Force of Attraction (14 page)

She grabbed his shoulders to try to control her body's response.

Scott took her by the wrists and placed her arms down at her sides. “My turn.” Leaning in, he kissed her quickly and then backed her up to the end of the shower stall where the spray ran fully over.

“This is for you.” Bracing a hand on the wall above her head, he pressed his body firmly against hers for a moment, as if he were absorbing her through his own skin.

His chin rested in her hair. “I like your hair, all wild and messy.” He slipped a hand behind her head and slowly massaged her neck. “Just relax. Close your eyes and enjoy the water sluicing over your skin. Think of this as your personal Sam Spa.”

Cole did as he suggested though she would rather have watched him. Curiosity made her open an eye when he lifted himself off her.

He placed a hand over her eyes. “Close. Just feel.”

He dragged a soapy cloth over her face then trailed it slowly down her body, fingers spread wide so that his thumb and pinkie brushed her nipples as the cloth moved down between her breasts. When he reached her navel his forefinger began a slow circling as the cloth trailed over her belly. It was such a simple touch but the heat pooling in her belly began to chase the movement of his fingers until she was trembling. At last the tip of one finger dipped into her navel. Her vagina tightened as if he had pushed in a finger there instead. It didn't linger. The drag of his fingers and the cloth moved lower, causing a fluttering in her lower belly.

He combed fingers through her mons. “I'm glad you don't go Brazilian.” He nudged her with his hand. “I like how your curls tangle around my fingers, welcoming me to this place. Are you happy to have me here?”

“Yes.” Her voice sounded far away.

The cloth abandoned, his fingers slipped lower, parting her curls. The lips of her sex parted for his fingers but he was careful not to touch her clit. He chuckled as his fingers slipped into the slick wetness. “Oh yes. You feel very happy to have me here.”

He just rubbed his finger back and forth along the edges until she began to wiggle. “I like it that you're wet for me here, Noel. I want to kiss you here. May I kiss you?”

“Oh yes.” Cole felt as if she was floating, like she would simply skim away if not for the anchor of his hands. No one else had ever handled her this way, made her feel as if her body was something special and precious and appreciated.

He knelt before her and lifted one of her legs over his shoulder and behind his back so that she had to balance on one foot. He nuzzled her mound. “You smell like sex, Noel. Like a woman. And it makes me hard as a rock.”

His mouth on her sex felt as warm it had on her mouth. His kisses were soft and delicate. And then he was sucking each petal into his mouth, tugging and then blowing his breath upon the tender wetness. Then his hot tongue slid forward and into her.

Cole rocked her head back and forth on the wall. She was weeping for him, desire flowing from her, and he lapped it up with greedy flicks of his tongue.

She came suddenly and hard. He held her in place with firm hands on her hips while he gently nibbled her clit until she stopped erupting in little rhythmic cries of pleasure. Even as she tried to come down, the flicks of his tongue were urging her toward another peak that rose steeply in tension that bordered on pain

“Too much.” She sagged against him, bracing her hands on his wet shoulders. “Oh, what are you doing to me?”

“Easy, sweetheart.” He rose and pressed her body to his so that she understood how ready he was once more. He leaned in, putting his wickedly talented lips against her ear. His voice was dark and rough with sexual energy. “We got all night.”

Cole hid her face in his armpit. “I don't think I can stand all night.”

His laugher rocked her whole body. “In that case, I need to take a little for myself right now.”

“Oh yes, please.”

“You're sure?” He pulled back so he could look into her flushed face.

Cole grabbed him by both ears. “I want you to fuck me right now. Hard.”

She saw his micro expression of surprise at her words. But then he was grinning again, so deep his dimples had dimples. “That's my girl.”

He pulled back the shower curtain and scooped up his jeans from the floor. Out of the pocket came a packet. A man of economical actions, he donned the condom so quickly she decided it would be hypocritical to wonder why he was prepared when she was so glad he was.

Ready for action, he hitched up her leg and pressed his cock to her opening. One hand came under her butt as he hoisted her up against him. Then he turned so that he was the one leaning against the wall of the shower.

