She smiled at her reflection as she thought of pulling a transformation. Of showing that bastard just how cute and sweet she could be. The idea made her laugh, and she forgot her momentary hurt. She was who she was. And if Cowboy Cole wanted a way into her mysterious life, why not? He wouldn’t find any answers that way. There were big differences between sex and intimacy. The first being that she’d had lots of one, and had never bothered with the other.
Grace worked her hands into her hair and scrunched it up, then tossed it around to make it even messier. She touched up her black eyeliner and added a faint hint of pink gloss to her lips. Her blush was fine. So subtle that you couldn’t see it beneath the actual flush in her cheeks now.
No, she wasn’t pretty. Or sweet. Or cute. But she was still going to get lucky tonight. Her first cowboy. And God, she hoped he’d be her last.
CHAPTER TEN
HALF AN HOUR LATER, Grace was reevaluating that wish. Her back was against Cole’s door. His hands were sliding down her arms, his mouth whispering delicious things against her neck. And he hadn’t even kissed her yet.
What he had done was carefully close the door behind her, then just as carefully edge her back against it. He’d put his hands to the door, caging her, then ducked his head as if he’d kiss her. But instead of her mouth, his lips had brushed her ear.
“I’ve been looking at your neck,” he whispered.
“My neck?” Her eyes closed as he leaned closer.
“Your skin is so white. I wondered—” his mouth slipped down, pressing just below her ear “—what it’d feel like.”
“Mmm.”
He kissed again. “Taste like.”
“Oh.”
“God, you smell good.”
She hadn’t expected this. Hadn’t expected his voice to sound so hushed. Awed. Hadn’t expected his hands to slide down her arms with only the faintest pressure. As if he were scared he would hurt her. As if she were precious.
She eased her head to the side and felt his mouth open against her skin. His hands slid all the way down before he laced his fingers into hers and slowly raised her hands up toward her shoulders. Then he pressed them carefully against the door.
“Oh,” she breathed as his teeth scraped her skin. Oh, my God. Her heart beat faster. He was still being gentle, still soft, but there was no escaping the fact that her hands were trapped in his, and he was bigger and stronger and… Her heart raced and her nipples tightened to painful buds.
He smelled good, too. She wanted to rub up against him like a cat, but she didn’t want him to know how much she wanted this. So she settled for turning toward him and burying her nose in his hair as she inhaled. The scent of him turned to heat inside her. Heat and heaviness. She must have tightened her grip, because Cole’s fingers squeezed in response.
His mouth was searing heat against her neck, his teeth a startling pleasure. Grace heard a soft hum of need and realized she was making that noise. Cole pressed his hips to hers, and her hum caught on a gasp.
He was hard. And big. And he still hadn’t kissed her.
Grace would’ve claimed that she didn’t care about kissing, she didn’t need that, but she suddenly felt desperate. Hungry. For the taste of him. For his mouth on hers. But she didn’t want to ask. She didn’t like to ask for anything. If he didn’t want to kiss her, she wouldn’t beg for it.
Not out loud, anyway. But in her mind, she said, Please, please, please, over and over again. Turning to him, she put her mouth to his neck. She closed her lips over his earlobe and sucked.
Now he was the one who moaned. And when he turned to catch her mouth with his, triumph surged through her like a wave. Yes. Finally. Finally, his mouth was hers. His lips opening so she could taste him. His tongue hot against hers.
Somehow it didn’t appease her. Grace tugged at one of her hands until Cole set her free, then she twisted her fingers into his hair and pulled him tighter to her. She sucked at his tongue and held him so he couldn’t get away.
But now he had a free hand, as well. His fingers spread over her shoulder and then slid down. He cupped her breast, his thumb brushing over her nipple until she groaned into his mouth.
Normally, sex for Grace was about her. She took the pleasure she could glean from it. She took it for herself, a trick she’d learned early on from the men she’d slept with.
But as Cole slid his hand lower and snuck it beneath her shirt, she was suddenly very aware of him. Of what he might be feeling as his palm pressed the skin of her belly and he sighed. He sighed as if it was a relief to touch her. A blessing.
Grace pulled her head back to try to catch a breath, but it was impossible. Cole immediately put his mouth back to her neck, and his hand slid around to her back. Within seconds, her bra was unclasped and his big hand was against her bare breast. His skin was hot against her, and just rough enough to make her gasp.
“God, you feel good,” he murmured. “So damn soft.”
Soft. Not what she ever wanted to be, but her body arched into his touch at those words, as if it were proud of its weakness. He rolled her nipple between his fingers and she moaned at the pleasure.
“You like that?” His words were harder now. More urgent. “Tell me.”