He shrugged. “This isn’t dating. This is an exchange of favors.”
“Is that what you called your involvement with Vicki?” she parried. “An exchange of favors?”
He gave a semblance of a smile. “Oh, sweet pea, you’re asking for it. Detox, it is.”
“And you’re going to provide the cure?” she scoffed. “It’s pretty clear you’re a womanizer.”
“I enjoy women, yes. Therapy may be needed later, but right now I’m hung up on teachers with attitude.”
“I know a great therapist,” she said, her voice all sugar.
“And I’ve got a better idea for how to deal with our hang-ups.”
She parted her lips, but before she could answer him, he pulled her into his arms and captured her mouth.
* * *
Marisa stilled, and then she kissed Cole back. She slid her arms around his neck, and her fingers threaded into his hair. He tasted of her baking, but underneath was the unmistakable scent of pure male.
One second she’d been fighting her attraction to him, and the next she’d been overwhelmed by it.
He held her firmly as his tongue stroked around hers. She pressed into him, her breasts yielding, and she felt the hard bulge of his arousal. Her mind clouded, waves of sensation washing over her.
Cole ended the kiss, and she moaned. But he trailed his lips down the side of her throat and then moved back up to suck on her earlobe. His breath next to her ear sent shivers chasing through her. Her breasts, and the most sensitive spot between her legs, felt heavy with need.
She tugged Cole back for another searing kiss. She felt the arm of the sofa behind her and realized that with one small tip, they could fall onto it.
He lifted his mouth from hers. “Tell me to leave now. Otherwise, this is going to end up where I want.”
“And where would that be?”
He looked down at her clothes. “I’ll be the guy who satisfies your inner domestic goddess.”
Wow. His words served to arouse her further.
He gave a slow-burn smile and nodded at her ruffly apron. “I couldn’t have dreamed of a sexier get-up if I tried.”
“It’s meant for cooking,” she protested.
“Among other things.” His hands settled on her waist, and he rocked against her as he bent and nuzzled her neck. “You didn’t tell me to leave.”
She couldn’t. She tried to force the words, but they wouldn’t come.
“You’re beautiful and sexy and alluring. I want to be inside you, pleasing us both until you’re calling out my name again and again...”
Oh. My. Sweet. Heaven. His words set her on fire. With Sal, sex had always been perfunctory. He’d never given her words...
Cole cupped her buttocks and lifted her, pressing her against him.
She cradled his face and kissed him again.
“Bed,” he said thickly, “though the sofa would work, too.”
“Mmm,” she mumbled.
He must have taken her response for a yes because the next thing she knew, she perched on the back edge of the sofa.
Cole covered one of her breasts with his hand. He shaped and molded the sensitized mound and its taut peak. Then he trailed moist kisses down her throat and along her collarbone.