A few minutes later, Cole was clean, his hair was mostly dry thanks to its shortness, Tito was tearing into some beef paté, and an overpowering need to go see Sierra jabbed at Cole. He refused to give in. If he showed up at her place tonight, it’d set a precedent. If he couldn’t stay away for one goddamn night, he was screwed.

He would stay away. It was just going to take some distractions.

While Tito was still absorbed in his food bowl, Cole walked out the door and back down the stairs to Sunshine’s.

All day, he’d been taunted by thoughts of last night, from the way she’d so willingly come to him on the balcony to the sounds she’d made when she came apart to the feel of her hair cascading over his chest, his arms, everywhere. All of it was imprinted in his brain, the memories visceral, unrelenting.

Work had been a mind fuck.

While the rest of the crew had painted, he and Sierra had prepped for laying the floors, which would be a multi-day project. On the outside, it would’ve looked like any other day between them, with them working as a team, problem solving, ensuring that the appropriate materials were in each room, the tile saw ready to go in the garage. But beneath the surface, it was anything but usual.

His mind had played an all-day game of what-if. What if I guided her into that closet and kissed her till she couldn’t remember her name? What if I lowered her onto that waist-high pallet of boxed ceramic tile and made her come with my fingers? What if I propped her up on that oversized bathroom vanity and unleashed my tongue on her?

All the while, they’d kept their discussion professional and work-related. He was grateful for that and yet he hated it.

The only hint that he hadn’t dreamed up the night before was a single moment when, after they’d carried the last of the wood floor planks to the living room, she’d touched him, given his biceps a seemingly nonchalant squeeze as she peered up at him with a flash of heat in her eyes. There was technically nothing sexual about the gesture, and some people wouldn’t even have registered it as being out of character, but Sierra didn’t touch her crew, ever. And the look in her eyes, as if she wanted him to do all the things he’d been fantasizing about the entire damn day…

He’d had to lie and tell her he had to take a break to call his mom, just to give him an excuse to go sit in his truck, away from her, and get his mental shit together.