When her fingernails grazed his skin, a content hum rumbled through his chest. Jasmine might be a dog person, nonetheless, she recognized a purr—even when it came from a much larger predator than a cat. In answer to his satisfied growl, she lightly scratched his back again. Closing his eyes, Cole let his head fall back. Leaning forward, she seized the opportunity to honor that wide chest of his with kisses, nips, and licks. Heat pooled in her belly and between her legs; the warmth of his body, the constant humming vibrating through his torso, only worsened her unease.
Soon she began moving her hips against his without noticing, up until his hands gripped and stilled them. He’d opened his eyes, his gaze burning down on her face. Like many times before, his absolute focus made her catch her breath. In this very moment, he looked so damn wild, oddly, also a little lost with the gleam in his eyes. “Open my jeans.” The sound was hoarse, even gruff. This time Jasmine wasn’t annoyed with the command because getting rid of his pants was something she, too, wanted very badly. Eagerly, she opened the button and zipper of his jeans. Immediately his erection sprang free. He was hard as a rock—oh, he wanted her badly. The thought of it made her heart beat faster. While beginning to stroke his hot flesh, she raised her gaze to his facial features. There was even more tension now.
“Before we do this, you need to promise me something.” If he could growl and demand, she sure as hell could do the same!
At her words, a pained chuckle left his mouth. “You ask now?”
Slowly, a grin spread on her lips. She had him in her hands. Literally. “Yes, I ask now.” Boldly she raised her chin, only for him to nip at her jaw in a gesture of dominance.
“And what do you want?”
“This can’t influence my career in any way. I am damned good at my job; I love the new position at Hall & Son, and if you want your mansion to be beautiful again, you let me work on it, even if I don’t work on you anymore.”
“Smartass.” He laughed, not at her, but with her. Together they grinned like fools, their bodies almost completely naked, pressed against each other and totally heated.
“Promise?”
“This won’t influence your career,” Cole agreed in answer to Jasmine’s question, and suddenly all humor was gone from his face. “But it will influence everything else.” A promise. A threat?
Before Jasmine could think about it, she felt his hand between her legs. Pulling her pink panties aside, he entered her with one hard stroke. All breath left her lungs when a scream of pleasure ripped free. God, did he feel good! Without further warning, he began hammering into her like he was possessed. At her neck, she felt him kissing and biting her again, but the sensation of him inside her was better than anything else. Trying to meet each stroke, her hips moved frantically, while her fingernails helplessly dug into his back.
Their breathing grew heavier, their bodies damp from sweat, her sweet cries and his dark, pleasured growls filled the room. “Feels so good,” he gritted out, searching her lips with his. Their mouths clashed once more. “Yes!” she breathed out between kisses, trying to hold on to him. Only moments later, she felt her body readying itself to fly. “I’m coming,” she whispered when a cry had already left her throat. Directly after Cole pressed her harder into the wall, biting her neck and shoulder. The friction between them was so perfect; she’d hardly landed from her orgasm when another started.
“Oh God!” she called out, this time seriously doing damage to his shoulders by scratching him too deeply. Instead of jumping away from her touch, his back bowed as if loving every second of it. When he came, his whole body stilled before pumping a few last times into her. Then he let his forehead sink onto her shoulder, heavily breathing and still holding her up against the wall. The man’s got a helluva lot of stamina! Jasmine silently thought. Her own breaths came out strained, but it had been worth it. All of it.
Never had she felt that way—empowered. Affecting a man that strongly could do that to a woman—make her feel mighty and all. Grinning up to the ceiling, Jasmine realized only minutes later that they hadn’t used a condom.
Furious with him, but more so with herself, her body jerked in his embrace. He was still deeply buried inside of her, but that didn’t keep her from slapping his chest once. On cue, his head snapped upward.
“You can be thankful that I’m on the pill! You could have gotten me pregnant.” At her accusation, he froze. Utterly and completely. It wasn’t the typical reaction a man got when there was the possibility of an unwanted pregnancy with an unimportant one-night-stand. No, the expression on Cole’s face was far worse. Pained?
