OPERATION: DATE ESCAPE (15 page)

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“Well, here we are.”  Cole’s husky voice broke the sexually charged silence as they pulled up to the two-car garage that extended out from a beige ranch-style house with cranberry shutters. 

Kelsie smiled, her pulse still racing from the out-of-control kiss they’d shared back at the restaurant parking lot.  “Nice place.” 

He
returned her smile, that to-die-for dimple taunting her.  Who needed a bed?  She would be perfectly willing to climb up on his lap and test out the shocks on this monster of a truck. 

Where had that thought come from?  Oh
shit, she was becoming Nanci.  It seemed her best friend’s sex-on-the-brain way of thinking had started to rub off on her, too.  At least she had only thought about getting down and dirty with Cole in his truck.  Nanci would have done it. 

He
shifted in the seat to face her and slung his arm over the wheel.  “I like it.  Bought it a couple of years ago.  I figured it was a good investment.”

How could a guy as smart and as good looking as Cole still be single?  He was hot with a capital H-O-T.  He’d obviously been dating the wrong kind of women.  She was an expert on incompatibility dating.

Her gaze traveled down the front of his shirt to the denim hugging his long, muscular thighs and the heat between hers increased.

“Kelsie?”

Her eyes snapped up to meet his.  “W...what?”

He looked at her questioningly.  “You having second thoughts?”

Embarrassed to have been caught eyeing him up like a piece of chocolate during PMS, she turned to look out her window.  “No, not at all.  I was just thinking that you’ve got the perfect yard to have sex in.”

“Sex?”

She turned to him.  “What?”  A second later, what she’d said sank in to her arousal clouded brain.  “I meant a cookout.”  Though sex anywhere with him at that moment sounded pretty good to her.

He gave a husky chuckle and opened his door.  “While I don’t have a problem with making love to you in my front yard, I think my neighbors might.  Of course, it is going to be dark out soon...”  Stepping out,
he closed his door and rounded the truck to open hers.

She was glad he wasn’t playing the bad boy completely because having those large hands encircling her waist as he helped her down felt wonderful.

“Damn,” he muttered the second her feet touched the driveway.

“Cole?  What’s wrong?”

Please don’t let him say he’s changed his mind.  Not now.  Not tonight.

“Our dinner.”

“What about it?”

Frowning, he said, “I left it sitting in the parking lot back at the restaurant.”

“Oh.”  She giggled softly.  “Guess we had other things on our mind.  Like...”

“Dessert?”   

She nodded, her pulse picking up again.  “Yes.”

He closed the door and drew her to him.  “I can barely think to breathe when you’re around.  Do you know how badly I want to make love to you?”

She looked up into his dark, hungry eyes and a shiver of excitement moved through her.  She reached up, running her hand along the firm line of his jaw.  “The feeling’s mutual.”

He groaned
, his eyes drifting shut as she ran a fingertip over his lips.

“Cole?”

“Hmm?” he said, opening his eyes.

“If we both want
to be together so badly, shouldn’t we be inside?”

“Keep on touching me that way and I will be inside – of you.  Right here.  Right now.  Making love to you in the driveway,
my neighbors be damned.”

“Promises.  Promises.”

With another husky growl, he took her hand in his and guided her toward the house. 

“I just want you to know that I’ve never done this before,”
she confessed as he led her inside. 

“Stepped
into a house?” he asked with a teasing grin as he closed the door behind them.  He tossed his truck keys onto the kitchen counter and then turned back to her with a sexy grin.

She
laughed.  “No.  I’ve done that a few times.  I was referring to going home with a guy on a first date.  Or second even.”

Threading his fingers through hers,
he led her down the hallway.  “Then I guess it’s lucky for me that it’s our third.”   

“Third?” she asked
in confusion as they stepped into a bedroom.  Cole’s bedroom.

He turned and released her hand, gathering her into his arms
instead.  “Sure, the hospital was our first date, kiss and all.  Then there was our tree date where you were looking all sexy in that low cut lace shirt of yours.”

“It wasn’t low cut.  It was unbuttoned.”

“And making it pretty damn hard to do my job,” he admitted as his mouth moved over hers.

