By Referral Only

by Lyla Payne

  As always, his frankness put a smile on my face and eased some of the fear still tightening my belly. I was doing this. We were doing it, and Cole had made it clear that going home with him, having sex with him, meant more than hooking up.

  His hand slid up my thigh until his fingers dipped under the hem of my shorts, brushing my underwear and making it pretty much impossible to change my mind. The next light turned red. Cole stopped the car and reached for me.

  “Give us a little nip, hen?” He breathed into me, then crushed my lips with his.

  There was nothing little about the kiss; it deepened immediately, until I clung to him, out of breath. His tongue stroked mine and his hands were everywhere—on my legs, my hips, tugging me as close as possible with a console between us. My palms slid up over his neck, into his short hair, and when the car behind us honked impatiently, I felt dazed.

  “Can you hurry?”

  Cole laughed, but it sounded tight. “Trust me, I am.”

  He needed to relax. Feeling deliciously turned on and emboldened by Cole’s loss of propriety, I reached across the console and pressed a hand to his belly. A sharp intake of air rewarded me, encouraged me, and I rubbed lower, teasing him through his khakis until he strained against my palm. I paused when his eyes kept closing on their own, honestly worried for our safety, and settled for giving him a good squeeze now and again until he pulled into the driveway and around back.

  “Unless you want to go doggin’ this time, I suggest you move that pretty little ass inside,” Cole said, his green eyes bright.

  “I’d consider it, if I knew what it meant.” It sounded dirty, which did nothing to help the situation.

  He grinned slyly. “It means I toss you in the backseat.”

  “I’m sure we’ll get around to it, but I was thinking we could figure out how to use up the rest of the day inside.” I got out of the car and went up the steps, pausing by the locked back door to wait for Cole.

  He was there a second later, his arms around my waist, body pressed against me from behind. His fingers found the hem of my hoodie and stripped it over my head, tossing it aside before his lips landed on the pulse in my neck and trailed heat down my shoulder. One hand moved up to cup a breast through my thin tank top, and we both groaned.

  I wiggled my ass against the hardness at the front of his dress pants and he snuggled me tighter, turning my chin far enough to kiss me until my knees threatened to give out.

  He let go and unlocked the door, leading me into a mudroom and then down the hall. Cole’s bedroom was exactly as I’d imagined—neat and orderly, with no suggestion that the sheets were dirty or that I’d need to worry about sitting on the toilet seat later. The bed sat high off the ground and thick down covered every inch. Cole was still behind me and I decided to take control.

  I spun around and settled his hands on my hips. “Don’t move those until I say.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “What about my mouth? Can I move that?”

  “We’ll see how you do.”

  I got to work, unbuttoning his shirt and checking his face every couple of seconds. It dropped off his shoulders and I hooked my fingers under the hem of his undershirt, letting my nails trail up his chest until it landed on the floor, too. His impossibly perfect upper body pushed my desire to places I didn’t know existed. I pushed up on my toes, hands exploring every inch of rock solid muscle, and kissed him. He tasted like morning and toothpaste, much better than I did, although the piece of gum I’d sneaked on the way out of the diner hopefully helped.

  His fingers twitched at my waist and started to move. I jerked my hands down to still his, shaking my head as I pressed kiss after kiss to his jaw, down to the pulse jumping in his neck, and over the muscles rippling over his chest.

  My fingers found the clasp on his belt and I pulled it loose and dropped it, then unbuttoned his pants.

  His hard length arched toward me, still trapped behind the fabric. Cole’s hands were forced to leave my hips as I moved a few steps backward and sat on the edge of the bed, pulling him with me. I kissed the trail of blond hair to where it disappeared into his pants, then pushed those out of the way and licked my way lower.

  Cole pulled the rubber band from my hair, loosening the blonde mass down around my shoulders, and fisted a hand in the waves hard enough to drive me insane with desire but not hard enough to hurt me or impede my progress when I took him in my mouth.

