Irresistibly Yours

by Lauren Layne

  His eyebrows lifted, and he returned his hand to the tiny cotton triangle, tracing teasing circles over her.

  “Cole. Don’t tease.”

  In response, he tugged her underwear down her legs, parted her thighs, and dipped his fingers into her wetness.

  She cried out.

  “This what you want?” he growled, moving up so his mouth could nuzzle her neck.

  Penelope could only nod. The slight roughness of his fingertips, the perfect speed in which he played with her was sweet, torturous heaven.

  “So fucking responsive,” he said roughly. “I could torture you like this forever.”

  “Don’t you dare.” She kissed his chin. “More.”

  His eyes darkened and he nipped her lips. “I can do that. Just point me to the condoms.”

  Penelope froze, and Cole froze in response, his hand going still. “Tell me you have condoms.”

  She blushed. “I don’t exactly do this a lot. Aren’t you supposed to carry one around in your wallet?”

  He groaned. “No, because I’m not a high school boy hoping to get lucky on prom night.”

  Penelope swallowed. Well, crap. “Now what?”

  His eyes skimmed over her body, turning speculative. “Now we get creative.”

  “What—”

  Cole slid down her body, his hands finding her knees and pushing her legs up, spreading her open.

  Penelope barely had time to register his intention before he dropped his head and licked her. He glanced up, meeting her eyes briefly before his face dropped once more, his mouth opening over her as his tongue explored her folds.

  Penelope cried out again, clenching the bedspread as he tasted her, first in teasing flicks and then in steady circles. She alternated between praying that it never ended and silently begging him to give her release.

  And then a finger slid into her and it was exactly what she needed to come apart in his hands. His mouth.

  She was still panting when he kissed his way up her body, lying beside her and stroking fingers over her ribs in soothing motions until she remembered how to think.

  Penelope turned her face to look at him. “That was—”

  He smiled and winked. “I know.”

  She rolled toward him, licking her lip nervously. “Um, about you—”

  Cole kissed her softly. “Next time. I’ll come prepared.”

  Penelope was slightly relieved. Truth be told, she wasn’t at all sure she had the skills or experience to pleasure a man as clearly skilled at sex as Cole.

  And yet she was also…determined.

  She shoved her embarrassment aside and leaned into him until he let her roll him onto his back.

  Once she was on top of him, Penelope scraped her palm along his jaw and swallowed nervously. “Will you—show me?”

  “Penelope—”

  “Please.”

  His eyes searched her face, and she tried to banish the uncertainty the only way she could think of.

  Her hand slid down his body until her palm rested over the bulging erection beneath his jeans.

  “Baby.” His eyes closed, and she smiled, knowing she had him.

  She moved her hand over him, rubbing against him as she gathered her courage.

  And then she pulled back, unsnapping his jeans and pulling down the zipper.

  His underwear posed a problem. One he solved quickly by sitting up and stripping without the least bit of shyness.

  Cole Sharpe was naked. Naked and gorgeous.

  He lay back again. “Do your worst. I guarantee you can’t get it wrong.”

  She wasn’t nearly so sure, but she surprised herself by wanting to touch him. Wanting to know every inch of him, and to make him writhe in the kind of ecstasy he’d given her.

  Before she could lose her nerve, she wrapped her fingers around his cock, marveling at how small her hand looked against him. She stroked, and Cole bucked.

  She smiled in triumph and Cole let out a little laugh. “I don’t think you need me to show you a damn thing, Tiny. I’d say you’ve got this.”

  Her hand moved over him again, watching his face to see what he liked, and she realized that he liked it just a little bit rough.

  His breathing grew more ragged and Penelope surprised herself by wanting to go further. To do things she’d always found unbearably awkward in the past.

  Before she could change her mind, she wiggled down his body until she was leaning over him.

