by Cassie Cross
Abby’s store would be opening in a little over three weeks, and she was busy putting the finishing touches on the design and training her new employees. Cole was going to take her to his parents’ house upstate this weekend for a short trip to de-stress. Cole’s mother had been nagging him to bring Abby for another visit. While Olivia Kerrigan adored Abby, Cole suspected her urgency had something to do with her wanting some of Abby’s candy, which was quickly becoming a favorite in the Kerrigan family, much to Cole’s delight.
Abby had fit into his family (and his life) seamlessly; it was almost as if she was meant to be there all along. She also dealt with the stresses of being his girlfriend like the beautiful, patient woman that she was. Luckily for both Abby and Cole, the press attention that Cole garnered when he was one of the city’s most eligible bachelors had died out. Turns out monogamy had made him less interesting to the New York gossip rags. He wouldn’t have had it any other way.
But the thoughts of paparazzi faded away when Cole’s car pulled up in front of Abby’s shop and he saw her standing on the curb, the early autumn wind blowing her hair around her gorgeous face. The first thing Cole saw when she stepped into the car were her long, luscious legs. He reached out to take her hand and help her inside, and when she sat down, he pulled her to him, taking her face in his hands and pressing his lips against hers.
Abby seemed surprised at first, but the kiss deepened quickly. Needing more contact with her body, wanting to feel her weight on him, Cole wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her on top of him. Abby broke the kiss quickly, checking to make sure the partition behind the driver was closed.
Cole laughed. This was not the first time they’d done this and it certainly wouldn’t be the last, but she always had to check that damned window.
“I missed you,” he said, running his fingers through Abby’s hair.
She grinned at the sentiment, then her eyelids fluttered shut as Cole slid his hands up her thighs and around to the swell of her ass.
She’s wearing a thong. Perfect.
“It’s only been a few hours,” Abby replied, peppering kisses down the side of Cole’s neck. He loved days like this, the ones where they just couldn’t get enough of each other.
“A few hours too long,” he replied, as he pulled yesterday’s tie out of the interior breast pocket of his coat.
Abby’s eyes grew wide with excitement when she saw the silk garment, and offered her wrists to Cole immediately. His practiced hand had her bound in seconds, and she lifted her arms up and over his head, hooking them around the back of his neck. They kissed again, and Cole slid his fingers between Abby’s thighs, along her slick flesh.
“Wet already?” he asked, taking her earlobe between his teeth.
“From the moment you called me.”
Shortly after they first started dating, Abby told Cole that she missed their trysts; the kind of sex they used to have when Cole was still her boss, when there was a naughty, off-limits quality to their encounters. While Cole enjoyed having Abby in his bed (and other places around the house), he had to admit that he missed their trysts too, and did what he could to keep the spice level high in their relationship. Abby could usually tell from Cole’s voice when he was up to something, and today was no different.
Knowing time was not on his side, Cole circled Abby’s clit, and she sucked in a breath through clenched teeth, leaning her head back as Cole kissed his way along her collarbone. She shifted her weight, brushing her thigh against his erection, and he had to have her. Now.
Cole grabbed her waist and turned her body until her knees came to rest in the middle of the limo’s footwell. He kneeled down behind her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to him until he could feel every inch of her. Vixen that she was, she pressed against his cock with her ass, knowing that would spur him on. Cole unzipped his pants quickly, then lifted Abby’s skirt, gently smacking her ass before he slid inside her, overcome by her tight warmth.
“Fuck,” he breathed in Abby’s ear. “You feel so good like this.” In and out of her he thrust, completely lost in ecstasy with every move of his hips.
“Oh, right there.” Already, Abby’s body was completely relaxed, willing him to give her pleasure. And giving her pleasure was what he intended to do.
Cole unbuttoned the top few buttons of Abby’s blouse with one hand, cupping her breasts with his palm, gently pinching her nipples with his fingertips. She writhed against him, desperate for more as the rumble of the car heightened every sensation.
