A Kiss in the Dark (5 page)

“Oh, man,” he rasped with a soft laugh, “that was amazing. Truly, unbelievably amazing.”

Lacey had to agree with him.

“I’ve never felt anything quite so—so powerful before,” she admitted, stretching languidly beneath him. “I’d almost forgotten how good this could be.”

Cole cocked his head and gave her a quizzical look. “What do you mean?”

Lacey looped her arms around his neck and pressed a kiss against his mouth. “Let’s just say it’s been a while since I’ve done this. But I’m glad that you’re the one who ended my dry spell.”

Cole gave her a tender smile that did odd things to her equilibrium. “Well, I’m glad, too. Can I ask just how long it’s been?”

“A couple of years.”

Cole drew away slightly, his face registering surprise. “Are you serious? Are the guys up north blind?”

Lacey laughed. “Thanks, but it’s by choice. My job is pretty demanding and I don’t have a lot of free time.”

It was a partial truth, at least.

“I get it, but a couple of
years?
”

“You’ll have to help me make up for lost time,” she said, and moved suggestively beneath him.

“Oh, yeah? Well, I’m all for that.”

Lacey liquefied under his tender expression and the implicit promise in his words. She could feel the hard thrust of him against her hips and, reaching down, tugged at his briefs. “Maybe you want to start by taking these off.”

He helped her, sliding them off and kicking them free. And there he was, rising thick and heavy against the tautness of his abdomen. Lacey’s mouth went dry.

Unable to prevent herself, Lacey wrapped her fingers around him. He jerked reflexively in her hand. He was hot. And hard. And as smooth as satin beneath her fingertips. She slid her hand down the length of him and felt a surge of feminine pride when he sucked his breath in sharply and buried his face against her neck. Lacey continued to stroke him, tentatively at first and then with growing confidence as he groaned softly and bent his head to her breast, capturing a nipple in his mouth and drawing deeply on it.

And there it was again. The slow, throbbing ache that made her long to wrap her legs around him and bring him completely inside her.

“Cole,” she whispered against his hair.

He raised his head from her breast and his eyes were startlingly blue. “Yeah?”

“I want you. Now.”

“I almost forgot.” He slanted her a crooked grin and then leaned over to open a drawer in the bedside table and drew forth a small foil package.

A condom! God, she hadn’t even thought about protection.

She watched as he expertly covered himself, then positioned himself above her. Reaching down, he lifted one of her legs and laid it across his hip, opening her for him. He stroked a finger along her damp cleft and Lacey gasped at the exquisite sensation. But when she felt the fullness of his erection pressing against her, a liquid heat gathered at her core and she lifted her hips in invitation. His breathing was ragged as he gazed down at her and, in one smooth movement, surged forward and buried himself inside her.

Lacey groaned as he filled her and clutched at his shoulders. He captured her mouth with his, sweeping his tongue against hers as he began to move, his hands cupping her buttocks and lifting her to better meet the bone-melting thrusts of his hips. Lacey arched against him and raised both legs to wrap them around his lean hips.

“That’s it,” he rasped huskily against her mouth.

Lacey had never felt anything so all-consuming. She was being swept upward in a vortex of sensations, clinging with mindless abandon to this amazing man who seemed to understand what it was she needed before she did. He was as attuned to her body as if it were an extension of his own, as if he was somehow hardwired into her. He thrust again, slowly, moving his body sensuously against hers, and she barely suppressed a huff of laughter as she realized he
was
hardwired into her. And she was about to experience a total system overload.

“Ohmigod,” she breathed raggedly, as pulsating pressure built once more and threatened to undo her. “Cole…”

He smoothed the damp tendrils of her hair back from her face. “I’m here,” he breathed huskily. “I’m right here with you, baby.” He ground his hips against hers, thrusting deeper, until he filled her completely.

“Oh, oh,” Lacey gasped, and Cole caught her small, frantic cries with his mouth, spearing his tongue against hers as he moved faster, deeper. Reaching a hand between their bodies, he stroked a finger over her, and the simple contact was enough to push her completely over the edge.

Lacey climaxed in a blinding white-hot rush of pleasure, even as Cole gave a harsh cry and she felt him stiffen and then shudder inside her. As she drifted slowly back to reality, she stroked her hands over his back, slick with sweat, and reveled in the feel of his body, heavy and replete against hers.