“Come on up and ride me.” The hand under her naked butt again urged her upward.

Cole wound her arms behind his neck and wrapped her legs about his waist as he hoisted her up. In that position the head of his cock was angled so perfectly that when he flexed his butt muscles and thrust forward, he slid into her easily. A series of little inarticulate cries erupted from her as he slid home.

“Ah, that's good, baby. Now hold on tight.” Back braced on the wall, his hands tightly clamped under her butt, he began to move her body in a slow circular in-and-out grind, his whole body flexing when he ended each circle with a deep thrust into her.

Cole couldn't catch her breath. Each one came out as a little hitch ending on a pant of desire. She came again but he didn't alter his rhythm. He just kept up that slow mesmerizing grind. Sweat glistened on his forehead. His face was tight with concentration. Finally she felt it, the sudden tension in his shoulders and back and the swelling of his cock inside her.

He came in long hard thrusts that made him gasp with each. He clutched her tighter, whispering a word that astonished her. “Home.”

 

CHAPTER ELEVEN

No one mentioned Cole's new haircut as she walked into the classroom. She had a to-go cup of steaming coffee in one hand and a bagel in the other. She'd been up since dawn, working with Hugo.

“You're looking happy this morning.” Richards grinned at her. “You get something out of your system?”

Cole offered him a cryptic smile. “Yes. Thanks for the loan.”

“What loan?” Scott was the last to arrive. He was rumpled and unshaved and looked much too grumpy for a man who'd had fantastic sex the night before. In fact, he looked like a man who'd been rode hard and put away wet, which is exactly what had happened. He'd actually slept alone. Cole/Noel left him toweling off and locked her door.

“Hey, babe.” Cole walked over and placed a kiss on Scott's lips but moved back before he could touch her.

From the corner of her eye she caught the puzzled look he sent her. Tough. She was going to play this her way. “You need a cup of coffee, Sam?”

“Sure.” He sounded uneasy but that was his problem. He moved closer to Richards. “What's this about a loan? Is Officer Jamieson running short of funds?”

“Naw. I sent her on a mission yesterday to find Noel. Looks like she's done a good job.” Richards grinned. “Should have known that sometimes change for a woman is as easy as a new hairstyle. Gives her whole new personality.”

Cole set a cup of black coffee before Scott then casually braced her arm on his shoulder. “Sam likes it, don't you?”

Scott looked up at her, cop face in place. “Sure. It's okay.” He did not sound like he meant it but Cole ignored that.

“See that. Practically a new girlfriend without the pain of a breakup.” She dropped a kiss on the top of his head, as if he was a six-year-old, and then moved away to take her usual seat on the other side of the table. “What are we doing today, gentlemen?”

Smiling, Richards exchanged glances with his partner, who nodded. “Looks like we can move on today to surveillance techniques.”

At the end of the morning session, Cole swung by Richards's chair. “The ride yesterday helped. Mind it I take your bike again this afternoon?”

That caught Scott's attention. “What bike?” He stared at Richards. “I didn't take you for a fan of ten-speeds.”

“
Shee
-it, son. We're talking serious wheels. I ride a hog. Noel, here, took it for a spin yesterday.”

Scott looked at Cole. “You hate bikes.”

Cole rolled her eyes. “Men. The fact you manage a motorcycle dealership is what first attracted me to you. You know I like bad boys.” She slapped him on the butt.

The astonished look on his face was priceless.

“Got to put Hugo through his paces again. Be back after lunch.”

Scott came after her, catching up quickly with his longer stride. “We need to talk.”

As they stepped outside, out of view of their trainers, Cole turned and offered him a cool gaze. “Let me make this simple for you. Last night was about Noel and Sam. They are in love. They are hot together. Cole and Scott have issues but they don't matter a damn at the moment. I needed to know that I could separate that. Now I do.”

She veered away quickly before Scott could use his cop instinct to read more into her expression than she could afford to divulge. He was good at that, when he bothered to pay attention.

