I picked up my napkin, glancing up at her for the first time since she’d walked through the door.
Her eyes lit with excitement and her body nearly vibrated as I nodded to the empty chair across from me.
“So, are my acting classes worth the cost?”
There was a heartbeat of silence in the restaurant’s dining room before someone chuckled.
As she shot me a brilliant smile—which nearly blinded me—the people around us went back to their conversations.
Though she’d diffused the situation, I knew she wouldn’t hesitate to start up again. Another surge of pride tore through me. She was a clever woman all right.
The flash of victory in her eyes told me that not only did she think she had won this round, she was playing for keeps now.
I lifted my chin and stared down my nose at her.
She smiled at me shyly. Her tawny hair was still dark in places where the dampness clung, but the scent of shampoo—something fruity and sweet, tangerines and watermelon maybe—wafted around her. Her wide eyes were flecked with gold, their honey color ringed by forest green. She was every bit as beautiful as the teenaged girl I’d fallen in love with all those years ago, but she’d filled out, grown up. A few extra pounds still clung to her frame, making her all the more mouthwatering.
“Oh, I didn’t know you had company.” The waitress smiled down at me, her pad and pen poised to take our orders.
“I surprised him.” As always, Laney’s sunny personality shone through in her voice, and she beamed up at the young woman. “He didn’t know I was going to show up.”
“How nice.” The waitress, Kat—who I knew from frequent visits here—smiled back at her, then shifted her attention to me. “What can I get you two?”
“She’ll have toast with avocado and tomato, two eggs over medium, bacon and hash browns.” Both women focused on me, Kat quickly writing and Laney’s eyes growing wide, her full lips parting. “And I’ll have the usual.” I handed Kat my menu, and she finished writing and tucked the menu under her arm.
“Coffee, tea?” She smiled down at Laney.
Laney stumbled over her words for a second before ordering coffee. “Thanks.”
Kat nodded and walked away while I braced for what was coming next.
“You remembered.” Laney breathed the words, her tone a mix of awe and amazement.
I nodded. “I remember how you get with avocado.”
She shook her head, like that wasn’t good enough. “That was incredibly specific, though.”
I lifted both shoulders in a shrug. “I’m ready to hear you out.” And I really wanted her to focus on anything other than my memories of her.
“It was one date.” Her hazel eyes still held disbelief.
I sighed. So much for getting her to focus on something else. “I know. I have a good memory.” I took a drink of my coffee. “Why should I do this for you? Other than the fact that you’ll make my whole life hell if I don’t?”
She had the grace to look ashamed. “You didn’t leave me much of a choice, you know. It’s not like you were willing to even talk to me.”
She was right, but I wasn’t going to excuse her behavior.
Kat appeared and set a water glass down in front of Laney, as well as a steaming cup of coffee.
When the waitress was gone, Laney sighed, her shoulders dropping a few inches. “Look, I really am sorry for doing this to you. I just…” Tears formed in her eyes.
It hit me that this really was important to her. And I got it. I knew her life had been hard growing up. While I’d been in a foster homes after countless bounces back into the system, I’d still seen how troubled her life was, being pitted against her perfect sister every step of the way. There had been no winning. Her A-plus grades weren’t good enough, even though her sister held a D average. Her humor and quick wit didn’t win her points. No, her sunny, upbeat attitude always seemed to cause more problems in her home; like they had all wanted to see her down and out.
Back then, it pissed me off. She was such a good person, deep down, that the lack of a fair shake for her had really bothered me. When I’d told her as much, she’d voiced the same for my situation. That had bothered me more than anything. By that time, I was used to it. I’d been raised in a system where it was made perfectly clear I’d never win—that I’d never know unconditional love. I’d accepted that. I told myself I didn’t need love, and saw myself as a blank slate. A chance to become whatever I wanted to be. Whereas she was expected to fit in a mold that was impossible to achieve.
Laney continued, “I’m just so tired of it, you know? I just want them to see me. Really see me as a human being rather than some punching bag that just bends to their expectations.” She let out a sharp breath through her nose that sounded dangerously like a snort. “That sounds stupid. But in all honesty, I have no one I trust that I can ask.” Her fingers toyed with a sweetener packet she’d pulled from a little dish.
“I’m the last person you should trust.” There was so much she didn’t know about me. And so much I wasn’t going to tell her.
Her eyes met mine. “But I do trust you.” Her fingers stilled and her expression turned serious. She meant what she was saying, and that bothered me. “I know I’m asking a lot of you. I’m pretty much asking you to put up with my parents even though they don’t like you.” Her eyes widened and she went back to playing with the sweetener packet. “I don’t know why they don’t like you—”
“Because they know I’m not the nice guy you think I am.” It was that simple. And they were right. Maybe they weren’t back then, but these days they’d be one-hundred-percent correct in their assessment of my character.
“I don’t believe you.” She narrowed her eyes as she ran the corners of her bare nails around the packet before shaking it. Ripping it open, she dumped it in her coffee before adding cream. A moment later, she took another packet from the dish and began messing with it like she couldn’t help herself. Her voice lowered and took on a husky edge that captured all my male attention. “You’re a good man, Cole.”
