Edible (50 page)

Speaking of harder
, Rachel mused, glancing down between Cole’s legs,
it’s definitely hard alright
. As she looked back into his eyes, she moved the finger she was sucking down to her loosened pants.

He pulled against the grip she had of his hair to follow that hand down to the top of her pants. “Dan, how about you let me give them a call, and I will give them a heads-up about tomorrow?”

Rachel had a feeling that at this stage, the words coming out of Cole’s mouth were complete lies. As his left hand grasped her hip to hold her in place and his thighs came together to keep her still, he sure as hell didn’t seem to be about to make another business call.

Pushing her fingers inside the leather, she flattened her palm against her stomach and slid it down farther into the snug pants. As she did, she gripped his hair tightly, and he pulled against it. He glared up at her, not with anger but with burning heat and frustration.

“Okay, yes, that sounds good. Nine tomorrow morning. I’ll wait to hear from you,” he replied. This time, he seemed less controlled. He sounded strained, and his voice was taut. Finally, his right hand reached over and hung up the phone.

As soon as it was in its cradle, Rachel pulled his hair much tighter, tilting his head back. As his eyes blazed up at her, she leaned down with her hand still in her pants and licked from his cheek to his ear where she bit it playfully.

“Good afternoon, husband.”

“Rachel,” Cole growled as he tried to move his head.

She couldn’t help the lust she felt, knowing she was keeping him in place with her tight grip. “Uh-uh,” she warned. “Behave.”

Dragging her tongue back across the stubble on his cheek, she flirted with the corner of his mouth. He parted his lips, and Rachel couldn’t help but take a bite of his bottom one. Both of his hands gripped her hips as he tugged her in close. As she bent down, he strained up in the chair to get closer to her.

“What are you doing to me?” he finally whispered against her mouth.

Rachel finally released her grip in his hair and smoothed her hand down to cup his neck. With her other hand still wedged down her pants, she let out a small squeak as Cole stood and turned with her, crowding her against the desk with her back to the door.

“Did you lock the door?” he asked as he looked down between their bodies to where her hand was now trapped between them.

“I didn’t know there was a lock,” she admitted, thinking he would stop.

Instead, he gave her a shrug and a casual head tilt. “You better hope no one walks in then since you have your hand in a very compromising position.”

Rachel couldn’t help the small giggle that escaped her mouth as Cole leaned down and nuzzled her neck.

“And what about you?”

“What about me?” he countered. This time, it was his mouth by her ear. “You’re blocking me from anyone’s view. I could unzip my pants and have you give me a hand job, and Jane could walk in and be none the wiser.”

“That sounds like such a good plan,” she agreed. She turned her head, so they were staring at each other.

“But?”

Rachel shrugged as if she were indifferent, and then she moved her fingers against her own flesh. “But my hand’s currently busy.”

The look that came on to Cole’s face told her she was about to get it—and good.

That was when, just as he had predicted, his office door swung open, but it wasn’t Jane, who would leave as soon as Cole told her to. It was Logan, a man she had met once. And she knew he would not leave until he was damn well ready to.

Cole’s head snapped up as he crowded in against Rachel, who still had her hand inside the leather he wanted out of the way.
Of course, fucking Logan has to walk in
, Cole thought as he glared at the man standing in his door, sizing up the situation.

Cole could only hope that he didn’t catch on, or he knew there’d be no making Logan leave. Logan was perverse that way.

“Oh, look who’s here. It’s Mrs. Madison.”

Cole felt Rachel stiffen as she looked over her shoulder to stare at Logan.

“I see you heard,” she said, trying for light but coming off tense.

“And I see you’re still a hot piece of—”

“Logan,” Cole growled as he rubbed himself up against Rachel, who had turned back into him. “Are you here for a reason?”

“Well, of course. I didn’t come all the way down to your office in the hopes of catching you with your pants down…well, not literally anyway.” He paused.

If Cole had thought that was the end of it, he was sadly mistaken.

“Good to see that I found the hot cheetah with her hands down her pants instead. It makes this much more interesting for me, I must say.”

When Cole felt Rachel shake against his body, he thought he would kill Logan if he had made her cry. He looked down at her, and as she tipped up her face, he was surprised to see laugh lines crinkling her eyes as she shook with silent laughter. Every day, she had managed to surprise him, and this, right here, was no different.

“Something amusing here?” Cole asked, staring down at her.

Closing her eyes tightly, she let out an even louder giggle. Just as he was about to push the issue, he heard Logan’s voice chime in.

“Oh, Cole, don’t you realize that you are the only stiff prick in here?”

Cole glared up at his brother and business partner and growled through gritted teeth. “Get out.”

Rachel’s laughter seemed to increase as she removed her hand and started to tie the strings of her pants. “It’s okay, Cole.” She pulled herself together and turned around to face the man she had met last week, Logan. “You know, you remind me a lot of Cole—arrogant and persistent. The only difference is that you mask it better.”

“Hear that?” Logan scoffed to Cole. “She thinks I’m better than you.”

“No, she essentially said you
lie
better than me,” Cole pointed out.

Rachel looked back and forth between the two of them. “How long have you two worked with each other?”

“Too long as of three minutes ago,” Cole responded quickly.

