“Hence the nickname?” she asked.
“Well, technically it started out as Ranger Rescue, but when I enrolled in ROTC in high school, it got switched to the military-themed version.”
The pager lit up and vibrated against her champagne glass. Thank goodness their table was finally ready, because Vivienne’s head was feeling lighter and she was having a difficult time backing away from Cole. She needed to get some food in her to soak up the alcohol she’d drunk too quickly. Or else she was bound to do something reckless.
* * *
Cole followed behind, his hand again at the small of Vivienne’s back as he guided her to the hostess stand. Maybe it was the warming effects of the booze in his bloodstream, but the fabric of her wraparound dress was so thin her heated skin underneath left an imprint on his palm long after they were handed their heavy leather-bound menus.
“I see we already have drinks taken care of,” a waitress said before setting down the ice bucket Cole had purposely left behind in the bar area. Usually he wasn’t a big drinker, and he definitely didn’t mix his alcohol. But since when had any part of this day been normal?
The young woman introduced herself as Heather and rattled off several specials. He’d seen the way Vivienne had been staring at the prime rib earlier and was willing to place a wager on what she’d order. Of course, he’d also seen the way she’d been staring at him, and he wondered how he’d make it through dinner if she leaned in and touched his arm again.
He was already exhausted from the long drive here, plus all the bridal expo nonsense, which was like nothing he’d ever experienced. Overstimulation had the potential to wreak havoc on his common sense when he was sober, so it was no surprise that the liquor was now doing the thinking for him, telling him that the soft knit dress hugging Vivienne’s curves couldn’t possibly be as smooth as—
“Let’s start off with the sampler platter,” Vivienne told Heather, snapping him back to reality. “I’d also like the wedge salad with blue cheese dressing and extra bacon bits. And the French onion soup. Oh, and if we could get some bread while we look over the rest of the menu, that’d be great.”
“I thought you said we couldn’t possibly be hungry after all those samples today,” Cole reminded her when the server walked away.
“I know. But now I’m starving. What do you think is better here? The porterhouse or the prime rib?”
He recalled her joke about eating whenever she was stressed and he wondered if that was the case now. But they’d had fun for the most part and she’d been in her element, surrounded by brides and bouquets and beauty products. What could she possibly be stressed about?
Four courses and a bottle of champagne later, Vivienne ordered a slice of chocolate lava cake to go and Cole slipped his credit card to the waitress. There was a brief argument about who should pay, since it was a business dinner. Yet Cole insisted. “Remember the company motto? I’m the customer, which means I’m always right.”
“You’re a client, not a customer,” Vivienne replied.
“Do you normally polish off a bottle of champagne with your clients?”
“Oh, my gosh, I can’t believe we finished the whole thing.” She let out a little giggle, then covered her mouth and attempted a serious expression. “But the answer to that is no, I don’t.”
“I figured as much.” Cole stood up and pulled her chair out. He tried not to stare at her rear end as he followed her toward the exit. But he couldn’t keep his eyes off her tonight. Hell, who was he kidding? He hadn’t been able to keep his eyes off Vivienne Shuster since the day he met her. Walking behind her, watching her hips sway and not being able to put his hands on either side of them and pull her to him was excruciating.
When they finally got outside, she said, “I’m so full you’re going to have to roll me over to the hotel.”
Cole stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. He’d been overheated in the restaurant and hadn’t expected such a temperature drop in the cool evening air. Or perhaps he was frozen at the suggestion of a hotel, which implied they’d be staying here overnight. Together. “What hotel?”
“The one by the convention center.”
His heart thumped frantically behind his rib cage. “You...uh...want to get a room?”
“I already have one. Or a reservation at least. I still have to check in, though. As do you.”
A pang of disappointment slowed his racing pulse. So she hadn’t meant that they’d be sharing a room. Or a bed. But he was still foggy on the part about having a reservation. “I didn’t realize we were staying here tonight. But I guess neither one of us is in any shape to drive the seven hours home.”
While they weren’t falling-down drunk, either, Cole was usually much more prudent about driving after even one beer, let alone two, plus a blue fruity cocktail and half a bottle of champagne. But being with Vivienne made him do things he never would’ve imagined doing if he had his wits about him. Like attending a bridal expo or pretending to be engaged to get free samples.
He had begun to walk with Vivienne toward the crosswalk when she suddenly stopped at the red light and grabbed his arm. “Wait. If you weren’t planning to stay the night, does that mean you didn’t book a room?”
“Was I supposed to?”
Her response was to stare at him, her false lashes making her eyes appear wider and more startled.
His response was to tuck in his chin and draw in a long breath. “I’m guessing you didn’t make two reservations?”
“Actually, I didn’t make any. Estelle did. She was really determined to get me to Billings and get that contract signed.” Vivienne tapped her chin. “But she only emailed me one hotel confirmation. I had assumed she’d emailed yours directly to you.”
“Nope. But she’d emailed me every other offer or service I have no use for.”