She curled her arms around his neck and rose up, eagerly meeting his kiss. 
His hands slipped beneath the hem of her shirt to skim her bare flesh, gliding up over her ribs, nothing more than a thin layer of satin separating her aching flesh from his touch.

She
moaned softly, the sound of which was lost in the hungry mating of their lips and tongues.  Her frenzied hands tugged at his shirt, freeing it from his jeans, needing to feel his flesh against her flesh.  Needing him.

Cole pulled away just long enough remove his shirt and toss it to the floor.  He had wanted this from that first kiss in the emergency room.  Had wanted her.

Kelsie
whimpered his name in undisguised need.

He reached out to caress her cheek
.  “You make me want so bad.”  He tunneled his fingers through her hair.  The sensation of the silken strands sliding between the parted appendages had his blood heating up all the more.  “You’re so beautiful.”

“
When I’m with you, I feel beautiful.” Her hands moved to the hem of her gauzy top, dragging his gaze up with it as she took it off.  Fiery hair danced across the creamy flesh of her shoulders as her shirt fluttered to the floor at their feet.

H
is gaze slid down to the deep plunging V at the front of her red satin bra and his breath caught. “Mmm...nice.”  

“
Glad you like it.”

“Oh, doll, I more than like it.”

“Nanci made me buy it,” she confessed, almost nervously, and then glanced down with a frown.  “I tried to tell her that these kinds of bras are more for women with bigger...um, larger...”

“Breasts?”

Color flooded her cheeks as she nodded her reply.

He
reached out to run a finger along the curve of a breast.  “You couldn’t be more wrong about that.”  His finger trailed down over the satin.  “This bra was made for you.  Remind me to thank Nanci for talking you into buying this the next time I see her.”

“Come here,” Cole ordered with a smile as he drew her to him.  Lowering his head, he brushed his mouth over hers.  “I really like it,” he whispered huskily against her parted lips.  “I really like you.”

Kelsie moaned softly, tipping her head back as his
mouth moved lower, nipping at the gentle curve of her neck.  She couldn’t speak.  Could barely think with his mouth moving over her the way it was.

The warmth of his breath found its way to the feminine swell of her breasts. 
Wanting more, she arched up into his sensual kiss.

He
reached behind her, deftly unfastening the clasp of her bra.  Pushing the straps down her arms, he gained access to what it was he sought.  With a groan of approval, he cupped a breast, taking its rosy tip into his mouth.

If there was ever any doubt before, she knew now that Cole was perfect in every aspect of his life, lovemaking included.  Legs trembling beneath her,
she clutched at his broad shoulders.  She wanted him.  Needed him.  And even worse, she really, really liked him, too. 

“Cole...” she pleaded.

Lifting his head, he gave her one of the sexiest smiles she’d ever seen.  Then he straightened and dragged her up against him, capturing her mouth in another heated kiss.

Just this once, she wasn’t going to hold back.  She was going to give in to the passion he promised.  Live for the moment.  Appease the hunger.  And die of need if he didn’t take her soon.

She ran her hand over the erection confined beneath the fly of his jeans, eliciting a husky growl low in his throat.  His response had her reaching for the button on his fly, freeing it with trembling hands.  Their heated gazes met and held as she dragged his zipper downward.  Then her questing fingers dipped beneath the waistband of his briefs to close around him.

He closed his eyes with an even deeper groan as his hips jerked forward, thrusting deeper into her grip.

She tightened her hold, running her hand up and down the length of his hardness. 

He
broke away from the kiss, his breathing ragged.  Despite the hunger that filled his dark eyes, he reached down to ease her hand away.  “I’m trying my damnedest to go slow with you, but you’re killing me here.”

Trembling with desire, s
he looked up at him.  “Do you suppose we could just skip the slow part this time around?”

She didn’t have to ask twice. 
He swept her up in his arms and crossed the room, lowering her onto the plush beige and green comforter that covered the queen-sized bed. 

He stepped away and walked around to the foot of the bed, his heated gaze never leaving her.  “Now for something I’ve been wanting to do
to you all night.”

She propped herself up on her elbows, excitement surging through her.  “What’s that?”

“Take off your shoes,” he replied with a sexy grin.  He ran a hand down the leg of her jeans to the double knot on her tennis shoe, his long fingers deftly untying one and then the other.

“You’ve been waiting all night just to take off my tennis shoes?”

