Irresistibly Yours - Lauren Layne Page 0,49
of her mouth telling him what she wanted. And then he gave it to her, coming in her mouth as he shouted her name.
It. Was. Glorious.
Cole tugged her upward, and she settled against him, cheek on his shoulder as he softly ran his hand over her hair.
“Now what happens?” she asked after they’d been quiet for several minutes.
“Well, for starters, we’re going to stock up on some condoms.”
She smiled. “You seem to be thinking we’ll do this again.”
He kissed her forehead. “I know we will.”
She tilted her face up so she could meet his eyes. “Cole, I— This was—”
“Don’t you dare try to tell me this was a onetime thing, Tiny. You liked it every bit as much as I did.”
She felt herself blush, and hoped he wouldn’t notice. “I’m not saying I didn’t, it’s just— I meant what I said that first day. I’m not looking for a boyfriend.”
He blinked. “I think that’s a version of what’s supposed to be my line.”
“You know what I mean. It’s just that we already spend so much time together at work, and if we add sex to the mix, I’m worried the lines will blur, and—”
He pushed her onto her back, rolling over her. “I’ve got an idea. We make a pact.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What kind of pact? A sex pact?”
His smile was gentle. “You’re adorable. And sure, I guess it’s a sex pact, in that we’ll be having lots of it. But I was thinking more along the line of a guarantee. Something to ensure neither of us crosses a line we don’t want to cross.”
“Go on…”
He framed her face with his hands. “I will treat you with the respect you deserve at work, and then I will use your sweet body for sex after work, but Penelope Pope, I give you my solemn promise not to fall in love with you.”
Her lips parted and he gave her a quick kiss. “Your turn.”
“Cole—”
“Go on.”
She rolled her eyes. “This is dumb.”
“I’m waiting.”
Penelope huffed out a breath. “Fine. I promise to never fall in love with you, and ditto on the work and sex thing, except there have to be rules. No sex on weekdays.”
“Nope. Do not agree.”
She scowled up at him. “I’m serious. If we want to keep them separate, if we want to keep everything in perspective, we have to be smart about this. Weekdays, we’re colleagues. Weekends, we can be—”
“Fuck buddies.”
She grinned. “Yes. That.”
He narrowed his eyes. “That’s my only option?”
“Take it or leave it,” she said in a singsong voice.
Take it. Please take it.
He studied her for several long moments before he levered himself up and started to move off the bed.
Penelope’s heart sank as she sat up. “You’re leaving?”
He reached for his jeans and pulled them on. “Damn straight.”
She pushed her hair out of her face and tried to keep her face composed. It was no more than she expected really. She’d always known that she lacked the allure to hold a guy’s interest….
“Okay, well…I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said, hoping her voice sounded cool and indifferent instead of small and rejected.
He froze in the process of buttoning his jeans. “What are you talking about?”
“You said you were leaving—”
He gave her an exasperated look. “Tiny, if you’re only giving me sex on weekends, I have to take advantage of every moment. You follow?”
“Not really.”
He pointed at her nightstand clock. “It’s still Sunday. Sunday’s the weekend.”
“So where are you going?” she called after him, as he walked out of her bedroom.
His head poked back into the room. “Keep up. Where do you think I’m going? We need some fucking condoms.”
And then he was gone, and Penelope couldn’t help the dopey smile that crept over her face.
She was really doing this. She was about to embark on a real-life, grown-up affair with Cole Sharpe.
Chapter 16
Cole made it nearly a week of following Penelope’s stupid no-sex-on-weekdays rule.
He didn’t like it, but he’d seen from the stubborn set of her pointy little jaw that it was that or nothing, and, well…for reasons he didn’t care to explore too closely, nothing wasn’t an option when it came to Penelope Pope.
Not when he’d spent the better part of the last three and a half days trying not to think about those little sighs she made when he licked her nipples, or the way her hips went crazy when he fingered her.
Hell, he’d almost thought they could pull it off.
They’d made it through Monday’s staff meeting, Tuesday’s team lunch, and Wednesday’s after-work happy hour without