blue. “I wasn’t planning on it.”
But now it was all I could think of.
This huge, hulking man...
On his knees before me.
But he was so big that even kneeling would put him at eye-level with me. I wished the thought hadn’t warmed my body, clenched me in places that hadn’t felt any heat in two years, since before I got pregnant.
This was too dangerous.
If Cole was in pain, he didn’t show it. Whatever rage in him channeled into something new, something far more threatening and…
Exciting.
I stared at his face and the hard line of his jaw. His arching cheekbones and stern brow made him look so severe, so animalistic. His arms pinned me against the wall, each hand on either side of me.
His biceps twitched, and I shivered. Even his forearms were muscular. Thick and clenching and a lovely shade of sun-kissed tan that complimented the chocolate tone of my skin.
“You’re trying to intimidate me,” I whispered. “To make me leave.”
“Is it working?”
“I know a lot of people are afraid of you. I’m not.”
Cole smirked. “I do love naivety.”
“I’m only trying to help you.”
“And I’m trying to forget what a perfectly spankable ass you have.”
I stared at his lips, at the sharp canines that peeked from his grin. I shouldn’t have imagined his bite, but a man like Cole Hawthorne probably didn’t kiss.
Did he?
“I should go,” I said.
“You should’ve left a long time ago, beautiful.”
“Live and learn.”
“Then I have a lot to teach you.”
He was so hot. Every inch of his body radiated an impossible heat. Worse, my skin warmed with his. If I wasn’t careful, I’d melt under his stare, so near his touch, with the threat of his voice…
“Let me go.” I wasn’t sure I wanted to be released. “You know this isn’t right—”
“When have I ever behaved?”
I didn’t have time to react before Cole kissed me.
It wasn’t a fairy tale fantasy of swelling music and gentle musings. He devoured me, lust-crazed and dominating in all the best and worst and most thrilling ways I had never been kissed. I had no idea what to do, how to hold him, if I wanted to make him stop.
I parted my lips in sheer instinct and gave myself to this man. This beast. He crushed my mouth in a fierce and possessive bite. My back struck the wall, but Cole’s arms trapped me more. His huge hands seized my wrists, and, within moments, my arms were over my head, my chest presented to him.
It should have terrified me.
Instead, my tongue flicked against his as I twisted in his hold.
Cole growled, deep and frustrated. He leaned into me a little too hard, squeezing the air from my body. I gasped his name, and he chuckled as my groan passed between our lips.
The heat burned through us, igniting everything I’d tried to ignore inside me. It had been so long since I let myself feel anything beyond a passing curiosity for any man. I came alive in an instant.
I needed more of him. Masculine. Strong. Demanding.
He kissed me as desperately as I kissed him. The unwelcomed, delicious sensations shocked my skin and sizzled all the way to my core.
I burned molten—my heart, my rationality, even the last ounce of strength that kept me standing.
Everything sane inside me shredded against his kiss. He held me, a towering and frightening monster of a man who might have lifted and broken me in a single conquering thrust.
And my body ached for it. I longed to be kissed and give my kiss. To be touched and taken and wanted and delighted by the sheer power the man who desired me.
And that was the reason I had to stop it.
I fought my instincts and cobbled together the fraying bits of my willpower. I couldn’t surrender to these moments of weakness, not when I finally salvaged my life after what became of my last indiscretion. My desires weren’t important anymore.
I had to protect myself for Rose’s sake.
I pulled away. Cole released me from his kiss but not his grip. I stared at him, wide-eyed and shocked.
I didn’t recognize the sexy huskiness in my voice. “I should go…”
Cole shuddered, staring at my lips. “But you haven’t convinced me to be traded yet.”
I’d be lucky if I remembered my agency’s name after a kiss like that, let alone any of the talking points I’d memorized.
Then again, he didn’t care what I had to say. Cole wanted me to convince him with my body.
And God, it sounded like the best possible way