“No, there’s a lot more I’ve been wanting to do.  Only I can’t get to the really good stuff until I’ve gotten rid of these.”

“I’m not so sure I trust you with my shoes.”

“Don’t worry.  I promise not to hold them hostage.”  He slipped the shoes from her feet and dropped them onto the floor at the foot of the bed. 

“I’m holding you to that.” 

He reached out to place a finger to her lips, silencing her, and said tenderly, “Trust me, your shoes are the last thing on my mind right now.”  He let his hand fall away and moved to undo her jeans.

She
raised her hips up off the bed to assist him in removing her pants.  As he eased them down her legs, his gaze fell on her satin thong, making her blush.

He
swallowed hard.  “Let me guess.  Nanci?”

She nodded.

“I definitely need to thank her,” he said his voice even huskier than before.  Tossing her jeans aside, he hooked his fingers around the sliver of thong at her hips and peeled it downward until it joined the rest of her clothes on the floor.  “I might even name my firstborn after her,” he added with a grin as he kicked off his shoes. 

“Let’s hope your firstborn is a daughter.”

Chuckling, he dug into the back pocket of his jeans for his wallet.  Pulling out a small foil wrapped packet, he tossed the wallet onto the nightstand beside him and pushed then his jeans down over his lean hips. 

She
had to remind herself to breathe as his hands went to the waistband of his briefs, dropping them to the floor atop his jeans.  She couldn’t help but stare at his more than impressive erection.  One that made her ex’s seem like a Tinker Toy in comparison.

“
Any second thoughts?” he asked as he stepped out of the clothes that were pooled around his ankles and moved toward her.

“No way.  Just thinking
that you’d better hurry.  I’ve got this fire that really needs put out.”

Flashing her that sexy, make-a-girl’s-legs-go-weak grin
, he joined her.  “This must be your lucky day,” he said, his voice husky with desire.  “It just so happen I’ve had special training in putting out fires.”

Cole’s hand grazed the inside of her thigh, moving slowly upward to the place she needed his touch the most.  “Was that training you had for putting out fires or starting them?” she asked, nearly breathless with want.

“Both.”  His fingers
eased slowly into her heat, slowly stroking her.

She
was certain her entire body was about to burst into flames right there in the middle of his bed.  Kelsie curled her fingers deep into the plush comforter beneath her.  “Oh, God, Cole...”

“It’s all right, doll.  Let it
happen.”

It was more than all right. 
“Yes!” she cried out as release came in a maddening rush.  “Cole, please!  I need you.  Now!”

“Bossy little thing aren’t you,” he said
as he settled between her quivering thighs. 

Before she could reply, he buried his fingers in her coppery curls and covered her mouth with his as
he sank into her welcoming heat.

She
wrapped her legs around him, her nails digging into his back, as she lost herself in his lovemaking.

Their
hot, bare flesh moved together, creating a sweet friction that drove them both to the edge.  Release, swift and strong, soon found them both.

Growling out her name,
Cole sank into her with one final thrust.  He lowered his brow to hers.  “That was─”

“Incredible,” she finished for him with a sated sigh.

“More than.”  He rolled off her and gathered her up against him, curling his arms around her.

She sighed contentedly.  Being with
Cole felt right.  Like something she’d waited her whole life for.  Even if it were only meant to last for just one night.

A few minutes later, Cole slipped from the bed and made his way to the bathroom, leaving her alone with all the thoughts that were whirling about in her head.  Had she really just let Cole make love to her?  Was she really lying there wanting him to do so again?

She rolled onto her back with a groan just as he stepped back into the bedroom. 

Smiling, he slid back into bed beside her, curling his big, warm body around hers. 
“Kelsie...”

She looked over at him,
her gaze meeting his.

He reached up, gently pushing
her passion-mussed hair from her face.  “There’s something I want you to know.”

She
fell silent.  Afraid to ask.  Afraid to have this perfect moment ruined by news that he was seeing someone else, or, even worse, was married.  That was how things went in her life.  The good never lasted. 

“I’ve never done this before.”

“What?”

“I’ve never brought a woman home with me,” he admitted.  “Other places, yes, but never to my bed.”

His unexpected admission took her by surprise.  “Why not?”

