by Diana Nixon
I smiled. “Going to the bar with a pregnant friend has its advantages.”
Willow nodded. “All the male attention will be glued to you. Right, Cole?”
“I’m sure the man you call your husband thinks you deserve all the attention, no matter pregnant or not.”
“Aw, a charmer is his second name! Why don’t you give him a second night… I mean chance, Harlee?”
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Cole’s grin. “I wouldn’t mind a second night as well.”
Willow high-fived him. “Now get into the car, love doves!”
I intentionally took the passenger seat, and Cole didn’t have a choice but to take the back seat.
“How long are you going to stay in the city?” Willow asked him, as she started the engine.
“Depends on how long Harlee lets me stay in her house. Besides, I promised Jazmine to explain a few things to her.”
“Things like what?” I asked, surprised.
Willow sped up and my stomach didn’t like it. I hoped I wouldn’t puke on her polished dashboard.
“She called me earlier today and we agreed to meet tomorrow after school to talk about her relationship with Romeo.”
For a second, I thought I was having hearing problems.
Willow and I shared a puzzled glance.
“Jaz wants to talk about boys with you?”
“About one particular boy, yes.” He made it sound like it was not a big deal.
I felt a little offended. “Why you, of all people?”
“Because I’m a party not concerned about her getting pregnant before the wedding. Don’t get me wrong – I do care about her safety – but not in the way you or your mom do. She’s more open with me, she trusts me, and she knows I know a lot about guys like her Romeo. Unlike her big sister.”
Willow chuckled. “My point exactly.”
“You two are impossible,” I said.
Cole’s face appeared in between the two front seats and he added, “Don’t worry, sweetie, after what happened last night, I can’t let your sex life become dull and boring again. Now I know what you are capable of…”
I don’t think I had ever seen a brighter smile on my friend’s face. “Thank you, Cole,” she said. “Thank you so much for doing this.”
“I can’t believe you are thanking him for…”
“Making your sex life a little more entertaining?” He finished the sentence for me. “Don’t thank me, Willow. The pleasure was all mine, multiple times.”
If the damn bar wasn’t that far away from my house, I would make Willow stop the car and walk home alone. But I knew I wouldn’t make it that far, not in a state like tonight anyway. So, I pretended I wasn’t interested in their conversation and turned to the window, watching the city lights fly by.
I didn’t know what was there for Cole and me in the future and to be honest, I was a little scared to think that far. He was here now, with me, and in any other situation, I would have gladly used his offer to share a bed more often. But playing games with Cole Griffin was toxic. You never knew when he was going to end it, as well as you never knew if you would be able to get over him once he was no longer yours.
Unlike me, Cole wanted to continue our ‘entertainments’ with no expectations from either party. He even said I didn’t need to pay the rent if I agreed to look after his house and well, after him as well whenever he was back in the city.
I didn’t like his plan. No matter how good living in his house for free sounded. But as stubborn as I was, I told him I would keep paying the rent, no matter what.
By the time Willow shut down the engine and said we were home, I was half asleep and desperately wanted to get to my bed, as soon as humanly possible. Though the prospect of going up the stairs and to the second floor felt like the hardest of tasks ever.
“I can sleep in the living room,” I said to Cole once we were inside the house. He thanked Willow for giving us a lift and promised her he would take care of me. To what she said she knew I was in good hands.
No doubt she put a double meaning into that phrase.
“You need a shower and something so much more comfortable than a couch.” Cole swiped me in his arms and carried me up the stairs.
“You don’t need to do this,” I mumbled. “I can walk, you know?”
“Hardly. You almost kissed the door frame when entering the house. And I can’t allow any bruises on that pretty face of yours.”
I smiled. “Glad to know you find my face pretty.” I was surprised I didn’t slur when saying it, because it felt like my tongue refused to obey me.
Cole carried me to my bedroom and put me down. “Do you want me to go in the shower with you?”
I chuckled. “No, thank you. Despite how much you want to do just that.”
He smiled gently and removed a lock of hair behind my ear. “I’ll be here in case you need help.”
“Thanks. Though I wouldn’t recommend you making yourself at home. You are not staying in this room for the night.”
“We will see.”
I ignored his comment and hurried to hide behind the bathroom door. My head span like crazy.
I leaned against the closed door and took a deep breath, trying to suppress the need to puke. Hell, I didn’t remember the last time I felt so bad, both mentally and physically. Not to mention the growing pain between my legs that despite all the reasoning wouldn’t let me go. The mere thought about feeling Cole the way I felt him last night made me dizzy, which was not good, considering I could barely stand on my feet.
An unpleasant feeling twisted my stomach and I hurried to the sink.
“Harlee, are you okay?” Cole stood behind the bathroom door. He sounded worried.
“I’m fine!” I forced myself to say in response.
But he didn’t buy it. Without asking for permission he let himself in and came to remove hair from my pale face. “You don’t look good.”
“No shit?”
