He kissed her long and hard, telling her with his mouth and his roaming hands how much he wanted her. Erin didn’t need the words, she just needed him. Even on top, she handed back the reins, taking direction as he pushed at her hips until she was poised over his waiting erection.
She aligned their bodies and started a slow downward glide. At the same time, he cupped her breasts in his hands and fondled her nipples, toying with them together. Every pinch and pull went straight to her core, and she thrust downward, engulfing him completely.
“Oh God, you feel good.” Erin couldn’t hold back the words; the feelings swamping her were too strong, too incredible.
“So do you.” He jerked upward and groaned. “So hot and tight.”
His words inflamed her and she began to rock against him, taking her pleasure, and from the tightness in his cheekbones and the rough sounds coming from deep inside him, giving to him as well.
Suddenly he managed to flip them, Erin flat on her back, Cole above her, a predatory gleam in his eyes. As he slid out, then into her once more, Erin felt him everywhere, in a deeper way than ever before. She tried to close off her mind to the emotions building and open her senses instead but it wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t working.
He grasped her hands over her head and pumped into her hard. “Feel good?” he asked, picking up the pace, thrusting faster.
She moaned in reply, and Cole did the one thing guaranteed to shake her to the core. His gaze met hers and held on as he continued to make love to her—and though she’d never say the words, never admit aloud to feeling them, he loved her with his body.
More than sex, more than primal lust and thrusting, she felt the way he took his time, never breaking eye contact, making sure the ripples inside her body were real before letting go and taking his own pleasure. And his orgasm, when it came, caught up with hers, matching the intensity and the sheer explosive pleasure shredding her to pieces before she slowly came back together in his arms.
Long after her breathing evened out and Cole fell asleep, Erin lay awake, accepting some hard truths. What happened in that bed meant more to her than it had to him.
But she also sensed they were bound together in a stronger way than they’d been before, giving her something to build on. She knew it. Even if he didn’t.
• • •
Saturday arrived before Erin was ready. The Bar Association dinner dance was at the Pierpont Hotel, thirty minutes from Serendipity. This yearly event was important to her, though not for the reasons Evan had said. She enjoyed her job and even if she didn’t plan to take over Evan’s position or run for political office, she had a reputation to maintain. And she would need her career after the baby was born.
She didn’t kid herself that tonight would be easy, not with Evan determined to make a statement and Cole equally insistent on keeping her away from her boss. Still, Erin had a statement of her own to make. She’d begun on Wednesday night at Joe’s, and she’d continued at work, no longer treating Cole like the man who guarded her but like one she cared about. Had a relationship with.
At first he’d seemed uncomfortable with her public touches and endearments—as if he’d never had a girlfriend before, one where they were committed and outright affectionate, but he’d slowly warmed to the idea.
In the meantime, she’d gone maternity shopping with her mother on Friday’s lunch hour, Cole hovering in the background as her bodyguard. Thanks to the salesgirl’s expertise, Erin now had stylish clothing to go forward with this pregnancy, and she felt better about herself when she walked out of the house than she had before. She was still able to disguise her slightly swelling stomach with flowing tops, but she knew soon enough that wouldn’t work. For now, she had time.
Early Saturday evening, she showered and dressed for the event, taking special care with her hair and makeup, wanting to make an impression on the man in the other room. She’d chosen a formfitting lapis-colored dress, held up with a gorgeous crystal brooch on one shoulder, draped in the right places to accent her breasts and not her stomach, and which hit above the knee. Sparkly silver shoes picked up the glitter on the brooch. Appropriate for a work event, yet a touch sexy enough to appeal to the man who was now officially sharing her bed.
• • •
Cole waited for Erin in her family room. He paced, acknowledging to himself how uncomfortable he was with the idea of going out in public as her date. This wasn’t a part of his normal life. Hell, he didn’t have a normal life outside of undercover work. But if he was going to have a kid, he supposed he should get used to various conventional situations and events. Dating Erin—well, it wasn’t something that would continue once the baby was born. They’d agreed on that.
The sound of a door opening drew his attention and he turned to the stairs. Erin stood at the top, glowing from head to toe, in a gorgeous blue dress that showed off her long legs, set off by high heels. Her face was made up in a way he’d never seen before, and though her fresh-faced look appealed to him on a gut level, this Erin took his breath away.
He walked to the bottom of the stairs, held out his hand and grasped it when she met him at the bottom.
“You look spectacular.”
Her beaming smile was the only thanks he needed.
“You look pretty hot yourself, Mr. Sanders. Ready to deal with a room full of stuffy lawyers?”
He let out a laugh. “I don’t think I’ll ever be ready for that.” But for her he was making an exception. Not just as her watchdog, but as her date.
He refused to delve too deeply into that.
On the drive over, Erin surprised him by bringing up the stalking. “The longer we go between incidents, the more worked up I get.” She placed a hand over her stomach.
He reached over and grabbed her, lacing her fingers through his. “Don’t think about it. Stress isn’t good for you, and as long as I’m around, all he or she can do is try to scare you. Nobody will get near you, remember?” He squeezed her trembling hand.
“Thank you,” she said in that husky voice he liked so much. “And tonight? Whatever Evan pulls, ignore him, okay?”
Cole remained silent, unsure he could make that promise.