8. IVY
eight
ivy
“T o what do I owe this pleasant surprise?” Cole climbs the three steps onto his porch, his jeans clinging so perfectly to his muscled legs.
I’m still not over how different he is from the guys I’ve dated in the past. Cole is the complete opposite of Lawson, in particular, and I can’t deny how deliriously happy that makes me.
“About that fling…” I thread my fingers behind my back and sway toward him. “Were you serious?”
He nods, and his eyes darken with what I can only infer to be desire.
Gulp . “And if I were to agree, what would such an arrangement entail?”
He closes the distance between us with slow, measured steps. His shoulders relax as he enters my personal space, and I realize how tense he was when he first hopped out of his truck.
“It would go a little like this,” he says hoarsely against my mouth right before he nips on my bottom lip. “And like this.” He grips my hips and tugs me against his hard body.
A shot of electricity races through me.
“Just fun, Ivy.” He brings one hand to swipe the loose hair from my cheek, the backs of his knuckles skimming across my sensitive skin. He lowers his other hand from my hip until it rests at the top of my backside, his fingers trickling even lower as he says, “We’d have fun together until you leave town. No strings. No feelings. No broken hearts.”
I hum as the excitement of such an adventure wraps around me. That’s what Cole would be for me—an adventure I’ll muse over for a long time.
“If I squeeze your ass right now, would you clutch your pearls and scold me for being distasteful?” he whispers in my ear, and his low voice unleashes a flood of heat into my lower stomach.
I run my hands up his chest as my heart thumps and rattles my rib cage. “I’m not wearing any pearls.”
With the green light, Cole covers one side of my ass with his palm and squeezes. Then he captures my lips in a kiss so passionate, my knees wobble.
He slides his mouth over mine as his other hand joins my backside and squeezes too, dangerously crossing our kiss into R-rated territory.
After all, we’re still on his porch. It’s dark, but we’re not invisible. Not with the porch light shining on us like a spotlight. I might’ve agreed with Elaine that I don’t care what people think, but it doesn’t mean I’ve lost all decency.
“Perhaps we should go inside before we scandalize your neighbors with this racy little show.” I giggle against his lips, and he leads me inside, where I return to kissing him. “I’m also not wearing any panties.”
Did I just say that out loud?
When Cole rewards me with a low growl, whatever embarrassment I should feel flies right out the window, along with any ounce of hesitation I possessed while I drove over here.
I lose sight of myself entirely.
Tonight, I’m not the daughter of one of Atlanta’s most prestigious surgeons. I’m not even the insecure, divorced woman I was when Cole and I met.
Right now, in his strong arms, I’m just a girl attracted to a guy. A girl who’s acting on that attraction no matter where it might lead.
“Are you sure about this?” He pulls back enough to search my expression, both uncertainty and lust swirling in his dark eyes like clouds rolling across a sunny sky.
Pulling a Gigi Gosling, I confidently step out of his embrace, unzip the side of my dress, and let it flutter into a pool of floral fabric around my sandals.
His thirsty gaze drinks me in, and he staggers backward like the sight of me is too overwhelming.
“I’m sure,” I say.
“God, Ivy,” he whispers and stalks toward me. He presses his forehead against mine and says, “You’re fucking gorgeous.”
“Really?” I breathe, flattening my palms over his pecs.
“From the moment I saw you, I wanted you. The only thing I’ve thought about today is kissing you. Touching you. Holding you.” His minty breath skitters across the column of my flushed neck as he pants. “I fucking need you.”
My lungs squeeze, and I fight for my next inhale.
“I fucking need you,” he repeats and leads me away from the living room, peppering kisses along my jawline as we bump against the couch and the wall. We stumble to a closed door, and he pushes me up against it, devouring my mouth in a life-shattering kiss.
My toes curl as the bulge between his legs swells against my stomach.
I claw at him as our kiss turns feral, our clashing tongues and teeth fighting for more, more, more .
Cole reaches behind me and twists the doorknob. We trip over our own feet as we stagger into the room until we fall into bed, our limbs tangling together.
With jerky movements, he chucks his jeans off, and I slip my feet out of my sandals, baring myself to him as he is me.
I nudge him over and climb on top, gripping his shoulders. With my legs on either side of his hips, I squeeze my thighs together, enjoying the feel of him underneath me.
When he shifts, I moan unabashedly. He’s hard— for me .
