by Kira Archer
Harrison’s eyes narrowed. “Lucky me.”
“If you’ll excuse me,” Brooks said, dropping his bucket. “I’m going to go take a shower now.”
Kiersten’s gaze returned to Cole, her eyes roving over the T-shirt now suckered to his chest, with a heat in her eyes he’d only seen glimpses of before. Interesting. She quickly looked away.
“I’ll get breakfast started.” She headed back to the cottage, stopping at a rain barrel near the door to clean up the worst of it first.
Cole just needed a minute alone. He and Kiersten had been having too many moments of late. He was supposed to be trying to get her to quit, not trying to get her into bed. It seemed his brain had different plans than the rest of his body. Well, his brain needed to get shit under control. Kiersten wasn’t a one-and-done type of girl.
A relationship with her would be a disaster. He’d never know for sure if he could trust her. If she was just with him out of some crazy revenge scheme, hanging in there as long as she could until she could hit payday. Or if she genuinely cared. With her being his employee on some crazy vendetta, his normal trust issues were amped up beyond his power to control them.
He needed to get a grip.
In a nice cold shower.
Because the feel of her slippery body writhing on him was one he wouldn’t forget for a long time.
Chapter Twenty
Kiersten turned the tap, cutting off the hot water streaming into the giant claw-foot tub in her room. Soothing aromatherapy oils and soft music permeated the room, the salts in the water pleasantly fizzing and waiting for her to soak. She’d taken a quick shower to get the dirt off her. She loved baths but had never been fond of stewing in her own filth. Baths were more for relaxing than getting clean.
She went into the bedroom to get a hair tie and picked up the papers she’d been going through. Their lawyer had sent over the final documents they needed to have everything in place before they claimed their money and had all those millions transferred into the waiting accounts. It was surreal. Beyond surreal. She could stay in a place like this every night for the rest of her life. Hell, she could buy a dozen places just like it and live in them forever. The possibilities that were now open to her toasted her mind into a little crispy nugget she couldn’t even process yet. And it was all just a week away.
Her mind shifted to Cole, as it often did. She wished she had hidden some nanny cams somewhere so she could have captured the looks on their faces when they’d been dropped in the middle of Amish country and seen their poker paradise. That had been a priceless Hallmark moment right there. A total shame she couldn’t share it.
She signed the papers and set them on the table. She’d give them to Cass and Izzy to sign when she got back in town, and they’d be in business. In the meantime, she was going to get her relaxation on. Trying to get fired was stressful work.
Speaking of which, she was going to drop the whole thing and simply quit. Trying to get Cole to do anything he didn’t want to do was an exercise in futility. For some reason, he didn’t seem inclined to can her ass. She was ready to admit defeat before any more crazy moments happened between them. Too many lines were getting fuzzy. Time to bail while she still had some sanity left.
She dropped her robe and went back into the bathroom, slipping into the water with a sigh. She’d quickly whipped up some breakfast for the boys before heading back to her own accommodations. Making sure the eggs were exactly as Cole liked them, of course. Orange juice, no pulp. Toast, extra butter. Coffee, sickly sweet. Everything perfect for him.
Making his life perfect was exhausting. She couldn’t imagine doing it for the rest of her life. Luckily, Cole had taken his sweet time, so she’d been able to get out of there before he’d come out of the bathroom. She wasn’t ready to see him again just yet. And for once, she didn’t have to worry about him calling her. With no electricity, his phone had to be dead by now, and he was a long way away from his backups.
While she didn’t like to give Cole the satisfaction of winning, she was beginning to think he’d never fire her. Who knew why? Maybe he hated losing. Or maybe he truly wasn’t bothered by the stuff she was doing. If that was the case, she wished she’d known about it a lot sooner. It would have saved her a great deal of time stressing out over pissing him off.
The reason why was probably irrelevant. The fact of the matter was that he still hadn’t fired her, despite her best efforts. She really didn’t know what else she could do. If taking his mother to a strip bar and getting her drunk—and arrested—hadn’t done it, not to mention dropping him and his friends in the middle of a literal pigsty, she didn’t know what would.
There was a knock on the door. She slumped farther into the water and ignored it. It would take more than a knock to get her ass out of that water. Within a few seconds the knock sounded again. And then again.
“Oh my God, come in already,” she yelled. She hadn’t locked the door. Middle-of-nowhere Pennsylvania had seemed safe enough. It was probably the innkeeper with more towels or something.
She sighed and laid her head back. The edge of the claw-foot tub was high enough that whoever it was wouldn’t be able to see anything as long as they didn’t get too close.
It never failed. Just as she was about to relax, something always came up to ruin it. Usually something Cole related. She only wanted five minutes where she could empty her mind, focus on herself for once. This was exactly why she didn’t take baths often. She could never relax enough for them to do much good; it was the whole shutting off her mind thing. She had friends who would fall asleep almost as soon as they hit the water. Not her. Usually she laid there with a million things running through her mind. Today, though, she was bound and determined to enjoy herself.
