Cole (Bachelors On Sale #1)

by Diana Nixon

  God, I still couldn’t believe I was doing it – leaving my family to live a grown-up life like I always wanted to. In my twenty-six years, I never once stayed away from home for longer than a few days. Willow, unlike me, started living alone right after high school graduation. She was from San Diego and moved to New York to attend the university. She had an apartment not far away from where my parents, Jaz and I used to live. Willow and I met during our first creative writing class and had been best friends since then. Sometimes I really missed our all-girl nights. It felt like they happened forever ago.

  About a year after we got our diplomas, Willow married her university crush and was now expecting their second child. She was the very person who made me apply for a job at V&V. She worked there as an editor and when she heard her boss talking about hiring someone to head Beauty and Health department, she immediately called me. Needless to say, I was happy to jump at the opportunity to work side by side with my best friend. We could fight like cat and dogs, but we also loved each other as if we were sisters and she was the only person officially allowed to criticize me, yell at me and also be my shoulder to cry on when needed. In other words, she was the best friend I could ever wish for.

  I took the last turn to the right and stopped at the house where my mom, Theo and Jaz lived.

  “Be a good girl,” I told her, pulling one of the earbuds out of her ear.

  She rolled her big brown eyes. “Always.”

  “I mean it, sis. If you run away again, I will not waste my time on trying to find you. I have other things to do.”

  “Noted.” She opened the door and got out of the car. “Oh, and before you leave for a meeting with your hot real estate agent, put on a nice pair of panties, instead of those you usually wear. You know, in case he decides to show you something bigger than property catalogues.”

  “Do not make me get out of the car and kick your ass, Jazmine.”

  She chuckled. “Relax, I’m kidding.” Then she got out and shut the door of my RAV-4.

  I watched her walk to the door and made sure mom knew she was back home. I waved at the two of them through the opened window and left, hoping Mr. White had some good news for me.

  The thing is… Everyone, except my sister, thought I moved out and found a place to live, when the truth was – my things were still packed in the trunk of my car and I spent the past couple of nights on my office couch.

  Why?

  Because I didn’t have time to look for a new home, and considering how badly I wanted to get a permanent job at V&V, I needed to work my butt off and write all the best words I could come up with. Which was nearly impossible to do when mom or Jaz were breathing down my neck because it looked like they couldn’t decide or do anything without me. Not even breakfast that had been my responsibility for as long as I could remember. That’s why I decided to move out and finally dedicate my time to what I wanted to do, instead of being the head of the family that was grown-up enough to take care of themselves.

  By the time I left my car in the underground parking lot, it was almost ten in the evening.

  Crap, saving Jaz took a lot longer than I expected. Mr. White must have left a long time ago.

  “Staying here for the night again?” Tobias asked. He was one of the guards and he knew everything about my late working hours.

  “Yep, have a lot of writing to do for tomorrow.”

  “Good luck with that. By the way, your visitor is still here.”

  “Really?”

  Tobias nodded. “His car is parked right next to yours.”

  I turned around and looked at the black Jeep.

  Thank you, God! I’ll be a good girl for the rest of the week, I promise!

  With my heart full of hope to get a new home soon, I ran to the elevator and waited for it to arrive.

  When I got to the twenty-first floor, I saw a lonely light coming from under the door of my office. There was no one else at work at that time of the day, or night to be exact.

  I passed by Willow’s office and smiled at the blue balloons that took the biggest part of it. A few days ago, she announced she was going to have a boy again and we threw a small baby shower, before the actual one would take place in a few months from now. I was genuinely happy for her and her growing family.

  I stopped at the door of my office, smoothed my dress and hair, and put on my best smile. “I hope your wife won’t kill you for waiting for me for so long,” I said instead of greeting Mr. White.

  He unglued his eyes from the screen of his laptop and smiled, rising to his feet. “Don’t worry, she knows it’s for work.”

  “I’m really, REALLY, sorry for being late. I was supposed to be here hours ago.”

  “It’s okay. Mrs. Young told me about your sister.”

  No doubt Willow did.

  “Yeah, teenagers can be a pain. Now, do you have any good news to tell me? I’m afraid my back won’t survive another week on that couch behind you.

  He turned around, gave my temporary bed a doubtful look and then looked at me again.

  “I think I’ve found exactly what you need.” He pulled a few booklets out of his suitcase and gave them to me. “This house is not far away from the city. The area is green and isolated. No neighbors to interrupt your writing work.”

  “Wow…” I stared at the pictures that showed the most beautiful house I had ever seen.

  “I knew you would love it. Just wait until you see it for real.”

  I flipped through the pages showing the back yard with a swimming pool and a large barbeque area. There were a lot of trees around the house, and generally it looked very modern and stylish, with lots of glass and wood combined in a perfect design.

  “How much is the rent?” I doubted I could afford it. The place was just too good to be true. There were several bedrooms in the house, a spacious kitchen of my mom’s dream and a living room with a fireplace, floor-length windows and slide doors that opened to the back yard.

  “The price is negotiable. Depends on how long you want to rent it.”

