As soon as the plane was up in the air, Cole felt true relief. They’d accomplished what they came to do. He and the team were a monumental step closer to putting Rich away. He’d been working so hard for a major breakthrough like this, that he hadn’t had the chance to consider how incredible it would feel to be closer to this goal. And he couldn’t have done it without Dani.
He looked over at her, still so stunning in that dress, except now she was even more desirable. They were a team tonight and a damn good one. There was just something about their connection that brought out the best in each of them. Could they be a team again? He’d been asking himself that question non-stop since they’d made love at her house. She made him feel so alive. She made him a better version of himself. He couldn’t imagine going back to the way he’d been for the last six years. That version of Cole Sullivan was sleepwalking through life. He couldn’t do that to himself anymore.
“Can I just tell you that the way you handled yourself tonight was so damn sexy?” he asked.
She blushed and smiled. “You know what was really sexy? Having you there to protect me.” She reached down and took his hand in hers, rubbing her thumb along his knuckles. “It made me do and say things I never thought I could.”
The darkened airplane cabin was romantic and even felt private, with the captain up in the cockpit and he and Dani alone in the last row. All Cole could think about was kissing her supple mouth. He moved in, and just like a wish granted, Dani raised her lips to him. They fell into a kiss that was immediately passionate. Maybe it was the thrill of what they’d just been through, but it was clear they were both turned on. Dani dug her fingers into his scalp, and her tongue teased his. Cole tried to get his arms around her, but the stupid armrest was in the way.
“Come here,” he said.
Dani looked at him, her lips full, her mouth slack with surprise. “Come here?”
“Yes. Come and get in my lap. I need you in my arms. I need to kiss you for real.”
A mischievous smile tugged at her lips. “Are you serious?”
Cole groaned. “I have never been more serious in my entire life. Get over here.”
“Okay.” Dani unlatched her seat belt and stood, then sat across his lap and put her arm around his neck.
“I thought I’d died and gone to heaven the other day when I got to take this dress off you,” Cole muttered against the soft skin of her neck. “I just want to do it again.”
“I don’t think you can really take it all the way off me this time,” Dani countered. “If the pilot looks back here, I’d like at least a slight chance of saving my pride.”
Cole unzipped her dress and dragged the straps down her arms. Her breasts were bare to him, her nipples standing at attention in the cool air of the plane. He lowered his lips and drew one into his mouth. Dani responded by moving her bottom in circles against his crotch. She was so sexy it boggled the mind, but knowing that they could get caught added a whole new level of sexiness to this.
Dani dug her fingers into his hair and kissed him deeply, rotating her hips in maddening circles. He planted a hand on her ass and pulled her even closer, wanting no distance between them. The heat was building fast, but they were still wearing too many clothes. “I need to be inside you, Dani.”
She reared back her head, and her eyes popped wide. “What if we get caught?”
“Then we get caught. No jury in the world would convict me if they saw you in this dress.”
“You’re a bad boy, Cole Sullivan.” She eased off his lap, hunching down behind the seats, and reached under her dress, shimmying her panties past her hips and leaving them on the floor.
“Plus, I probably won’t last very long.”
“You’re not exactly selling it.” She cocked an eyebrow at him.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be sure you reach your final destination.” Cole had unbuttoned his pants and tugged them and his boxer briefs past his hips. Perched on the edge of his seat, he reclined back.
Dani lifted her dress to the middle of her thighs and, one at a time, bracketed his hips with her knees. Her breasts were bare to him, her nipples tight and hard, her hair slightly mussed. He wasn’t sure he’d ever seen a hotter sight in all his life.
He took himself in hand and slipped inside Dani’s body. He grappled with the incredible sensation as she sank down onto him, her slick heat molding around him, holding on to him tight. It felt unimaginably good, just as it had the other day. Dammit, he and Dani were just right. Everything today had proven that. It made him want to work that much harder for what had once seemed completely out of reach—a future. With her.
Dani rotated her hips in near-perfect figure-eights. It was enough to make Cole rocket into space, but he had to do better than a teenaged boy. Dani changed her motion, rocking forward and back against him. “I need to see your chest,” she murmured, unbuttoning his shirt. She spread her hands across his skin and then kissed him as the pleasure began coiling tightly in his belly.
“Well, folks, looks like we’ve got a bit of turbulence ahead,” the captain said over the PA.
Dani and Cole both froze. Her chest was heaving, she was breathing so hard.
“Just hold on tight back there and I’ll get you out of this as soon as I can,” the captain said.
Dani giggled, then went back to kissing him, back to moving her hips in those mind-bending rotations. The plane dropped a few feet and they both sucked in a breath, but neither broke the kiss. Right now, even gravity was not a concern.
