Cole

I ran around the entire neighborhood twice, punched the punching bag in the workout room for over half an hour and I’ve taken a cold shower. Yet I still can’t get my shit together. I know Molly’s sitting at some fancy restaurant right now while Hunter, formerly known as Dallas during the sting operation, is wooing her and trying to take away one of my best employees. An employee that my stupid ass willing gave a glowing recommendation for and told him they would be damn lucky to have. I’ve brought every ounce of this torture on myself.

She’s better off with an agency like the DEA; she fucking earned it and then some. Hell, I knew when I hired her that’s what she really wanted, and that Cole Security would likely only be a map dot on her way to her dreams. And I never ever had any intentions of stopping her from chasing those dreams. I still don’t. In fact, I’ll be the first damn one ready to congratulate her when she hands in her resignation. That sure as shit does not mean I have to like it.

Running the towel over my hair one more time, I toss it into the hamper and walk into my bedroom to throw on a pair of shorts. I guess at this point, I’ll order a pizza and down a few beers. Maybe then I’ll at least be able to fucking relax a little.

Forty minutes later, I’m two beers in, when I hear the garage door open and close again a few minutes later. Molly walks into the kitchen entrance with two pizzas in her hand.

“Hi.” She gives me a timid smile. “I sort of, uhm, caught the delivery guy at the pass and paid him off. So, technically, I bought you dinner.”

“You’re a mess, Molly,” I tell her with a smile, relieved that she’s back here with me.

Taking the pizza from her, I head to the kitchen with her trailing behind. Setting the boxes down on the counter, I pull out the paper plates and grab two more beers from the fridge.

I’m anxious to hear what she has to say, as she takes a seat at the counter and I slide over a bottle to her.

“So, uhm. Dinner was interesting.”

“I sure hope you didn’t take the first offer he put on the table.” I give her a wink, recalling how she didn’t even look at the compensation package when I hired her.

“Well, that’s the thing.” She pauses to take a bite of the pepperoni pizza that she’s already pulled from the box. “I didn’t accept anything.”

“Molly,” I groan in frustration.

“Hang on now. I didn’t say I wouldn’t accept anything. Hunter told me I had fourteen days to think about it before he needed a response.”

“You’re going to take it.” It’s not a question. She will be taking this job. “As long as they’re not trying to screw you over. If you want someone to look over their offer, I’ll go through it with you. Molly, this is what I was trying to tell you earlier. I’ll fire you before I let you waste another year stuck with us.”

Tears fill her eyes, and my heart cracks a little more.

“Would being stuck here, really be that bad?” her voice shakes.

Setting down my beer, I circle the counter and pull her to me. “Baby, the last damn thing I want you to do is to take a job that’s going to pull you away from me. But as selfish as I am, there is still no way in hell I’m letting you pass this opportunity up.”

Looking up at me with sad eyes, Molly sighs, “If I take this job, where does that leave us? Are we through?”

“No. Crazy girl. Absolutely not. We’re far from over. I’m not letting you go. Why would you even think that?”

“I’ll have to travel. Not always, and not right away. Hunter warned that there may be times when I may be gone long periods of time. He was undercover for two and a half years this time. That could happen to me, to us.” She chokes back a sob.

“We’ll deal. I’m not going anywhere. Mol, twenty years in the Marines, I never had anyone that wanted to wait for me. Never had anyone I wanted to wait for me either. You’re the game changer, babe.”

“I’m scared. Of all of this. What if I’m not good enough for what they expect of me?” she confesses.

“I know you’re good enough. Shit, you’re more than enough for them.” I tilt her head up again.

A small smile breaks on her face. “Hunter said you gave a glowing recommendation.”

“I did. I told him he’d been damn lucky to have you on his team. And that I’d have his ass if he let anything happen to you or didn’t take care of you,” I tell her as I place a kiss on her forehead. 

She playfully smacks my chest and shakes her head.

“You know, I didn’t even make it to the main course? I heard everything I needed to hear over a glass of wine,” she says as I let her go.

“Eat up then, you’ll need it,” I smirk, and she rolls her eyes.

Later that night, I’m holding Molly in my arms after another round of lovemaking when she looks up at me and sighs. “I think, I’m going to take the job offer.”

“You should. It’s a good move for you.” I’m still not thrilled with the idea of not having her around at work anymore, but this is a great opportunity. One that she shouldn’t turn down.

“If I take it, I’m going to sell my condo. There’s no point in paying someone to maintain it when I travel, and I don’t want to be bothered with renting it out.”

