Before she could react, the room tilted, and she found herself lying flat on the bed with him above her.
This had become a pattern lately. They’d start with a simple conversation, and then Cole would snap—showering Elliana with kisses until she was breathless and spent.
He never held back when moments like this took over. She was truly overwhelmed by him.
Another deep, lingering kiss followed. And if Elliana hadn’t drawn a clear line about slowing things down, there was no doubt he would’ve taken things even further.
Cole eventually leaned away, but he still kept Elliana in his arms. With his face pressed into the curve of her neck, he said in a low, slightly sulky voice, “Keep that up, and I won’t be able to stop myself.”
Elliana’s face turned bright red. Cole had thrown that line at her so many times lately, always muttering about how she left him hanging, stuck in that frustrating in-between. She gently pressed a hand to his chest. “Darling?”
“Stay still!” Cole blurted out, his voice strained and gravelly. “If you move even a little more, I don’t know if I’ll be able to hold myself back.”
Elliana froze on the spot, hands tucked neatly against her sides, not daring to breathe wrong. When it finally felt safe to speak, she tried again, her voice cautious as she said, “I’ve got something important to talk to you about…”
“I don’t want to hear it!” Cole muttered, his voice darkening with each syllable.
Elliana gazed resignedly at the ceiling, frustration etching lines across her forehead. Ever since they’d started dating, completing a simple conversation with Cole had felt like scaling a treacherous mountain.
A one-minute chat would veer off course the moment Cole decided her lips demanded his immediate attention. No matter how urgent the topic, it languished in waiting while he satisfied his craving for connection. He rarely allowed her to complete even two coherent sentences.
Even after Cole finally withdrew from a passionate kiss, she couldn’t always pick up where they had left off. His mood would inevitably shift, clouding the air between them with brooding silence.
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As a doctor, Elliana recognized the physiological reasons behind Cole’s emotional turbulence. She could read his physical responses like a familiar medical chart—the tension that built when desire remained unfulfilled.
Their relationship had developed its own peculiar rhythm, tinged with an endearing absurdity. A minor issue raised over morning coffee might remain unresolved until stars dotted the night sky, progressing at the deliberate pace of a sloth contemplating its next branch. Elliana had surrendered to this glacial tempo of communication. Now, mid-sentence about Hailee, Cole had already descended for another kiss.
After an exhaustive exploration of each other’s lips, Elliana’s nerve endings hummed with electricity, while Cole retreated into sullen silence, thoroughly disinterested in anyone else’s concerns.
Patience was her only recourse. She would wait until Cole emerged from his emotional cocoon, ready to absorb her concerns about others. They lay entwined on the bed, his arms creating a fortress around her frame. He inhaled the delicate fragrance at her neckline while she synchronized with the steady percussion of his breathing and heartbeat.
.
.
.