Busted (8 page)

He raised an eyebrow. “Really? Why’s that? You havin’ second
thoughts about him?”

Charlene wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of admitting as
much, but she knew her relationship with Paul had run its course. She just had
to figure out how to let him down gently, without hurting his feelings. “Can’t
a girl just take a few days for herself without everyone questioning her about
it?” She didn’t mean to sound so defensive, but between Paul, her parents, and
now Cole, you’d think she’d announced she intended to take a year sabbatical to
retreat to Tibet.  

He slid a finger under her chin, coaxing him to look her in
the eye. “You wanna tell me what’s really goin’ on with you? You haven’t been
yourself the past few days. I know something’s eatin’ at you.”

She closed her eyes against the powerful image his words
evoked. Damn him. Why couldn’t he just leave her alone? Maybe then she’d be
able to move on with a nice guy like Paul. Seeing Cole nearly every day was the
problem, but she couldn’t find the courage to demand he keep his distance, not
when she looked so forward to their daily coffee breaks.

Reaching for the front of his leather jacket, she pulled him
inside and closed the door. “No sense letting all the heat out.”

“I don’t think you need to worry about that, darlin’,” he
said, moving in to inhale her scent. “You and I are generatin’ enough heat to
set this house on fire.”

He was right; she could feel the sexual tension like a
living, breathing entity between them. “Um, I just made a pot roast. Have you
had dinner yet?”

He trailed a finger over her cheek as he stared her down. “I
didn’t come here for dinner.”

She knew why he came; it was obvious from the look in his
eyes, his stance, and every word that remained unspoken between them. “Well, I
was just about to eat. You’re welcome to join me.”

“I’m hungry,” he whispered in her ear, stirring her hair
with his hot breath. “But not for food.”

Lord help her.

What had happened between them when she followed him home
from Dixie’s was supposed to be an anonymous one-night stand, nothing more.
After the way he kicked her out, she never imagined they’d become friends, but
all of the coffee breaks, field trips, and class projects he volunteered for
meant they spent a lot of time together in recent months. And she saw a side of
him others clearly didn’t. He was so much more than just the dominant lover
everyone speculated about. He was a loving and devoted father and son. A smart,
funny, sexy man. More importantly, she’d come to count him among her friends.
She looked forward to the end of the day when she’d see him again, and whenever
she thought about telling him he should keep his distance, it made her heart
ache.

She was falling for him, and she didn’t know how to stop it.

“Do you ever think about it?” He wrapped his hands around
her wrist, tugging her closer. “What it was like between us that night? You were
so free, so uninhibited. You can’t tell me it didn’t feel good.”

No, she couldn’t tell him that. But if she told him the
truth, that he’d made her feel things no one else had, she’d never be able to
make him understand why they couldn’t be together. Small town folks had
notoriously small minds, at least the residents of Brant County did, and she
knew they wouldn’t want one of their own hooking up with a man everyone
considered a deviant. If only they knew him like she did.

Clearing her throat, she took a step back. “My pot roast is
getting cold.”

He smirked before following her into the kitchen and accepting
the seat she offered. “How’d your boyfriend take it when you told him you
needed a little time to yourself this weekend?” he asked, slipping his leather
jacket off and hanging it on the back of his chair.

“I’m sure he didn’t mind. It’ll give him a chance to spend
some quality time with his daughter.” She plated their food and poured two
glasses of wine from the bottle of merlot she’d opened earlier. She considered
sitting across the small table, but she knew that would betray her discomfort,
and with a man like Cole, a woman had to stand her ground. He could smell fear
and weakness, and she knew he wouldn’t hesitate to capitalize on it to get her
into bed.

“If you were
my
woman, I wouldn’t let you spend one
night alone.”

She cursed the tremor in her hand when she picked up her
wine glass. “Everyone needs a little space now and again. It’s healthy for a
relationship.”

“Is that what you have with him, a
relationship
?” He
smiled as he leaned back in his chair to regard her. “I gotta tell ya, I get
the impression you’re not all that into him.”

