by Kennedy Fox
“You need to relax, or we’re gonna have to do this all over again,” Cole murmured. “Unless that’s what you want?”
“Are you always this impossible, or just with me?”
“You do seem to bring out the best in me.” He must’ve leaned closer, his breath now fanning over her ear and down her exposed neck, eliciting a shudder she couldn’t attempt to hide. “Cold?” he asked, a cocky lilt to his voice.
“Obviously,” she snapped. “You try standin’ out here in fifty-degree weather, wearing barely more than Eve did.”
See? Another lie rooted in reality. She should be cold from the temperature. But the fact of the matter was that since the moment Cole had put his hands on her, her entire body had flamed, heat burning her up from the inside. And the hard points of her nipples had absolutely nothing to do with the chill in the air.
“What can I do to warm you up, I wonder?” Cole said slowly, dipping his head to the slope where her neck met her shoulder. He ghosted his lips over the skin, and she barely held back a moan, biting her lip to keep it trapped inside where it belonged.
“Oh yes! More of this, please,” Nat said excitedly, the camera shutter click-click-clicking in quick succession.
As Cole continued his subtle torture against her neck, Sadie’s shoulders dipped with each second that passed, melting her body down until she had to lean back against him just to remain upright. He released a gruff sound from his throat as his grip on her stomach tightened, the hold firm and possessive. He tugged her back fully against him, the hard length of his cock pressing against her backside, and she sucked in a ragged breath as she felt him for the first time. Suddenly overwhelmingly desperate to feel him for the first time.
Giving herself a mental chastising, she shook herself from those thoughts. See? It wasn’t just her feeling the effects of this. Her body’s reaction was totally reasonable, considering this entire situation was obviously turning both their brains to mush.
“Those were so hot,” Nat said, glancing down at her camera screen. “Let’s do some face-to-face now that you two are warmed up.”
Good. Maybe staring into the eyes of the one guy in Havenbrook she couldn’t stand would be the bucket of ice water her libido needed. After seeing her flushed face, Cole wouldn’t waste any time teasing her, and then they’d be back exactly where she needed them to be—at odds with each other.
But when she turned around, Cole didn’t taunt or tease. Didn’t ridicule or insult. Instead, he stared down at her as Nat directed them, his pale-blue eyes darker than Sadie had ever seen.
On Natalie’s command, Cole wrapped one of his hands around Sadie’s hip, his fingers digging into her lower back and guiding her closer so their bodies pressed tight together from the waist down. And, yep, she most definitely was not the only one still feeling the effects of this shoot. Parting his lips, he slid his other hand up her arm, over her shoulder, and to her neck, his thumb fanning against her cheek as his fingers delved into her hair.
Up this close, he smelled so damn good, like ocean air and sunshine, and she had the absolutely ridiculous urge to press her nose to his neck and breathe him in deep. Suck him into her body and keep him there forever.
“Good,” Nat said. “Now lean toward each other like you’re gonna kiss…”
Thank God Cole was following directions, because Sadie was frozen, her eyes wide and anxious as she looked up at him. Cole’s gaze, though, had turned heavy. Sultry. His eyes flicked from hers down to her lips and back again. They stood so close, their bodies pressed everywhere they could, and she could feel his exhales whispering across her mouth. Could taste the mint of his breath.
With one hand wrapped around his wrist, the other gripping the front of his shirt, she felt her eyes flutter closed without her permission, her lips parting as she finally gave in to this crazy chemistry between them and prepared for his kiss.
“Perfect! You guys were awesome. I think I have everything I need,” Nat said, snapping Sadie out of her stupor.
She jerked back, nearly tripping over her dress’s train, and Cole reached out to steady her, but she shook him off, unable to meet his eyes. “Great! Great. That’s…great.”
Well, that was fantastic—this whole situation had apparently zapped every ounce of her intellect so she could only say great. What was not great was that she’d very clearly lost her mind and nearly kissed Cole freaking Donovan during an extremely fictional photo shoot. She was an idiot.
