Rachel nodded, wanting to leave the function area to be alone with him.

He smiled at the lady who had been seated beside them all evening. “You don’t mind if I steal her away, do you?”

Byron, the man Cole had been talking to, clapped him on the shoulder and chuckled. “Of course not. You go and show this beautiful young lady around. We’ve taken up enough of your time already, and all the boring talk and ceremony is over for the evening.”

Rachel felt a smile spread across her lips as Byron reached out to take her free hand. He brought it to his lips and kissed it gently.

“It’s been a pleasure, Rachel, and a first, eh, Cole?”

“Oh, Byron!” his wife admonished, hitting his thigh gently.

Cole merely tightened his grip on Rachel’s hand and gave them both a perfect smile before he looked back to her.

“Let’s go and look around then, shall we?”

* * *

As they made their way through the first and second exhibit, Cole had let go of her hand, allowing her a moment to look around. He admired the view as she strutted in her slinky dress and high heels. And then, she reminded him of a kid in a candy store while she traced her finger along the clear surface to follow the fish, giggling when they wriggled and came closer.

She was unlike anyone he had met before. One minute, she was fearless and sexy, and the next, she was almost childlike in her joy and exuberance. In that moment, Cole knew without a doubt that he loved her.

“Have you ever been here before?” he asked. He was merely reaching for something, anything to grasp on to as he stood several feet behind her, blown away by his own realization.

“Oh, yes!” she responded, tracking a bright yellow fish along the aquarium tank. “Yes, I have. When we were little, my father would bring Mase and me down here on the last Sunday of every month. I think that was a ‘Mom’ day, but we loved it.” She paused and seemed to think back on the memories she had just mentioned. “I miss him.”

Standing up, she turned and locked heartbroken eyes on his. “I miss them, my mom and dad.”

As she walked back to him, Cole watched her closely, feeling his own emotions swelling at the thought of his mother and how he, too, missed her. He noticed her eyes move down over him, and when they finally came back up to rest on his, he felt as though she had touched him even though she was still an arm’s length from him.

“Byron’s wife had lovely things to say about you,” she informed him.

Cole was grateful for the topic change as Rachel finally stopped close enough to touch him.

“Did she?”

“Yes, but I disagree with most of them.”

Unable to help himself, Cole reached out and placed his hands on her hips, urging her closer. She came without hesitation and smoothed her palms up his tuxedo jacket to his shoulders where she lopped them around his neck.

“And what, pray tell, did she say that you disagreed with?”

“She told me you were quiet, serious, and charming.”

Cole nodded. “And which point did you disagree with?”

“All of them.” She sighed in a breathy tone as her lips parted in pleasure. “I think you are smart, cunning, demanding, arrogant, and most definitely, the sexiest man I have ever met.”

Her mouth split into a devious grin, and Cole watched her perfect teeth bite into her bottom lip as she titled her head.

“I like this,” she informed.

“You like what?” he probed as he studied her carefully.

“I like being almost eye-level with you. I don’t have to look up as much, and our bodies,” she whispered, moving in as close as they could be with clothes on, “are perfectly aligned.”

Finally hitting the wall of his patience and control, Cole wrapped his arms fully around her and walked them slowly backward in the exhibit room until they hit one of the walls. In the dark corner, they were shielded from anyone who might walk in, and only their faces were illuminated from the aquarium lights.

Without a word, Rachel turned her head, offering him access to the smooth skin that had been calling to him all night, and he waited no longer. Lowering his mouth, he pressed hungry lips to the junction where her shoulder met her neck while his hands moved down the silk dress from her hips to her thighs.

As he pushed in close to her body, nibbling and kissing his way up her neck, he bunched the silky fabric in his fists and drew it up her gloriously long legs, all the while loving the sexy-as-hell sounds that were coming from her throat. She gripped his jacket lapels and pulled at them frantically as if trying to get closer. When he reached her jaw, Cole bit it lightly and thrust his hips against hers.

“Oh god,” she moaned. As her head rolled against the back wall, she arched out against him. “I want…want my dress gone.”