Dani’s breaths were getting choppy, but Cole could tell she wasn’t quite getting what she wanted. She was fitful in his arms, now kissing his neck and burying her forehead into the seat back behind him. He shifted one of his hands under her dress and, using his thumb, found her center. His other hand was at the small of her back, pushing her against his hand.
“Yes,” Dani gasped. “Right there.”
The plane bounced and pitched. Cole blocked it out. He had Dani in his arms, and that was all that mattered right now. He hadn’t felt so aligned with her in a long time, between their amazing teamwork at the party tonight and now, handing their fate over to gravity and turbulence and Mother Nature. As ecstasy flamed in his belly and Dani muttered in his ear for more, he was hit again by the realization this was the way things should be. As crazy and dangerous as ever, he and Dani should always be like this. Together.
Dani muffled her voice in Cole’s shoulder when she reached her peak, and he pulled her tight against his chest as the pleasure charged through him.
She settled her head against his chest. “Tonight meant a lot to me, Cole. That you were proud of me.”
That struck him as a bit amazing. Most of the time, Dani seemed like she didn’t need anyone’s approval. “It did?”
She slowly raised her head and nodded. Her eyes were misty.
“You okay, Dani?” He reached up and cupped her cheek.
She turned into his touch immediately, pressing her lips to the inside of his hand. “I am. I just didn’t want to let it go unsaid.”
He pulled her close again, kissing the top of her head while her words cycled through his head. Leaving things gone unsaid had torn them apart. He simply hadn’t been able to utter the words. He hadn’t had the courage to say that he was a man with a ticking time bomb in his head. That was only one big secret between them now, though. Cameron and Colin had to be his. His gut was telling him they were. All of this needed to come to light. All of it. And with the sting behind them, that was the most pressing issue he and Dani faced. Once that dirty laundry was aired, would they still be okay? And what did “okay” even entail? His glioma was never going away. That much would never, ever change.
A still quiet Dani carefully climbed off Cole’s lap and sat down in her seat, replacing the straps of her dress and turning so Cole could help her zip up the back. She smoothed her hair while peering over the tops of the seats in front of them.
“You don’t think he heard us, do you?”
Cole shrugged. “Not much we can do about it now.” He’d gotten his pants sorted out by that point. Now to finish buttoning his shirt.
Dani leaned across the armrest and gave him a kiss. “Never a dull moment with you, is there?”
“You know me. Total adrenaline junkie.”
“I’d better sneak into the bathroom and tidy up. God only knows how bad my makeup looks right now.” She bent down and plucked her panties from the floor. “Yikes. Can’t forget these.” She scooted past him.
Cole’s mind started making plans as soon as Dani was gone. Would she be up for coming out to the ranch with him tonight? Or would she invite him over to her house? He couldn’t stand the thought of putting off his admission or his questions about the boys any longer. It had to happen tonight. He decided he would ask her as soon as they were back in his truck and leaving the airfield.
Dani returned and Cole took his chance to use the restroom and put his clothes back together in a way that made it look at least slightly less obvious that he and Dani had just had sex on the plane. As he strolled back down the aisle, he was struck by a sharp pain at his temple. He grabbed the seat back and clamped his eyes shut. He couldn’t see past the pain. It was like a thunderbolt of white, like someone was shining a searchlight square in his eyes.
“Cole. Are you okay?” Dani asked.
His eyes were still shut. The instant he tried to open them, he regretted it. The flash of agony that ripped through his head was unlike anything he’d ever experienced. And he’d been through a lot of pain in his life. The plane was dipping and pitching again. He found it hard to stand up straight. Somewhere he could hear Dani’s voice, but it was coming in and out, like someone was turning the dial on a radio.
He could feel her touch, though, her insistent hands on his biceps pulling him down. The next thing he knew he was sitting.
“Cole Sullivan, talk to me right now or I will never speak to you again.”
There was her voice. He heard it clear as a whistle now. It made him smile, but only slightly. Just moving his lips made his head hurt more.
“Headache,” he managed to say. “Bad headache.”
“Like a migraine?”
Cole nodded. He’d never had a migraine before, but his mother suffered from them and he knew that they often involved extreme reactions to light and they could came on very suddenly. He hoped to hell a migraine was all it was.
“What can I do?”
He shook his head as slightly as possible. What could she do? Nothing right now. “Hold my hand.”
She wrapped her fingers around his. That prompted another smile from him, one that hurt less than the last one. Maybe this wasn’t a big deal. He really hoped that was the case.
“Cole, you’re worrying me.”
“I’ll be fine.” His words were raspy and dry. He almost didn’t recognize his own voice.
“We’re supposed to land in ten minutes. We can take you straight to the hospital.”
Cole shook his head. He didn’t even care how much it hurt. He did not want to go there. Bad things happened there. Bad news. Life-altering news. He couldn’t live with that. Not when he had a chance to have Dani again.
