by Diana Nixon
COLE
BY DIANA NIXON
BACHELORS ON SALE
BOOK ONE
COLE
(Synopsis)
My name is Madison Hall and I am the most popular marriage broker in New York. I know everything about the most wanted bachelors, and I will sell their every dark secret to help you make one of them yours forever.
But this story isn’t about me.
It’s about two people who never wanted to get in a serious relationship, not to mention with each other.
The morning Cole Griffin finds a beautiful stranger in his bedroom, his far-from-fun-and-anything-romantic life turns into disaster.
And so does Harlee’s.
Who would have thought that renting a house would end up with a non-stop fight with its owner?
Every new day will become a challenge to live through. But Cole and Harlee never give up easily. If they start a fire, they will burn down everything in their way to get what they both desire.
Which in this particular case, might also become the desire to burn the sheets together…
A romantic comedy that will make you laugh hard and swoon a lot.
Cover Design by: Amina Black
COLE © Copyright 2020 Diana Nixon
Prologue
New York has always been a picture of the American romantic dream coming true: all it takes is to close your eyes to see a handsome man standing next to a sleek black car, waiting for you to become his perfect date. His eyes are glowing, as well as the whiteness of his teeth. You swoon at the sight of his full package and feel the rush of blood redden your cheeks. Nervous, you come to say a shy “Hello”, followed by his velvety “Hi, Beautiful”. You swoon some more and get into his car, wondering about how your night with Prince Charming is gonna end. Girls from all over the States come to The Big Apple to find their one and true love. Some of them succeed. Others – those who have no idea how to catch a golden fish come knocking on my door…
Why?
Because my name is Madison Hall. And I’m the most popular marriage broker in New York.
I don’t work for one-night stands, I work for strong and steady marriages that last as long as my clients follow the rules that I set up exclusively for every one of them.
I won’t lie – my job is well paid. And don’t get me wrong, by no means do I want to make money at someone’s desperation. But all the potential wives who come asking for my help are ready to pay well. So why not give them what they want for a little extra cash?
Call me a bitch, I don’t care. But those who wear a long-awaited wedding band on their hands kiss the ground I walk. Haters aside, I’m really good at what I do. I have an eye for great deals and my clients never lose the games they choose to play.
That’s why when Michael White entered my office a few days ago, I knew he wasn’t here for a wife.
“Michael!” I stood up to greet him. “What an unexpected surprise. To what do I owe the honor?”
A gentleman to the bone, he smiled politely, took my hand in his and kissed it.
“It’s been a while, Madison… How have you been all this time?”
“The usual, you know. Digging through the little secrets that might help someone find what they are looking for.”
His knowing grin was disarming even to me – a woman in her early fifties, with five marriages and three children under my belt. You would think with the advantages of my profession I should have stopped at husband number one. Of course, I could. But I wanted to see if there was something better than the son of a bitch I chose for a perfect V-cut that turned my young heart into a racer.
“I see.” Michael nodded, and looked around my office. “Nothing has changed since the last time I was here, has it?”
“Last time you were here you were dying to kill me with your hands, because I refused to tell you the truth about how the girl you’d been avoiding for years managed to become Mrs. Michael White.”
He chuckled. “True.”
He had never been my client, but Gigi – his wife – had always been one of my favorite girls. She knew what she wanted, as well as how much Michael wanted her, but he was too scared to give up on his bachelor’s life. And despite how much he hated the idea of me selling all of his secrets to the woman he always thought was a living threat to his precious freedom and then fell hopelessly for her, I knew deep down inside he was thankful for what I did. I helped both of them find their happily ever after. Which is the only thing that always counts in the end.
“You didn’t answer my question,” I said. “What brought you here today? And just don’t say that you are looking for a husband.”
Michael threw his head back and laughed. “I don’t think my wife would have approved of it. But I need your magical help with something…”
“Why don’t we have a seat?” I motioned to the couch behind me.
He sat down and I offered him a drink that he declined.
“I don’t have much time actually.” He looked at his watch and furrowed his brow. “I need to be back in the office by noon. Which means I only have half an hour to talk to you.”
“Okay. I’m all ears then.” I sat down next to him and listened carefully.
“The thing is… I know that one of my friends has ended up in your special list.”
Oh… My special list was everything to me. The most desired bachelors from all over the States were there. As well as everything women might want to know about them. The records had been precisely gathered and studied for months, sometimes years. Every single detail mattered, starting from the things the bachelor would never eat for breakfast, to everything that might make him happy, sexual preferences included.
“And who’s that?” I asked, curious.
“Cole Griffin.”
I knew that guy. A real workaholic, and a major piece of work. At least it was one of the names that women he dated gave him.
