Page 62 of Cole

She grinned and admitted, “I was already considering stealing it.”

“No need to be sneaky, ’cause you can have it. If you’ll think of me every time you wear it, then it’s yours.”

He sat up, his knees on either side of her thighs, and his hands parted the material. She hadn’t put her bra back on, and the air hissed from his lips as her breasts were exposed.

“Fucking beautiful,” he moaned, his gaze moving over her as though he couldn’t get enough.

She shifted from side to side, enabling him to drag the flannel material off her arms. It still provided a soft blanket underneath her, the intoxicating scent of him surrounding her.

He leaned forward, his mouth devouring hers again. Only this time, his palms skimmed her hips and upward until her breasts filled his hands. Kneading the mounds, she gasped into his mouth again, and he swallowed the sound. Her fingers grasped at the tight Henley he wore, trying to drag it upward. But there wasn’t enough room, and her groan turned from sexy to frustrated.

He chuckled as he sat up, and she hated the separation until she watched him reach back, grasp the soft material, and yank it over his head. Now, seeing his torso in all its muscular glory, her breath rushed out. Her fingertips ran over his warm, soft skin, feeling the enticing ridges. He jerked, and she laughed.

“Ticklish?” she wondered aloud.

“Damn… yeah. It was the one thing my younger sisters could try to torture me with,” he said, smiling.

“Good to know.”

“Are you planning on using that information, Dr. Lynch?” he asked, his voice a low growl.

“Only if absolutely necessary, Mr. Iverson,” she replied in a fake haughty accent with her brows arched.

“Then I’ll just have to keep you occupied.”

His gaze pinned her to the mattress, and she nodded. “Sounds like a good idea to me.”

His clothes were soon discarded, and her panties joined his garments tossed to the bottom of the bed. Hands began to explore, soft curves against hard planes, satin skin against warm steel. His fingers delved inside, curling and reaching as she arched into his hand. It didn’t take long for her to come, and the sight of him licking his fingers afterward made her heart pound even more.

Her legs fell open, and her hands grasped his shoulders. He held himself over her, having dug a condom out of his wallet. “Tell me what you want, Janice. I need to hear you say you want this as much as I do, because if you don’t, I’ll stop. What we do is all up to you.”

She nodded slowly, wanting him to feel the emotions crashing through her. “I want this, Cole. I know we’ve only known each other a few days. I know our emotions have been all over the place with adrenaline, danger, excitement, fear. It’s a lot to pack into a short period of time. But I’ve never wanted to be with someone as much as I want to be with you. And it’s not just because it’s been a while…” She chuckled. “And by a while, I mean a long while.”

He grinned, leaned down, and nuzzled her nose with his. “I want this, too. I want this with you.”

Her fingers tightened, and he slid in slowly at first, and then, with a single thrust, he fully seated himself into her tight channel. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and a long, sexy groan came from deep in her lungs. The pace of his thrusts increased, making it hard to think of anything else but the sounds they made, their bodies fitting together, and the coil tightening inside, until all she could see were stars behind her closed eyelids.

“Let me see you,” he ordered softly.

Her eyes popped open, and as soon as she saw the intense expression on his face and how his gaze peered deeply, she couldn’t imagine being with anyone else. Ever.

After a few more thrusts, his body stiffened as his muscles grew taut, and he roared out his own release.

Afterward, they lay tangled together in the hotel bed, Janice's head on Cole's chest, his fingers tracing lazy patterns on her bare shoulder. The room was dark now, the only light coming from the parking lot outside filtering through the thin curtains.

"What happens after Alaska?" Janice asked quietly, voicing the question that had been circling in her mind since it hit her that she couldn’t imagine him not being in her life. "You live in Montana. I live in Washington. These aren't exactly neighboring states."

Cole's hand stilled on her shoulder. "I've been thinking about that."

"And?"

"And I don't have all the answers." He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "But I know that what I feel for you isn't going to go away just because there's distance involved. People make long-distance work all the time. And you said it yourself that your job isn't tied to a specific location."

"That's true." Janice propped herself up on her elbow, looking down at him. She lifted a finger to trail over his grizzled cheek and soft lips before scoffing. "I don’t even know if I have a job with the university anymore.”

“Can you do wildlife veterinary work in other places? I mean, I know you can, but I didn’t really know what you might want to do.”

“Washington was convenient because of my parents, but it was never about the place. It was about the work."