He stood and held out a hand to her. “Walk me to my car?” he asked as he stood.
She raised a brow and got up to stand next to him. “Really?”
“Yes.”
“But you don’t like me walking anywhere by myself. So if I walk you out, you’ll have to escort me right back up here. We’ll end up walking in circles all night.” She heard her parents chuckle behind her, but Cole merely smiled.
“He wants some time with you without your parents watching and listening,” her dad said behind her. “Just go with it.”
Avery turned to look at her dad, only to find her mom giving her a shooing motion with her hand.
“Oh, all right then,” Avery said, feeling foolish she hadn’t caught on to Cole’s intentions. “I’ll be right back,” she told her parents.
“Take your time, dear,” her mom said.
“It was good to meet you, Cole,” her dad said, standing and holding out a hand.
Cole shook it. “Same.”
“Take care of our baby girl, yeah?”
“Dad,” Avery complained.
But Cole simply squeezed her hand when he said, “Of course. I’ll do my best to make sure nothing happens to her on my watch.”
They nodded at each other, then Cole was pulling her toward her door. They walked down the three flights of stairs to the parking lot. It was getting dark, and Avery shivered a little as she tried to look around to see if anyone was lurking about.
Cole pulled her to his car and turned her so her back was to the driver’s-side door. Without a word, he leaned into her and his head dropped.
Eagerly, Avery met him halfway and sighed in relief as he made love to her mouth. All night, he’d been touching her. His fingertips brushing against the back of her neck. Holding her hand. Pulling her legs so they were over his lap on the couch. It had been driving her crazy, and the touch of his lips to hers was like finally putting a match to a puddle of gasoline.
Her nipples peaked under her shirt, and she pressed herself as close to Cole as she could get. Her hands pulled up his T-shirt, and she flattened her palms onto the warm skin of his sides as they made out.
She had no idea how much time had passed, but when Cole eventually pulled away, she realized that she was digging her fingers into his skin and making little moaning noises in the back of her throat.
Embarrassed at how needy she’d acted, Avery knew she was blushing. Hopefully the evening light would hide it from him.
Of course, she had no such luck.
He ran a fingertip across her cheek and smiled. “I love how you can be so eager and passionate, and yet still shy at the same time.”
“It’s you,” Avery told him. “I’m not normally like this. I’m the awkward girl who makes a guy wait until at least the fourth date before doing more than a few light kisses.”
“I have no objections,” Cole told her, leaning down and nuzzling the skin under her ear.
His beard brushed against the sensitive skin of her neck, and she shivered.
Of course he didn’t miss it. “You like the feel of my beard?” he asked.
Avery nodded.
“You’re gonna love it against other, more sensitive parts of your body,” he said.
Avery shivered again at the thought. She hadn’t really thought past the fact that kissing a man with a mustache and beard felt so foreign. But now, she couldn’t think of anything other than how the soft, silky strands would feel against her breasts. Between her legs as he went down on her. She shifted against him, more turned on than she could remember being in a long time.
“Shit, sorry, I shouldn’t have gone there,” Cole said. “Now I’m not going to be able to think about anything else. Especially after watching your reaction to thinking about it.”
Avery turned her head and buried her face in the side of his neck. Neither said anything for a long moment. Cole’s hands rubbed up and down her back rhythmically, soothing her and helping her rein in her lust.
“I had a good time tonight. Thank you for inviting me and letting me hang out with you and your parents.”
“Of course,” Avery told him, pulling back. “I’m glad you came.”
“Your parents are a hoot. Very cool.”
“Except when they were trying to embarrass me.”
“Naw, they’re proud of you. You guys are all cute together. I can’t wait to meet your sister. I bet she’s just as awesome as you are.”
“She is. What are you doing tomorrow?” Avery asked, changing the subject.
“Working out in the morning with the guys on the beach at Gumby’s house. Phantom’s going to watch and bully us to run faster and do more sit-ups. Then I’ll probably go back to my place and read.”
“You read?” she asked with a quirk of an eyebrow.
“Yeah. Love it, actually.”
“Let me guess. History, right?” Avery asked.
“Some. But right now I’ve been more into military fiction,” Cole told her.
Avery shook her head. “Could you seriously be any hotter?”
He chuckled. “What about you?”
She tensed. “I have to call and make an appointment when I get up. My parents are going to go off and do something touristy, so I thought I’d go to the station and look at the photos while they’re doing that. If I get the appointment I need, I’ll do that in the afternoon, then come home and hang with my mom and dad again.”
“What appointment?”
Figured he’d pick up on that. Deciding she had nothing to hide, and refusing to be ashamed like so many other soldiers and sailors seemed to be, she said, “With a psychologist. Just to talk about everything that happened.”
Cole leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “I think that’s a good idea. You experienced a lot of shit in a short period of time.”
“I know you encouraged me to go, but you honestly don’t think less of me?”
“Fuck no,” Cole said immediately. “You think I haven’t sat down and talked through some of the shit I’ve seen and done with a professional?”
Avery figured it was a rhetorical question because he continued without letting her answer.
“I have. Many times. Sometimes the guys and I all get together after an especially gnarly mission and talk it out, but I’ve seen a psychologist several times. It helps. Every time.”
Avery nodded.
“And with that being said, I’m no doctor, but if you ever need to talk and your psychologist isn’t available, I’m here. I’ll listen without judging. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“I mean it, Avery. Anytime. Day or night. All you have to do is pick up the phone. Got it?”
“Thanks. Cole?”
“Yeah, sweetheart?”
“Thanks for not making things weird when you picked me up today.”
“Weird how?”
“It’s just that…you’re enlisted, and I’m an officer, and while it’s okay for us to date since we don’t work together or really even run in the same circles in the navy, it would still be weird for us to be kissing or otherwise cuddling on base. Especially at my workplace.”
Cole stepped back and put his hands on her shoulders. She looked up into his sincere gaze. “I would never do anything to embarrass you or put your career as a naval officer in jeopardy. I might want to hug and kiss you when I pick you up, but I respect you too much to do that in front of your coworkers. Got it?”