Snapping out of the hold she had on him, he eyed the box. “You didn’t have to get me anything,” he said, feeling a little embarrassed.
“I did. I wanted you to remember me. Here.” She held out the large box wrapped in some frilly blue paper and he hesitated just a second before taking it. What could it possibly be?
Yeah, he’d be glad to get rid of this guilt from not being able to be himself. Every time he saw her, there was guilt. She was being honest, sincere and he was keeping his identity from her. It was business. That was true. He had to do it for Lacie’s and now that he’d figured out that she had it under control—and the bottom line was improving—he had no reason to be there anymore. He could finally tell her he was Cole.
“Don’t be shy.” She winked.
The box was heavy and unshakable. He smiled. “What is it?”
“Open it,” she said.
He set the box on the counter and took a second to drink in her beauty. Her large smile, perfect pink lips. The way her hair cascaded over her shoulders and fell half-way down her back. An image of her sitting on his bed naked, gazing off into the sunset from his open windows as her beautiful hair lay across her back while he sat behind her, crossed through his mind. It was almost so real he could taste it. Almost.
He wanted it. So bad. Wanted her so damn bad.
He slowly tore the package open only to find a non-descript box. He glanced at her and she nodded her approval as she smiled her kid-in-a-candy-store smile. He chuckled. She was contagious that was for sure. His body tickled with excitement.
He untucked the lid and his chest sighed in amazement. He couldn’t help the grin that pulled his cheeks too high on his face. “This is wonderful.” He admitted, unable to look directly at her for fear of her being able to see into his soul.
He pulled the shiny black record player out of the box and set it on the counter, noticing a few vinyl covers beneath it. He took them out of the box as well. The edges were worn and the titles half-rubbed away. The smell of dust tickled his nostrils and sent him back in time to when he’d had to flip the record for his dad’s player as a kid. He shuffled them between his hands; Frank Sinatra’s Greatest Hits, Otis Redding, Buddy Holly and AC/DC.
“No Elvis?” he teased.
“I thought you might be tired of him. Okay, and because I couldn’t dare part with any of them. You love?” she asked as she shifted her weight from foot to foot.
His heart swelled at the thoughtfulness behind her gift. Yeah, he loved. He loved a lot. He was going to reconfigure his entire surround sound system inside the penthouse to get this baby hooked up.
He finally looked at her pleased expression. “I love, Jillian. It’s a great going-away gift. The best I’ve ever received.” He swallowed the lump in his throat.
“I thought maybe when you get your store, you can hook it up like I have here. Start a collection.”
Ah, yes. His store. The overwhelming urge to tell her this was a complete ruse was strong. Would she hate him? Be angry that he wasn’t honest? Understand the business aspect of it and why he did it?
“I will. I’ll have a difficult time not remembering you though with or without the records.”
“Maybe that was my plan.” She gave him another wink and a shake of her hip as she walked off.
“Thank you,” he called after her. “It’s perfect!”
He returned everything to the box and leaned against the counter. It wasn’t going to be the last time he saw Jillian. But she thought it was. He trained his brain to remind him of that as the day went on. In some ways, it was coming to an end. Lacie’s got a record number of customers, leaving almost zero time for Cole or Jillian to dwell on the fact that he was leaving. He’d had Raymond send him numbers on the store and the revenue increase had been astounding.
Cole had known it would be.
When Jillian did the reports for month’s end, she’d be able to see the bigger picture, and how she’d managed to turn it back around from what Rebekah had been doing to it. Jillian had an eye for lingerie and a way with people. As he watched her in action all day, he realized he’d let her slip into his heart.
A heart he’d kept guarded since he’d lost his sister. It wasn’t love. Was it? No. Not love. But it was something he wanted to explore. Something he hadn’t felt in a long time. It was refreshing and eye-opening, and as he continued to watch Jillian interact with an older lady, it hit him in the chest like a mallet to a gong.
Happiness felt good.
It wasn’t a complete Earth-shaking happiness that sucked him in like a vacuum, because he still felt a lot of regret where Francesca was concerned.
But for him, this slice of happiness was a start. And it was because of the beautiful woman who ran this store.
“What’s got you looking so giddy?” Jillian brushed behind him.
“Guys don’t do giddy.” He scoffed.
“Sure looks like you’re proving that wrong.” Jillian nudged him in the side. Her voice took on that teasing quality he’d begun to look forward to every day. “I didn’t think you were that happy about leaving me.”
“I’m going to miss seeing you every day,” Cole said.
“Me too,” she said. The woman walked up with her purchases and handed them to Jillian.
“Great choices. I only had three of these and I bought one. Not this color, mine’s burgundy. They’re so comfortable.” That was the great thing about Jillian, she wasn’t afraid to relate to people. In this case, she was referring to a simple little nighty – no doubt that she looked exquisite in it. He bet she spent half her paycheck at Lacie’s. He watched her every day fawn over the G-strings and bralettes, the chemises and corsets. His imagination ran wild at what her panty drawer looked like.