  “Pen—”

  She kissed the tip of his cock, and he cursed. Her tongue softly fluttered over the tip, learning his salty taste. And then she sucked him all the way into her mouth, her hand covering the lower base of him that her mouth couldn’t reach.

  He was swearing in earnest now, and she kept going, relying on instinct. She figured she must be doing something right, because his fingers fisted tightly in her hair and his hips began to rock up toward her mouth.

  “Sweetie, you’ve got to— I’m going to—”

  Yes.

  She nodded and moved faster, the movements of her mouth telling him what she wanted. And then he gave it to her, coming in her mouth as he shouted her name.

  It. Was. Glorious.

  Cole tugged her upward, and she settled against him, cheek on his shoulder as he softly ran his hand over her hair.

  “Now what happens?” she asked after they’d been quiet for several minutes.

  “Well, for starters, we’re going to stock up on some condoms.”

  She smiled. “You seem to be thinking we’ll do this again.”

  He kissed her forehead. “I know we will.”

  She tilted her face up so she could meet his eyes. “Cole, I— This was—”

  “Don’t you dare try to tell me this was a onetime thing, Tiny. You liked it every bit as much as I did.”

  She felt herself blush, and hoped he wouldn’t notice. “I’m not saying I didn’t, it’s just— I meant what I said that first day. I’m not looking for a boyfriend.”

  He blinked. “I think that’s a version of what’s supposed to be my line.”

  “You know what I mean. It’s just that we already spend so much time together at work, and if we add sex to the mix, I’m worried the lines will blur, and—”

  He pushed her onto her back, rolling over her. “I’ve got an idea. We make a pact.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “What kind of pact? A sex pact?”

  His smile was gentle. “You’re adorable. And sure, I guess it’s a sex pact, in that we’ll be having lots of it. But I was thinking more along the line of a guarantee. Something to ensure neither of us crosses a line we don’t want to cross.”

  “Go on…”

  He framed her face with his hands. “I will treat you with the respect you deserve at work, and then I will use your sweet body for sex after work, but Penelope Pope, I give you my solemn promise not to fall in love with you.”

  Her lips parted and he gave her a quick kiss. “Your turn.”

  “Cole—”

  “Go on.”

  She rolled her eyes. “This is dumb.”

  “I’m waiting.”

  Penelope huffed out a breath. “Fine. I promise to never fall in love with you, and ditto on the work and sex thing, except there have to be rules. No sex on weekdays.”

  “Nope. Do not agree.”

  She scowled up at him. “I’m serious. If we want to keep them separate, if we want to keep everything in perspective, we have to be smart about this. Weekdays, we’re colleagues. Weekends, we can be—”

  “Fuck buddies.”

  She grinned. “Yes. That.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “That’s my only option?”

  “Take it or leave it,” she said in a singsong voice.

  Take it. Please take it.

  He studied her for several long moments before he levered himself up and started to move off the bed.

  Penelope’s heart sank as she sat up. “You’re leaving?”

  He reached for his jeans an
d pulled them on. “Damn straight.”

  She pushed her hair out of her face and tried to keep her face composed. It was no more than she expected really. She’d always known that she lacked the allure to hold a guy’s interest….

  “Okay, well…I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said, hoping her voice sounded cool and indifferent instead of small and rejected.

  He froze in the process of buttoning his jeans. “What are you talking about?”

  “You said you were leaving—”

  He gave her an exasperated look. “Tiny, if you’re only giving me sex on weekends, I have to take advantage of every moment. You follow?”

  “Not really.”

  He pointed at her nightstand clock. “It’s still Sunday. Sunday’s the weekend.”

  “So where are you going?” she called after him, as he walked out of her bedroom.

  His head poked back into the room. “Keep up. Where do you think I’m going? We need some fucking condoms.”

  And then he was gone, and Penelope couldn’t help the dopey smile that crept over her face.

  She was really doing this. She was about to embark on a real-life, grown-up affair with Cole Sharpe.

