Chapter Five

Chapter FiveThe following night, I grimaced from my barstool at the lounge, my gaze on Inaya and the bloke who was currently chatting her up. “This is actually uncomfortable to watch. Painful, even.”“I am cringing on his behalf,” said Briar, nibbling on her thumb. “He’s gonna crash and burn, I can see it.”Cat exhaled heavily. “Most guys do when it comes to Inaya. But who could blame her for being put off by all the fumbling and stuttering and gushing they do around her? That kind of male desperation isn’t exactly a turn-on.”“Yeah, starstruck isn’t a good look for anyone,” I agreed, lifting my glass from the bar.“To be fair,” began Briar, “it would be hard for a guy not to be nervous when hitting on Inaya. Even the most confident of men are intimidated by not only her success but how gorgeous and self-assured she … Dammit, how does she do that? When I reject a dude, he calls me a frigid bitch or acts like an ass. When she does it, guys often walk away smiling. It’s like her super power. And I want it.”I snickered and then glanced at the wall clock. Cole should be here any second—hence the hum of excitement in my blood. When I’d texted him earlier to confirm that we were still meeting up tonight, he’d mentioned that he’d booked a private room for us but he’d refused to expand further. I wasn’t a fan of surprises—something I made clear, but he’d only replied with an emoji that had its mouth zipped shut.As Inaya neared us, I smiled and said, “So, yet another bloke bit the dust.”Her nose wrinkled. “Not to be mean, only brutally honest … I can’t feel drawn toward someone who is literally sweating as he talks to me.”“Sweating?” echoed Cat, pulling a face.“His hands were clammy, and there were tiny beads of sweat on his forehead and upper lip.” Inaya leaned against the bar. “Worse than all that, he kept raving about my music and my voice blah, blah, blah. He saw Inaya Rose the rock singer, not me.” She sighed. “Many do.”“At least they comment on your career and not your mom’s.” Briar chugged back some of her pink gin. “I can’t count the number of times a guy started talking about how he’s such a big fan of Alondra. Which wouldn’t have been bad if there wasn’t a glint in their eye that told me it was her physical attributes that they were mostly a fan of.”Cat frowned, giving an astonished shake of the head. “You’d think they’d have the sense to hide it.”“And yet …” Briar let the sentence trail off and then cut her gaze back to Inaya. “It’s a shame he got all starstruck on you. He’s super cute.”Inaya waved that away. “I would have turned him down in any case, since you and me agreed to have a girls’ night out while Izzy and Cat are off getting laid, the traitors.”I felt my brow crease. “How does that make us traitors?”Inaya lifted one shoulder. “I don’t know, but it does.”I rolled my eyes and took a sip of my cocktail.Sliding her gaze to Briar, Cat crossed one leg over the other. “Any idea when Grover will be back in Redwater?”Briar shook her head. “I haven’t spoken to him in a while.” Her brows dipped. “I should probably call him. I said I would, but I forgot.”Inaya frowned. “This dude is clearly an afterthought to you. What is the point of being in an arrangement with him? Especially when he’s barely around? Why let him have rights to you? I don’t get it.”Briar rubbed at her brow. “Can we not talk about this?”Inaya sighed. “Fine. But there’s only so long we’ll let you get away with blowing us off.” Her eyes snapped to something behind me. “Iz, brace yourself. Some hot dude is on his way over, looking at you like he’d gobble you up in a heartbeat.”Mere moments later, a well-groomed bloke materialized at my side, a charming smile on his face—a face I easily recognized as belonging to a well-known anchorman. “Hi,” he said simply. “Isabel McKenzie, isn’t it? I’m Lambert Formby.”I gave him a polite smile. “Nice to meet you.”He tilted his head. “I know you must get this a lot, but you look so much like your mother it is uncanny.”Ugh. “I’ve noticed.”He chuckled. “I suppose you have.” Propping his hip against the bar, he glanced down at my mostly-consumed cocktail. “Can I buy you a drink?”