“No, that was...actually that was kind of hot.”
“Then why are you crying?”
“I’m not crying,” she insisted.
But Cole saw right through her. “Fine. Then why are you trying not to cry?”
“Seriously, Cole. I don’t want to have this conversation with you. Just go. When you get home from work, I’ll be fine. I promise.”
She couldn’t do this anymore. She had to get out of there. Blinking the unshed tears out of her eyes, she made a move to get up, only to have Cole catch her wrist for the second time that afternoon.
“So the deal is I have to talk to you, but you don’t have to talk to me?” he asked.
Now she turned to confront him. “You still haven’t told me why you got upset last night,” she reminded him, yanking on her wrist.
“So it’s an exchange. I tell you what you want to know and you tell me what’s going on with you?”
“No! That’s not what I’m trying to say—” she broke off with an exasperated huff. “Not everything’s a perfect business exchange, Cole. You’re asking me to talk to you, and I’m telling you it’s not worth talking about. Please let go of me.”
His hand stayed circled around her wrist. “I’ll be the judge of that.”
“No, you won’t, because I don’t want to talk about it,” she said, feeling slightly hysterical. “Okay? I don’t.”
He stared at her for a few cold seconds, and then he said, “My mother said I was a mistake. That having me was a mistake. She was drunk and angry years later, because my father had left her for another woman—Max’s mother. She told me I ruined her body, made my father stop looking at her like a woman. Maybe she had a point, because he eventually left Max’s mother, too. But my mother died right after she said that to me—took a spill into our pool and drowned—so there you go.”
Sunny covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes wide.
“And there’s the look of pity again,” he said, dropping her wrist. “That’s why I didn’t want to tell you last night.”
“I’m not a block of stone, Cole. No mother should ever say that to her child and I’m sorry, truly sorry, that was said to you.”
Cole made a hurry up motion with his hand, winding it around in a circle. “Can we talk about your thing now?”
Sunny pursed her lips. It was true that this wasn’t supposed to be yet another business exchange, but Cole has just shared something painful with her, something he obviously hadn’t told a lot of people, if anyone. And it felt peevish not to just push down her self-consciousness and fess up.
She crossed her arms across her chest. “When you went cold on me right after we finished and decided to take a shower, it reminded me of my ex,” she mumbled.
Cole’s face went blank in a way she could tell was very deliberate. “Your ex, the do-gooder.”
“Yeah, him.”
“I reminded you of the guy who wastes his time trying to shame people into volunteering their time outside of grocery stores as opposed to paying employees what they’re worth to come work at the shelter he runs.”
“Well, no, you don’t remind me of him when you talk like that, like the least altruistic man on earth. But when you can’t wait to get into a shower after you have sex with me, then yeah, you do.”
Cole, who Sunny was beginning to think was incapable of feeling insult unless the word mistake was used, just raised his eyebrow. “Why?”
“He didn’t want to be seen with me. He said dating a showgirl wasn’t a good idea for a man in his position. He claimed to love me, but he kept me hidden, like a dirty secret. And he, um, always used to shower right after. Like he needed to clean me off of him.”
“So when did you figure out he was married?”
Sunny’s eyes went wide again. “Pru saw him with his wife, walking their dog, after one of her brother’s soccer games. How did you know he was married?”
“That’s the only real reason any man wouldn’t want to be seen with you,” Cole answered.
And Sunny found herself in the weird position of having to hold back her laughter after her tortured confession. “Really. The only reason? I mean, I’m black, too. How about racism? I’m not everybody’s cup of tea.”
“The only reason,” Cole repeated, like it was a matter of fact and not simply his opinion. Then he frowned. “So now what do we do? Talk about why I was going to take a shower and go back to my office. Is that how it works?”
Sunny scrunched up her face, not knowing if she’d ever get used to the way Cole saw everything as a business discussion. “Yeah, I guess that’s kind of how it works.”
Cole turned his eyes to the tinted window with its view overlooking the east side of the Strip. “I’m pissed off at myself right now. I planned to tease you for a while—I didn’t even make it to the end of my lunch hour.”
Sunny laughed, but then she realized...he was totally serious. “You went cold on me, because you couldn’t torture me for as long as you were planning?”
“I don’t think you took me seriously when I told you I like to be in control,” he said, his jaw setting.
“No, I didn’t,” she said. “Because who cares what you want?” Before he could stop her, she used her dancer’s muscles to quickly push herself up and over his body, straddling him and settling into his lap in one smooth move. “If that was Cole Benton out of control, that’s who I want to be sharing a bed with from now on.”
“How do you know?” he asked. “So far I haven’t been able to stay in control where you’re concerned.”
As if to prove his point, she felt him swell underneath his towel.
“Mmm,” she said with a delighted chuckle. “Tell me more.”
He shook his head, as if this conversation was exasperating him, as if she was totally exasperating him. “Sunny, I didn’t even get my suit jacket off, I didn’t get my shoes off.”
She gave him another look of pity, one he couldn’t possibly take offense to because it was nowhere near real. “Poor baby. Well, at least you don’t have to worry about that this time, because there’s nothing between us but this towel.”