  Chapter 16

  Cole made it nearly a week of following Penelope’s stupid no-sex-on-weekdays rule.

  He didn’t like it, but he’d seen from the stubborn set of her pointy little jaw that it was that or nothing, and, well…for reasons he didn’t care to explore too closely, nothing wasn’t an option when it came to Penelope Pope.

  Not when he’d spent the better part of the last three and a half days trying not to think about those little sighs she made when he licked her nipples, or the way her hips went crazy when he fingered her.

  Hell, he’d almost thought they could pull it off.

  They’d made it through Monday’s staff meeting, Tuesday’s team lunch, and Wednesday’s after-work happy hour without him hauling her into a deserted corner and kissing her senseless.

  Somehow he’d managed to sit beside her for hours on end as they reviewed images and copy and stats, without sliding his hand under her skirt and seeing if she was as wet as he was hard.

  And then Thursday happened.

  “Tiny,” he barked, the second he stepped off the elevator. “Where the hell have you been?”

  She blinked in surprise at his harsh tone. “I was at lunch.”

  He’d known she was at lunch. He also knew who she was at lunch with.

  Cole’s gaze shifted to Lincoln, who was standing beside Penelope and looking at Cole with a knowing smirk.

  “We would have asked you to join,” Penelope said, clearly confused at his anger, “but you were on the phone, and we had to be back by one, so—”

  He had been on the phone. He’d been trying once again to get hold of Bobby, only to find out that his brother was busy. Again.

  Cole was happy his brother had a life. Had friends. Was happy that his brother was happy.

  It was just…

  For years, Cole had known that he was all his brother had. That his brother needed him.

  But there were times when Cole was struck with the realization that Bobby was all he had. His only family.

  And Bobby never meant to blow him off—his brother would die if he thought he’d hurt anyone’s feelings, much less Cole’s….

  And yet, hurt his feelings were.

  Which put him a damn shitty mood.

  “Relax, Pen,” Lincoln was saying to Penelope. “We haven’t done anything wrong.”

  He punctuated this statement by placing his hand just briefly on Penelope’s back and Cole had the strangest urge to drive his fist into Lincoln’s face.

  What the hell was wrong with him?

  Lincoln was his friend. Penelope was his…friend.

  They were both his colleagues, and they were absolutely allowed to go to lunch together.

  And yet…and yet—

  He scowled at Penelope. “Do you have a few minutes? We have to make that US Open layout by end of day.”

  “That’s going to take four hours?” Lincoln asked in sham confusion, glancing at his watch.

  Cole ignored him, storming toward his office and hoping more than he should that Penelope would follow.

  “I’m really sorry we didn’t wait for you,” Penelope said as she came into his office.

  Cole shut the door without replying.

  She touched his arm. “Hey, are you okay?”

  He frowned at the question. Cole Sharpe was always okay. Cole Sharpe was the one who made everyone else laugh, who put everyone at ease, who always had the quick comeback and the ready smile.

  But sometimes…sometimes, he wanted to lean.

  Just a little. Or, at the very least, to simply be, without always having a quip at the ready. And when she was looking at him with those damn big eyes, all wide and compassionate, and hell, caring, he wanted to lean on her.

  “Cole?”

  “Fuck it,” he muttered.

  His hands wrapped around Penelope’s arms and he jerked her toward him and claimed her mouth.

  It was a graceless, hungry kiss. It had none of his usual finesse, but he needed it. Needed her.

  He was so lost in the taste of her that it took him a moment to realize she’d gone still against him.

  He pulled back slightly and gave her a questioning glance.

  “Cole, you know the rules,” she said, her eyes locked on his mouth. “No blending work and pleasure, no sex on weekdays—”

  He dropped his hands from her arms, releasing her, but he didn’t step back. There were mere inches separating them, and he wondered if she felt the heat between them as acutely as he did.

  How had this happened? How was it that this sweet, feisty tomboy could turn him on just as easily as she turned him completely inside out every time she looked at him?