“Do you always drink that much when going out for an all-girl night?”
“Never.”
“Then what made you drink that much tonight?”
I looked at him through the mirror and our eyes met. I was about to say ‘You’ when my stomach suddenly hurt so bad, I couldn’t make myself say even that little.
I shut my eyes and took another deep breath.
Cole spoke again, “If I knew your party would end up like this, I would have made you stay home.”
“Thanks, Daddy, but I’m a big girl and I do whatever the hell I want to do.”
“I can see that.” He held my hair up.
“Fuck, all I want now is to bend over this sink and let the damn tequila out of me.”
He smiled. “All I’ve heard from the above is bend down and fuck.”
“Gosh, you are disgusting.”
“Woman said worse things about me.”
“I bet.”
After that, he didn’t say a word, but stayed with me in the bathroom and waited for my stomach to empty. I felt terrible for making him see it all and even worse knowing I wouldn’t be able to look him in the eye tomorrow. Listening to Willow telling the entire bar about my sex encounter turned out to be the least evil of the night.
“Do you feel better now?” Cole asked about an hour later when I was finally in my bed. He sat down next to me and readjusted my blanket. “Do you want me to close the window? The night’s gonna be windy.”
“No, leave it open. I’ll need a lot of fresh air to clear my head.”
He smiled with the gentlest smile I had ever seen on a man’s face. Only dad smiled at me like that when I was a kid. But it was so long ago, I didn’t remember anyone looking at me with so much care.
“Do you want me to stay with you?”
Despite what I told him this morning, I said, “I do.”
To my surprise, no perky comment about using my state against me followed. I moved to give him more space, he took off his shirt and jeans and lay down next to me, keeping
a descent distance between us.
“What have you done to me, Harlee Bennet?” He asked into the darkness. He was with his back to the window so I could hardly see his face, just the silhouette of his body turned to me.
“I could ask you the same question, Cole Griffin.”
“While we are trying to figure it out, is it okay if I move closer?”
I really wanted him to be closer now. Of all the nights when I felt like my misery couldn’t get any worse, tonight was the night when it felt like nothing on earth could save me from it. The headache was about to eat me alive, but through everything, I could see a tiny spark of hope that Cole planted inside my heart. Somehow, I knew I could trust him and even if we couldn’t be friends after what happened between us, a part of me was glad he happened in my life. At least I would have something good to remember when he was gone and in a bed with a different woman.
But for the next ten hours or so, he would be mine and mine only. Even if tomorrow would bring more disappointments and everything I never wanted to be a part of my new life.
Cole added something different to it. I couldn’t give it a name, but I knew I would be missing it. Maybe a lot more than it was legal, considering the man lying next to me now never belonged to me in the first place. He was like a dream that was about to disappear with the first rays of the morning sun.
At least now I knew I was capable of feeling emotions I never expected to hit me so hard.
It was good news, wasn’t it?
Maybe I wasn’t as much of a lost cause after all. Maybe there was a place for something apart from my work in my life. Maybe, just maybe, there was a place for love in my lonely heart…
CHAPTER 12
Cole
Jazmine was in a shitty mood.
“Are you going to tell me what happened or not?” We’d been driving for about ten minutes now, but she didn’t say a word, and I knew something was bothering her.
“Romeo wants to go to L.A. for his birthday. His parents have a house there.”
“So?”
“He wants to go there with his friends.”
“And you were not invited?”
“Nope.”
“I see… Did he say anything about celebrating his birthday with you?”
“He said we would do it after his return from L.A.”
“By his friends did you mean his male friends?”
“Yes.”
“Then you should let him go.”
“What?” She looked at me as if I were the traitor of the world.
“Boys need all-boy time. Just like you need all-girl nights.”
“It’s not the same thing.”
“Explain the difference.”
She rolled her eyes. “Boys can never have all-boy time without the girls. At some point, you want girls to be there too. When all girls want is to have fun without the boys. Understood?”
“You think he will cheat on you when in L.A.”
“Well… He never said I was his girlfriend. So technically, he’s free to do whatever the hell he wants.”
“But you don’t want him to do it.”
“Stop playing Mr. Obvious with me. Better tell me what to do.”
“Well, if you want to be sure he doesn’t hang out with any girls when in L.A., why don’t you go there to check it out?”
“Like spy on him?”
“No, like making a surprise at the end of his all-boy party. Trust me, Jaz, if you mean something to him, he will want you to be there with him on his birthday.”
“He said he promised his friends it would be an all-boy party.”
“See? He can’t take his words back or his friends might think he’s a whippie. And no man wants to be called a whippie.”
She sighed. “I’ll need to talk to mom. Going to L.A. might be costly.”
“You and Harlee could stop at my place…” I didn’t know where that thought came from. But to my surprise, it didn’t scare the shit out of me. On the contrary – I did want Harlee to come to L.A. and see my place that no other women except for my cousin, mom and a housekeeper had ever been too.
