Chapter 50 The Morning After

THE NEXT MORNING when Cole woke up, Emily was still sleeping. Ruffled against the bed, the cream bedsheet covering her arse and her back left open with nary a single thing to cover her. Cole smiled, a look of satisfaction pulling his lips back from his teeth, and folded his arms under his head.

He took his time to access his feeling while he watched her sleep. He realized he was enjoying himself more than he ought to. More than he had a right to. He had been lonely almost his whole life. His parents having died when he was so young. Cole didn't know much about companionship and would like to think this was it. He felt happy. A kind of surging feeling he hadn't felt in years. 

Cole was a loner and had been like that for a long time. After the death of his parents, he had used the first seven years to learn about being an earl. He had no friends except for Sebastian. He only knew his horses, his stable, his land, the silence,