  “One year, maybe longer. Until I find something I can actually buy. I hate the idea of renting places for the rest of my life.” I knew if I got the so-much-wanted job as a permanent one, my salary would be several times higher than what I got now. I would definitely buy a small house in a beautiful area, because I hated The Big Apple’s noise and I always wanted to run away from it.

  “How about we go see the house tomorrow morning?” Mr. White asked.

  “I have a meeting at nine…” I opened my notebook to check on my schedule. “How about eleven o’clock?”

  “Perfect.” He made a note on his laptop, shut it down and put it into his suitcase. “See you tomorrow then?”

  “Yes. And sorry again for making you wait.”

  “Not a big deal.”

  We said goodbyes and he left.

  I looked at the damn couch and smiled. “If everything goes as planned, you will no longer be my bed.”

  Then I went back to my desk and looked at the pictures of the gorgeous house again. I could definitely stay and live there forever. It screamed warmth and peace and considering how hectic my life had been for the past few years, I wouldn’t mind a change at all.

  I wondered why the owners didn’t live there. Maybe it had been built for rent and not for living.

  I went to the window and pulled the curtains down, dreaming about my new life in a new place.

  I really hoped it would be good. Jazmine wasn’t the only child affected by our parents’ divorce. I suffered too. But I was old enough to not make scenes. I couldn’t make mom and dad live together when it was obviously better for them to go separate ways. I knew mom was happy now. Theo was a couple of years older than her; he treated her as if she were a queen, and I guess it was the main thing that made mom fall for him. If I ever doubted men from books existed, Theo was a living proof they did. A Charmer should have been his second name.

  As for my father, he got what he wanted in the
end – complete freedom. No one controlled him anymore or asked why he was so late from work. I think mom always knew he had been cheating on her. But before Theo, she didn’t know there could be a different kind of relationship to care about. I still loved both of my parents, and nothing could change it. It wasn’t their fault that they didn’t love each other anymore. A part of me wondered if I could ever have a family and kids like Willow did now. Looking back at my parents’ marriage, I couldn’t say I knew what a truly happy family looked like. They fought most of the time and Jaz and I had to stay in our room, pretending we didn’t hear it. I never wanted the same for my kids if I ever had any.

  For now, I was happy with what I had – a good job and hopefully a new home. Everything else could wait for tomorrow.

  CHAPTER 2

  “Now that’s what I call a catching article! You nailed it, Harlee!”

  I smiled from ear to ear, hearing Vivian’s words. She was my boss and a well-known bitch, that’s why receiving praises from her was even better than winning a lottery.

  “Thank you.” I waited patiently for her to go through the article one more time. She was taking her time I must say. And I felt like I was about to have a heart attack. After another sleepless night and typing non-stop until five in the morning, I could hardly think about anything but getting another cup of coffee, which would be my fifth for today, and a good dose of much-needed sleep. But more than anything, I needed to hear what Vivian decided about my job at the magazine.

  “Well…” She said, as she put the file with my newly written article on her desk. “I think you are ready to head the department.”

  “Really?” I jumped from my seat, too excited to play it cool.

  She smirked, obviously thinking that my reaction was more than predictable, because getting a job in her magazine was something beyond good to turn it down.

  “I’ll ask our house council to make a new contract for you.”

  “Thank you, Vivian. I promise – you will not be disappointed in my work.”

  “Hope so.”

  She then stared at the screen of her laptop and that meant our conversation was over. Vivian always kept it short – either she praised you, which was nearly a miracle, or she gave you the look that said it all for her. The second option was like a death sentence for all the projects that she didn’t like.

  So as not to wait until she changed her mind about my new position in the magazine, I left her office and rushed to tell my best friend the news.

  “You got it; I know.” Willow was sitting in her chair, with her feet on her desk. Her heels were lying under her desk.

  “How the hell do you know that?” I took a seat across from her.

  “If I didn’t know you were perfect for this job, I would have never called you in the first place.”

  “Well, thank you very much for the call.” I nodded to her feet. “Gummy legs again?”

  “Yeah.” She rubbed her calves and sighed. “Can’t wait for the baby to be here. My body needs a break.”

  “Four more months to go. It’s not that much to wait.”

  “I hate waiting and you know it. Pregnancies are the only times in my entire life when I willingly agreed to wait for something.”

  I smiled. “True. Remember when you couldn’t wait for the plumber to come and fix the tap in your kitchen and then ended up flooding your neighbors?”

  “Ugh, it was a disaster. I should have listened to you and waited for the damn plumber instead. But let’s talk about something else. Tell me, how was the meeting with your real estate agent?”

  “Oh, damn it…” I looked at my watch and cursed some more. “I gotta go. He agreed to give me a tour around the house that he found for me. Will call you later!”

  I ran back to my office, grabbed my bag and my car keys and hurried to the elevator, hoping I wouldn’t be late for another meeting with Mr. White. Or he might think I was the worst client he had ever worked with.

  ***

  “So? What do you think about this place?”

