“That’s what I like best about you, you’re always willing to pitch in. Speaking of pitching in, I wanted to ask if you’d be willing to help with the baking competition. It’s just a couple of weeks away, and I’m down a body—Laney has the chance of a lifetime audition in L.A., and she can’t miss it.”
“I’d love to.” His brows tweak as the moon pours in through the windshield and washes his skin a blue alabaster. “I’d do anything to make your dreams come true.”
My heart thumps in my chest. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anybody as much as I want Cole Brighton.
“That’s what you do for the one’s you care about”—he steals a quick glance—“you support them.”
My face fills with heat at the thought of anyone caring about me. I don’t think I’ve felt this much affection, this much love, since my grandmother passed away.
Cole pulls off the highway and takes the road down to the dunes where we meet up with a giant sign that reads, closed to public.
I wash my gaze over his features. His stubble has grown in, and his dark hair has blue streaks throughout from the night shadows. I don’t know about Cole, but my feelings have multiplied in such a short time, I’m almost afraid for myself. In all those years I was with Aiden, I thought I was in love. But compared to what I feel now for Cole I’m wondering if I ever even liked Aiden.
I give a little laugh.
“What’s so funny?”
I bite down on my lip. I’m pretty sure bringing up ex-boyfriends, no matter how douchy they are, is bound to set the evening on a shitty trajectory.
“Nothing.”
“It’s something.” He parks on the overlook, and we watch as the Atlantic Ocean washes and wanes under a pearlescent moon.
“God, this is gorgeous.” We unbuckle ourselves, leaning to take in the view.
“I think you’re gorgeous.” He slides over, and I meet him in the middle. The heady scent of musk emanates from him, intoxicating me to the brink of sexual deprivation.
“And I think you’re cute.” I hedge in ever so close, trying to control my breathing. Cole Brighton is hotter than a grease fire, and he has my body shivering and quivering in all the right places. My mouth goes in for the kill, and I bite his lower lip playfully. Cole has kept true to his first-base policy all damn week, and I’m aching for some relief. Oh, hell, sometimes if you want something you need to go out and get it.
I pull him into a pressured kiss, swinging my leg over his hips until I’m straddling him with my knees.
Shit. I chose a crap night to wear the tightest yoga pants known to man, constructed from way more spandex than should ever be legal. I feel like a stuffed sausage in these—not to mention the fact they’re sticking to my thighs, thick as sealskin.
He gives a hard moan, and I take it as a green light. My fingers pull off his sweatshirt, and I run my hands over his smooth, rock-solid chest.
“God, I’m going to roll my naked body all over this piece of art tonight.” I run my tongue up to his ear and spin a little circle in it until he shudders beneath me.
“What happened to taking it slow?” He rumbles with a dry laugh because I think we both know slow is reserved for the chess club and virgins.
“I think we’re about to get really good at baseball.”
“We just glided by first.” He pulls me in by the back of the neck, and his tongue goes off in my mouth like a hungry river snake. Cole runs his warm hands up the back of my sweater, inching his way toward second base.
And that’s exactly when I remember I’m wearing a sports bra.
Gah! I’m so freaking stupid. He’s going to think I have a uniboob, or worse that he’s encountered the flatlands of Hollow Brook County. God knows the only thing this contraption is made to do is shrink and compress. It’s the equivalent of dousing his penis with ice water—neither fair nor flattering.
“Second.” He pulls back and gives the hint of a wicked grin, his eyes hardly slit open. His fingers clasp over the girls, well, the spandex that’s currently holding the girls hostage, and he closes his eyes.
“Shit,” he seethes, sucking in a breath through his teeth. “You’re so fucking soft.”
And well supported, but, thankfully, Cole has decided to let my spandex sins slide.
“Um, so what’s third?” I ask trying to defuse my budding anger over the fact I chose to dress head to toe in workout gear on a date.
“Anything you want it to be.”
