Claiming Sarah (Ace Security #5)(39)

Cole reached out and put his hand on her nape, and she thought for sure he was going to kiss her, but instead he just stood there. His thumb brushed against the side of her neck, sending goose bumps up and down her arms. “I can guarantee you’re going to see me more often,” he finally said. “Ready for dinner?”

Sarah blinked. His change in topic was abrupt and somewhat disappointing after everything they’d just said. “Yeah.”

He must’ve read the confusion in her gaze, because his jaw ticked twice more before he said, “There’s nothing I want more than to boost your ass up on the counter behind us and show you exactly how much your words meant to me. But you don’t kiss until after the third date, and the sooner I can feed you, the sooner our third date will be over, and the sooner I can finally have your mouth under mine.”

“Then, by all means, let’s go,” Sarah told him.

Shaking his head, Cole let go of her neck and twined his fingers with hers. “I’ll have Logan talk to the manager here about the apartment.”

“If someone needs it more than me, I don’t want to cheat to get it,” Sarah said.

Without stopping, Cole reassured her by saying, “The last I heard, there were only two others on the list for this apartment. One’s a college kid whose parents have an address here in town, but I’m assuming they have other plans for his bedroom or something. The other’s a woman who let it slip to the manager when she was filling out her application that she needed a secure place to set up her boyfriend so her husband wouldn’t find out about them.”

“Seriously?”

“Yup.”

“You swear there isn’t an abused girl or guy who needs to live here to be safe?”

He stopped at that and wrapped his arms around her. Sarah reveled in how good it felt to be held by him. She rested her cheek on his shoulder and simply held on, just as he did with her.

“Sarah . . . you’re the abused girl who needs to live here to be safe,” he said simply.

She wanted to argue. She wasn’t abused . . . not really. But she kept her mouth shut. She couldn’t deny that she would feel one hundred times safer living here than in the big old house she’d grown up in. She loved Mike and Jackson, but Cole was right. She had the memories of them in her head. She didn’t need their house to remember how much she loved them and how much they’d loved her.

“Come on,” he urged, pulling away. “I need to feed you.”

Smiling, Sarah happily let him lead her out of the apartment and into the hall. She watched as he carefully shut the door and made sure it was locked, before putting his hand on the small of her back and steering her toward the elevators.

Her life was changing faster than she’d ever imagined it would, but she couldn’t say she was unhappy about it.





Chapter Nine

It turned out Sarah didn’t get to kiss Cole that night. Or the next one. Or the next. He’d gotten a call from one of his employees that a fight had broken out inside the gym between two of the patrons, and he’d had to go talk with the cops.

Sarah had gone home, and had texted Cole when she’d arrived. Between her work schedule and his, they hadn’t been able to get together for the next week either. But their phone calls and texts continued.

Even though they hadn’t been on their third official date or kissed, Sarah had never felt closer to someone in her entire life. They talked on the phone whenever possible, and he was always there, supporting her, when she had second thoughts about selling her house.

The Realtor had said she thought the house would sell fast, and that she’d make quite a profit, but even though Sarah was excited about moving to Castle Rock and being closer to both work and Cole, it was still a hard decision she frequently struggled with.

That evening after work, she’d been restless and decided to work on packing up the rest of Jackson’s office. She had to get the remaining knickknacks and personal items packed up so the house could be shown and pictures could be taken.

It wasn’t until she was halfway done with the job that she realized she couldn’t find several books her dad had loved to read. At that point, she was frustrated, exhausted, and missing Jackson and Mike desperately. She felt so defeated, filled with the biggest urge yet to just scrap the entire plan to move.

Without a second thought for the time, she reached for her phone and dialed Cole.

“What’s wrong?”

“I can’t do it. I can’t move!”

He must’ve heard the note of panic in her voice, because he immediately gentled his tone. “Take a deep breath, angel. Good. Now tell me what’s wrong.”

“I can’t find some of the books Jackson liked to read. I must’ve given them away the last time I went through the office and brought a load to Goodwill! What if I gave away something else important?”

“How long have you been packing tonight?”

“Since I got home.”

“Sarah, it’s twelve thirty. You’ve been at it for at least five hours.”

“Holy shit . . . I had no idea. Oh! Cole, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up!”

“You don’t ever have to worry about that,” he said firmly. “If you want to talk to me, I want you to call no matter what time it is or what you think I’m doing. I will always choose talking to you over sleeping, or working, or anything else. Got it?”