“Uh-huh,” Cole mumbled. He was now tracing the silver piercing and moving his finger over to the bottom of the tattoo on her ribs. He was about to sit back and finish up the conversation when he felt her hand thread through his hair.

She gripped it in a small fist and tilted up his head, so he was looking at her.

As Cole listened halfheartedly to the man on the other end of the line, he found himself staring up into the blazing blue eyes of Rachel, the tigress.

* * *

It’s really such a shame his mouth is busy, Rachel thought as she gripped his dirty-blond hair in a loose fist. Somewhere deep inside her, she thrilled at the fact that he allowed her to tip his head back.

“I will be here first thing in the morning. No, I was out of town Friday and Monday,” he explained to the apparently very needy client on the other end of the line. All the while, he kept his eyes focused on hers.

Rachel licked her lips slowly and brought her left hand up to her mouth. She licked the tip of her index finger, and Cole’s gaze followed it as she dipped it inside her mouth. His eyes narrowed as she sucked a little more suggestively than she probably should.

See? I can tease, too, she thought, remembering back to his little game in the library last night.

“I can call them up in the morning, and if they haven’t gotten an answer by then, we can definitely try to push them a little harder.”

Speaking of harder, Rachel mused, glancing down between Cole’s legs, it’s definitely hard alright. As she looked back into his eyes, she moved the finger she was sucking down to her loosened pants.

He pulled against the grip she had of his hair to follow that hand down to the top of her pants. “Dan, how about you let me give them a call, and I will give them a heads-up about tomorrow?”

Rachel had a feeling that at this stage, the words coming out of Cole’s mouth were complete lies. As his left hand grasped her hip to hold her in place and his thighs came together to keep her still, he sure as hell didn’t seem to be about to make another business call.

Pushing her fingers inside the leather, she flattened her palm against her stomach and slid it down farther into the snug pants. As she did, she gripped his hair tightly, and he pulled against it. He glared up at her, not with anger but with burning heat and frustration.

“Okay, yes, that sounds good. Nine tomorrow morning. I’ll wait to hear from you,” he replied. This time, he seemed less controlled. He sounded strained, and his voice was taut. Finally, his right hand reached over and hung up the phone.

As soon as it was in its cradle, Rachel pulled his hair much tighter, tilting his head back. As his eyes blazed up at her, she leaned down with her hand still in her pants and licked from his cheek to his ear where she bit it playfully.

“Good afternoon, husband.”

“Rachel,” Cole growled as he tried to move his head.

She couldn’t help the lust she felt, knowing she was keeping him in place with her tight grip. “Uh-uh,” she warned. “Behave.”

Dragging her tongue back across the stubble on his cheek, she flirted with the corner of his mouth. He parted his lips, and Rachel couldn’t help but take a bite of his bottom one. Both of his hands gripped her hips as he tugged her in close. As she bent down, he strained up in the chair to get closer to her.

“What are you doing to me?” he finally whispered against her mouth.

Rachel finally released her grip in his hair and smoothed her hand down to cup his neck. With her other hand still wedged down her pants, she let out a small squeak as Cole stood and turned with her, crowding her against the desk with her back to the door.

“Did you lock the door?” he asked as he looked down between their bodies to where her hand was now trapped between them.

“I didn’t know there was a lock,” she admitted, thinking he would stop.

Instead, he gave her a shrug and a casual head tilt. “You better hope no one walks in then since you have your hand in a very compromising position.”

Rachel couldn’t help the small giggle that escaped her mouth as Cole leaned down and nuzzled her neck.

“And what about you?”

“What about me?” he countered. This time, it was his mouth by her ear. “You’re blocking me from anyone’s view. I could unzip my pants and have you give me a hand job, and Jane could walk in and be none the wiser.”

“That sounds like such a good plan,” she agreed. She turned her head, so they were staring at each other.

“But?”

Rachel shrugged as if she were indifferent, and then she moved her fingers against her own flesh. “But my hand’s currently busy.”

The look that came on to Cole’s face told her she was about to get it—and good.

