He pulled back suddenly. “You said no sex.”

“Are you kidding me right now?” I practically screeched.

Cole shook his head. “You were pretty adamant, Viv. I just don’t want you coming back later and saying I took advantage of you or something. That I manipulated you.”

I cocked my head to the side and looked at him. “Are you manipulating me?” I asked bluntly.

Cole recoiled. “No!” he proclaimed, grabbing my hands and kissing my knuckles. “God, no! Please believe me,” he begged me.

I smiled sweetly.

Because I believed him. I really did. I knew that this time wasn’t about anything but Cole wanting to be with me. For me.

This was about us.

I leaned forward. “Then f**k me, Cole,” I growled, reaching for his shirt again.

And he stopped me again.

“What now?” I whined. I was three seconds away from going cavewoman and clubbing him.

“Not here,” Cole said, standing up. He held out his hand and pulled me to my feet.

He wrapped his arms around me and kissed the tip of my nose. “We’re doing this right. Where’s your bedroom?”

My mouth went dry. Cole was hard to resist under normal circumstances. But this Cole, with his seductive tenderness, would wreck me.

“This way,” I said softly and led him down the darkened hallway to my room.

I didn’t turn on the lights right away and almost argued when Cole flipped on the bedside lamp.

He looked around, taking in everything, just as he had done in the living room and kitchen. Then he turned to me and slowly lifted his shirt and dropped it onto the floor. I watched as he unbuckled his jeans and lowered his pants. He kicked them off and stood before me, naked and amazing. His body wasn’t overly muscular. But he was lean and defined, covered in ink.

He stared as I followed suit and took off the overly large Generation Rejects T-shirt, my bare br**sts heavy with my arousal. I hooked my fingers into the edge of my sweatpants and underwear and lowered them all at once.

Since we were being all sexy and stuff, no need to kill the mood with my parachute underwear.

Why, oh why hadn’t I worn a thong?

But something told me I could be decked out in full body Christmas pajamas and Cole wouldn’t care.

His eyes consumed me. He licked his lips and my knees almost buckled from the intensity of his look alone.

He wanted me.

All of me.

I had never felt more beautiful.

“Come here,” he commanded.

Once upon a time I would have leaped across the room and into his arms at his request.

But some things had changed.

I didn’t move. I tilted my head to the side, my hair falling around my shoulders.

“No. You come here.”

Cole’s lips twitched into a sexy smirk.

“Is that how we’re going to play this?”

I put my hand on my hip and watched in satisfaction as he crossed the room towards me. When he was less than a foot away I beckoned him closer with my finger.

“Closer,” my voice was low and husky. The anticipation was killing me.

Cole took a step forward, still not touching me.

“Come on, I need you closer,” I urged breathlessly.

Cole pressed himself up against me. I could feel his erection digging into my belly. He wrapped his arms around my back and lowered his mouth to mine.

“You say jump, I say how high,” he promised, his eyes dancing.

Holding me, he backed up until his knees hit the bed and then he pulled me down on top of him.

“You say run, I say how far,” Cole murmured, running his nose along the length of my jaw.

“You say forever, I say not long enough.” He kissed a line along the column of my throat. My heart leaped into my throat and I was suddenly finding it hard to breathe.

“Just shut up and kiss me already,” I chastised. The mushy, emotional stuff was threatening to undo me completely.

And kiss me he did. What had started as a gentle wooing became a violent possession. Cole rolled me onto my back and sank his teeth into the flesh of my shoulder as he dove his hand between my legs, his fingers finding my swollen clit.

I arched off the bed as his mouth suckled and licked my aching br**sts.

He looked up before taking my nipple into his mouth. “What’s your favorite color?”

I frowned, lost in a daze of lust. Had I heard him correctly?

“Huh?”

Cole rubbed against my clit a little harder, making me groan.

“Your favorite color, what is it?”

He teased my soaked folds with his fingers, not giving me enough to satisfy the sweet, almost painful ache that was steadily building.

“Please, Cole!” I yelled, ready to pull my hair out. Or his.

“Tell me your favorite color and I’ll give you what you want,” he promised, leaning up to kiss my lips. His fingers stopped moving altogether and I wanted to die. My body was taut and ready to explode.

“Green! My favorite color is green!” I hollered and then I screamed as Cole plunged his fingers deep inside me. His hand began a punishing rhythm as he sucked on my nipple.

I was close. Oh so close.

And then he stopped again.

“What the f**k?” I demanded.

“What’s your middle name?”

I squeezed my thighs together, pushing his fingers higher up into my body. I grabbed the back of his hair and held him tightly.

“I get what you’re doing. And while I appreciate it, now. Is. Not. The. Time!” I punctuated each word on a growl, wiggling my hips and pressing my legs together, encouraging him to move his hand.