The man behind the counter nodded quickly. "Of course, sir. I'll just go check on a few things in back."
Cole had a way of focusing all of his attention on her that rattled her brain--and made her panties shockingly damp.
She couldn't believe the way she heated up beneath his gaze. No other man had ever made her feel this way, like she couldn't control her hormones around him. It wasn't just that he was extremely good-looking. And built like a bodybuilder. No, it was something else that had her pulse racing.
It was the way his eyes said Mine when he looked at her.
Just like they were doing right now.
She took a breath to try to clear her head, but the breath was so shaky she almost didn't get any air in.
"Anna." He put his finger beneath her chin and tipped her chin up.
"Isn't this exciting?" she asked, trying to give him a confident smile.
"Yes," he agreed, and then, "Tell me what's wrong."
She forced herself to say, "Nothing's wrong," the same thing she'd been saying to everyone her entire life, whether or not it was true.
His finger moved from her chin up her cheek. "I can handle the truth, sweet Anna."
And the thing was, she suddenly believed him. Unable to look away from his dark, hot gaze, she said, "It's not that I don't want to do this. I mean, you asked if I wanted to get married and I said yes, so we're here and I'm sure it's going to be really great, but then when you started asking about paperwork, I--"
Well, it had just seemed so cold. So businesslike. So far from the heat that had driven them here.
"I kind of started to freak out." She sucked in a breath. "But I'm okay now." And it was the strangest thing, but just telling him what she really felt went a long way toward dissolving the knot in her stomach.
"What's your last name, Anna?"
Finding it difficult to focus past the fact that his fingertips were now traveling along the outside of her earlobe, she said, "Davis." His fingers ran down the side of her neck and it made so many wicked and wild desires jump to life inside that she had to close her eyes for a minute to try and keep her balance.
"Want to know mine?"
Anna opened her eyes in surprise. "Of course I do," she told him. "It's just that when you're doing that, I can't concentrate."
His full, masculine lips curving into a sensual grin, he ran his fingers across her collarbone and down the underside of her upper arm. "Good."
More moisture flooded her panties and she couldn't hold back a soft moan of pleasure.
"So sweet, Anna. So damn sweet."
The desire that rippled through her at his heated words sent her reeling. Needing desperately to ground herself in something, anything, she buried her face against his chest. But instead of grounding her, when she breathed in the heady scent of him--a clean, male scent that drew her in even deeper and made her want to rub herself all over him like a cat in heat--she could barely focus on anything other than how much she wanted Cole. No, this wasn't simply wanting, this was something else entirely, a desperate craving that ate away at her.
And then she felt his hands on her shoulders, pushing her back far enough that he could hold her gaze again. "You'll be Anna Taylor soon."
Her breath caught in her throat. It was a heck of a way to tell her his last name.
Before she could get her lungs or brain to cooperate again--was she really about to leave Anna Davis, the woman she'd been for nearly thirty years, behind?--the chapel's front door opened and an attractive gray-haired man walked in.
She felt herself flush as he quickly took her in, head to toe. He kept his face expressionless, save for the slight surprise lingering in his eyes.
"Introduce me, please," the man said to Cole.
Cole's eyes hadn't left her, not when his friend had walked in, not now that he was making the introductions. "James, this is Anna Davis. My fiancee."
Anna's heart rate leapt at the word fiancee and she worked to school her face into a normal smile of greeting. "It's nice to meet you, James."
The man's eyebrow lifted slightly. "It is very nice to meet you, Ms. Davis."
The next thing she knew, he was opening up a velvet case, much like the one the chapel attendant had under the counter. She gasped at the rings inside this one.
"No," she said, shaking her head and shooting a panicked glance at Cole. "You can't--I shouldn't--"
"Are these the biggest ones you could find?" Cole asked his friend in a clearly irritated tone.
Ignoring him, James told Anna, "Of course you will look beautiful in any of them. But now that I've met you, I think this one would be perfect."
He held out the only ring that had caught her eye, a princess-cut diamond surrounded by a circle of smaller diamonds. Still, she didn't reach out to touch it.
Frowning, Cole said, "Damn it, these diamonds aren't big enough." He pulled out the biggest one, so big she wasn't sure she'd be able to lift her hand with it on, and said, "How about we use this one tonight and then tomorrow morning we'll trade it in for something better?"
Standing in a Las Vegas wedding chapel, staring at a diamond that had to be at least five carats in the hands of a man she'd met approximately sixty minutes earlier, Anna stopped processing.
And starting laughing.
Both men stared at her as if she were completely off her rocker. She supposed they were right. After all, she was here, wasn't she?
"Cole," she finally said when she was able to speak, "these diamonds are all way too big."
"Too big?"
Cole looked utterly confused and she could have sworn his friend made a sound that was something between a cough and a barely-swallowed laugh.
"Way too big." Her gaze swung back to the one James had pointed out. "But that one's pretty. I guess I could get used to wearing it."
"Leave the ring."
James turned a bemused gaze to Cole. "Of course."
He put it on the counter, then closed the velvet box. He caught Anna by surprise with his smile, so friendly and genuine. "My best wishes to you, Anna." He left before wishing Cole luck.
"Wonderful, the ring has arrived!" The attendant returned, holding a clipboard and a pen.
"I just need to see photo IDs and have you fill out your addresses, social security numbers, and signatures and we can get straight to the ceremony."