  Michael and I stood on the terrace that was buried in verdure. I took another deep breath, letting the fresh air fill my lungs. “I love it.” I opened my eyes and looked around the place one more time. “Are you sure I can afford it?” The house turned out to be even more beautiful than in the pictures. It was so easy to imagine living here.

  “Positive.” He gave me a contract and pointed to the sum written in the payments paragraph.

  My eyes went wide in surprise. “I expected it to be much higher.”

  “I talked to the owner last night and he agreed to lower the price.”

  “Awesome!” I smiled. “Home, sweet home.”

  “I’m glad the new home managed to meet your expectations. I hope you’ll enjoy living here.”

  “I knew working with you would be fruitful.”

  “Really? How did you know that?”

  “You didn’t run away after you heard my conversation with my previous agent.”

  Michael chuckled. “Every agent is different.”

  “Now I know it’s true.” We went back into the house and I decided to ask Michael a few questions about the owners of the house. “Why does no one live here? I mean this place is too beautiful to leave it for rent.” Everything around me looked exceptionally clean, sterile even. There were no personal things, nothing that would give away anything about the people who owned the house.

  “Mr. Griffin resides in Los Angeles. He was born there. He spent almost ten years in New York, but then decided he missed the sun too much to live here forever and moved back to the west coast.”

  “Is he married?” I don’t know what made me ask that question. “This house would be a perfect home for a big family, with kids, a cat and a dog.”

  Michael shook his head. “He’s single. By the way…” He opened his suitcase and took out a folder with some papers in it. “You are the first person who’s gonna live in this house, so I thought you would like to know more about it and its owner. The design of the place simplifies everything that might take time in any other place, like turning on the light or an electric kettle. You can control everything using a remote or even your phone if you install the needed application.

  “Oh, thank you. This is very thoughtful of you.” I took the folder and thought I would read it later. “Hope I don’t break anything here. Technical devices and I never go well together. My laptops always die from coffee spilled on them, and I change my phones almost on a weekly basis, because the damn things always get lost, or slip through my fingers in the worst possible moments. The last one ended up in my washer, because I forgot I left it in my jeans pocket.”

  Michael laughed, but didn’t comment on my fiascos. “If you have any questions, just give me a call.”

  “Okay.”

  He turned to the door and was about to leave, when he suddenly asked something I never expected to hear from him. “Do you like scented candles?”

  “I do. Why?”

  “Mr. Griffin hates them. So, if you put them all around the place, make sure you take them away before you move out of here.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  Michael nodded and left, closing the door behind him.

  I turned around and smiled from ear to ear. I was in heaven. And it was not a dream.

  I took a few pictures and sent them to Willow.

  “Amazeballs!” Followed her short reply. She hated writing messages. She preferred calling me, no matter what time of the day or night it was. It didn’t go both ways though. Willow hated it when someone woke her with a call. Especially if it wasn’t urgent.

  After giving the house another tour, I called the delivery service and ordered some food products so there was something to eat in the morning. Then I called Vivian and asked if I could take the rest of the day off to settle in a new place. She gave me her priceless permission and I hurried to my car to take my things and unpack them.

  It didn’t take long, considering all of my
belongings fit into a few boxes. They were not big, so by seven in the evening, everything was done, and I could finally take a break and enjoy the silence that felt like one of those things I hadn’t had in a long time.

  Sex would take the second line in the list, but to have it, I needed to find a boyfriend first, which was close to impossible, considering most of my time was dedicated to work and work only. And maybe Jazmine had a point and certain parts of my body did need more attention, but one-night stands were not for me, and my silicone friend from the bedside table seemed to be my only option for now.

  Talk about climbing the career ladder. As crazy as I was about it, I doubted silicone would turn into someone’s flesh any time some.

  “Buy more batteries,” I wrote in my to-do list before I went to bed that night. No matter how pathetic the record looked, I really needed to focus on my writing now. I wasn’t a feminist, but I never wanted to turn into a shadow on my future husband. I wanted to be sure I would be able to take care of myself and support myself financially the best I could.

  With those thoughts in my head, I fell asleep and woke up the next morning not from the sound of my alarm clock, but from the sun shining through the huge window of my new bedroom.

  The curtains added a soft yellow glow to the walls and the ceiling. It reminded of the mornings from my far-away childhood when mom came to wake me up with a kiss and when life seemed to be so much easier and more careless than now. For a few moments, I let myself stay in those memories and enjoy the feeling of pure freedom from everything.

  Then the reality returned, and I opened my eyes, smiling at the new day.

  God, falling asleep and waking up in a room like this was amazing: king-size bed with my newly bought satin bed sheets and the smell of freshness coming through the opened balcony door. I would gladly stay and live in this house forever, or at least in this bed, pretending I could afford another day off.

  If only I didn’t have a long list of things to do today.

  I got out of bed and went to the bathroom to take a shower. I was going to work from home again, so there was no need to rush things. I took my time to enjoy the shower, brushed my teeth and even used an emergency mask to make my face look fresh and well-rested. Which was a luxury I could never afford when waking up on my office couch. Getting changed into a new set of clothing, brushing teeth and quickly putting on some make-up were the only things I did in my office home.