Page 84 of Bad Reputation

“Then come kiss me.”

Her hands were shaking when she unbuckled her seat belt, but that tiny act of assent was all he could take. Cole pulled her across the back seat and into his lap.

The lights of the city streaked passed the window, painting white and yellow light over her face. Over her cheekbones and the slope of her nose. Over the accent marks of her eyebrows and the line of her chin.

Carefully, she rested one hand across his nape, her fingertips shifting into his hair. He pushed into the contact. She was touching him, intimately, on purpose. Finally, finally touching him.

The car went around a corner, and her nose grazed his. A streetlight lit every ridge of her irises, every curl of her lashes—and he wanted to drink them all in.

At least after he got to taste her.

“Sometimes,” he whispered, “I think you’re the only one who sees the real me. Not whoever I’m playing. Not whatever mistakes I made in the past. But me, the way I am now.”

“You hide in plain sight, wearing a Cody Rhodes costume,” she agreed.

“And you strip it off.” Hopefully literally.

“All I can see is you. Even on set, it got to where I couldn’t see your performance. Only you.”

“You see me, and you still want me?” It was scary, being seen for himself without any buffer. But he would learn to live with it, if he got Maggie in the bargain.

“Of course I do.” She resettled, bringing her mouth closer, but she still hadn’t crossed those final millimeters.

Patience. He needed patience here. Cole ran his hands over her thighs, the curve of her hip, the dip of her waist. All PG-13 touches, but because it was with her, nothing had ever been hotter.

“Can we really make this work?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“No doubt about it?”

“None. It’s us.” If he wasn’t breathless and aroused and anticipating, he’d say it better. Say that he knew it wouldn’t be easy, but it would be worth it. But he’d already come damn close to begging here, and ultimately, the end point would be the same.

When he kissed Maggie, he wouldn’t be hoping that maybe she’d be the one. He’dknowshe was. And that made whatever speed bumps lay ahead worth it.

A beat passed. Another.

Then very softly, she said, “Okay.”

The first touch of her lips to his was like falling asleep in the sun. Every cell of his body went heavy and warm.

She moved her mouth over his slowly, like a surveyor wanting to understand every inch of the topography. Her kiss was careful, so gentle his eyes watered behind his lids.

Being known was . . . intense.

Maggie parted her lips and clung to the corner of his mouth, breathing hard. But now that the starting bell had sounded, he was in this.

He threaded his hands into her hair—so soft—and kissed her. His efforts were clumsy in comparison to hers. Plodding and clumsy and ... wet. The next time they did this, he’d be better. More restrained.

Except Maggie didn’t seem to mind. She matched him stroke for stroke. Moan for moan.

Cole got bolder then, exploring the curve of her ass, the swell of her breast. She pressed herself into his lap—because the same hunger thatwas gnawing in him was in her. His body was hard, straining. Revved up by this, but not satisfied by it. Not by a long shot.

A sharp corner had Maggie shifting on his lap, but he hadn’t taken off his seat belt, so he stayed in his seat. He sunk his fingers on her to keep her anchored.

Maggie tipped her chin back with a gasp, and he set about kissing her neck, her collarbone. All the parts of her that he’d watched so many times and wanted to kiss. Now he had, and it was better than he’d dreamed.

“Should I, um, go back to my seat?”

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