“This is where you live?” I look around the condo in disbelief.

“I know. Impressive, isn’t it?” He laughs and holds his hands out like he’s presenting a vast castle to me. “Try not to be intimidated by all of this.” He sweeps his arm around the modest room. I mean, it’s still nice. It’s not like he’s slumming it by any means with his impressive windows and even more impressive view of the Hudson, but it’s just not what I expected from a manager.

“No, it’s nice. I’m just a little surprised. I wish I had a place this nice,” I tell him truthfully.

“Thank you. It does the job, I guess. Home sweet home.” He looks around the open-plan living room and kitchen and shrugs. “Would you like me to show you around? Or I could get us a glass of wine…” Colt walks toward his kitchen with me hot on his heels.

“Sure, if you would’t mind. I’d love to get a tour. Of your bedroom.” Leaning into him, I breathe him in as he looks down at my lips.

He wraps his arm around my back and tilts my chin up to him with his other hand, so we’re paused in an almost kiss. The electric sparks are snapping like the buzz of a lightning storm in the air on a hot summer evening.

“I think that can be arranged,” he murmurs and kisses me slowly. Truthfully, I’m a little disarmed. When I go home with a guy, I’m used to the urgent passion of fumbling to get our clothes off as quickly as possible. I expected the same from him, not the sensual, unhurried kisses he’s covering me in now.

Despite my initial confusion, I find myself fluttering my eyes closed and dissolving into his tender lips. When he steps back, my flesh cries out for more of his touch as the air between us feels like the eroding space of the Grand Canyon. His hazel, deep-set eyes hold me in place tighter than his brawny arms could.

“I’ve missed those eyes.” He smiles faintly.

“My eyes? What do you mean?”

“When I met you at the art show. When was that?”

“Almost two years ago.” I can’t believe how quickly time has evaporated from my life.

“That’s right.” A smile flickers on his lips as he remembers. “When I saw you that night, I knew I had to meet you. You were—I mean, you are, just so stunning.”

I remember how he persisted in talking to me that night. “Thank you,” I whisper. Something about his confession makes me want to tone down my normally boisterous voice.

“For the longest time, I could close my eyes and still see your face in my mind. Your full lips.” He runs his thumb over my bottom lip and it stirs a deep desire inside me to kiss him. “Your flawless face”—his fingertips graze my cheek like a warm ocean breeze—“and those eyes.”

I watch how his twinkle with recognition as he looks over my features.

He kisses me, and I press my body against his solid frame, wishing away our clothes. His words seep into my mind, as his lips linger on mine. Pulling away from him, I tilt my head in curiosity.

“Why didn’t you ever call me? If we hadn’t met tonight, I don’t think we would have ever crossed paths again.”

Holding the side of my face in his palm, he pauses. “Trust me, I thought about it many times. But I wasn’t in a place where dating was an option for me then. Taking over the The Families of Fallen Heroes organization and balancing life was… more hectic than I expected.”

Clouds flash quickly over his eyes. I’m not sure if they are clouds of sadness, regret or something else. They roll over too quickly for me to read properly.

“You’re wrong, though.” A sparkle of sunlight outshines the clouds as he smiles down at me. “I knew we would cross paths again.”

“Oh? How’s that?”

“Well, at the risk of sounding like a stalker”—he drops his chin—“I went to Julia and Parker’s wedding today because I knew you’d be there. I mean, I also wanted to wish them well and all that.” He waves his hand in a small circle like he’s spinning the sentiment around his fingers. “The bigger reason, the real reason I couldn’t miss it, was to see you again.”

There are two types of women in this world. The ones you take home for a night and the ones you take home to your mom. Now, I haven’t ever been sipping tea and eating biscuits with anyone’s mother, but the way Colt is talking to me allows me to picture it just for a second. The thought is fleeting as he leans into me, kissing me again, but this time with the familiar urgency I was expecting earlier. His hands wrap around my shoulders, making quick work of unzipping my gown until my back is completely exposed. He kisses a hot trail over to the vulnerable hollow of my neck. I allow the flowing, peach dress I’ve worked so hard to keep spotless all day to become a forgotten pile of chiffon on his kitchen floor.