Cole kissed her, slowly and languorously, but made no move to withdraw from the warmth of her body.

“Hey,” he murmured, “you okay?”

Lacey gazed at him and nodded mutely. She couldn’t have articulated what she felt at that moment if her life depended on it. Her body still shuddered with small aftershocks. In the indistinct light, his eyes were filled with a tenderness that made her chest constrict.

Rolling away from her, he quickly cleaned up and then returned to the bed, pulling her against his chest and drawing the sheet over them. His hand stroked a lazy pattern over her arm.

“I have a feeling that neither of us is going to get much sleep tonight,” he murmured against her hair.

His voice held infinite promise, and outside the night sky was still brilliant with stars. And for tonight, at least, it was enough. She wouldn’t think about tomorrow, or all the tomorrows after that.

5

C
OLE
HAD
BEEN
AWAKE
for hours. He bent his arms behind his head, careful not to disturb the woman who lay curled against him like a contented kitten, one hand resting over his heart. Her hair spilled over his shoulder like a skein of pale red-gold silk and her skin was almost translucent against the suntanned brown of his own. One slim leg was thrown across his thighs, and she was pressed against him from his neck all the way down to his ankles.

He groaned softly and tried not to think of how incredibly soft her skin felt, or how good she smelled, or how he had only to turn his hips slightly to gain access to the sweetest, most intimate part of her.

It was almost six-thirty, but he was reluctant to wake her. Reluctant to end a night filled with some of the most amazing moments of his life. He didn’t typically go in for one-night stands, and on the rare occasion that he did, he acted in true insensitive-jerk style and made sure he was gone long before the sun rose. He’d never spent a full night with a woman he’d only just met. And he’d never brought a strange woman back to his place.

Until now.

His gaze drifted over Lacey, lingering on the soft fullness of her lips, watching the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest in utter fascination. Her breasts were small, the nipples pale and pink, but they fit perfectly in the palms of his hands.

He closed his eyes and groaned inwardly, knowing he was in real danger here. She aroused every protective male instinct he had. Hell, she just plain aroused him. They hadn’t slept more than an hour all night. And in between the mind-blowing sex, they’d talked and nestled together until their bodies recovered and clamored for yet more. She hadn’t been kidding when she’d said she was making up for lost time. Yeah, it was definitely a night he was going to remember for the rest of his life.

But right now, all he could think about was how she would react when she woke up in his bed, still wrapped around him. Would she be warm and welcoming, or self-conscious and uncomfortable, wanting only to be gone from his life? He’d been there, done that, and even if
he
had been the one wanting to be gone, it wasn’t exactly a fun-fest for either party.

As if on cue, she murmured something incoherent, her eyelashes fluttered, and then he was gazing down into the luminous gray-green of her eyes. Sleepy and bemused, she stared up at him for a moment, and then smiled.

“I’m still dreaming.”

“Not unless I’m having the same dream, baby,” Cole said softly, and stroked a hand over her hair.

She continued to stare up at him, and the sleepy confusion was slowly replaced with an expression of dawning awareness as she came fully awake.

“What time is it?” She sat up, withdrawing her limbs from his body and curling them inward, dragging the sheet over her nakedness.

So that’s how it was going to be. Damn.

“It’s barely six-thirty,” he answered.

He couldn’t help himself. He cupped the nape of her neck and drew her head down, intent on sampling her mouth. She gave him a chaste, closemouthed kiss before pulling away.

“I should take a quick shower and then get going,” she said apologetically.

Cole pushed down his own disappointment and opted instead for a light tone. Maybe she was just being typically female, uncomfortable at being seen with bed-head and no cosmetics. Although, hell, he’d never seen a woman look as desirable as she did first thing in the morning.

“Well, as long as you’re taking a shower,” he said huskily, “can I offer to scrub your back?”

She cast him a swift glance and Cole could have sworn she was considering it. Her gaze slid over him, and he was helpless to prevent the instant reaction of his body. But if she was tempted, she did a great job resisting. She dragged the sheet around her and stood up.

“Thanks, but I really am going to be quick. I have some calls to make, and I’m sure you have things you need to do.”

What would she say if he told her the only thing he wanted to do—needed to do—was her?

“Yeah. Okay. Take a shower, and I’ll make some coffee. Then I’ll run you over to the sheriff’s office.”

