okay, it’s unnecessary. I can get back to the inn on my own.”
He was quiet so long, she finally glanced up at him, their gazes locking immediately. His eyes bored into hers, a delicious weight settling over her skin, making her want to lean into him. To wrap her hand around the back of his neck and pull his face to hers. Press their lips together and remind herself exactly how delicious he tasted. Get lost in his groans and the hungry way he always seemed to grip her body, as if he couldn’t get enough.
“How do you know I’ve never gone before?” he asked, his voice low and rough.
Well, hell. Because she was, apparently, a stalker. She’d kept tabs on him since he’d moved to Havenbrook, but she’d done so in order to help her sister avoid a run-in with him. Hadn’t she? True, Elise had never once inferred a dislike of Cole, nor had she ever vocalized any sort of animosity, but sometimes a twin just knew what the other needed.
She shrugged. “I’ve never seen you at the inn during the event. But maybe that has less to do with the event and more to do with Starlight. Maybe you just don’t like it there.”
“If I didn’t like Starlight Haven, would I have chosen it as a place to spend three weeks of my life?”
Well, that was a question she hadn’t actually considered… And why the hell hadn’t she? True, Havenbrook wasn’t exactly a bustling metropolis, but there were more lodging options available than just Starlight. Of course, hers was the best—in her completely unbiased opinion. Also the nicest. And a man like Cole Donovan certainly enjoyed the finer things in life. That had to be all there was to it, right?
“Why did you?” she finally asked, desperate, for some reason, to know his answer. She glanced over in time to see his jaw tighten, the only whisper of emotion he allowed. He was very good at hiding them, but she’d been watching him enough that she could read those small tics. Could tell as soon as he walked into the inn what kind of a day he’d had and what she was in for that evening when they’d retreat to his room and spend the night wrapped in each other.
“You don’t seem like the kind of woman who’d fish for compliments, Sadie.”
She breathed out a laugh. “And if I were, I certainly wouldn’t fish for them from you.”
Although, he’d paid her compliments before, hadn’t he? Nightly, when his eyes were hazy with lust, his lips hovering over her skin, parted as if trying to inhale her taste. That first night they’d slept together, he’d told her she was gorgeous. Breathtaking. Beautiful. And he’d managed to whisper similar words of adoration every night since.
“In that case, and in the interest of throwin’ you off your game, I’ll tell you that Starlight is the best in Havenbrook. It’s the nicest with the longest list of amenities.”
“That’s true. But is that the only reason you picked it?”
He tugged her to a stop, his hand holding her own, heat zipping along her skin at the contact. When a family walked by, he stepped closer to her, their bodies now nearly flush, and Sadie wanted nothing more than to fall into him. To lift up on her toes and press their lips together. Kiss him with everyone in town as witness. “Were you hopin’ I’d tell you something else? Something like how much I enjoy the fresh-baked cookies in the afternoon or the muffins delivered to my room each mornin’? Or that I find the woman who runs it unbelievably—”
“Y’all’re still out here?” Edna slipped an arm through Sadie’s and bumped their hips together, not so subtly shoving her into Cole.
“Whoa, easy.” Cole steadied Sadie with firm but gentle hands on her hips. And though she might be wearing layers upon layers of clothes, she still felt the touch as sure as a brand against her skin. “You okay?” he asked low, his words just a whisper against her ear, the same tone and cadence he used when he settled his thick length deep inside her.
She shuddered and nodded, ignoring the tightening of her nipples and trying not to dwell on what the rest of Cole’s sentence might’ve been before Edna interrupted.
Clearing her throat, she eyed the older woman. “What’re you still doin’ out here? Did you talk Finn into givin’ you a drink after all?”
“Can’t hide a thing from you, can