“More, please,” Abby begged, moving quicker as she chased her orgasm until she was teetering on the edge of it, so obviously wanting to fall over but relishing in the anticipation.
Slowly Cole rubbed Abby’s tender flesh, timing the strokes of his fingers with the strokes of his hips until her quickened breaths were all he could hear. Abby turned her head and kissed Cole as he relished in the velvet brush of her tongue.
“You’re perfect, you’re so fucking perfect,” Cole chanted, willing himself to hang on long enough for her to come. She made it so damned difficult when she squeezed his cock like that. “I can’t…I have to…” He pressed against Abby’s clit, and she leaned against the seat in front of them, unable to hold herself up any longer. Cole bent over her, sliding his fingers across her clit and kissing her to muffle her cries of pleasure as she came.
Abby’s breathing was still uneven when she straightened up, the movement of her body threatening Cole’s tenuous grasp on keeping his orgasm at bay. She moved forward and Cole slid out of her, missing the feel of her immediately.
Cole looked at Abby, confused, but she had that wicked gleam in her eye that let him know she was up to something.
“Sit down,” she said, her hair a little wild, the corners of her mouth tilted up in satisfaction.
Cole did as he was told, knowing that soon he would feel the exquisite perfection of Abby’s mouth. He unbound her hands, tossing the tie onto the seat across from him. Abby pulled her hair back as she took Cole’s aching cock into her mouth. She swirled her tongue around the head, then took him deep until he hit the back of her throat and swallowed, making Cole’s head loll back against the seat. She repeated the circuit once, twice, and on the third time he couldn’t take it anymore, knitting his fingers through her hair as he exploded in her mouth, reveling in the pleasure of it all. Abby swallowed every last drop of him, then raised up on her knees to tenderly kiss his lips.
Abby and Cole had come down by the time the car pulled up in front of Abby’s designer’s studio. Cole got out to open the door for her and after she stepped out she gave Cole a long, lingering kiss goodbye.
“We’re having dinner tonight?” she asked as she smoothed her hair with her fingertips.
“Yes, I’ll pick you up at our apartment at seven.” Our apartment. He still loved the sound of that. “Wear that red dress I like.”
Abby grinned. “Do you have another surprise for me later?”
He did, but not the kind that she was expecting. He answered her with a sly smile. “I love you,” he said.
“I love you too,” she said before she stood on the tips of her toes and kissed him goodbye. “I’ll see you tonight.”
He nodded as she walked away.
He would see her tonight.
Tonight, when he was going to ask her to be his wife.
Tonight, when he knew she was going to say yes.
The story continues with
The Billionaire’s Desire #6: The Billionaire’s Wedding
CHAPTER ONE
ABBY WATERS stood in the back room of her store, Sweet Talk, with her cell phone pressed against her ear and her hand pressed against her hip. She was surrounded by stacks of hundreds of shiny, hot pink boxes, each of which had Sweat Talk written across the lid in silver embossing.
“Craig, listen,” she said, her voice a little louder than usual, but still surprisingly calm given the circumstances. “This is a gourmet chocolate shop, not a gym. I can’t
sell people candy in boxes that have the word ‘sweat’ on them, do you understand? Sweet talk is the name. Two e’s. Sweet, as in what I’m not going to be to you if you don’t pick up these boxes and deliver new, correctly spelled ones in the morning.”
Craig was usually very thorough and was currently falling all over himself to please the fiancée of one of the most powerful men in the city. Not that Abby would ever hold Cole’s status over someone’s head; she liked to use his power for good instead of evil.
“Yes Ms. Waters, I completely understand. We’ll get a new batch printed up and sent over first thing.”
“You’ll double-check them before you deliver them?”
“Absolutely. And we’ll recycle the incorrect tops,” he replied, anticipating Abby’s next question.
Abby sighed, her insides finally loosening from the knot they’d been tied into for the past week and a half. Well, if she was honest with herself, that knot first got tied the night Cole slipped the engagement ring on her finger, and it’d only gotten tighter in the months since. Soon though, she’d tie a different knot.
