Chapter 14
“Come do the hair thing.” Cole rolls her head across the tile, dark eyes finally meeting mine after her confession.
She was nervous telling me about her diagnosis, but it changes nothing about the way I see her. The only thing it’ll change is the research I’m about to do on supporting a partner with autism. Not that she’s my partner.
Yet.
But she is asking me to do the hair thing. Moving from my perch on the counter, I sit on the edge of the tub next to Cole, spending a delicious moment staring down at her naked body. She curves in all of the right places, and the hot water is turning her skin my favorite color: red.
My eyes skim from her cherry-red toenails, up her lightly freckled calves, all the way to her pert tits and rosy nipples that will have me hard for days after this. When I meet her eyes, there’s uncertainty there. Like she’s waiting for my final assessment of her body.
“Perfect,” I murmur, leaning in to untrap the hair that she’s currently using to cushion her head against the tile. Her mouth parts as I wrap her ponytail around my fist, tugging slightly. Testing. Teasing.
A groan falls from those open lips, her eyes falling closed in pleasure. “Take your pants off,” she rasps.
I freeze. “You said no sex tonight,” I remind her, fully planning on sticking to that promise.
She contemplates a moment. “No penetrative sex,” she clarifies. Her mouth tips up in a wicked grin. “I didn’t say anything about oral, though.”
For fuck’s sake, this woman.
“Excuse me for being under the impression that ‘no sex’ meant no sex of any kind, Colette.” I give an extra tug on her hair to emphasize my point.
“Well.” She bites her lip. “What a happy surprise for you.”
A happy surprise indeed. As long as I don’t come in two seconds like I did last time.
Cole taps the leg nearest her where I’m sitting on the edge of the tub, urging me to stand.
When I do, she follows, rising onto her knees, the water sloshing a bit over the edge of the tub.
Eager hands find the waistband of my jeans, unbuttoning the row of buttons with fervor.
Her melodic laugh echoes through the bathroom when she realizes I’m not wearing anything underneath.
“Really, Ben? Going commando now?” She smirks, eyes meeting mine, and damn this view is… unforgettable.
“I…” I’ve temporarily forgotten how to communicate.
Staring down at Colette Russell, on her knees for me.
It feels wrong. I should be the one on my knees worshipping her like the goddess she is.
“I was just running down to the shop. Wasn’t expecting to have anyone else taking my pants off,” I explain lamely, my mouth still dry from simply looking at her.
My dick springs out from between the buttons as soon as she’s undone all of them.
Then, this vixen licks her lips at the sight.
Her hand wraps around my cock, the same way my fist is wrapped around her hair.
She doesn’t even bother pulling the jeans all the way down before her tongue darts out to catch the precum already dripping out.
I use that hand in her hair to guide her toward me. My hips are eager to meet her lips, pulsing forward on their own volition. Cole looks at me and sticks her tongue out, flat and ready. Pulling slightly, I angle her head, positioning my dick with the other hand.
In the back of my mind, I know she’s avoiding deep conversation with me. She opened up and now she’s closing herself off to me mentally by opening those pretty, plump lips. I care, I do. And at the same time, I’m a pathetic man who will take any crumb this woman offers me.
So I thrust, eliciting a deep moan that vibrates through my very soul as Cole wraps around me.
She’s needy, squeezing my thighs in encouragement as she bobs enthusiastically.
Tears leak from the corners of her eyes, running down her flushed cheeks.
The sound of splashing water is what I concentrate on as I try not to come down Cole’s throat. Yet.
Yet—the word that is sustaining me right now.
She whimpers, and I watch, enraptured, as her hand slides down her own body.
She pinches one of her nipples before allowing her hand to disappear between her thighs.
It moves rapidly, dragging her own pleasure out even while she still has me wrapped in the wet heat of her mouth.
She’s so fucking good at anything she does, always has been.
It’s one of the first things I noticed about her all those years ago, and I’m happy to see that drive hasn’t changed even as her, ahem, focus has shifted.
Cole continues to work us both up, and I’m doing my damndest to hold out for her.
She comes first, plays like a mantra in my head, and I’m about to lose that battle when I feel a sharp pinch to my ass.
Refocusing on Cole, her pleading eyes send me careening over the edge, my hand still fisted firmly around her ponytail.
Involuntarily I tug as I search for some way to ground myself, my orgasm spilling thickly down Cole’s throat.
She swallows and swallows and swallows until I pull her off of me with a lewd pop.
Half a second later, she’s coming too. Her lips are swollen as they part, fingers working fervently, chasing her ecstasy wave after wave.
“Look at me,” I rasp, tugging her ponytail until her lust-riddled eyes meet mine.
