Unwrapping Holly(34)

“They didn’t answer. I called a tow truck.”

“I’ll take you home. They’ll bring your car along later.”

She hugged herself against the cold that his body was no longer blocking.

“No, I—”

“This isn’t a negotiation.”

Her chin lifted defiantly. “You can’t make me leave.”

“Try me,” he said, his voice implacable.

He grabbed her hand and hauled her out of the car, and smack into his arms. “Don’t make me throw you over my shoulder and carry you, Holly.”

Her eyes went wide. “You wouldn’t.”

“You already think I’m some sort of monster,” he ground out between his teeth, trying not to notice that damned vanilla scent of hers. “What do I really have to lose here besides keeping you from letting pride freeze you to death?”

She glared at him. “Fine. Let go of me.” She shoved at his chest. “I’ll get in the damned truck!” He released her and she started walking, almost slipping in the process. He reached for her, and she slapped him away. “Don’t touch me! ”

He dropped his hands and gave her an exaggerated wave to the truck. “Get in my side so you don’t end up in the ditch, like your car.” She didn’t respond, but treaded the precariously icy ground with a bit more care than before. That made it easy for him to outpace her and grab the door. She slid across the seat and didn’t stop until she was plastered to the passenger door.

Cole slid inside the truck and didn’t move. He sat there, absorbing the discomfort of the space between them. He didn’t like it. He didn’t like it one bit. And it was ending, one way or the other. Tonight.





Chapter Nine



The short ride to the cottage was full of stiff silence that only served to piss Cole off. And when she bolted out of the door the minute he pulled the truck to a stop, that was the last straw. He deserved more than a slammed door.

He managed to reach her door a second before she shut it, shoving it open and closing it behind him. She was facing the wall, hanging up her coat and suit jacket. She whirled to face him, surprise in her face. “Cole—”

He didn’t give her time to say more. With two long strides, Cole pinned her against the wall, his legs enclosing hers. “You have no idea how pissed off I am at you.”

“I know,” she whispered hoarsely, squeezing her eyes shut. “I know. Cole, I—”

He kissed her. It was a hard, angry kiss, meant to punish her for distrusting him. The kiss of a starving man who desperately needed sustenance. And she gave back all that she got, her tongue lapping at his with fierce strokes, her body pressing against his. That primal caveman side of him that she brought out screamed with demand. He buried his face in her neck and inhaled the soft scent of her desire. His cock thickened, pulsed.

“Holly,” he whispered by her ear. He wanted inside her where he belonged, where she knew he belonged. Wildness careened inside him. A wild desire to claim her.

And so his mission began, to claim his woman. His hands branded her hips, her breasts. She arched into the touch, moaned with pleasure. He savored the gentle touch of her fingers gliding through his hair, caressing his scalp. He shoved her skirt to her waist, wrapped his palm around the curve of her lush ass and wrapped her leg around his hip. Then, he fixed her in a heavy-lidded stare as he pressed his hips to her, his cock thick against her stomach.

“Cole,” she gasped, her head resting against the wall, her cheeks flushed, her eyes heavy.

His gaze didn’t waver as he reached up and ripped open her shirt, tiny buttons flying everywhere. He yanked the material of both bra cups down and exposed her nipples. Bent and licked them, then kissed her. She clung to him, her soft sounds of pleasure, of desperate need, driving him wild. Making him hot. He was so hot. And so was she. Writhing against him, she rocked her hips, soft sighs sliding from her throat.

He ripped her panty hose, and slid his fingers along her drenched lips. She shivered and moaned. Whimpered his name. He unzipped his pants, wasting no time sliding inside her, damned happy they’d had the birth control conversation because he wasn’t sure he could have stopped himself from taking her here, now, at this moment.

Hot wet heat milked his cock as he sunk deep. That wild need to claim her was all his mind could manage, that and the anger at her because she’d pushed him away. A frenzied rush of punishing, erotic thrusts followed. It was the pulsing and pounding of two people trying to break through an emotional barrier with their bodies. A frenzied pumping that ended when her body claimed his, when her muscles spasmed around him and pulled a release from him so deep he could barely breathe.