Cole checked his watch and then turned in the direction of the sunroom. He’d waited as long as possible. He hadn’t wanted to part with Ren even for a few hours to give her time to work. He’d busied himself with phone calls and catching up on e-mail, but his concentration was shot.
After sending an e-mail to the wrong person, he’d given up trying to go through the motions of work at all.
He paused at the doorway, watching as Ren bent over, pencil in hand, her face creased with concentration. Her bottom lip was sucked between her teeth and she scraped absently with her top teeth as she stared down at her creation.
She was dressed in nothing more fancy than a faded pair of blue jeans and a cropped white tank that bared a portion of her back where her tattoo snaked up her spine.
But the contrast of her dusky skin against the white of her shirt coupled with the jet black tresses of her hair made him want to peel her clothing right off her so he could run his hands and mouth over that beautiful flesh.
It was a hell of a note when a man’s life changed in the space of a few moments over a chance meeting. He wasn’t one to fight the inevitable, and he knew without a doubt that Ren was a big part of his future. The only part that mattered.
Nothing else in life had come easy to him. No reason this should either.
“Ren.”
He waited a moment and then realized she hadn’t heard him. She was hunched over her drawing, her hand moving in quick, jerky motions.
He walked toward her, curious as to what she was laboring so hard over. As he neared, he could see that the drawing was black and white and was of a woman sitting on a rock staring out to sea. On the right, immersed in an incoming wave was what appeared to be a sea serpent with long, jagged teeth. It should appear menacing, but there was simple beauty in the creature.
To the left, a dragon with wings outstretched was coming in to land atop a rolling wave. Both creatures were focused on the woman and yet she stared beyond them both, almost as if she wasn’t aware of their existence.
“Interesting,” he said over her shoulder.
She bolted upward, jerking around in her seat. Pencils scattered in every direction and the paper drifted to the floor.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. I called to you from the door but you didn’t hear me.”
For a moment she looked bewildered and then she surveyed the mess with a grimace.
“I’ll get them. Just sit for a minute,” he said.
He bent quickly to gather up the pencils, but when he went to put them back in the cup she wrested them from his hand and began sorting the colors, frowning in concentration as she manipulated them.
He studied her for a few seconds and then knelt to carefully pick up the drawing. When he rose, she took the paper and smoothed it over her desk, her fingers running lightly over the woman in the picture.
“Hey, are you okay?” he asked gently.
She tilted her head to look back up at him and smiled, her eyes a little clearer than they’d been a minute ago. “Yes, of course. I just get caught up in what I’m doing. I’m not the most aware person in the world. I didn’t mean to seem ungrateful for the help. I just like things a certain way.”
He smiled back at her. “You always did.”
She frowned pensively a moment. “I guess I did, didn’t I?”
Privately, Cole had always thought that she had borderline OCD. She wasn’t extreme but she did like things a certain way, in a certain order and she was always happiest when she was settled in a routine that she didn’t deviate from.
He’d known this about her early on and he had his own theories about why, but they’d been just that. Theories.
Her parents had been strict but at the same time, they were flighty, unorganized people. Morally, they were strict and they kept a very tight leash on Ren, seeking to protect her from “moral corruption.”
But in every other aspect of their lives, they’d lacked discipline and structure. There were no rules in the house. It was never tidy. They were habitually late for everything, a fact that pained Ren, who liked to be early and if she was late, she’d just as likely not even go.
It was another reason that Cole had been so afraid that he’d taken over Ren’s life and made her into something she wasn’t. He’d provided structure and discipline to a young girl who desperately wanted and needed both. He’d always been secretly afraid that she’d wake up one day and decide that he was just a crutch and nothing more.
Just another of the many mistakes he’d made as a young man. Why fate was giving him a second chance, he didn’t know, but he wasn’t looking a gift horse in the mouth.
“You ready for lunch? Thought we’d go for something casual.”
“Define
“As in what you’re wearing is just fine and it’s all purpose so you’re guaranteed to find something you’ll like on the menu.”
She smiled and hopped down from her stool. “Sounds good to me.”
