“I am,” he admitted, turning his head to follow her as she removed the vest down his left arm. When their eyes met, in a voice so seductive it set off alarm bells, he added, “But I’m also so much more.”
What the hell is that supposed to mean? Rachel thought when she finally removed the vest and placed it with his coat on the counter. Coming back to stand before him, Rachel cocked her head to the side with more attitude than was probably wise. “You want to back out?” she asked undaunted.
“Not even a little bit. I’m just trying to play fair,” he informed.
His expression made Rachel nervous. The man was so confusing. Maybe he was trying to tell her he didn’t believe he could keep his hands off her.
“Are you sure about this? Because if you touch me, I’m out of here.”
“I told you, Rachel. I will not touch you until you ask.”
Satisfied, she smoothed her hands across his tight abdomen again as she inched toward the buttons of his shirt. Looking at him from beneath her lashes, she tugged the material, freeing it from his pants, and she smiled when she heard him take in a breath.
“Nervous?” she asked.
“No, but would you like to remove my tie? It makes taking off my shirt that much easier.”
Rachel released the shirt and gripped the end of the tie. Wrapping it around her hand, she pulled on it until he was leaning down, just an inch away from her, and then she decided to tell him exactly what she was thinking. “I like the tie. I’ve never fucked a man in a tie.”
Cole observed her as she stood perilously close to him with his tie secured around her palm. It was amusing that she believed she held the control in this scenario.
“And you aren’t going to tonight either.”
“No?” she asked, licking her bottom lip that was now very close to his.
“No. I said you could take off my clothes, not fuck me. What kind of man do you think I am, Rachel?”
Her sultry eyes connected with his as she moved in even closer. Finally, she pressed her lips right beside his. “Bet I can change your mind,” she murmured.
He turned his head, so their lips were now aligned, and he could smell her sweet breath and cherries. “I bet you can’t.”
Annoyed with him and possibly herself, she pushed him away, releasing his tie.
“So, why are you here then?”
Cole reached up and loosened his now mangled tie. “I told you that I would come back here, so you could get me out of my suit.”
She let out a frustrated sound as Cole added the tie to the pile.
“Would you like me to leave? I didn’t misunderstand the whole point of this meeting, did I?”
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” she accused.
Shrugging his shoulders, he started to undo his shirt buttons one at a time.
“You came all the way down here at one in the morning to strip for me and not put out? Oh, now that’s a laugh. Do you get off on this?” She spun around and marched to the other side of the shop in her click-clacking heels.
“On what?” he asked calmly as she continued to fume. He was now halfway through with undoing his shirt buttons.
“Playing with women? Teasing them? ‘Oh, I’ll be there at one, and then you can take off my suit,’” she mocked, throwing her hands up in the air. “What else was I supposed to think? I mean, forgive a woman for jumping to conclusions.” She finally turned around to face him.
That was when her mouth snapped shut, and her eyes widened.
“I haven’t even begun to play with you, Rachel. Want me to start?” Cole asked as he lifted his arm and threw his shirt on the pile of clothes behind him.
He was now naked from the waist up.
Oh my fucking god.
Yes, Rachel admitted, that kind of language was not usually her style. But as she stood across from Cole, who was now minus every last scrap of material covering his upper half, Rachel felt justified in her choice of words.
The man is a fucking god.
If she thought he had been dangerous with clothes, removing them had just made him lethal. Underneath that carefully put together suit was a whole new beast, a beast covered in tattoos and—Are his nipples pierced? Fuck!
Suddenly, her mouth was dry, and her palms were sweaty as she was confronted with something she had definitely not seen coming.
Okay, okay. I can do this. He is still the same man he was five minutes ago.
The problem was she had been having enough issues dealing with this man. Throw in all of this, and she was…yep, fucked.
“I asked you something,” he said.
His voice penetrated her insane thoughts, and finally, it brought her out of her stupor as she stood in what she could only guess was shock. Running her eyes all over him, Rachel couldn’t find any words. She was too busy looking at everything he had just uncovered.
“Rachel?” he queried again, taking a step toward her.
Brain, kick in, run. Brain?
“Are they both pierced?” she blurted out before she could help herself.
“Would you like to take a closer look at them?”
Shaking her head back and forth, she knew that answer. For her sanity, the only logical response came out of her mouth. “No.”
He chuckled deeply as he continued forward.
Nowhere to go. I have nowhere to go. Damn wall.
“I think you do,” he told her. “You even want to touch them, maybe even lick them.”
Rachel could feel her clit throbbing incessantly between her thighs as her brain continued thoughts all on its own. A wolf! That’s a goddamn wolf on his right pec.
Closing her eyes, she tried to block out everything, but all she could see were tight, hard rippling muscles, tattoos, and silver.
The tattoo of a wolf on his chest smacked her between the eyes, but there was so much more. He also had some writing on his forearms and down his left ribs. Not to mention, he had what looked like a sterling silver bar through each nipple.
Had not seen those coming.
“Rachel?”
Looking up at him, she finally found her tongue. “I’m fine. You’re, uh…”
As she trailed off, she watched a very—yes, she was always going to think it now—wolfish grin appear across his mouth.
“Not as I appear to be?”
Suddenly, everything fell into place, all his clues and frustrating riddles. Before she could say anything, the wall was flush against her back, and he was close to being against her front.
“You promised no touching,” she reminded him, feeling more panicked than ever before.
This man, this stranger, who was now directly in front of her, was definitely a man she had no chance or hope of ever controlling.
“I’m not going to touch you,” he promised, leaning forward. “But I am going to kiss you.”
And before she could protest, his mouth was pushing hotly against hers.
Yes, Cole thought as he pressed his lips to hers. Gotcha.
Swiping his tongue against her bottom lip, he felt a scorching jolt of arousal as she immediately parted for him. Instead of pushing his tongue straight in to tangle with hers, he took a moment to trace her ripe, succulent mouth. He could feel her shaking as she stood with her back pressed against the wall, but she wasn’t backing down either. She wanted him, but she was stubbornly clinging to her resolve.