CHAPTER 13

After they had showered and made love for the second time, Cole felt Rose doze off in his arms. The first time had been hard and fast, Cole couldn’t remember being that turned on before. The second time had been slower, and Cole had to admit sweeter than the first.

He had never been sentimental about sex, but with Rose it seemed he was in for a bunch of firsts. First time thinking about a woman for a week, first time feeling concerned over a woman, first time he wanted her to sleep with him, first time he didn’t wonder how he was going to escape. The first time he didn’t want to.

Sleep settled over him like a blanket, warm and cozy.

Cole woke to an empty bed. Normally that would suit him perfectly, then why did he feel jilted?

He pushed off the bed feeling used and cheated. After relieving himself in the bathroom he went in search of coffee. He could only hope Luisa had refilled the pantry when she had been in this week.

The aroma of freshly brewed coffee flooded the living room along with the scent of cinnamon.

Rose was standing in the kitchen dancing to Bruce Springsteen whose voice softly flooded the kitchen from her phone, wearing one of his shirts.

The cinnamon scent came from the pancakes she was expertly flipping in the pan as her hips moved along to Hungry Heart. Cole knew the sight should bother him, the fact that she had not only invaded his kitchen but his thoughts once again, but he couldn’t summon any irritation. He was glad to see she hadn’t left.

“Good morning.” He said sitting down at the kitchen island.

Rose flipped the pancake straight from the pan to the floor at his voice. “You gave me such a fright.” She said pressing a hand to her chest. “Good morning to you too.” She smiled at him before collecting the pancake and chucking it in the bin. She then turned, grabbing a cup and pouring him coffee. She set the coffee down in front of him and rested her elbows on the counter. “I wasn’t sure if you’d want me to leave or to stick around, so I decided to make breakfast. Actually to be honest I didn’t want to cross the road in the dark…”

Cole smiled at her admission. “I’m glad you didn’t.” Taking a big gulp of coffee he moved around the counter and pulled her into his arms. Arousal stirred again as her soft floral scent drifted over him. “I really enjoyed last night.”

Rose blushed. “Me too. And don’t worry I know it was a one night stand.” She said before pulling out of his arms and moving back to the stove. Pouring batter into the pan she carefully glanced at him over her shoulder.

This was what Cole expected, so why did it feel wrong. He didn’t do anything else than one night stands. Rose knew that. He knew that. For the first time in his life he wondered what it would be like to have something more. Shoving the thought aside he moved around the kitchen island and sat down to drink his coffee and hoped he was successfully hiding the disappointment he felt.

“Here you go.” Rose said as she set down a plate with cinnamon and blueberry pancakes in front of him.

The hominess of the whole situation scratched at him. “Thanks.” Cole said not wanting to imagine what it would be like to wake up with her every day. With the warm cinnamon scent drifting up to him and her happy brown eyes looking at him, it looked pretty appealing from where he was sitting.

He scooped a large portion of pancake onto his fork and bit in. The fluffy dough melted against the roof of as his mouth just as the cinnamon delivered a punch of taste.

“Good right? It’s my grandma’s recipe.” Rose said as she started clearing up. “It’s my happy food.”

“Happy food?” Cole asked furrowing his brow.

“I like to make it when I’m happy. Ever since…let’s just say I haven’t made pancakes in a while.”

Cole acknowledged the unsaid bad events of the past year. Sam’s betrayal, the ensuing break up and Emmaline’s murder.

He cleared the plate within a few minutes, wondering if she was going to hang around and spend the day with him when she sat down next to him. “I’ve gotta go. Got a couple of things I need to do today and I’m sure you don’t do the hang out together thing.” She pecked him briefly on the cheek. “Thanks for last night.”

With that she got up to fetch her things in his bedroom. The words stay left unsaid in his mind as she closed the front door behind her a few minutes later.

“My God! What are you doing here?” Stefan Kelson said as he laid eyes on Cole. “We haven’t seen you since last fourth of July.”

Cole sat back in a chair on Seth Northman’s back deck. Over the last few years Cole had lost many friends by always placing his business above friendships. But somehow Seth, Garrett, Stefan and Cayden seemed to stick around. And even if they hadn’t seen each other in a while they always managed to pick up where they left off. Cole and Stefan had been friends since school and for the past few years they had become good friends with Garret, Cayden and Seth. It felt good kicking back on a Sunday afternoon with his closest friends and a cold beer in his hand with the Atlantic gushing behind them; he hadn’t relaxed in a long time.

“He actually brought a woman to Rosi’s last night; I’ve got a feeling she’s got something to do with the recent visits.” Cayden said as tossed Stefan a beer.

Garret, recently married, leaned forward on his arms. “You mean he’s been seeing her for longer than twelve hours?” He teased.

Cole laughed; even though his friends were teasing, nothing they were saying wasn’t true. “Well the girl I brought to dinner has a name and I’m not seeing her.”

“She’s got a name.” Seth threw back his head and laughed. “Cole if you actually remember her name you’ve got a problem.”

“No I don’t.” Cole said casually ignoring the warning lights that had been flashing ever since Rose had left that morning.

“How’d you meet?” Stefan asked flipping a chair around and straddling it.

“You know I came home for the family reunion?” Cole asked and everyone nodded. “Well we met that Friday. She actually lives across the street from me. Then last Saturday I got back solely to check on the house…”

“Yeah right…” Stefan chirped.

“As I was saying; anyway there were ambulances and police and I rushed over into my other neighbor’s house where Rose had just found her murdered.”

“No Shit!” Seth said putting down his beer. “This happened on your street?”

“Yes.”

“You knew the woman who was murdered?” Cayden asked.

“I knew the first one, not the one that was murdered two nights ago.”

“That’s why you came back; you’re worried the lunatic in your neighborhood is going to get to her?” Garret asked as understanding dawned.

“Not completely, but that’s part of it. The other part I don’t know what to do with.”

“Come on, don’t stop blabbing now.” Seth encourages as he picked his beer up again.

“I don’t know there’s just something about her. I actually like talking to her. We went to dinner last night and this morning she made me cinnamon pancakes.”

“You actually let her sleepover? This is deep man?” Stefan asked cocking a brow.

“No it’s not.” Cole said in denial. “It’s just different. But it’s not like we’re dating or anything.”

“Cole you bared your fangs last night and I was barely flirting, you’ve never been territorial before?”

“Cole’s not going to give us more on the girl guys, let him figure that part out. I’m more worried about the lunatic killing woman. Do you know anything about it other than the news?” Garrett asked sitting up straight with serious expression. Cole cast him a grateful glance for changing the subject before he answered.

“No, I’ve called the detective on the case a few times but they’re just giving me standard bullshit.”

“So is this guy killing random women or did the victims have something in common?” Cayden asked surprising them all.

“Actually, I haven’t thought about it like that.” Cole said thinking he should speak to Rose about that. The sun had just dipped below the horizon and twilight was settling on the deck. For a moment Cole wondered if Rose had locked her doors. He stood up and shoved the chair back. “Listen guys, it’s been great but I’ve got to head back.”

As he walked through the house to the front door he heard his friends teasing him about being whipped, he ignored it; his only concern was Rose’s safety.