A huge fruit basket laden with piled exotic fruit sits in the middle of a large dining room table. “Wow, I’ve never been up to the top floor. I didn’t realize the hotel had rooms as fancy as this.”
Cole steps aside and gestures for me to enter the spacious living area of the only penthouse in the hotel. He leads me past a table with a large fruit basket in the center to a gray leather couch that sits in front of a fireplace with a big screen mounted over the top. “What would you like to drink?” Cole asks as I take a seat, and he heads to the bar in the corner.
“White wine, please.”
He pours me a glass and comes to sit beside me but without a glass of his own. “Aren’t you going to have something to drink?”
Cole shakes his head. “I need to get back downstairs. The guys and I need to get a plan in place for extracting your brother tonight. Why don’t you give me your number, and I’ll call you when I’m almost done,” he says, watching me intently as the pulse on the side of my neck beats in time with my heart.
It’s not just a tryst in the elevator. He wants my number. The butterflies dance in my belly as I hand my phone to him, and he sends a message to his phone.
Cole gives it back to me, and his hand snakes gently around my nape as his eyes capture mine with their intensity. “I should already be downstairs but the emotions swirling in those blue eyes make me want to stay and take care of your need.”
My breath catches as the warmth of his closeness and the faint hint of his skin envelopes me. He tilts my head with a finger to my chin, and my heart beats faster as he slowly leans in, kissing me again, taking my breath again, the same way I’ve dreamed about so many times since the very first time we met. Destiny put us together that night and then did it again.
A shrill ring from his cell pulls us apart, but his breath is still warm against my cheek as he answers the call. Cole’s voice is husky with arousal, but he pulls back, listening to the caller, and his eyes go dark within a matter of seconds. “I’ll be right down,” he says, clicking off and stroking a finger down my cheek. “I need to go back to work. The guys received some intel that we need to look at together. As soon as we get the plan laid out, I’ll be back. Why don’t you order some dinner, have some wine, and try out the whirlpool in the bathroom? And wait for me, doll, or this time I will have to hunt you down, because I have no intention of letting you get away again.”
Arousal is such an intense emotion. It consumes you, and it’s hard for me to pull myself from its hold. I find myself nodding because I’m still lost in the moment and overwhelmed by my desire for this man, the shock of everything that has happened and the fact that he wants to see me again. His dark brown eyes are full of swirling emotion as he pulls me in for another kiss. “Wait for me.”
“I’ll wait for you to come back to me this time. Especially if you do that thing again.”
He smirks. “You’re making it hard for me to put one foot in front of the other, but the sooner I leave the sooner I’ll be able to have you in my arms again, doll.”
I brazenly pull him in for one last brief kiss before he heads to the door, still giddy with butterflies and high on a sea of endorphins. I call room service to order dinner, dessert, and another bottle of wine, telling them to leave it on the dining room table when they arrive. I smile, because if the food arrives after Cole returns, we might just be too busy to answer the door. At least a girl can hope.
I take my glass of wine into the master suite and blush at the king-sized bed that we’ll be in together tonight. I close the bedroom door behind me, making my way into the adjoining bathroom, and strip out of my clothes. A pink lacy bra and panty set will have to do for this evening because this may be an up-and-coming casino and resort, but it does not sell sexy lingerie at a moment’s notice. Although if I had planned ahead there are plenty of pretty little shops that would have just what I was looking to buy.
I select a play station on my phone, trying to find something to sooth the humming of my nerves. When a slow song comes on, I spin in front of the bathroom mirror, hugging myself, unsure how I’ve managed to find such a decent man, who’s as attracted to me as I am to him, in the middle of all the chaos and devastation in my life.
The buzz of my phone against the marble counter brings me out of my reverie. I connect as I bend over to turn the water in the whirlpool on, half giddy that Cole has called me so soon. I put my hand under the faucet to test the temperature of the water. “This is Krissy.”
A raspy voice causes my insides to churn. “There’s been a change of plans, bitch. You’re going to meet us in half an hour at the Eagle’s Swallow, and you’re going to come alone. If I see so much as an inkling that you’ve called the police, or that anyone has followed you, your brother Vince is going to pay for it with his life, understand?”