  He groaned, hips moving involuntarily toward my lips as my tongue toyed with him. I thought he’d be more confident after this morning, and he didn’t seem nervous now, or in danger of losing control. This was the Cole I’d sensed lurking under the tense surface—confident and sexy.

  I eased back and stood in front of his completely naked, amazing body, my arms in the air.

  Cole obliged, stripping me with as much intent to tease as I’d dished out a moment earlier, his knuckles scraping my breasts as the tank top disappeared over my head. His lips sought mine like he would drown if they stayed away too long, and as he gathered me into his arms, the feeling of my bare breasts pressed against his hard, naked chest drove shudders through me that wouldn’t stop.

  Without taking his mouth from mine, Cole nudged us both back onto the bed until he hovered over me, then he settled a big hand on the spot where my shorts met bare skin.

  His lips moved downward, lingering on my breasts so attentively that I swore I couldn’t take the pleasure anymore, then trailed over my ribs. I felt his mouth stretch into a smile every time I sighed and grabbed at the comforter, and when his hands pushed my shorts and underwear out of the way together, I held my breath.

  The feeling of his tongue as it teased me briefly along the insides of my thighs, then moved toward the heat pouring from my center, had me whimpering incoherently. Cole maneuvered with expert movements, his fingers and tongue working together outside me, inside me, until they tumbled me expertly into oblivion. My thighs squeezed his ears as I came, my hips pressing toward the pleasure his tongue still dished out even as the sensation felt like too much, so much I screamed as roaring waves pushed me down, held me under until I couldn’t breathe. Stars danced in front of my eyes and sounds disappeared.

  When they returned, I saw Cole watching me from between my legs, a strange combination of satisfied and starving dancing across his handsome face.

  “You’d better not think you’re done, gorgeous,” I growled, my voice strange and scratchy.

  He crawled up and kissed me with a kind of need that let me know he was by no means finished. An arm snaked out and opened the drawer in the nightstand, then returned with a condom that he had out of that package and on his package before I could blink.

  It felt as though I’d waited for him forever, when in reality it had been less than three months since we’d met, less than an hour since we’d had sex in the On Call room. He nudged my legs farther apart and leaned down to kiss me. I opened everything up to him—my legs, my mouth, my tentative belief that he was what he promised.

  He pressed against the still throbbing heat between my legs, looking down into my eyes with the sexiest combination of sweet and teasing that I’d ever thought possible. “You have been driving me so fucking crazy for weeks.”

  In answer, I pulled his face to mine and kissed him hard as he buried his length inside of me. It filled me up and my hips tipped back to take more of him. Matching gasps and groans mingled between our lips. We moved against each other with single-minded purpose, our bodies taking over and finding an increasingly faster rhythm as sweat slicked our skin and our tongues grew rough in desperation.

  As his lips tugged one of my nipples into his mouth, rolling it on his tongue, another tide of pleasure rose, the build slower this time but no less intense. The sensation of him thrusting into me, his hands fisted in my hair, mouth on my breast, swirled me into a hurricane. When it exploded inside me and I clenched tight around Cole, my arms a vise holding us flush together as I gasped and bit his shoulder harder than I meant to.


  Cole lifted me off the covers with one arm, holding me against him as he came, saying my name into my hair as we shuddered together for several moments. He eased me back onto the bed a moment later but didn’t leave the warmth inside of me, staying close and kissing me in a way that made me feel precious and sweet and made me want to cry.

  “You really are the most beautiful girl I’ve ever met, Ruby. And I’ve decided something.”

  “What’s that?” I asked, still feeling a little like Cole and I were underwater.

  “You’re no princess.”

  “I could have told you that.”

  “No, I mean because that’s what daddies call their baby girls, and you are no child, Ruby Cotton. You must be a queen. Do they have queens in New Orleans?” It would have been funny if his face wasn’t so serious.

  “Voodoo queens,” I offered sleepily.

  “Ah, that explains it.”

  “Explains what?”