She forked a baby carrot into her mouth, taking her time to
chew as she thought of a reasonable response. She wanted to tell him it was
none of his business, but she knew that would never work. When he wanted answers,
he typically got them. “He’s a very nice man.”

Cole chuckled. “Nice, huh? That tells me all I need to
know.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being nice. In fact, I think
it’s a very desirable quality in a man.”

“Liar.”

She should argue with him, but what was the point? He was
right. She didn’t like
nice
men. She liked sexy, edgy, dangerous men. Like
Cole. “You’re pretty sure of yourself, aren’t you?”

“You’re forgetting I know what turns you on. You can’t fake
a reaction like that.”

Charlene wanted to pretend she didn’t know what he was
talking about, but they both knew she did. “I’d rather not talk about—”

“When we had sex… you wanted more.” He looked her in the
eye, daring her to look away. “You wanted to see how far I’d push you. You
wanted to step outside of your comfort zone, test the limits of your—”

“Stop!” She set her utensils down beside her plate as she
tried to regulate her breathing. She knew she was flushed, her breathing was
labored, her nipples were tight and aching… No question about it, she was
aroused, and she hated it.

“You don’t want me to stop,” he whispered, pushing his chair
back and standing up. “You’re so busy worryin’ about what everybody else
wants.” He hooked his boot into the leg of her chair, turning her to face him
as he towered over her, his stomach level with her mouth. “But what about what
you want?”

She tried to close her eyes, to shut out the evidence of his
arousal staring her in the face, but he wouldn’t let her.

He took her hand and closed it over his erection. “That’s
what you do to me.” He grit his teeth. “Every damn time I see you, I remember,
and I get hard just thinkin’ about what it felt like, havin’ you bent over that
car, takin’ you from behind, makin’ you scream my name…”

He wove a powerful spell, merging the past with the present
and the possibilities he promised in the future, if only she was brave enough
to take him up on his unspoken offer. “Please…”

“Don’t tell me you want me to stop. You know you don’t.” He
knelt down in front of her, his hands on her knees, gently prying her legs
apart. “It’s okay to be different, to want things other people don’t understand.
What happens between us is nobody’s business but ours, sweetheart.”

She wanted to believe that, but she’d lived here her whole
life. Privacy was just an illusion in this town. Everyone knew everyone else’s
business, and she didn’t want to be the teacher everyone talked about around
the water cooler on Monday morning. “I can’t do this. I know you don’t
understand, but I have my job, my family—”

“What about what you want?” He brushed his thumb over her
nipple, back and forth, slowly, hypnotically, testing her reaction. When she
didn’t push him away, he slipped a hand under the thin barrier of cotton and
began tweaking and teasing her with his hands until her eyes drifted closed on
a helpless whimper.

She tried to control her reactions to this man, but it was
hopeless. It was like he had mapped her body and he was intent to lead her to climax,
with or without her consent. “I don’t know what I want.”

“Yes, you do.” He pulled her to her feet as he pushed the
hoodie off her shoulders, letting it fall to the floor at their feet. He honed
in on a sensitive spot in the hollow of her neck, licking and nipping at her
delicate skin until she felt boneless. “You want me. You want me to make you
feel good, like only I can.”

He absorbed her helpless sob when he took her mouth, kissing
her savagely, mercilessly.

Then she saw the dominant man rest of the world knew
existed, but never saw. His eyes were dark and glittered dangerously as he
pulled back to look at her. His chest heaved with every breath he took, and she
knew he wanted to punish her for making him lose control.

“You hate feeling this way, don’t you?” She licked her lips
when he grasped her wrists in one hand and pinned her arms behind her back.
“You hate losing control.” She knew she was a fool to bait him, but she needed
to know that he felt as helpless as she did.

