Vegas, Baby Read online

  Sunny was deeply aware of the contradiction. And she tried to still her body. Make it stop, but she was too far gone. “Please...” she pleaded trying to gain control of the movement of her hips.

  “Please what, Sunny?” he said. “Please stop or please go on?”

  Stop, stop, stop! Tell him to stop! the little sense she had left screamed at her. But out loud she said, “Go on...I need—”

  He was giving it to her before she could even complete the request, his fingers once again plunging in and out, even faster now, as if he knew exactly where she was at, that she was almost there. “Don’t tell me no again. That’s the last one you get. Now come for me, Sunny.”

  He was out of his mind. She was sure of it. But the orgasm hit her hard, rushing through her with a sweet ache, and momentarily quelling the raging desire he’d somehow set off inside of her.

  But only for a moment. To her great embarrassment, she could feel herself still clenching around his fingers, even after the orgasm was done. Still needing. Still wanting.

  Cole cursed low and hard. “You are...you are trying to drive me crazy. You’re so wet. I can feel you tugging on my fingers. Begging...”

  Sunny didn’t realize he was still fully clothed, while she stood there in nothing but her demi bra until he withdrew his hand from her and went to work on getting himself ready for what was to come next. An unzipping noise then one of foil tearing. In a lightening flash he was sheathed, and then he was pushing into her, hard and thick, and way larger than she would have dared to expect.

  He pushed and she received him...all the way up to the hilt, moaning with pleasure as she adjusted to his size.

  He also bit out a groan, stroking into her as if allowing himself just a few hits—just a few, before he once again went completely still inside of her.

  He took a few harsh, unsteady breaths, as if it were taking every ounce of control he had to rein himself in. “Say yes.”

  “What? Why?” she asked breathless.

  “I want to hear you say yes, you want this, you want me.”

  Obviously she wanted this...him. She’d never been this hot for another man in her entire life. But Sunny’s sense of preservation begged her to tell him no again. To gather up her dignity, send him away midcoitus. Then her hips moved again, as if on their own accord, wild and desperate to have him resume moving inside of her.

  However, his hands came down in cruel refusal, anchoring her hips to the wall, so that she had no choice but to keep them still. “Say yes. This is non-negotiable. You lied to me, and you denied me—two of the things that piss me off the most. This is your punishment. Give in. Give in now.”

  He had to be kidding. He couldn’t really expect her to just submit to him like that. But her clit was throbbing against where their bodies met, hot and needy, making it feel as if she would die if he didn’t finish what he had started.

  “Yes, I want this,” she said, getting it out as quickly as she could, so that they could get on with it. “I want you, just please...”

  He started moving again in an instant. His body heavy against hers as he filled her up again and again.

  “So tight. So wet,” he bit out, his voice stretched with anger. “Even better than I thought it would be. And I’ve been thinking about this a lot. All day.”

  His hips started banging her hard into the wall with the force of his strokes, as if her quick, quiet words of submission had cut the leash on whatever power of will he was using to hold himself back.

  “I hate this,” he bit out. “I hate being out of control. I hate how out of control you make me.”

  But his head came down and he kissed her again, his tongue plunging into her mouth almost as rough and wild as his hard length below. It felt as though he was not just coaxing another orgasm out of her, but demanding it. And that feeling was confirmed when he said, “Too good, too hot. I’m not going to last much longer. Come. Come now, Sunny!”

  She came with a long moan, the climax consuming her body in red-hot fire before it finally let her go. Cole came soon after, his cock swelling even thicker inside of her before he released into the condom.

  What the hell... Sunny thought to herself, the climax still ringing in her ears and making her feel as disoriented as a bomb victim. What the hell was that?

  His body pressed hard against hers, his hands still clamped around her hips, his shoulders taut with tension as he emptied out. When he was done, his head fell forward, his forehead coming to rest on the wall, right next to where her own head lay.

  She could feel his nose in her hair, his breath hot on her neck as he inhaled then exhaled. Then one of his arms came up and around the back of her neck. And he held her, just held her for what might have been only a few seconds, but it felt like aeons to Sunny’s befuddled mind.

  He eventually moved away. Pulling out of her with a wet sound as he took a few careful steps back.

  Without a word, he took off the condom, his jaw clenching as he disposed of it in a nearby wastebasket. Then he pulled up his pants and pushed himself back inside of them, but not before Sunny took note of the long length of thick flesh between his legs. Still at half-mast.

  He went over to the hotel room’s closet and got out a robe, which he handed to her, his eyes once again shuttered. Sunny could see that the cold businessman was all the way back in charge now.

  And the room, which had been so unbearably hot just a few minutes ago, became incredibly cold. Shame and embarrassment rushed through her, as if they’d only just been waiting on the sidelines for her to get done demeaning herself, before they started asking her all sorts of judgmental questions. Questions that rang in her ears like fire alarms as she put on the robe.

  “I...” She started. “I don’t know why I let that happen. We shouldn’t have—”

  Cole’s icy green eyes bored into hers, angry and hard. “You’re not going to like what happens next if you finish that sentence.”

  And the words she’d been about to say died in her throat.

