His fingertips skimmed her stomach, circling her navel with a featherlight touch that made her breath come in a gasp and her muscles contract. Before she could adjust to the sensation, he bent over her breast, taking one nipple into his mouth, swirling and circling the crest with his tongue.
She moaned, and her hands went to his hair. Sensations rocketed through her body as his teeth raked her tender flesh and his hand began a downward spiral.
This wasn’t going to be slow. It was going to be lightning fast if she didn’t do something.
“Cole,” she gasped.
“You’re delicious,” he answered, fingers dipping lower, increasing the onslaught of sensation.
“Slow…down…” she begged.
She felt his smile. “No way.” He crossed the downy curls and pressed into her in one swift motion.
Her hips came up off the bed, and her hands convulsed against his head. “Cole,” she wailed.
“Go with it,” he said.
“But…”
He moved to look into her eyes, his fingers pulsing in a way that made her world shift to the exquisite touch on her tender, moist flesh. She flexed her hips. He kissed her mouth.
“There’s more to come,” he rumbled against her. “I promise.”
She closed her eyes. She was past the point of resisting. Past the point of coherent thought. She was going where he led her, and there was no way to stop it.
Her world roared, then went silent.
They were skin to skin, soul to soul as he eased inside her. True to his word, he took it slow, watching her closely, gauging her desires. Their breathing synchronized as the corner clock ticked away minutes.
A warm rush of sensation crested up from her toes. He smiled and deepened his kiss, increasing his rhythm until her world imploded, the clock’s ticks slowed to a crawl and paradise stretched on and on.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, guilt nipping at her conscience. Nobody had ever done that before. No one had ever set aside their own needs to take her to paradise.
As the power of speech returned, she searched his deep eyes, worried that he’d made some stupid, gentlemanly decision against making love. “We’re not…uh…stopping, are we?”
He shook his head and brushed a lock of hair from her cheek, shifting so that his big body covered hers. “Oh, sweetheart. We’re just getting started.”
He kissed her mouth. His thumb returned to her breast and, against all odds, her desire instantly rallied.
She ran her hands down his back, sliding them onto his taut buttocks and pressing his erection against her stomach, shivering with anticipation. She kissed his harder, swirling her tongue against his.
He opened wide, and she could feel the tension rising in his muscles.
She moaned and wriggled beneath him, shifting her thighs in a clear invitation.
He gasped. “Hey. This is supposed to be the slow part.”
“Fast is fun,” she assured him, shifting again, even more meaningfully this time.
He grabbed her hip with a broad hand and held her still, pulling back to look into her eyes. “If I go now, I’m going to break a land-speed record.”
“Now,” she said. “I don’t care. Now.” Slow had been a stupid idea anyway. Nothing between her and Cole was ever going to be slow.
He flexed his hips and was instantly inside her.
She groaned, nearly melting around his heat.
He buried his hands in her hair, thumbs stroking her temples. His breath came in gasps next to her ear.
She could feel the tension cresting in his steel, hard muscles. Her body tightened and strained and pulsated.
She reached for the comfortor, fisting her hands into the fabric as their rhythm increased.
He repeated her name, over and over again. Then his hands found hers, covered hers, their fingers entwining as the world exploded into black and time ceased to exist.
Cole kissed her damp brow. “You okay?”
She sighed, sinking into his incredibly soft bed. “I don’t think okay is exactly the right word.”
“You hurt?”
“No. It’s fantastic. Fantastic is the right word.”
He chuckled low in her ear, easing most of his weight off her. “You give me heart failure all the time, you know that?”
“You’re pushing things too fast,” said Kyle as he tapped the remainder of the glass from a broken window in the toolshed.
Cole set a new pane on the ground, leaning it against the wall of the shed before he retrieved a hammer from the toolbox.
Kyle didn’t know the half of how fast they’d pushed things. Cole had never done that before-made love after only two days.
“I think we’re doing fine,” he said, strapping on a leather belt and dumping a handful of nails into the pouch.
Kyle whacked at a stubborn corner of glass and it tinkled into jagged pieces. “First you’re necking on the lawn, then you bring her home after midnight.”
A grin split Cole’s face. “Will you listen to yourself? You sound like her father.”
“I’m just saying, Katie’s not going to buy it if you don’t slow it down.”
Cole moved up to the shed wall and dug his claw hammer into the window frame. One by one, the finishing nails popped out. “It’s a compromise. Sydney’s on a deadline with the Thunderbolt.”
“You’re worried about her deadline? This from a guy who was willing to throw her off the property two days ago?”
“I’m getting to know her now. And I didn’t realize her job was on the line.”
Kyle stopped, fixing his attention on Cole. “She told you her job was on the line?”
“Yeah.”
Kyle glared at him impatiently.
“What?”
“Cole. What are you doing?”
Had Kyle guessed what had happened last night? Was it that obvious?
“I’m pretending to fall for Sydney,” he said with exaggerated patience, trying to gauge his brother’s expression.
“You sure about that?”
“I’m positive about that. What are you suggesting?”
Kyle whacked the glass again. “I’m suggesting you watch yourself.”
Cole nearly choked on that one. “Hang on. This was
“Yeah.” Kyle tugged his leather work gloves from his back pocket. “And I may have been wrong about that.”
“Wrong? Hello? What did I miss?”
“She could be playing you,” said Kyle, settling his fingers in the grooves.
“Playing me how? She’s been up front and honest about everything.” Unlike him and Kyle who were pulling one over on Katie.
“Has she?”
“Yes!”
Kyle brushed shards of glass from the sill. “Think about it, Cole. She’s getting exactly what she came for.”
“Uh, yeah. That was the deal.”
“The deal was Katie would think Sydney fell for you. But now
“No, I don’t,” Cole snapped.
“Yes, you do. And what the hell are the odds of that?”
Cole hadn’t honestly thought about the odds last night. But then, he didn’t think Sydney was falling for him,