“It just never felt right,” he said
, brushing a light kiss over the tip of her nose.  “Until you.”

Her heart lurched.

“Stay with me tonight,” he whispered against her ear.

She
closed her eyes.  It was the perfect thing to say.  Damn him for being so perfect.  And damn her for falling for him.  Her ‘letting go’ was supposed to be sexual, not emotional.  How had her wires gotten so crossed?

“I...I can’t.” 
She pushed free of his arm and slipped from the bed.

He
sat up, the sheet sliding down to his bare waist.  “Kelsie?”

Her gaze drifted down his chest to his muscular abs where a tapering trail of dark hair disappeared beneath the bunched up sheet.  And beneath that...

She groaned. Another few seconds of ogling him the way she was and she’d be crawling right back into bed with him.  She forced herself to turn away, muttering nervously, “I have to go.”

“Now?”

“I appreciate the offer, but I really have to...” her words trailed off as she searched the floor for her clothes, her Victoria’s Secret naughties included.  The same ones she’d sworn Cole would never see her in.  Maybe it didn’t count if he’d only seen them on her for a moment or two.  He probably didn’t even remember what they looked like.

“You
might be needing this.”

She
turned to find Cole standing there, her fire engine red bra dangling from his fingertips.  She snatched it from his hand, adding it to the rest of the clothes she held clutched in front of her.  “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he replied, the smooth, husky drawl of his voice drawing her in, making her want again. 

The urge to let her gaze drift down that hard, lean and very naked body was overwhelming, knowing exactly what she’d find.  And, unlike her ex-husband’s, it wasn’t a Tinker Toy.

Don’t do it.

All it would take to get her back into that bed beside that sexy, lone dimpled grin of his was knowing that he wanted her again.  And she wasn’t about to take that chance.  Instead, she raised her chin, focusing on the ceiling fan above him.  “I should get dressed.”

“Are you all right?”

She lowered her gaze just enough to see the concern on his face.  “What?”

“Tell me I didn’t hurt you when we...”

“No,” she said, cutting him off.  “You didn’t hurt me.”  Unless one counted his having pleasured her until she thought she might die from it.  “I just have to go.” 

He reached out to run his hands down her arms in a light caress.  “This was big for me, too,” he
admitted, his tone one of both patience and tenderness.  After a moment’s hesitation, he let his hands fall away.  “I’ll get dressed.”

“No, don’t,” she
blurted out, feeling her perfect night unraveling around her.

He arched a questioning brow.
  “I’m not so sure it’s a good idea for me to drive you home naked.”

“
I don’t need you to drive me home.  I can call a cab to come get me.”

He
shot her an incredulous look, his smile gone.  “I brought you here.  I’ll take you home.  If you’re sure that’s what you really want.”

What she wanted was to climb back into bed with
him as her blanket.  She gave a reluctant nod.  “I think it would be for the best.”

Best for whom Cole wanted to ask her.  She was running
again
.  He knew that look.  Heard the panic in her voice.  “All right,” he said with a sigh and then turned to reach for his briefs.  “Look, Kels─”

The
bathroom door closed behind him before he could finish what he’d been about to say.  Muttering a frustrated curse, he sank down onto the edge of the bed, yanking on his briefs.

He should have known better.  If anything was guaranteed to send a woman like Kelsie running, it was asking her to stay the night.  She’d already admitted to having a problem with commitment thanks to her ass of an ex.

Although maybe he should be thanking her ex for being an ass and letting her get away.  Otherwise, he might never have experienced the mind-blowing, soul-stealing kind of passion he’d just shared with her.  Something he’d never felt with any other woman.

He glanced toward the bathroom door as he pulled on his jeans.  Okay, so maybe he’d pushed her a little too fast.  It hadn’t been intentional.  She just had a way of making him want to say the hell with
using the brake, full speed ahead.

Pushing off the bed, he
walked over to his dresser and grabbed a clean t-shirt from the drawer.  He’d shower when he got back from taking her home.  Otherwise, he wouldn’t be pushing her; he’d be pulling her.  Right into the shower with him.

He tucked in his t-shirt and zipped his jeans.  Then he stepped over to the bathroom door and tapped on it lightly.  “Uh, Kelsie...”

“Yeah?”  Her voice sounded as unsteady as he felt.