  “It happened,” he bit out. “And it’s going to happen again.” He gave her a significant look. “It’s definitely going to happen again. The only question now is, what are your terms?”

  Chapter 10

  “What are my terms?” Sunny repeated carefully as though he were speaking another language.

  And Cole was forced to bite back another curse. This is why he preferred to date a certain kind of woman. Women with impressive résumés who didn’t make too many demands and were okay with short relationships with no strings attached.

  But all he could see were strings when he looked at Sunny, whose curves were not hidden nearly well enough under the hotel robe he’d given her to wear. The Benton’s hotel robes were too thin, he decided right then and there. He’d have to talk to someone in Purchasing about ordering better robes. Thick ones that made even the curviest dancer look like a blob and not someone he needed to have again. Right now, on the floor, because the bed was still too far away.

  “Yes, your terms,” he answered before his lustful thoughts could overtake his reasoning again. “What do you want from me in order to keep this going? Name it.”

  She gave him a quizzical look. “So what? You’re trying to negotiate the terms of a sexual relationship with me? Like I’m some sort of business you want to acquire? Or an escort? Because there are plenty of other women in Las Vegas who will let you do what we just did without—” she hooked her fingers in mocking quotation marks “—terms.”

  He knew there was. And there were also plenty of women who would let him have anything he wanted from them, without conversation or niceties. But at the moment, he didn’t want those women. He only wanted Sunny.

  “I’ll let you think about it while I go upstairs and put on my tux,” he said, heading to the door.

  She blinked. “You s
till want to go to the event?”

  “Yes,” he said, his hand on the door’s handle. “We have to be seen together. Outside of a bedroom if we want Nora to buy our whirlwind romance.”

  “Yeah, but...I kind of don’t have a dress to wear now.” She cut her eyes to the pile of silk lying ruined on the floor at his feet.

  He felt something tick in his jaw just thinking about how out of control he’d been. Barely able to keep himself in check, he’d been so wild to get to her.

  “I’ll have Agnes send another dress up,” he informed her. “Something from one of the boutiques down below.”

  She crinkled her eyes at him. “That’s a pretty easy solve. Is this like your regular M.O.? Tearing dresses off women and then doing them against the wall?”

  He frowned back. Her voice was teasing and light, but he had the feeling she’d just laid out a trap for him. Like she wanted him to say yes, he did this all the time, so that she could judge him. Or have an excuse not to let him have her again.

  He folded his arms. “Do you want me to say yes, Sunny? Would that make it easier for you?”

  Sunny faltered. She obviously hadn’t expected to get called out on her tactic. “No, I’m just asking.”

  “Oh, well, if you’re just asking,” he said, making sure she could hear the incredulity in his voice before he got into her personal space. He left only an inch of air between them when he bent down close to her ear, “No, you’re the only woman I’ve ever taken like that, the only woman I’ve ever wanted to take like that. And that’s why I’ll be expecting your terms by the end of the night.”

  * * *

  “And that’s why I’ll be expecting your terms by the end of the night.”

  Cole’s words rang in her ears all through the uncomfortable ride in the limo to the Businessperson of the Year dinner. Cole was clean-shaven, his hair was slicked back, and he was dressed in a tux that looked as if it had been purposefully designed to hang on his lean frame—or just make it impossible for Sunny not to sneak looks at him across the wide expanse of the limo seat. Looks that accomplished absolutely nothing, because yes, he was still handsome. Even more handsome than before. Every time she looked. Every single time.

  She was once again dressed in an evening gown, but this one was a bit more daring. Red with a plunging neckline and a slit that ran nearly up to her thigh. She’d been surprised when it had been delivered to her hotel room door. It wasn’t at all like anything she’d imagine Agnes choosing.

  And she’d been right to be surprised. Cole’s eyes had roamed over her with cool inspection when she’d arrived in the lobby. “I was right. That dress does suit you better,” he had told her.

  So now he was picking out her clothes as well as trying to shark her into bed with his demands that she name her terms, as though she were some business deal he was looking to close.

  If The Benton Girls wasn’t counting on her, and if Nora hadn’t called her up earlier that evening, delighted that Cole was bringing her as his date to tonight’s event, she probably would have backed out of the deal entirely. She really didn’t need this grief. Really, really didn’t need it...

  She snuck another look at Cole, only to have her eyes get tangled with his when he caught her. “Like what you see?” he asked, his arrogant face cool with amusement.

  “No...” Then, she said, “Actually, yes,” because it seemed too childish to deny what she’d been caught doing. “But it really doesn’t matter. You’re hot. Really freaking handsome. So what? I’m sure you get told that all the time.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Do you always sound so unhappy when you give out compliments?”

  “No, I’m a great compliment giver. It usually makes me happy to give credit where credit is due.”

  “But not in this case,” he said, his voice tinged with triumph as if he were handily winning the argument.

  Sunny sighed and turned to look out the window at the bright lights of the Vegas strip flying by. “Do you always make it this hard for people to give you compliments and be done with it?”

  She could feel his smirking eyes on the back of her head. “Am I making your life harder, Sunny?”