“It was better than great,” Nat said, stuffing her camera and lenses into her bag. “It was amazing. Don’t you think, Cole?”
Sadie refused to look at the man her cousin spoke to. The one who’d so easily blown all of Sadie’s defenses out of the water, erasing three years of animosity with a single afternoon of close contact.
“Um, if we’re done,” Sadie interrupted before Cole could answer, “I’m freezin’, so I’m gonna go on in and get changed.”
Without waiting for a response, Sadie hiked up her nearly indecent dress and fled into the inn with the single ounce of dignity she had left.
Chapter Five
Hours later, Cole sat in the plush armchair in his suite, looking out the window toward the gazebo on the grounds, white lights twinkling under the pitch black of the night sky. Remembering the feel of Sadie’s curves against him as they’d stood there, closer than they’d ever been. He should have been embarrassed for how his body had betrayed him, his cock growing thick and hard the second he’d seen her walk out in that dress. But the truth was, his reaction was nothing new. He’d been drawn to her from the first moment he’d noticed her when he’d moved to town, smiling brilliantly at someone in the Square. As soon as she’d turned that grin his way, it’d knocked him on his proverbial ass.
Their distant attraction had continued until the day they’d officially met outside the courthouse. Recognition had lit her gaze before realization dawned. He’d sworn he could see her eyes shuttering right there in front of him. As he’d glanced between her and her sister—before Elise had started dyeing her hair, their appearances had been similar though he’d never had any trouble telling them apart—he could feel her disdain practically rolling off her.
From that day on, every heated glance toward him was filled with nothing but malice and hate. And he couldn’t even blame her. Cole prided himself on a job well done, and he’d lived up to that when he represented her former brother-in-law. Had done that job so well, in fact, that he’d managed to rob the very inn in which he stayed of the majority of their multigenerational family antiques. A power move on the part of his client and former fraternity brother, and something that still made Cole sick to think about.
But that was all part of the game he had to play. He got paid to make sure his clients received exactly what they wanted. Even if their intentions only came from a place of revenge. Even if it wasn’t fair.
He downed the last of his bourbon before glancing at his watch. It was just before midnight, which meant the rest of the inn would be quiet and desolate. He’d found that out the second night in his temporary home. While he didn’t necessarily need a lot of space, it was still quite an adjustment transitioning from a two-thousand-square-foot home all to himself, which he could roam completely naked if he so chose, to a two-hundred-square-foot box without even a kitchenette.
He stripped from his lounge pants and tugged on a pair of jeans and a hoodie, just in case he ran into any fellow guests while he was wandering around. The inn was quiet as he stepped out of his room, the hallway lit by a plethora of white lights hung from the ceiling. The bed-and-breakfast looked like St. Nick himself had thrown up inside, but Cole couldn’t deny its festiveness. He could see why it was a permanent stop on the town’s Sip and Shop holiday event that showcased several of Havenbrook’s best.
The door directly across the hall from Cole’s room opened suddenly, and Sadie stepped out, stopping short when her gaze landed on him.
“Oh!” Her hand flew to her throat as she startled. “C
ole. You scared me.”
He ignored the way the sound of his name on her lips shot straight to his cock. In his time staying here, he’d never seen her in the main house past nine, which was when she usually headed off to the cottage on the back of the property. Narrowing his eyes, he shifted his gaze to the door very clearly marked as the honeymoon suite.
“What’re you doin’ in there?” he asked. Demanded, really.
She crossed her arms over her chest and arched a single indignant brow, her face scrubbed clean of the makeup she’d worn earlier in the day and eyes so bright, he could clearly make them out even in the dim hallway. “I’m not really sure that’s any of your business. Last I checked, this is my inn, and I don’t need to account for my whereabouts to the guests.”
Well, it was good to see the fire between them that had been stoked earlier in the day was less filled with raging attraction and now back to just rage.
“Yes, I am aware of that. Believe it or not, I did pass first grade.”
“Sometimes I wonder,” she mumbled just loud enough for him to hear.