“Oh, yes. He is on my special list.” I stood up and went to my bookcase. Taking one of the folders with the mentioned above name on it, I returned to sit down on the couch. I showed Michael one of the pictures attached to the front page and he nodded.
“That’s him.”
“How did you know he made it to the list?”
“I didn’t actually. But since you know every damn good-looking bachelor in the city, I hoped your records about him would be helpful.”
“You know, I don’t share my records for no reason in particular.”
Michael smiled and took a checkbook out of his jacket pocket.
“Just name the price, Madison.”
I looked back at the folder in my hands and saw a small red mark on the flip side of Cole Griffin’s picture.
“You are lucky – your friend is on sale now.” I turned the picture to show Michael the price he would have to pay to get the needed information.
“Well, that’s what I call a great deal.” He took a pen from out of another pocket of his jacket and signed the check. “What’s wrong with him? I mean - why is he on sale?”
“Lost cause. Well, kind of. None of the girls who tried to tie the knot with him ever made it to the second date. That’s what I call a heartbreaking disaster. The man is a devil, I swear.”
Michael’s lips twitched in a knowing smirk. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
“Why do you need information about him anyway?”
“Despite being his best friend for what feels like forever, I don’t know a damn thing about him as a potential husband or a boyfriend for starters. I’d been trying to set him up with so many girls, I stopped counting them when the number hit thirty. But he’s still single and I doubt I can change it without your help. I wish him nothing but good and that’s why
I need your records.”
“And you just paid really well for the little secrets he has. Does that mean you have someone in particular in mind to set him up with this time?”
“I think I do. And she’s just as much of a pain in the ass as he is…”
CHAPTER 1
Harlee
“Harlee Bennett, where the hell are you?”
I looked around the dark street, illuminated by a half-dead streetlight and shivered from head to toe. “In the ass of the world doesn’t begin to cover it.”
“Can you be more specific, please?” Willow, my editor, sounded frustrated. “Do you remember about the meeting with your real estate agent?” She whispered into the handset.
“I do. I’ll be back in an hour, I promise. I just need to do something very important first.”
“Does that something very important happen to be Jazmine again?”
I sighed. “I wish I could say no to your question.”
Apart from being my editor, Willow was my best friend and she knew everything about my rebellious little sister whose favorite job seemed to be driving me up the wall, on a daily basis.
I heard Willow sigh on the other end of the line. “Fine. I’ll make Mr. White a cup of coffee so he doesn’t doze off waiting for you, and I’ll tell him to wait.”
“What? Is he there already?”
“Yep. Sitting in your office with his laptop standing on your desk. He’s typing something. Hope he’s not going to break his agreement with you. Otherwise, you are screwed.”
“Shit…” I hired Michael about two weeks ago, hoping he would find me a nice house not far away from the city where I could live for a while and work on my articles in peace and quiet. “Tell him I’m sorry for making him wait. I’ll try to make it quick.” I ended the call and dropped my phone into my bag.
The weather didn’t help a damn thing, and I felt like the wind was about to knock me down. One of my heels got stuck in a sewer grate and I miraculously managed to save my shoe without breaking my foot. It was the beginning of June, for God’s sake! But Mother Nature had a mind of its own and pretended it never heard of the warm summer nights.
More curses flew from my mouth as I crossed the street, limping, looking for the house where my sister had been staying for a week or so now. It was one of those places I never wanted her to be. But she, just like the damn weather, never listened to what I told her.
After our parents divorced a couple of years ago and mom married a nice guy named Theo, Jaz told us she would live with dad, but the sensation never happened. And we kept finding her spending nights in different places that could hardly be called home for anyone. It was her way to protest the entire divorce thing and I really hoped she would come back to her senses soon. Otherwise, I would spend my whole life following her to the trashy places that didn’t promise anything but major troubles.
Jazmine was a good girl, but sometimes I wished she was my eldest sister and took care of me and not vice versa. Because in most cases, she simply did all those stupid escapes to piss me off, because she thought I was a traitor who supported the end of our family. She was a daddy’s girl to the bone, and I couldn’t blame her for it. I loved him too, but mom wasn’t happy with him and I knew it was better for her to move on with her life without him.
I stopped at the wooden house that looked more like an old barn than a place to live and knocked on the door. When after the second knock no one answered, I gave the door a slight push and let myself in.
“Hello? Anybody here? Jazmine?” I carefully walked down the creaky here and there floor, praying it didn’t break beneath me. The wood looked old, just like everything else in the house.
“Harlee?”
I jumped at the sound of my sister’s voice. “You scared the shit out of me!”
“What are you doing here?” She crossed her arms and watched me from the other end of a long hall.
“You know that answer. Take your things. We are going home.”
“I am home.”
I laughed. “Seriously?” I waved around the place. “You call this your new home? Couldn’t find a better lair?”
She shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal. “No one lives here anymore, it’s free. And you know I can’t afford the rent.”
“It’s because you are sixteen and don’t have a job yet. But you still have classes to attend. Your school principal called me this morning.”
Now that caught her attention.
“And?”
“And I told her you’d been sick the entire week.”
“Did mom hear you saying that?”
“Of course not. Or she would come here with me and kick your stupid ass. Come on, I don’t have time for this crap. I need to get back to the office.”
“Watch your language, big sister. You don’t want me to say those bad words in mom’s presence. Or do you?”
“Shut up and get into the car. It’s on the other side of the road.”
She hesitated.
“Either that, or I’ll call your principal and tell her to expel you for missing classes without a reason.”
“You won’t do that.”
“Wanna bet?”
She GRRRed at me. “Fine!” Then she went to take her bag and followed me out of the house.
“How did you even find this place?” I took the wheel and started the engine. Pushing the gas pedal, I mentally counted the time I would need to get back to the office. I couldn’t miss the meeting with Mr. White.
“My friends hang out here sometimes.”
I gave her a questioning look. “Your friends? People who hang out in places like this can never be your friends.”
“Hey, they are nice guys.”
“You are not coming here, ever again.”
“You can’t tell me what to do!”
“Oh, yes, I CAN! And I WILL. Because I’m sick and tired of dragging your ass out of trouble. I have my own life to live in case you didn’t know.”
“Why are you so noisy today? Or is it your untouched vagina that wouldn’t let you function normally?”
My mouth hung open for a few moments. “You can’t talk to me like that, Jazmine.” Not that her statement was far from the truth, by the way.
She puffed, meaning ‘Right’.
“I take you home and then go back to the office. Period.”
“But it’s ten past nine in the evening.”
“So what? Thanks to you, I’ve spent a good part of my evening cruising around the city and praying for you to be alive. Why? Because I love you and I can’t let anything bad happen to you. No matter how hard you search for another stupid adventure to complicate your existence.”
That made her pretty face turn to a guilty one.
I felt sorry for her. I really did. I never wanted our family to break into two either. But she needed to stop whatever she was doing, or one day, I might not be there on time to help her. Thank God, I decided to install a tracker into her cell phone. She didn’t know anything about it, or she would hate me even more. But now I knew where exactly to find her if needed, and it was good news.
I took a deep breath to calm down my racing heart, and then let it out. “I need to finish writing an article for tomorrow’s meeting with the editor in chief. Because if I fail to meet her expectations, she’ll kick me out even before my trial period ends. And I really need this job. It’s the first time in like five years that I enjoy what I do.”
“You really like working for V&V magazine?”
“Yes. Why does that surprise you?”
“Well, I always thought you wanted to write about politics or something useful, and not about cosmetics and diapers.”
“I never wrote a word about diapers, and I really love talking about cosmetics. Besides, I get a lot of free samples to try. I have an office all for myself and a working schedule that allows me to work from home. Speaking of which… I’m late for my meeting with the real estate agent.”
“Is he cute?”
I saw Michael While just once, but it was more than enough to answer Jazmine’s question. “He sure is.” Tall, well built, with the dimples on his cheeks, sandy hair and green eyes that smiled every time his lips did the same thing. And during our first meeting he smiled a lot. Or tried to not burst out laughing to be exact.
The day he walked into my office, I was on the phone with my previous real estate agent, calling him every name in the book for screwing up the deal we made a few months back. He failed to find me a new place to live, and he refused to return the money I paid him. Needless to say, I was pissed as hell. I didn’t see Michael enter my office, so naturally, he heard a good part of my fuck-you-asshole vocabulary. Quite sure he considered the idea of leaving before my fury would end up frying him alive. That’s why after I finally cooled off and could think straight again, I mentally high-fived him for staying and making a deal with me.
“Is it a date?” Jazmine asked.
“What? No! Michael’s happily married.”
“How do you know his marriage is happy?”
“I just know it. The day we met for the first time, I was wearing that black pencil skirt that you like so much and a blouse that showed off a lot of skin. Still, the man’s eyes never once dropped to my cleavage. I think it speaks for itself.”
“I see. So… You never told me why you decided to move out and live alone. Aren’t you going to miss your weekly Scrabble rounds with Theo?”
“I will. But I also need some time away from you guys. I can’t write a damn word when you and mom start another fight. Besides, now that I will no longer live under the same roof with you, you will have to learn how to take care of your clothes and keep your room clean. Not to mention dishwashing and doing laundry. It will be a good lesson for you to learn, little sister”
“Now you make me feel like a bloodsucker.”
I smiled and smoothed her dark brown hair. “I’m sure you’ll survive.”
Jaz made a face and put on her earbuds, making the sound of a song she’d been listening to the entire time we talked a bit louder.
