Fall Into You (Morally Gray, #2)(52)

His mouth is hot and demanding. His tongue delves deep. He holds me against his body with his arms wound tightly around my back and drinks from my mouth until I’m dizzy.

Then he sets me firmly away from him and steps back, shaking his head.

“We can’t do this, Shay.”

Unsteady and breathing hard, I take a moment to gather my wits and try to understand what he’s saying. “You mean here? We can’t do this in your office?”

“No. I mean at all.”

Hurt by his words and the hardness in his voice, I turn and walk away. “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that. And before you open your mouth again, let me tell you something…”

I stop a few feet away from his desk and stare at the copy of Love in the Time of Cholera sitting on the blotter. When I turn to look at him, he sighs and drags a hand through his hair.

“I thought you didn’t like romance novels.”

“I don’t.”

“Then why is that book on your desk?”

“It’s a long story. How are you?”

I take a moment to inspect his expression. It’s intense. Worried. Yearning. Ambivalent. He stands with his back ramrod straight and his head slightly lowered, arms at his sides, legs spread apart, hands flexed. He looks like he’s fighting himself not to break into a run, grab me, and kiss me again.

Folding my arms over my chest, I stare at him. “I’m well. Thank you for asking. You?”

“Fine. Thanks.”

His intense gaze rakes up and down my body. He licks his lips and shifts his weight from foot to foot.

“Cole, if you seriously think you can act like there are no feelings between us, and we’re just going to go about our lives as if nothing ever happened, you’re not as smart as I thought you were.”

“I never said there were no feelings. I said we can’t do anything about them.”

I look at him in his beautiful navy-blue suit with his gorgeous face and his strong body, and wonder how such a perfect specimen of a man could be this absurd.

“So you’re planning on spending the rest of your life alone, is that it?”

“Yes.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“Also yes. You look beautiful today. I love that color on you.”

“Color? I’m wearing black.”

“It’s perfect. You’re so perfect, I could go blind.”

I can’t help it. Despite my hurt and confusion, I smile. “You know, for someone who’s trying to convince me we can’t have a relationship, you’re doing a terrible job.”

“I don’t want you to think it’s because I don’t want you. I want you like I’ve never wanted anything. But I’m not good for you, Shay. I’m not…good.”

My heart is a sucker for this man. He stares at me with such seriousness on his face and in his eyes and voice, trying to tell me why we can’t be together, but I can barely hear him over the pounding of my pulse. It’s a roar of kiss me kiss me kiss me in my ears, deafening me.

I sit on the edge of his desk and close my eyes, trying to block it out.

A moment later, he strokes a hand over my hair.

“Are you really okay?”

His voice is soft, close to my ear. I nod but don’t open my eyes because I want him to keep touching me.

“I’m sorry you couldn’t sleep. Was it because of me?”

I nod again, inhaling his scent and enjoying his body heat. He must be standing very close.

“Shay. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“It’s not. I don’t want to be the cause of your sleepless nights.”

“It wasn’t a bad thing. It was just that I woke up and remembered you called me baby the other night. You called me baby when you were taking care of me, just like you did that night at the hotel.”

There’s an electric pause before I open my eyes and look up at him. He’s inches away, gazing down at me with ravenous eyes, his hand on my hair, his lips parted. The pulse in the side of his neck throbs.

I flatten my hands on his chest and whisper, “I want you to call me that again but while you’re inside me.”

Because I’ve got my hands on his chest, I feel his reaction to my words. His heartbeat starts to gallop, and his abdominal muscles tense. He draws a sharp breath. He gathers my hair in his big hand and makes a fist around it.

That simple gesture gets me so hot, I almost moan out loud. I stare up at him with my pulse flying and my nipples hardening, begging him with my eyes to put his mouth on mine.

Eyes burning, he breathes, “What are you doing to me?”

“The same thing you’re doing to me. Please, Cole. Please kiss me. You can send me away after that. I promise I’ll go if you ask me to, but please just kiss me again before I lose my mind.”

His lids flutter. His voice turns gruff. “Stop begging. You’re fucking killing me.”

“Please.”

He closes his eyes and groans. I stand, slide my hands up his chest and wind my arms around his shoulders, then brush my lips over his with feather-light pressure. Against his mouth, I whisper, “Please.”

His voice turns guttural. “This is a dangerous game you’re playing.”

“It’s not a game.”