Meant to Be (RightMatch.com Trilogy) Read Free

herself. “I put down that I’m glad I don’t have to go through the babyhood of my children again. Both were colicky, Peter was working long hours establishing his firm and I was only nineteen and twenty when I had them.”
    Cole stilled. Jesus, he had forgotten that. Thinking of Ellie, it didn’t take Einstein to figure out why.
    o0o
    “I won again!” Cole accompanied his declaration with a punch of his fist into the air. He grinned over at Beth, who sat next to him on the couch in the sunroom. God he was cute sometimes, and his demeanor contributed to that younger look he said was due to good genes.
    Beth stared down at Bananagrams, a word game similar to Scrabble, but each person created her own board. Whoever used up all the letters in the common pile first won. She only had one tile left. It was the third time he’d beat her. “I can’t believe it. I never lose. With MJ, her husband, Ava and Rob.”
    Online, they’d talked about what they did in their spare time and both had a fondness for board games, especially word and question games. After a dinner of cold shrimp, hot bread, salad, and dessert to come, Cole had suggested they play a game and picked out Bananagrams because he was so good at it.
    “I don’t lose, either, sweetheart.” Pivoting on the couch to face her, he tipped her chin. “I claim my prize.”
    Her brows furrowed. “Did we set a prize?”
    “Of course. The winner got to pick it.” Staring into her eyes, he saw them deepen to green. “And I choose our first kiss.”
    When she didn’t object, he lowered his head and brushed his lips over hers softly, sweetly, testing and teasing.
    A low moan escaped Beth as he drew away. Her eyes opened, hazy with desire.
    “Too much? Too soon?” he asked.
    “No, not enough,” she whispered honestly.
    “Oh, good.” He pulled her into his arms. Their chests nestled against each other and the feel of her curves, the scent of her made him hard.
    This time, he took her mouth. The kiss was possessive. Hot. Consuming. Of their own volition, his arms banded around her and he tried to get closer. So did she. Her hand went to his hair, tangling in it. She opened her mouth to him, let him explore, did some searching of her own.
    The embrace went on a long time. Finally he pulled back—and was shocked to see her blouse opened a few buttons. Her face blanked as she looked at him.
    He said, “Wow!”
    Covering her heart with her hand, she said, “Wow is right. I…” She pointed to his hair. “Did I do that?”
    “I guess.” Reaching out, he ran a finger around the lacy peach bra he’d exposed. Touched the locket there. “And I got to see this.”
    She looked down. Her face flushed, but he liked that she didn’t try to shield herself from him.
    Leaning back into the cushions, he crossed his ankle over his knee and took in a deep breath. He remembered her emails well.
    One night, on Peter’s birthday, it was late, and they’d been having a glass of wine at either end of the computers together…
    I know you miss him.
    I miss everything. The way he smiled, how kind he was. I also miss sex.
    Um, nothing, since he died?
    No. (Woman smiling here.) Not with anybody.
    And later, when he’d convinced her to let him come down to the lake this weekend…
    Don’t worry, honey, fix up a spare room. You’re calling the shots on how this relationship progresses. I’m grateful just to get to see you in person.
    Thanks, Cole. I need to take things slowly.
    No problem.
    You are so sweet. Why hasn’t anybody scooped you up before?
    The picture’s fake. I’m really ugly.
    LOL!
    Given that his heart was beating a wild tattoo for her, and his body was demanding more, he had to calm himself in order to say, “I should apologize. We said no sex this weekend; we agreed on it. I promised.” He shrugged. “I don’t know what happened.”
    She stared at him, her face glowing with something he couldn’t identify. Then she shocked him by moving in closer. Even