As if she had become poisonous all at once, he let go of Jasmine, set her on the floor, zipped himself up again and backed off a few steps. From there, he continued to stare. After what felt like minutes, he abruptly turned on his heels.
“Cole!” Jasmine called immediately. He couldn’t just fuck her against a wall, not use a condom, and then stare at her like she’d killed his dog.
“Cole, talk to me!” she demanded, rushing after him, not caring that she was naked but for her panties.
When he realized that she’d followed him into the hall, he came to a halt so quickly, Jasmine ran into his back like she’d done at the office. Only this time he grabbed her hands, holding them in place on his chest and abs; as a result her front was pressed against his back.
With a lowered head, he said, “I’m sorry.…My…” Before he could end his sentence, he stopped himself from speaking further.
“Your what?” Jasmine whispered against his back, already feeling in the tension of his body that something big was coming.
“My…my wife and I didn’t use protection the last year we were together. I’m just not used to it anymore.” With that, he let go of her hands, walking away from her without looking into her eyes. Somehow, she could still feel the movement of the heavy breaths leaving his chest beneath her fingertips, though he was long gone.
♥♥♥
Chapter 6
SHE COULDN’T FORGET what he’d told her after their exhilarating time together against the wall of the guest room; there were so many thoughts rotating in her head. After he left, she quickly showered and put on her working clothes from the thrift shop. Apparently, Chester was having fun outside running after Cole, who’d started to load the truck with the broken furniture. Like a lost puppy, the French bulldog followed every step Cole made. From the window, Jasmine could watch them perfectly.
Okay, yes, she was hiding, but she wasn’t sure how to face Cole now. Seeing how his muscles flexed and how he watched his step, in order not to tread on Chester’s little paws didn’t help. How on earth could such a gruff man be so cute? Sighing, she trailed the old window pane with her fingertips. She should never have slept with him—for several reasons. One, it was very, very unprofessional of her. Two, how much did she even know about him? Close to nothing! Three, he was a close friend to her boss. Damn, Jasmine, do you want to get fired? she asked herself silently.
Despite being able to name lots and lots of reasons for not getting too close to Cole, his words from before still resonated in her head. His wife. Where was she now? Were they divorced? How long since they had separated? There were too many questions bubbling up, so Jasmine needed to get a hold of herself and stop. Just stop. She couldn’t spend her day thinking about Cole. After all, she had a job to do!
Shaking her head, she forced herself to turn away from the window. Quickly, she took her cell phone out to call David. Although Mr. Hall Junior wasn’t leading the renovations of the Ward mansion himself, he still was the man to whom Jasmine had to report. After ringing three times, David answered the call.
“Jasmine! Good to hear from you.” Slimeball was the first thing that entered her mind at his greeting. After having seen how mad he’d been when she had gotten the project instead of him, he couldn’t fool her now—no matter the friendly tone he used. He was still pissed.
“Hi, David,” she answered. “I just wanted to check in and
tell you that the project will need much more time than expected.”
“How so? Do you need me to step in and help?” One could have mistaken it for a nice offer, but Jasmine knew what David was really implying. That she was incompetent and he was eager to take over to show his father that he and no one else was the best. At everything. As if something like that was possible! Well, jealousy wasn’t rational or logical.
“No, thank you, David, how very kind.” Her tone was the sweetest ever. “It’s just that the first floor was vandalized—probably by some teenagers or something. The place is wrecked. Before we can renovate, we need to throw everything out—even the flooring.”
“The flooring? Hell, what did those kids do to the place?” For the first time, David seemed honest in his surprise.
“I know, right!” Jasmine exclaimed. “The problem is, there are no workers or even a container available here; the town is so small and everyone is booked.”
“You called every company, I suppose?” Again, he was checking her ability to handle this project, probably searching for mistakes so he could convince his father that he needed to be the one in charge of the renovations.