“I love your necklace.” The client complimented her. Cole gazed at her neckline and watched Jillian’s pulse thump a staccato in her throat before she uttered a breathless thanks.
He hadn’t paid particular attention to it before. He reached out and felt the heavy weight of the metal between his thumb and forefinger, ignoring the tingles as his hand brushed against her soft skin.
“It is nice. Heavy. Is it new?” he asked.
Jillian swallowed and a blush crept along her cheeks. Why the shyness? She nodded silently and moved away from him. His fingers dropped, the absence of the cool metal and her warm skin causing him to slide his hand into his pocket.
His phone vibrated with a message and making sure Jillian wasn’t hovering too close, he pulled it out of his pocket. Zander. Shit, his first thought, now that they had the groundbreaking ceremony lined up, was that something was going to go wrong with the project. His emotional investment in the project had him on a constant edge.
So far so good on Francesca. Michael got Lina Armstrong to endorse the project. He sent a thumbs-up emoticon and a flexed arm.
Wow. Lina Armstrong was fucking great. She was one of the top national proponents for women’s advocacies. She was a complete ball-buster and most people steered clear of her, if they could. She didn’t do anyone favors which meant she was endorsing the project because she believed in it. That alone, would propel the project into stardom.
As long as they could get their most-important asset to utilize the complex, it wouldn’t be for nothing. They were already pulling together lists of jobs and skills necessary for the complex to hit the ground running with employees. They’d been looking into counselors the group could hire outright and keep on staff at the complex as well as other people who were experienced in child welfare and victims of domestic abuse.
The list of people that would be needed to pull this project together was long and seemingly endless.
Lina Armstrong? Since when did he start rubbing elbows with royalty? Cole chuckled and hit send.
Jillian stood a few feet from him. She was bent over, her necklace dangled in front of her as she pulled her boots off then her socks. Ten adorably cute painted red toes wiggled in freedom. He had the sudden urge to dro
p to his knees and wrap his hands around the soles of her feet and kiss the apparent ache away. To pleasure her with the flat of his tongue and the old-fashioned act of sucking. She gave a half-hearted smile. “No news is good news, right?”
Had he missed something? “With what?” He stuck his phone back into the front pocket of his jeans.
“My sister. I’m like a mom. I worry constantly about her. Unless she’s done something to piss me off.” She checked her phone a few minutes while Cole watched her thumbs tap the screen.
He couldn’t find anything encouraging to say so he kept silent. Every emotion toward Francesca was all in retrospect. He had nothing to go on, not having experienced the situation firsthand like Jillian was. She let out an aggravated sigh and plunked her phone on the counter. She strolled away bare foot and turned the closed sign over and locked the door. “All’s well that ends well. Today was exhausting. Thanks for your help today unpacking the latest shipment. Well, thanks for everything.” He could see the pain in her eyes, the sag in her shoulders. “I guess it’s goodbye. If you’re ever in the area, feel free to stop by. I’ll have a song waiting.”
She made no move toward him; he thought she might at least give him a hug after the kiss they’d shared. Hell, he wanted her to hug him. Couldn’t remember a moment in his life that he wanted a hug as badly as now. When she kept looking everywhere but at him directly, he took that as his sign to go.
“Definitely,” he replied in a quiet voice.
She walked toward him then, her creamy white legs beckoning him to drop to his knees and savor every inch of the sweet taste of her skin with his mouth. Damn. The temptation was strong and his knuckles ached from holding on to the edge of the counter. He wanted to know what kind of lingerie she was wearing beneath her dress. What color? Red? To match the dress? Virginal white? Naughty tones of midnight?
His dick stirred. “I better go.” He turned around and grabbed his gift, the silence unbelievably loud. The tension in the room was palpable and he could feel Jillian’s eyes boring into his body. It was as if the seconds that were ticking by were minutes. He had to taste her. One last taste, because once she found out that he was Cole Carrington going undercover, it could be his last. He set the record player on the counter and turned toward Jillian.
Her eyes danced with desire and desperation and without giving it a second thought, he tugged her little body into his waiting arms and devoured her mouth with his. Her fingertips laced through his hair. Her nails drug along his scalp in a play of sweet surrender. His cock ached from want as the taste of her mouth played across his tongue. Hot. Messy. Desperate as their mouths tangled together. His fingers dug into her hips as he pressed himself into her, wanting her to feel how wild she drove him, how hard she made him. He swallowed her moans with an urgent desire that made his heart pump madly inside his body.
Never had he related a woman to Heaven. But Jillian, she was Heaven. She felt like Heaven and home. Maybe Heaven was home? Home was Heaven? He pulled his lips from hers, in an attempt to clear his head. She stood there, doe-eyed and disheveled, her mouth red and wet, her skin pink from the scrape of his beard. Her chest heaved along with his and before she could say something, he gently placed his index finger against her mouth. Definitely home. “Bye, for now.”