I pepper kisses over his face while my fingers run wild through his hair. That’s the first thing I noticed about Cole Brighton, his jet-black glossy hair. Swear to God, I’m going to run my feet through it one day, and, if it didn’t require some serious contortion, I’d do it right now.
My fingers work spastically to unbutton his jeans. I bounce back to gain clearance for the boxer raid that’s about to take place and accidently honk the horn with my ass.
“Excuse you.” He pumps a quick smile.
“Not funny.” Way to pull us out of the moment. It’s like my yoga pants are out to get me. “Shut up and fuck me.”
“God, I love it when you talk to me that way.”
“Close your mouth and do it.” I take a mean bite out of his ear, and he lets out a roar.
“Yeah, that.” A dull laugh thumps through his chest. “Guess what, cupcake?” He spikes his hands into the back of my yoga pants, and a few stitches snap in his wake. It sounds like a series of mini firecrackers are going off in my crotch. “Sorry.”
“I’m burning the demon-wear as soon as we get home.” I run my tongue over his lips. “You were saying?”
“Mmm…” He moans right over my mouth. “I plan on inflicting a little pain of my own, starting with your—”
A beam of light flashes right at us followed by a volatile knock.
“Police! Open up.”
Crap.
Let me guess, I butt dialed 911.
Cole
My fingers clench over the steering wheel as I white knuckle us all the way back to Whitney Briggs. I’ve gone twenty miles over the speed limit all the way home, and I’m shocked that not one of Hollow Brook’s finest bothered to pull me over.
“It’s going to be so much better back at the apartment, anyway,” Roxy laments as I glide into my favorite parking spot and run over to open her door. “I probably would have thrown out your back with all the things I was planning to do to you.”
We walk briskly through the damp night air as our breath crystalizes around us in a plume of smoke.
“Hot damn.” I’m all about releasing some primal urges. My blood supply happens to be traveling south at the moment, so I’m a little short on words. I haven’t had sex in weeks. My balls ache just thinking about it. But tonight isn’t about sex, and everything in me knows it.
I pull her in by the waist, and we land under the lamppost with its spray of light illuminating the mist like a million dancing particles.
She hops up on my hips, and I grip her under the thighs.
“I just thought of something,” I whisper.
“That you’d rather I ride you in the parking lot?” She attacks me with her tongue, and I laugh with her right there in my mouth. Something tells me Roxy Capwell is going to be a wild vixen in bed, and not one ounce of me is complaining.
“No.” I pull back and take her in with her dark hair, her porcelain smooth features, her lips full and throbbing. I take a breath. “I just…” a part of me doesn’t want to fess up. I’m afraid maybe it’s the bad boy in me that’s supercharging her batteries, and I’m half afraid to wipe off that sheen. Then I launch right in, no holds barred. “I just realized that I’ve never been so turned on, so physically excited, so outrageously ready to explode.” I touch my nose to hers a moment and close my eyes. “I guess in a way it sort of feels like the first time.” Nice. Why don’t I tell her I have a secret vagina she can scout out later, too?
“Cole,” my name whispers from her lips. Her features soften. She’s letting do
wn her armor, and it only makes me want her that much more. “I feel the exact same way.”
Great. Now that we’ve established we’re at the like-a-virgin phase of our relationship, maybe we should go for broke, or at least I should.
“I think I’m in love with you.” Everything in me loosens. It’s as if I’ve been holding up a five hundred pound weight over my head these last few weeks, and getting those words out is the only way to feel some relief.
Her eyes sparkle with tears, and she’s quick to blink them away.
“I know I’m in love with you, Cole Brighton.” She lands those luscious lips over mine, and I walk us backward into the apartment building with my heart soaring right out of my chest. This is incredible—something that I would have never believed was possible unless I experienced it myself, and am I ever glad I’m experiencing it myself.
I bump into a body, and someone yells, get a room as they head outside.
Rox and I share a laugh without ever moving away from the magical kiss we’re locked in.