He knew he shouldn’t look his fill—especially after earlier. But when Sadie was around, he shifted from the detached man he’d turned himself into after his divorce to someone hungry for every ounce of her. Dropping his gaze to take her in, he followed the curve of her cheek, down her neck—lingering for only a moment where his lips had rested earlier—to the slope of her shoulder he so rarely saw. She wore a too-big holiday sweatshirt with snowmen on the front, the neckline wide and falling off one side. Her hair was pulled up, the thick mass of red waves piled on top of her head with several tendrils falling loosely around her face. Wisps of hair at her nape were damp. From sweat? He narrowed his eyes before flicking his gaze back to the door that led to the honeymoon suite, straining his ears for sounds of another person inside.
He didn’t think she was seeing anyone. But then again, they weren’t exactly BFFs. Hell, they weren’t even acquaintances. For all he knew, she had a string of fuck buddies whom she brought back to the inn to avoid any intimate connection with her home.
“You have a gym here that I wasn’t aware of?”
Sadie’s brow furrowed. “What? No, why?”
Cole lifted his hand and ran two fingers over her damp hair, biting back his satisfaction when she shuddered at the contact. “Your hair’s wet.”
Sadie dropped her gaze and cleared her throat, tightening her arms over her chest, which only managed to perk up her absolutely delicious-looking breasts and made him even hungrier for her. “I’m not sure why it’s any of your business, but I was utilizin’ the honeymoon suite’s enormous bathroom and claw-foot tub.”
“Is that so?” he managed through the choke hold that vision had on him. He slid his hand into his pocket to hopefully hide the evidence of his reaction to her being naked, just across the hall from him.
“Kind of a necessity,” she said, her voice oozing a fake sweetness that seemed to come so easily for her with anyone else. “See, I had this run-in earlier with a complete asshole, so I desperately needed the relaxation. Unfortunately, it looks like I might need to head right back in there as soon as we’re done.”
He studied her, from her full, parted lips, to her flushed chest, to the hard points of her nipples she was trying very hard to hide. One thing was clear—she may not like him very much, but she sure as hell was attracted to him. “You know what I think?”
She rolled her eyes. “Even though I don’t care, I’m sure you’re gonna tell me.”
His lips twitched as he took a single step toward her, enough so the heat from her body radiated off her. She smelled of lavender, and he wanted nothing more than to bury his face in her neck and breathe her in. “I think that soak wasn’t for relaxation at all. I think it was for relief.”
She huffed out a laugh. “Relief? From what? The fact that I didn’t have to be in your presence any longer?”
What would she do if he reached up and traced the neckline of that sweatshirt? If his fingertips ran perilously close to those pointed nipples taunting him… “Keep tellin’ yourself that, firecracker, but you and I both know exactly what kind of tension you needed to release after earlier.”
Cole didn’t voice aloud that he’d needed the same. After the shoot, he’d barely managed to wait until his door had closed behind him before he’d had his pants undone and his hand wrapped tightly around his cock. Memories of Sadie’s body against his had fueled his urgency as he stroked himself to completion.
Her eyes flashed with heat and hunger, the low light in the hallway illuminating the pink flush to her cheeks. She dropped her hands to her sides, and her chest rose and fell with each labored breath, the puckered tips of her breasts calling his name. “I could kick you out of the inn for sayin’ something like that to me, you know.”
Yeah, he knew. But even the prospect of being booted out on to the street in the middle of December wasn’t enough to make him shut his mouth. He didn’t know what it was about this woman, but she pushed every one of his buttons. Woke a beast inside him he hadn’t even known existed until her.
“Maybe,” he said, just noticing how they’d invaded each other’s spaces as they’d talked, now mere inches apart. “But I think you enjoy usin’ that smart mouth of yours to make my life a daily hell too much to do so.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You’re a complete jackass, you know that?”
“Only around you, apparently.”
“Oh, that’s real mature. You’re blamin’ me for your complete lack of manners?”
