"Did you come by to tell me
when our flight is scheduled?" She dropped her gaze to his suit and made the loosened tie her focal point of interest. It looked as if he had just been out to dinner, judging by how he was dressed. Visions of the blonde-haired woman filled her thoughts and Gabby suddenly felt an unexplained anger rise in her.
"No, I came by to see if you wanted to grab a bite to eat with me
.”
Her spirits lifted at his words
. He hadn't been with the blonde to dinner, and a smile formed across her lips. "I'm not dressed to go anywhere."
"Why don't you put on a pair of jeans and a sweater?"
He moved into the living room.
Gabby closed the door and leaned against it.
"But you're dressed in a suit and tie. Shouldn't I wear something a little dressier?"
"Oh, this suit,
” he chuckled, filling the hallway with the pleasing sound. "I just came from the paper and forgot I had it on. We'll stop by my place on the way and I'll change."
"Make yourself comfortable and I'll be right back
.” She quickly made her way through the hallway. It didn’t take her long to change before heading for the living room.
"I'm ready,
” she said, pulling her coat across her shoulders as she rounded the doorway. "I was going to fix something to eat after I read the newspaper, but I'm glad you showed up and saved me from my own cooking."
"You couldn't be that bad a cook,” he murmured in an uneven tone.
As she listened to him, he didn’t sound his usual confident self.
“Maybe I’m exaggerating a little,” she laughed with a throaty sound, the huskiness of it
causing a strange expression to dance across his face.
“Someday you can cook me a meal and I’ll be the judge.” Giving her a smile, he cocked his eyebrow.
When
they reached his car, Gabby waited until he opened her door, before sliding onto the seat. She couldn’t take her eyes off him walking around the car. Her heart began pounding loudly against the wall of her chest over the virile sight. She didn't know if it was just a physical attraction, or something more she felt. She only knew that the sight of him sent her pulse racing and her heart throbbing. Quickly masking her features, she looked away when he got in next to her.
It didn’t take long to drive across town to his apartment. He pulled onto the lot and got out. She expected to wait in the car for him
, but that wasn’t his intention. He walked around and opened her door.
"Come in with me while I change,
” he suggested, glancing into the open door at her.
She nodded
and got out. Walking toward the entrance of the building, Cole reached over and linked his arm through hers. She felt the warmth of his fingertips lightly caressing her smooth skin. His thumb made a circular motion, rubbing across the small blue veins that appeared along her wrist. A self-conscious sensation enveloped her, but she didn't try to pull away. When they reached the entrance, he had to release her to open the door.
While they walked toward the elevator, Gabby’s gaze traveled around the plush surroundings of the lobby.
If the lobby was this expensive and elegant looking, she silently wondered what the apartments looked like. They must surely be exquisite.
When they reached
his apartment, he unlocked the door and ushered her into a hallway. Entering the living room, she studied the oyster white walls, decorated with different paintings to add color to the starkness. Light blue velour furniture was a perfect contrast for the even darker blue carpeting. A gray brick fireplace crackled with dying embers.
"I'll be right back
." Cole released her arm, but before leaving the room, he glanced over his shoulder. "Make yourself a drink while I'm gone."
She nodded and watched
him disappear into the hallway. Glancing at the liquor cabinet, she decided to take him up on his offer. She walked over and removed a glass from the shelf. Gabby didn’t know much about wines, but she selected a deep red one. Pouring out a small amount of the cherry colored liquid, she lifted the drink to her lips. Hearing a noise behind her, she turned too quickly and bumped into Cole.
"I'm sorry
." She loved the feel of his hands holding her shoulders securely.
Cole didn't say anything
. He slowly took the glass from her hand and placed it on the liquor cabinet. His other hand didn't move from its gentle hold on her shoulder. She gazed up at him and noticed how he watched her with an intense look. The burning look felt like a heated brand causing her to tremble inside.
Gabby didn’t know how
much time passed, but suddenly their eyes locked and she felt something drawing her closer to him. A compelling force so powerful pulled at her and she couldn't begin to understand it. She tilted her face to his. The boldness of her actions should have registered with her, but they didn’t at the potent moment in time. The only thing that mattered to her was to be close to Cole and feel his warmth.
Her gaze slowly drifted to his smooth lips,
wanting to feel them covering hers. Desire mounted in her to a high peak fantasizing about her lips crushed beneath his. He stared down into her eyes searching for something.
Chapter Six
Cole's lips-covered Gabby's in a kiss that made her head swim with a torrent of emotions she hadn’t known existed. His mouth slowly made a trail moving down to her small chin. When it reached its target, his tongue flicked back and forth across the indented cleft in a tantalizing motion. The sensations dancing through her were maddening. She’d never experienced anything like this before. It didn’t take him long to move from her chin and back to her mouth, devouring her full lips beneath his again. Gabby thought his actions were staking out a claim in trying to own every inch of her mouth, not giving her a chance to come up for air.
She
delighted in the feel of the enticing strokes on her chin and wanted more. She raised her arms to circle his shoulders. Moving her fingertips slowly across his neck, she caressed his smooth jaw line. The feather light brush of her fingers brought a spasm through Cole's body that Gabby felt the instant it happened.
He lifted his face only inches away from hers
. That's all it took for Gabby to see the desire blazing from his narrowed eyes. Excitement started bubbling inside her until she nearly burst with the feeling.