“Aww, it’s so heartwarming to hear how much your own brother cares.”

“Wait, what? You two are brothers?” Rachel asked as she looked at first Logan and then Cole.

Cole let his head fall back as he stared at the ceiling, searching for sanity. “God give me patience,” he mumbled.

“Yes, shocking, isn’t it? I’m the much better looking one,” Logan said with a laugh as he walked forward and placed the file in his hand on Cole’s desk.

“Sometime today or tomorrow, do you think you could take a break from your husbandly duties and use the desk for something it was designed for?”

Cole brought his head back up and pinned the man across from him with what he hoped was a look that would kill or at least certainly hurt. “Who told you she was here?” he finally asked.

“Marissa,” Logan admitted and held up a finger. “In her defense, I asked her to alert me of strange women going into your office.”

Cole shook his head and pointed at the door. “Leave. Now.”

Logan turned to Rachel and gave her his usual killer smile accompanied by an easygoing wink. “I will talk to you later, Mrs. Madison.”

As he exited the office, Rachel turned to face Cole with a shocked look on her face. “That’s your brother?”

“Half-brother, and now, you get to claim him, too.” Cole felt his lips twitch.

“Well, speaking of brothers, mine invited us to dinner on Friday night.”

Cole pulled back and looked down at her skeptically.

“A friendly one,” she added with a grin.

Cole hugged her in close. “Maybe we should bring Logan, you know, as a party trick.”

Her laugh bubbled up and out of her, and Cole realized nothing could have ruined that moment for him as she nestled into his chest, like she felt just as home as he was.

Tuesday evening had passed by in a blur almost as if she were living in some kind of dream—one she got to wake up from with a smile on her face instead of being jolted from in terror. Rachel still couldn’t believe that she had found her peace with the one man she thought would cause chaos.

Making her way into Exquisite on Wednesday afternoon, Rachel took a moment to reflect on all that had happened over the last—
holy shit
—week.
Okay, maybe a little more than a week.
Who knew that was even possible
?
How did Cole manage that?

As she wandered down the back aisle toward the kitchen, she reached the entryway, and she was surprised to see Mason in there. He was showing around—

Cole? What the hell?

Stopping where she was, Rachel looked at the two men who were, for the first time, standing side-by-side. She watched apprehensively as they talked to one another, wondering if she would be called to testify if one murdered the other.

What is Cole doing here?

“Quite a sight, isn’t it?”

Rachel spun around quickly to find Lena standing behind her with a smile stretched across her mouth. Narrowing her eyes, Rachel walked toward her sister-in-law and placed her hands on her hips.

“I suppose you had nothing to do with this?”

Lena shrugged and glanced past Rachel’s shoulder. “I didn’t call him if that’s what you mean.”

Rachel tapped her foot and crossed her arms as she pursed her lips.

Lena’s green eyes twinkled as she raised her chin in the men’s direction. “I think it’s important that their first meeting—”

“Third,” Rachel interjected.

“Okay. I think it’s important that their
third
meeting be done before Friday. They need to know each other if they’re both going to be in your life.”

“And you decided to what? Nudge them together? Are you crazy? You don’t nudge men like that.”

“No, I asked Mason to give him a call, that’s all.”

Rachel cocked her head. “And he agreed? Just like that?”

Lena gave her a look that told Rachel
exactly
how she had persuaded Mason to call up Cole, and it had nothing to do with talking.

How weird
, Rachel thought, looking back at her brother and husband. They were both so completely different,
yet they are both so vital to my happiness.

Rachel moved to stand silently beside Lena to watch the men. She had so many good memories in that kitchen, and as Cole made his way around all the stainless steel in jeans and a casual black shirt, Rachel knew this was one more she could add to the pile.

No matter what she had told herself, the sight of the two most important people in her life actually getting along made her heart happy.

“You can say it now,” Rachel whispered to the woman by her side.

“Say what?” Lena asked as she nudged her arm.

Rachel faced the doctor who was as much of her sister as Mason was her brother. “That I was wrong from the very beginning. That, from the first moment at Whipped, I was hiding.”

Lena shook her head as she faced her. “I know a little something about hiding. I think we do it to try and keep ourselves safe. The only problem with that is we sometimes miss what’s right in front of us.” Lena paused for a moment, and then she chuckled. “Or, in your case, we see it, grab it, and marry it.”

Rachel smirked and reached out to poke Lena in the arm. “I’ll have you know that
he
asked
me
, not the other way around.”

“Who asked what?” Mason’s familiar voice filtered through the air.

Spinning back around, Rachel found herself face-to-face with her brother and Cole. She was about to make something up when Cole spoke up.

“I have no doubt that Rachel was just telling your wife that
I
was the one who asked her to marry me. To be honest, she was actually a tough sell. I had to pull out all my negotiating tactics.”

Rachel’s mouth opened and then shut. Once again, she found she had nothing to say.

“Really?” Mason asked as he turned to look at Cole. “You asked her? I have to say that I honestly thought it was the other way around.”

“I told you what they would all think,” Rachel finally managed to say.

Cole pushed his hands into his tight jeans, and with a wink, he acknowledged, “Yes, I seem to remember you saying something of the sort.”