“Thanks.” As if on impulse, she leaned down and pressed a swift kiss against his mouth. “And thanks, too, for last night. It was great.”

Her words had a ring of finality, and Cole watched as she walked across the room, the sheet trailing behind her. He heard the bathroom door shut, and then there was the unmistakable sound of the lock clicking into place.

Yep. That had gone real well. He flung himself back against the pillows and threw an arm across his eyes.

She was so gone from his life.

But what did it really matter, anyway? He would only be in Black Stone Gap long enough to obtain the evidence he needed to prove the coal mines were operating illegally, and then he’d return to his home on Virginia Beach, just outside of Norfolk. He’d agreed to go undercover for the Feds, but he hadn’t counted on how hard it would be to lie to his friends and family about why he’d returned. If anyone knew his real reasons for wanting to work in the mines, they’d despise him. The local coal mines were the biggest employer in the region, and if they shut down, hundreds of people would lose their jobs. But that was preferable to losing their lives, wasn’t it?

Even if he’d been inclined to pursue some kind of relationship with Lacey, it wasn’t like she lived locally. Christ, she was from Boston. He could just picture where she lived, in one of those elegant old brownstones on a cobbled backstreet of the city, where the rents went for about a zillion bucks a month and the number of piano bars per capita was exceeded only by the number of young investment brokers.

He snorted. It was no wonder she was anxious to leave. Hell, she’d been slumming last night. No doubt she and her girlfriends would have a good laugh over martinis about how she once did it redneck-style.

But then he recalled her confession that she hadn’t been with anyone in a long time, and he knew instinctively he was wrong. This was a woman who apparently didn’t share much of herself with others. He suspected she was more than a little self-conscious by her passionate response to him last night. She’d probably never had a one-night stand in her whole life.

All things considered, he was beginning to feel a little better about the situation. He’d almost forgotten that she was from New England, home of the original Puritan. But hell, he wished she wouldn’t feel embarrassment over the things they’d done. Because if he had anything to say about it, they’d be doing a whole lot more of those things.

* * *

W
HEN
L
ACEY
CAME
out of the bathroom, she smelled the tantalizing aroma of bacon cooking, and heard Cole whistling softly in tune to the radio as he prepared breakfast.

“Smells good!” she called as she scooted down the hallway and up the stairs, wearing nothing but a towel.

“Hey, we don’t dress up for breakfast around here,” he shouted after her. “Come as you are!”

Lacey smiled, but didn’t answer. She could easily envision what would happen if she came to the table wearing only a towel. Not that those images weren’t appealing, but Lacey knew she had to get away while she still could; Cole MacKinnon was too irresistible. If she wasn’t careful, she could easily be tempted to scrap her work and spend all her time with him, instead. She blushed every time she thought about the previous night. Which was, like, every second since she had woken up plastered against his hard body.

Had that really been her doing those things with a virtual stranger? The entire night was like some surreal fantasy, as if some alien sex goddess had temporarily taken control of her body. That uninhibited, wanton creature surely hadn’t been her. And while she didn’t regret a single second of the previous night, neither did she want Cole to become a distraction to her real purpose for being in Kentucky. This was her first field assignment and she didn’t want to screw it up. She needed to stay focused.

In the guest bedroom, she retrieved her cell phone, turned it on, and saw she had several text messages from her mother, mostly chiding her for turning her phone off. There was another message from her office, and she punched in the number as she changed. Her friend Julia, who worked in the customer service department, answered on the first ring.

“Good morning, StarPoint Technologies. How may I direct your call?”

“Julia, it’s me…Lacey.”

“Lacey, where are you? I tried calling you last night and you didn’t answer.”

“I know. I had my phone on avoidance mode. Sorry.”

Julia made a sympathetic noise. “Your mom? I understand. As long as you made it there safely, no worries. But please give her a call today or she’ll start calling the office, and you know how Sam hates that.”

Sam Caldwell was their boss, and although he understood that Lacey had her hands full with her mother, there were limits to his patience.

“I’ll call her. Yes, I made it here safely, but…” Her voice trailed off as she wondered just how much she should share with her friend.

“But what?” Julia asked. “Spit it out, Delaney, or I’ll start imagining the worst.”

Lacey sat down on the edge of the bed. “I met a guy last night and stayed at his place.”