  “Your spell.”

  Chapter 19

  We slept until late afternoon, then did it again after we ate some frozen pizza and before Law and Nox came stumbling in around midnight. For a guy who didn’t sleep around, Cole had a good supply of condoms, for which I was eternally grateful.

  Each time got a little better, as we guessed each other’s nonverbal cues and laughed in the middle, which was a new experience for me, but one I liked.

  My body felt stretched and sore, spent in the best possible way when I fell asleep for the night, my back pressed against Cole’s chest and his strong arm snuggling me tight against him.

  I woke up feeling deliciously worn out. Cole still slept, morning light trickling across his face and highlighting every beautiful angle. I missed his eyes, the way they changed color with his mood, and how they shot shivers through me with every shift, but seeing him this way reminded me we were both vulnerable.

  It should have been a good moment, and part of me wanted to climb on top of him and go again, but the fact that everything felt too good to be true ruined it for me. He was too nice, the sex was too good, the Stuarts had too much history…I could see the other shoe hanging above my head, ready to knock me out cold any moment.

  “Stop,” Cole mumbled, not opening his eyes.

  “Stop what?”

  “You’re feert again. I can sense it. Every muscle in your body tenses up when you start to freak out.”

  “How do you know?”

  “You’ve done it twice since last night, and before at the beach.” He peered at me, blinking away sleepiness. “Everything’s fine.”

  “Only fine?”

  “Pretty fucking great.”

  I cuddled closer to him, pressing skin against skin and trying to reassure myself with his solidity. “So, do you think we’re at a point where I can say something completely blunt?”

  He chuckled, turning toward me and twisting a piece of hair between his fingers. “When were you not at that point?”

  “I have to leave for class in thirty minutes, but I’d really like you to fuck me quick and hard before I go.” I gave him my sauciest look, and I don’t know whether it was that or the request, but Cole didn’t hesitate.

  He flipped me over with a sure arm, one hand toying firmly with a breast and the other raising my hips to give him a good angle to push inside me. The double sensations and the confidence with which he manipulated my body made me cry out, but I stuffed a pillow over my face quickly. The twins were home, and for all of the things I was into, exhibitionism wasn’t really one of them.

  Cole rocked inside me, a hand firm on my ass as he gave me exactly what I’d asked for, and within minutes we were both straining to get closer. The friction from the sheets burned the outside of my thigh and Cole’s mouth was hot on the back of my neck, his tongue sending tactile shivers down my spine.

  He squeezed my breast a little harder and I arched into his touch. The other hand left my ass and slid around between my legs, rubbing in time with his thrusts and making me forget trying to be quiet, forget my fears, forget everything but the crazy amazing feeling of his hands all over me and him inside of me. We came together, each making more noise than we probably intended as we thrashed in an attempt to make it last as long as possible.

  I rolled over and he kissed my mouth, nipping my bottom lip and then soothing the bite with his tongue. I smiled against his lips, happier than I could recall being, pretty much ever.

  Too happy.

  “I have to say, I’ve never been with a girl confident enough to just ask me to fuck her.”

  It made me self-conscious at first, but the way his eyes drank me in said it wasn’t a bad thing. “If you don’t ask, you can’t get what you want. And I feel comfortable with you. You’re so accommodating,” I finished with a smile that felt more confident that I did.

  “I promise to try to give you what you need.” His brow furrowed, his gaze taking on a concern that I hadn’t seen until now. “It’s okay, right? The sex?”

  “Are you kidding me? Cole, I may regret telling you this, since it’s going to make your head too big to fit through the door, but the sex is fucking amazing. I’ve had like, half a dozen orgasms in less than twenty-four hours.”

  His ears turned pink and a shit-eating grin spread his lips. “We seem to be compatible.”

  I snorted. “That’s the understatement of the year.”

  “It’s never been that way for me. Like, my body senses what yours wants, and you anticipate the exact right way to move…it’s weird.”