My heart skipped a beat. What was that she’d said before? Everyone had you all wrong back then, and they still do.
“You don’t know me.”
“And…breakfast!” Kat set a plate in front of Laney, and another before me. “Anything else?” She smiled at me.
I studied Laney, waiting to see if she wanted anything else. I knew better than to speak for her.
“This is great, thank you.” She beamed at Kat, who ignored her as she continued staring at me.
I nodded. “We’re fine, thank you.”
Kat wilted a little before nodding and going to her next table.
Laney stared down at her plate. “I still can’t believe you remembered.” She peeked up at me from under her long lashes. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” I dug into my spinach, mushroom, bacon, and swiss omelet.
Laney took a sip of coffee before breaking one of her egg yolks and scooping it up on her toast. A single bite later and her eyes were rolling back in her head.
I knew right then I was fucked.
“Your obsession with avocado still haunts my nightmares.” I teased.
Her glare and the swift kick under the table that hit me square in the shins tossed me back to the days when I’d have considered myself lucky to sit in her presence for this long. I remembered that she loved avocado like some women loved wine, coffee, or chocolate. It was an all-out obsession, and an adorable one at that.
“You’re still as sharp as you were back then.” Her words hit me like someone touched the pause button on my remote. I hesitated mid-bite and stared at her. A warm look came into her honeyed eyes. “I have such a crush on you.” Her mistake registered on her face. “Had! I had such a crush on you.”
But I knew she’d said it right the first time.
“If I do this for you, you’re going to owe me.” I’d let her off the hook for her slip, but not for everything.
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She shivered, the pupils of her eyes covering the hazel color. I filed away that interesting reaction for later examination. I’d been kidding about her owing me, but she didn’t have to know that.
“Anything.” Her reverent voice was nearly a whisper.
Anything, huh? I liked the sound of that. “You might regret saying that.”
Her eyes widened and she gulped. “We can talk more about it in private, at my place. I live in Reedsport now. And thank you.” Her tone changed over to excited before she took another bite of her toast. “In the meantime, tell me more about yourself. What have I missed since I saw you last?”
“Not much.” The outright lie was as bitter on my tongue as the black coffee I chased it with. “How about you?”
Her eyes lit up. “Well, I’m a nanny to the sweetest infant girl. I love my job.” She launched into a story about the baby girl she was taking care of while I mentally set some ground rules for myself. Since this desire I felt for her was probably here to stay, I needed to plan.
No touching her.
No sex with her.
No falling for her.
It was a simple enough list. After what she’d done to me when we were teenagers…no way would I do any of those things.
Not a single damn one.
5
Laney
The second my apartment door closed, Cole’s mouth came down on mine.
Heat engulfed me as a squeak of shock broke free of my lips. He took advantage of that slight parting, his tongue teasing the opening wider. His arms slipped around me even as mine wound around his neck without permission from my brain.
Without hesitation, I opened for him and his tongue met mine. The flavors of sweet mint and cinnamon clashed. He lifted me up in the air and his chest crushed against mine. Our lips parted for half a heartbeat before he kissed me again. I wound my legs around him, gripped his hips as he turned and pressed my weight against the front door. Over the thundering of my heartbeat, I heard the click of the door lock.
His lips broke away from mine. “Tell me you want this.” His harsh voice stunned me.
I frowned, already missing his lips. Couldn’t he tell how much I wanted this? Wasn’t it obvious? But he was still waiting. “I want this.”
With a growl, his lips claimed mine again.
I wanted him so badly. The blood rushing through my veins at breakneck speed me left me dizzy and my head felt like a pillow–light and stuffed with fluffy cotton. I’d wanted this for a long time. After that first date back when we were teenagers, when he’d kissed me, every bit of me had melted. Then I’d screwed everything up thanks to fear. Fear of my feelings, how intense our connection was immediately, how deeply he affected me. I’d asked him to meet my parents, because if I didn’t put them between me and him, I knew I’d be begging him to crawl into the back seat with me.
He broke the kiss and I clung to him, his broad shoulders beneath my arms. He was holding my weight without so much as a straining muscle. A yearning spiraled through me to have my hands on those muscles, that skin. “I need to feel you.” I whispered the words and began to struggle out of my shirt.
“Fuck.” He braced me against the door and helped wrench my shirt up over my head. His shirt followed, and the sensation of his skin and the steely muscle underneath against my skin drove me wild.
“More.” I needed more, needed all of him bared to me.
He turned me around and suddenly, we were moving. In the living room, he sat down on the couch and I struggled to free the clasp on my bra. His sultry blue gaze met mine as his hands circled mine. A half-second later the bra popped free and he whisked it down my arms, tossing it aside.
Straddling his hips, I resisted the urge to take over, to create the friction that would release some of the pent-up need firing through me. His deep blue eyes focused on my breasts, and my pulse skyrocketed as his gaze traced over every inch of me before meeting mine again.
“Fucking beautiful.” His perfectly shaped lips drew my attention, and I couldn’t help but lean in and kiss him again. The heat of his lips pulled me in as our tongues clashed beautifully.