“Thank you, Craig,” Abby said after Craig wished her a good night. Once Abby ended the call and slipped the phone back into her pocket, she leaned over her desk, her hands splaying out over the smooth, cool wood.
Jayne, Sweet Talk’s manager and Abby’s right-hand woman, stood next to Abby, clutching a clipboard. Jayne was tall and lanky, her bleached-blonde hair pulled back into a severe ponytail that sharpened her otherwise soft features. She was quiet and kind, the type of person you’d go to if you had a bad day, someone who would have a plate of warm cookies ready for you to eat while you spilled your secrets. Abby wished she had a plate of cookies in front of her right now.
Jayne tapped on her clipboard with the end of her pen. “I’ll go over there in the morning before I come in and I’ll make sure they have the name spelled right before they go to printing, okay? Relax,” she said, reaching over and placing her hand on Abby’s shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “You can cut the cord, Abby. We’ll be okay here without you for a couple of weeks.”
“I know,” Abby sighed, and she really did mean that. But Jayne was misreading Abby’s tension. Abby wasn’t so much worried about leaving the store in someone else’s care during her vacation, so much as she was worried about getting everything done on her ‘to do’ list before she left for that vacation, which wasn’t really a vacation at all.
It was going to be a honeymoon. A honeymoon that she and Cole were going to go on after they got married. After they got married in a super-secret (his words, not hers) ceremony that was going to take place on Saturday. The day after tomorrow.
In forty-eight hours, she’d be married. She’d be Mrs. Cole Kerrigan.
An excited, nervous wave passed through her at the thought of it, making goosebumps pepper her skin.
She and Cole were going to the Kerrigan family’s summer home in Connecticut first thing in the morning. Abby’s mind raced when she thought of all the things she still had to do. It was quarter to nine, and she still had to go home, pack everything she needed for the wedding, and pack everything she needed for their honeymoon. She still didn’t know where they were going for that; Cole had maddeningly insisted on keeping their destination a secret.
She had to get everything situated at the store, too…and did she mention she was getting married in less than two days? It was enough to make a girl go insane.
Abby wanted to tell Jayne about the wedding. Actually, she found that the closer the day came, the more she wanted to tell any and everyone. She wanted to shout it from the rooftops, but that would defeat the purpose of keeping it a secret in the first place. And she was the one who had pushed for the small ceremony, just wanting to be able to spend the day with Cole and the people they loved most in this world, not worrying about photographers or tabloids or upper-class society’s judgment.
No, Abby couldn’t pull back the curtain on the whole operation when she had been the one who insisted that it stay hidden in the first place. So, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes, letting the deep, chocolatey aroma that had settled into every single part of her store calm her nerves.
“I know you’ll be okay,” she told Jayne with a smile. “I trust you.” Truthfully, Jayne could run the store better than Abby could. She had years of experience, and even though the store had been open for a little over seven months, Abby still had a lot to learn.
Abby glanced at her watch, then looked up at Jayne, smiling. “It’s almost nine, you better get out of here.”
Jayne nodded gently, offering Abby a tired grin as she put down her clipboard and untied her apron. “We’ll take care of everything,” she said, pulling Abby into a hug. “Have fun, and I don’t want to see or hear from you until you get back.”
Abby nodded, thinking about the next time she’d step foot in this store; she’d have another ring on her finger and a different last name. The thought of it made her smile, a gesture that Jayne took to mean something different than it did.
“There we go, that’s more like it.” Jayne flipped her hand in a short wave before she opened the door that led into the small alley behind the shop. “Have fun.”
“See ya,” Abby said as she watched Jayne slip out the back door.
Abby had just picked up her phone to text Cole when she heard someone talking in the front of the store, followed by a laugh that she’d know anywhere. She walked toward the noise, feeling a warm rush and a stomach full of butterflies. She came to a stop in the doorway that opened behind the counter and crossed her arms over her chest, unable to stop the smile that pulled at her lips at the sight in front of her.
