They stayed that way for a long, long time—wrapped around each other, sweat drying on their skin, breathing labored—before Cole rolled off her and flopped onto his back at her side.But apparently, he wasn’t happy with even that much distance between them, because he grabbed her and rolled her on top of him so that she was sprawled limply across his chest.
“Wow,” she whispered as he trailed his fingertips up and down her spine.
He grunted.“Yeah.”
“That was the best one-night standever.It was also my only one-night stand,” she admitted.“But still.”
After a loaded silence where she could practically hear the wheels in his head turning, he said, “We should probably clarify some of the finer points of that agreement.”
The bottom dropped out of her stomach.Hell.Was he going to remind her that she promised not to get too attached to him and that he didn’t do relationships?After she came on his tongue?!Ugh!How awful!
She swallowed hard.“Yeah?”
“Yeah.I mean, we did say onenight, not onetime.”He fisted his hand in her hair and gave it a gentle tug, so she was forced to meet his gaze.“And it’s still nighttime.So, technically, we can dowhateverwe want until tomorrow.”
It took a second, but his meaning finally seeped into her brain.Surely, he was kidding.She expected him to burst out laughing at any moment.But he didn’t.
He was serious.In fact…was that his cock poking her in the stomach, or was he just happy to see her?
“Well…”—another hard swallow—"…an agreement is an agreement.And I’m nothing if not a woman of my word.”
Then the world flipped upside down as he stood up, hauling her up with him, and tossed her over his shoulder.He swatted her ass.Hard.“Let’s try the bed this time,” he said.
But they didn’t make it to the bed.They made it to the kitchen table.And she’d never again be able to look at a table with innocent eyes again.
Totally.Worth.It.
Chapter25
The thief/con artist Cole’s hacker friend sent to break into Eric and Stella’s house was not the kind of woman who made you immediately feel good about yourself.
Hadley didn’t typically lack confidence.She knew she cleaned up pretty good, and if the lighting was right, she could graduate from cute to beautiful.But this woman?
Total fucking smoke show.
Flowing red hair that looked like it was moving even when it wasn’t, flawless complexion under what was probably hundreds of dollars of expertly applied makeup, clothes that looked like they’d been ripped off a model’s back on an Italian runway, features and proportions perfect enough to make a Barbie doll look frumpy…yep, Tenley Taylor had it all.
She wanted to hate her on sight, but the moment she stuck out her hand and said, “Hi, I’m Tenley,” Hadley suddenly felt completely at ease.Tenley was so stunning it made her look a little alien when she was standing next to normal folk, but the big, open smile she gave Hadley told her everything she needed to know.Tenley was a girl’s girl and she was here to help.
For a fee, of course.Tenley had made it abundantly clear that she didn’t help anyone for free.Something about her own personal criminal code of ethics.Hadley respected it.After all, why should anyone work for free?
It didn’t hurt that Tenley was one of the most happily married women Hadley had ever met.She bragged about her husband every chance she got.Hadley found it totally charming.
She was also pleased that Cole’s expression didn’t move beyond vague, barely there politeness the entire time he explained their situation to Tenley.He looked at her like Hadley looked at…furniture.She appreciated the fact that it was there, but she wasn’t ever going to be tempted to fuck it.
Wait…that analogy went off the rails in areallyweird way.Had all the great sex—and there’d been a lot of it—scrambled her brain?Had she been fucked so hard and so well that she had brain damage?Was that a thing?
Hadley tried to mentally slap herself back into the moment.What mattered now was that while Cole prepped Tenley on what she might encounter at Eric’s place, where she needed to place devices, and how much time she had to get in and out, Hadley had a dinner to prepare.
Nowthatshe could handle.
So, while Tenley and Cole talked about spy stuff and breaking and entering, Hadley popped the chicken she’d marinated into the oven with some vegetables and yeasty rolls.For dessert, the pie she’d picked up at the overpriced farmer’s market in town would have to do, because she’d be damned if she was making a crust from scratch for a couple of strangers.Crust from scratch was only for people you loved.
She’d bet anything that Cole wouldloveher grandma’s apple pie.Nowthatwas a buttery, rich, to-die-for crust.When all this was over, she’d make it for him.He was going to…
Wait a minute.Wait just afuckingminute.
Crust from scratch was only for people youloved.