“Yes, every building company in this and the neighboring towns. It’s a busy season, they all said.” Rolling her eyes, she was happy that David couldn’t see her right then, or he would have recognized the annoyance despite her perfectly friendly tone.
“How are you dealing with the wreckage then?”
“Mr. Ward and I are cleaning the mess up ourselves. I rented a pickup truck. It’s going to take a while, but we’ll manage.” Oh, she was proud that she’d remembered to call Cole Mr. Ward, though they knew each other pretty intimately now.
“By yourselves?” This time David sounded almost disgusted—obviously a man who didn’t like to get his hands dirty. Grinning widely, Jasmine confirmed his question with a simple, “Yes.”
“I see you’ve got everything handled.” The sudden change of mood didn’t surprise Jasmine, seeing how he’d reacted before. If he really drove up here to oversee the renovations himself, it would be only after the mess on the first floor had been cleaned up.
“I’ll keep you posted,” Jasmine promised. They said their goodbyes and hung up. Sighing, she turned back to the window. There was no stalling anymore. It was definitely time to go out now; no excuses left to stay inside. Nervously clenching and unclenching her fists, Jasmine turned around so she could join Cole in front of the house.
When she exited the front door, Cole’s eyes immediately found her. He didn’t call her out on being a coward or make a sarcastic remark regarding the fact that she’d been hiding in her room. No, Cole just stared. By now Jasmine had realized that the man said a whole lot by not speaking a single word out loud. Beneath his penetrating gaze, she felt like he was looking right into her head. As it turned out, he didn’t only recognize her unsureness but also her million questions.
“I will tell you about her eventually,” he said after a little while. He was talking about his wife; they both knew it.
“You don’t have to; you don’t owe me anything.” Jasmine quickly waved him off, but Cole kept looking her in the eye.
“I will and I do.” With that deep rumble, he turned around. “Do you have any ideas yet for the house?”
Classic subject change.
With a small smile, she let him. Following behind him, she grabbed a pair of work gloves which lay on the stairs leading up to the veranda. Cole must have put them there for her. Because they needed to carry splintered wood and a lot of dirty stuff, Jasmine was very thankful for them.
“Before I come up with ideas, I need to know what you like, what you envision for the place.” Putting the gloves on, she got straight to work. From the pile of broken furniture, which Cole had already stacked up this morning, Jasmine randomly grabbed something to carry it to the pickup truck.
“I want it to be totally new.” While working, he didn’t look at her.
“Of course, it will all be new, but…” With a laugh, she started her sentence but was cut off before she could finish it. This time Cole did watch her over his shoulder.
“No, you don’t understand. I want it to be all different from before.” At his vehemence, she jumped slightly. At the same time, she asked herself if it wasn’t easier for Cole to buy a whole new mansion. He had the means to do so; that was without question. But he didn’t. That meant, despite him wanting to change the house, he did have an emotional link to it and couldn’t bring himself to sell it.
Pensively she stared back. “Okay,” she agreed understandingly. After a few seconds she added, “Are you sure about that? All new means letting go of what was there before.” She couldn’t explain why she felt it was necessary to tell him this. It was just a gut feeling. Was renovating his mansion really about letting go of the past? Why else would Cole have wanted Jasmine’s colors and to make it all different?
More and more, she was certain that in his past there was something big and ugly. Now that she’d reminded him, it was written all over his face. The hard lines were suddenly gone, replaced by a pain so deep, it stole all her breath.
“I know what it means,” he murmured gruffly. With way too much force, he threw the broken pieces in his hand onto the back of the truck. A loud thud was the result. Cursing, Cole turned away from her to pick up more of the trash pile. Jasmine would have given everything to know what was on his mind at the moment. Most of the time there was hardly any expression on his face. Today seemed to be a day of exceptions—not only once, but twice. In a rush, he swirled around to her again, carelessly dropping the broken pieces in his hands to the ground.
