“That’s the only real reason any man wouldn’t want to be seen with you,”Cole answered, as if that were an obvious fact of life. The same as the Strip being covered in neon lights.
Just like that, I went from holding back tears to suppressing a smile. “Really. Theonlyreason? I mean, I’m not everybody’s cup of tea.”
“The only reason,”Cole insisted. Then he frowned.“So now what do we do? Talk about why I was going to take a shower and go back to my office. Is that howbeing niceandcommunicatingworks in synergy?”
I scrunched up my face, not knowing if I’d ever get used to the way Cole saw everything as a business scheme.“Yeah, I guess that’s kind of how it works.”
"Then I have another confession I should communicate." Cole turned his eyes to the window wall, with its view overlooking the east side of the Strip.“I’m pissed off at myself right now. I planned to tease you for a while, but I didn’t even make it to the end of my lunch hour.”
I burst out laughing.
But then I realized from the look on his face,"Oh, wow, you're not joking. You went cold on me because you couldn’t torture me for as long as you were planning?”
“I don’t think you took me seriously when I told you I like to be in control,”he said, his jaw setting.
“No, I didn’t,”I said with the most sincere, apologetic look.“Because Cole, oh my God, Cole.Who cares what you want?”
That was all the warning I gave him.
Before he could stop me, I used my dancer muscles to quickly push myself up and over his body, straddling him and settling into his lap in one smooth move.“If that was Cole Benton out of control, that’s who I want to be sharing a bed with from now on.”
“How do you know?”he asked.“So far, I haven’t been able to stay in control where you’re concerned.”
As if to prove his point, I felt him swell underneath my core.
“Mmm,”I said with a delighted chuckle.“Tell me more about how you failed the mission this afternoon.”
He shook his head, like this conversation was exasperating him. Like I was totally exasperating him.“Sunny, I didn’t even make it to my pants. I barely got my shoes off.”
“Oh, poor baby." I gave him another look of pity, one he couldn’t possibly take offense to because it was nowhere near real. "I feel terrible for you.”
I let my chest fall against his, and my nipples pebbled as I rubbed them against his rock-hard pecs. I couldn’t help but appreciate the fact that he was hard almost everywhere I was soft.
In one particular case, really hard. His erection rose up through his briefs, poking against my slit in a way that made me whisper in his ear,"If you don't need another twelve hours’ notice and have another condom, maybe you could try again?"
There came a pause. I could almost hear the words he was thinking:I need to go back to work.
Eventually, Cole lifted me off him and said, "New plan."
Disappointment sunk my stomach—only to be replaced by a squeak of delight when Cole flipped me onto my stomach.
"Stay there," Cole commanded. "Don't move."
But the anticipation—not to mention the high thread count of black silk duvet.
By the time he returned from what I'd later find out was a primary bedroom closet the size of my old efficiency apartment with a condom, I was squirming on top of his covers.
"I told you not to move."
"You also told me not to pleasure myself," I reminded him—even as I rolled my hips into his black duvet.
“You like this, don’t you.” Cole placed his hand on my back, forcing my body to still with just a little bit of applied pressure. “You wouldn’t admit it in the hotel room, but you will now. You’re goading me. On purpose.”
I couldn’t see him from my prone position, and his voice was the kind of ice you couldn’t see through. Was he upset with me?
“I’m not?—”
“No more lying.” He walked his fingers up my spine. Like a chill. “Tell me the truth, Sunny. You’ve seen a glimpse of my crazy, and you’re trying to drive me back to it.”
