“Okay, I can tell that’s not what you want to do. Did you have something else in mind?”

She put her glass down again and stood. “Yes. Work.”

He stood, too, came over to her. “No work tonight, Savannah.”

“Then I should definitely go.”

“You’re afraid of me.”

She let out a snort. “I am definitely not afraid of you.”

“So it’s just men in general?”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t play me. We had a nice night. Let’s just leave it at that.”

She went into the kitchen and he followed. She grabbed her purse.

“No, really. Is it all men, or is it just me?”

“It’s just you.”

“I make you—what? Uncomfortable? Or do I make you realize it’s been a while since you’ve been with a man?”

Her eyes blazed hot. He liked to see the cool Southern belle spitting a little fire. “You’re presuming a lot, Cole.”

“Maybe I am.”

“Don’t.” He was blocking the doorway, so she laid her hand on his chest to move him out of the way. He grasped her wrist and she halted.

He felt her pulse racing and he knew it wasn’t because she was mad. He could see it in her eyes, the way her pupils dilated, the way her lips parted. And when she took in a breath, it wasn’t so she could spit out words of anger.

She was turned on. So what held her back?

“Look,” he said. “I know we work together, but I’m good at separating the two.”

“I don’t mix business and pleasure.”

He moved in closer. “Have you ever tried it?”

“Cole. We’ve already tried this and agreed this was a bad idea.”

“No. You thought it was a bad idea.” He lifted her hand around his neck, swept his arm around her back and tugged her close. “But you already know I never do the right thing.”

He bent, hesitated, waited for her to object. He didn’t feel any resistance, so he took her mouth in a kiss. He’d been dying to taste her all night. She tasted like sweet wine and mint, her lips as soft as her skin. She melted against him, her hand sliding into his hair.

This time they weren’t outside, weren’t in public, and there was nothing to stop them from taking this further.

Nothing except Savannah, and all he felt from her this time was surrender.

SOMEHOW, SAVANNAH HAD KNOWN THIS WAS GOING TO happen. Maybe she’d even subconsciously orchestrated it by planning this dinner at Cole’s place tonight.

Despite trying her best to not put herself in this position, here she was, letting Cole kiss her.

Oh, who was she kidding? There was no “letting” going on here. She wasn’t passive in all this. She was a full-on participant, pressing herself up against him. She’d dropped her purse to the floor and sifted her hands through his hair, holding on like she was afraid he’d disappear if she let go. She was all in on this and nothing was going to stop her from having him. He’d been a fixation since that first night she laid eyes on his sexy body, since the first time he hit her with those gorgeous, sinful eyes of his.

She’d wanted him, and now she was going to have him, damn the consequences.

He waited, tensing as she shifted. Did he think she was going to run? He likely did since she’d pulled back so many times before. But not this time. She moved in closer, sliding her other hand around his neck, tangling her fingers into his hair. And when she released a sound of pleasure from the back of her throat, he relaxed.

He flexed his fingers against her hip and her knees weakened. She loved the sensation of his hands on her and wanted a lot more of it. He let his other hand roam up her back, teasing the bare skin there, before sliding his fingers into her hair.

She tilted her head back, met his gaze. He brushed her hair away from her face and traced her bottom lip with his thumb.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

He frowned. “For what?”

“For waiting so long. For pushing you away all those times. I’m not going anywhere this time, Cole.”

He let out a groan with his exhale, then leveled a devastating crook of his lips on her that made her knees weak.

“You have a pretty mouth, Savannah.” He kissed her again. She loved the way he kissed. It wasn’t savage or demanding, but more of a lazy, exploratory taste, rubbing his lips against hers, teasing her with his tongue. And while he did it, she was getting dizzy, everything inside her heating up to boiling point. Her butt rested on his kitchen table, and Cole had maneuvered himself between her legs, all that denim-clad muscle inching ever closer to her sweet spot.