  “I think you know exactly what you’re doing.” Sunny answered as they pulled up to the hotel where the dinner was being held.

  Relief flooded her at the thought of no longer having to share a small and intimate space with Cole.

  But the feeling didn’t last long. Tomas, who’d been introduced to her earlier as Cole’s regular driver and for work and special events, let Cole out first. And though Tomas opened the door for her, too, it was Cole who held his hand out to her when it came time to climb out of the long black car.

  She placed her hand in his, feeling the exact same as she would if a bear had offered her his paw. Like it was a very dangerous invitation to take.

  * * *

  He’s just acting, he’s just acting, she told herself, as she stood listening to a conversation Cole was having with a fellow hotel magnate, who’d wanted to know more about Cole’s plans to expand the Benton brand into more mid-range hotels.

  Their conversation was actually pretty interesting. Sunny hadn’t known Cole had such big plans. No wonder he worked all the time. But she felt a little weird just standing there, while Cole did all the talking. It made her feel like a trophy—in fact, she wondered if this was how trophy girlfriends often felt, as if they were on display, just there to be looked at by all the other men at the party.

  However, Sunny wasn’t sure if they were looking because she was Cole’s date or because she definitely didn’t look like any of the other trophy wives or girlfriends. Mostly blondes, cool and elegant, who looked as though they’d been born in black evening gowns with perfectly coiffed hair and understated makeup. She’d gotten several looks from the other women at the party already, and they didn’t even try to disguise exactly what they were thinking: “What are you doing here?”

  The whole situation made Sunny want to slink back outside and wait in the limo until Cole was done. However, Cole hadn’t let go of her hand since they’d gotten out of the limo. In fact, he’d kept her by his side the entire cocktail hour, not even letting go when other businesspeople came over to congratulate him and shake his hand. For what? A business deal? She still wasn’t quite sure.

  “Occupied,” he’d said with a rueful smile, before introducing her as, “My date, Sunny Johnson.”

  It made her feel like his possession. Yet, it also made her feel safe, as if she didn’t have to worry about getting eaten alive by the other sharks at the party, because he was holding on to her tight. Instead of abandoning her, he’d chosen to keep her by his side all night. So it also kind of made her feel special.

  And that was why she had to keep reminding herself that he was just acting. That he was putting on a show for his grandmother. Nora had greeted them enthusiastically when they came in and then spent the rest of the cocktail hour throwing several approving glances their way, even while she was mingling with other attendees.

  Sunny found out that Cole was actually left-handed at dinner when he proceeded to eat his entire meal with one hand while talking to the vice president of a neighboring hotel. Luckily Sunny was right-handed and she was also happy that she’d been seated with Nora on her other side.

  Since Nora’s other grandson, Max, had yet to show up, Nora spent most of the dinner chatting with her. Cole had been right about one thing, the prospect of them getting together had certainly made his grandmother happy.

  “I knew you two would be the perfect match! I knew it!” she said at one point.

  Yet another cool blonde walked past their table. She gave Sunny a hostile stare, even as she said, “Lovely event, Nora. Congratulations.”

  “Thank you, dearie,” Nora answered, her own eyes cooling as they watched the thin blonde move away.
<
br />   “Wow, that was like a really polite drive-by,” Sunny said.

  “Oh, don’t mind her,” Nora said, her eyes warming right back up again when she turned back to Sunny. They were the exact same green as Cole’s, but Sunny couldn’t imagine his eyes ever possessing such warmth, especially when looking at her.

  “Her and all those other girls have been after Cole for years, and he’s never given any one of them more than a month or two of his time. He shows up here with you, clearly taken by you, and of course, they’re going to get their knickers in a bunch, wondering what it is you have that they don’t. It was the same for me when Cole’s grandfather started bringing me around to these functions. The showgirls are supposed to stay on the stage kicking up their legs. We’re not supposed to ever come down to mix it up with the ones making the money off our gams.”

  Nora’s face darkened with remembered bitterness. “The younger ones accept me now, because I’ve been around long enough and I raise lots of money for my different charities. But the older ones still look at me like I don’t belong. Like I’ll never be good enough.”

  This statement made Sunny feel for Nora—especially in light of her poor health. But it also confused her. “They didn’t accept you, but you’re happy Cole’s ah...taken with...someone who doesn’t quite fit in either?”

  Nora graced another blonde passerby with a beneficent smile that totally belied her next words, “Dearie, I’d hang myself with me own rope if Cole married any of these old money witches. I deserve a good granddaughter—one I can talk to just as easily as my old friend, Berta.”

  Now she took Sunny’s other hand and squeezed it, her face fond with memories of Sunny’s grandmother. “I missed her so much when Cole’s grandfather pulled me off The Revue line and into his world, but she always seemed to know when I truly needed her. I’d start to feel down about not fitting in, and there’d be Berta, ringing me up, inviting me over to the apartment we used to share for dinner, or insisting we go out for a few drinks. That was before you young ones came up with the phrase Girls’ Night Out, but Berta always seemed to know when I needed one. I’ll never forgive myself for falling out of touch with her after that no-good son of mine was born...”