I slide my hands over his chest and inside the shoulders of his jacket, slipping it down his arms. It joins my discarded gown, along with his tie and shirt. I’m so happy I decided to wear something sexy underneath my dress today instead of some high-waisted pantyhose or Spanx. I don’t think either of those would’ve been nearly as sexy to be ripped off me. Colt quickly tugs my panties down my legs, sliding his fingers over my glistening pussy and then savoring my juices in his mouth.

“Mmm.”

Colt is even more built than I imagined under his clothes. His muscles are cut like they’ve been chipped away painstakingly from stone. I’m torn between running my hands or my lips all over his exposed flesh. Instead, he pulls me in and hooks his hands under my thighs, lifting me up. I hold my hands around the back of his neck and wrap my legs around his waist, grinding against the obvious erection tucked away in his pants. He walks me out of the kitchen and down the hallway into his bedroom, finally releasing my legs from his grip when he sits me down on the edge of his bed.

With his cock so obviously trapped by the fabric of his pants only inches from my mouth, I can’t resist. Grabbing his belt, I pull him toward me, dragging my bottom lip over the fly of his dress pants. I leave a trail of my pink lipstick as my fingers tug his belt and zipper open, but I don’t think he’s going to mind. Yanking down his pants and boxers, I wrap my hand around his thick cock and flatten my tongue, dragging it from the base all the way to the very tip. I watch from under my eyelashes as his face melds from anticipation to pleasure. His hand brushes over my hair until he reaches the intricate bun I’ve had professionally done up for the wedding, and he holds my head as I take him in my mouth.

His eyes roll back into his head, and then his head rolls back onto his shoulders as I push more of his steely cock in past my lips. He’s holding more pressure on the back of my head, so I stop looking up at him and just concentrate on giving him as much pleasure as my mouth will allow. When he steps back from the bed, I’m totally shocked, my mouth still hanging open from where his cock was only a second ago. He shimmies the rest of the way out of his pants, and the bed sinks under his weight as he joins me on the mattress, lying back, naked and beautiful, across his covers.

He pulls me over to him effortlessly and puts one of my legs on each side of his head, so my wet pussy is hovering over his lips. “There, now you can keep going.”

He lifts his hips toward me, and I lean over until I’m lying flat against him and take his cock back in my mouth as his tongue plunges into my folds from my center to my sensitive nub. When he finds my spot, I groan around his erection, grinding down onto his hot tongue. Colt wraps his arms around each of my thighs, holding them under his control. His mouth is hot against my sex as his tongue dances on my clit. When I try to squirm, I’m firmly held in place by his strong arms, so I try to concentrate on giving him as much pleasure as he gives me as he expertly licks and teases my pussy.

My orgasm overwhelms my senses, coming on faster than I’ve ever experienced before. I cry out, dropping his cock from my lips, and twist my hips as the intense bliss spills over me, awakening my senses and tensing every muscle in my body. I shudder as a mixture of heat and cold battles it out over my skin. Colt rolls me over, off him and onto the bed, looking at me with a sparkling smile.

It isn’t until I swallow that I realize how hoarse my throat is. “Sorry, I just lost control there,” I admit sheepishly. I’ve been told before the noises I make in bed are a bit much, but it’s impossible to keep it under wraps. It’s like asking someone to try to be less noisy when lightning is hitting them.

“Don’t be sorry.” He moves between my thighs. “It’s a huge turn on to hear you get off like that.” Colt settles between my splayed legs, and I hook my feet around his waist, pulling him into me until the heat of his cock is against me.

“Oh yeah?” I smirk, shimmying my hips under him in a failed attempt to push him inside me.

Colt laces his fingers with mine and holds my hands down at my sides. “Yeah. I think I want to see how much louder I can make you cum this time.” Looking into my eyes, his hard cock probes my entrance. He slides into me, and I roll my hips under him to make room for his girth.

Going home with a man is nothing new to me. However, this is a new experience for me. I’m used to being fucked, hard, usually from behind. Or being tossed around the bed like a ragdoll. But Colt, while assertive, pushes into my center, never taking his eyes from mine. Something about his look makes me more vulnerable than any raw, crazy sex ever has. My eyes water a little as a lump grows in my throat. I don’t know what the hell is happening to me, but I’m totally overwhelmed with emotions as Colt slides his thick cock into me.