It takes everything in me not to have my way with her in the elevator. Her legs lock tight around my waist until she’s rising above me, climbing me like a pole—our lips never breaking contact.
We stumble out into the hall, and I get us to the door.
I fumble with the key and spin Roxy as we crash into the apartment with a bang.
I’m ready to haul her to the couch and freeze.
Baya and Bryson sit on one sofa, Laney and Ryder on the other.
Roxy and I look at each another before she engages in a rather unceremonious dismount.
“Look who’s here?” She scratches at the back of her hair, and her cleavage ripples from the low V in her sweater amping me up that much more. It’s becoming apparent that my hard-on gives a rat’s ass that a peanut gallery suddenly morphed into our living room. The train has already pulled out of the station. It’s go-time whether or not anyone tries to stop it.
“Pipe burst in our bathroom.” Baya shrugs apologetically. “They said it might take a couple days to fix it. The carpet is ruined.”
“You mind if we crash?” Bryson gives me a look that says dude, so sorry for your boner.
“Not a problem.” I’ve had plenty of sex with people in the next room. I’m a pig that way, but something in me doesn’t want my first time with Rox to be like that.
Her brother shoots me a look that says your balls are going to die. “Looks like I might need to crash, too.” He looks from me to Roxy.
Shit. I know all about the big brother baseball bat he’s ready to beat me down with.
“It’s not like that,” I say in a lame attempt to defuse his temper, but we both know it’s exactly like that.
He jumps up and knocks his chest into mine before slamming me to the wall.
“You think I’m an idiot?” He spins me around and bashes my face into the door jam. “Explain these marks to me. In fact, why don’t you tell the whole damn room what they mean, and look at my sister while you do it!” He turns to her. “Which row do you want to be on, Rox? Because that’s all you’ll ever be to him is another notch on his wall. Is that what you want?” His voice echoes around the room like a boomerang.
“Hey”—Bryson plucks him off me—“chill out, would you?”
“Don’t tell me to chill out.” He struggles free from Bryson’s grasp. “If this were Annie, you’d react the same way.”
Bryson shoots me a look that says he’s right. Bryson’s kid sister is a senior in high school, and something tells me both he and Holt will burn off any idiot’s penis with a magnifying glass if they try to get it anywhere near Annie.
“Look, I’m not a monster.” I hold up my hands.
Roxy comes over and wraps an arm around my waist. “He’s not, Ryder, so you can put away your testosterone and take it down a notch. Did I ever once give you crap about who you dated? No.” She roars in his face, and he blinks. “I supported you! You’re the only person in our family I thought I could count on to have my back. Well I guess I was wrong.” She steps in close. “And, by the way”—she sneers into him—“I’ll be sleeping in my own room while Baya and Bryson are here, so you can put away the chastity belt. But after that”—her lips curl, taunting him in the process—“where and with whom I choose to sleep is my business.”
Roxy heads into her bedroom and slams the door.
“Nice work, moron,” I say before heading for the hall and Ryder pulls me back with a violent yank. “Look, I happen to really care about your sister.”
He glances at the scoreboard. “I see how you care about girls. The only moron in this room is you. Keep it in your pants because if I find out you took advantage of her, I’m going to break some bones.”
I glare at him a moment. I should shake his hand, tell him it’s cool, assure him that I would never hurt his sister, but I’m too pissed over the fact he just threatened to snap my limbs in my own damn apartment to do any of those things.
Instead I launch my fist over his jaw and send him crashing to the floor.
Maybe he’ll think twice before he threatens me again.
I head off to my room.
Alone.
8
Pour Some Sugar on Me
Roxy
Four days.
No sooner do Baya and Bryson take off than I get the biggest order of my life.
“One thousand chocolate banana cupcakes for an annual event down at the homeless shelter!” I jump up on Cole’s lap, and he twirls me around the room.
“That’s amazing!” He beams that dimpled grin, and I’m spellbound for a moment.
“Crap.” I slink off him. “Tonight was going to be our special night, and now I’ll be baking nonstop. The benefit is in two days.”