She was breathing heavily, and Cole felt a shiver of desire snake up his spine as her eyes dilated.

She sighed. “I want more.”

Bringing one hand up, he gripped her chin lightly with his thumb and index finger and tugged it gently. “Open your mouth, Rachel.”

As her lips parted, he moved in close and traced the top one with his tongue. Keeping his eyes connected with hers, he almost lost it when she let her tongue come out to touch his. Instead of sealing their mouths together, he continued to flirt with her, tangling his tongue with hers until he couldn’t stand it any longer. Finally, he lowered his lips to hers in a scorching possessive kiss.

As a throaty moan bubbled up from deep inside her, he felt her legs part, and she started to rub herself against the black material barely containing his engorged length. Pulling his mouth from hers, he stared into lust-crazed eyes and groaned.

“Jesus Christ, Rachel. We can’t, not here.”

Straining her hips against him, she ran her hands over his shoulders and down his arms. “Then, just use this,” she suggested, taking his free hand in hers and entwining their fingers. She was obviously past the point of rational thinking.

In a clenched fist, his other hand was still holding the fabric of her dress halfway up her leg, and he knew exactly what she was suggesting. Looking around behind them, Cole decided, Why the fuck not? No one had walked in, and the place was closed, except for the function.

Turning back to her, he inclined his head in affirmation. “Okay. We can play this your way. But, Rachel?”

As her heavy eyes focused on him, he gave her a stern look and warned, “Don’t you dare scream. I do not want to end up as tonight’s gossip. But I do want to end up with some part of me inside you.” Lowering his mouth to hers, he ended with, “It’s just a shame it will be my fingers and not my throbbing fucking cock.”

* * *

Rachel was so turned on she was ready to pull up her dress and ask him to just take her here in public. Instead, as usual, Cole’s self-control prevailed, and he was currently trailing his fingers up between her thighs. Biting down on her lip, she made sure to keep direct eye contact with him as she felt the tips of his fingers finally stroke against her piercing.

“Ahh, there it is,” he murmured against her mouth. “Warm, wet, and mine. This little piercing is so fucking sexy that I could spend days playing with it.”

Rachel was slowly melting from the inside out as Cole continued to finger the little stud adorned on her aching mound.

As she pushed her hips closer to his hand, she replied on a soft pant, “So is yours.”

“You like my piercing, do you?” he asked, his finger sliding deep inside her slick pussy.

Rachel’s breathing kicked up a notch. “Yes.”

“Which one? The ones in my nipples or the one that really wants to be in here?” He punctuated the question with the firm thrust of two fingers deep inside her.

Moaning loudly, Rachel clamped her teeth onto her bottom lip, reminding herself not to scream, as she gripped his jacket and started to grind against his hand. His blistering gaze was burning into her where she stood, and Rachel knew it wasn’t going to be much longer until this was all over for her. She could feel the climax building to an all-time high.

Cole gathered her in as close as they could get, and he continued to shove his fingers in deep and then slowly drag them out.

“I like them both, but right now, I wish this one,” she told him, reaching out and palming the hard-on behind his tuxedo pants, “was either in my mouth or my pu—”

“Fuck, Rachel,” he hissed out before he slammed his mouth down on hers, effectively cutting off her final word.

She had only seen Cole lose it once before, and that had been the night in his kitchen. Right now, she was witnessing it for a second time, and it was sexy as fuck.

He ripped his mouth from hers and pulled his fingers from the tight, snug sheath of her body. He glanced around, and when he looked back at her, she felt his other hand leave her dress, and he quickly undid his pants.

Rachel stood with her back to the wall, panting in the dark, as her legs trembled and her core clenched, dying for him to sink his cock deep inside her. Watching him tug open his perfectly tailored pants, Rachel thought she might climax on the spot, but as he freed his impressive erection, she knew she would wait if it meant getting some of that.

Moving back in tight and close, Cole’s voice washed over her, making her body tremble.

“Lift your dress, Rachel. I need to be inside you.”

She hurriedly pulled her dress up her legs, and the victory was so sweet as he stepped between her bare thighs and dipped down to brush his pierced cock through her wet slit.