* * *
Aside from the time the boys got strep throat, Dani had never been so worried in her whole life. She held on to Cole’s hand, studying every movement of his face since he wasn’t saying much. His eyes were closed, but the muscles of his forehead and around his eyes twitched from time to time. He was in immense pain. She could see the way he flinched from nothing at all.
“Folks, we’re making our final approach into Royal,” the captain said.
As the nose of the plane dipped down, Dani wrapped her other hand around Cole’s, not wanting to let go. Worry was consuming her. Cole was tough as nails. Almost too tough. He did not like for people to see him in a compromised state—he saw it as weakness. Dani only saw how human he was. Which meant whatever was going on right now was bad. How could she go from the high of the sting to the slow burn of making love on the plane to being worried sick about Cole? It was a miracle she could manage a single coherent thought right now.
Luckily, the landing was smooth as silk. Dani didn’t want anything jostling Cole too much. “You stay right here. I’ll go get the car and bring it around. Then I’ll get the pilot to help me get you off this plane.”
Cole shook his head and opened one eye. “I’m fine.”
“You are not fine. Keep your butt in this seat and I’ll be right back.”
As if Dani needed confirmation that Cole was indeed hurting badly, he nodded and slumped back in the chair. He almost never listened to her. Again, the worry ate at her. What in the world was going on?
She got the pilot up to speed and he sat with Cole while Dani ran—in heels and her mermaid dress, no less—to get Cole’s car. Thank goodness they’d been able to fly in a private plane in and out of Royal. She never would’ve been able to get him through the airport terminal in Houston. She would’ve needed a wheelchair, and if she knew one thing about Cole, it was that he would not put up with that. The amount of negotiating she and the head nurse at Royal Memorial had had to do after his big accident six years ago was ridiculous. Cole was as stubborn as a mule.
She tore up the stairs to the plane. Cole was in the same spot, but his eyes were open and he was talking to the pilot. Dani had to wonder if he was actually feeling better or if he was just putting on a show because there was another man present.
“How are we doing?” she asked.
“Better,” Cole replied, getting out of his seat a bit more easily than he’d been moving before she’d gone to get the car.
“Well, good. Thank you,” she said to the pilot. “I really appreciate your help.”
“No problem.”
Dani took Cole’s hand and they walked off the plane, Dani going first down the stairs. She got him into the passenger seat, but he was already grumbling. He really was the worst patient.
“You know, most people say they have a headache before sex, not after,” she said when she got into the driver’s seat.
Cole clicked his seat belt. “Very funny. You know I would never turn down sex. Not even right now.”
Dani started his truck and put it into gear. “Somehow I doubt that.” She pulled past the security gate. “I know the hospital isn’t your favorite place, and I know you already said you don’t want to go, but I really think I should take you.”
“I really don’t want to go tonight. I’m sure it’s nothing. Probably just the stress of the sting. I can go see the doctor in the morning if I’m still in pain.”
“Well, I don’t feel comfortable with the idea of you being alone tonight. And I’d rather not stay out at the ranch. I don’t like being away when the boys get up in the morning, and we’ll be closer to the hospital at my house.”
“Are you inviting me to sleep over?”
“Yes. But there will be no sex. Just resting. And if you aren’t feeling completely better in the morning, I’m taking you to the doctor.”
“But—”
Dani held up a finger. “No buts. My rules.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And who’s your doctor? I need to know who to call.”
“Dr. Lee. Royal Memorial,” he muttered.
“Good.”
The drive to her place was thankfully short, especially this late. It was nearly 2:00 a.m. by the time they got to the house. Between the adrenaline rush of the sting and sex on an airplane, Dani was exhausted, but she managed to help Cole upstairs to her room.
“We need to get you out of that suit,” she said.
He grinned, but she could see a wince around his eyes. He was still in a lot of pain.
“Get your mind out of the gutter. You’re going straight to bed. To sleep.”
With some rambling commentary from him about how she was being a stick in the mud, Dani was able to help him take his pants and shirt off and got him into bed.
She sat on the edge of the mattress right next to him. It was impossible to not think about the last time she’d taken care of Cole, in the weeks after the accident. She’d always worried so much about his job, and then the near worst had happened. At least she hadn’t lost him, she’d told herself over and over again. That would’ve been an unbearable loss. He was her everything then—her sun and moon, the reason for getting out of bed in the morning. Her career was important to her and she loved to cook, but that didn’t take up space in her heart the way Cole did.
When someone you cared about that much had a brush with death, it made you realize exactly how much you loved them. Honestly, it scared her at first, walking into that hospital and understanding exactly how much was on the line. It was overwhelming—creating a burning pit in her belly, making her feel cold and helpless at the same time.
