Page 52 of Cole

“Now what?” I murmured, still floating.

“Now,” he said, pulling his cock from me, and then sinking back in, “it’s my turn.”

seventeen

ISABELLE

I opened my eyes to early morning light, and a heavy weight across my middle. I took a moment to take in my surroundings. The ceiling above me was vaulted, crisscrossed by beautiful oak beams. There was a smell invading my senses that made my head spin.

Him.

I turned my head and found him, finally registering that it was his arm that was pinning me to the bed. His face was soft with sleep. He looked younger than usual, the worries of his dangerous life blissfully absent in sleep.

His tattoos were dark against his skin. All the stories of a hard life lived, risks taken, and scars to remember it all by.

Last night flooded my brain. I might have been able to convince myself that our first close encounter in The Clutch had all been for the sake of the story, and nothing important. But this was something else. The way I’d felt last night, unburdened and completely safe in the hands of this much older, much more experienced, and much, much more dangerous man wasn’t something ordinary.

I needed to get the hell out of here.

I slipped out of bed, lifting Cole’s slack arm and gently setting it back down. He was really out of it, and I didn’t want to wake him. I couldn’t stand the idea of looking him in the eye after last night. I’d had no idea I could be so shy. It was a strange realization to have at the ripe old age of twenty-one. But I’d lost control in a way I had never done before. I felt vulnerable, and laid bare. Seen, for the first time.

I crept across the hardwood floor, hunted for my clothes, before quickly giving up when I couldn’t see them in the immediate vicinity, and opened the door as quietly as I could.

“You do know what happened to Goldilocks when she tried to sneak out without Papa Bear’s permission, don’t you?” His lazy voice froze me to the spot. My face felt hot, that damn shyness making me awkward. Yeah, despite my determination to cross scandalous stuff off my bucket list in the last three years, and managing most of it, this man could make me blush like a nun. My self-perception of how unbothered I was by the opposite sex was really taking a hit around this man.

“What’s the matter, Isabelle? Cat got your tongue this morning?”

His amused tone sent my shyness skittering as annoyance surged. I turned around and raised my chin, giving him as cool a look as I could muster.

“Just ready to go home. I’ve got stuff to do and places to be, you know.”

Cole was lying on his front, his impressive back on display all the way down to his muscled ass, half visible thanks to a low-riding sheet. His skin was tanned, his tattoos vivid against the white sheets. He watched me through half-lidded eyes, his head resting on his arms.

“Is that right? Well, I won’t pretend not to be disappointed,” he said with a half grin that made my heart beat fast.

He wanted me to stay? Get a grip, Isabelle, I scolded myself. This man was way out my league. I needed to get out of here before I ruined the perfect memory of last night, or he found out what I was really doing sidling up to him at his bar. I had a feeling that all his slow, sexy smiles would disappear pretty quickly.

“Well, you’ll get over it, I’m sure,” I breezed, backing toward the door. “I really do need to go. I’m super busy today, yep, very busy day coming up.”

“Don’t let me stop you, in that case, Goldilocks,” Cole murmured.

I took one long, last look at the criminally sexy sight he made naked in his bed, and tore myself away with a groan. I left the room and hurried down the stairs, not trusting myself not to go back if I lingered too long.

The house was surprisingly clean and tidy considering last night’s party. It was also empty. Extremely empty.

I walked from room to room, looking for someone, anyone, who could give me a ride back into town. The realization sunk through me that I was alone here with Cole, miles and miles outside of town. Too far to walk.

I pulled my cell from my purse, by the door and dialed Eve. It beeped and the call failed to connect.

“Service is patchy out here,” Cole said, making me jump. He was leaning against the doorjamb to the sitting room, shirtless, low-riding jeans hanging on his lean hips. I stared. I couldn’t help it. His arms were crossed, head tilted, his expression unbearably amused.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t know all my friends went and left me here,” I muttered, giving up on my phone and tossing it onto the coffee table.

“Don’t blame them. I assured them I would see you home, personally, since you passed out in a room up here.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You lied to them?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t know if you’d want me to say you’d been sitting on my face upstairs.”