“Shannon,” he urged as he stood up to unbutton his jeans.

I nodded and pushed my jeans down, stepping out of them and my underwear. “I get to lick your tattoos at some point.”

His soft laughter filled the room. “Deal.” He reached one of those tattooed arms out, grabbed my hand, and hauled me up against him. I’d gotten a glimpse of the rather huge erection that was standing to attention before I felt it hot against my na**d stomach.

“Cole,” I said, breathless.

He lowered himself back to the bed and pulled me onto his lap so I was straddling him again. I dropped my gaze to his c**k as it pushed insistently against my belly. If anything it seemed to swell under my attention. Nick had been big, the biggest I’d seen, and Cole was definitely giving him a run for his money. I was at once turned on and a little apprehensive.

I felt his fingers graze the curves of my br**sts and I turned my focus to his face.

“You’re sure about this?” he said.

“You’re asking me now?”

“If you wanted to stop ten minutes ago, we would have stopped. If you want to stop now, we’ll stop. If you suddenly want to stop when I’m inside you, we’ll stop.” He cupped my cheek, casting his tender eyes on me. “I will never do anything you don’t want to do. You’re safe with me, Shannon.”

“Fuck,” I said, choking on the word and all the emotion that had formed a lump in my throat.

Cole blinked. “That’s the first time I’ve heard you swear.”

“Gran always said ladies don’t swear, so I rarely do. But this seemed like a ‘fuck’ moment.”

Humor glittered in his eyes. “Why? Aside from the obvious, of course.”

I laughed as I slid my hands behind his ears, stroking his jawline with my thumbs. “Because I’m scared of you, Cole Walker. I’m scared you’ll hurt me or I’ll hurt you . . . yet I have no intention of turning back. I’m throwing myself off this cliff, consequences be damned.”

His arms tightened around me and I pressed my lips to his, our kiss quickly turning from sweet and sensual to charged and erotic. My fingers tightened in his hair as I pushed against his hard cock. Cole’s fingertips glided down the curve of my waist, across my belly, and down between my legs. I moaned into his mouth as he pushed two fingers inside me, the moan turning to whimpers as he pumped them in and out. He left my mouth, his lips trailing down my chin, my throat, my chest before they danced across my left breast and closed around my nipple. I threw my head back on a startled cry of pleasure as the pull of his mouth shot streaks of heat from my br**sts to my sex.

I clasped his head to my chest as he sucked and licked my ni**les. While he paid my br**sts such glorious attention, my h*ps flexed against the thrust of his fingers between my legs.

I was panting loudly now, his name falling in pleading whimpers from my lips as the tension inside me increased. It tightened and tightened and tightened until I froze, breathless. Cole scraped his teeth against my nipple and quickened his fingers, and the tension snapped.

My eyes fluttered as bliss came to me. “Cole!” I cried out, the word ending abruptly in a gasp as my cl**ax rolled through me, my inner muscles squeezing around his fingers as I jerked against them.

The orgasm was long and beautiful and I could barely catch my breath as it finally drew to a stop. I sagged against Cole, my limbs all warm and jellylike.

Cole lifted my head off his shoulder, taking my chin in his hand to bring my lips to his. He pressed a sweet kiss on them. “Are you on the pill?”

I nodded.

“I’m clean.” He kissed me again before he pulled back to growl, “Take me inside you.”

Uncertainty caused me to press my hand firmly against his chest. “Condom, Cole,” I insisted.

He stared into my eyes, something working behind his as he realized that when I said I didn’t fully trust him I had meant it. No matter how much I wanted him, or how much I needed him to be as great as he seemed to be, I couldn’t let go of my past. I would not be f**ked over by another man, and that included catching an STD.

Tense, I waited as Cole came to a decision. He kissed me again and then held me tight so I wouldn’t fall off his lap as he leaned down to his bedside table drawer. I relaxed as he pulled out a condom packet.

To make up for my lack of trust, I assisted him, stroking him and squeezing him until he was groaning against my mouth. “Now take me inside you.”

I felt a resurgence of energy at the blaze in his expression. I lifted myself up onto my knees and guided him inside me. I slowly lowered myself back down.