She let her chest fall against his, and her nipples pebbled as she rubbed them against his rock-hard pecs. She couldn’t help but appreciate the fact that he was hard, everywhere she was soft.
In some cases really hard. His erection rose up through the towel’s crease, poking against her slit in a way that made her instinctively adjust herself, so that all he had to do was push in.
Which he did.
Sunny moaned. He was even thicker inside her in this position, filling her up in a way that felt both pleasurable and impossible, because how in the world could something that big feel so good inside her.
“Sunny...” he said, his hands circling her waist.
“So you wouldn’t mind if I started doing this?” She rocked her hips, gliding up and down on his thick erection, taking what she wanted as brazenly as she wanted to.
Cole rewarded her with a sharp intake of breath, his head falling back against the headboard.
Sunny leaned forward, taking him in even farther as she giggled in his ear. “Oh, no, I seem to be teasing you again, keeping you here, when all you wanted to do was get back to the office and work some more.”
She braced herself with her hands on his shoulders and worked her core, rising up and sitting down in a way that she hoped was as pleasurable for him as it was for her—at least pleasurable enough to bring back the out of control Cole.
The cold businessman was fine to talk to, and though she’d cursed him while he was teasing her, she had to admit that the orgasm he revved up in her with just his fingers had been earth-shattering. But when it came to doing the deed, to having Cole Benton’s hard length inside of her, she didn’t want the cold and civilized businessman, she
wanted the beast inside of him.
She soon got exactly what she wanted. Just a few strokes in, he grabbed her around the waist and flipped her over onto her back, pounding into her with such force she knew he’d lost all control again. Knew it and thanked the stars for it. Cole was relentless on top of her, forcing himself in and out of her quivering core until he finally growled at her to come.
She did. Hard. So hard, it sent Cole over the edge, too.
He cursed and once again spilled into her, his body shaking as he emptied out.
But this time when he tried to pull out, Sunny brought her legs up and laced them around her waist.
“Oh, no, what did I do?” she asked with faux alarm. “You were supposed to be taking a shower, and I got you even dirtier. Now I’ve given you something else to be mad at me about.”
Against all odds, she felt him harden again inside of her, and he shook his head. “What are you trying to do to me?”
She batted her eyelashes. “I guess I’m just a naughty girl, when it comes to you, Cole. A really, really naughty girl. You might have to punish me extra hard when you get home from work.”
His face iced over and he reached for the phone he’d put on the nightstand when he’d taken his suit off.
“Um...what are you doing?” Sunny asked, feeling decidedly less vixenish as she watched him type out a message with one hand.
“Texting Agnes to clear my calendar for the day,” he answered. Then he tossed the phone onto a nearby pillow. “I’m going to punish you extra hard, right now.”
And that he did.
Chapter 17
“You wore the new coral romper. On purpose?” he asked when Sunny sat across from him at the lunch table two weeks later.
Sunny flashed him a knowing smile as she opened her menu. The original romper had died an early death a few days beforehand when Sunny had made the mistake of bringing him dinner in his office, when he’d stayed late to clear out his inbox after sending Agnes home. Not only had the dinner gone uneaten, the emails ended up having to wait until the next morning, at which time he’d also asked Agnes to order a replacement romper stat.
Apparently the replacement had made it to Sunny, but she’d chosen not to wear it until their weekly lunch at The Benton’s Golf Club.
He shook his head at her. “You’re lucky we’re in public. I’ll be seeing you and that romper by close of business.”
“Actually, I have plans with Nora tonight. We’re going to eat dinner here, and then go see the seven o’clock Benton Girls show.”
“You’re going to have to cancel,” he said.
Sunny pursed her lips at him. “I’m supposed to be Nora’s assistant, and we’re lucky she brought your story about needing me to fake assist her, so that I could keep on getting paid and date you.”
Not as lucky as Sunny believed. Nora had been too happy to go along with Cole’s proposed plan, believing that he had fully caved in to her wishes to pursue Sunny as a wife. And it set Cole’s teeth on edge knowing that she thought she’d gotten away with threatening him.
“She’ll be fine without you,” he said. “She’s been going to The Revue without you all these years.”
“That’s what she said!” Sunny frowned. “But you’re the one who said she needed the extra assistance, remember.”
Cole’s mood darkened. Yes, he did remember, and he cursed himself for adding in that extra detail now.
“Plus, who knows how much longer she’ll even have to go to shows? The least I could do is go with her. Make sure she doesn’t overdo it. Though, that’s hard. Every time I try to help her during my visits, she keeps telling me she can do everything herself.” Sunny’s eyes went soft with fondness for his grandmother. “She’s so brave.”
Cole had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. “Like I said, she has her good and bad days.”
Sunny’s face suddenly lit up. “How about you come with us?”
Cole shook his head. “That’s not in the original outing agenda, and I’d rather front-load my work, since I’m going with you to your dance class on Sunday.” Which wouldn’t be so bad, if he thought he’d be able to keep himself from giving in to the temptation to strip off Sunny’s pink leotard ensemble as soon at they got back to the penthouse. Last Sunday, they’d ended up spending most of the morning in bed, and he hadn’t made it into the office until well after lunch.