“Really? It would be so cool!” Then Jazmine’s face suddenly fell.
“What? You think your sister wouldn’t want to take you to L.A.?”
She gave me a thoughtful look. “It depends on how much she does or doesn’t want to see you again.”
“I really hope she does.”
“But?”
“But I think she’s scared to admit it. You know your sister – she’s a wannabe to the bone. She just got a promotion and she’s shit-scared to lose it.”
“Tell me about it. But I promised to help you win her heart, remember? And I always keep my word.”
***
Harlee
Not a fucking word had been written over the past two hours when I crossed the threshold of my office and opened my laptop. First, because the morning hangover was killing me and second, because I couldn’t stop thinking about Cole leaving. He said he booked a flight for the afternoon and that right after his meeting with Jazmine, he would go to the airport.
I didn’t know when I was going to see him again, or if I was going to see him at all. This morning he acted as if nothing had ever happened between us, including last night, that he spent in my bed spooning me all night long. Who would have thought Cole Griffin was a spooning type, right?
He took care of me when I felt like crap and didn’t say anything about how terrible I looked in the morning or the fact that our breakfast might be the last one that he shared with me.
I wished him a safe flight and he said he would call me from L.A. Then I got into a taxi and went to work, because driving my own car today was not an option.
And now I was sitting in my chair, already missing him and hating myself for it.
Willow walked into my office, holding a glass of sparkling water. “Aspirin,” she said, putting the glass on my desk. “Might help you feel better.”
“I doubt it.” I took the glass and drained it dry as if it contained a miraculous cure or something. “Thanks.”
“You are welcome.” She sat down on a couch, took off her heels and put her legs on the armrest. “God, I really need a couch in my office. Sitting in a chair, all day long, is a killer for my swollen legs.”
“You can take mine if you want.”
“No, I’d better use it as an excuse to see you.” She smiled. “How was your night? I mean after I dropped you off.”
“Not eventful. I brushed my teeth and went to bed.” I didn’t go into the details of my humiliation.
“With Cole?”
“Yes. But he stayed because I wasn’t feeling well.”
“Right.”
“Ugh, please, stop drilling me with your meaningful stare! There’s nothing else to tell, okay? Besides, he’s leaving today. And this story is over. Just like all the previous ones.”
“But none of them was that good. Or was it?”
Willow knew the answer, so I preferred to pretend I didn’t hear her question. Just then, I got a call from the reception. The woman on the other end of the line said I had a visitor who preferred to keep his identity a secret.
Not that it was a secret to me, of course.
“Tell Mr. Griffin I’m waiting for him in my office.”
Willow’s eyes went wide. “Cole’s here?”
“I think.”
“What does that mean?”
“He didn’t introduce himself. But I think it’s him.”
“Oh, my God!” Willow jumped from the couch, literally, and hurried to the door, barefoot.
Talk about her swollen legs.
“It’s him! It’s him!” She whispered, excited. “Damn, the guy is a candy. Why am I married and pregnant again?”
“You are married to the love of your life,” I stood up and walked around my desk. “It’s so much better than what I have now. Which is very close to nothing.”
Willow came up to me and patted my back
. “Is he going to stay long enough to help you study the advantages of your couch?”
I pinched her cheek. “I swear if you were not my best friend, I would make you swallow your tongue.”
She giggled, took her heels and headed for the door. “Will stop by later.” Cole just opened the door and saw Willow. “And behave,” she added, smiling at him.
We waited for her to leave.
“To what do I owe the honor?” I asked with my arms crossed on my chest. My whole body trembled at the view of him standing in the middle of my office. He was wearing a pair of jeans with a white shirt and a black jacket. Freshly shaved, with his hair a sexy mess. Damn, why couldn’t I stop thinking about being in his arms again?
It was the first time he was here. He looked around and then his eyes stopped on me. “I was on my way to the airport when I remembered something…” He stepped closer and smiled in that foxery manner that made my head spin even faster.
“What did you remember?” I felt like my heart was about to jump out of my chest.
“You forgot to give me a good-bye kiss. After everything I’ve done for you… Don’t you think you could be a little more polite with me?”
Next thing happened, his lips were on mine, kissing away every single thought left in my buzzing head.
Time stopped running, as if giving us a chance to enjoy the intimacy of the moment. There was no need to hurry from one thing to another; I just wanted to stay there and keep kissing him until I didn’t know where my lips ended and his started.
It was better than Aspirin, or any other cure. He was better than anything or anyone else, and I couldn’t keep denying it.
His lips were soft and firm, doing miracles to my way of thinking and feeling.
Everything was so much better now that he was here with me again.
How was I supposed to let him go when I obviously had a thing for this man?
He savored my lips, as if those were priceless treasures that needed careful use.
With his palms cupping my face, he said into my mouth, “I want you to come to L.A. next weekend. What do you say?”
“What for?”
She smirked. “I’m sure we will come up with something interesting to do.”