That's why she'd left him standing in the shower, grabbed a towel, and locked her bedroom door. As if sex with her ex wasn't crazy enough, he had scared her at the end, scared her in a way she didn't know was still possible.

Home.

That's what he'd murmured as he slid into her body the night before. She wasn't at all certain he knew he'd said it. She definitely hadn't wanted to hear it.

Home is where the heart is. Home is wherever you are. Home is where, when you go there, they have to take you in.

Cole shook her head as those clichés swam through her mind and sped up her step. Let Scott think she was running away from him. It was better than him seeing an echo of his sentiment in her eyes.

As she crossed the yard toward the kennel, Cole fluffed her new haircut with both hands, making it look even choppier and wilder.

“Nice.” She looked around to see a soldier in desert fatigues wink at her as he passed.

She grinned back. It was a badass hairstyle with lots of angles and pieces, both long and short, the front raking across her forehead on a slant. She'd even put on eyeliner and doubled her mascara, something she never did for work. The haircut could handle it. She might even add highlights, when she got home.

Home.

Scott—dammit—Sam was messing with her mind.

It meant nothing. Men said all kinds of crazy things in the heat of the moment. And last night had been scorching hot.

Cole ignored the twinge of soreness between her legs as she walked on. She couldn't afford to be mad or hurt over it. She most certainly couldn't afford to be “home” for either Scott or Sam right now.

*   *   *

Cole watched Hugo weave his way around five poles before pausing to see if he'd done enough.

“
Geh voraus.
Go ahead.” Cole motioned to him with a hand.

Hugo, ears flattened and head low, moved in and out of another pair of poles then looked back again.

“That's one unhappy dog.”

Cole spun around. She hadn't heard Yardley approaching.

Cole smoothed her sweaty slant of bangs off her brow with her forearm. “We've got an issue, ma'am. Hugo hates the Weave. Even if that weren't true, it takes weeks, sometimes months, to learn this obstacle.”

“That's usually true, with an average dog. Hugo's not average. And, he's been trained to the peak of his ability. He's just not concentrating. That makes me wonder who is really afraid of the Weave.”

Yardley knelt down to call the big black dog. “Here, boy.”

He came running over to her. “Who's a good boy? Who's so handsome? Who's going to learn this trick for his handler? You are. Yes, you. You, handsome boy.”

Yardley's voice, often pitched at drill-sergeant level, became soft and high and girlish when she interacted with her dogs. She rubbed him and chucked him under the chin until he just fell apart, lying down and rolling over on his back like a puppy.

Yardley looked up at Cole, a grin in her face. “Why are you training him in German for Agility?”

“He knows I mean business when I give commands in German. That improves his concentration.”

“Smart. But now you need to up the ante.” Yardley reached into a pocket of her windbreaker and tossed Cole a hard rubber object that looked a lot like a bright orange snowman.

“It smells like peanut butter.”

“That's because I put peanut butter in it.”

Cole smiled. “Hugo's a peanut butter maniac.”

As if to prove it, Hugo rolled to his feet and leaped straight up in the air and barked.

“Continue using other rewards for other obstacles. This reward is only for the Weave. Once that's mastered, he should only get it after a successful completion of the entire Agility circuit.”

Cole eyed Hugo closely as she wagged the new toy before him. “How much do you want it?”

Hugo's little stump of a tail worked back and forth while his breath accelerated as he sniffed the object. He began salivating and repeatedly licking his chops with his pink flag of a tongue. Finally, he barked.

“Well, big boy, you're going to have to earn this puppy.”

Cole moved back toward the Weave poles, wagging the toy behind her. Hugo bounded after her. “Come on. Come on. Show me what you've learned.”

She made the motion with her hand for him to go in between the first poles. He darted between them, rounded the second and swept through the opening of the third then back through the fourth. And paused.

Cole shook her head and made the hand motion for him to continue.

Hugo huffed but launched his big body between poles four and five, hesitating only a second before entering the slot between five and six. He paused longer but did not look at Cole for encouragement before angling back between six and seven then weaving right back between seven and eight. After that, he stopped, sneezed twice, and craned his head back toward his handler.