“Believe me, Sadie, the last thing I think about in your presence is manners.”
“I’m sure this is gonna be good. What, exactly, do you think about while I’m around?”
He dropped his gaze to her lips, so full and pink and perfect. Ever since that first day he’d seen her in the Square, he’d wanted to know what they’d feel like. What they’d taste like. “Sometimes I wonder what you’d do if I kissed you just to shut you up.”
“You…what?” Sadie’s eyes flashed, her gaze falling to his mouth before snapping up to meet his again.
He cocked a single eyebrow. “Don’t believe me?”
“No,” she said stiffly. “I don’t.”
“Tell me to prove it, then,” he said, his voice low and gravelly. He was done playing this game with her. Wanted to see if this tension between them exploded or fizzled out when they finally gave in to it. One way or another, he needed to move on from this woman.
“What? I’m not—”
“Tell me.” This time, he gave in to the temptation to put his hands on her, sweeping his fingers over that bare shoulder, his thumb pressing lightly to the thrumming beat of her heart. “Tell me to prove it.”
She stared up at him for long moments, her breathing ragged, her eyes pinning him in place. And just when he thought she’d tell him to fuck off, she whispered, “Prove it.”
With a groan, he lowered his head and captured her mouth with his. She tasted of wine and chocolate, a mixture that had his cock attempting to break through his zipper after a single swipe of her tongue against his own. He moved her head how he wanted it, taking the kiss deeper as he filled his other hand with the full curve of her ass that had taunted him from afar.
She moaned as he jerked her leg up over his hip and pressed her back into the door, grinding his cock against her as the heat of her pussy seeped through their layers until it was all he could feel. All he could focus on.
He’d never been this hard in his life. Had never wanted to be inside someone more than he did right here, right now, with this woman. This woman who’d done nothing but drive him completely mad. This woman whose fingers were threaded through his hair, rocking her hips against him as they learned each other’s tastes and sounds. As they—
The bell at the front desk rang at the same time Sadie’s pocket buzzed, and she jerked away, stumbling in her haste to sidestep him. On instinct, Cole reached out to steady her, but she stepped out of re
ach, her eyes wide on him before she dropped them to the floor and spun around, walking quickly away from him and never once looking back.
Chapter Six
Even though Sadie was a fully grown woman who’d had her fair share of dating disasters, she wasn’t too proud to admit that she’d spent every second of every day since that kiss with Cole…hiding. There was no other way around it. She was totally hiding from him.
In her defense, she’d needed time to regroup…and also make sure she didn’t turn into a puddle of goo in his presence. And it wasn’t like she could go to her typical problem-solver and spill her guts about what had happened. Elise would hate her. And, yeah, okay…hate wasn’t exactly a new emotion between them. You couldn’t be sisters—and twins, no less—without spending a solid twenty-five percent of your time hating the other one. But the wounded look in Elise’s eyes if Sadie told her she’d just had the best kiss of her life with the man who’d helped rob her sister of happiness would be even worse.
And there was absolutely no denying the power of that kiss. It had completely and utterly eviscerated every single one that had come before. She was pretty sure her toes had actually curled as he’d swiped his tongue across hers…his hands, so hot and possessive against her, moving her body exactly how he desired. And there had been no pretty sure about the state of her panties.
“Did Nat send you any of the pics yet?”
Sadie jumped as her sister came up behind her, as if Elise could actually see the dirty images flipping through her mind. “What? No, why? What made you ask that?”
Elise eyed her up and down as she filled a to-go mug at their hot chocolate station, adding three scoops of peppermint flakes and five mini marshmallows, just like every day. “What’s with you? I was just wonderin’.”
“Oh.” As inconspicuously as possible, Sadie exhaled a long, relieved breath. “No, I haven’t gotten anything yet. Nat said probably today, so maybe she’s already emailed.” She definitely hadn’t. Sadie had adjusted her notifications specifically to alert her if Nat so much as forwarded her a meme. She’d also been obsessively checking said email every five minutes just in case the aforementioned notifications weren’t working.