use.
“Want to talk about your day?” I asked, trying to lean forward and press the sides of my arms into my bra somewhat clumsily. The idea was to push up my boobs a bit.
Cole swallowed. “Laney, if you keep doing that, there will be no talking at all. Fucking hell, woman, do you want to drive me crazy?”
Heat coiled through me. I instantly relaxed my arms. Clearly, my flirting and seduction techniques needed work.
“Well, yeah. But maybe not right now,” I said quickly.
Cole chuckled, and his expression brightened a bit. Okay, so I’d accomplished my mission anyway. That was good enough for me.
“Nah, it’s fine. I got over it. Gabriel’s an asshole, and let’s just say I don’t like bullies,” he said.
“That’s understandable. So what’s going to happen now?”
“Schmuck thought I’d just cave in to his demands to avoid all the hassle of going to court. He was wrong.”
He clenched his jaw. His shoulders became rigid.
“Okay, I see you’re getting tense again. The idea was to help you relax.”
“Trust me, Laney. This is relaxing. That day in Rome was the first time I just completely shut off my business brain. Whenever I’m with you, I just forget about everything else.”
“I like the sound of that. Let’s see if I can manage that now too. I have an idea. Why don’t you lie down? I can feed you,” I said confidently.
He lay on the bench, head in my lap, looking up at me. I grinned, shoving a marshmallow in his mouth. I threw the next one in the air and failed to catch it. Cole burst into laughter.
“Maybe not,” I muttered.
“I like where this is going. Your breasts are right over my mouth when you lunge for it.”
“Hey! I thought you didn’t want to be tempted.”
“I know, but you put them right in front of my mouth. What am I supposed to do?”
I giggled, just taking out more marshmallows before remembering the bag of chips I’d bought too. I liked watching Cole relax in my arms and forget about his troubles.
We stayed on that bench right until sunset, but after that, it got chilly.
“Shall we move a bit?” I asked. Cole pushed himself up from my lap, rising from the bench.
“I have a better idea. I’m kidnapping you,” he announced, pulling me up by one hand. His voice was a delicious mix of seductive and conspiratorial.
“Where?”
“We’re going to this amazing place known as my apartment. It’s really close.”
“That’s true. I didn’t realize that.”
“I confused that compass badly with that kiss, huh?” He playfully tapped my temple.
I pinched his shoulder lightly. “Stop being so full of yourself because of that.”
“Impossible.”
Chapter Seventeen
Laney
When Cole said his loft was close, I didn’t realize we’d only need five minutes via Uber. Damn, my compass wasn’t just confused, it was downright broken.
He led me inside with a hand to the small of my back. I was just about to fess up to my plan of using seduction as a relaxation technique when a better idea struck me.
“I’m going to go to your master bathroom. And I want you to come after me in ten minutes.”
He cocked a brow.
“I’ll wait for you there,” I explained.
“Will you be waiting naked?”
I grinned, shaking my hips as I turned around. “You know it.”
I was half expecting him to follow me, but he remained behind. As soon as I entered the bathroom, I turned on the tap in the tub. I also connected a Spotify list of relaxing jazz music to the embedded sound system. I quickly discarded my clothes. I was just bending to check the water temperature when I heard the door open.
“You’re cheating. It’s been eight minutes, not ten.”
“Give me some credit. I wanted to burst in here eight minutes ago.”
I grinned, straightening up slowly. My entire body hummed when I felt him behind me. He laughed softly in my ear and moved his fingertips slowly over my hands at my sides.
“You planned this?” he asked.
“Yep. Concocted it when you messaged me about the meeting. By the way, I’m free tomorrow.”
He stopped moving his fingers. “Fucking hell, babe. That’s the best news I’ve heard all day. Why didn’t you lead with that?”
“It was supposed to be the cherry on the top. I was working up to that. Now I’ve gone and messed it up. But the order doesn’t matter, right? I can still give you that full-body massage. First step, let’s jump in. I can start on the massage while the tub fills with water.”
“I like how you think.”
He