“She has one, as you can see,” said a new and somewhat familiar voice as a warm, hard body pressed against my back. “And the only person who’ll be buying her another tonight is me.”The possessive note in Cole’s tone took me so much by surprise that my eyebrows almost flew up. Well.Lambert looked like he might protest to being so thoroughly dismissed—no one here took kindly to being shooed along if the person they’d approached wasn’t claimed. But he pressed his lips tightly shut. Perhaps because challenging a professional boxer on anything would never be a wise move. He gave us a nod and gracefully melted away.Planting his hands on my hips, Cole pressed a kiss to the side of my neck. “Our table’s ready.”I half-turned on my stool and smiled at the gorgeous male specimen that took my hand in his. “You have good timing.”“And you have more admirers than I’m comfortable with,” he said, his mouth quirking. He swept his gaze over every inch of me. “You look as stunning as always.”“Why, thank you. You’re looking rather edible.”“That’s one I haven’t heard before.” He nodded at my friends. “Ladies, I’d apologize for whisking Izzy away, but I’m not sorry.”“Oh no, we don’t mind,” Inaya told him, waving a hand toward the dining area of the lounge. “You go whisk.”I snorted. “How gracious of you.”She only smiled.“Come.” Cole gently took my drink from me. “I’ll carry your glass.”Once I’d said my quick goodbyes to the girls, I allowed him to lead me to the dining area. A waitress there showed us to a booth, took our orders for drinks, and then told us she’d be back shortly.Cole didn’t sit opposite me, he slid onto the cushioned booth beside me, sitting so close his thigh pressed against mine. The scent of his masculine cologne was as intoxicating as the way he so blatantly ate up my space.After we’d scanned the menu and chosen what food we’d soon order, I returned it to the menu holder. “So, how was your day?” I asked him once the waitress disappeared.“Same as most Fridays,” he replied, absently toying with my curls. “I have a strict diet and training regimen.”Curious, I tilted my head. “Talk me through a typical day for you. If you don’t mind,” I hurried to add.“Of course I don’t mind. It’s not anything you’ll find exciting. I eat breakfast, go jogging, have lunch, train, sometimes spar, shower, have dinner, and then relax for the evening. It’s more intense if I head off to camps to train before a fight—sometimes I do, something I don’t. I wasn’t exaggerating when I said that boxing leaves me little time for much else.”I had the feeling that he’d have been just as highly committed to any career. It was clear to sense that Cole was a man who fully applied himself to everything he did. I respected that. I admired his level of focus and dedication. And I sure did like being the center of that intense focus just as I was right now.“How does your typical day go?” he asked.“My routine isn’t quite as rigid as yours. I wake early, but not too early unless necessary—for instance, if I need to take shots of a sunrise or something. I grab my camera, head off to a random location, take a ton of photos, and then go back to my apartment where I upload and play with them on my laptop.”“How did you get into photography?”“When I was a kid, I’d often hang around my mum’s photoshoots. I’d also often bug the photographers out of plain boredom. They’d naturally get annoyed and try shooing me away. Though not too rudely—most people find my mum pretty scary.”Cole’s mouth canted up. “Your dad, too, I’ll bet. He has a temper, from what I’ve heard.”“Yeah, people tend to swerve getting on his bad side. Anyway, this one time I was at one of her photoshoots—I was seven, I think—and poking at a photographer. Amazingly he didn’t get frustrated and tell me to piss off. He let me hold his camera and started talking to me about which button did what etc. And … that was it. Something just clicked for me. My dad bought me a camera, and it became an extension of my hand pretty fast.”The waitress reappeared, set down our drinks, and then once more disappeared.Cole took a swig of his beer. “What drew you to sports photography?”“Nothing. I enjoy a lot of types. The main reason I chose to specialize in covering sports events is that the opportunity presented itself.”“In what way?”Searching his eyes, I realized that he wasn’t peppering me with questions simply to fill the silence. He was generally interested. And I liked it.I sipped at my drink. “When I was eighteen, my dad’s publicist came to our house, saw some pictures I’d taken of a race he did for charity, and asked where they came from. Dad told him I’d taken them. The publicist came to me, said I had a bright future ahead of me, and offered to help me sell the pictures. And it just took off from there. So I went with it.”Pursing his lips, Cole gave me a look of understanding. “I fell into boxing in much the same way. I’d initially had no plans to do anything but train at the local gym with a friend just for something to do. But I was good at it, and I enjoyed it. And suddenly there was something I wanted to do with my life. Boxing gave me a sense of direction. It kept me out of trouble, too.”