Page 117 of Silent Threat
He tortured her breasts until her knees trembled, then his hand slid down her belly and his palm covered her sex. His breathing became more ragged, rasping in her ear.
“Annie?”
She tilted her head back so he could read her lips. “Yes.”
His mouth descended on hers at the same time as his fingers slipped inside her.
He ...
He ...
She pulled away from the kiss and bit her lip, hard, because she didn’t think hospital rooms were soundproof enough to handle the sounds she needed to make.
Then she came in a warm rush of tingling sensation, a melting warmth of pleasure and well-being that didn’t want to stop.
Cole kissed her again, and he kept kissing her long after her orgasm had faded.
He shut off the water and dried her while she stood there, stunned and limp. That last part was pretty much the opposite of Cole. But he didn’t push for more. He toweled himself off too—his shoulder dressings miraculously still dry—then he grabbed two clean hospital gowns from the bench next to the shower.
“Let’s go back to bed.” He pressed a kiss to the middle of her forehead.
She was still barely conscious, the only thought in her head:What just happened?
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Eight months later
ANNIE WAS WATCHINGthe llamas in the east paddock while the ponies and Esmeralda chased one another in the west field. Esmeralda had matured, given up butt nipping, and become the ponies’ nanny over the past couple of weeks.
Dorothy lay on her side in the sun, enormous. She was going to have her piglets any day now—the result of a brief affair with another rescue pig that had only stayed for three days.
Annie sat on the deck with a glass of lemonade as Cole rounded the corner of the farmhouse. When he wasn’t working on his business, providing security consulting for places that worked with vets, he was helping out with the animal sanctuary.
Since the sanctuary was growing by the day—they were big enough to take horses now—Annie had withdrawn her request to go full-time at Hope Hill. She had plenty to do right around the house.
“I see nobody’s here yet.” Cole walked over and kissed her breathless.
She floated on a sea of joy and bliss. “Kelly’s running late.”
“Want me to drive around and get your grandfather?” He nibbled her bottom lip.
She ran her fingers through his short, dark hair, which now covered the barbed-wire tattoos on the sides of his head. “Kelly and David have the new bed that tilts up. They have to go there anyway to drop it off. They’ll bring Gramps over.”
Switching houses had been Gramps’s idea. He couldn’t get up the stairs anymore. When Annie finally renovated her little rancher, she updated it with a wheelchair ramp, wide doorways, a handicap shower, and level floors throughout. In exchange, Gramps donated the farmhouse and land to her animal sanctuary, with Kelly’s enthusiastic approval.
Both renovations had been done live, on local TV, with Kelly as the show host. Her business was booming.
Cole pressed one last kiss on Annie’s lips, then looked over at the table, set for six. “What can I do to help?”
His right arm was steadily improving. She’d talked him into going back to acupuncture, and that made a difference, as nothing else had. He saw an old Chinese woman in West Chester. He refused to go to Milo at Hope Hill, and he wouldn’t tell Annie why.
“Fire up the grill.” She hooked her arms around his neck. They had time for one more peck. “So are you going to reveal your secret sauce recipe?”
“Not even under bloody torture.”
“Fine. Then I’m not going to tell you about my secret sauce.”
A low growl escaped his throat as he pulled her onto his lap. “I know all about your secret sauce.” He moved her legs until she straddled him, and then he pulled her against his massive, hard body—as much as her growing belly allowed. “Your secret sauce is mine, all mine. And don’t you forget it. I’m planning a leisurely sampling later.”