“I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be out in the kitchen when you’re ready.” 

The door opened and she stepped out, looking incredibly sexy with her mussed curls, flushed cheeks, and thoroughly kissed lips.  “I’m ready.”

His first thought was to move toward her, intending to draw her into his arms.  Thankfully, he caught himself before actually going through with it. 
He gave himself a much needed mental head slap.  She was ready to go home not back into his bed.  She needed space. 

“I guess we’d better get going.”

She nodded and followed him out to the kitchen where he grabbed his truck keys from the counter.  Opening the door, he motioned for her to go ahead of him.  “After you.”

She paused in the doorway, giving him hope that she’d had a change of heart about leaving.  Then, with a soft sigh, turned and walked out.

The drive back to her place
felt like one of the longest drives he’d ever made.  It was also the quietest.  Kelsie said very little, keeping her gaze pinned to the passenger window. 

He
fought the urge to frown.  The silence was killing him.  What was going on in that pretty little head of hers?  Regret?  Hell, he hoped not.

Another few blocks and he gave in to the need to know.  “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” she assured him with a quick glance and a smile, but he wasn’t buying it.  People who were fine didn’t twist their purse strap into so many knots it resembled a physical fitness climbing rope.

*
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Kelsie awoke to the insistent ringing of the phone on her nightstand.  She glanced at the alarm clock and then buried her head beneath her pillow, hoping the unwelcome noise would stop. 

It didn’t.

With a tired groan brought on by a long restless night, she tossed her pillow aside and reached for the cordless, bringing it to her ear.  “Hello?”

“Hi, honey, it’s mother.”

As if anyone else would be calling her at 7:00am the morning after a date.  “Hi, Mom.”

“Oh, you’re still in bed?”

“You could say that.”

“Alone?”

“Mom,”
she groaned.

“You don’t have to say anything,” her mother whispered into the phone as if Cole might overhear if he were there.  “Just a simple yes or no will do.  Am I interrupting something?”

Kelsie rolled her eyes.  “Yes.”

“Ooh!”

“My sleep,” she tossed out before her mother got too carried away in her excitement.

“What?”

“You’re interrupting my sleep.”

“
You mean Cole’s not there?” her mother replied, the disappointment evident in her voice.

“No.”

“Oh, damn.  I really thought he might be the one.”

Silence.

“Kelsie?”

“I’m here.”

Her mother gasped.

“What?”

“He is the one.  I knew it!”

She
pushed a clump of curls from her face.  “Mom, please.”

“Don’t Mom me.  A mother knows these things.  Admit it, honey.  You’re falling for this guy.”

There it was again, the sound of the wedding planner wheels starting to turn inside her mother’s head.  Kelsie sat up, feeling oddly cornered.

“Just because I slept with him doesn’t mean I want to marry him.”  It was one of those speak first, think about what you said after-the-fact kind of moments.

Shit.

“You slept with him?” her mother practically shrieked, sounding as though she’d just hit the lottery.

“No.”

“But you just said...”

“I meant
if
I had slept with him; which I didn’t.”  It wasn’t a complete lie.  There hadn’t been any sleeping involved.

“I see.  But you really like him, don’t you?”

“Mom...”

“Don’t even try to deny it.  I hear it in your voice every time you talk about this man.”

Kelsie sighed.  “All right, yes, I admit it.  I like him.  I like him a lot.” 

She didn’t have to see her mother’s face to know she was smiling.  She’d seen right through
her attempt to cover her slip.  Her mother’s ensuing silence meant that she was processing the information. 

“Mom, I really hate to rush you off,”
she said, hoping to distract her mother from whatever she had going on in her head, “but I need sleep.  Besides, I thought you had a house showing early this morning.”

“I
do.  I have to be in Dublin at 8:30, but I wanted to check on you first and see how things went last night.  I can’t tell you how happy I am for you, honey.”

“Mom,
please don’t make more of it than it really was.”

“Can I help it if I’m an eternal optimist?  Anyway, I really should get going.  I want to swing by the coffee shop on the way and grab myself a cappuccino.  Call my cell if you need me.”

“I will.”

“You can tell me all about your
night
with Cole later.  Bye.”  Her mother’s voice, which was far too cheery for that time of the morning, was quickly replaced by the monotonous hum of a dial tone.