Page 46 of Hard Luck (Blackstone House)

I stopped in my tracks. Buy me dinner? That was a suggestion I hadn’t expected.

“I don’t do…”

“…commitment. Yeah, I know. But what you’re asking for is more than a casual hookup. There’s trust involved. And if you want me to do this, I need to see you outside the bedroom. I need to see you when the adrenaline and endorphins and whatever else have worn off and know you’re okay.”

He’d been googling. That was a good sign. He hadn’t freaked out and run. He hadn’t laughed in my face, and he was offering me what I wanted. If I could survive beingambushed in Rostov and escape to tell the tale, I could make it through a meal with Cole.

And he was right—therewastrust involved.

“Don’t expect me to go anywhere fancy.”

The tension seeped out of me, and I sank onto the dick-bench by the tennis court.

“Wonder Burger okay?”

“I’m buying,” I said.

“That’s not?—”

“Take it or leave it.”

There was a long pause. “Are you coming over tonight?”

“Give me half an hour.”

CHAPTER 16

COLE

“Harder,” Bella demanded.

“Are you?—”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

Cole belted her ass, and the open-handed slap tipped her over the edge.

She gripped the far side of the kitchen island, her sweat-slicked skin sliding over cool granite as he lifted her hips to the optimum angle and increased the tempo of his thrusts.

He’d been grappling with his feelings all day. Curiosity warred with shame. Excitement battled with disgust. Disgust at himself, not at Bella, and he hadn’t been totally sure that her suggestion wasn’t a sick joke.

But there she was, stretched out in front of him, her toned ass pink from his hand.

A few hard thrusts, and he followed her into oblivion with a startling observation: he’d never come so hard in his life. His legs shook as he collapsed over her, supporting himself on his elbows as he peppered her back with soft kisses. How was he supposed to give her up in barely more than a week?

“I hope that was as good for you as it was for me,” he murmured.

“Give me a minute.”

A chill ran down his spine. Was her asking for time a good thing or a bad thing?

“I’ll get rid of the condom.”

Had he done something wrong? Cole had never laid a hand on a woman before, not in that way. Gretchen had been strictly vanilla, and the rest of his experience was limited to the occasional one-night stand and Frankie, who was adventurous but in a whole different way. And Frankie was firmly in friends-with-benefits territory. They texted each other memes and hooked up occasionally when they were both on Ilha Grande at the same time. She’d had three boyfriends and two girlfriends since they met—discreetly, because her father was a member of the House of Assembly—and she also tried to set Cole up with “nice girls” from time to time, but there was never any spark.

With Bella, the flames grew higher with every night they spent together.

When he got back to the kitchen, she was sitting on the island, stark naked and grinning. Thank the heavens for that. She didn’t smile often, but she lit up the room when she did.

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