“Lean back, babe,” he said.

When she did, he bent over and rolled his thumb over her sweet sex. Her panties were moist, her scent filling the air, making his dick throb. He pressed his nose to her panties and blew a soft puff of warm air against them.

“Oh, Cole,” she whispered. “Please.”

“I do like it when you beg in that sweet Southern voice of yours, Peaches,” he teased. He pulled her panties off, slid his hands under her butt, then put his mouth on her soft, wet pussy.

She shuddered against his lips, cried out when he shoved his tongue inside to lap up her juices. She was quivering all over, and when he slid a finger inside, she tightened around him.

His pretty little Southern peach was ready to explode. But he wasn’t yet ready to let go of this, so he swept his tongue around her clit, teasing her with gentle strokes of his finger.

“Please.” This time, a little less sugary-sweet.

He flicked his tongue over her plump lips, pulled one into his mouth and sucked it, got a little closer to her clit, but avoided it.

“Cole.”

Yeah, she wasn’t sweet at all now. She was desperate, lifting her butt against his face, trying to direct her cl*tto his mouth. He shoved two fingers inside her and clamped his lips over her clit, using his mouth and tongue to pleasure her, to turn her irritation to pure pleasure.

She dropped down on her elbows, let out a whimper, and shuddered.

“Oh, yes. Yes, that’s it. I’m going to come.”

He laid his tongue over her cl*tand she let go, shoving her pu**y against his face. He gripped her h*ps and held her while she cried out with her orgasm, licking her gently as she shuddered and trembled. When her muscles finally relaxed, he pressed a kiss to her hipbone and belly, then undid the zipper of his pants and pulled her off the counter. He drew her into his arms for a long kiss before turning her around and bending her over the counter.

“Stay like that. I’ll be right back.”

He went into the other room and grabbed a condom, put it on and was inside her in one thrust, holding on to her h*ps as he stilled for a minute, basking in the feel of her still spasming pu**y clenching around him.

Savannah gasped at the feel of Cole’s c**k entering her. Her pu**y quivered, then tightened, grasping his shaft and holding on as he began to move inside her.

These sensations undid her, her skin flushing with heat when he was inside her. It was more than just a “Hey, this feels great” kind of thing. It was an all-encompassing explosion of warmth to her entire body, and the sense of something monumental going on in her mind.

Which was likely all in her imagination, because as Cole pulled partway out and slid ever so slowly inside her again, she figured this was just really great sex and nothing more. She was just being overly emotional about how great said sex was, and likely because she hadn’t had really good sex in a very long time, and there was no doubt Cole was an expert lover. He was in tune with her body in a way she’d never experienced before, that was all.

But then he wrapped his arm around her middle to shield her body from the counter. He leaned over her back.

“Do you know how damn good it feels to be buried inside you like this?” he asked. “Do you know how tight you are, how wet your pu**y is?”

He withdrew, and thrust deep inside her. “You make me want to come hard right now, Peaches. But I want to f**k you all night long, stay connected to you like this for hours. Your body is so sweet, you smell so good, and I love being inside you.”

Oh, god. She loved the way he talked to her, the deep whisper of his voice sending chills down her spine. He made her tremble inside and out and she bucked back against him, letting him know just how much she enjoyed having his c**k inside her.

He swept her hair away from her neck and licked the side of her throat, flicking his tongue across her earlobe.

“Do you have any idea how good you smell?” he asked. “Just being around you makes my dick hard, makes me want to get you na**d so I can suck your pretty ni**les and lick your pussy.”

He gave her goose bumps when he thrust his c**k in deeper, inciting her wild imaginings with the way he talked to her. “You make me come hard when you lick me.”

“I know. I like watching you let go. You’re so wild and free when you come. It turns me on.”

He pulled out, turned her around and slid his c**k into her, his gaze glued to hers. She held on to the counter while he eased in, then out.

“I want to watch your face when you come.” He ground against her, rolling his h*ps to give her maximum pleasure. Her pu**y quivered and clamped around him like a vise.

“Keep doing that and I will.”

He kept doing that. And she did. The intimacy of meeting his gaze as she cl**axed, of seeing his eyes narrow and his jaw tighten as he went with her, was nothing short of a molten volcano of liquid pleasure.

Out of breath, she fell into his arms, feeling the jackknife rhythm of his heart beating against her chest.

She was sweating. So was he.

That had been more than enjoyable. It had been intense. Maybe a little earth shattering.

And totally wrong.

When he withdrew, he grinned down at her, obviously satisfied and happy. He bent to kiss her, but she pulled away. “I need to go clean up.”

“We could take a shower together.”

“I really need to go.” She grabbed her clothes, but he stopped her.

“Savannah. What’s wrong?”

“Not a thing. This was a lot of fun. But I really should go.”

She scooted down the hall and shut the bathroom door, appalled at what she saw in the mirror.

Her bra still hung halfway down her arms. Her hair was a mess, her makeup was smeared and there was a blush all over her skin. Cole had left marks on her and—oh, god—was that a hickey on her neck?

How old was she, anyway? She wasn’t a teenager in the throes of first passion. She was an adult. A sensible, capable, professional who should not have had sex with her client in his kitchen.

That was twice now she’d utterly lost her mind.

She washed up and got dressed, took a couple deep breaths, and went back out. Cole was having a glass of water in the kitchen.

“Here, I poured you one. Figured you might be thirsty.”

“Thank you.” She took a couple long swallows to lubricate her parched throat. “Now I really should go.”

“Want to tell me why you run every time we have sex?”