That was when, just as he had predicted, his office door swung open, but it wasn’t Jane, who would leave as soon as Cole told her to. It was Logan, a man she had met once. And she knew he would not leave until he was damn well ready to.

* * *

Cole’s head snapped up as he crowded in against Rachel, who still had her hand inside the leather he wanted out of the way. Of course, fucking Logan has to walk in, Cole thought as he glared at the man standing in his door, sizing up the situation.

Cole could only hope that he didn’t catch on, or he knew there’d be no making Logan leave. Logan was perverse that way.

“Oh, look who’s here. It’s Mrs. Madison.”

Cole felt Rachel stiffen as she looked over her shoulder to stare at Logan.

“I see you heard,” she said, trying for light but coming off tense.

“And I see you’re still a hot piece of—”

“Logan,” Cole growled as he rubbed himself up against Rachel, who had turned back into him. “Are you here for a reason?”

“Well, of course. I didn’t come all the way down to your office in the hopes of catching you with your pants down…well, not literally anyway.” He paused.

If Cole had thought that was the end of it, he was sadly mistaken.

“Good to see that I found the hot cheetah with her hands down her pants instead. It makes this much more interesting for me, I must say.”

When Cole felt Rachel shake against his body, he thought he would kill Logan if he had made her cry. He looked down at her, and as she tipped up her face, he was surprised to see laugh lines crinkling her eyes as she shook with silent laughter. Every day, she had managed to surprise him, and this, right here, was no different.

“Something amusing here?” Cole asked, staring down at her.

Closing her eyes tightly, she let out an even louder giggle. Just as he was about to push the issue, he heard Logan’s voice chime in.

“Oh, Cole, don’t you realize that you are the only stiff prick in here?”

Cole glared up at his brother and business partner and growled through gritted teeth. “Get out.”

Rachel’s laughter seemed to increase as she removed her hand and started to tie the strings of her pants. “It’s okay, Cole.” She pulled herself together and turned around to face the man she had met last week, Logan. “You know, you remind me a lot of Cole—arrogant and persistent. The only difference is that you mask it better.”

“Hear that?” Logan scoffed to Cole. “She thinks I’m better than you.”

“No, she essentially said you lie better than me,” Cole pointed out.

Rachel looked back and forth between the two of them. “How long have you two worked with each other?”

“Too long as of three minutes ago,” Cole responded quickly.

“Aww, it’s so heartwarming to hear how much your own brother cares.”

“Wait, what? You two are brothers?” Rachel asked as she looked at first Logan and then Cole.

Cole let his head fall back as he stared at the ceiling, searching for sanity. “God give me patience,” he mumbled.

“Yes, shocking, isn’t it? I’m the much better looking one,” Logan said with a laugh as he walked forward and placed the file in his hand on Cole’s desk.

“Sometime today or tomorrow, do you think you could take a break from your husbandly duties and use the desk for something it was designed for?”

Cole brought his head back up and pinned the man across from him with what he hoped was a look that would kill or at least certainly hurt. “Who told you she was here?” he finally asked.

“Marissa,” Logan admitted and held up a finger. “In her defense, I asked her to alert me of strange women going into your office.”

Cole shook his head and pointed at the door. “Leave. Now.”

Logan turned to Rachel and gave her his usual killer smile accompanied by an easygoing wink. “I will talk to you later, Mrs. Madison.”

As he exited the office, Rachel turned to face Cole with a shocked look on her face. “That’s your brother?”

“Half-brother, and now, you get to claim him, too.” Cole felt his lips twitch.

“Well, speaking of brothers, mine invited us to dinner on Friday night.”

Cole pulled back and looked down at her skeptically.

“A friendly one,” she added with a grin.

Cole hugged her in close. “Maybe we should bring Logan, you know, as a party trick.”

Her laugh bubbled up and out of her, and Cole realized nothing could have ruined that moment for him as she nestled into his chest, like she felt just as home as he was.

26

Tuesday evening had passed by in a blur almost as if she were living in some kind of dream—one she got to wake up from with a smile on her face instead of being jolted from in terror. Rachel still couldn’t believe that she had found her peace with the one man she thought would cause chaos.