“Oh God,” I panted, feeling overwhelmingly full.

I clutched Cole’s shoulders, watching the way his teeth gritted and his eyes darkened as his dick slid snugly inside me. His fingers bit into my hip as I lowered as far as I could and lifted myself back up. He pushed me back down and then back up, taking control of the rhythm. I wrapped my arms around his neck, bringing us flush so my hard, swollen ni**les rubbed against his chest as I rode him.

We gasped against each other’s lips, our grip on each other tightening as we soared toward cl**ax.

“Come for me, Shannon,” Cole grunted. “Come.”

I nodded on a whimper as I neared the heights. Cole slid his hand between my legs, and his thumb pressed circles around my clit. The sensation blew the top off my head and I screamed.

“Fuck, f**k, f**k!” Cole yelled hoarsely, his fingers digging into my h*ps as he jerked up in one last hard thrust. I felt him swell even thicker inside me before he throbbed and his hot, wet release filled me. “Oh, f**k.” His chest heaved against mine as I collapsed on him, my head burrowing against the crook of his neck. He held me tightly.

His penis continued to pulse inside me as my inner muscles quivered around it.

When our breathing finally calmed, Cole said, “We’re not even close to done.”

“I don’t know if I can take much more,” I replied. And I meant it. I was sated and languorous and all I wanted was to fall asleep while still wrapped around him.

Cole eased me back from him and I pouted playfully. He smiled and kissed the pout right off my lips. With ease, he lifted me off his c**k and gently lowered me onto the bed. I watched his delicious, firm arse walk across the room and into the en suite. He returned, after obviously disposing of the condom, and when he reached me he pulled me up onto my feet. “Now you can sit on my face so I can taste you like I’ve been fantasizing about tasting you since you stepped foot into the studio.”

I’d thought I was done.

But my sex clenched at his hot visual and unbelievably I knew I wasn’t done.

A few seconds later Cole was lying sprawled out on the bed, the sexiest offering known to womankind, and I was crawling up his body. I’d never done this before. Of course I’d had boyfriends put their mouths on me, but I’d never done it this way.

My legs shaking—from this or my last two cl**axes, I had no idea—I faltered above him.

Cole sensed my uncertainty and took control, guiding me over him.

I felt his tongue thrust into me, and that was all it took. I was lost again, shyness evaporating.

When I came again, this time was sharper and shorter but no less sweet, and by the time I was done, Cole was hard again. He wrapped me around him and lifted me up off the bed. I noted he grabbed another condom out of his drawer before carrying me as he walked out of the bedroom. “You weigh absolutely nothing.” He squeezed my bottom, smiling as he entered the kitchen.

I felt the cold wooden table on my cheeks as he lowered me onto it. I stroked his sleek back as he spread my legs. My arms fell as he stepped back and I gripped the table edge, focused on my own thoughts as Cole’s burning gaze roamed over my entire body. “Rae said your first big crush was on Nate’s wife, Olivia.”

Confused at the random turn in conversation, Cole frowned at me. “What?”

“Olivia,” I repeated. “And I’ve seen pictures of past girlfriends and I’ve heard all about them. You have a type. And it’s tall and leggy and curvy and often brunette. You have an attraction to tall.”

Getting my point, Cole grinned and stepped back into my space, guiding my legs around his waist. “I have a new appreciation for tiny.” His eyes smoldered as his hands glided along my outer thighs. “Delicate, beautiful, fragile. I want to protect you while at the same time I want to shatter you,” he murmured against my lips, “but only in the best way possible.” The glint in his eyes reassured me. “Tiny but curvy.” His hands moved up along my waist to cup my br**sts, his thumbs stroking my pebbled ni**les. “Sexiest woman I’ve ever been with.” His right hand disappeared between my legs as he held my gaze and slid two fingers into my slick heat. “Beautiful here too.” His breathing started to escalate. “You feel f**king amazing.” He groaned the last word and his fingers disappeared for a few seconds as he put on protection. A few more seconds after that he thrust inside me.