She paused, feeling awful that she kept doing this to him. She owed him an explanation. She turned, faced him.

“Because we shouldn’t have sex.”

“Why not?”

“You know why not. Because we work together. I’m supposed to act professionally around you, not jump on your c**k every time we’re alone together.”

His lips curved. “I like you jumping on my cock.”

“How are you going to take the work we do together seriously if we’re sleeping together?”

“So far, there hasn’t been a whole lotta sleeping.”

“Not funny, Cole.” She grabbed her purse and started for the door, mentally kicking herself for ever allowing her libido to have free rein.

He moved beside her. “I’m sorry. I can tell this bothers you, but I don’t know why. I can keep professional and personal separate.”

She opened the door and walked outside, but turned to give him a regretful look. “That’s the problem. I’m not sure I can.”

He leaned against the doorway. “You know, Peaches, I’m not buying your practiced speech about professional and personal. You’re running because of something else. And if we’re going to keep seeing each other, eventually you’re going to have to start trusting me with your secrets.”

Savannah gave Cole a pained look that told him she really wanted to do that.

Cole wished she would, but instead, she turned and walked to her car. She got in and started the engine, her gaze meeting his for a brief second.

Come on. Come back inside and talk to me.

But she put her car in gear and pulled away.

He dragged his fingers through his hair and shut the door.

For a second there, they had been so close. Hell, for the entire night they had been close. Good dinner, great conversation, amazing sex.

And then she’d slammed the door in his face as soon as the sex was over.

If he were the kind of guy who’d get all emotional over shit like that, his feelings might be hurt. He might even take it personally.

But he wasn’t that kind of guy, and he knew this wasn’t about him.

This was about Savannah. And it had nothing to do with him being her client.

He’d been making progress. He might not really enjoy taking instructions from her, but he’d seen the light. He was beginning to see the wisdom in her suggestions. He might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but he wasn’t a total dumbass, either. A lot of what she’d been trying to tell him made sense. So he’d been listening, putting those words into action, and it was working.

Which had nothing to do with what went on between the two of them when they were alone. He’d been honest with her when he told her he could separate business from personal.

No, that wasn’t the problem. Something else was.

And he wasn’t going to give up until he figured out what it was that kept sending her running out the door every time the two of them got close.

FOURTEEN

GETTING HIS FRUSTRATIONS OUT ON THE FOOTBALL field had always worked well for Cole.

Okay, maybe he also used to take his frustrations out in clubs, and on the media, but he’d been working hard on turning over a new leaf. This year he was going to leave it all on the field. New image and all that.

Preseason was starting this weekend, and he was psyched up and ready for the game. He was secure in his position, though he didn’t expect to get as much playing time in this weekend’s game against Cleveland as he’d like.

Still, the start of play was always as exciting as the first time he’d walked onto a football field as a professional. It never got old. And this year, on his home team, would be the year that everything was going to change for him.

He hadn’t seen Savannah since that night at his condo. She’d laid low, though they’d exchanged a few phone calls. She’d told him she’d be at the game today to help coach him through media interviews, which he’d found laughable, but he’d agreed to meet with her before the game to go over some pointers.

He’d wanted to see her anyway, to gauge her mood and how things were between them. Despite being busy up to his eyeballs with team practice, he’d also been thinking about her a lot. There were times he’d wanted to call her, but he didn’t want to push someone who obviously didn’t want to be pushed.

Didn’t mean the game was over in his mind, though. It was just a temporary retreat.

He still wanted Savannah. They’d just gotten warmed up. Sex with her was great and he liked spending time with her, time that went beyond the image makeover shit she was making him do. He liked the personal time they spent together.

But for some reason what was going on between them kept scaring her into backing away. Maybe she did fear for her job, but it wasn’t like he was going to approach the team owner or coach and tell him that he was f**king Savannah. He knew how to be discreet.

He just had a feeling there was something else bothering her, and he didn’t know what it was.

“Ready to kick some ass today, stud?”

He was in the team office signing some papers and turned to smile at Elizabeth.

He grinned. “You know it.”

She laid her hand on his arm. “I’m expecting you to make me look like a brilliant agent for signing you when no one else would touch you. Don’t make me look like a dumbass.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got a good feeling about this season. I think it’s going to be one of my best yet.”

Liz leaned a hip against the conference room table. “That’s what Savannah tells me.”

He cocked a brow. “Is that right?”

“Yes. Of course that could just be PR on her part, trying to sell the positive aspects about you.”

“It’s not PR. I’m a changed man.”

Liz snorted. “We’ll see about that.”

“Hey, she’s a freakin’ miracle worker. You’ll see. It’ll be like raising Frankenstein’s monster from the dead.”

“I don’t think you were quite that bad. If you were, honey, I’d have never taken you on.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, as weak as it was.”

She laughed. “And how are things going between you and Savannah?”

He arched a brow and leaned back in the chair. “In what way?”

“In that way.”

He stayed silent.

“She told me the two of you slept together. And don’t bother getting all upset about it. We’re good friends and I’m discreet.”

“I’m not upset about it. I’m glad she has someone to talk to, since she damn well won’t talk to me.”

Liz folded her arms. “Hmm.”

“Yeah? And what does that mean?”

She pulled up a chair. “Tread lightly with her, Cole. I mean it. She’s dealing with some stuff.”

“What kind of stuff? Like a bad breakup or something?”

“It’s not for me to say. If she wants to open up to you, she will. I just don’t want you to hurt her.”

“I’m not trying to hurt her, Liz. I’m trying to get her to trust me enough to have a goddamn conversation with me. Or at least stop f**king me and running like hell after.”