“
What?
Oh, come on. You’re pulling my leg.”

“No, I’m not kidding.” Lacey quickly told Julia about the previous night, leaving out only the most intimate details. On the other end of the phone, Julia made little gasping noises, as if she couldn’t quite believe what Lacey was telling her.

“When I said you should cut loose and live a little, I didn’t exactly mean with the first guy you meet!” Julia said, once Lacey had finished. “Oh, man…your mother is going to kill me! I know she thinks I’m a bad influence on you.”

“She can’t know, and you can’t tell her. I gave her the number of the motel where I initially checked in, but I don’t plan on going back there. If she calls the office, just tell her that I can’t be reached because of the poor reception in this area, but you’ll get a message to me through Sheriff Hathaway. That will calm her down a little. I hope.”

“Don’t you think you should just tell your mom that it’s your life? I mean, c’mon. You’re twenty-seven, old enough to do what you want.”

Lacey sighed. “You’re right. I’ll talk with her when I get home. I promise.”

They talked for a few minutes longer, and although Lacey would have liked to speak with Sam, he was in a meeting and unavailable. After she hung up, Lacey donned underwear and bra, pulled on a pair of jeans and was just shoving her arms into a pale green top when a voice from the doorway startled her.

“I brought you up a cup of coffee.”

Lacey whirled, her fingers pausing over the buttons of her blouse. Cole leaned negligently against the door frame, wearing a pair of jeans and a crisp white T-shirt that only served to emphasize the sun-browned hue of his skin and the startling blue of his eyes. With the morning light slanting through the skylights, she could see the faint shadow of whiskers on his lean jaw. He looked altogether edible.

“I’m almost ready,” she said, swiftly fastening the last buttons.

“Hey.” He came to stand directly in front of her. “Are you okay?”

She smiled brightly at him. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

He looked at her with a mixture of tenderness and resignation that caused her chest to constrict. “I’m getting the distinct impression that you’re either avoiding me, or keeping me at arms’ length. What happened between last night and this morning? I mean, did I miss something?”

He made no move to touch her, just stood cradling a mug of hot coffee between his hands as he watched her. She tucked a damp tendril of hair behind her ear and bit her lip to stop herself from blurting the truth. What had happened between last night and this morning was phenomenal, and it scared the hell out of her. She wasn’t prepared for her own emotional response to him.

She cleared her throat. “Last night was amazing.” She raised her eyes and met his gaze fully, letting him see the truth in her words. “Really amazing. But for obvious reasons, it can’t ever be more than what it was. You know…a one-night stand.”

“Oh, yeah?” His gaze was intense, the heat in his eyes causing a now familiar flutter in her midsection. He took a step closer and pressed the mug of coffee into her hands, wrapping his own hands around hers so that she was encased in heat. “What if I told you that I want to see you again? No matter what?”

Lacey stared at him and her stomach did an odd flip-flop at the expression of fierce determination on his face. She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t speak. Couldn’t form a single coherent thought.

He stepped away from her, raked a hand over his hair and swore softly. “Christ, I’m losing my mind.” He turned abruptly back to her, his hands raised as if to stop her from speaking. “Listen, I know you’re here on business, but I’d really like to spend some time with you. Okay? Even if it’s only for a day or so. After that…well, maybe we can work something out.”

“Do you think that’s a good idea? I mean, we hardly know each other.”

To her surprise, he laughed, a rich sound that slid along her senses like a warm caress. “My point exactly.” He grasped her gently by the shoulders and pulled her toward him. “We’ve been as physically intimate as two people can be, yet we hardly know each other. There isn’t an inch of your body that I’m not familiar with, and I’m not going to lie and tell you that I wouldn’t love to have a repeat of last night.” He gave a self-deprecating laugh. “Hell, I live in hopeful anticipation of just such an event.”

Lacey’s body reacted instantly beneath his heated regard, warming and growing pliant, until she found herself swaying fractionally toward him.

“But it’s not enough, Lacey.” He stroked a thumb across her cheek. “I’d like more.”

“I really like you.” She smiled ruefully. “Obviously. But I don’t have time for a relationship, you know? Especially not a long-distance one.”

“No, I
don’t
know.” He tipped her face up, forcing her to meet his gaze. “But I do know one thing, and that is we’re good together. Better than good. Let’s start with that.”