Page 67 of Bargaining

Can’t we just drop it?“Are all handymen so interested in Renaissance art?”

He raised a dark brow. “I’m interested inyou.”

“No. That’s not what this is.” I ran my hands up the hard, taut planes of his back. “Sean doesn’t care about my opinions on the Eternal City,” I whispered into his ear. “Sean just wants to use me like he’s getting everything he wants from me because he’s never going to see me again.”

Cole’s throat bobbed as he swallowed. Perhaps he was expecting the inexperienced, blushing girl he’d left behind all those years ago. The tattoo hidden behind the dark hair on his chest, just above his heart, drew my gaze. It was Latin script, but I’d never have a chance of deciphering it. Best not to ask. It was probably a mood killer about crushing your enemies and drinking out of their skulls.

His hand slipped inside the cup of my bra and his fingers traced the outline of my nipple. Tingles raced from his touch, and thoughts of tattoos and anything else at all slipped out of my head. He unfastened my bra and threw it to one side.

His gaze fixed on my breasts, and he gave a tormented groan. “Fuck. Look at you.”

I fought the urge to cover my breasts with my hands. My body wasn’t perfect by any beauty standard, but I’d made my peace with it. If the pain of my father’s slow deterioration had taught me anything, it was that aging is a gift. I was grateful for my soft stomach, round ass, and dimpled thighs. Grateful for a healthy body that worked. There was more right with me than wrong. Cole’s hungry gaze roamed over me, his obvious approval searing my skin.

“So beautiful.” He sucked a nipple into his mouth, and my body arched against him.

His voice was cool, but fire smoldered in his dark eyes. “Are you saying you want Sean to fuck you like he doesn’t care about you?”

The pulse at my core wouldn’t be relieved with soft and gentle. That’s not what my body craved. “I’m saying I haven’t done this for a long time, and I want to lose myself. That is, if Sean’s into it ...”

He circled my nipple lightly with his thumb and then pinched it just hard enough to sting. “Don’t worry about that. He’s into anything when it’s with you.”

He pushed my legs apart, kissed his way down my body, and positioned himself between my thighs. With a finger, he hooked my underwear to one side and then his mouth was on me. Hespread me with one delicious flat-tongued lap between my lips and fixated on my swollen clit, teasing and probing. Pleasure shock-waved through me.

“Oh my God. That’s better than I thought it would be.”

His hot breath against my clit made my toes curl. “I don’t know whether to take that as a compliment or not.”

“I just mean because no one’s ever done this to me.”

“No one?” His tongue delved inside of me and my limbs melted like gelato. “They’ve missed out. This is the most delicious pussy I’ve ever had.”

He slid off my underwear and devoured me as if he’d never come up for air. A gasp left my mouth. My hands found his soft hair, and I writhed and bucked against his face. He explored my breasts, playing with my taut nipples between his fingertips while he worked my clit with his tongue.

My fingers ached where they clawed the sheets. “You don’t have to stay down there too long. I don’t know if it’s going to happen like this.”

He pressed my thighs down with his palms, folding me in half for better access. “You taste so good. I’m staying down here until I get lockjaw.”

He returned to his work, sliding a finger inside while he tongued and probed. Climax claimed me with a force so sharp and sudden it was painful. My thighs clamped around his head, but he spread me wide and gripped my ass, holding me against his face. Involuntary shudders made my body writhe across the bed, but his mouth was glued to my clit, and no matter how I jerked away from him, his hands always dragged me back.

Hot sparks crackled over my skin. Electricity sizzled from the arches of my feet to my crown. I was drowning in this cold, controlled man who I’d never imagined could be so raw and passionate. His tongue soothed my sensitive, pulsing flesh. I gripped hisshoulders, marking his skin with my nails and chanting his name over and over like a benediction.

The world dissolved, and there was nothing but senseless ecstasy. No beginning. No end. No merciless, gnawing grief. Just a blank page in the middle of a book with limitless possibilities for a new story.

Cole pulled off his boxers. I tried not to make my wince obvious. He had a beautiful cock, long and thick. If I could walk straight tomorrow, it would be a miracle.

“Sean wasn’t lying about the size of the hammer.”

With a smirk and a firm grip on my hips, he dragged me to the end of the bed.

His voice was low and serious. “You think your husband doesn’t care about you, but I happen to know he does.”

He maneuvered me onto all fours.

“He does?”

“He might not be good at showing that kind of thing, but he cares about you. And he respects you.”

He smoothed his hands down the length of my back and placed a kiss at the base of my spine. Sincerity threaded through his voice. I cared about him too. It was complicated and weird and some days my heart was too sore to know much beyond grief, but I was glad he’d come back into my life, even if it was under such strange circumstances.