She quivered with anticipation, moaned with it when he pushed her back on the table, grabbed her butt, and pulled her closer to the edge, drawing her pu**y right against the hard ridge of his erection.

Lord have mercy, but if she rubbed herself against his delicious cock, she could come. Just the thought of her rocking against him while he watched—both of them fully clothed—made her cl*tthrob and her ni**les tingle. It was one of her hottest fantasies.

She tilted her head back and wrapped her legs around him, delving into the thought of doing just that. And when he laid the palm of his hand at her rib cage, where her heart beat a hard rhythm, she opened her eyes and met his gaze.

“Tell me what you’re thinking,” he said, his voice as dark as his eyes.

“That if I rubbed myself against you I could come.”

He inhaled sharply and tilted his head down. His lids went to half mast, and he looked like the devil himself.

Which only turned her on even more.

“Yeah, that could be fun,” he said, his fingers clenching and unclenching on her hips. “But I’m gonna be the one to get you off tonight. More than once.”

Heavens. She’d just bet he could, too. There was an air of confidence about Cole, one of the things she liked most about him. She believed he could do what he said he could, and she looked forward to the hands-on experience.

When he pulled her to sit up and slid his fingers in her hair, she realized she never really enjoyed that whole hands-on thing. Oh, foreplay was nice of course, but she was always in a rush to get to the good part. She loved sex, loved everything about it, but she most enjoyed having a man inside her. It was the one time she felt the connection she’d spent her life searching for.

Now, with Cole’s hands buried in her hair, his body pressed full-on against hers and his mouth doing delicious things to hers, she felt one zinger of a connection, and they weren’t even close to the good part yet. She still had her clothes on, for one thing. But the way he massaged her scalp when he kissed her, she realized she’d never tingled before, except in all her girlie parts, of course. But her head tingled, and so did her lips. She was one giant nerve ending of feeling, from the top of her head all the way down to her uncharacteristically curling toes.

And when he scooped his hands under her ass and picked her up, she wrapped her legs around him and held on, nearly swooning, as his lips were still joined with hers and he was carrying her out of the kitchen toward—no doubt—his bedroom.

Her sex pulsed with anticipation, but then he stopped in the hallway, pressed her against the wall and kissed her so deeply she was dizzy.

She’d never been so fully involved in a kiss before, or so aware of every part of her body. Cole aligned his body with hers, and her br**sts rubbed against his chest, her ni**les tightening in an agonizingly pleasurable way. When he moved his mouth from her lips to her throat, she banged her head against the wall, the pain only heightening her pleasure.

“I think I might take you right here in the hall,” he said, his voice rough and low. “I don’t think I can wait.” He licked along her collarbone, his tongue dipping into the swell just above her breasts. “What would you think about that?”

Think? She had no thoughts. Her mind had gone liquid, like the rest of her. She couldn’t believe he was still holding her, that every part of her body quivered, and that she was so close to an orgasm that one touch, one lick, would set her off. She swallowed past the dryness in her throat and fought for an answer.

“I think you can do whatever you want to with me.”

He laughed, the sound wicked and devilish. “I’m planning on it.”

He set her on her feet and she wasn’t at all surprised to feel her legs trembling. He held on to her with one hand, while the other pulled down the straps of her dress to reveal her bra.

“Pretty,” he said, his gaze caressing the black and yellow lace-and-satin demi-bra she’d chosen tonight. He drew one cup down and her breast popped free, her nipple already hard and aching.

“Even prettier.” He captured the bud between his lips and, lord have mercy, she thought she might die right there in his hallway.

She wanted to close her eyes and focus on the sensation, but she couldn’t help herself—she had to watch what he was doing with his amazing mouth. She looked down, watched her nipple disappear between his lips, felt the suction as he captured it between his tongue and the roof of his mouth. The sensation shot right to her clit, the aching tingle unbearable. And when he released, she gasped.

He looked up at her and grinned. “You taste good, Peaches.”

