prove to be invaluable. If she was being completely selfish, there was a part of her that hoped they suspended Trey. If Kennedy could hire her as an investigator, it would give them an enormous advantage.
Grabbing a hand-made shawl crocheted of alpaca wool, she wrapped it around her shoulders and walked out onto the porch of the guesthouse. She heard the scream of a wildcat. She heard them frequently here on Koyama'. Curiously, they didn’t frighten her and in an odd way, she found them comforting. She pulled the shawl closer around her and stared at the night sky.
Looking up, she gasped as a shooting star ran across her field of vision. She vaguely remembered some legend about it being the spirit of a tragic lover racing across the inky darkness to try and find its lost love. She’d spent so long in big cities, she’d forgotten how much the glow of the neon lights dimmed the stars in the sky. The last time she’d seen one so bright and clear had been a romantic picnic with Cole at the base of Mt. Vesuvius outside of Naples. She leaned against one of the porch pillars, closed her eyes, and remembered, letting the memories and the feelings they evoked consume her.
Normally the historic site of the volcano that destroyed Pompei was closed after dark, but Cole had pulled some strings and gotten them clearance.
He held up the chain that ran across the main entrance into Mt. Vesuvius, ushering her under it.
“Cole, I don’t think we’re supposed to be here,” Quinn said, looking around, even though no one was around.
“Of course, we are. Do you really think I’d go to all this trouble to get us out here if I hadn’t arranged for it to be okay? I hired a caterer to come in and set up a place with a red checkered blanket and lots of pillows...”
“Why is it I think you have more than dinner and a historic landmark in mind?”
Cole chuckled. Something about the sound pleased her on a very visceral level. It was as if the vibrations danced along her skin.
“Because you know that when I’m with you, I have all that I need.”
She laughed. For as intense a man as he was, he had an incredible sense of humor and seemed to take very little seriously.
She leaned in and purred at him. There was something about that sound that seemed to send arousal coursing through his veins. “What I know is that you’re thinking volcanic rock wouldn’t be all that comfortable for me to lay on while we fuck.”
She walked her fingers up his chest, provoking that sexy growl that he made as she rubbed herself against the hard bulge in his jeans.
“And you are planning to fuck me, aren’t you?”
This time the growl was co-mingled with his sexy chuckle. “Baby, I’m always planning to fuck you. Even when I should be thinking of other things, I’m thinking of all the ways I have yet to fuck you. Fact is, I figure it’s going to take me a lifetime and then some to get through them all.”
She shivered. This wasn’t the first time he’d made comments that alluded to a future together. If she could just get her brother’s widow and son to safety, she could begin to figure out what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. The one thing she did know was that she hoped to spend it with Cole.
Why was it Culp was so adamant that he couldn’t be trusted?
Cole led her to a place in the shadow of Vesuvius that looked out over the land toward the ruins of Pompei. It might not seem romantic to some, but she and Cole had met on a visit to the ruins. She’d come with a tour company, but he’d driven up on his own. They’d struck up a conversation over bottled water and Cole had convinced her to let him drive her back into Naples.
That drive had turned into dinner and dinner had turned into a raging and torrid affair. She’d never felt more alive or more in touch with who she was than when she was with this man. Cole was a virile and dominant lover who left her sore more often than not, but she craved him. He was like an addiction she just couldn’t get enough of.
Until he’d left without a word, leaving her to deal with the fall out of sleeping with a man accused of treason and espionage. Even though Vanessa had been able to unearth evidence that had cleared her, her career in the Navy and the Agency had been over, which had meant her prospects for getting her nephew and brother’s widow were marginal at best. As for her dream job working at the Hague, it, too, had evaporated like mist through her fingers.
Everything came rushing back—love, loss, longing—and threatened to overwhelm her. From somewhere deep inside she could hear the sound of Cole’s sonorous purring. She didn’t realize that tears were sliding down her cheeks until two gentle thumbs brushed them away.
Kennedy’s eyes flew open as Cole’s mouth descended on hers.
Cole’s splayed hand cupped her jaw while the fingers of his other hand wove their way through her hair, fisting it and tugging her head back as he fused his lips to hers.
This was wrong on so many levels and she knew she should at least be protesting and more likely employing the self-defense moves she’d been taught. She should be formulating a list of reasons why she couldn’t continue as his brother’s attorney, but she wasn’t. In this moment, she wasn’t thinking at all. No, what she was doing was feeling. Sensory memory took over and her body lit up like Fifth Avenue at Christmas.
Seemingly of their own accord, her arms wound around his neck and her body molded itself to his. She gloried in the feel of the hard length behind his fly, throbbing in time to her accelerating pulse. No one, ever, had been able to make her feel the way he did. If she was honest, everyone else paled in comparison.
She couldn’t resist him and didn’t want to. She could say no, and she knew he would honor her wishes, but she wasn’t going to. Kennedy knew that if this was the only time she allowed it to happen, she wasn’t going to regret it and she wasn’t going to be the passive recipient of Cole’s dominant lovemaking. For now, she was going to give as good as she got and if he wanted to reign supreme, he would have to make her capitulate to his will.
Cole’s lips moved all along hers, his tongue tracing the seam of her mouth as it surged inside to conquer and devour. Cole walked her back to the door into the guesthouse, opened it, and maneuvered her inside. After closing it behind them, he shoved her back against the wall and his hand unzipped the fly to her jeans and slid inside. His fingers didn’t hesitate to reach between her legs and stroke her.
Too quickly, he backed away and her body mourned the loss. “Naked. I need you naked.”
“Seven years and that’s all you can manage?”
“You want sweet nothings whispered in your ear? I can do that… later. I need you, Kennedy. Give yourself to me. Please.”
Later she would tell herself that she could have resisted him if he just hadn’t said that one word, please.
“This is a bad idea.” She moaned on the verge of tears.
“No. It’s the first good idea I’ve had since I agreed to go after Mosby and not tell you what was going on, not making sure you were insulated from what I was doing, not ensuring you were protected.”
“You can’t just make me forget all that happened.”
“Maybe not forget, but I can make you not give a damn. You loved me once; I can make you love me again.”