  “That’s just my voodoo magic.” I waved my fingers in his face. “Pay no attention to the dead animal bones you find in your underwear drawer.”

  “God, you are fucking adorable. And smart and funny and so sexy I’m ready to say screw your Shakespeare class and go again.”

  “Can’t. I have a paper due.” I leaned up to kiss him, intending to move, but it took another five minutes before I finally made it out of bed and into the shower.

  It wasn’t until I was out the door and waiting in line at The Grind that I realized that with all of the intimate details I knew about Cole, he’d never told me what exactly he’d been so afraid of until now. What he was still hiding.

  ***

  “Wait, what?”

  “Cole and I hooked up,” I whispered again.

  “I know, I heard you. I’m not deaf. But what?” Her dark eyes were huge as we waited for the rest of speech class to trickle in.

  I’d actually managed to get there with seven minutes to spare and hadn’t been able to stop from blabbing my news. “He says he wants to date me—like not as a fling or sex, but as like, something. A thing.”

  “Duh, Ruby. That’s what he’s wanted for weeks, but what changed your mind?”

  I shook my head, my throat tight. “I didn’t want to say goodbye.”

  A sly smile spread across her face until her eyes sparkled with mischief. “And I’m assuming you didn’t get the cold shoulder that created the ratings, so I’m going to need details.”

  Cole walked through the door right then, his gaze seeking me out immediately. He glanced between Emilie and me, his smile growing, and then winked. The professor hustled in right behind him and Cole took his seat up front, leaving Emilie and I to our discussion.

  “Crazy good, Em. I can hardly walk straight.”

  She squealed, drawing attention from most of the class. Cole didn’t turn around but I could almost feel his shit-eating grin growing wider.

  “Yes. Oh my god. Yes. I’m so happy. You should look happier.” She paused, narrowing her gaze at me. “You look like you’re about to throw up.”

  “It seems too good to be true, that’s all. The great sex, the nice guy…I mean, he says it’s a thing, but I can’t help but remember what happened with his family, and the website, and the fact that he still hasn’t told me—”

  “Okay, stop. This is new and it’s scary. I get it. But there’s not always a booby trap over the door, Rubes. Sometimes it’s just a door.”

/>   I nodded, still trying not to cry. Discomfort churned in my stomach, dulling the glow from the past couple of days and the tiny bit of hope trying to stay lit.

  The professor cleared his throat and started talking. Emilie reached over and squeezed my hand. “You want to go to the Homecoming game together? The four of us?”

  I snorted, earning a look from the prof, even though we were just waiting on someone to set up their PowerPoint presentation. “Quinn’s going to the football game?”

  “Well, you know we all have to be at the Homecoming Alumni crap, so I talked him into it. Or I held his whiskey hostage and promised it would be at the tailgate. You in?”

  “I’ll ask Cole.”

  “You’ll tell Cole. Plus, he’s not like Quinn. He’s a joiner.” She nodded seriously and let go of me, and we both focused on class.

  Her assessment of Cole made me smile. It didn’t seem possible, or probable, to be as happy as I wanted to be—as happy as I would be, if I could let go and enjoy it.

  ***

  We only had to sit through one more Homecoming skit before the Alumni vote that would choose a winner, then we could head to the game. I hated that the skits started before noon, but loved that it meant that we’d have at least five hours to drink at the tailgate before watching Vanderbilt kick our assess all over the football field.

  Emilie had totally bailed on the skits, along with most upperclassmen, but since I was Homecoming Chair I didn’t have much of a choice. Cole sat next to me, his big hand wrapped around mine, index finger stroking circles on my palm that were, for some reason, making me want to get him naked. Then again, everything did that these days.

  “Regretting the decision to volunteer for social chair?” I leaned closer and whispered in his ear, taking the briefest taste of him before pulling away.

  A serious expression darkened his green eyes as he turned to me. “Never.”

  “You’d better pay attention. Kappa and Alpha Chi are the last group. Don’t want to miss your sister.”