One of the worst parts was the scene that unfolded in the waiting room while he underwent surgery. Cole’s family had been there, and his mother got downright territorial about it, trying to send Dani home. “We only need family here right now,” she’d said. Dani would’ve been hurt if she wasn’t so damn mad about that. His parents had never approved of her, the kid from the wrong side of the tracks, no impressive family lineage to back her up. “We can call you when he wakes up,” she’d said. Dani’s only response to that had been to grit her teeth and politely reply, “I love your son, Mrs. Sullivan. So, no, I will not be going home.”
Dani had loved Cole deeply before that day, but it was a young love built on invincibility. She’d worried about his job, but the reality of her worst nightmare was almost more than she could bear. She threw herself into his recovery, doting on him, making sure he had everything he needed. And, impossibly, her love for him only grew. It reached depths she had never imagined. It was impossible during those moments not to think about the what-ifs. What if he’d been paralyzed? What if he’d been burned? Or even worse, What if he hadn’t made it out alive? Thoughts like that made her cry her eyes out when she was alone. She was so thankful. He was so lucky. They were incredibly fortunate to have each other and to have found each other. She had to hold on to Cole’s love forever. She’d never, ever known a love like the one she had with Cole at that time. Not even close.
Which made the breakup not only more crushing, it had made it impossible to believe. Of course you wouldn’t break up with the person who had just nursed you back to health and shown you unconditional love in the face of dire circumstances, ones you were facing because you had refused to do the one thing your loved one had begged you to do—quit your job. Who would do that? Who would take that kind of love and devotion and throw it away?
Cole Sullivan, that was who. And she was still desperate for the answer to one question—why?
He settled back in bed and closed his eyes. “Thank you,” he said. “I think I just need to get some sleep. I’m sure I’ll be feeling much better in the morning.”
Dani snugged the covers up around his shoulders, even when it denied her one of her favorite views—his glorious chest. “I’m sure you will be, too.” She then did the one thing she probably shouldn’t have—she leaned forward and placed a single, tender kiss on his temple. Tears misted her eyes the instant she did it. She couldn’t deny what was in her heart now. She loved Cole just as much as she’d ever loved him. Possibly more. She’d spent every day of the last six years caring for the most beautiful extension of him—his two sons. It was a perpetual reminder of how much good there was in him, despite the things he’d done to hurt her.
But that realization also sent the guilt crushing down. If Cole had done the unimaginable when he’d ended their relationship, Dani had done something far worse. She’d kept his own children from him. She’d had every good reason in the world when they were thousands of miles away from each other, but now that they were in the same place again, she couldn’t help but feel sick about it. Even when she’d given him a second chance and sent him that letter right before the boys were born. No, he hadn’t replied, but she also hadn’t told him what was really going on.
Cole’s breaths grew more even, and Dani got up to change her clothes and wash her face. Looking into the bathroom mirror, she had to wonder what was going to become of her. Was Cole just enjoying their undeniable physical attraction? Or was he serious about her? Did he want a second chance? She didn’t want to admit to herself just how badly she wanted it. Right now, it felt like she might not be able to live through it if the answer was no. But she’d told herself that she would never again put that much stock in Cole, and here she was, pinning a bunch of hope on what he wanted. What about what she wanted? Didn’t that count just as much?
What do you want? Dani could hear the question crystal clear in her head, but the answer wasn’t quite so quick to come. It was complicated. The minute she’d become a mother, the boys became an inextricable part of this equation. What they wanted and needed was equally important, possibly more so. She wanted stability for them. She wanted a good life where they could count on everything and everyone around them. She wanted green grass, clean air and laughter in the backyard, giggles at the dinner table, and bedtime stories that went on too long. Just one more, Mommy. And after the boys gave in to sleep each night, she wanted someone to talk it all over with. She wanted a partner, someone to share all this good she’d managed to build. She wanted everything she’d thought was possible before Cole ended it with her.
She flipped off the bathroom light and leaned against the door frame, watching Cole sleep in the soft glow of the lamp on her side of the bed. What in the world had happened on that day nearly six years ago? What had gone through that head of his that made him want to throw away what they had? Her gut was telling her that he’d left out some key piece of information. He was hiding something from her. If they had any chance of moving forward, he was going to have to come clean. Yes, she had her own secrets to confess, but he’d set them on this path. And there was no going back.
She walked around to the far side of the room and turned off the light, climbing into bed. She didn’t want to disturb his sleep, but she wanted to be close to him. She couldn’t help it. She scooted closer, wrapping her hand around his arm and stretching out beside him. Closing her eyes, she drew in his smell—warm cedar and soap. She knew she had to get some sleep. She and Cole had a lot to talk about in the morning. She couldn’t endure another day of not knowing what he wanted from her. And that was going to involve her own confession, one that had been waiting too long.