breath, inhaling both of them.
I’d be intoxicated by the mix of their colognes, their soap, their deliriously sexy scents. Then, by their touch, as their hands glide up my thighs.
Further. Closer. I’d spread my legs for them.
I’d shut my eyes, and savor every delicious second.
And with those filthy images dancing before me, I shiver.
Yes, I definitely dressed with dirty hope in mind.
And I need to resist.
I clear my thoughts, trying to quench the fire inside me. “I think I’m just going to head to the bar and grab a quick drink,” I say to the host.
“Of course.”
When I’m several feet away, Daniel’s phone rings, and he picks it up, then signals to Cole that he’s going to take the call. As he walks away, Cole’s eyes swing around the restaurant, stopping at me. Lingering on me.
My stomach flips. My chest flutters.
I want both of them.
And I also want him.
Desperately.
Glancing at the stool next to him, he gestures for me to join him. If a gesture could be possessive, his is rife with it.
Is this why I’m early?
For a chance to see him?
Truth be told, I hoped for this—for another chance encounter.
An encounter I shouldn’t want.
So I vow to look, but not touch.
I stride over, admiring the view of the rakish Cole Donovan. He’s dressed down in charcoal slacks and a crisp checkered shirt, nursing a tumbler of what must be scotch. The ice clinks in it as I reach him.
He lifts the glass. “Join me, Ms. Carmichael.”
Leaning in, he brushes his stubbly jaw against my face, dusts a welcoming kiss on my cheek, and whispers in my ear, “So lovely to see you.”
A tremble tangos down my spine. “It’s good to see you too,” I say, a little wobbly, a little feathery, as hot sparks from that kiss rain down on my body.
I want them both, yes.
But I want this one solo.
And I don’t know what to make of these twin desires.
Or how to sort them out.
“What’s your poison?” he asks.
“Bourbon.”
He arches a brow as if to say impressive.
“Does that surprise you, Cole?”
His eyes study my face. “Everything about you surprises me.”
“Good,” I say.
He calls over the bartender, orders my drink, then says, “You like being a surprise?”
“I think I do. I think I like surprising you.”
“You’re doing an excellent job at it.”
I turn the tables on him, studying his face. “And do you like being surprised?”
He takes his time, his eyes serious. “I like all the things I’ve learned about you, especially the surprises.”
Another thing about him to like. Everything with Derek was by the book. Dates. Sex. Expectations.
With Cole, nothing is by the book. Everything from the sex to the conversations to the gift he gave me, even to our texts the night after our daytime tryst in my office, has been unexpected. And, in some ways, they’ve been more meaningful than many of my times with Derek, and we were together for months. It’s almost as if Cole and I are on a collision course to know each other. Maybe we’re staying on that course too, unable to veer away. I crave knowing him, I’m hungry to understand him.
“Did your mother enjoy her stay here?”
He smiles, a genuine sort of grin as he talks about her. “She had a lovely visit,” he says, and tells me more about what they did—shopping, dining, her spa day. “Amazingly, she still found time to chide me, like any good mother does.”
“What would she chide you about?” The bartender brings me my drink, and I thank him then lift my glass to clink with Cole’s.
“To lovely visits,” I say.
“I’ll drink to that,” he says, then knocks some back, sets it down, and taps his sternum. “She wants me to watch out for my heart.”
“Do you not look out for your heart? Are you eating too much red meat?” I ask, teasing.
He laughs. “I’m all about fish and salad and healthy meals.”
“Then why does she worry about your heart, Cole?” I tilt my head, gentling my tone. “Was it broken?”
He takes a deep breath. In that silence, there’s my answer. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to make light of it.” I bring my hand to my chest, opening myself up to him. “My heart was broken several months ago. I was falling in love with the man I’d been seeing, and I learned he’d been cheating on me. He did it publicly too. It was incredibly humiliating, and I was devastated.”
Cole sneers. “He didn’t deserve you. And you don’t deserve to