“I damned well know what it means; that’s why you’re going to do it,” he growled like a trapped animal. “You’re going to make that house bright and colorful again. That is why you’re here.” His chest heaved with every ragged breath. Without the fine suit—bare-chested, disheveled, a dirty smudge on his left cheek, and stubbles on his jaw, he had no similarities at all anymore to the man she’d met only the day before. Mr. Cole Ward obviously was much more than a dressed-up businessman and billionaire. The sole thing that both versions of him had in common was the intensity in everything he did.
From just his look, Jasmine was shivering. Not in a bad way, not out of fear, but of the feelings he awakened in her. As if his agitation was so strong, it passed over to her, too. Still, she needed to be calm now, show him that she was able to handle his wishes. Raising her chin, she stood her ground. In an all-business tone, she asked, “Any limitations?”
“No limits at all.” His words were accentuated with a short shake of his head.
In reaction, the corners of her mouth curled. “You should never give me free reign of everything; I might overindulge.” Like she’d planned, some of the tension left Cole’s body immediately. The tiniest of smiles graced his lips.
“You can overindulge with me whenever you please.”
At that, Jasmine outright laughed. His voice might have been dark, but the scowl on his face didn’t matter because, despite everything, this gloomy man had a hidden sense of humor.
Impulsively, Jasmine crossed the short distance between them and pressed an assuring kiss onto his jaw—yeah, she couldn’t reach higher than that, even on her tiptoes. God, was he tall! Smiling, she traced his naked chest with her fingers. “Let’s see if you’ll regret your decision.”
Perhaps other men might have gotten nervous due to her wicked grin. Cole? No, he matter-of-factly told her, “I highly doubt that.” When he leaned his head down to press a conjuring kiss onto her mouth, his stubble scratched her cheeks lightly.
“You forgot to shave,” Jasmine automatically murmured against his lips.
“I used to grow a beard.” His hand had laid itself around her neck, and his thumb stroked up and down her throat.
“Really?” Skeptically her eyebrows raised. She couldn’t imagine his sharp, almost sculptured cheekbones hidden beneath a beard. Not at all. Also, it d
idn’t match the “businessman image”—perhaps that was the reason he’d shaved it in the first place?
At her question, he provocatively began rubbing his stubble against her cheek. Although he obviously had intended to irritate her, the movement only served to fascinate her even more. Cole seemed like a predator, the gesture wild like a lion’s or tiger’s. “Does it bother you?” After a short while, he stopped to observe her closely.
“No, not at all. Men with beards are hot.” Widely, she grinned up at him.
“Are they now?” With a smirk, he raised a brow.
“Hell yes.” Giggling, Jasmine pushed against his chest, shortly before turning around and walking a few steps away from him. “We really should get back to work or the boss will get angry. He’s a real handful, you know?” Grinning the whole way back to the trash pile, she didn’t hear him coming up behind her. Sneaky bastard!
With a start, she let out a scream when he grabbed her around the waist so that he could throw her over his shoulder. Naturally, his hand landed on her butt. Where else?
“A real handful, huh?” Even though Jasmine couldn’t see Cole’s face, she just knew he was laughing. Probably only in silence, but the naughty grin would be visible in his eyes. At his feet, Chester jumped up and down in delight, wanting to join in on the fun.
“Traitor,” Jasmine muttered. “I should tell him to pee on your shoes again.”
For that comment, Cole pinched her behind. “Hey!” she protested, but couldn’t keep back the laughter spilling out of her. This was another new side of Cole. A fun side. “Let me down now.” She did her best for a stern tone.
“If you ask nicely,” was all he answered.
“Bastard, will you pleassse let me down?” Dragging out the word, she used the same sweet voice she’d used with David during their phone call before.
Barking laughter left Cole’s chest. How unpracticed it sounded, as if he hadn’t done so in a while. In fact, he seemed surprised himself, for it stopped abruptly. “That was the best you got?” he asked after a moment of unease.
Good Grief Page 5
