No Place Like Home: The Coming Home Series, Book 1 Read online

  “You’re not? But Daddy said you might and then we could have pancakes for breakfast.” Addyson’s face lit with joy and she didn’t know what to say.

  Charlie looked toward Cole for a little help. The back of his head greeted her as he put in the DVD and got it started. “Cole?”

  “Uh huh?”

  “Don’t you uh huh me.”

  His shoulders shook with silent laughter as he walked over and plopped down on the other end of the couch. His arm automatically went to the back of the furniture and the space between them disappeared as he touched her shoulder. “Just thought you might like to stay. It’s going to be late when the movie’s done.”

  “Do you want to stay?” Addyson asked with those bright blue eyes.

  “Yes, do you want to stay?” Cole parroted and gently pulled on a piece of her hair as he got into the menu of the Blu-Ray to skip all the previews and warnings.

  “Maybe.” That’s all she could come up with as the warmth of Cole and his daughter sank inside her.

  Cole stared at her.

  “Good,” father and daughter answered together.

  “Ooh, ooh, ooh!! It’s starting!” Addyson focused on the TV, already lost in the magical world of Dorothy and her dream beyond the rainbow.

  * * * * *

  “Your voice, it’s actually not half bad, Agent Johnson.” She half whispered it to cover her nervousness as Cole walked back in the living room. “Did she stay asleep?”

  “Out like a light. Not surprising after all that bouncing and general rowdiness you just got to experience firsthand. Who knew The Wizard of Oz could be so full contact.”

  He turned off the main light in the kitchen, leaving on just the light above the stove. It gave them enough illumination to see by, but it was now more intimate. Probably had something to do with the fact they were completely alone.

  Not knowing exactly what was going to happen, Charlie decided to stay lying on the couch and leave it up to him.

  “You’re amazing, you know that?” He moved toward her and her heart sped up.

  She flipped her hair over her shoulder. “I could give Judy Garland a run for her money.”

  “Or even Glenda. You’d look wicked hot in that big-ass pink dress.”

  She expected him to jump her, take her down onto the floor and get right to it, but that couldn’t have been further from reality. Like a bulldozer he pushed between her and the back of the couch and then tucked her body into his in front of him.

  Smelling her hair, he sighed into it and held her close with her back to his chest.

  Knowing it was their last night together, for who knew how long, Charlie didn’t want to waste a moment of it, so she turned in the circle of his arms and snuggled up to him face to face…err…face to chest. “Your daughter is amazing, and so are you.” She looked up at him. “Would you tell me what happened? How you came to adopt her?”

  It didn’t take him long to start, as if he’d already been thinking about what he wanted to say. “I worked a huge trafficking case three years ago. Massive sting operation. Took months to put together. Most of it’s still classified because several people are still awaiting trial, but long story short, things went bad at the end. Several people died, including Addyson’s mother.”

  Wrapping her arms tighter around him, she offered what support she could for what had to be a horrible ordeal. “Her father?”

  “No known information. Not listed on her birth certificate. And it could have been anyone. The women we were trying to save were being used to breed kids. For sale.”

  Charlie sucked in a breath and swallowed bile. “That’s…”

  “Yeah. I’ll spare you the details.” He was quiet for a few minutes, lost somewhere in the past.

  “And Addyson?”

  “Her mother hid her in a closet when the assholes came through wiping people out. They got wind of the sting and started trying to eliminate evidence. We found Addyson in the closet once we’d taken down the shitheads that killed her mother.”

  “Was she okay?”

  He nodded against the top of her head. “Mostly. Cold. Hungry. Dirty. Lethargic. But otherwise unharmed.” His fingers rubbed up and down her spine as he continued. “I’m the one that found her. I opened the closet door and there she was, staring at me. This little one-year-old who’d obviously been crying. And those eyes.” He shook his head. “She was already mine from that moment on. The rest was just paperwork.”

  “Is that typical? An agent adopting a child they found during a case?”

  “Oh Lordy, no. When I told my boss I wanted to adopt her, you’d have thought I’d told him I wanted to learn how to walk on water. But her going into the system since she was legally born in the U.S. with no known relatives to take her, that wasn’t going to happen. I had a few friends pull some strings to keep her out of the system until I could figure out what the hell I needed to do.” He shrugged and Charlie rubbed her cheek on his chest. “So I took an Internet crash course on adoption and was approved to be a foster parent within a week.

  “They granted custodial guardianship a day later. My mom being retired three streets over and able to watch her for me whenever I needed her to was amazing and definitely worked in my favor.”

  “You being generally wonderful and a more than upstanding citizen probably didn’t hurt either.”

  His grin tugged at her heartstrings and he continued to touch her face and caress her. “That probably didn’t hurt my chances.”

  “I know enough about the adoption process to know that it can be costly and time consuming. Is the adoption official already?”

  “A year ago last March. It took longer than a normal adoption but mostly because of the case and legalities of how she came to be. I don’t think I really took a full deep breath until the judge told me she was really mine. Free and clear. No one can ever take her from me now. Epic.”

