“So, you’re never late? What else do you try never to be?”
Standing right beside her, he took a moment to take in the full impact of her outfit. “Something I’m not.”
Annoyance flashed across her face at his not-too-subtle jab.
What the hell? I told her I don’t lie, and I’m not going to start sugarcoating shit for her benefit.
Taking several steps into the dimly lit shop, he noticed only the lamp by the cash register was on. Makes sense really. She doesn’t want anyone to know she’s here at one in the morning.
Hearing the door shut with a lot more force than when it had opened, he turned to face her.
Fucking hell. She sure is something to look at right now. He let his eyes wander over every inch of soft black leather that seemed to mold to her body. She was wearing a pair of pants that were held together only by the crisscross of black satin ties running down the outside length of each leg from her hip to her ankle. It showed off smooth skin he wanted to lick. With that thought, his cock started to throb inside his pants, and that was before he took the time to admire the black strapless corset that perfectly completed the ensemble.
Oh yes. Here was the woman who had intrigued him ever since the first time he had seen her.
He reached up and loosened the gray scarf he had wrapped around his neck as he kept his eyes on her, daring her. She accepted the challenge by taking a couple of steps toward him in heels that screamed, don’t fuck with me.
It was such a shame really, because fucking with her was exactly what he wanted to do.
Rachel could feel her blood starting to boil. She had known this was a mistake the minute she had opened the door and seen him looking up at the snow. For a moment, she had almost forgotten what an insufferable jerk he was, and then he had opened his mouth, giving her a much-needed reminder.
Stepping forward, she placed her hands on her hips. She felt her breath catch as Cole slid the gray scarf away from around his neck.
I can do this.
I. Can. Do. This.
He’s just taking off his scarf for God’s sake. How can that be so fucking sexy?
He turned and placed the scarf between the lamp and the cash register on the counter. When he looked back at her, Rachel took great satisfaction in the way he couldn’t seem to take his eyes away from her.
This is your chance. Take it.
“So, are you trying to say I’m fake? Is that it? That’s kind of insulting, considering what you want from me.”
Rachel concentrated on his large hands as they unbuttoned his coat, just as they had done earlier in the day. Once the buttons were undone, he shrugged out of his coat, and she allowed herself to look up into his eyes. He was assessing her with a shrewd stare that was filled with so much fire she was surprised Precious Petals hadn’t burst into flames.
His short dirty-blond hair was sticking up in the front. Rachel couldn’t be sure, but she figured, as pedantic as he was, he had probably styled it that way.
“I don’t think you’re fake.” He threw the wool coat over the counter without turning away from her. “I think you are hiding.”
That pissed her off. She wasn’t hiding jack shit. She just didn’t want some control freak trying to hold her down—literally. That was why her ex, Charlie, had been such a great choice. There was a mellow guy if she had ever met one.
Now, the man currently in front of me? Anything but mellow. More like a dormant volcano waiting to erupt.
Raising her chin, she tilted her head to the side. “I’m not the one who wears five layers of clothing everywhere.”
“This is an image. That,” he told her, looking over her leather-clad body, “is a costume.”
Shaking her head, Rachel asked incredulously, “Are you really stupid enough to think that I would remove any of my clothes after this conversation?”
Calm and so annoyingly casual, he went about undoing his suit jacket without hesitation. His remaining ensemble—gray pinstripe pants, a perfect white shirt, and a matching pinstripe vest—was all neat and precise, positioned exactly where they should be.
The damn man even has cuff links.
So busy caught up in her inspection of him, Rachel hadn’t even noticed he had taken a step toward her until his voice cut through the air.
“As far as I was aware, you’re not supposed to remove your clothes. You’re supposed to be removing mine.”
For the first time this evening—and she was sure it certainly wouldn’t be the last—Rachel lost her footing. She couldn’t seem to formulate the words to tell him to get out even though that was exactly what she should say.
At every turn, the man had been rude and insulting. Begrudgingly, she had to admit that he had also been more honest than she had been.
Suck it up. Come on, show him he’s wrong.
“You’re right. I am,” she agreed.
“That’s what I said.”
“Do you always have to have the last word, Cole?”
Fuck, there it is—my name on her tongue. Finally.
“Say it again,” he demanded softly, taking the final step he needed to put them only inches apart.
“Say what?”
Angling his face down toward her, he repeated, “My name. Say it again.”
That was when she realized she possessed a new weapon in her arsenal, and Cole found it fascinating to see the wicked calculation flash in her eyes. He tracked her gaze when she deliberately dropped it to his mouth as she considered the request as if it were a life-or-death decision.
“Make me,” she challenged, raising her eyes back to his.
You have no idea what you just invited, Cole thought as he let a devious smile finally spread across his lips. Then again, when his teeth appeared, the look that crossed her face seemingly showed that perhaps she did realize what she had gotten herself into.
Yes, teeth. Get a good look at them. I am going to eat you up.
“Remember this moment, Rachel, because I don’t plan to forget it until you’re screaming my name so loudly that every single person within a ten-mile radius knows what it fucking is.”
Her painted lips parted as she bravely raised a hand, laying it on the left side of his chest.
“You know, for a man so immaculately dressed, your mouth is filthy, and your manners are terrible.”
Looking down at her hand, Cole watched as it moved to the buttons of his vest. “I don’t really think it’s my manners that you’re interested in.”
“Well, obviously not since you lack even the basic ones,” she fired right back, flicking the first button out of its hole. “You promised you wouldn’t touch me,” she stated, looking up at him. “Will you keep that promise?”
Cole acknowledged her question with a slight nod as he placed his arms behind his back. “I will. But are you ready for what is about to happen here?”
Her eyes narrowed as she freed the second button. “And what exactly is that? I get you out of your suit and do what I like. It’s not rocket science, is it?”
Opening the final button, she boldly placed both hands against his stomach and spread the vest apart.
That was when Cole cautioned her for the last time. “No, it’s not rocket science, but be careful, Rachel. Everything isn’t always as it appears.”
Solid—that’s what he is. Solid, tight muscle under this perfect white shirt. Huh, who knew?
“Stop talking in circles. What are you saying? You aren’t as you appear?” Rachel quipped as she moved around behind him. “You aren’t the man in a three-piece suit and shiny shoes?”