His for the Taking - By Ann Major Page 0,49

he murmured even as his hot eyes scorched her skin.

His gaze admired her body in her tight red dress before he snugged her closer. Then the hard feel of his muscular body rocked her senses.

“Don’t hold me so close,” she whispered as she fought a losing battle against physical arousal.

“I want you,” he murmured, ravaging the softness of her mouth. “Just as you want me. Why did you wear a dress that skims your body like a second skin if you didn’t want to tempt me?”

She flushed guiltily. When she’d selected the dress tonight, she’d known she should have chosen something less revealing, but yes, she’d wanted to entice him.

At some point, they stopped dancing. When he lowered his mouth to devour hers, she didn’t fight because she didn’t have the strength. She wanted him, more than she’d ever wanted anything in her life. Within dizzying seconds, he had her weak and clinging breathlessly.

“We’re going home, baby,” he said.

“The fundraiser isn’t over. I’m still on duty.”

“I’ll make your excuses,” he said in that supremely confident male way that could so annoy her when she wasn’t melting with desire.

Five minutes later, he’d made their excuses and they had exited the ballroom. Arms linked, he rushed her to his truck, which he drove with one hand while his other closed over hers with a fierce urgency that had her blood tingling.

Only when they were standing beneath the glare of her porch light did she come back to her senses.

“Good night,” she said without unlocking her door. “And thank you—for the check.” When he didn’t kiss her good-night and go, she said, “I can’t ask you to come in. Greg’s here, and Noah…wouldn’t understand.”

“No way am I letting you and Noah stay here alone after that break-in. I can sleep on the couch.”

“No!”

Then Greg opened the front door, and Cole stepped past her into the living room.

“Noah’s awake,” Greg said. “He had a dream about some witches in his closet, so I’ve been reading to him.”

“I’ll take over from here,” Cole said.

“No,” she began, but she was talking to his back. He was already striding down the hall.

Too tired to fight him, she thanked Greg. After he left, she went to the closet and pulled out a set of sheets and towels and two pillows and tossed them onto the couch.

Determined not to surrender to Cole, at least not tonight, she went to Noah and kissed his brow, promising that her kisses were magic and would keep the witches away.

Feeling too flustered to look at Cole, she crossed the hall to her own room and closed herself inside.

* * *

“One more story! Please! Please!”

“Good night, Shining Star,” Cole said as he closed their third book. “Sleep tight.” He leaned down and kissed Noah gently on the top of his head.

“If I close my eyes, would you stay here and guard the closet?”

“There aren’t any witches in that closet. Remember how we just checked.”

“The green one’s not there all the time. Just sometimes,” Noah stated matter-of-factly. “She looks sort of like an ugly, mean frog. She has snaky hair and big orange eyes. She comes up through a little hole in the floor. Then she grows bigger and bigger, while I grow smaller and smaller. When she’s crazy huge, she sneaks out….” Noah broke off, but his enormous eyes remained fixed on his closet.

“It was just a dream. Try not to think about her, okay?”

Cole lay down beside his son and put his arm around him. Shining Star’s black lashes lowered heavily to his tanned cheeks. It was amazing how calm and peaceful he looked when he was sleepy.

“Do you think my mommy’s pretty?” Noah whispered drowsily.

“Yes,” Cole admitted. “I do.”

But Noah didn’t hear him because he had succumbed to sleep.

Intending to stay with Noah for only a few minutes, Cole loosened his tie and the top button of his shirt. But the bed was soft and Noah was warm and cuddly. Within seconds, he was asleep, too.

Fourteen

In her own room, Maddie unzipped her sparkly red dress and stepped out of it. Naked, she stood in the moonlight, a strange restlessness consuming her. Burning for Cole despite her better judgment, she willed him to come to her. Even as her heart thundered, the house remained silent. Finally, she grew tired of standing all by herself in the silvery light and lay down.

Cole was everything she shouldn’t want. He was part of the miserable past she wanted to forget. He was arrogant and determined to