At one point the bastard golden boy had given Cole one of those shit-eating grins everyone so stupidly ate up. "Marriage kicking your ass, huh? I'd be happy to give you some advice on keeping your wife happy, if you need it."
Cole had almost jumped him right there. But he could see that was exactly what Ty wanted and he couldn't give the motherfucker the satisfaction of knowing just how twisted up in knots he was over his sweet, pretty wife.
"I've had gentle my whole life. Right now, I like it raw. Rough. I want everything you can give me. Show me how much you want me. I need to know how much you want me."
Jesus, just remembering what she'd said to him had his dick about to bust out of the zipper. He'd been surprised by her last night, and now, here she was surprising him again during their interview. He'd thought that Anna was going to be the nervous one, but she was amazingly relaxed. He was the one gritting his teeth, worrying about every f**king question. Pummeling the crap out of his teammates in practice hadn't taken the edge off a damn thing.
"So you grew up in the Bay Area?"
Anna nodded, smiling at the journalist in her open, friendly way. The same way she'd looked at him that first night in the club. With pure, shining innocence.
"My whole family is here."
"How did they react when you brought Cole home for the first time?"
He tensed at the question, but Anna's eyes sparkled. "They loved him, of course.
Although one of my brothers-in-law almost had a coronary when he realized his biggest hero had just walked through the front door."
"What about your parents? How did they feel about their daughter dating a big, bad Outlaw? Were they worried he'd break your heart?"
Anna didn't answer right away. When she did, her words rang with honesty. "Of course they worried. What parent wouldn't?"
Cynthia raised an eyebrow in Cole's direction. "So then, how did you prove to them that they could trust their precious daughter's heart with you?"
His throat felt way too tight. For some reason, the man who had sweet-talked his way into more panties and out of more sticky situations than he could keep track of couldn't find any way out of this one.
Anna leaned her head against his shoulder. "The truth is, they never had a chance, not even my mom, who was worried about me at first. They love him as much as I do. How can they not?"
She tilted her face up to his, so beautiful that he had to touch her, couldn't stop himself from lightly brushing his thumb across her lower lip.
The photographer Cynthia had brought with her snapped a rapid flurry of shots, Anna's love for him a radiant, glowing presence at the table.
"Wow, it really seems like you two are the fairytale come true. The sweet schoolteacher who tamed the bad boy."
The journalist smiled and Cole thought it seemed genuine. Still, he'd been burned one too many times by the press to trust the woman any further than the next table over.
Anna's smiling eyes found his. "Did you hear that? She thinks I've tamed you."
Her laughter was infectious, even making his mouth move into a grin.
His wife shook her head, still laughing as she turned back to Cynthia. "Trust me, my husband is completely untamable." Her gaze flicked back to him, shot through with wild heat.
"And the truth is, I wouldn't want him to be any other way. I wouldn't ever want him to be something that he's not or feel like he has to say or do the right thing to make me happy. He makes me happy just the way he is, just the way he's always been."
"I see why you fell for her." Cynthia broke the spell his wife was wrapping around his heart. "But since my readers aren't here with us to see the two of you together in person, I'd love it if you could tell me what drew you to Anna."
He didn't have to think about it, didn't have to pretend. "I've never met anyone so sweet.
Or so beautiful that I can hardly believe my eyes every time I look at her."
"Cole."
Anna's whispered exclamation came with a deep flush in her cheeks. Any other woman would have preened, but she was more embarrassed than anything.
"But what you can't see is how brave she is. She has more courage in her pinkie than a tailback running into a team of three-hundred-pound defensive linemen."
"Wow," Cynthia said as she scribbled in her notebook. "People are going to go crazy for you two."
But Cole didn't care about the interview anymore. He couldn't focus on anything but Anna.
"One more thing," Cynthia said. "When did you realize Anna was special, Cole? When did you realize you were going to marry her? When did you know you loved her and only her?"
Cole didn't look away from Anna, couldn't have torn his gaze from hers as he said, "The first time I saw her I knew I couldn't let her go. I asked her to marry me that night."
"Was it love at first sight for you, too, Anna?"
"I'd never done anything that crazy before," Anna said in a soft voice, "but being with Cole felt so right from the start."
"So, you're telling me that you asked her to marry you the night you met and you accepted right then and there?" She looked at Cole, then Anna, her eyebrows raised with surprise. "So then why wait months to finally do the deed? And why do it in secrecy?"
Anna response was quick, fluid, believable. "My sister was getting married. I didn't want to overshadow her wedding. And then, when she was heading off on her honeymoon, Cole showed up out of the blue. We just couldn't wait another second."
Cole's gut cramped at her easy lie. She could never have done that on Friday. He'd promised to teach her new things, but he'd never meant for one of those things to be twisting the truth.
How could he ever forgive himself for doing that to her?
Cynthia turned off her recorder. "Seriously, guys, my readers are going to love your story.
It's so romantic. So perfect. Thanks so much for chatting with me. If I have follow-up questions, I'll be in touch. Look for the story in the weekend edition."
They said their goodbyes, walking the journalist out to a cab. They drove back to his house in silence. There were so many things he suddenly wanted to say to her. So many things he didn't know how to say.
Nothing in his life had prepared him for Anna.
For the love that she gave him so freely, no strings, no demands.
Just love. Pure and sweet.
Yes, he'd given her pleasure, but along the way he'd forced her to take on skills she should never have needed to know.
Lying.
Evading.
They walked into his house and Anna reached for his hand. "Are you okay?"