“Did you get into trouble a lot?”His eyes danced. “All the fucking time. It pissed off my dad, because he didn’t want me to develop the kind of bad rep that would put off soccer team managers. My dad still holds it against me that I didn’t follow in his footsteps.”I felt my brow crease in surprise. “Really?”“Yup. He was furious when I told him I wanted to pursue a career in professional boxing. He did his best to try to talk me out of it. Which largely involved yelling at me.”I would never have guessed that his father felt that way. “I remember watching an interview he did a few years back. He talked about how proud he is of you and how—”“He always knew I was built for great things?” Cole snorted. “Yeah, he likes to say that. Likes to paint a picture of how he was a supportive father who noticed his son had boxing talent and encouraged me to pursue it. The truth is he hates that I box. He’ll just never admit it to anyone outside the family.”“What does he have against boxing?”“Nothing. I could have picked any sport that wasn’t soccer and he’d have been just as firmly against me getting involved in it. He’s one of those pushy parents who tried forcing their child onto a certain path. He takes it personally that I carved my own path. He doesn’t respect it, and he doesn’t like that I don’t care if he respects it or not.”What an arsehole. “What about your mum?”“She doesn’t look down on my choices, but she flows with his tide. She takes on his views and shares his opinions. So I don’t have her support in this either.” He said it so matter-of-factly, no disappointment or resentment in his expression or tone. As if he’d long ago simply resigned himself to the situation and didn’t bother to dwell.“I’m sorry that you don’t have their support.”He shrugged and then knocked back more of his beer. “What about your parents, do they support you in what you do?”“One hundred percent. My mum seemed relieved when I told her that I didn’t want to follow in her footsteps.”“Relieved?”“A lot of stress and pressure comes with her profession. Modeling isn’t quite as glamorous as it seems. Some elements of it are even toxic. I think she wanted something different for me, and I think she also worried that I’d try modeling purely because it would have been an easy road to go down. Offers were being thrown at me even when I was a toddler. They kept on coming.“Many people assumed that I’d one day start strolling down a runway. But I knew enough about the industry to be sure that it wasn’t for me. Besides, I’m all about being on the other side of the camera. And cars. I inherited my dad’s love for fast cars.”Cole set down his beer, the corners of his mouth softening. “Yeah? What do you drive?”“An Aston Martin.”He let out a low whistle. “Please tell me you don’t zoom down roads at dangerous speeds.”“Of course not. Getting arrested isn’t fun.” I sipped my drink. “There are isolated places you can go if you want to go full throttle without getting the attention of the police.”“That doesn’t bring me as much reassurance as you seemed to think it will.”I snickered. “Don’t worry, I’m a very good driver. I was taught by the best.”“Your dad?”“My dad,” I confirmed. “He taught me to drive bikes, quads, cars, the lot. Even when I was a kid. We would use his private race track behind our house. I’d happily ride anything. I even tried to ride one of our dogs more than once.” A lot of times, really.Cole’s lips twitched. “What? You’re kidding.”“Nope. Bronty was huge. Like a pony.”“And so you thought you should ride him.”“It seemed like a good idea back then. He never growled at or bit me, which amazes me, but he’d buck all over the place like a bull and fling me off his back. I can’t say I blame him.” I set down my glass. “Do you have any pets?”