She ran her hands down his back, sliding them onto his taut buttocks and pressing his erection against her stomach, shivering with anticipation. She kissed his harder, swirling her tongue against his.
He opened wide, and she could feel the tension rising in his muscles.
She moaned and wriggled beneath him, shifting her thighs in a clear invitation.
He gasped. “Hey. This is supposed to be the slow part.”
“Fast is fun,” she assured him, shifting again, even more meaningfully this time.
He grabbed her hip with a broad hand and held her still, pulling back to look into her eyes. “If I go now, I’m going to break a land-speed record.”
“Now,” she said. “I don’t care. Now.” Slow had been a stupid idea anyway. Nothing between her and Cole was ever going to be slow.
He flexed his hips and was instantly inside her.
She groaned, nearly melting around his heat.
He buried his hands in her hair, thumbs stroking her temples. His breath came in gasps next to her ear.
She could feel the tension cresting in his steel, hard muscles. Her body tightened and strained and pulsated.
She reached for the comfortor, fisting her hands into the fabric as their rhythm increased.
He repeated her name, over and over again. Then his hands found hers, covered hers, their fingers entwining as the world exploded into black and time ceased to exist.
Cole kissed her damp brow. “You okay?”
She sighed, sinking into his incredibly soft bed. “I don’t think okay is exactly the right word.”
“You hurt?”
“No. It’s fantastic. Fantastic is the right word.”
He chuckled low in her ear, easing most of his weight off her. “You give me heart failure all the time, you know that?”
“You’re pushing things too fast,” said Kyle as he tapped the remainder of the glass from a broken window in the toolshed.
Cole set a new pane on the ground, leaning it against the wall of the shed before he retrieved a hammer from the toolbox.
Kyle didn’t know the half of how fast they’d pushed things. Cole had never done that before-made love after only two days.
“I think we’re doing fine,” he said, strapping on a leather belt and dumping a handful of nails into the pouch.
Kyle whacked at a stubborn corner of glass and it tinkled into jagged pieces. “First you’re necking on the lawn, then you bring her home after midnight.”
A grin split Cole’s face. “Will you listen to yourself? You sound like her father.”
“I’m just saying, Katie’s not going to buy it if you don’t slow it down.”
Cole moved up to the shed wall and dug his claw hammer into the window frame. One by one, the finishing nails popped out. “It’s a compromise. Sydney’s on a deadline with the Thunderbolt.”
“You’re worried about her deadline? This from a guy who was willing to throw her off the property two days ago?”
“I’m getting to know her now. And I didn’t realize her job was on the line.”
Kyle stopped, fixing his attention on Cole. “She told you her job was on the line?”
“Yeah.”
Kyle glared at him impatiently.
“What?”
“Cole. What are you doing?”
Had Kyle guessed what had happened last night? Was it that obvious?
“I’m pretending to fall for Sydney,” he said with exaggerated patience, trying to gauge his brother’s expression.
“You sure about that?”
“I’m positive about that. What are you suggesting?”
Kyle whacked the glass again. “I’m suggesting you watch yourself.”
Cole nearly choked on that one. “Hang on. This was your idea, little brother.”
“Yeah.” Kyle tugged his leather work gloves from his back pocket. “And I may have been wrong about that.”
“Wrong? Hello? What did I miss?”
“She could be playing you,” said Kyle, settling his fingers in the grooves.
“Playing me how? She’s been up front and honest about everything.” Unlike him and Kyle who were pulling one over on Katie.
“Has she?”
“Yes!”
Kyle brushed shards of glass from the sill. “Think about it, Cole. She’s getting exactly what she came for.”
“Uh, yeah. That was the deal.”
“The deal was Katie would think Sydney fell for you. But now you think Sydney’s falling for you.”
“No, I don’t,” Cole snapped.
“Yes, you do. And what the hell are the odds of that?”
Cole hadn’t honestly thought about the odds last night. But then, he didn’t think Sydney was falling for him, either. Not really. It was more a chemical thing. A very powerful chemical thing.
Not that he could tell Kyle he’d slept with Sydney. How suspicious would that look?
“It’s under control,” he said to Kyle.
“You telling me you’re not falling for her?”
“We’re faking it for Katie.”
“You and I shared a room for fifteen years, Cole. Quite frankly, you’re not that good an actor.”
“So, what are you suggesting? I call it off? Kick her out?”
“I’m just suggesting you watch your back. Don’t trust her too far too soon.”
“Fine.”
“I’m serious.”
“I said fine.”
“Just think about the possibilities.”
Cole dug in on the upper frame. “What part of fine didn’t you understand?”
He would think about the possibilities. He was thinking about the possibilities. Because he didn’t know Sydney.
Yeah, he felt as though he knew her. But she had an agenda, and that agenda included getting him to the altar.
What he’d interpreted as sweet, sexy vulnerability, could have been cold, calculated manipulation. Maybe she was hot for him, or maybe she was playing to his ego.
As bad as it sucked, Kyle had a point. What were the odds of a woman like Sydney wanting to sleep with a man like Cole after only two days?
Katie had offered Sydney the use of Kyle’s office phone to contact the museum. Sydney’s heart thumped in her chest as she dialed Gwen Parks’s number. Saying it out loud was going to make it real.
“Gwen, here,” came her friend’s voice over the phone line.
“Hey, Gwen. It’s Sydney.”
“Hey, Sydney.” There was a smile in Gwen’s voice. “How’s the hunt going?”
Sydney took a deep breath. “Well. I found it.”
There was silence on the other end of the line. “Define ‘it.’”
“The Thunderbolt of the North.”
Gwen squealed and Sydney jerked the phone away from her ear.
“You actually found it? Where are you? Where is it? What happened?”
“I’m in Texas.”
Another silence.
“Who’d have thought,” said Sydney.
“Did you bring it over from Europe?”
“It’s been here the whole time.”
“Oh, wow. When are you coming back?”
Sydney lowered her voice. “Not right away. It’s complicated. Can I get you started on the show?”
“Without you?”
“Yeah.”
“Of course. But you do have the Thunderbolt, right?”
“It’s in a lawyer’s office in Wichita Falls. But don’t tell a soul. Bradley Slander is still gunning for me, and I don’t want him getting wind of this until it’s a done deal.”
“If it’s not a done deal, why am I setting up the show?”
Sydney twisted the phone cord around her hand. “It is. Sort of. Well… I have to marry the owner.”
Another silence.
“It’s a complicated inheritance thing.”
“You’re going to marry into the Thunderbolt family?”
“It’s a marriage of convenience.”
“Don’t you think that’s above and beyond?”
“It’s the only way. I’m pretending to fall…” Sydney hesitated over the details. “Anyway, we’ll divorce as soon as the show’s over.”
“I don’t know, Sydney.”