“Are they paying you?”
“Enough to make my bank account sing. I’m embarrassed they’ve offered to pay so much, but I’m all too familiar with how these fundraisers work. There’s usually someone like my mother fronting the funds for the catering, so I don’t feel too bad.”
“Good. I don’t want you to feel bad.” Cole bears into me. “And don’t worry about us—we’re a team. I’ll even help you knock them out if you want.”
“Yes!” I squeal again because it feels so good to have someone on my side. For so long it felt as though life was something hard I had to do all by myself, and now, with Cole, it feels light because he doesn’t mind sharing the load and encouraging me along the way. “You know what? You’re ruining me.” I pinch his earlobe playfully.
“Ruining you, huh?” He rounds his hand over my bottom. “I haven’t begun to ruin you.” He lands a searing kiss off my lips.
Cole Brighton hasn’t even begun to ruin me, and it’s about the sweetest thing that anyone has ever said to me.
“I mean that in a good way. I’m not so angry at the world anymore. You’ve softened me.” I say that last part under my breath because I’m still not so sure it’s a good thing.
“You were always soft.” He plants a gentle kiss over my lips. “It was the world that was trying to harden you.”
Cole rakes his mouth over my cheek, and my eyes close as soon as I feel his heated breath. His lips find mine, and we fall into a kiss that stretches out far longer than I can ever afford with a thousand cupcakes on the line, but, damn it all to hell, Cole Brighton is resuscitating my soul one beautiful kiss at a time. There’s not a whole lot more I can ask for.
For the next day and a half, Cole and I envelop ourselves in a cloud of flour. We run around buying entire carts full of ingredients, additional boxes we’ll need for delivery, and a few more mixing bowls.
Baya offered to help, in addition to lending us her oven, so we could bake twice as fast. Of course, I took advantage of the situation and taught both Cole and Baya to masterfully frost a cupcake and all the while trying desperately not to gross her out with the sexual innuendo begging to stream from my lips.
At the end of two long grueling days, Cole helps me load up the
cab of his truck with all the cupcakes we worked so hard on.
I wipe my brow. “It smells like a banana factory blew up in here.”
“Last I heard they were still growing them on trees, but, compared to the stink I usually have going on in here, it’s an improvement.”
“See? I’m losing brain cells due to lack of sleep.” Cole and I haven’t even shared two kisses since operation lose-my-ever-loving-cupcake-mind came into play. “I’m just glad it’s over.”
My cell goes off. “It’s a text from the Morris Foundation.”
“What’s it say?” He takes the turn to downtown Jepson gingerly so the boxes don’t slosh around in the back.
“Oh my, God.” I just stare at my phone in disbelief. “I think I’m delirious. It says they would like to order a thousand cupcakes for an event they’re hosting this Saturday afternoon.”
“You’re on fire, girl.” Cole reaches over and tweaks my rib. “Do it. I’ll be right there with you.”
My heart warms just hearing him say it.
“I can’t thank you enough for that.” I take him in as the fading sunlight catches him just right with his dark hair slicked back, his glowing eyes. “I mean I know how I’d like to thank you.” If every muscle in my body didn’t ache. I’d really like to impress him with a couple acrobatics for our first time and not lie there like a limp rag.
He pats my knee as we park in front of the homeless shelter with their line snaking around the block.
“Would you look at this?” He gives a quick grimace. “You’re really going to make a lot of people happy today, you know that? And I’m one of them. I’m honored to be a small part of this. Don’t worry about us, Rox. As soon as we fill that next order, we’ll do something special. Maybe I’ll take the day off Sunday and we can see where the wind takes us.” He sweeps his soft gaze over me, his finger softly touching my cheek. “I’m in this for the long haul.”
I swallow down the sudden urge to cry. It looks like baking twenty-four seven, and no sex turns me into an emotional pussy.
I give a little smile. “I wouldn’t want anyone else with me in this for the long haul but you.”