Chapter Eight
They burst through the front door of the inn, laughing as their mouths collided. Cole pinned her against the door as it swung wide and slammed into the wall.
“Wait,” she said, gasping for air. “Waitwaitwait.”
He licked her bottom lip. “For what?”
He smelled like rich spice and tasted like whiskey—she wanted to lap him up and eat him in one swift helping.
“I can’t…” She clawed at the wide breadth of his shoulders, her fingers suddenly numb as they skidded down his bicep. “…breathe.”
She should’ve stopped at the first drink…or the fifth.
He palmed her stomach and took a step back so she could get some air. He looked disheveled, his short dark hair sticking up on end from her hands grabbing fistfuls of it. His caramel-brown eyes were intense, glaring through the dim lights of the hall.
It struck her how crazy this was.
She was making out with Cole Turner, the same guy that she’d seen on the American Music Awards last year. The same Cole Turner who had a cardboard cutout twin standing up in Lucy’s house.
If she brought the cutout over to the inn, Cardboard Cole could watch her have hot kinky sex with Real Deal Cole.
A laugh bubbled out of her at the drunken thought. She slid along the wall and slammed the door shut, and then threw her arms around Cole’s neck, leaning all her weight into him. She smashed her mouth to his. He moaned against her lips and let her guide him back against the opposite wall of the entry. His hands were possessive and greedy, gripping her with more force than she expected. She felt alive, wanted, and damn, it felt good.
He smudged fevered kisses down her neck. “Can you breathe now?”
“Don’t care.”
He nipped at her earlobe, sending starbursts of hot sensations down her neck. And then, in a flash of movement, he clenched her sweater in his fists and raised it to her breasts.
“May I?” he asked, licking a scorching line just beneath her jaw.
She nodded, her head knocking against the wall.
Lifting the sweater from her body, he left her in a red lacy bra—one she’d bought specifically for her date tonight.
He groaned as his gaze drank her in. “Red?”
“Let me guess. Is red your favorite color?”
The corner of his lips curved upward in the sexiest way. “It is now.”
Palming her breasts in his hand, he dropped to his knees. He ravished her, gripping her waist, burying his head between her breasts, nipping at the lace and tugging it with his teeth. The whiskey flowed through her veins, making her weak, but it came in pathetic second to the hollow ache flooding her middle. She could barely stand, hardly keep her eyes open.
As he stood to claim her mouth once more, Rachael closed her eyes and lost her balance. She reached out and grabbed him between the legs, using his shaft to steady herself.
“Glad I could be of service.” He chuckled, pushing his hips forward. “Feel free to hold on whenever you feel yourself falling off the earth.”
She leaned her head back and grinned, stroking him outside of his jeans. He was impressively large, like a hot rod of steel, but she already knew that; the image of him standing in the hall, dripping wet, had burned into her memory.
“We should get these off,” she slurred, the ache between her legs increasing each passing second. She couldn’t wait for his body to hover over hers, for his hips to pin her down as his thick length stretched her tight. “If you like the bra, you should see the panties.”
He kissed her open-mouthed, plunging his tongue deep. “That’s the magic word right there.”
“Panties?”
Groaning, he shrugged out of his sweater, tossed it to the floor, and then popped the button on his jeans. He was even more gorgeous without his clothes: golden-tan skin shaped over rippled muscle. His abs flexed and twitched as he brought the zipper down. Rachael’s mouth watered as her fingers grazed down his chest, his abs, his—
The doorbell went off, ring-a-ding-linging into the hall.
“We’re closed!” she hollered, falling against him. The instant skin hit skin, she went damp with need. She’d never wanted anyone more.
“Rachael?” Another knock. “It’s Joey.”
Shit damn freaking shit.
She’d just said she wasn’t home. Lot of sense that made. She couldn’t blow Joey off now. She didn’t want to answer the door, but she didn’t want to be completely rude, either.
“Give me another ten seconds and you’ll forget all about him.” Cole swiped his fingers between her legs, over her jeans. Her girlie parts tingled with desperation. She ached to feel his fingers on her sensitive flesh, to stroke her to climax. It’d be so easy. She was already so close.
“I have to get it. I can’t turn him away now.” Rachael moaned as he swirled his fingers along the seam of her jeans. “Give me two seconds!” she called out, though she wasn’t sure exactly who she was talking to.
“Rachael?” Joey said, trying the handle. “Is everything all right?”
“Yes!” She stopped the door with her heel and leaned over to snatch her sweater off the floor. “One second!” She shoved it over her head. “Don’t move,” she whispered to Cole. “Not one muscle.”
“I’ll try, but there’s one muscle that’s got a mind of its own.”
Giving a visible shudder, Rachael tugged the sweater down her stomach. She let the door creep open and stood in the entry, blocking Joey’s view.
* * *
Rachael didn’t give Cole the chance to get his shirt back on or get out of the way. He was stuck. To go upstairs, he had to cross the foyer. To sneak into the dining room and kitchen, he had to do the same.
“Hey Joey!” she said, leaning against the door to completely obstruct his view. “What are you doing here?”
“I brought you these.” He handed her a dozen yellow roses. “I felt bad about rescheduling our date earlier and thought I’d come by to apologize in person.”
“Oh!” She patted her hair, smoothing the strands he’d messed up by tunneling his fingers through it; pride streaked through him. “That was nice of you. Thanks.”
“Are you…” Joey paused. “…drunk?”
She giggled, burying her nose in the flowers. “I went to Shots for a drink after you canceled.”