“So, basically you’re saying that you’re moving the rest of your crap over to my place?”

Molly pokes my side. “If the offer still stands.”

Hearing her say she’s selling her place feels like an answered prayer. I’d practically been begging for her to move in with me since we made thing’s official. I can’t resist the urge to tease her though, “Nah. I think I like being a bachelor. Having the place to myself when you’re not around, now that Cody’s moving out.”

“You’re a dick.”

“Molly, I think the only thing you have left at your condo is furniture, baby. Everything else has slowly migrated here.” I tell her while running my fingers up and down her arm.

“I could sell everything, or sell the condo fully furnished. There are only a few pieces I really want to keep.”

“Whatever you want to do.”

“You’re not being very helpful, Cole.”

“Molly,” I yawn.

“Yeah?”

“It’s after midnight. I’m helpful between the hours of six am and ten pm. Go to sleep.”

Molly huffs. “That wasn’t the case last night.”

“No, you’re right. It wasn’t.” Last night, neither of us slept. I had my girl every way I could take her. “I’m happy to help you in that way, anytime. Decision making should be reserved between the previously noted hours.”

“Fine. I’m going to sleep.”

“Night.” I lean down and kiss the top of her head. “Love you, Molly.”

“Yeah, love you too.”

As her eyes drift closed, I watch her sleep – listening to her breath even out as she relaxes against me. This job offer puts a lot of things in perspective now. I was an idiot for putting her in the friend zone for so long. Hell, I’m an idiot for half of the stupid things I did in my past for that matter. If I’ve ever had one regret, right now, it would be the fact that I didn’t take a chance on us sooner. Now, I’ll be loving her from a distance while she chases her dreams.

That only means one thing, we move forward with no regrets. Take full advantage of every moment we have together. Starting with tomorrow.

Untangling myself from her sleeping form, I sneak downstairs to my home office and fire up the computer. That vacation, I’ve been thinking about since the takedown, is happening, now. She said she’s got two weeks to make up her mind about the DEA gig, and they may want her to start right away. I can’t think of a better way to spend that time, than with her – somewhere far away from here.

~*~

Molly

Waking up to a swat on the ass from Cole is not the most romantic way to be pulled from slumber. Lucky for him, he’s armed with a hot cup of coffee to offset my early morning attitude.

“Why are you so damn chipper? And why are there bags packed by the door? Planning on going somewhere?” I ask as I sip on my coffee and watch Cole pace around the room, grabbing random things and tossing them into another bag.

“You and I are going to get out of here for a little while. The first thing you’re going to do is call Hunter though and tell him you’re taking the job. Then, we’ve got a flight to catch,” Cole comes over and kisses my lips before stealing the cup from my hand and taking a drink.

“Give that back,” I pout. “What do you mean we’ve got a flight to catch? What about work?”

“Work can wait. Cody can handle everything while we’re gone. I am stealing you away for a long overdue vacation.”

Whoa. This is new. I don’t think Cole has ever taken a vacation in the four years I’ve worked for him. Usually, I would protest something so last minute, but Cole seems determined and besides that, what have I got to lose? Some time away may be good, for both of us.

“Okay. I guess I need to pack a bag then,” I take the last drink of coffee and set the empty cup on the nightstand before crawling out of bed.

“Already packed,” Cole says as he hands me my cell phone. “Call Hunter, then shower. Tell him to email the paperwork, we can look over it while we’re gone or when we get back. And make sure he knows you’ll need those two weeks to tie up loose ends and give your current employer notice,” he winks before disappearing into his walk-in closet.

“How much coffee have you had this morning? Did you eat chocolate for breakfast?” I laugh at his retreating form while dialing Hunter’s number.

The phone call takes less than ten minutes, he says he’ll send everything over to me and we schedule a start date for orientation, two weeks from now. By the time I hang up, Cole is stripping out of his clothes and heading into the bathroom. I hear the shower turn on and then he pokes his head out to check on me.

“All good?”

“Yep. All set. He’ll email everything by lunchtime and I’ll meet at their offices on November 26^th.”

Cole holds out his hand, “Good. Now, get in here,” he says as I take his hand and he gently pulls me to him. He wastes no time pealing the t-shirt I slept in over my head before carrying me into the shower.  “Our flight leaves in three hours, I think that’s just enough time to make you come at least once before we leave.”

“Hmm, I think I like Vacation Cole already,” I mumble against his lips as he wraps my legs around him and slides into my waiting heat.