The caramel swirl of her irises mesmerizes me, a thick sheen of tears glistening in the candlelight.
My thumb swipes across her cheek, collecting any fallen tears—the result of having my cock in her mouth for an extended period of time. “You’re beautiful,” I mutter.
It’s the wrong thing to say. Cole tenses, immediately sliding on her mask of indifference. “Hey,” I whisper. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?” she asks, not meeting my eyes.
“Run away.”
A scoff is all I get in reply as she sinks back into what has to be lukewarm water.
She lifts the drain, quietly watching the water as it lowers.
I tuck my dick back into my pants, buttoning them back up.
Waiting to see what Cole will do next. Both of us are silent, but I know better than to rush her.
When the tub is almost completely empty, she does something that surprises me. She turns the hot water back on. “I’m not running anywhere,” she says, still not looking at me.
My shoulders instantly sag in relief. I eye the detachable showerhead, an idea springing into my head. “Can I wash your hair?” I ask.
Finally, she looks back up at me, a smirk dancing across her pretty lips. “You really are obsessed, Benjamin.”
I shrug, not bothering to correct her.
“Fine.” She works to undo the tie holding her hair up. “But no stealing pieces of my hair to keep on some secret altar you have hiding in your closet.”
“I knew you were going to snoop,” I quip. She guffaws, but I ignore her, opting to switch the faucet so it’s streaming from the showerhead now. “I don’t have any fancy hair products.”
“It’s fine. I’ll wash it again after my run in the morning.” She pauses, smile turning mischievous. “This is more for you than it is for me anyway.”
“I believe it’s called aftercare, Red.”
“You been reading up since our last encounter?” she jokes.
I roll my eyes. “You aren’t my first partner, Cole. I knew what aftercare was before our ‘last encounter.’” I use the showerhead to help me form air quotes, getting dangerously close to spraying her in the face.
Cole narrows her eyes at me. “No funny business,” she scolds.
“That part already happened. Now lean forward.”
She rolls her eyes and maneuvers herself so I have room to wet the hair that is now cascading down her bare back.
I relish watching as it turns from a bright auburn to a dark, almost-brunette shade everywhere the water hits.
Slowly, deliberately, I let the water soak all the way down to her scalp.
Once it’s time for shampoo, I realize this is going to be a bit more complicated than I anticipated.
“Just a sec,” I say before handing her the showerhead.
As quickly as possible, I change out of my jeans and into a pair of boxers.
When I walk back in the bathroom, I angle my leg with my foot in the tub so Cole can lean back against me.
I fan her hair over my thigh, enjoying how easily she’s complying with my nonverbal requests.
She starts to hum as I massage shampoo into her scalp. I don’t think she even realizes she’s doing it, but the sound wraps around me, burying itself beneath my ribs. Cole Russell is making me crave her. I’ve had a sip of this side of her and now I’m a lush.
And I’m so royally fucked.
We sit in companionable silence—minus the occasional humming from Cole—as I finish shampooing and rinsing.
I want to invite her to stay. I want—fuck, I want to cuddle with Colette.
While I work up the courage to ask, she lazily gets out of the tub, wrapping the nearby towel around her body.
I miss seeing the creamy expanse instantly.
Cole twists her hair back into a wet bun, securing it with her hair tie. I’m about to open my mouth, about to just spit out my request, when she sighs.
“I need to get home.” She’s back to not making eye contact.
I dry my leg off, trying, and failing, not to make things awkward. “Right. Of course. I-I could get you a drink or something though.” We both pause. “If you want,” I rush to add.
“I need to get home to Ernest.”
Ernest? No, there’s no way she has someone waiting for her at home. That would be fucking diabolical, it would be—
“My dog,” she says slowly, as if explaining what a dog is to a very small child. “You met him when you came over.”
Right. I knew that. The ugly dog. Thank God. “Yeah, no… yeah. You definitely should get back to him. Good point.”
“Okaaaay, Benjamin. And maybe you should go ahead and go to bed. It seems like I sucked all of your brain cells out.” She smirks, pulling her clothes back on before seeing herself out of the bedroom while I’m still standing there like a goddamn fool.
She’s all the way to the front door by the time I come to my senses. “Wait! When will I… when can we see each other again?” I ask.
“We see each other far too often for my liking,” she snarks. “Bye, Benjamin. Thank you for the orgasm.”
She waves her fingers over her shoulder as the door to my apartment closes behind her. I can’t be sure, but I’m pretty sure I hear maniacal laughter coming from the other side of the door as she leaves.
And, dammit, I can’t help my grin at this infuriating, gorgeous, amazing woman.