“No. Doesn’t seem fair to have any when they wouldn’t get the amount of attention from me that they’d need and deserve.” He swallowed another mouthful of beer. “You?”I shook my head. “I travel a lot, so it’s not feasible to have a pet. I’d be dragging the poor soul everywhere.” But if I took my mother’s advice and settled somewhere, I could maybe look into getting a dog.Cole stretched out one of my curls and then let it rebound back into place, his eyes heating. “I could develop an obsession with your hair. And with that mouth of yours—it’s straight out of every man’s fantasy.” His gaze bore into mine. “But those eyes … they take hold.”I playfully fanned my face though, really, I was a little on the flustered side. “Don’t make me swoon, Cole, I’ll never shake off the embarrassment.”He chuckled. “We wouldn’t want that, would we?”Our food soon arrived. We talked more as we ate, exchanging small anecdotes and discussing mundane matters. It was after the waitress later took away our empty plates that Cole’s face tightened as his gaze locked on something up ahead of us.“Don’t look,” he said before I had the chance to track his gaze. “Ryland is here. He and some blonde are settled at another table. And he was staring right at you until he noticed I’d caught him at it.”I felt my lips thin. “Ignore the pillock. He’s a waste of flesh and bones.”Cole slid his eyes back to me. “I’m surprised any woman here would give him the time of day, since it’s obvious by the article that he’s chatty about what takes place here. He might not have explicitly mentioned the club, but he sure hadn’t held his tongue about what went on within it—or what he falsely alleged went on within it, I should say. I would have thought that female members would make a point of avoiding him.”I’d anticipated that same reaction, so it confused me that he’d have company. I frowned as a thought occurred to me. “Does the blonde he’s with have a floral tattoo on her face, by any chance?”“Yes. You know her?”“I’ve spoken to her once. Her name’s Karen. He was in an arrangement with her before me. Maybe they decided to pick up where they left off. Or maybe this is a public gesture that she supports him. Who knows?”“Does it bother you that he might have moved on so fast?” Cole asked, his voice slightly stiff.Was he kidding? “I couldn’t give a monkey’s tit.”Cole’s mouth curved. “So that’s a no, then.”“A very hard no. Especially since it will hopefully mean that he won’t turn up at my apartment building again. I’m sick of dealing with him.”Cole’s smile disappeared in an instant. “He went to see you?”“Twice. The first time, I was here with you. He tried and failed to get my friend and neighbor, Briar, to let him inside the building.”“What about the second time?”“That was yesterday, shortly before you texted me. He approached me in the parking lot as I was heading toward the building. He’s claiming that he had nothing to do with the article; that a friend he drunkenly confided in sold him out and twisted what he said.”Cole’s gaze flitted over my face. “Do you believe him?”“I don’t trust a word that comes out of his mouth.” I bit my lower lip. “You should know that he mentioned you.”His brows dipped. “Me?”“Someone must have told him that you and me met up here last weekend.” I paused. “He tried convincing me that you were physically abusive toward your ex.”Cole’s expression darkened. “What?” he bit out. “That’s a load of shit.” He tensed as if to rise.I planted my hand on his shoulder, twisting in my seat to face him better. “Don’t react. He’d love it. He’d use it. That’s exactly why I haven’t given him a rollicking, verbal or otherwise. My guess is he hoped I’d tell you what he said and then you’d lose your shit and deck him so he could say ‘see, he’s violent’ or some crap like that. And then you’d probably lose your license. He isn’t worth that.”Cole’s nostrils flared. “I would never lay my hands on a woman,” he said, his voice low, deep, and cold.This was a very sore spot for him, I sensed. And it made me recall a rumor I’d once heard that Cole’s father, Leonard, could get physical when drunk. Just maybe there was some truth in it. “I believe you. I wouldn’t be here if I thought differently.”The tension began to seep from his muscles. “I swear to Christ, Izzy, you’re safe with me.”“Again, I believe you.”A long breath left him.“Are you sure you don’t want to postpone our … meetings until this stuff with Ryland has blown over?”Cole’s brows snapped together. “I’m absolutely certain,” he assured me as he turned his body slightly toward mine, mirroring my position and draping one arm over the back of the booth. “I’m pissed,” he went on, splaying a possessive hand on my thigh. “But I’m not so pissed that I don’t clearly see what he’s doing. He can use whatever tactic he likes, he won’t make me distance myself from you.” Cole slid his hand around to my inner thigh and then slowly smoothed it up, up, up. “Or from this pussy.”I held back a gasp as fingertips grazed my folds through my underwear. “I’m afraid I’m going to need you to prove that,” I said, all sorts of sexual implications in my tone. “I say we head to the private room you booked so you can get started on that.”His lips kicked up. “I can do that here.”Wait, what?He tugged the gusset of my underwear aside, baring my pussy to the cool air, and then danced the calloused pads of his fingers along my slit.I almost jumped.