She didn’t even get a chance to catch her breath, because he pulled the other cup down and flicked his tongue over her nipple, caught her breast in his hand and played with it, toyed with the bud until her legs were so wobbly she’d have slid down the wall if he hadn’t been pressed against her, holding her there.

She might be in charge of making over his image, but he had full mastery over her body right now. She didn’t have a problem with relinquishing control over to him, not when he sipped at her ni**les and ran his hands down her sides to lift her dress.

He let loose of the bud he’d been suckling to drop to his knees and run his hands over her sides, drawing her panties down to her ankles.

“Step out of these for me.”

She shuddered and obeyed, feeling sinfully sexy standing in his hallway with the top of her dress dropped to her waist, her br**sts bared, and her panties now gone. Anticipation made her swell with heat and arousal, especially when he pulled her dress down over her h*ps and it dropped to the floor.

“I want to see you.”

When he pressed a kiss to her hip bone, her already weakened legs wobbled a little more.

“Damn, you’re beautiful, Peaches.” He leaned in and slipped his tongue along the folds of her pussy, before tilting his head back to meet her gaze. “And you taste as good as you look. Tell me to make you come.”

That one lick made her quiver. She wanted so much more. Without hesitation, she said, “Make me come, Cole.”

He raised up, grabbed her ass, and put his mouth on her. His tongue was warm and wet across her clit, flooding her with heat and sensation and a trembling, aching need for more. His fingers dug into the cheeks of her ass, and she was overcome with the sheer pleasure of his touch and his mouth on her.

Mercy, but the man had a talented mouth. And the things he could do with his tongue should be outlawed. Or at least forbidden from use on any other woman but her for the rest of his natural life, because she was going to take him home with her, lock him in her bedroom, and never let him go.

He had a way of using his tongue that defied logic. He rolled it over her, slid it inside her, and dragged it slowly over her sex, swamping her with sensation until she arched against him and came with a wild, unexpected cry. Through her unabashed cl**ax he held tight to her, never once relinquishing his hold on her.

Panting, she pressed her palms against the wall for support, but she didn’t need to worry because Cole stood, slid an arm around her, then planted his mouth on hers. She wound an arm around his neck and kissed him back, trying not to appear as desperate as she felt. Normally, she played it cool and unruffled, but he had definitely ruffled every part of her. She was hot and perspiring and shaking all over. Her normal calm had been replaced by a frenzied need to get him na**d so she could run her hands and mouth all over his fine body. And then she wanted—no, needed—him inside her.

It couldn’t happen soon enough for her liking.

He lifted her and carried her the rest of the way down the hall. She held back on rejoicing, but she was closer to getting exactly what she wanted. They fell onto the bed and she rolled him over onto his back. She undid the clasp of her bra and pulled it off, tossing it to the floor.

“I like where this is going,” he said, reaching for her breasts.

She pushed his hands away. “No.”

He frowned, but then she slid her hands under his shirt, and his lids shuttered halfway down. There was something very dark when he looked at her like that…something elemental and wicked that made her want to climb on his very erect c**k and do very nasty things with him.

She licked her lips and spread her fingers, exploring his firm, muscled abs as she raised his shirt up. She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his bare stomach, snaking her tongue out to follow the trail of soft hair that led to his belt buckle.

He hissed and grabbed a handful of her hair. Mercy, but she liked the feel of his power. She undid his belt buckle and drew the zipper down, feeling the hard ridge of his erection pressing against the seam. Anxious to release him, but also knowing how much he wanted this, she lifted, meeting his gaze as she rubbed against his c**k with the heel of her hand.

He gave her a warning glance. “Savannah.”

She rubbed again, feeling the length and thickness of him. She shuddered out a sigh and cupped him through his boxer briefs. “This is very nice.”

He glared at her, lifting against her hand. She bent and pressed a kiss to the open vee of his jeans, inhaling the musky scent of him. So very male, so potent and arousing.