  “Come on, Cole. Don’t do this.” Her voice was a whisper now.

  His hands itched to reach for her again, but he forced himself to stay. To wait.

  He grinned in triumph as she shrugged slightly, letting her purse fall to the floor with a quiet thump as her arms lifted to wind around his neck.

  Their lips collided as they devoured each other.

  Was it possible it had only been three and a half days since he’d last tasted her lips? Since he’d last run his hands over her lithe body?

  It felt like forever.

  He wrapped his fingers low on her hips, holding her snugly against his already hard cock as her hands roamed restlessly over his back.

  “I hate this suit jacket,” she said with a little gasp, when he pulled back and bent his knees slightly to get at her neck. “I mean, I usually like it, because you look all corporate and yummy, but it’s in my way, and I can’t touch you.”

  “How do you think I feel about all your clothes?” he muttered.

  She was wearing a short-sleeved purple top with just the slightest V-neck. His mouth forged a trail downward until he could lick just under the fabric of her shirt, tasting the sweet upper curves of her breasts.

  She made a breathy, sighing noise. “We really shouldn’t. We’re at work, and anyone could walk in.”

  “First of all,” he said, kissing his way back up her neck, “don’t think for one second that we’re the first ones. Jake closes his office door every time his wife ‘brings him lunch’ and her hair is never quite as neat when she comes out. And I have it on good authority that the boss has gotten lucky in his office once or twice.”

  She pulled back. “Cassidy? No. He wouldn’t. Sex in his office, really? He’s so controlled.”

  “Not around Emma he’s not,” Cole said confidently, pulling her back in for a long, wet kiss.

  “What’s the ‘second of all’?” Penelope asked, when they parted to breathe.

  “Hmm?” Cole asked, his hands sliding up, inching ever closer to her breasts.

  “Well, you said ‘first of all.’ That implies there’s something else.”

  “Ah, r
ight.” He stepped nearer, backing Penelope against the door. “Second of all, there’s a lock on the door.”

  They both watched as his hand slid down, twisting the lock with a quick flick of his fingers.

  And then she launched herself at him, all but climbing up his body, trying to reach his mouth.

  He laughed a little, scooting his hands under her ass and pulling her up as he sandwiched her body between the door and his body as they kissed.

  Cole barely registered the sound of one of her shoes falling off and hitting the floor when she wrapped her legs around his waist. He was too busy touching her. Tasting her.

  Wanting her.

  Finally he couldn’t take it anymore. He needed her naked. Now.

  He stepped back, and she made a mewling sound of protest as he set her back on the floor.

  Cole locked his eyes on hers as he slowly lifted her shirt over her head. Her bra was pink and lacy. Pretty, but he was far more interested in what lay beneath, and he sent the bra in the same direction as her shirt: off.

  “Cole,” she whispered, clearly embarrassed. She lifted her hands to cover herself, but he batted her hands aside. If anyone was going to put hands on her breasts, it was going to be him.

  He rubbed the heels of his palms against her, his cock going even harder when she cried out. He’d never been with a woman this responsive. And suddenly he wanted to know if she was always this way, or if it was just with him.

  He hoped to God it was the latter.

  He toyed with her in soft teasing touches before dipping his head and putting his mouth on her. So obsessed was he with the feel of her beaded nipple against his tongue that he didn’t realize she’d undone his pants until her hand slipped beneath the waistband of his briefs and palmed his cock.

  “Fuh-uck,” he said, his head falling back as she stroked him.

  He saw the pleased triumph in her eyes, and he let her have her moment. Let her palm torture him for several moments until he was embarrassingly close to coming.

  Cole gripped her wrist, tugging her hand away from him, as he swiftly assessed his options. He had a condom—several of them, actually. He’d learned his lesson after last weekend.

  His cock hardened at the thought of turning her around, pressing her against the door, and taking her from behind. But logistically speaking, their height difference would make that difficult.