His mouth moved to hers again; his tongue invading her parted lips
with the mission of conquering in mind. The erotic exploration had her legs trembling from the euphoric sensation traveling at rapid speed through her body. A ringing sound went off in her head and all sensible thought escaped her.
An ultimate excitement rushed through her, doubling ffrom the first time.
. Gabby found she could no longer control her feelings. The need raced through her to get closer to him, erupting inside her in giant waves. Cuddling closer to him, she felt the heady sensation of his warmth and body nestling hers.
She
craved every precious second of his fiery lovemaking. Pushing her body into his body, she felt his cock jutting out and pressing against her stomach.
Cole loosened her arms from his neck and reached down
, gently picking her up. With no effort at all, he had her cradled close against him. While he carried her, he continued to rain kisses across her face, ending at the cleft on her small chin. The licking of the cleft by his warm tongue continued.
.
With half closed eyes, she watched his progress across the room until reaching the carpet near the crackling fire. When he placed her own the thick rug, he joined her and he took up where he had left off by reclaiming her mouth and ravaging hers with searing kisses, designed to excite her. Cole's fascination with the indented cleft on her chin had her mesmerized and wanting more.
Arching her body toward him, she could feel his
cock pressed against her body. All thoughts of normalcy drifted away from her. She snuggled closer against his hard length. Gabby needed him to fulfill the raging desire tearing her apart with wanting. The need in her was so great for Cole to put out the blazing inferno that a moaning sigh escaped her lips.
Another loud sound
filled the room and she shook her head slightly to make it go away. But it wouldn't go away, sounding again. She didn’t want anything interfering in what she felt. Again, the noise sounded and she realized in her numbed state that it was the doorbell. Gabby shook her head trying to clear it and put her hands against Cole's chest. Whoever was at the door, wasn’t about to leave.
Gabby saw the confused expression covering his face.
"What's wrong?" He asked huskily, his voice low and sensuous, still filled with his unsatisfied need.
"Your doorbell is ringing,
” Gabby said raggedly, barely able to push the words out because of her excited state. She sat up, her body shaking at the simple effort in trying to straighten her sweater.
“I don’t know who that can be,” he mumbled, almost incoherently, rolling away from her and standing. His face changed from desire filled, to one filled with a look of irritation over their unexpected visitor.
She watched him walk through the hallway and open the door.
By this time, Gabby had gotten up and made her way over to the couch, presenting a picture of calmness, which she was far from feeling. She only hoped she gave this appearance to whoever was at the door.
Gabby could hear a woman’s voice echoing into the room
. She glanced over her shoulder. The blonde from the newspaper article stood gazing across at her.
"Gabby, I'd like you to meet my friend, Carol Taylor,
” he introduced her in what Gabby thought sounded like a strained tone. "This is Gabby Fallon."
The woman nodded her head
at Gabby, but soon lost interest. She turned to Cole. "I thought I'd come by to see if you wanted to have dinner tonight. When I called your office, they said you'd already gone."
Gabby
gritted her teeth. Her voice had a squeaky quality and grated on her ears. She didn’t like this woman at all, and she didn’t know her. Maybe, it was something else that caused this reaction in her. Could it be jealousy over Cole? She'd never believed anyone could fall in love at first sight, but now she knew her attraction was stronger than it should have been to Cole. For the first time in her life, she was in love. The sensation was an emotional high Gabby both feared and felt exhilarated by. Cole could just be physically attracted to her. She knew he felt something for her by his actions moments ago, but love was another proposition.
Gabby decided that from this point on, her relationship with Cole would be on a platonic scale, if that were at all possible.
She didn't want to be another statistic in the long line of women he dated and no doubt discarded after tiring of them. She wanted to be something more important to him. Someone he could care about in the future. Making all these promises was one thing, but keeping them would take some doing.
Lifting her head
, she saw Cole walking his visitor to the door. His hand rested familiarly on her waistline and this made Gabby wonder how well they knew each other. She quickly stood and walked over near the dying fire in the fireplace.
She didn’t hear Cole walking across the room to stand behind her, but she felt the heat of his body.
Instead of turning, she continued to stare into the sparkling coals in the fireplace. She felt his hand touch her shoulder and he slowly turned her toward him.
"Are you ready to eat dinner?"
Gabby knew from the sound that he had other things in mind and wanted to take up where they
had left off. She nodded her head. The look of disappointment suddenly appeared across his face, but she steeled her heart, ignoring it.
He didn’t say
anything to her on the elevator ride down. Reaching the parking lot, Gabby glanced to her left and saw that Carol Taylor hadn't left yet. She sat in her car watching the two of them leave the building. Gabby turned her head and looked straight ahead.
"Carol is nothing more than a friend
." He made the explanation in a casual tone starting the car.
"You don’t have to
explain your personal life to me.” She refused to let him see how much his visitor had disturbed her. Disturbed would have been putting it mildly. Jealousy raged through her, ripping her insides apart.
He glanced at her
curiously. Another look of disappointment filled his expression over her answer, but he dropped the subject. It looked to Gabby as if he tried figuring out what she was thinking. Other women may have been easy to read, but she wasn’t one of them. By his look, he told her that she was a mystery to him.
Cole drove the next few miles in silence
. He pulled the car onto the lot of a small diner. The restaurant looked almost the same as the one his brother owned, even down to the table covering and decorative flair of the room. A bouncy waitress carried ice-filled glasses of water and placed them on the table.