I cried out, my hands sliding back on the tabletop as Cole pumped into me. Our gasps and groans and the wet drive of his c**k in and out of me echoed off the kitchen tiles, the sounds of sex turning me on just as much as the feel of Cole inside me.

I came for the fourth time that night, taking Cole right along with me.

Suddenly I was being lifted in the air again and sleepily I clung to Cole as he carried me back to his bedroom, too tired to ask him why he’d relocated us in the first place. There he laid me in his bed, my front to his front, and he pulled my leg over his hip so our bodies were as close as they could be.

I snuggled deeper into him, my nose pressed to his throat, and Cole’s arms tightened around me.

CHAPTER 14

T he chill seeped into me, raising goose bumps on my skin and pulling me out of sleep. I lingered on the edges of unconsciousness, too tired to come fully out of it.

“Shortcake, it’s time to get up¸” a low voice said.

I groaned and buried my head deeper into the softness of the pillow.

I heard laughter. “Shannon, we have to get up for work.”

“Mmm, no,” I muttered, and followed up with a shiver. It occurred to me that the covers and warm body that had been keeping me nice and cozy all night had abandoned me. I patted down the length of my body, searching for the duvet, but before I could find it Cole grabbed my hand.

I supposed that would do instead.

I tugged on his hand with all my strength until his chest was against my back and his arm was over my waist. Warmer already, I tucked his hand beneath mine against my cle**age.

The vibrations of his chuckle from his chest to my back made me smile sleepily. A smile that left me quite abruptly when Cole lifted me right out of the bed.

I yelped in surprise, my eyes flying open. I clung to him as he climbed off the bed and started toward the en suite bathroom. Too tired to speak coherently, I made a few noises of complaint.

My brain started to wake up just as his gorgeous face came into focus. “I have a five-hour session today that I can’t be late for.” He stepped into the large shower and lowered me to my feet.

Thankfully he still kept a grip on me, because my eyes instantly closed and I swayed. We’d fallen asleep late and I’d definitely not had my eight hours of sleep. I needed my eight hours, or as close to it as possible, in order to function normally.

Cole snorted. “You really aren’t a morning person, are you?”

I mumbled something about needing eight hours, but I’d have been surprised if it was intelligible.

“I’m going to put the shower on now. I really need you to wake up.”

I nodded. “Mmm-hmm.”

Apparently he understood I was giving him the go-ahead to turn on the shower, because the water poured down on me, too cold, and I gasped, my eyes flying open. Cole was smirking while he fiddled with the temperature dial.

“That was deliberate,” I huffed, shoving him.

He grinned and grabbed my arm, pulling me into him. “It got your eyes open, didn’t it?”

I frowned. “Meanie.”

“You are really quite adorable when you’re tired.” He gently turned me around. “I’ll wash you. You wash me.”

I turned back to him. “You first. I’ll just fall asleep again if we start with me.”

Cole handed me the body wash, shampoo, and conditioner. The washing him part of the morning was fun and soon I was fully conscious. I had unfettered access to Cole’s hard body, but unfortunately there was a time constraint, so it was a quick but wonderfully pleasant exploration. We ran into a bit of a problem when it came to washing his hair.

I wrapped my hands around him and pressed my cheek to his back. “I’m too short to reach your hair.”

I felt, more than heard, him chuckling before he took the shampoo and conditioner and did it himself. I stood back from the spray and drank him in for a moment. He really was the most fantastic-looking man I’d ever had the good fortune to bed.

“Your turn.”

Just as I’d thought I might, I almost drifted off again as Cole washed my hair. It was only when he started soaping the rest of me that my eyes flew open. I sucked in air as he slipped two fingers over my clit. I felt his erection dig into me. His warm breath puffed against my right ear as he bent down to whisper, “If you trusted me I could be inside you right about now.”

Reluctantly I pulled away from Cole’s tormenting touch so I could face him. Uncertainty made me want to run screaming from the shower, and yet at the same time I felt panic flare to life as I forced out, “I told you I don’t want anyone to get hurt here, and as much as I want to trust you it’s probably not going to happen . . . Maybe we should just stop before this goes too far.”