“Please?” Sunny said, fingering the ruffle on her romper and peeping up at him. “It would make Nora so happy to see you, and besides you owe me one.”
He lifted his eyebrow. “Why do I owe you one?”
She lifted her eyebrow right back. “Pru and me went for our Monday Mani yesterday, and when I asked about getting waxed, I was informed that I didn’t have access to any of their waxing services.”
“Not when I’m in town,” he said coolly.
“Yeah, they said that, too. Pru thought it was funny.” Her eyebrow went even higher. “I didn’t.”
Cole felt no remorse about what he’d done to ensure he’d never have to go through that twenty-four hour wait time again. But he ran the calculation and decided to give in if it meant calling things even with Sunny. These past two weeks had been better than he’d expected. Way better.
Sunny wasn’t just sexy, she was interesting. Pleasant and challenging at the same time, in ways that not only kept Cole coming back for more, but made it hard for him to spend as much time at the office as he used to, when he knew she was waiting for him in the penthouse.
He found himself not wanting to disturb the equilibrium they’d established over the past few weeks.
So that was how Cole ended up having dinner with Nora and the woman he was now pretending was his girlfriend in order to keep his grandmother from giving her shares to his brother.
But his resignation to eating dinner with the relative he could barely stand to look at these days turned into feeling as though luck was truly on his side when Nora came shuffling into the restaurant, slightly stooped over.
“Sorry, I’m late, luvs,” she called out as she approached them. “Max showed up just as I was leaving. He’s a terrible one for arriving to your doorstep without any notice, that one.”
“Nora!” Sunny said, her eyes filled with worry. Both she and Cole stood up. Cole because Nora expected gentlemanly behavior when she joined him at a table, and Sunny in a rush to take Nora by the arm and help her into the booth. “You could have postponed if you were—” she exchanged a look with Cole “—having a bad day.”
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Nora insisted. “Just a little tight around the edges. Besides I’ve never a missed a second Tuesday of the month with my Benton Girls yet, and I’m not going to let Dr. Aguila get in the way of my fun—or my Old Fashioneds,” she added behind her hand.
And right on cue, a waiter showed up and set one of the bourbon cocktails his grandmother favored down in front of her with a smile and a warm greeting for Nora.
Cole knew “tight around the edges” meant Nora was recovering from yet another cosmetic procedure, and that Dr. Aguila was her long time plastic surgeon, but Sunny didn’t have to know that.
“I think Dr. Aguila is right, Gran,” he said, nodding toward the Old Fashioned. “You should probably lay off the booze tonight. No accounting for how it might react with your other medications.”
Nora beamed. “He called me Gran?” she said to Sunny. “He never calls me Gran.” She reached over and squeezed Sunny’s cheek. “See, I knew you would be a good influence on him!”
Sunny could barely keep the distressed look off her face. And Cole could barely keep the sly smile off of his.
Chapter 18
“What?” Sunny asked with befuddled confusion, when the valet told her he couldn’t bring the Mercedes around.
“Sorry, miss,” the v
alet answered. “But I’ve already put in a call to Tomas. He’ll be here with a car in just a moment.”
“What the hell, Cole?” she said less than five minutes later when she was ensconced in the back of his Bentley, like some kind of helpless idiot who couldn’t get herself from Point A to Point B. “Why’d you take away my car privileges?”
“I warned you about teasing me out in public,” Cole answered, not even trying to hide his amusement on the other side of the line.
“Oh, my gosh, I don’t wear panties to one little event...”
“And you choose not to inform me of that fact until we’re in the middle of the Benton Girls show, with my grandmother sitting on the other side of me. You could have told me before we went downstairs to dinner.”
“It wouldn’t have been any fun if I told you then!” Sunny protested. “You’re just mad because you’ve never done it in a bathroom before.”
“I’ve also never had anyone whisper in my ear how wet she was for me. How she hoped her dress wasn’t too short, because she didn’t want to get her seat dirty—” He broke off with a curse. “Now I’m hard again. Tell Tomas to turn you around and bring you back here.”
“No!” Sunny answered, her voice peevish. “Last night I promised your grandma I’d visit her today, and that’s part of the plan, right? To go over there and go on and on about happy I am with you?”
A little shadow fell over Sunny’s heart. Unfortunately that wouldn’t be too hard of an act to pull off these days. As it turned out, the thing that had been missing from her life all these years was tons and tons of grade A sex with a hot businessman. As cold as Cole had come off when they first met, they’d been burning up his bedroom over the past couple of weeks, and the couch in the living room, and occasionally his office after Agnes had left for the day. And as of last night, the handicap stall in the women’s bathroom at The Nora Benton Theater.
“She already knows you’re into me. While you were lagging behind in the women’s room, pretending we hadn’t just had a quickie, I got to hear about how Nora and my grandfather used to the do the same thing when they first met. I had to hear a story about my grandmother’s sex life, I’m pretty sure that means you owe me now.”
Vegas, Baby Page 11