“Maybe she thought you’d be staying with Susie Starlight. But don’t worry.” Vivienne looked like a woman on a mission as she dashed across the street when the light changed, calling over her shoulder, “I’m sure they’ll have extra rooms.”
Stepping off the curb to follow her, he had to wait for a group of Harleys making a right turn before catching up to her determined stride right as she crossed into the lobby’s entrance. Cole liked being the one to take charge, the one to fix things. But before he could open his mouth to address the clerk behind the registration desk, Vivienne was already speaking.
“Hi, there—” her eyes flickered down to the employee’s name tag “—Dave. We have one reservation, but my friend here is also going to need a room.”
Friend? That was the second time today she’d called him that and Cole didn’t like it any better than the first.
Dave made a whistling sound through his teeth. “We’re pretty booked, but I’ll see what I can do.”
After a few seconds of tapping at his keyboard, Dave shook his head. “Sorry. Even our sister property a few blocks down is sold out. Apparently, there’s some sort of wedding convention in town and the Babes on Bikes Rally starts tomorrow, so most of the hotels in the area are at full capacity.”
“What do you want to do?” Vivienne, always diplomatic when solving problems, asked Cole. “We might be able to find a single vacancy at a different hotel, but there’s not much chance we can get two rooms at the same place.”
“It’s fine.” Cole shrugged to reassure her. “I can sleep in the car.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Vivienne replied. “I’m the wedding planner. I should’ve planned better. If anyone should stay in the car, it should be me.”
Before Cole could argue that there was no way he was about to allow her to spend the night crammed into her back seat out in the parking lot, Dave cleared his throat. “If I may point out, the room does have two beds.”
“See? You can sleep in the extra bed in my room.”
“Are you sure?” Cole whis
pered to her after Dave passed them each a key card. They’d been doing a great job playing make-believe with each other all day. It shouldn’t be a problem for him to keep pretending that he wasn’t dying to see her in those Just Married panties she’d gotten in her bride’s goody bag.
“Oh, no, we forgot all the swag and totes at the restaurant,” she said, making Cole wonder if she could read his mind.
“I’ll go get them,” he replied, his boot heels already clicking along the marble floor of the lobby as he tore out of the hotel. He needed time to come up with a strategy on how he wasn’t going to let his attraction for her make things more awkward. But it took less than thirty seconds to get across the street and the forgotten bags were already waiting for him at the hostess stand.
Not ready to face Vivienne yet, he stopped off at the sundries shop near the hotel elevators. He was going to need a toothbrush and a cold shower if he had any chance of falling asleep so close to her tonight.
But stopping to pick up overnight essentials turned out to be a pointless delay because when he finally knocked on the hotel room door, there was no answer.
Chapter Ten
Vivienne’s speeding thoughts shot into overdrive as she’d ridden in the elevator alone, her pulse hammering with every step she took as she made her way down the empty, carpeted corridor to her room.
Their room.
Steeling herself, she took a deep breath and slid in her key card. As she dragged her suitcase on wheels behind her, the handle caught on the interior doorknob, knocking the do-not-disturb sign to the floor. She quickly scooped it up, a mortified giggle bubbling inside her throat at the thought of how unnecessary that placard would be tonight.
Light spilled out from under the crack of the closed bathroom door and Vivienne tried not to think about what the sound of running water meant. Staring at the two queen-size beds, she scolded herself for overthinking the situation.
The bags containing all their freebies from the day were lined up on the fluffy white coverlet of the first bed, so Vivienne lifted her suitcase and set it on the second one. Looking at the television, she decided that having on a sports or a news channel, even if it was only background noise, would make things feel less intimate. She grabbed the remote control and hit the power button but only got as far as the hotel’s main channel displaying a welcome screen and classical music.
When she heard the bathroom door click open, she stood motionless.
“Hey, you’re back,” Cole said, relief evident in his tone. “I figured if you weren’t here when I got out of the shower, I’d have to launch a search party.”
“I went to the parking garage to get my suitcase.” Her fingers trembled as she fought to stare at the remote control so that she wouldn’t look at him. But the smell of lemon soap drifted closer and Cole’s nearby voice forced her to raise her eyes.
“Is the TV not working?”
Vivienne’s gaze slammed into him and she couldn’t blink. He was wearing the same jeans he’d had on today—minus the belt—and not much else. His hair was scarcely towel dried and his bare torso was still damp from his shower.
Desire coiled in her belly and she would’ve opened another bottle of champagne if she thought it would alleviate her sudden thirst. Vivienne licked her lips, knowing that imbibing in too much sparkling wine was what had gotten her into this situation in the first place. Instructing herself to look anywhere but at the muscular ridges of his chest, she glanced down.
“You have nice feet.”
He wiggled his toes in the plush carpet. “What?”
“Your feet. They’re nice. I’ve never noticed them before because I’ve only seen you in boots.”
Several seconds passed before she felt Cole’s finger on her chin, lifting her head up to look into his face. “You’re going to give me a complex about them if you keep staring.”