“From the looks of it, I’d say you had more than one.”
Cole straightened against the wall.
What was this guy’s deal? He wasn’t her father or her boyfriend. What did he care where she went or how many drinks she had?
“Caught me red handed.” She put her hands up as if she was held at gunpoint. “One turned into four. How many have you had?”
“Me?” Joey laughed. “None. I came straight here after the fire.”
Rachael shifted her weight from one foot to another. “How was it?”
“The fire?”
She was damn cute when she was tipsy.
“Yeah,” she said. “I hope no one got hurt.”
“No one was injured, but the Robertson’s lost their home. They’re devastated. I was the last one to leave. I couldn’t bear to turn my back after they’d lost everything they owned. I offered to take them to a hotel, but they said they had family coming to help them.”
The guy was a real life, rush into burning houses kind of hero. And what did Cole do? He sang songs about those kind of heroes.
Quite the difference.
“Seeing a situation like that makes you appreciate the good you have in your own life, you know?” Joey went on. “It makes you realize what you want and what you’re missing, and I’m missing more than I thought I was.”
“I understand,” Rachael said. She seemed to sober quickly, steading herself as her movements slowed. “When you see a family who’s lost everything, the things that really matter become clear.”
Joey cleared his throat awkwardly. “Makes a man want a nice woman to come home to.”
Cole had to give it to the guy—he had skills.
“Aww, that’s very sweet of you,” she crooned. “Whatever woman you end up with will be lucky to have you.”
“Maybe I could—” Joey began.
“The Robertson’s have always been the nicest people,” she interrupted, sagging against the door to block his advance. “I’ll have to invite them to stay here until their place is rebuilt.”
“I actually suggested that, but they said they’d stay with Chase, their son. Do you remember Chase? We went to school with him.”
She nodded and her voice softened. “Yeah, I remember. I sat next to him at graduation. I wish there was more I could do.”
“It’s not like they could stay here anyway,” Joey said. “I hear you’ve booked up every room for the rock star.”
She started to turn toward Cole, but stopped short. “Yeah, he’s rented the entire place.”
“Bet you can’t wait to get rid of him, huh?” Joey said, half-laughing. “You hate rock music.”
Play up the hero act, run the singer through the mud. Way to fight dirty, Fireman.
Rachael shuffled her foot along the wood floor. “I haven’t heard him play, actually. He’s been keeping quiet.”
“Well, he’ll be gone soon enough.”
“Yeah.” Rachael kicked her heel against the door. “You’re right. He’s leaving Sunday for a show in Tahoe.”
“If I were you, I’d keep that guy at arm’s length. He’s from a whole different world than we are. He’s a different breed, probably counting his money as we speak.” Joey paused, taking Rachael’s hand. Cole couldn’t see what happened, but the muffled sound of lips smacking against skin gave it away. “I, on the other hand, am going to count the minutes until our date Sunday night.”
“Me too,” she said.
As she shut the door, Cole wasn’t sure whether Rachael was going to want to pick up where they left off, or call it a night.
“Where were we?” He stole behind her and took the flowers from her hand, dropping them to the floor. Nuzzling against her neck, he wrapped his arms around her waist and suckled her ear lobe into her mouth.
“Cole,” she said, and it was all the invitation he needed.
He spun her around and pressed her back against the wall, humming low in his throat as his mouth found hers once more. With one touch of her lips, the fire that’d been burning before rekindled. It was so easy to get lost in her, in the moment, and the chemistry between them.
“Cole,” she whispered again, the sweet sound of her voice music to his ears. “Can we take this slow?”
“Slow?” He slid his hand down to the button of her jeans. He tugged slowly, gently, until it popped free. “I can go real slow baby, if that’s the way you like it.”
She caught his hand. “Joey’s a good guy…”
“If you say so.” He kissed the smooth slope of her neck and swirled his tongue round and round against her skin. “But are you really going to kiss me and talk about him?”
She shook her head. “What he said was right. You’ll leave Sunday and never look back.”
“You knew that already,” Cole said, peeling his mouth from her neck.
“Yeah, but hearing someone else say it really drove it home.”
“If you want to listen to your boyfriend, that’s fine, but what we’re about to do has nothing to do with forever, remember?”
She looked shocked, her skin paling. “Joey’s not my boyfriend.”
“Maybe he should be.”
Truer words had never left his lips.
“One part of me knows you’re leaving and screams that I shouldn’t get involved…” She rose up on tiptoe and brushed her lips against his. “…but the other part of me wants you so bad. I can’t stop myself from kissing you, from wanting you to do naughty things to me.”
His jaw clenched so tight, he thought he heard it crack. For some reason he couldn’t explain, he didn’t want her to regret tonight…to regret inviting him into her bed.
“Listen,” he said, his voice nearly a growl. “I’ve got no qualms sleeping with you and leaving it at that. But if this is going to be the big mistake of your life, the oh-shit moment when you slept with the rock star when you knew better, I’m not sure I want any part of it.”
There. He mentally patted himself on the back. Way to take the high road.
“You don’t want to be a regret,” she said softly. She paused, hesitating, scissoring her bottom lip between her teeth. “Then I think I’m going to go upstairs and take a bath.”
He curled his fingers around her hip. “Am I invited?”
“Not this time.”
As she walked away, Cole’s insides wrenched. He wanted to ask her to wait, to reconsider, but he’d never begged someone to sleep with him, and he certainly wasn’t going to start now. He clenched his back teeth so hard they hurt, and watched her disappear as she turned at the top of the stairs.