Claiming Sarah (Ace Security #5)(35)

“That’s awesome.”

“Yeah.” Her face fell. “But tomorrow I have to tackle the rest of the house. I know there’s a bunch of stuff up in the attic, but it’ll just have to wait. I hadn’t realized exactly how much crap we’d accumulated. I guess that’s not surprising, considering how long we all lived there.”

“Are you okay with this?” Cole asked as they neared the gym.

“Surprisingly, yes. I’m a little sad, I can’t deny it, but I’m also excited to start over, if that makes sense. To purge all the stuff and minimize a little bit. I’ve been in that big house by myself for so long, I think it’ll be nice to have a smaller place that won’t be as hard to keep clean or tidy.”

A sudden vision of him and Sarah standing shoulder to shoulder as they cooked in the kitchen in his apartment came to mind. Right after that, he saw them dancing and fooling around in his living room. And on the heels of that was the carnal mental image of the two of them in his bed, making love among his mussed sheets.

And that thought brought back the memories of the night before . . . when he’d lain there fantasizing about her and jerking off.

“Cole?”

Her voice brought him out of his ruminations. “Yeah, angel?”

“Where were you? You seemed a million miles away,” she observed.

Cole smiled at her. “Just thinking. And yeah, I can imagine that it would be freeing not to have to worry about the upkeep of your house anymore. You’ll always have the memories you made in that house. I love my apartment. It’s got three bedrooms and is plenty roomy. I don’t have to take care of the lawn, and it’s even relatively quiet. I’ve got good neighbors.”

She made a face. “I hadn’t even thought about that. I hope the people who live near that studio are quiet.”

“We can ask later today when we go over there,” he reassured her.

He followed her into the gym, and smiled when she greeted an older woman who was leaving and waved at a toddler on her dad’s hip as they headed for the childcare center. He and Felicity had recently set it up to accommodate parents so they could work out without having to go through the hassle of getting a babysitter.

Cole waited patiently as she went over and said hello to Felicity, who was standing behind the front desk. Sarah had been there only minutes, but he swore the atmosphere in the lobby was already ten times happier because she was spreading her unique brand of niceness.

“Sorry,” she said sheepishly when she got back to him. “Felicity texted me this morning and said she would be here, and that she was looking forward to seeing me again, so I had to go say something. I don’t even know how she got my number.”

“I gave it to her,” Cole told her.

“You did?” Sarah asked as they entered his office.

Cole wanted nothing more than to drag her over to the love seat and ravish her, but he controlled himself. “Yeah. I thought it was important that all the guys and their women have your number.”

“Why?” she asked.

Cole stopped and eyed the door, making sure it was closed. The last thing he wanted was everyone in the waiting area to hear his conversation. He’d learned his lesson after his fuckup with Sarah.

“Because you’re a part of our tribe. I want you to get to know Grace, Bailey, Alexis, and Felicity better. I want you to know bone-deep that you can count on their men to be by your side if you need them, just as you can rely on me to be there.”

“Why?” Sarah whispered again.

“Because I plan on you being around for a very long time. Because they’re important to me, and so are you. Because they’re like my family. Because I heard what you said the other day. If you disappear, we’re going to notice and do something about it.”

She smiled at him. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” They talked a bit more about how their week had gone and what they’d done. Sarah told him some amusing stories about a few of her patients, the things she could share, and Cole recounted tales about the things some of the gym patrons did to try to catch the eye of the opposite sex.

Before they knew it, Felicity was knocking on the door, letting them know that Nathan and Joel had arrived.

“You ready?” Cole asked.

“Yes. Is it wrong that I’m excited about this?”

“Nope,” Cole told her with a smile.

“But I’m also nervous.”

“Perfectly normal,” he reassured her. He held out his hand, and she took hold. “Come on. You can leave your purse here. It’ll be safe, I’ll lock the door.”

She nodded, and they headed for the door.

They went to the same room they’d used during her first lesson, and Cole immediately went and shook Nathan’s hand.

“Thanks for coming,” he told him.

“No problem. Joel was excited to come.”

Cole turned to the little boy. “Hey, Joel. How are you?”

“Good. Do I get to throw you again today?”

Cole laughed. “You think you can?”

Joel’s chest puffed out. “Yes!”

“Think you can help teach my friend Sarah how to do it too?”

Joel turned his gaze to Sarah and eyed her up and down. “She’s kinda small,” he observed.