Chapter Fourteen
Angel sat at the kitchen table with Natalie. She checked the clock for the tenth time.
“Will you stop checking the time every minute? He’ll be here soon,” Natalie said, sipping on her coffee.
“I know, I know.” Angel took a deep breath. It had been almost two weeks since she’d last seen him.
“You never really told me much about what happened when you went out there,” Natalie remarked.
Angle looked down at the kitchen table and shrugged. “I wasn’t there that long. I flew in and flew out.”
“Angel.” Her aunt wasn’t buying it. “This is me you’re talking to.”
“What are you asking?”
“Do you still have feelings for him?
Angel looked away. “I don’t know. The man I knew three years ago…” She shook her head. “I’m not sure he’s that man now.”
Natalie nodded, trying to understand. “You know, when you came back from California three years ago and moved in here with me, I never asked you, but I always wondered why you didn’t go home to your father.”
Angel shrugged. “Because of Kathy. I never liked her, and she never liked me.”
“I never did understand why your father married her. She was so different from my sister.”
“I know. She was a bitch and treated him like crap right up until the day he died. And he leaves her everything.”
“Not everything. He left trust funds for your children.”
“Yes. He did love them.”
“He loved you, too.”
Angel shook her head. “He never forgave me. I disgraced him. Coming home pregnant. Refusing to tell him who the father was. That drove him crazy.”
“What drove him crazy was that he couldn’t control you.”
“I suppose.” Angel took a sip of her coffee. “Thank God I had you, Aunt Natalie.” She reached out and covered her hand.
“You remind me of your mother. You look so much like her. I miss her so.” She looked down at their joined hands. “You and those babies living here have been a blessing for me. Since your uncle died, I was so alone. You’ve filled this house with love.”
Angel smiled and looked up, blinking. “Don’t you get me crying.”
Just then they heard the roar of a bike.
Angel jumped up and ran through the house. She opened the front door and ran out onto the walk. She could see his headlight in the fading dusk, coming down the street.
Cole slowed down and made the turn into the driveway of the third house on the right. The only yellow house on the block, she had told him.
Angel met him in the driveway.
He stopped and cut the bike off. He sat on it and pulled his helmet and glasses off.
“Goddamn, that’s a long trip.” He climbed off the bike and stretched.
Angel smiled. “Thank you for coming.”
He nodded and looked past her to the woman walking up to them.
Angel turned and introduced them. “This is my aunt, Natalie. Natalie, this is Cole.”
He held his hand out to her.
“Pleased to meet you, ma’am.” Cole looked her up and down. He guessed she was somewhere in her early-to-mid forties. Her figure was slim, and her red hair fell to just past her shoulders. She was a knock out, but what Cole noticed most was that she had the same eye color as Angel.
“We’re so glad to have you here. Angel, why don’t you show him his room and let him put his things away? You must be hungry. I have food ready. Come on in.” She turned and walked back in, leaving them alone.
Angel smiled. “If you’re not hungry—”
“No, actually I could eat something.”
“You’re not wearing your cut,” she noted, looking at his long sleeve t-shirt.
“Arizona’s not our territory. Best not to provoke another MC,” he explained.
“Oh.” She nodded. “Come on.”
He grabbed a pack from the back of his bike and followed her in. She led him through the living room and down a hallway to the guest bedroom.
“There’s a bath through there.” She indicated an attached door. “Fresh towels on the rack.”
He laid his pack on the bed. “Okay.”
She nodded toward a tall dresser, on top of which sat a compact stereo system. “I brought that in here for you. You do still listen to music at night, right?”
He smiled. “You remembered.”
“I remember you liked to listen to some old blues station.”
“Gotta have my blues.”
She turned to lead him to the kitchen. “Come on.”
He grabbed her by the hand, stopping her.
She turned back, questioningly.
“How ‘bout a proper hello?” He smiled as he pulled her to him and kissed her softly on the lips. He raised his head and murmured, “Kiss me back, Angel.”
Cole lowered his head again, and this time her mouth opened, and he delved inside with his tongue. Her head fell back, and he pulled her in his arms, pressing her body up against his. He walked her backward until he had her pressed against the wall. His hand reached out blindly, felt for the door and swung it shut. His hands threaded through her hair, tilting her head back. He angled his mouth and kissed her deeply, thoroughly, again and again.
When he raised his head at last, he said, “I’ve thought about that kiss for the last couple of weeks. It’s all I’ve been able to think about.”
“Me, too,” she confessed.
That brought a smile to his face.
She felt breathless and disoriented, like there was no one but the two of them in the entire world. She pushed back against him, trying to regain her breath. Her fingers touched her lips.
He grinned. “You okay?”
She nodded. “Oh yeah.” She turned toward the door. “Come on.” She led him back down the hall and through a dining room to the kitchen.
Natalie was at the stove. She had just pulled a pan out of the oven. She turned, pulling the oven mitts off her hands. “Cole, I bet you could go for a beer. Am I right?”
He smiled. “Yes, ma’am. I’d love one.”
“Help yourself. They’re in the fridge. You just make yourself at home while you’re here, okay?” she said over her shoulder as she reached into the cabinet to get some plates down.
“I’ll get it,” Angel offered.
“I got it,” Cole insisted, smiling and opening the refrigerator door. He pulled out two bottles and handed one to Angel. “You gonna join us, Miss Natalie?”
She turned and looked at him. “Well sure. I’ll have one.”
He smiled, handed her the other one, and reached in to grab another for himself.
“Let’s sit down. Let the roast cool for a minute or two while we drink these,” Natalie proposed. “I made pot roast. I hope you like roast, Cole.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied. “It smells great.”
“Let’s sit out on the patio. That way Cole can smoke,” Angel suggested and led the way out the French doors. There was a glass table with an umbrella over it and four chairs.
“Well, you had a long ride out here from California, huh?” Natalie asked, taking a seat.
Cole sat between her and Angel. “Yeah, a little over seven hundred miles. I broke it up, though. Rode half yesterday and stopped for the night. Today was mostly crossing the desert. I thought it would never end. I kept thinking if I break down out here, I’m a goner.”
“We laugh, but if you break down crossing the desert and you don’t have water with you, you’re in some serious trouble,” Natalie informed him.
“I believe that,” Cole agreed, lighting a cigarette. He turned to Angel. “You weren’t kidding about the beauty of the mountains around here. I felt like I was in a John Wayne movie or something.”
Angel smiled. “At least it’s not too hot this time of year.”
Cole took a hit off his beer. “Yeah. I hear it can get pretty bad during the summer.”
“Last summer it stayed over a hundred and ten degrees for a month straight,” Natalie said. “You didn’t want to leave the house until the sun went down. It got so hot that even the blacktop parking lot at the Food City got soft. My high heel sunk in it, and I had to take my foot out to pull my shoe loose. You should have seen me, hopping around on one foot, trying not to touch the hot pavement.”
Cole laughed. “You should come to California. We’ve got the cool ocean breezes.”
“That does sound heavenly.” Natalie smiled.
“You’d love it. You should make the trip sometime.” He smiled back.