“No one has ever done this to me.” He snagged her bottom lip
between his teeth, licking and nipping at random. “I didn’t think I could feel
this way. Sex is supposed to be sex, that’s all.” He closed his eyes, as though
he was trying to prevent her from seeing more than he felt ready to reveal. “I
can control that, but this…” He sucked the delicate skin at the base of her
neck into his mouth hard, marking her. “I hate feelin’ like this, like you’re
the one controllin’ me.” He muttered a curse. “It’s not supposed to be like
this.”

She knew being so vulnerable killed him, and it made her
want him more. He may be able to dominate women with his expertise and quiet
commands, but he couldn’t control what he felt, or the effect it had on him.
“Why did you come here tonight?” she asked, tipping her head back to give him
access to her neck.

“To have sex with you.”

“Liar.”

Cole backed her against the nearest wall, raising her higher
until her breasts were level with his mouth. He drew her nipple into his mouth,
soaking the thin cotton barrier as he sucked on the pebbled peaks ruthlessly.

“Take this off,” she begged. “Please, I need to feel your
mouth on me.”

He looked at her for a fraction of a second before letting
her slide to her feet. “Did I see a fire goin’ in the living room?”

Too shaken to speak, she only nodded.

He grabbed her hand and led her into the living room. After
stopping in front of the fireplace, he took a step back, keeping her at arm’s
length. “Take your clothes off, nice and slow.”

Cole could barely breathe as he watched her strip for him.
He wrestled with the voice inside his head, telling him to give her what he
knew she wanted. But the last thing he intended was to scare her, so he tried
to control his natural urge to demand her complete and total surrender.

She wouldn’t be ready to abandon her need for propriety and
stop worrying about what other people thought for some time. In the meantime,
he would slowly, gradually push her a little further out of her comfort zone
every time they made love, until eventually she was willing to acknowledge that
she wanted the same kind of relationship he did.

She kicked her panties aside and stood before him, looking
shy and apprehensive as his eyes roamed her body, taking in every swell, curve,
and freckle. She was perfect. Petite, with the gentle softness he craved.

“Tell me you’re still on the pill.”

“Yes.” 

Nothing rivaled the thrill and intimacy of taking her
bareback. “I’m gonna tell you want I want you to do, and if you don’t respond
right away, there will be consequences.”

Her eyes widened in surprise. “I’m not sure—”

“Sssh,” he said, holding his finger up to his lip. “Don’t
talk. Just listen. I want you to show me what makes you feel good.” His
erection strained painfully behind the confines of his jeans, but he knew he
had to remain fully clothed if he had a prayer of keeping his arousal in check.

“But I—”

“I said I don’t want you to talk. Just listen and do what I
tell you to.” He knew she was used to gentle, considerate lovers, but he
couldn’t pretend to be someone he wasn’t, not even for her. “Lick your thumbs.”
Her slight hesitation made him question whether she was going to defy him, but
he suppressed a groan when she slid her thumbs, one after the other, deep into
her mouth, coating them with her saliva as she waited for his next order.

“Cup your tits and brush your thumbs over your nipples.” He
closed his eyes for a split second, trying to regain his composure when she
widened her stance and tilted her head back. “That’s it, now pinch harder. Show
me how you like it.” He watched, mesmerized, as she fondled her full breasts,
tweaking her nipples as she rolled them between her thumb and forefinger.

Not taking over took every ounce of self-control he
possessed. He was dying to touch her, but he knew he had to help her lose her
inhibitions so they could have the kind of relationship he was convinced they
both wanted. “You like that, don’t you, baby? Feels good?”

“Yes.”

He couldn’t wait to hear her call him
sir
, to acquiesce
to his every command without question, but he knew that would come in time,
when she learned to trust him to give her pleasure beyond her wildest
expectations. What she’d experienced in his arms the last time would pale in
comparison to what he had in store for her tonight.  

“You wanna touch yourself, don’t you?” His breath hitched
when he thought about what came next. He didn’t know if he could stand still
while she pleasured herself, but he would try. It was important for her to get
comfortable with her own body before she considered giving it to him. “You
wanna stroke your clit?”

She moaned and licked her lips, her eyes drifting to the
bulge in the front of his pants. “I’d like it even more if you’d do the
honors.”