Tossing my head to the side, I concentrate on how our hands look sewn together by our fingers. The last thing I want is to let this weird outburst of emotions destroy this moment. Colt leans over my exposed neck and nibbles on my ear as he buries his cock inside me down to the hilt. He holds himself there, completely immersed with me, the two of us merged, and I find myself wishing this could be more.

More than one night. More than another fling. More than just sex.

Luckily, just as I think I’m about to start sobbing and ruin this whole night with my unexplainable impulses, Colt pulls my hands up over my head, holding them there, and thrusts into me hard. My attention snaps back to the growing pleasure building up inside me. Warmth spreads through my belly as he pumps his thick member into me faster. The sensation grows larger and brighter until it explodes like a supernova sun, the pleasurable heat billowing out through my limbs as my orgasm rolls through me. Colt’s body tightens as he plunges his cock deep inside me and fills me with his seed. Unmoving, the two of us lie together, still joined, and listen to the mesh of our panting and our heartbeats filling our ears.

When Colt untangles his fingers from mine, I realize I’ve lost all feeling in my hands, but I couldn’t care less. Right now the only thing I care about is lying next to him, safe in his arms as he traces love letters onto my skin. My body is being covered by a blanket of foggy sleep I can’t resist when Colt suddenly sits up, and my eyes spring open.

“What is it?” I find the worried expression on his face unnerving.

“I don’t know how to say this.” He rubs the back of his neck, looking down and away from me.

“What?”

“It’s just that, I, uh, I need to leave ridiculously early this morning, so I think it would be better I call a cab to pick you up and take you home tonight.” He looks at his hands.

My zen-like buzz is quickly squashed by my disappointment. I’m familiar with this song and dance. The old ‘I got what I wanted now you have to leave’ routine. Normally this wouldn’t even bother me. Normally I would be just as eager to get out the door as he is to watch me go, but after the way we danced and talked—hell, even after the way we fucked, I thought he was different.

“That’s fine.” I sit up and slip off the edge of the bed so he can’t see my face. I don’t want him to see how hurt I am. I was a fool to think this was anything more than this. There are two types of women in this world, and I’ve never been brought home to meet anyone’s mom. I don’t know why I thought that was suddenly going to change. I quickly walk out of the bedroom door to grab my dress and slip my panties back on. This time, it’s Colt following me into the kitchen hot on my heels.

“Hey, are you upset? It’s not that I want to kick you out or anything. I just have an early flight and—”

“Why would I be upset?” I force a smile and hope I’m being convincing. “I had a great time. It was really nice to see you again.”

I pull my dress on and step into my heels. “Would you mind zipping me?” I turn my back to him and stare at the floor. Shut it down, Isabella. He tugs my zipper up, much less suavely than he pulled it down. By the time he manages to get my gown done back up, I’ve gotten my emotions under control.

“Well, I hope we can meet up again after I return from my trip. I’ll only be gone for a couple weeks.” He leans in to kiss me, but I give him a quick peck and sidestep out of the way.

“That sounds great. I look forward to it.” I push the fake smile further across my face. I won’t hold my breath.

“Okay, well, let me call you a cab.” He picks up his cell phone.

“You know, I think I’ll go wait for it in the lobby. I could really use a cigarette anyway.” I grab my clutch and smooth my hands over my hair and then my dress, hoping I don’t look like too much of a hot mess.

“Then just wait a sec. I’ll join you. I need to put on some clothes.” Colt nods down at his completely naked, completely sexy frame. I only allow myself a glimpse. I don’t want to be pulled in again.

“No, seriously, it’s fine. Please, just order the cab and I’ll go wait. I’m sure I’ll hear from you when you get back.” Try as I might, I couldn’t make that last part sound genuine.

Colt doesn’t argue. I didn’t expect him to. As I said, I know this song and dance well. Now it’s time for my exit.

“Okay, well, I have your number.”

“Yep.” I lean in and give him a brusque kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you around.”

Before he can suck me in or drag this out any longer, I head to the door. When I look back, he’s watching me leave with his mouth twisted into a little bow. He looks upset, but I don’t have time to get invested in what he’s feeling right now, not when I’m all over the place like this. It’s just best for me to go home.

When I walk out of the condo, I take a deep breath and push it all down. Too much wine and too much dancing. It’s a dangerous combination. But I know in my heart it’s more than that. I know I let him get to me.