“Perhaps?” She barely stilled the tremble in her voice.
“Perhaps. ” He straightened from his lazy stance, watching her with a narrow-eyed intensity that had her breasts and her cunt throbbing. Damn him for the effect he had on her.
“So he couldn’t tell me himself?” she questioned him nervously, watching him advance on her, determined to stand her ground.
“I’m sure he’ll call, eventually. ” His voice was a slow, lazy drawl, thick with tension and arousal. It was all she could do to keep her eyes on his face, rather than allowing them to lower to see how thick the bulge in his pants had grown. She knew for certain the throb in her vagina had intensified.
“So you volunteered as the welcome wagon?” She was breathless, and knew he could hear it in her voice. His eyes darkened with the knowledge, causing her heartbeat to intensify.
He moved steadily nearer, until he was only inches from her. She could feel the warmth of his body, and it tingled over her nerve endings. He was tall, so much broader than she. She felt at once threatened and secure. The alternating emotions had her caught, unable to move, unwilling to run.
The blood raced through her veins as she attempted to make sense of the powerful feelings racing through her body and her mind. Two years she had thought about him, fought the temptation he represented and the heat he inspired.
“I’m always here to welcome you, Tess. ” He smiled, that slow quirk of his lips that made the muscles in her stomach tighten. “But I have to admit, I was more than eager after talking to you yesterday. ”
Her face flamed. Echoes of her whimpers, her fight to breathe through her climax whispered through her mind. Cole’s voice, husky and deep, urging her on, rough from his own arousal, then his own climax.
Tess swallowed hard as she caught her lip between her teeth in nervous indecision. Did she reach out for him? Should she run from him?
“Hound dog,” she muttered, more angry at herself than she was at him.
He chuckled, his hand reaching out to touch the bare flesh at her neck.
“Prickly as ever I see,” he said with a vein of amusement as his eyes darkened. “Would you be as hot in bed, Tess?”
“Like I would tell you!” she bit out.
She fought the instinct to lean closer to him, to inhale the spicy scent of aroused, determined male.
“Hmm, maybe you would show me,” he suggested, his voice silky smooth, heated.
Tess trembled at the low, seductive quality of his voice. It traveled through her body, tightening her cunt, making her breasts swell, the nipples bead in anticipation. Her entire body felt flushed, hot. Then the breath became trapped in her throat. His hand moved, the backs of his fingers caressing a trail of fire to the upper mounds of her heaving breasts.
He looked into her eyes, his own slumberous now, heavy lidded.
“Mine,” he whispered.
Her eyes widened at the possessive note in his voice.
“I don’t think so. ” She wanted to wince at the raspy, rough quality of her voice. “I belong to no man, Cole. Least of all you. ”
So why was her body screaming out in denial? She could feel the bare lips of her cunt moistening as her body prepared itself for his possession. Her skin tingled, her mouth watered at the thought of his kiss.
“All mine,” he growled as a single button slid free of its fragile mooring over her heaving breasts. “You knew there was no way I would stay away after hearing you climax to the sound of my voice, Tess. You knew I wouldn’t let you go. ”
She shrugged, fighting for her composure, an independence that seemed more ingrained than needed at the moment.
“You don’t have a choice but to let me go,” she informed him, feeling trepidation dart through her at the sudden intensity in his eyes.
His fingers stroked over the rounded curve of her breast, his expression thoughtful as he stared down at her.
“Why are you fighting me, Tess?” he suddenly asked her softly. “For two years I’ve done everything but tie you down and make you admit to wanting me. And I know you do. So why are you fighting it?”
“Maybe I want to be tied down and forced to admit it,” she said flippantly, ignoring the flare of excitement in her vagina at the thought. She had heard the rumors, knew the accusations her mother had heaped on her father’s brother-in-law for years. “Yeah, Cole, me tied down, just waiting for you and one of your best buds. Hey hon, the possibilities are limitless here. ”
Her mouth was the bane of her existence. She mentally rolled her eyes at the sharp, mocking declaration.
“My best bud, huh?” He tilted his head, watching her with a slight smile.