He untangles his fingers from my hair and runs them down my sides as I continue kissing him, reveling in the firm grip of his hands on me. I’ve never been touched like this.
His hold on me is hard.
Assertive.
Intentional.
The way Cole touches me is unlike anything I’ve experienced in the past. It’s exactly as he said earlier. He needs me, and I can feel the truth of those words through his kisses and touches.
“Do you have a condom?” I ask through my foggy haze of lust.
He mutters a response and peels his lips from mine to scoot backward, bringing me along with him. While he digs one out of his nightstand drawer, I trace the hard lines of muscle across his back with the tip of my finger. He’s as chiseled as I suspected before I saw him naked.
“That tickles,” he says, and I can practically hear the smile in his voice.
I pull my hand back and crawl on top of him again. “Let me.” I take the wrapper from between his fingers, bring the corner to my lips, and tear it open.
He watches my every move, working his jaw back and forth. The dimple in his chin is prominent as he clenches his jaw, and it makes me squirm with anticipation.
Cole hisses a curse as I touch his turgid length. When my second hand glides up his veiny shaft, his hips jerk upward, and I smile.
“You’re going to kill me, aren’t you, darlin’?” He licks his lips and slides his hands up my thighs, his abs tightening between my knees.
I’m doing this to him. A man like Cole Rivers is turned on by what I’m doing to him.
Once the condom is in place, he starts to guide me onto him, whispering, “It’s going to be hard to restrain myself with you, but we can go as slow as you want, Ivy. I want you to be?—”
“I want you to fuck me, Cole,” I blurt, and even though I don’t know where such a statement hailed from, I don’t mean it any less.
His gulp echoes across the quiet room, as does the strained growl that follows.
I stroke the base of his length and say, “I don’t want you to hold back. I’m not going to break, and I don’t want you to treat me like I will. Got it?”
Am I really saying these filthy things?
He seems to enjoy them, if his thickening cock is any indication. Besides, this fling is for fun, and there’s no reason for me to hold back, either.
“I got it,” he rasps and yanks me down at the same time he surges his hips upward.
He thrusts inside me with a delicious pinch, and a cry of pleasure rips from my throat. Cole leaves no room for hesitation or insecurity. He’s merciless as he bounces me on top of him, and I nearly bite my lip, savoring the instant pleasure coursing through me.
It’s not long before my wetness coats his length, and I’m on the verge of ecstasy. Not only has it been far too long since the last time I had sex, but it’s Cole. He brings out a side of me that is unapologetically erotic.
And in that vein, I chase my release, unashamed as I roll my hips forward and backward, up and down. Heat curls in my core as I skim my hard nipples with my fingers. Then I pause to twist each one, and Cole’s rhythm falters.
“Christ,” he hisses.
I open my heavy-lidded eyes and find him watching me with awe as I play with my breasts.
“You’re definitely going to kill me,” he says, but I don’t sense any protest.
My pleasure drips down his length as my release jolts my body awake, hot currents of euphoria coursing through me like lightning across the sky.
“Yes. Cole. Yes!” I cry, my voice hoarse.
“That’s it, baby.” He licks his lips, and his nostrils flare as I ride out my climax. “You’re so perfect coming for me like this. So… fucking… perfect.”
My body trembles on top of him as I drift off with the high. I nearly forget where I am. What my name is. Everything.
Which is why I yelp in surprise when he flips me onto my back and hovers over me.
“I think we can make you come again. What do you say?” A wicked gleam blinks in his eye as he rises onto his knees, reaches around my backside, and hikes my hips into the air.
Most of my weight rests on my shoulders as he lines himself up and surges inside me again, my slick heat taking him with ease.
“Oh!” I gasp.
From this angle, he reaches deeper and completely buries himself inside me.
It’s sexy.
Heady.
Liberating.
He’s doing what I said. He’s fucking me, pistoning into me without caution, and I can’t get enough.
Our bodies slap together as he furiously thrusts into me, and my head spins. The sensations are overwhelming and sexy and oh , so good.
At this rate, I’ll have no problem coming again. I squeeze my eyes closed as another electric current strikes and racks through me, spreading from my core to the rest of my body in blissful waves.
I barely register Cole’s own body trembling. Warmth envelops me as we bask in our simultaneous releases, sharing this intimate moment as if we’re not two relative strangers at all.
It doesn’t feel like it’s my first time with him.
I already want to do it again.