Cole was down the road at his Amish paradise. She had no illusions about him staying there after the night and morning he’d had. In fact, she wouldn’t be surprised if he’d hijacked a buggy to take him to a phone so he could order the helicopter back for an emergency pickup. He was probably already in some five-star suite, Purell-ing the shit out of his hands. Literally.
She snorted.
“Something amusing?”
She screamed, her eyes flying open as she sat up, trying to cover everything relevant with her hands.
“What the hell are you doing here?” she asked, glaring at Cole.
He leaned against the doorframe of the bathroom, and his eyes devoured her.
“Enjoying the view,” he said with that wicked little grin of his.
“Well, maybe I’m too slow to grasp it, then, so you can enlighten me. But shouldn’t you be at your poker table about now?”
“What? The one you had set up down at Amish Central? Sorry, we weren’t really in the mood to play after all the barnyard experiences. The boys ate their breakfast and went right back to bed.”
His eyes raked over her, and she trembled under his gaze. He took a step closer, and she forced herself to speak. “So, the accommodations weren’t to your liking?”
His lips pulled into a half smile. “Are you surprised by that?”
She returned his smile. “Well…you did say you wanted something new and different. And with your vast experience…like I said on the phone, I had to think outside the box a bit. Turn around, please.”
He raised an eyebrow but did as she asked. Her robe was out in the bedroom, but the towels were large and fluffy, and he’d seen her in less, or at least more revealing, clothing, which should seriously bother her. Unfortunately, all it did was send a rush of heat southward so fast it made her head spin.
She got out and wrapped the towel around her as quickly as she could. “How did you get here?” she asked him.
He nodded to the window, and she ventured into his territory to look out. A horse stood tethered to a post in the front, contentedly nibbling on the fresh grass.
“You stole a horse?”
“Rented. For a generous fee.”
“Horse riding lessons as a kid, too?”
He shook his head. “Polo. Three years ago. It didn’t go well. Did okay with the horse part, though.”
She dropped onto the chaise lounge that sat in front of the fireplace. “What are you doing here?”
He stepped closer, close enough he pressed against her legs. He shifted slightly, nudging her thighs apart. Her mouth dropped open in a silent gasp, but she let him in, though she kept the towel firmly clutched to her chest.
He lightly trailed his hands up her arms and she shivered.
“Why are you trying so hard to get fired?”
Her gaze shot to his. “Why are you trying so hard to get me to quit?”
He gave her a slow, burning smile that had little sparks of heat shooting off all over her body.
He dodged that question as effectively as she did. “You’ve been impressively creative, I’ll give you that. Normally, I’d say I love a little ingenuity.” His hands traveled over her shoulders, skimming the column of her neck.
She tilted her head up, both to keep her gaze locked on his and to allow him access to her mouth. Should he want it, which it seemed he did. His fingers slipped into her hair, tightened ever so slightly. He leaned in. So close. Hovering.
Then he paused. And sighed. He released her and stepped back, ramming his hand through his hair.
“But,” he said from where he’d trailed off, “maybe this was a bit too much originality.”
His rejection stung. She knew it shouldn’t. He was being smart. She was sitting there completely naked beneath a towel, glistening wet and well primed thanks to a few too many close moments over the last few weeks. If he kissed her now, it wouldn’t stop at that. And neither of them wanted that to happen. Right? It would be a disaster. Even with their work relationship dissolved, it would never work. She didn’t even know how to be with him without work as a buffer.
Still, it hurt that he could turn away from her so easily when she was sitting there so tightly wound up with the want of him that she was about ready to spontaneously combust right there on the spot.
“And this? Whatever has been happening between us? Has that been part of the game? Just another way to mess with me?” she asked, not wanting to meet his gaze.
“I could ask you the same question.”
She did meet his gaze at that and gave him a faint smile. “I asked you first.”
A total cop-out, but it worked. No backsies.
He stared at her long enough she wasn’t sure he’d answer. “No. I wasn’t just messing with you. But acting on…whatever this is…wouldn’t be the wisest course of action. We’re too different I think. You certainly aren’t anything like the type of women I usually date.”
She completely agreed, but somehow it still hurt being on the receiving end of that statement.
She stood and tightened her grip on the towel. “I get it. It’s fun to talk about a little adventure, but you draw the line at slumming it. Good to know.”
She turned to walk away, but he was in front of her before she’d taken two steps.
“Is that how you think I think of you? Of anything happening between us? You think I’d consider it slumming?” He shook his head, both anger and sadness in his eyes, and closed the distance between them. “I’m not sure if I should yell at you for thinking so little of me, and yourself, that you’d accuse me of that, or…”
“Or what?” she asked, glaring up at him.
He grasped the back of her neck and hauled her to him. She was too startled to protest, and the second their lips met she had no desire to fight it. He kept one hand threaded in her hair and used the other to press her against him, keeping her captive against his body. She melted into him. She was so done fighting him, fighting herself. She’d craved this since the first moment she’d walked into his office and saw him sweating it out on his treadmill. True, his personality had gotten in the way for a bit, but then again, so had hers. It was a miracle they hadn’t killed each other yet.