I needed Cole Wilder. Needed.
My heart raced. Was I really going to do this? It was a dream come true. “I want this. I wanted it back then.”
His eyes trailed over my breasts before he took one peak in his mouth, shattering every bit of nervousness. When his eyes met mine again, I tucked both thumbs into my pants and rocked my hips, working them down as he watched, standing to slip them off. My panties followed, and I stood naked before him.
Time stood still as his hot blue gaze raked over every millimeter of my bare skin.
I sunk to my knees, shaking fingers going to the button of his jeans. He let me unbutton them, and helped me move them down. I’d felt him against me earlier in the water, and now I could see him straining against his boxers, but when he finally sprang free I almost choked.
A muscle at his jawline tightened. “We can stop.”
I shook my head, my tongue flicking out to lick my lips. He was so big. I’d had sex before, but had never known a man could be this large. Briefly, I wondered if it was going to fit. Either way, I wasn’t going to back down. I’d wanted this for too long. I reached out to touch his cock. My fingers wound around him and I gasped at how soft the skin was, how hot.
He hissed, sucking a breath in between his teeth. His hips rose, pumping himself in my hands. Then before I could explore him further, his strong hands reached for me, picked me up and positioning me in his lap until I straddled him.
Taking himself in one hand and gripping my hip with the other, he guided me down toward him. His eyes met mine and something alive jumped from him to me.
The tip of him found my entrance and pressed in, inch by inch. With a sharply inhaled breath, I let my weight carry me down on him. He pulled me close, a sharp word on his lips that I couldn’t hear over the earth-shattering sensation of him splitting me in half.
My breasts were pressed to his naked chest and his hands held my hips still as he waited for me to get used to his girth. I leaned into him as his lips pressed into my neck, then trailed down to my collarbone.
“You’re so tight.”
I shivered, goose bumps breaking out all across my skin. My nipples tightened into hard nubs. “You’re so big.” The words sounded stupid coming out of my mouth. Would it sound even more stupid to tell him I’d always felt he was the one for me?
I turned my head and his lips closed over mine. Everything in me surrendered as my lips parted for him. My hips demanded movement and the throbbing bud between my legs screamed for friction. I shifted and the rush of pleasure was all the push I needed. My hips bucked and his lips left mine, his hands gripping my ribs.
Squeezing my eyes closed, I tossed my head back, lost in the sensation assaulting my body as his hands caressed me. His thumbs trailed along the undersides of my breasts, then up and over their fullness. The tickle drove me mad, and when the rough pads of his thumbs moved across my tight nipples, I gasped in shock at the burst of pleasure that screamed from those sensitive points, down to my core. My eyes flew open.
An evil curve at the corners of his lips turned me on even more.
I gripped the edge of the couch behind his shoulders, stretching my arms and holding on tight as he moved his hips, sliding deliciously out then back inside.
Something primal gripped me. I felt like a goddess, sexy, wild, free, and wanted. My body struggled to stretch, the breathtaking feeling only adding to the shock of sensations.
“I love the way you look right now.” Cole’s voice was guttural as his thumbs passed across my nipples again.
I whimpered. My brain shut down, and all I could think about was the sensation that pushed me to move faster, tilt my hips more, to grind harder on him.
I couldn’t think of anything I’d wanted more than this for a long time.
“I want you to come for me, Laney.” His intense eyes met mine.
My body jerked, and my stomach muscles clenched so tight stars burst before my vision.
“Just like this, riding me like you can’t get enough of my cock.” His husky tone sent my pulse through the roof and high into the sky.
I moaned and leaned in closer to him, his hot skin leaving me gasping for air. Pressing my lips to his, his tongue tickled my lower lip open for him again. He slid deeper into the couch. The change in angle increased the pleasure tenfold and I clung to the cushion with aching hands, kissing him as I rocked my hips forward and back with his help.
“You’re so close.” He growled the words without bothering to pull his lips away from mine.
My stomach coiled up tight.
“Just let go and come.”
My body took his words and interpreted them as an order. My muscles clamped down tightly around his rock-hardness as a long moan escaped my throat. Pleasure burst through me as my vision went white. His fingertips dug into my flesh and his teeth scraped my neck as ripple after ripple of satisfaction radiated through me.
“You’re so sexy when you come.” I barely heard the words as his tongue tasted the line of my jaw before his teeth nipped the spot.
Lost in sensation, my hips moved wildly, out of my control. His hands gripped my waist, then dropped to my hips. The way his fingertips dug in only added to my excitement as the orgasm went on and on.
My eyes widened as I felt him swell inside me, shocked that he could become even larger, or that I could accommodate him.
His eyes met mine, his voice rough, almost angry. “My turn.”
I clung to him, needing to be close as he pushed up into me deeper than I’d thought possible. His cock pulsed inside me, and he let out a low groan. Cole was coming, I could feel him coming inside me. Just the thought of something so intimate with him had my eyes rolling up in my head, a fresh wave of orgasm tearing through me.
Faking for Her Page 3