“Sorry.” She straightened her shoulders despite the quivering sensation making its way down her spine, but she didn’t pull her head away. Vivienne searched the smoothness of his forehead, the lack of lines implying that he wasn’t as confused about their situation as she was. She took in the nearly straight angle of his nose, the tiny bump on the bridge implying he wasn’t afraid to fight for what he wanted. She scanned the fullness of his soft lips, the slight parting implying that he was breathing just a little heavier than normal. She landed back on the fringed black lashes of his blue eyes, his dilated pupils implying that he was just as aroused as she was.
His finger grazed along her chin until his palm was cupping her jaw. It could’ve been the champagne she’d had earlier, or maybe it was the realization that she had the same effect on him that he had on her, but her courage spiked and she suddenly felt the need to make something clear.
“I’ve never shared a room with a client before.”
“Funny thing, I haven’t really felt like your client all day.” His words were whispery soft, his minty breath a soft caress on her face.
“So then if you aren’t my client, I wouldn’t be crossing any professional boundaries if I did this.”
Even with him in his bare feet, Vivienne still had to rise up onto her tiptoes to kiss him.
* * *
The second Vivienne’s lips touched Cole’s, he exploded. One arm shot around her waist and the other hand dug into the loose hair at the back of her scalp, pulling her in closer. Her body pressed against him, fitting him perfectly. Her mouth slanted over his and he took the invitation to invade. Using his tongue, he sampled and tasted her welcoming warmth.
This was more than kissing. More than weeks of pent-up sexual attraction. More than pretending to be a groom who needed to hire her to plan a fictional wedding. This was real and it was powerful and it was raw.
Vivienne’s palms flattened against his chest before sliding up to his shoulders and then down his biceps, as if she was frantically searching for something she’d been missing. Something they’d both been missing. Cole had never felt such an overpowering need for a woman, and the sudden realization of his own defenselessness scared him enough to make him take a step back. Her eyes were slightly dazed, clouded with passion, and her lips were swollen.
Cole was supposed to be the one who always kept a level head. Who always did the right thing. Who always made the safe choices. But if they went any further, he couldn’t promise that he wouldn’t lose all rational thought and spin completely out of control. Seeing his chest rising and falling under her fingertips, he waited until he could drag in a few ragged breaths before he spoke. “Are you sure?”
Her response was to step back and untie the sash above her hip. Cole had been fantasizing about the feel of the silky, soft fabric of her dresses for the past few weeks and he was almost disappointed that Vivienne was taking it off before he’d had the chance to unwrap it himself.
Almost.
It was like a curtain parting to reveal the hidden view all at once. Watching the entire side of her dress spread open filled him with a raging heat, and all he could do was stand there and let the flames engulf him as she exposed the pink lace of her matching panties and bra. As the material slipped off her shoulders, Cole groaned and reached for her.
Vivienne’s mouth matched his, responding with an equal fervor as he walked her back toward the bed. His hands went to her rib cage, sliding behind her until he felt delicate lace underneath his fingers as he unhooked her bra. She moaned as he peeled the fabric forward, cupping her warm, full breasts as they spilled out.
Vivienne’s head fell back, allowing him access to her slender neck as he rained kisses down to her collarbone. But the part he wanted to kiss the most was just out of reach. Cole placed his hands on either side of her waist and she squeaked as he lifted her up, standing her on the edge of the bed.
He took a dusky-pink nipple into his mouth and Vivienne’s nails dug into his shoulders as she held on to him. He lavished equal att
ention on the other breast, and when he moved toward the flat plane of her stomach, she gasped.
“Cole,” she said, her voice low, coming from the back of her throat, “I still have my shoes on.”
He smiled up at her, feeling like the hero he’d always wanted to be when he slid his hand down her thigh, over her knee and lifted her calf. Unstrapping the high-heeled sandals wasn’t as easy as he’d anticipated, especially since he got distracted by the sight of the freckle on her upper leg. That was what he’d been waiting for. His tongue flicked out to touch it just as her ankle strap fell from his hands.
Vivienne sighed before hooking her knee around his rib cage and pulling him with her as she lowered them onto the bed. She slipped her hands into his denim waistband, pausing briefly as she fumbled over the button of his fly. It took superhuman strength to push himself off her and rise to his shaky feet.
“I’ll be right back,” he said as he strode to the bathroom, tugging off his jeans as he returned to the bed. She was lounging against the pillows, her skin looking smoother than the sheets underneath, her panties long gone.
“You came prepared?” She nodded toward the box in his hand.
“I had to buy a toothbrush downstairs and, at the last minute, thought it would be a good idea to have these. Just in case.”
“Always thinking about safety and protection,” she said before smiling at him. Not wanting to hear any jokes about his nickname, he came down beside her, their bodies eagerly resuming where they’d left off.
Vivienne knew exactly where to touch Cole and how to angle her body to bring him in closer. As their kisses grew more intense, she opened her thighs and his hips settled against her as she rocked up to meet him. She was so warm, so slick with desire, it would have been easy to slide his length inside of her. But he pulled back at the last second to reach for a foil packet on the bedside table.
The Maverick's Bridal Bargain Page 11