“Hmm, so soft and warm.” He dipped his head and nipped my bottom lip just as he lightly flicked my clit.I sucked in a sharp breath, the muscles in my thighs bunching, and fisted the side of his shirt. Then his mouth took mine in a soft, lazy, shallow kiss that melted my bones and fired up my nerve-endings. All the while, he continued to idly play with my pussy.I felt myself going damp. Felt my nipples tighten. Felt my skin heat.He broke the kiss with a low growl. “You have such a bitable mouth. Especially that lower lip. Every time I look at it, I want to sink my teeth into it.”Suddenly hyperconscious that someone could be watching us—the lounge’s lighting was fairly dim, but still—I was about to take a quick glance around, but he shook his head, clearly sensing it.“Look at me,” he ordered, tangling his free hand in my curls. “Only at me. I want your eyes while I touch you.”His fingers circled, rubbed, and lightly plucked at my clit. Not wanting to draw anyone’s attention, I tried keeping still, tried not to moan aloud … but it became harder and harder.“If anyone takes a good look at us, they’ll guess what I’m doing to you right now,” he said, his lips pressed to mine. “I want them to know. I want them to get that this pussy is mine now.”My breath caught in my throat as he drove a finger inside me. My throbbing inner muscles clamped down on it almost desperately.“I wasn’t originally going to suggest an arrangement,” he continued, skillfully pumping his finger in and out of me at a maddeningly slow pace. “Boxing takes up most of my time, so I like simplicity in other areas of my life. But I don’t like that men here think they can hit on you.” He shoved a second finger inside me.Oh, heavenly Jesus. My head would have fallen back if his hand wasn’t still bunched in my hair, holding my head steady.“I don’t want anyone else touching you. And I have no interest in touching any woman but you.”I jumped as the pads of his fingers rubbed my sweet spot deep inside me. Oh God, I needed more. So much more. But he seemingly wanted to bloody talk, and it was getting more and more difficult for me to follow the conversation. It was only really the darkly possessive note in his tone that kept my attention on his words—it hit me right in my core.“We’ll keep the arrangement simple, yes? No demands. No expectations. No dates. But it will be exclusive, and that exclusivity will extend to outside the club as well.” He swirled the fingers inside me. “You on board with all that?”On board? I was all over this proposal—playing with him once or twice wouldn’t have been enough for me. I nodded, but he flicked up a brow … as if the movement alone wasn’t enough. “I’m on board.”His eyes glinting with approval, he added a third finger and oh fuck that felt good. “Next time, you’ll wear something red to signal that you’re claimed. And if anyone asks who you belong to, you’ll tell them it’s me. If anyone asks to buy you a drink, you’ll say no. If anyone tries to dance with you, you’ll tell them no. Won’t you?”“Yes,” I said, my voice thick with need.He hummed, pleased. “My Izzy. Such a good girl. I’m going to make you come right here, but you don’t get to make a sound. Your moans and gasps and whimpers are mine now. No one else gets to hear them.” He drove his fingers faster and harder, curving them perfectly so they hit my sweet spot with every pump.I clamped my lips shut, swallowing back every moan. He held my gaze, never letting me look away, never faltering his pace.Oh, and then the aforementioned pace picked up.I fisted his shirt even tighter, feeling my orgasm creeping toward me.“Yeah, that’s it, you cling to me. I got you.” Without slowing the speed of his thrusts, he began rolling this thumb around my clit. “Come, but not one fucking sound, Izzy.” He bit into the corner of my mouth … and I came. Hard. Long. Silently.Afterwards, I slouched, panting.He stroked a hand over my hair. “You did very well. Now we have a room waiting for us, so let’s finish this in private, shall we?”Oh yes, yes, we shall infuckingdeed.