Without looking back, Cole grabbed his box and walked out of Lacie’s Lingerie, both relieved and anxious. Tomorrow he’d be back in his office, snug in his three-piece suit, enjoying the challenge of beating last month’s numbers, desperately trying not to think about Jillian. Anxious, because he couldn’t guess what Jillian’s reaction would be when he walked in to pick her up for their date.
Once he got home, he shed all of Levi’s clothes, even taking off his briefs. He disposed of the contacts and threw the earrings in the trash and shaved. There. A hair cut in the morning and he’d pretty much be back to looking like himself. The temporary dye that Carlos had made him put in was already fading and because of his rapid hair growth, his normal brown color was coming back in.
Once showered, he dropped his towel to the floor and sprawled out on his bed, grateful that his undercover gig was over. Mostly.
Cole: Did I mention I’ll be driving us to the steakhouse?
Jillian: Which one? I can take the Light Rail
Cole: Uh, no. My dates don’t ‘light rail.’ How was your day?
Jillian: Uneventful. Levi left.
Cole: Did you write up an ad for help?
Jillian: Yep. Will post it tomorrow.
Cole: Have you bought anything from Lacie’s?
Jillian: Obviously. I can’t sell something I know nothing about.
Cole: Fair enough…what’d you buy?
Jillian: If I told you, I’d have to kill you.
Cole chuckled at her text and then scrolled through finding the perfect emoji – a yellow face with red heart-shaped eyes.
Cole: It’d be worth dying for.
Jillian: I feel like we’ve already had this conversation.
He paused. How forward should he be?
Cole: I guess you could just show me tomorrow night. ;-)
Jillian: I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours.
Cole glanced down the length of his body. The cut abs and deep V above his dick. He’d totally send her a picture.
Cole: You want me to take a pic right now?
Jillian: LOL. I won’t make you undress.
Cole: Who said I was dressed???
Jillian: You’re naked?
Confirm or deny? Cole laughed.
Cole: If I told you, I’d have to kill you.
Jillian: It would be worth dying for. :-)
Cole chuckled again and began to type. If I showed it to you now, what would we do tomorrow after dinner?
Jillian: WOW. Arrogant??? I don’t do that on first dates.
Cole: I have a feeling this is going to be unlike any first date you’ve ever had.
That was the God’s honest truth. He’d already sent a prayer up to the Big Guy praying that Jillian wouldn’t be too upset with him when she saw that he was Cole AND Levi.
Jillian: Don’t get your hopes up.
Cole: Only if you promise to keep an open mind.
Jillian: Deal. See you at 7.
Chapter Thirteen
Jillian had brought a change of clothes and her curling iron to work with her the day of her date with Cole. She’d chosen her black mini with the side zippers and black and white blouse that showed off her arms and hid her cleavage. Her black stockings and matching stilettos that had a bright red bow on the back, complimented the outfit perfectly.
Her nerves vibrated. She couldn’t wait.
She also couldn’t believe how cocky he was for having been around her less than an hour while he’d given her the boot. Granted, they’d spoken a lot since that day that seemed so freaking long ago, and had gotten to know each other through casual conversations. But still.
Sex?
On a first date.
With Cole Carrington.
Deep breath. It wasn’t sounding as bad as she originally thought. Envisioning those flawless mossy green eyes of his that made her feel so exposed, especially as he whispered sweet nothings into her ear as he drove into her. Jillian could think of worse beyond a one-night stand with Cole Carrington. No! Yes, it was bad. She wasn’t that kind of woman. Sure, she was just as horny as the next girl, but she wasn’t about to give him the goods just for taking her out to a nice steak dinner.
He’d no doubt had plenty of those kinds of women.
Besides, who did he think he was? She bet women threw themselves at his feet every time he went out in public, but to have the audacity to expect she was going to see his package after one dinner? That took balls. He clearly thought it was the pleasing kind of package, too. And now she was thinking of the size of Cole’s package. This was just great. How was she going to eat her steak or whatever meat she ordered, while she sat across from Cole thinking about his meat?
Cole clearl
y had no confidence issues. He pretty much owned it. Wore it like a second skin. Fine. She could admit that it was a little thrilling and she was slightly turned on by his confidence. Only a little. But she’d never tell him that. She didn’t want his head to get even bigger.
It was almost seven but the time couldn’t have come any slower. Her nerves thumped a steady beat as she thought about their night together. Texting was so different than spending a few hours with a person. Work had been a drag all day and aside from posting the part-time job ad, she’d been bored without Levi there to talk to and laugh with. She’d had only a few customers who’d made some purchases which made the day that much slower.
It’d been a long time since Jillian had been on a date, and even though she wasn’t going through with the whole “I show you mine, you show me yours” spiel, she had gone to great lengths to get dolled up. Freshly shaved legs that were covered in knee-high stockings which paired perfectly to the lacy white garter belt, G-string panties and the sheer no-padding bra she’d gotten from the store. The fabric was classy on the outside with its embroidered detailing and comfortable against her skin on the inside.
All Shook Up Page 13