One of her employees, Tommy, a junior in high school, was hunched over a book that was open on the counter. Cole looked breathtakingly handsome in an Italian suit that Abby had picked out for him during a trip they took to Milan just before Christmas last year. He was leaning over the counter, holding a pencil as he tried to explain a calculous theorem to Tommy. He might as well have been speaking a foreign language for all Abby understood it, but that didn’t stop her from grinning and picturing him doing something similar many years from now, helping one of their children with their homework.
“I’m probably breaking about ten child labor laws right now,” Abby said, her heels clicking on the black and white tiled floor as she walked towards them.
“I’m off the clock, so Cole says we’re good,” Tommy said, looking at her with his dark, inquisitive eyes.
“Well, as long as Cole says so,” Abby teased, sliding the tips of her fingers along the back of Cole’s tie before she gently wrapped her hand around it and pulled him in for a soft kiss.
“Hi,” Abby whispered. She hadn’t seen him since this morning when his car dropped her off in front of the store. It had only been thirteen hours, but it seemed like an eternity.
“Hi,” Cole replied, grinning. He looked a little lovesick and a lot gorgeous.
Abby heard Tommy let out a loud, long-suffering sigh. “That’s my cue.” He snapped his book shut and walked over to where his backpack was slouched against the wall, then shoved the book inside.
“Text me and let me know how you do on your test,” Cole said, holding up his phone. “Get an A, and then we’re going to start talking about a scholarship.”
Tommy grinned. “Thanks, Mr. Kerrigan.”
“We’ll take you home,” Abby said as Tommy ducked under the counter, stretching a bit as he came out on the other side.
“My mom’s right outside, but thank you.”
Tommy slung his backpack over his shoulder and gently pushed past the bodyguard that was constantly hovering in the corner of whatever room Abby happened to be in. The bell rang as Tommy opened the door, and just as he stepped outside, he popped his head in. “I forgot to say - have a nice vacation.”
Cole looked at Abby with a soft gleam in his eyes. “Thanks, Tommy,” he replied, then watched Tommy as he ran across the sidewalk and into hi
s mother’s car.
“Are you going to send the muscle home? For good?” Abby asked, giving Cole a look that she hoped looked a little teasing, an effort on her part to hide her annoyance with him for insisting the bodyguard be there in the first place. “No offense, Pete.”
Pete’s gargantuan chest rumbled with laughter. “None taken.”
“Nope,” Cole replied, completely unamused. There was a hard look in his sea-green eyes, one that had been there ever since last spring, when Josh Hamilton had begun showing up at the store whenever Abby was there alone, offering to buy a candy or two and leaving her with simple, vague threats. “He’s staying.” Cole’s voice was firm, unwavering. Abby knew there wasn’t much of a point in arguing with him, but she was going to do it anyway. Later.
“We’re going to talk about that,” she said quietly, so that only Cole could hear her.
A flash of challenge sparked across Cole’s face before his eyes softened and he offered Abby something that was as close to a smile as he could manage when they were talking about her safety and security. “I look forward to it.”
“Famous last words.” Abby sighed as she gave the store one last once-over. She grinned as her eyes skipped over the pristine white walls and counters, brightened up by hot pink accents nestled everywhere they could fit. Sometimes she still had difficulty believing that this store was hers, and that it was Cole who had given her the freedom and the opportunity to be able to spend her time doing something she loved. She didn’t know what she could do to even come close to repaying him for that, but she figured that promising herself that she’d do whatever she could to make him happy for the rest of his life was a start.
“You can cut out, Pete,” Cole said as he shook the man’s hand.
Pete grinned, something Abby would never get used to. He was always all business and completely stone-faced when he was around her. She supposed that should make her happy, that Cole entrusted her life to someone who took the task of protecting it so seriously. “We’ll see you in the morning; we’re leaving right at seven.”