  Charlie moved up a tiny bit to kiss his lush mouth. “I know we really just met and all that, but I’m so very proud of you. I hope that doesn’t come across sounding trite. It’s the best I’ve got for telling you how floored I am by who you are.”

  “And I’m hot,” he added with a cocky grin and lift of his eyebrows. Somehow he couldn’t take a compliment any easier than she could.

  Charlie laid her head back down on his arm and laughed. “Humble too.”

  “Meh. Two outta three’s not bad.”

  “So…” She trailed off, not exactly knowing where to go next.

  “So… You can’t stop there. There’s a rule somewhere that states you have to finish that thought.”

  “What now? What else are you looking for?”

  “I want it all, just like everybody else, I guess. Wife, dog, more kids. Two or three, not that two point five stuff though. That half a kid gives me the creeps.”

  “Naturally.”

  “But I can’t leave. Can’t move, I mean. It would be a logistical nightmare because of Addyson, and my mom, not to mention the bureau. But this is also home.” He shrugged, not having anything else to add she didn’t think.

  “Well.” She sighed dramatically. “We aren’t meant to be then.”

  He stiffened and got up on his bottom elbow to stare down at her. She grinned, unable to keep a straight face.

  “And why is this, oh keeper of all things Oz-like?”

  “The dog. I’m allergic to dogs.”

  “Ahh.” He rolled her over onto her back and knelt between her legs. He pulled her shorts and panties down her legs and tossed them next to the couch. Moving her legs wide, he settled with his head between her legs and nibbled at her thighs. “Then you’re in luck.”

  “Why is this?” She sucked in a breath as he circled her clit with his tongue.

  “That’s the only point that’s negotiable. I’m actually a cat person myself, with a penchant
for Harry Potter. Oh, you might want to grab that throw pillow behind you.”

  “Wh-h-why?” stuttered out of her as he filled her with one finger and then two.

  “Because I’m going to make you come and if I remember correctly, you can get kind of loud.”

  “For you.” She tugged the pillow free and set it on her forehead as she panted, already close to coming. “Only for you.”

  “Best. Reason. Ever.”

  He set to work at a pace she couldn’t fight, nor did she want to. Her legs shook and her heart beat against her breastbone. Her hips pulsed in time with every lick of his tongue along her clit.

  “I fucking love the leg you have on my back. You pulling me closer to your pussy, the closer you get. So fucking hot.”

  “I’m gonna come.”

  “Yes. You. Are.” He punctuated each word with a lick and a swirl around her clit, and then he opened his eyes and pegged her with a gaze so full of lust and need she exploded.

  The pillow absorbed most of the sound but not all of it.

  Not all of it because Cole held her down. One hand wrapped around her and the second still inside her, with his mouth fastened onto her clit. He wouldn’t let up and Cole knew exactly what to do to keep her coming.

  Several times she tried to scoot away but he wouldn’t let her.

  He finally stopped when she was arched off the arm of the couch but he yanked her back down until she was flat on her back. “Need. You.”

  Pulling a condom from beneath the waistband of his shorts, he was naked, sheathed and thrusting into her faster than she could remember her own name.

  Face to face, heartbeat to heartbeat, sex to sex.

  No words were needed.

  “I’ve waited my whole life for you.”

  Damn.

  Apparently a few words were needed and she just didn’t know until he spoke them.

  He thrust inside her, moving harder and stronger on each push of his hips. His jaw tight, his shoulders tense and her lower legs wrapped over his thighs.

  “Let me see your fingers on one hand.” She held it up and he licked her middle three fingers, then placed them between their bodies on her clit. “Play with that pretty clit for me. Make yourself come on my cock. I want to feel it before I come.”

  Her fingers obeyed before he added the last sentence.

  But what was strange was that she agreed. Completely. She had to come for him. The need overshadowed everything else. Every ounce of self-doubt and fear of the unknown just flew away.

  Cole’s saliva on her clit ramped up her need so fast her pussy squeezed down once really hard, signaling her imminent release.

  “That’s my girl. Give it to me. I’m going to come with you. Go faster. Make yourself come, Charlie. Come with me.”

  The next hard thrust filled her past the point of comfort and the tiny bit of pain sent her over the edge. He grunted above her. His guttural response to taking her fired her blood as no other ever had.

  She started to scream but he was there. His mouth came down on hers and he took her cry and swallowed it. Over and over again he moved inside her. Fucking her. Getting her off, making love to her.

  Love…

  So perfect.

  It went on and on, sensation upon sensation running through her body as they came together.

  “Perfect,” Cole echoed and she wondered if she’d said it out loud or if they were that well synced, as if they were two peas in the same pod. They may have dozed for just a few minutes, still intimately linked.

  At one point Cole relaxed on top of her and she jolted awake with a smile on her lips. He pulled out of her and kissed her one more time.

  Gathering their clothes, he handed them to her and then scooped her naked up off the couch.

  He carried her upstairs as she clutched their clothes and lay against his chest. They got into bed after he dumped the condom and cleaned them both up. He pulled her close and she sighed in contentment. She had no intention of staying, even when Addyson suggested it earlier, but again, with them everything just felt right.

