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Once I’ve showered, finished my makeup and flat ironed my hair to a long, silky shine, I pull on black lace-top thigh highs, and a lacy black panty and bra set. Knocking sounds on the door and I pull on a robe. Hurrying forward, I open to door to find Cat, still in a robe, but like me, her hair and makeup are done. “I want you to model the dresses. I’m dying to see how they look.”
This is Cat. She’s excited for me to wear one of her dresses. There is no favor I owe her. There is just generosity and friendship. She is just one of the reasons I have to get control of me and Cole. I won’t cause a disruption in the workplace for the people who have helped me. That includes Cole.
An hour later, we arrive at the building where Summer & Brooks practice law, with Cat and Reese proving a breathtaking duet as we do; her in a gorgeous knee-length black dress that flares just below the knee. Him in a fitted black suit with a pinstripe. They look like a king and queen, while I at least look like a loyal subject worthy of their time, and how can I not? I’m wearing a stunning knee-length burgundy pencil dress, with a V-neck and two straps on both sides. It hadn’t been my first choice though, despite my love for the color and style. I’d wanted to wear a simple black dress, a conservative dress that felt intern appropriate, but that didn’t happen. Not with Cat sitting on the bed eager to see me try on all the choices.
“You must wear that one,” she’d proclaimed the minute I’d presented myself in the burgundy. “Because it will get you all the right attention.”
Of course, she’d meant Cole’s attention, which tonight I will embrace. I want his attention. I’m allowed to want his attention. Just this night.
We’ve just stepped into the elevator when Cole, devastatingly handsome in a gray three-piece suit paired with a gray and blue tie, appears in the doorway. “Gorgeous, ladies,” he says, giving Cat a wink before he looks at me, his eyes simmering with male appreciation.
There are words exchanged between Reese, Cole, and Cat, but it buzzes in my ears, non-descript, unintelligible, for the thrumming of my heart in my chest and ears. There is just Cole, stepping into the car, shrinking the tiny space and claiming the spot to my left, with Cat on my right. There is just Cole’s spicy scent, teasing my nostrils with erotic promise. Cole’s big body next to mine, his shoulder brushing mine, and the smattering of goosebumps lifting on my skin at his nearness. The doors shut and the car starts to move, and I can feel him looking at me even before he asks, “Are you nervous?” He discreetly catches my fingers with his, heat radiating up my arm and across my chest where my nipples pucker.
I swallow and look at him, the collision of our eyes, and the heat in the deep blue of his, weakening my knees. No man but this one has ever weakened my knees. “Should I be?” I ask, when of course we are not talking about the party. We’re talking about me going home with him.
“Not at all,” he says, and perhaps it’s just me but I swear his voice is low, rough, sexy. “Because you’ll be with me,” he adds, “and I know exactly what I want, and what you need, to get out of this night.”
His fingers stroke my palm on that promise, darts of pleasure shooting through my sex, and I suddenly can’t remember why needing Cole Brooks is a problem. I’m sure I will. I know I will. Just not when he’s touching me. Or looking at me. Most definitely, not when he’s kissing me later. And when he’s naked—well, when he’s naked, I’m just going to let it happen, I’m going to let myself need him. All of him, more of him, until it’s enough of him. Until we’re done with each other. Then need won’t matter.
Chapter twenty-seven
Cole
Ihave never wanted to fuck a woman as badly as I want to fuck Lori Havens right here and now in this elevator, and we’re not even alone. That I want her to the point of distraction, and have for months now, is a problem that ends tonight. The floors tick by, twenty to be exact, each allowing me an opportunity to imagine the many ways to take this woman: bent over my desk, me driving inside her until she begs me to stop, and her sitting on my desk, her legs around my neck, my head buried between her thighs, top the list. Of course, there’s her on her knees—
The elevator doors open, and holy fucking hell, at least we’re a little closer to the hour when Lori will be on my tongue and on my cock. A few hours from now, she’ll be mine. With that certain future before me, I steel my willpower—that is, until Lori follows Cat and Reese out of the car ahead of me, and I’m allowed a perfect view of her heart-shaped backside in that burgundy dress. Change of plans, I decide, checking my watch to confirm there is a good thirty minutes until the party starts, adequate time for me to find a place to pull Lori’s dress up, slip inside her, and fuck her; just long enough to hear those sexy moans of hers. A fantasy I savor as I step out of the elevator car and to her side. That is until Maria rushes through the open double doors to our right, where our newly minted unoccupied space is being used for the party, and blows that all to hell.
“We have a problem,” she announces, stopping in front of us, her attire of jeans and a T-shirt making it clear that she hasn’t had time to change. “The catering company had a fire,” she continues. “They cancelled hours ago.”
“What?” Cat exclaims. “Why didn’t you call us?”
“Because I thought I had it handled,” Maria says, pressing her hand to her forehead, “and I handle worse than this most weeks.”
“Oh my God,” Cat breaths out, turning to Reese. “Oh my God.”
“Don’t panic,” Maria says, quickly. “I should have prefaced that statement by saying it’s handled. Somehow. Le Rue, the restaurant we all adore down the road, agreed to save us, but they showed up with no sweets and no coffee. We really need some kind of sweets.”
“I’ll help make phone calls,” Cat says. “Someone can help.”
“Time is an issue,” I say. “Do we have the champagne we ordered?”
“Yes,” Maria confirms. “All is well on that end.”
“We’re boozing people up and feeding them, then,” I reply. “Call it good.”
“Agreed,” Reese says. “How many of the partners are here?”
“Most of them,” Maria says. “But none of them know there’s a problem. I didn’t want to deal with them and this at the same time.”
“No food was a problem,” I say. “Skipping dessert and coffee is not a problem. Your job is done and done well, as always.”
“Again, I agree,” Reese chimes in. “Cat and I can manage the masses, Maria,” he adds, slipping his arm around Cat’s shoulder. “You go take a breather and change clothes. We’ll toast your hard work and our future when you get back.”
Cat twists in his arms to face him. “You go manage the masses,” she orders. “I get it. You’re a guy and it doesn’t feel important, but it is. We need dessert and coffee. This is a big event and we have time. It can be a final offering.”
“I think I can handle the coffee and sweets,” Lori offers, reaching inside a small burgundy purse at her hip and removing her phone. “I worked at a coffee shop, remember? The owner also operates a cupcake shop and the cupcakes are amazing. I also happen to know that he mass bakes on Saturday nights for the Sunday and Monday rush.”
“See why I love her?” Cat demands. “She’s amazing.”