“You aren’t like the women I date,” he said, kissing her again. “You’re real. You matter. You aren’t someone I can sleep with and walk away from.”
He angled his head for a deeper kiss, and she groaned, holding on to him just to keep her legs from giving out beneath her.
It might be a mistake. It would definitely change things. Then again, everything was going to change anyway. And who knew…a relationship with Cole might not be as disastrous as she feared. He was a good man. Aggravating, arrogant maybe, but at the end of the day, good. Even if he didn’t like to show people that side of himself. There wasn’t much he hid from her.
He suddenly stopped and pulled away. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…”
“Cole,” she said. His eyes widened at her use of his first name. She smiled and let go of the towel she held.
…
The towel dropped in a pool at her feet and Cole’s heart tried to punch through his chest. Fucking hell. He’d never seen anyone so beautiful in his life. She stepped closer to him, slowly, like she was afraid she’d spook him if she moved too quickly. He lasted exactly two and half seconds before he had her in his arms again.
He picked her up and carried her back to the chaise, dropping to his knees in front of her. She pulled at his clothing, and they broke apart long enough for him to rip his shirt off. They kept their lips fused together while she undid the button of his jeans and yanked them down. Her hand slipped inside, and he jumped.
“Kiersten…”
“Shh,” she said, trailing kisses across his chest. “Stop talking.”
He wanted to, but knew he shouldn’t. For both their sakes. He wasn’t good for her. He wasn’t good for anyone. He didn’t know how to be in a relationship. And what would their relationship even be? She was his assistant. For the moment, anyway. Maybe he should fire her so they could figure out what they really wanted to be to each other. Then again, how the hell could he fire her now? Not that he wanted to fire her at all, but he certainly couldn’t keep treating her as a mere assistant after this weekend.
He should stop this, at least until they talked things out. Though it was probably already too late for that. Unless she said no. He didn’t have the strength to put the brakes on for anything else. He wanted her so badly his body nearly vibrated with it.
She smiled up at him, and his heart jumped. And that was his answer right there. This strong, beautiful, amazing woman was worth whatever consequences would ensue. More than worth whatever price he had to pay.
Her hand slipped lower and the decision was out of his hands. Literally.
“Kiersten,” he said.
“Cole. Shut up and kiss me already.”
He smiled down at her. “Yes, ma’am.”
Neither of them were drunk. They were both responsible adults and perfectly capable of making a rational decision. It might be the stupidest thing they’d ever end up doing, but at that exact moment in time, he really didn’t care.
He leaned into her and groaned, then wrapped his hand in her hair and pulled enough to raise her face for his kiss. She opened beneath him, inviting him in, her lips and tongue moving frantically with his own.
He broke away long enough to ask, “Bed?” A quickie on the chaise didn’t seem good enough for her, not for their first time, but he honestly didn’t know if he could make it across the room to the plush bed behind the doors.
“Next time,” she said. She hauled him back to her and wrapped her legs around him, which put him dangerously close to the edge.
He had just enough presence of mind left to ask, “Condom?”
She groaned, jumped up, grabbed her purse from the table near the couch, and upended it. He stripped his shoes, socks, and pants the rest of the way off. When she turned with a box of condoms in her hand, he stood there, waiting and more than ready. She tossed him the condoms and came back, slowly. He opened the box and grabbed a packet, tearing it open and rolling it on while keeping his eyes glued to the incredibly gorgeous woman sauntering toward him.
She got
to him and looked him up and down, then she put her hands on his chest and drew them down, lightly raking him with her nails from his neck to the top of his thighs. The tenuous hold he had on his control snapped, and he grabbed her arms, draping them around his neck. He picked her up, and she wrapped her legs around him. The heat of her core pressed against him. He backed her up against the nearest wall, his mind a haze of emotion and desire.
He sank into her, his lips covering hers. With the first thrust, his world shattered. He stared into her eyes and thrust again. She gasped and clung to him, but her eyes never wavered. Never left his. Every pulse, every heartbeat, every breath, they shared. He’d been so worried about how she’d feel, react. He should have been worried about himself. Somehow, she’d found a way past all his defenses. Battered through them steadfastly and quietly. Until there was nothing left. Nothing but her. He was hers, whether she wanted him or not. No one else would ever compare. She was home for him.
He could feel her beginning to pulse and shudder around him. He held on tighter, thrust deeper. And when her eyes began to flutter closed, he changed his tempo. Harder, faster. Until she cried out and tensed in his arms. Only then did he find his own release, burying himself in her so deeply he was lost. Body and soul.
They kept still for a moment, relearning how to breathe. He kissed her once more. Then he moved away from the wall, keeping her in his arms as he moved to the bed. He laid her down and climbed in beside her, pulling her against his side, breathing her in. How in the world had they gotten to this place? When had it happened? The moment she’d defied him for the first time? Or even earlier? From the moment she’d walked into his office, that sparkle in her eye that she couldn’t hide even when she wanted to?
“How did I come here to chew you out for the barnyard experience and end up in your bed?”
She laughed, a husky, well-loved chuckle that had him ready for round two.