  “Fuck.”

  She’d almost been asleep and jerked awake. She hoped she fooled him, knowing fully well she didn’t at all. “What?”

  “I asked you how many orgasms you wanted before I fucked you and then I forgot to get the answer. You distract me more than any creature alive. What was going to be your answer?”

  “Two, which technically you did.”

  “No I didn’t. You came on my cock the second time.”

  “Mmm. Yes I did.”

  “Technically I owe you one. Get comfy and get some sleep. Before we do pancakes tomorrow I’ll make you come one more time.”

  Her giggle broke free even with her trying to squash it.

  “Do you know how much I love it when you giggle after you come?”

  “Heeeeheheheheheehhheeeee!” Broke free again and she rolled onto her stomach to laugh into a pillow.

  “Fuck. Love.”

  She giggled a few more seconds and then finally relaxed. Love. She liked that word from his lips but didn’t state anything about it. She wasn’t ready to own it yet so she kept it to herself.

  “My alarm is set so we’ll get up in plenty of time to do breakfast.” He yawned and pulled her a tiny bit closer. “Then we can make sure and get you loaded up in time to make your one o’clock flight.”

  Charlie paused, then got up on her elbows. “I didn’t tell you when my flight was.”

  He opened an eye and then pulled her close again with a slight smile of mischief. “I might possibly be part of the FBI and I might possibly have found your flight info. I kind of wanted to take care of you and make sure I didn’t make you late for anything.”

  She relaxed into him and sleep found her almost instantly.

  “Night, love,” she was pretty sure he whispered to her at some point. But it could have been a dream.

  * * * * *

  She didn’t wake up until his alarm cut on. And they were almost physically stuck together. For someone that hadn’t really slept with a man all night, she was surprisingly okay with it. Slept like a baby.

  They woke up and took a shower together.

  Making love, in his arms, against the shower wall, blew her mind. She came with a soundless scream as he filled her again and again.

  He’d remembered a condom before they got in the shower.

  Thankfully. That’s what she’d meant to think.

  Thankfully he remembered a condom.

  But…she wanted to tell him to forget it. Needing to know what it felt like, to be bare with him, was a need so strong she almost threw being responsible out the window.

  They had just enough time to lay in bed for a few minutes before Cole had to get Addyson up and dressed to go to pre-school. Their school year wasn’t up for another week and a half.

  While he got Addyson ready, Charlie found everything she needed for a pancake breakfast. Plus she made some scrambled eggs and added the extra fruit from the night before.

  Her feelings twinged each time she thought about pining for him in high school. He didn’t even remember her. But he knew the improved version of her and wanted her. Feelings of thankfulness bubbled inside her. They chatted about things and people she never thought she’d be a part of again. The conversation was easy and wonderful and they completely ignored the pink elephant in the room.

  She was leaving.

  And when they each pulled out of the driveway neither of them said good-bye. It was see you soon and take care of yourself until next time.

  It wasn’t final or sad. It wasn’t.

  But loneliness settled inside her as she got on the highway leading to Kia’s. She needed to drop off the dishes she’d borrowed and pick up her suitcases. Head to the airport.

  She’d probably never b
een so thankful for being ridiculously busy the last day of a trip. She hadn’t properly mentally prepared herself that she was going to have to leave him.

  Less than two miles from Kia’s, she finally owned it.

  She loved him.

  And what good did that do her thirteen hundred and sixty-nine miles away? It’s not as if she could just up and move back to Buffalo with no job or place to live. Job openings were scarce and without having applied for positions back in the fall, the probability of her getting her foot in the door when most jobs had been filled months ago was slim to not gonna happen.

  The plane rides back to Dallas would give her plenty of time to think about it. And too much time to miss Cole and his mini-Dorothy.

  Chapter Seven

  Six Weeks Later

  “Yes, Kia. I love him, and his daughter if I’m being honest with myself. Which I’m totally not.” Charlie grabbed her mail out of the box and juggled the phone so she didn’t drop it. “Sheesh there’s a lot of mail for a Saturday. Don’t they ever take summer vacation?”

  Her best friend didn’t take the hint she wanted to change subjects. “Have you told him?”

  “What? About too much mail?” A grin lightened her mood as she took the elevator upstairs.

  “Don’t try getting rid of me, missy. Have you told him?” Kia asked again.

  “No. I haven’t.”

  “You guys talk every day.”

  Sometimes several times a day but I’m not owning that one either.

  “Yes, we do. And Skype when we can, too. His voice is wonderful but face to face is better.”

  “And you laugh with him.”

  “All the time. His sense of humor is awesome.”

  “And you cry with him?”

  Opening the door to her apartment and juggling the mail were her excuses for not answering.

  Apparently not answering was answer enough because Kia continued as if she’d admitted to it one hundred percent. “Then it will happen when it’s supposed to, honey. Things like this, when they’re meant to be, find a way of working out.”

  Exasperation and aching need bubbled out. “But I don’t want to wait. I don’t want to be patient. I want the time for us to be together to be now.”